National News

TORONTO - Calling it "urgent" that the city's beleaguered mayor address the crack video scandal raging around him, Toronto's deputy mayor said Friday residents are becoming increasingly concerned about the situation.

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. has agreed to sell its Allstream business telecommunications arm to an Egyptian investment group and use about half of the proceeds to reduce its pension obligations and debt.

MONTREAL - National Bank (TSX:NA) announced Friday it was hiking its dividend and buying back some of its shares as it reported a second-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates by a wide margin.

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. - The Washington State Patrol has confirmed that an Edmonton-area trucker was at the wheel of a semi that struck a bridge on a busy interstate highway, sending part of the span thundering into a river below.

MONTREAL - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Qatar has abandoned an effort to move the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization out of Montreal.

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a British Columbia judge who copied most of his ruling in a medical negligence case from the written submissions of the plaintiff.

MONTREAL - A huge boil-water advisory affecting 1.3 million people in Montreal, described by local officials as unprecedented in the recorded history of the city, was lifted late Thursday.

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. has agreed to sell its Allstream business telecommunications arm to an Egyptian investment group and use about half of the proceeds to reduce its pension obligations and debt.

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (TSX: MBT) has agreed to sell its national telecommunications arm, Allstream, to Accelero Capital Holdings. Winnipeg-based MTS says the deal values Allstream at $520 million. The deal is subject to certain conditions but it's expected to close later this year.