The European Union and Canada have been discussing a trade deal that could be worth up to 26.5 billion Euros (US$38.2 billion) a year. Canadian and EU leaders will officially launch negotiations at their Montreal summit on Oct. 17, three days after Canadian federal election.

The Canadian Globe and Mail reports:

Trade Minister Michael Fortier and his staff have been engaged for the past two months with EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and the representatives of European governments in an effort to begin what a senior EU official involved in the talks described in an interview yesterday as "deep economic integration negotiations."

On Tuesday, human rights lawyer Salih Mahmoud Osman received the European Parliament's 2007 Sakharov Prize, in Strasbourg, where he again accused the Sudanese government of waging a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Darfur and called upon European governments to send soldiers to the region.

The murder of Alisher Sayipov, a 26-year-old freelance journalist, has brought worldwide reaction and calls on the Kyrgyz government to find those responsible.

Reporters Without Borders reports that Sayipov was gunned down on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. outside the premises of Radio Free Europe in the centre of Osh, a city on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border.

The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought annually since 1988. It honours individuals or organizations for their efforts on behalf of human rights and against oppression and injustice. Previous recipients include Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and the Belarusian Association of Journalists.

The European Space Agency has reported that the area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to its lowest level since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years ago.