Transit of Mercury: How to see the May 9 event across Canada

Mercury transits the Sun in 2006.

On May 9, the smallest and closest planet to the sun, Mercury, will slide across the face of the sun. And you can see it for yourself.

From our perspective here on Earth, we can see only two planets cross the face of the sun: Mercury and Venus (as they are the two most inner planets from our vantage point).

When a planet passes in front of a star (or even a moon crosses in front of a planet), it’s called a transit (this is also one of the methods astronomers use to find planets orbiting other stars).

The transit of Venus seen on June 6, 2012 in Tel Aviv.

While transits of Venus are quite rare (they occur once every eight years and then don’t occur for another 105), that’s not the case for Mercury. There are about 13 transits every 100 years for the tiny planet. The last time Mercury dotted the sun was in 2006; the next time will be be in 2019.

This year, Canada is in a prime location to catch the Mercury transit.

From the coast of British Columbia to roughly Regina, Sask., the transit will have already begun when the sun rises. But east of there, the entire event — which takes more than seven hours —will be visible.

It’s important to remember that you should never look at the sun directly. But here are some ways you can watch the transit for yourself.

Locally

In order to see the tiny black disk of Mercury against the bright backdrop of the sun, you’ll need to look through a telescope with a special filter. Fortunately there are organizations around the country that have set up events with these types of telescopes.

You can watch the transit of Mercury in Montreal at the Space for Life, beginning at 7 a.m.

In Toronto, you can see it at several places. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) will hold events at the Ontario Science Centre and the David Dunlap Observatory (in Richmond Hill) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can also catch it at York University from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In southwestern Ontario, Western University will also hold an event from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In Edmonton, you can watch it at the Telus World of Science beginning at 6 a.m.

In Sechelt, British Columbia, the Sunshine Coast Centre of the RASC will have its observatory open for the transit, after the sun rises at 5:30 a.m.

Check your local science centres and astronomical groups for other events near you.

Online

If you’re unable to attend an event (or there isn’t one) near you, there’s always the internet.

Both Slooh  and The Virtual Telescope Project will broadcast the transit beginning at 7 a.m. ET.

Fingers crossed that the weather co-operates. It is quite interesting to see such a tiny planet, 100 million km away, in such an unusual way.

Former Spice Girls manager claims Posh Spice was ‘uncomfortable’ being part of the band

The Spice Girls former manager claims Posh Spice felt 'uncomfortable' in the Spice Girls.

Spice Girls former manager Simon Fuller is claiming that Victoria Beckham “always felt uncomfortable” being part of the band.

Fuller, who worked with the group through the peak years of their success, believes the 42-year-old only found her “true vocation” when she quit music and ventured into the fashion industry.

The 55-year-old explained,

“Victoria, coming out of the Spice Girls, being married to David Beckham, launched a solo career. She never felt comfortable. Even in the Spice Girls – it was great fun, she was in the world’s biggest group for two or three years – but she didn’t feel comfortable.”

After the split of the girl band, Beckham released her own self-titled debut album in 2001 (it contained 12 tracks).

A review of the eponymous compilation critiqued it as,

“A mish-mash affair of gushy sentiment and wishy-washy RnB. Whereas her fellow Spice’s found a natural progression for their sounds, Posh’s long awaited debut pulls no surprises as formulaic, cringy pop.”

While speaking at the Business Innovation Awards in Los Angeles, where he was named entrepreneur of the year, Fuller added,

“When the Spice Girls broke up, she had a few songs as a solo artist but she wasn’t happy and she said to me ‘Simon, I just don’t want to do music any more. What do you think I should do?'”

The creator of the Idol franchise went on to mention,

“It was one of those things that you get this kind of clarity of vision. I’ve known Victoria since she was 18 and her passion in life was always clothes. She was called Posh Spice because she always wore the best dresses and she knew everything about clothes.

“I said ‘You should be in fashion. You should be a designer.'”

Victoria Beckham went on to become a successful model, gracing the cover of magazines such as Vogue. She also created her own clothing line titled, Victoria by Victoria Beckham.

The now fashion guru was just named the world’s best-dressed traveller by British Airways. Placing second was Amal Clooney and third was Kendall Jenner.

There have been plans for a Spice Girls tour to mark the group’s 20th anniversary this year, but Posh Spice has announced she will not take part.

In January her rep said that, “she has been very respectful about the fabulous time they had together in the past, however, her focus is now very much her family and fashion business.”

Sporty Spice, a.k.a Mel C., also dropped out of the reunion talks. She’s released six solo albums since leaving the girl group in 1998.

Scary Spice, a.k.a. Mel B., confirmed on an Allegedly podcast that the remaining group members were in the middle of planning a 20th anniversary tour.

“It’s a never-ending question. The thing is we are in the talks with each other, closely about this reunion.”

The entire group last performed together during the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.

Former Masters champ Bernhard Langer joins Shaw Charity field

Bernhard Langer, of Germany, hits out of a bunker on the second green during the third round of the Masters golf tournament Saturday, April 9, 2016, in Augusta, Ga.

Less than a month ago Bernhard Langer was in contention at the Masters, despite being more than three decades older than most of his competition.

Thursday Langer, twice a Masters winner, announced he was coming back to Calgary for the Shaw Charity Classic. Langer last played in Calgary in 2014 and joins golf legend Tom Watson, who was announced recently, as two of the big early names who will tee it up in the tournament.

Langer is one of the most successful Champions Tour players in history, having won 26 times including five senior majors titles: 2015 Constellation Senior Players Championship, Constellation Senior Players Championship, and The Senior Open Championship in 2011, along with both the U.S. Senior Open and The Senior Open Championship in 2010.

At 58, Langer says the quality of play on the Champions Tour is underrated, and as a reference he points out the great players who haven’t managed the success many expected from them after they hit the half century mark.

“Take a player like Vijay Singh who has played a bunch of events and hasn’t won or Davis Love, who hasn’t won, or even one of the most competitive players in history, Corey Pavin, who has only won once,” says Langer. “Or player like Ben Crenshaw—how many has he won? It is simple—these are great players who have been great for many years and they know how to win. And there are only 81 players out here each week and it is very competitive because of the numbers. You have thousands of over-50 players out there and only the best of the best will win.”

Langer is one of a handful of golfers who have continued to excel on both the regular tours and the Champions Tour well after their 50th birthday. Two years ago, when he first appeared in Calgary for the Shaw Charity Classic, he was being tipped as a potential pick for the Ryder Cup. It didn’t happen, but Langer has a sense of why he’s remained at the top of his game when others witness their skills decline.

“People point to my fittest, but I’m not the fittest guy on the Champions Tour. There are guys who are in better shape,” he says. “Fitness is part of it, but you need a great game, a great short game and a mental attitude to succeed. I still love to compete and I think my technique has gotten better over the years.”

As for the Masters, Langer started the final round in striking distance of Jordan Spieth, 26 years his junior. Langer knew he’d have to go low out of the gate, and that led to some untimely errors. He finished in a tie for 24th.

“I certainly believed I could win, though I knew I was the underdog of all the guys out there,” he says. “And I was starting behind and I knew I had to have an incredible round on Sunday—maybe five-under or better—and to do that I had to be extremely aggressive and because I’m shorter than the other guys, I’m coming in with longer clubs.”

But his struggles in the final round doesn’t mean Langer is any closer to hanging it up. The game still interests him and there’s no end in sight.

“History tells you there will be a time limit sooner or later, but three things have to be in place,” he says. “I have to be healthy enough to compete at this level because if you’re not you can’t compete at this level. Secondly, I have to enjoy the game, and [third] have to have some success. But if any of those three things don’t happen, I’ll hang up my shoes and retire.”

Last year he couldn’t make it to Calgary because of scheduling challenges. But he’s keen on returning to the city this year when the tournament starts at the end of August.

“This year it fits in again and I look forward to visiting,” Langer said. “I really enjoyed it two years ago. It was a great venue, a beautiful place and the people were terrific.”

E-cigarettes 'much safer than smoking,' some experts say

Vaping not a gateway to smoking tobacco, according to British doctors' group

Smokers should be encouraged to use e-cigarettes as a safer alternative, Britain's Royal College of Physicians says in a sharp departure from other public health advice.

Thursday's report is based on expert opinion and concludes the hazards to health from inhaling e-cigarette vapours likely outweigh the harms from smoking tobacco.

The authors of "Nicotine without smoke: tobacco harm reduction" say people smoke because they are addicted to nicotine but are harmed by the tar and cancer-causing chemicals. It calls smoking the biggest avoidable cause of death and disability and social inequalities in health in the U.K.

Previously in Britain, the evidence base for the safety claim of e-cigarettes has been called an "extraordinarily flimsy foundation" with questions about conflicts of interest. 

E-cigarettes heat liquid, often containing nicotine, into vapour. Use of e-cigarettes or vaping is proposed as a lower-risk alternative to smoking .

"E-cigarettes and other non-tobacco nicotine products offer the potential radically to reduce harm from smoking in our society. This is an opportunity that should be managed and taken," epidemiology Prof. John Britton of the Royal College of Physicians and his co-authors said in a summary of the published in the BMJ.

But the long-term risks of e-cigarette use remain unknown and are likely associated with an increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and possibly cardiovascular disease, the authors of the 200-page said.

On the question of how e-cigarettes could lure young people to smoke, the British group said there hasn't been "demonstrated evidence of significant progression into smoking among young people."

But in a U.S study of those aged 16 to 26 years suggested use of e-cigarettes was associated with eight times higher odds of taking up traditional cigarette smoking. 

The ideal is for people to use nothing.- Linda Bauld

The global market for "vaping" products was estimated at around $7 billion US in 2015.

Tobacco smoking kills half of all smokers, plus at least another 600,000 people a year non-smokers through second-hand smoke.

This makes it the world's biggest preventable killer, with a predicted death toll of a billion by the end of the century, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

E-cigarettes with nicotine have not been approved for sale by Health Canada but are readily available.

Many provinces ban sales of electronic cigarettes to minors. 

The Canadian Cancer Society says seven provinces, (B.C., Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, N.S. and P.E.I.) have adopted legislation to regulate e-cigarettes by banning sales to minors, prohibiting e-cigarette use in public places and workplaces where smoking is banned, restricting advertising and promotion and other measures. 

Ontario's law on sales to minors is in effect and it has proposed a banon the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public places and plans to limit where sales are prohibited.

Some municipalities including Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto have also adopted measures to restrict e-cigarette use in public places.

The World Health Organization has also called for bans on indoor use, advertising and sales to minors.  

The Canadian Cancer Society holds a similar view. 

"This is a product category that needs appropriate regulation, to prevent use by minors, and to prevent industry marketing strategies that would impede smokers from quitting altogether. We support legislation adopted to date by seven provinces that prohibits sales to minors, that prohibits use in places where smoking is banned, and that restricts promotional activities," Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society in Ottawa, said in an emailed general comment on the U.K. report. 

Dr. Peter Selby, an addictions researcher at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, wonders why the British team is promoting e-cigarettes when there are proven alternatives, such as quit smoking programs, counselling programs and nicotine replacement patches, inhalers and lozenges. 

Other questions remain about the long-term safety of e-cigarettes. For example, e-liquid contains propylene glycol, a common food additive and flavouring. The health risks of inhaling it deep into the lungs is unknown. 

Nicotine delivered in 'cleaner form'

"The ideal is for people to use nothing," said Linda Bauld, a professor at Stirling University, deputy director of the U.K. Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies and a co-author of the RCP report.  But when the alternative is smoking, people should be encouraged to use nicotine "delivered in a cleaner form than in deadly cigarettes."

"This is what tobacco harm reduction is — it reduces the harm from tobacco while recognizing that some people will still use nicotine in other safer forms."

The anti-smoking group ASH UK welcomed the report, saying it showed "that switching to vaping is a positive and sensible life choice" for smokers.

"Electronic cigarette vapour does not contain smoke, which is why vaping is much less harmful," said Deborah Arnott, ASH's chief executive.

Loonie hits 10-month high, U.S. stocks sink

Apple shares down 3% as Carl Icahn says he has sold his stake

The loonie hit its highest level since late June 2015 on Thursday as it closed at 79.69 cents US. 

Stock markets in New York finished solidly in the red Thursday amid the latest round of disappointing data that showed U.S. economic growth retreating to levels not seen in two years.

The Dow Jones industrials plunged 210.79 points to 17,830.76, while the broader S&P 500 fell 19.34 points to 2,075.81 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 57.85 points to 4,805.29.

Shares in Apple were a major weight, sinking three per cent to $94.81 US after billionaire investor Carl Icahn told CNBC he had sold his stake in the company. A day earlier Apple reported its first revenue decline in over a decade as iPhone sales fell.

In economic news, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, grew just 0.5 per cent in the first quarter, down from 1.4 per cent growth in the fourth quarter.

The January-March performance was the poorest showing since U.S. GDP contracted by 0.9 per cent in the first three months of 2014.

"This has been a very busy week for economic results," said Colum McKinley, vice-president of Canadian equities at CIBC Asset Management.

"Investors are digesting a large number of corporate results being reported in the U.S. and part of the reaction today is just digesting and reacting to some of the that news."

Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX composite index in Toronto was flat, down 1.23 points to 13,886.43 after being propped up early by energy, gold and material stocks.

Dollar nears 80 cents

The loonie continued its recent rise, adding 0.44 of a U.S. cent to 79.69 cents US after hitting an intraday high of 79.90 cents US. The last time the Canadian dollar closed above 80 cents was on June 30, when it finished at 80.06 cents US.

The Canadian currency has gained new life from recent strength in oil prices as well as general U.S. dollar weakness that has followed Wednesday's statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve indicating it is in no hurry to raise interest rates.

Although some may consider the loonie surpassing 80 cents US a psychological threshold for more gains, McKinley said the currency will remain volatile because it is driven so heavily by crude prices.

However, McKinley noted that oil producers have been aggressively cutting capital expenditures and cutting back on production, which should have a positive effect on prices in the coming months.

On Thursday, the June contract for benchmark North American crude rose 70 cents to $46.03 a barrel US, while June natural gas faded eight cents to $2.08 US per mmBtu. July copper added a penny to $2.23 US a pound, while June gold rose $16 to $1,266.450 US a troy ounce.

Amazon shares pop as company beats revenue, profit forecasts

Amazon.com posted financial results Thursday that topped Wall Street forecasts. 

Shares of online retailer Amazon.com Inc. shot up in after-hours trading as the company blew past Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue and earnings.

Amazon reported Thursday that it made a profit of $1.07 US per share, topped the average analyst forecast of 61 cents, according to Zacks Investment Research.

The company reported revenue of $29.13 billion, ahead of the $27.94 average analyst forecast.

Investors responded by sending Amazon shares up more than 12 per cent to reach $676.80 US. During the regular trading session prior to the release of the earnings report, Amazon was down $4.57 at $602.

In a statement, CEO Jeff Bezos said sales of Amazon devices such as the Echo smart speaker and the Fire TV stick were strong, although the company does not break out specific sales figures.

Amazon's cloud-based services, called Amazon Web Services, remained another bright spot, with revenue up 64 per cent to $2.57 billion.

The company said it expects its revenue for the third quarter will come in between $28 billion and $30.5 billion. Zacks said analysts had forecast revenue of $28.14 billion.