■CANADA
Election talk heats up
One of the opposition parties said on Tuesday it would not support the minority Conservative government in an expected confidence vote next month that could trigger a national election. An election call could come as early as late next month if the main opposition Liberal Party decides to propose a motion of non-confidence. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative party needs support from at least one of the three opposition parties to stay in power. New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton met Harper on Tuesday and said it would be the least likely party to prop up the Conservatives.
■UNITED STATES
Hotel offers X-rated view
Some guests at a New York City hotel near an elevated park have been offering unobstructed views of themselves. Guests at the Standard Hotel in Manhattan keep failing to close the curtains as they frolic naked in front of their rooms’ floor-to-ceiling windows, easily viewed from the newly opened High Line park on an old elevated railway below. The park recently opened atop an abandoned elevated rail line. City Council speaker Christine Quinn has called the hotel’s window action “unacceptable.” Aaron Lipman works in the neighborhood and says the shows are “healthy and fun.” He said they were like TV’s Wild Kingdom.
■UNITED STATES
Microsoft issues apology
Software giant Microsoft
Corp is apologizing for altering a photo on its Web site to change the race of one of the people shown in the picture. A photo on the Seattle-based company’s Web site shows two men, one Asian and one black, and a white woman seated at a conference room table. But on the Web site of Microsoft’s Polish business unit, the black man’s head has been replaced with that of a white man. The color of his hand remains unchanged. The photo editing sparked criticism online. Some bloggers said Poland’s ethnic homogeneity may have played a role in changing the photo.
■UNITED STATES
Google courts drivers
Google on Tuesday invited motorists to share their progress — or lack thereof — with other drivers through the Internet giant’s online mapping service linked to smart phones. Google Maps is being enhanced this week to combine feedback from individual drivers with other traffic information to let people know which roads are likely to get them to their intended destinations the quickest. “It takes almost zero effort on your part,” Google Maps product manager Dave Barth said in a message on the California technology titan’s Web site. “Just turn on Google Maps for mobile before starting your car and the more people that participate, the better the resulting traffic reports get for everybody,” he said.
■MEXICO
Seized weapons destroyed
The army and prosecutors announced on Tuesday that they started destroying 79,074 firearms seized a decade or more ago. They will hold on to tens of thousands more weapons seized during the current offensive against drug cartels. Authorities launched the program by destroying some weapons at a ceremony at a military base in Mexico City. The weapons being destroyed have all been held at government warehouses for years. The Defense Department said it will retain a total of 35,372 firearms seized since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006, saying those guns are still evidence in criminal investigations.
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