CBC NEWS: July 16,2010:T he RCMP said Friday they have found an SUV belonging to an Alberta couple who were last seen on July 3.

Investigators are conducting a forensic examination of the Hyundai Tucson vehicle. Police have not said where it was found as the location is considered a crime scene.

"We consider this foul play," RCMP Assistant Commissioner Peter Hourihan said earlier Friday afternoon about the disappearance of Lyle McCann, 78, and his wife, Marie McCann, 77.

The McCanns left St. Albert, Alta., on July 3 headed for British Columbia and have not been seen since that day.

RCMP call Travis Edward Vader, 38, a person of interest in the case of a missing couple from Alberta. (RCMP)

The discovery of the SUV comes two hours after police announced they were looking for a specific "person of interest," considered dangerous, in the case.

Police said they want to know the whereabouts of Travis Edward Vader, 38, of no fixed address. Police are not calling him a suspect and they say they just want to talk to him.

Vader has multiple outstanding warrants on unrelated matters and is known to be in possession of firearms, Hourihan said.

Hourihan said Vader should be considered dangerous and people should not approach him. He said they should simply contact police if they have information about Vader, who also has a history of drug abuse.

The McCanns were using a 1999 green-and-white Gulf Stream Sun Voyager recreational vehicle and towing the SUV. They intended to be in Abbotsford, B.C., to meet their daughter at the airport on July 10 but never arrived.

The RV was found on fire at the Minnow Lake campground near Edson, Alta., on July 5 but the SUV, bearing Alberta licence plate ZPK 289, was missing.

Marie Ann McCann and Lyle Thomas McCann were last seen July 3. (RCMP)

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Hourihan also addressed criticism about the RCMP investigation. Police didn't launch an investigation into the McCanns' disappearance until five days after their burned RV was found.

It was also revealed Thursday that the RCMP didn't take contact information from a father and daughter from Prince George who reported seeing a Hyundai Tucson SUV in the B.C. city on July 8.

"A couple of mistakes have been made. I acknowledge that." Hourihan said. He admitted police were "a bit slow in getting going" after the motorhome was found because information wasn't passed on.

An internal review is underway and one RCMP officer in Edson has been placed on administrative duties because of the information foul-up, Hourihan said. Police have received more than 100 tips in the investigation.

CBC NEWS: July 16,2010: A Calgary man was among the at least 29 people killed in a fire in a five-storey hotel in Sulaimaniyah, northern Iraq, the company he worked for confirmed in a statement Friday.

"We are deeply saddened to confirm reports that eight Terraseis employees died in the fire," Terraseis International said in its statement.

The Dubai-based company conducts geophysical surveys, often used in oil exploration and production, and its employees were in Iraq doing sub-contract work for Calgary-based Talisman Energy.

The other Terraseis employees killed were from several different countries, including South Africa, the U.K. and Venezuela.

Firemen try to put out a fire at Soma Hotel in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya, about 260 kilometres northeast of Baghdad. (Sherko Raouf/Reuters)

Terraseis chairman Kevin Plintz confirmed to CBC that the Canadian killed was from Calgary. Plintz also said two other Canadians are being treated for smoke inhalation.

The fire in the Soma Hotel began late Thursday night and was likely sparked by an electrical short, the local chief of police, Brig. Gen. Najim-al-Din Qadir, said. The investigation is still underway but officials have said it was not an act of terrorism.

Qadir said the dead included people from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Canada, Ecuador, Venezuela and China, with some working for foreign oil companies.

Many died of smoke inhalation

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Neil Arun, a journalist based in Iraq, said at least 40 people were hurt, and most of the casualties were believed to have died from smoke inhalation.

"A lot of the people also seem to have died after trying to leave their rooms, after trying to jump from their windows," Arun said Friday.

Marwan Assad, a Kurd with dual British citizenship, said he came to the hotel to visit two friends but never made it to their room. He said the fire broke out when he was on the third floor and smoke quickly enveloped the hallway, forcing him to stumble blindly in search of a way out.

"I saw an open door and a man lying dead in the room because he suffocated from the smoke," Assad said at Sulaimaniyah Emergency Hospital, where he was about to undergo surgery for breaks to both his legs. "I entered the room and threw myself from the window."

Sulaimaniyah fire department head Brig. Yadgar Mohammed Mustafa confirmed that many of the victims succumbed to smoke inhalation. He said the lack of fire escapes contributed to the high death toll.

Farouq Mulla Mustafa, general director of the AsiaCell mobile phone company, said four of the company's engineers from the Philippines, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Cambodia were among the dead.

Sulaimaniyah, located 260 kilometres northeast of Baghdad, is the commercial capital of Iraq's Kurdish region and the region's second largest city.

Wind backs off targeting Rogers

CBC NEWS: July 16,2010: Wind Mobile has backed off targeting Rogers with a promotion that seeks to lure its customers specifically, with Bell and Telus now included in the deal.

The upstart wireless carrier on Thursday announced a promotion that offered Rogers customers - including those on its Fido and yet-to-be-launched Chatr brands - a $150 credit for taking their business to Wind. The deal, a continuation of a promotion previously aimed at all three major carriers, is intended to alleviate the early termination fees some customers face when cancelling their existing contracts.

On Friday, Wind applied the offer to customers of all carriers. Scott Campbell, chief marketing officer for Wind, said the deal was expanded because customers asked for it.

"Yes, the offer was in the spirit of competition and is for all of Rogers' customers, no matter which of the myriad of Rogers' brands they come from," he said. "But Wind is about listening to customers and customers of other carriers told us they were interested, so we'll honour their requests, too."

Rogers is launching its new Chatr brand at some point this summer to compete with new carriers that are offering unlimited services, including Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile.

Amit Kaminer, an analyst for The SeaBoard Group telecommunications consultancy, had said Wind's initial move against Rogers was a counter to Chatr.

"From a marketing perspective, it aims to bind the three Rogers brands together such that consumers are made aware that all three names are radiating from the same wireless tower," he said.

Rumours emerged this week, however, that Bell may also be planning to offer low-cost unlimited services through its Solo brand, and if that happens, Telus could be forced to follow suit.

Mobilicity chairman John Bitove has harshly criticized Rogers' Chatr plan and said he intends to file a complaint with the Competition Bureau if the brand's launch goes ahead. Bitove has said the Competition Act expressly prohibits the launch of flanker brands that are designed to undermine competitors.

Public Mobile said Rogers will only end up hurting itself in the long run by starting up another discount brand.

"Rogers can't afford to start re-pricing their existing customers," said spokesperson Lisa Pappas. "By launching Chatr, Rogers has created risk for themselves, and benefited us by legitimizing the market segment we are focused on."

A spoonful of Sugar

Canadian comic Sugar Sammy conquers the world one joke at a time.

Montreal-born Indo-Canadian comedian Sugar Sammy is playing the Toronto Just For Laughs Festival this week. (Just For Laughs)

CBC NEWS: July 7, 2010 : Sugar Sammy's stand-up resume reads like a Rand McNally atlas. The 34-year-old comic arrives in Toronto for this week's Just for Laughs festival on the heels of a gig in Saudi Arabia. Over the past few years he's travelled constantly, performing in far-flung locales like Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ireland, Hong Kong, Thailand, the U.S. and India.

Sugar Sammy's comedic resume reads like a Rand McNally atlas - he's played everywhere from Saudi Arabia to Ireland to India to the U.S.

Thanks largely to his facility in four languages, Sammy – born Samir Khullar in Montreal's ethnically diverse Côte-des-Neiges district – has crafted a career with massive market reach. He grew up speaking Punjabi with his family, and learned Hindi primarily from Bollywood films. English was the language he spoke with his friends and, despite his protestations, Sammy was sent to a French school. As a result, he learned how to connect with a wide range of audiences.

Chatting with him during a recent phone interview, it's easy to see how he earned the nickname "Sugar Sammy" at McGill University – smooth and unfailingly polite, he doesn't seem at all stressed out by his whirlwind schedule, or the inherent difficulties of tweaking material for assorted corners of the planet.

"I treat every market differently," he explains. "Different cultures have different reference points and sensibilities. For me, it always involves going to a country and figuring it out. Sitting there with the promoter or the kitchen staff or the concierge, figuring out what works and what doesn't. I'll just say, 'Look, I'm a foreigner, I just got here. What themes can I explore?'"

Sammy's routines focus primarily on his dating life, observations about race and his family – his father's ongoing struggle to understand the world wide web is rich comic fodder. Here's a sample joke about English Canada: "There aren't a lot of coloured people in Thunder Bay. You know you're in a white town when the hotel cleaning staff is white."

In one of his early bits, Sammy lamented the lack of glamorous media archetypes for Indo-Canadians: "Every ethnicity's got their role models on TV, right? Hispanic people got Antonio Banderas, who's suave, debonaire. Chinese people have Jackie Chan, who can whip some ass... Black people got Denzel, who's like the sex symbol. Who do we have, man? We got Apu from the goddamn Simpsons."

Sammy was influenced by black American stand-ups who also made race a big part of their acts: Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence. "Eddie Murphy is probably my favourite of all time. I love how fresh and young and unafraid he was to tackle things. He just had a smoothness about him on stage. You wanted to be him. He was in control. I think he's been a huge influence in terms of the way I deliver my material as well."

Although Sammy's English-language material isn't as controversial (or as laden with F-bombs) as Murphy's, he takes a slightly more incendiary approach in French. He grew up in Montreal – and still lives with his parents on the rare occasions when he visits his home province – but initially focused on English gigs there. He's only recently started to make a foray into Quebec's French-speaking market. Last summer, Sammy caused a media ruckus at a French-language Juste pour rire/Just for Laughs gala in Montreal. The source of the controversy was this joke: "There are two kinds of Quebecers: Those who are educated, cultivated and well-raised – and those who voted Yes."

"It was very good," he recalls of his referendum gag. "It was taking on the separatists. And no one's done it to their faces. Every other Anglo's done it the other way around, going to an English audience and talking about Quebec separation. A lot of Montreal comics have done that. But to go in front of [a largely] separatist audience and say that was another challenge. And that's what made news.

"It was just kind of me going in and shaking things up and being funny. It's like poking fun at your friends." He delivered the infamous line with a smile, an indication that he wasn't going for the jugular.

The risk paid off. The federalist Sammy recently did some shtick with Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois on Le Gala Les Olivier, an award show for Quebec comedians. Clearly, his French-language profile has risen.

"In English Canada, I talk about my family, my personal stuff. Whereas in Quebec, the first thing you've got to talk about is, 'Well, what's my place in this society? What comes to mind right away when I'm talking to these people?' It has to go that way. If it doesn't, then I feel like I'm cheating myself, and I'm not saying what I want to say."

Make no mistake, this business-savvy guy has a plan. Like most comedians who attain a certain level of success, Sammy is hoping to make the transition to TV and film work. And, of course, the globetrotting will continue.

Sugar Sammy strikes a pose at the 2008 Cracker Comedy Festival in Sydney, Australia. (Gaye Gerard/Getty Images)

For someone who's done so well in the often brutal world of stand-up, Sammy seems exceptionally well-adjusted. His desire to tell jokes doesn't appear to come from the dark recesses of a troubled soul: "I'm not looking for anything else when I'm out there. I love making people laugh – that's the number one thing, that's my passion."

His parents had no problem with his career choice, and are thrilled with his success. Now if only his father could figure out the internet. "He doesn't know how it works," says Sammy. "I was looking at YouTube, just checking out some of my clips and the comments. He came in and saw me and said, 'Oh wow, they're playing you on the internet again? They're playing you a lot!'"

Sugar Sammy performs at the Toronto Just for Laughs festival on July 9 and 10.

Greig Dymond writes about the arts for CBC News.

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