Recent research has shown that junk food increases the risk of asthma in children who tend to have lower risk of asthma due to breastfeeding. Earlier researches have shown that breastfeeding for more than three months lowers the risk of asthma.

Research team led by Anita Kozyrskyj, research chair in the department of pediatrics at the University of Alberta's faculty of medicine and dentistry analyzed data collected from 246 children, aged eight to 10, diagnosed with asthma, and 477 children without asthma.

Hong Kong - A baby seal lies helpless on the ice. Towering above it, a man wields a club, poised to land the blow that will smash the seal's skull.

Moments later, the seal is dead, its body dumped on a mound of freshly-skinned carcasses. Its skin is thrown on a pile of bloody furs to be shipped back 270 kilometres to the Canadian east coast to be sold for around 42 US dollars each.

Ottawa/New York - A ship carrying hundreds of passengers stuck in the ice in the Saint Lawrence Seaway off Matane in eastern Canada has been freed, news reports said.

Ice breaker Terry Fox succeed to clear a path for the stricken CTMA Vacancier with 300 people on board on Tuesday afternoon.

However, a second ship, the Georges-Alexandre-Lebel, a cargo ship owned by Canada9s COGEMA shipping company, remained caught in the ice off Matane.

Ottawa - Two ships, one of them carrying hundreds of passengers were stuck in the ice in the Saint Lawrence Seaway off Matane in eastern Canada, news reports said.

Ice breakers had failed to clear a path for the two stricken ships, the CTMA Vacancier ferry with 300 people on board, and the Georges-Alexandre-Lebel, a cargo ship owned by Canada's COGEMA shipping company, Canadian television CTV reported Tuesday. A third ship was freed on Monday.

Passengers on the cruise ship were on their way to a one-week cross country ski tour on Monday when the ship became enmeshed in the ice, but the detour has dampened their holiday mood.

Ottawa - Two ships carrying hundreds of passengers are stuck in the ice in the Saint Lawrence Seaway off Matane in eastern Canada, news reports said.

Ice breakers failed on Monday to clear a path for the two stricken ships, the CTMA Vacancier ferry with 300 people on board, and the Georges-Alexandre-Lebel, a cargo ship owned by Canada's COGEMA shipping company.

COGEMA general director Andre Landry told the French-language newspaper Le Soleil that ice of that thickness has not been observed in the seaway that early in the year for many years.

New Delhi, Jan. 21 : India and Canada have agreed to initiate exploratory discussion towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

Commerce and Industry MInister Kamal Nath and Canada''s Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway Stockwell Day agreed on this at a meeting here on January 18.

"We are committed to taking our economic partnership to the next level. The steps taken today will ensure we move towards opening doors for our respective business communities," Nath said.