Vice President Al Gore, who announced the decision in a speech at Ellis Island in New York, said those refugees "with close family ties in America and those who are vulnerable" will be allowed to enter the United States.

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The mood of the notoriously outspoken Venezuelan macaws on being packed off to an island where freedom of speech is a luxury can only be guessed at.

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Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney zeroed in on this point in a speech last week in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

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