Stretch of Osborne closed as firefighters battle blaze

The Winnipeg Free Press reported that a young couple who just moved into a suite above Ronald's Fine Shoes on Osborne Street are lucky to be alive, because they managed to escape before fire destroyed the building early Monday morning.

It was reported that the couple heard the alarm at just after 4:30 in the morning.

 They were the only occupants at the time, having moved last Thursday.

Alexandra French said the alarm was more like a "buzzing" and hard to hear. Schmid said he would have slept through the alarm if it hadn't been for his girlfriend.

There were two other suite but they weren't occupied at the time. One was vacant and the occupant of the other was working a night shift.

Police had closed Osborne in both directions near the intersection to vehicles and pedestrians.
There is no word yet on the cause of the fire, or a damage estimate

City fire crews now have extinguished the fire which destroyed the two-storey building in the 600 block of Osborne. The store and suites above it sustained heavy fire, smoke and water damage. There appear to have been no injuries.

Mike Hancock denies that his assistant is a Russian Spy

The Home Office said it did not routinely comment on individual cases, nor would it confirm deportation moves.

Many believed to be  the very first time since the Cold War ended that someone working in Parliament has been accused of  spying for the Russians.

According to the Sunday Times, Katia Zatuliveter, 24, was arrested on the orders of MI5 over espionage claims. She has been working for Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock, who said she had done nothing wrong and would appeal.

A Russian working as a parliamentary aide to a British MP has been taken into custody to face deportation proceedings amid claims she is a spy.

But a security source is said to have told the Sunday Times that Ms Zatuliveter's presence was not "conducive to national security", and the intention was to "show her the door".

Mr Hancock said he was standing by Ms Zatuliveter. He said she had told him she had not seen any evidence against her.

"Nobody has shown me any evidence to support the view that she is any way a threat to the UK," he said. "If she was a threat, when they stopped her in August, they could have removed her then." Mr Hancock said she had been arrested at 7:00 AM (GMT) on Thursday and was subject to a deportation order.

"She was taken away and held in a detention centre in London, and then transferred to another detention centre where she is putting her appeal together," he said.