So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. -- Joshua 6:20 It is one of the most dramatic events chronicled in the Old Testament, but for generations scholars have debated whether the Israelites' assault ...

Convened in Washington, in November 2008, the first G-20 summit was a hasty attempt by top economies to forge common cause against a rapidly escalating financial crisis. That initial consensus risks unraveling at the G-20's fourth summit, in Toronto on June 26-27, with the U.S. and the European Union notably parting ways on how best to restore economic health. The summit follows an extraordinary austerity drive by European economies as they attempt to redress their public finances. In ...

Five years ago Toronto's Massey-Ferguson Ltd. was on the brink of bankruptcy. Dragged down by unwieldy inventories and a slumbering dealer network, the 115-year-old implement manufacturer in 1957 lost $4,700,000 on $400 million worth of sales in five continents. This week Massey-Ferguson will happily report on its performance for the first half of fiscal 1962. With business up 15%, the company is expected to show sales of about $263 million and profits well above last year's first half net of $6,000,000. The secret of this rejuvenation: a change ...

Sunday night, on the eve of the fifth 9/11 anniversary, docudrama was dynamite in North America. As millions in the U.S. watched the Clinton Administration botch snuffing out al-Qaeda on the first of ABC TV's two-part miniseries The Path to 9/11, hundreds of Canadians crowded into a Paramount multiplex theater to see the Toronto International Film Festival's world premiere of Death of a President, a sober fakeumentary from Britain's Channel 4 that imagines the assassination of the ...

In the 76-year history of the New York Film Critics, only two moviemakers have been honored with life achievement awards: Jean-Luc Godard and Sidney Lumet. The French director is of course the prickly master of movie modernism, but Lumet was something Gotham critics could appreciate: the primary apostle of streetwise cinema, the torch-bearer of ground-glass realism and, for a half-century, the ultimate chronicler of New York City in all its agita and chutzpah. Though he shot films ...

Those who knew Canadian folk musician Taylor Mitchell say her passion for her craft was matched by her affinity for nature."When the decision had been made to kill the pack of coyotes, I clearly heard Taylor's voice say, 'please don't, this is their space.' She wouldn't have wanted their demise, especially as a result of her own. She was passionate about animals, was an environmentalist and was also planning to volunteer at the Toronto Wildlife Centre in the coming months," ...

For almost a century, the old dog has traversed landscapes across the United States, with weary, budget-conscious travelers peeking out of its windows. Now, the iconic Greyhound is taking to the road in Britain. The company will run hourly bus services from London to select cities, starting Monday. In contrast to its U.S. services, however, the buses are glitzier and more luxurious. "The UK service will have wireless Internet, spacious leather seats, more leg room and free newspapers," said Alex ...

The term "dirty money" is for real. In the course of its average 20 months in circulation, U.S. currency gets whisked into ATMs, clutched, touched and traded perhaps thousands of times at coffee shops, convenience stores and newsstands. And every touch to every bill brings specks of dirt, food, germs or even drug residue. Research presented this weekend reinforced previous findings that 90 percent of paper money circulating in U.S. cities contains traces of cocaine. "When I was ...

The American Psychological Association concluded Wednesday that there is little evidence that efforts to change a person's sexual orientation from gay or lesbian to heterosexual are effective. In addition, the 138-page report -- covering 87 peer-reviewed studies -- said that such efforts may cause harm. "Contrary to claims of sexual orientation change advocates and practitioners, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation," said Judith M. Glassgold, chairwoman of the task force that ...

With its awful name and convoluted rules, the cash-for-clunkers program might well have been a flop, yet it turned into a surprising success, even inspiring many of its critics to call for an additional $2 billion in funding. One big reason: the program boosted July 2009 sales of new cars and trucks, giving the economy a bit of a lift. Some of the biggest gains during July were posted by small foreign carmakers such as ...