November 13, 2003

CRTC: Canada will go digital, eventually The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) which governments Canadian radio and television broadcasting has decided on a five or six year plan to switch Canadians to digital television. Within several years, television stations are to provide both analog and digital signals with the analog signals to be retained until 85 per cent of their viewers have switched to digital-ready equipment. Currently about one quarter of televisions are equipped with digital-ready equipment. 9:15:58 PM

A radar study suggests that there is little or no ice on the moon previously thought to be hidden within polar craters. 9:07:22 PM

Haaretz reports that Argentine Jews are angered by a British decision to not extradite a former Iranian diplomat linked to a deadly 1994 bombing in the Argentine capital. The head of the AMIA Jewish group whose building was destroyed in the attack that killed 85 people has called the decision clearly arbitrary" and insisted it was "based solely on grounds of a political nature." Iran is also thought be behind the March 1992 bombing which destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 28 people. 8:57:30 PM

BBC tries to become less biased (maybe) The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has appointed Malcolm Balen, a former editor of the BBC's Nine O'Clock News, as a "senior editorial adviser" on Middle East affairs. A BBC spokeswoman denied Balen's appointment was in recognition of accusations of anti-Israeli bias in its reporting. However the Telegraph reports that insiders said the appointment was a signal that senior executives feel that the Middle East is an area over which the BBC needs to take particular care . As a result of this appoint the Israeli government may drop its boycott of cooperation with the BBC. 8:57:09 PM

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is giving his farewell address as part of the Liberal Party Convention in Toronto. 8:56:38 PM