Loonie beats back bears to top 74 cents US in 'Revenant

interest rates at a time when Canada's economy seemed stalled. There were plenty of naysayers predicting deep economic gloom ahead. In mid January, the dollar dipped below 69 cents US.

But it's sprung back in the past two weeks.

National Bank economists Stfane Marion and Krishen Rangasamy believe the loonie is headed for 76 cents by the end of the year, though all currencies will be volatile throughout 2016.

"Mauled by bears and left for dead just a few weeks ago, the Canadian dollar is now back with a vengeance," they wrote in a report today, saying Leo DiCaprio should be impressed by the loonie's "Revenant like performance."

In the movie The Revenant, DiCaprio plays a frontiersman who survives a bear attack in which he was left for dead. dollar has helped the loonie recover.Sonosite Ultrasound Probe  But markets also have started to question whether the Bank of Canada needs to cut interest rates again, they said.

Oil and markets up

There are hopes that Ottawa's fiscal stimulus will be enough to boost the economy and that oil will recover at least to $40 US.

Oil was having a good day on Tuesday,Aloka Ultrasound Probe after Russia said it was close to a deal with OPEC that could put a cap on production.

West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark North American contract, rose 58 cents to $34.34 US a barrel, a two month high.

The TSX was ahead 112 points to 12,972 at the close.Sonosite Ultrasound Probe Energy stocks strengthened and financial shares advanced after Scotiabank turned in a rise in quarterly profit.

Much of the optimism came from Canada's fourth quarter GDP report. Growth in the quarter was a scant 0.8 per cent, but that was well ahead of expectations and pushed full year growth to 1.2 per cent.

The main drag on the Toronto index came from Valeant shares, which sank after the company revealed it faces a Securities Exchange Commission probe.

'Beenomics' researchers help beekeepers breed custom bees

SubscriptionsGo to the Subscriptions Centre to manage your:My ProfileThe Beenomics Project is headed by Amro Zayed at Toronto's York University and Leonard Foster at the University of British Columbia. It's aimed at developing tools that would allow beekeepers to read the genetic code of individual bee colonies and find out how they compare for certain traits. They would then breed the bees to select for particular qualities, vr headset such higher honey production, better disease resistance and the ability to survive the winter."Winter is a big one," Zayed told CBC's The Current.Last year, almost of half of Ontario's honeybee colonies didn't make it through the winter, he said. On average, about a quarter of honeybee colonies across Canada die before spring."If a colony's been dealing with a lot of pathogens and pests   if they're already stressed   they might not have enough energy resources in terms of honey to get over this very long winter of ours," Zayed saidHear the full interview on The CurrentBeekeepers have already come up with a list of 12 traits they're interested in improving. vr headset In addition to those already mentioned, they include lower aggression and better hive hygiene   the tendency for bees to groom parasites like mites off each other, preventing disease.These aren't as easy to breed for as, say, the size and coat colour in dogs and cats, but the good news is they're almost all partly controlled by genetics, Zayed says.Next summer, researchers across Canada will measure those traits in 1,000 honeybee colonies across the country and sequence their genomes to figure out which genes control specific traits. Researchers will also be looking at the role of different proteins found in bee tissues.The findings won't be used to create a single super bee in the lab. Instead, the information can be used by beekeepers to create their own custom breeds, Zayed said."We're just creating a set of tools that beekeepers can use to propagate the bees that do best in their conditions and where they live," he said.Despite the evidence that honeybees can be harmed by exposure to pesticides, vr headset pesticide resistance is a trait that the researchers won't be looking at. Zayed says beekeepers would rather that pesticides be regulated   something that would also protect wild bees   than breed honeybees to resist something that wild bees can't.

London police probe massive

Police in Rome have arrested three men suspected of plotting a bank robbery after staff at a bank branch in the city tipped them off to an "anomaly" in the flooring, under which a tunnel was found. Police staked out the building on foot of the alert, and arrested the first suspect early on the morning of February 29. Some of that work is seen in this video. Credit: Facebook/Questura di Roma

London (AFP) Thieves may have got away with a record haul of diamonds after a brazen heist in London's diamond district netted an estimated 200 million worth (275 million euro, $300 million) of gems, Cephasonic Ultrasound Probe  media reported Wednesday.

Burglars broke into a vault at a safe deposit centre in Hatton Garden, where many jewellers had left their stocks over the long Easter weekend, and cracked open 70 secure boxes, the police said.

Earlier reports put the number of boxes raided at 300.

A security guard heard an alarm go off on Friday, a bank holiday when the shops would have been closed, but shut it off when he failed to spot any sign of a disturbance, media reported Wednesday.

The Sun newspaper quoted a Hatton Garden insider saying: "It is estimated that around 200 million in diamonds,Cephasonic Ultrasound Probe jewels and cash were stolen."

Hatton Garden is the centre of London's jewellery industry and has been home to hundreds of shops and manufacturers since the 19th century. The De Beers diamond company also has offices there.

A forensic expert arrives at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Limited on April 7, 2015 in London (AFP jeweller, Michael Miller, feared he may have lost up to 50,000 of uninsured jewellery and watches in the raid, only discovered Tuesday after the holiday break which coincided with Passover, when many of the area's Jewish diamond cutters and dealers were also away.

"There is a double door entry and a locked system to go in. You have to go through two doors to get in the place and then get into the vault," he told reporters.

He added: "I have a collection of watches I was going to give my son and that is irreplaceable."

Another, Norman Bean, added that he was "shaken" and "devastated".

Reports suggested that the thieves may have hidden inside the building, emerging after staff went home to abseil down a lift shaft and smash into the vault.

A man leaves the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Limited on April 7, 2015 in London (AFP Photo/Niklas Hal of the London police's Flying Squad the unit which deals with heists and armed robberies are investigating.

Roy Ramm, a former Flying Squad commander,Cephasonic Ultrasound Probe told the BBC that the raid had a "certain old fashioned audacity about it".

But he added that the true value may never be fully revealed and suggested that, as well as legitimate items of jewellery, items kept in such vaults could include firearms and drugs.22 Year Old Transgender Woman Dies After Ingesting Seeds Purchased Online for $5: Watched My Kid Die, Says MomPeoplePhotos.