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.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued warnings against two types of pre-packaged sandwiches as they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. This would be the second time in less than four months that the Edmonton based sandwich producer has been forced to recall its products.

Whistler, Can

Whistler, Canada  - Italy's Pietro Piller Cottrer won the Nordic ski World Cup men's double pursuit over 30 kilometres at the Canadian resort of Whistler on Saturday.

Poland's Justyna Kovalczik won the women's double pursuit 15- kilometre run, with a time of 40:41.3 minutes.

The 2006 winter Olympic relay men's gold medallist broke from a leading group after 22 kilometres for a comfortable win in one hour 13 minutes 1.5 seconds.

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