A Business History of Alberta

A Business History of Alberta. By Henry C. Klassen. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1999. xxii +362 pp. Maps, illustrations, index. Cloth, $29.95; paper, $19.95. ISBN: Cloth 1-55238-022-X; paper 1-55238-009-2.

Reviewed by Douglas McCalla

The province of Alberta was created in 1905, during the last great North American settlement boom and as the institutional structures of modern business were quickly taking shape in Canada. At its margins, many Albertans were deeply critical of the system, as they showed in the interwar years by electing provincial governments formed by the United Farmers of Alberta until 1935 and by the Social Credit party thereafter. After the war, …

Air patrols, cameras to watch big inaugural crowd

Law enforcement officials bracing for the largest crowds in inaugural history are preparing far-reaching security _ thousands of video cameras, sharpshooters, air patrols _ to safeguard President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in.

People attending the ceremony and parade on Jan. 20 can expect to be searched by machines, security personnel or both. Precautions will range from the routine _ magnetometers like those used at airports _ to countersnipers trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away. Plus undercover officers, bomb sniffing dogs and air patrols.

The Secret Service _ the agency coordinating the security _ also has …

Stalin's grandchild returns to England

((PHOTO …

UN Chief to Push for Peace in Mideast

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday pledged to push for lasting peace in the Middle East and an end to the conflict in Darfur in the coming year, calling it one of the most challenging in the U.N.'s history.

At the opening of the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting, Ban took the podium for the first time as U.N. chief and called for "an internal climate of change" at the world body to address the growing number of issues requiring collective action.

"Looking to the coming year and beyond, we can foresee a daunting array of challenges to come," he said. "They are problems that respect no borders - that no country, big or small, …

Swedish Bank Stops Digital Theft

A gang of Swedish criminals was seconds away from completing a digital bank heist when an alert employee literally pulled the plug on their brazen scam, investigators said Wednesday.

The would be bank robbers had placed "advanced technical equipment" under the employee's desk that allowed them to take control of his computer remotely, prosecutor Thomas Balter Nordenman said in a statement.

The employee discovered the device shortly after he realized his computer had started an operation to transfer "millions" from the bank into another account, Nordenman …

Romania makes 5 changes to face Argentina at RWC

INVERCARGILL, New Zealand (AP) — Romeo Gontineac has made five changes, including three new players, to his starting lineup for Romania's Rugby World Cup match against Argentina on Saturday.

Tiberius Dimofte will start at flyhalf in place of errant-kicking flyhalf Marin Dumbrava, who drops to the reserves bench, and will partner Florin Surugiu, who was preferred at scrumhalf to veteran Lucian Sirbu.

The teams will play at windy Rugby Park Stadium, where Dumbrava missed two first-half penalties before giving up the kicking duties to Dimofte in Romania's 34-24 loss to Scotland, its opening match.

Dimofte moves in from the centers to take over for Dumbrava, while Constantin …

CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS

* Keystone BioFuels Inc. President Ben Wootton's name was misspelled in a Nov. 16 story on page 17.

* Pugliese Associates' 2006 lobbying expenses were incorrectly reported in the lobbying-firms list on page 25 of the Nov. 16 issue. The correct number is $3.3 million.

* An article on page …