Montrealer Daniel Lemay has been selling Christmas trees on the streets of Manhattan for the past nine years, cultivating a regular clientele in the process. However, the U.S. kept him out this year on the grounds that he's taking jobs away from Americans.

From the AP via IHT:

A man dressed as Santa Claus was knocked unconscious by a thrown object while he was riding in a parade on the back of a truck decorated as a sleigh.

"One second I was up there waving to people, and the next minute I wasn't," Kevin Smith said.

The blow Saturday broke his nose and gave him a concussion and two black eyes.

Other volunteers realized something was wrong after they had not heard from Smith for a few minutes. They stopped the truck and found him lying unconscious.

"It pretty much cold-cocked him," fire Lt. Scott Himelspach said.

From The Globe and Mail:

Employers aren't making much progress on the employee (dis)engagement front: 15 per cent of Canadian working stiffs report that their jobs are “extremely boring,” according to a survey released Thursday.

Almost 30 per cent say they are stuck in dead-end jobs, and 38 per cent consider their job as “just a way to make money, rather than a career,” Royal Bank of Canada found in a poll of 2,052 Canadians conducted on its behalf.

Only 36 per cent told the polling firm, Ipsos Reid, that they are “very satisfied” with their jobs – down significantly from the 49 per cent who were very satisfied when RBC tested the mood of Canadian employees a decade ago.

John Barber's column in today's Globe and Mail is about a study that confirms the obvious: Toronto has evolved into three cities: The wealthy, the poor -- and with middle incomers simply disappearing.

From AP via CTV.ca:

Al Qaeda has invited journalists to send questions to its No. 2 figure, Ayman al-Zawahri, in the first such offer by the increasingly media-savvy terror network to "interview" one of its leaders since the 9-11 attacks.