CANADA IN BRIEF

Palestinian statehood bid "meaningless’

OTTAWA (CP) — Canada will dismiss any United Nations recognition of Palestinian statehood this fall as a meaningless public relations move, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Monday.

The Palestinian Authority has been waging a long campaign to win over a majority of support in the UN General Assembly during a vote in September— a vote that could put considerable pressure on Israel and its staunchest allies such as Canada and the United States.

"We think it’s distinctly unhelpful to seek a public-relations declaration within the UN General Assembly," Baird said during a conference call with reporters. "Obviously, it would be without any meaning."

Scientists discover gonorrhea superbug

TORONTO (CP) — Scientists have discovered a strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to all currently available antibiotics.

The international research team says the superbug strain, dubbed H041, is likely to transform a once easily treatable sexually transmitted disease into a global public health threat.

Swedish researcher Dr. Magnus Unemo says the discovery is alarming but also predictable because gonorrhea has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance to drugs.

Gonorrhea is one of the most common STDs in the world and can cause infertility, increase HIV transmission and, in some cases, be fatal.

British newlyweds missing in B.C.

SMITHERS, B.C. (CP) — A search is underway in northern B.C. for a pair of British newlyweds who set out on a backcountry adventure and failed to show up for their trip home from Vancouver a week ago.

RCMP Sgt. Rob Vermeulen says the family of Ben and Caroline Davies hasn’t heard from them since June 22, when they called from Smithers to say they’d be renting some kayaks and meeting up with someone they’d recently met in the area.

Vermeulen says the couple had borrowed a relative’s pickup truck and were planning to head north towards Alaska to do some camping before going to Vancouver for their July 4 flight back to England.

Their family contacted police on Sunday.

Ben Davies is 37 and his wife is 28, and Vermeulen says they are both experienced in the outdoors.

Priest pleads guilty to abusing 13 students

QUEBEC (CP) — A priest has pleaded guilty to committing sexual crimes against young students at a seminary for more than a decade.

Rev. Raymond-Marie Lavoie pleaded guilty this morning to all charges against him at what was to be the opening day of his trial.

Lawyers are discussing what sentence Lavoie should receive.

Lavoie oversaw the dormitory in the 1970s and ’80s at the now defunct Saint-Alphonse Seminary in Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre, near Quebec City.

The Redemptorist priest was accused of sexual abuse against 13 former students.

Railway ties burn in Saint John

SAINT JOHN, N.B. (CP) — Crews in New Brunswick are trying to determine how a fire erupted overnight atop a pile of railway ties in Saint John’s west end that they say could be seen at least 10 kilometres away.

Firefighters say the blaze on the railway ties, which are covered in creosote, was reported shortly after 10:30 p.m. Sunday on Bay Street near Gault Road.

Acting district fire Chief Mark Wilson says at one point, he could see flames from Rothesay Avenue on the city’s east side. Wilson says thousands of railway ties were stored at the site.

He says there were no injuries and no homes in the area had to be evacuated.