PRESS DIGEST - Canada - April 7

April 7 (Reuters) - The following are top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

- Blindsided L'Aquila residents dug desperately through rubble after an early-morning earthquake killed at least 179 and left thousands homeless, while a scandal brews over a seismologist's dismissed predictions.

- The pilot of a stolen Canadian trainer plane ignored the warnings of U.S. fighter jets to land before finally putting down on a southern Missouri highway Monday night, after the plane was stolen from a Northern Ontario college and taken on a rogue flight into U.S. airspace.

- An Ontario Superior Court judge yesterday awarded the Mounties the right to unionize in a landmark decision that may have huge implications for the RCMP, its culture, and government budgets across the country.

Report on Business Section

- Canadian companies are selling bonds at the fastest pace in a year and the debt market is opening to a wider swath of borrowers, signalling a further thawing in the credit freeze. - PC makers are scrambling to crank out a new breed of thin, light laptop computers not much bigger than a paperback.

- Former Biovail Corp BVF.TO chief executive officer Eugene Melnyk says he did not tell investors the exact value of drugs destroyed in a truck accident because there was not time to sort it out in the "chaotic" days following the crash.

NATIONAL POST:

- An Italian scientist predicted a major earthquake around L'Aquila weeks before disaster struck the city Monday, killing more than 100 people, but was reported to authorities for spreading panic.

- The type of Sikorsky helicopter that crashed into the sea off Newfoundland and killed 17 people last month had earlier failed a safety test over its ability to fly with zero oil pressure in the engine.

- U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates says a shift in focus towards fighting unconventional wars such as the one in Afghanistan is reflected in a sweeping overhaul of the Pentagon's weapons priorities he proposed Monday.

Financial Post Section: - The government of Ontario, facing a record $14.1 billion deficit this year, will not provide direct aid to the province's ailing parts makers, Premier Dalton McGuinty said.

- Canadian businesses are facing the threat of tightened U.S. border regulations amid a growing concern stricter regulations aimed at Mexico would also be applied to Canada.

- Blockbuster Inc BBI.N, the largest store-based U.S. movie rental chain, said the risk that it may not complete a deal to amend its credit facilities raises "substantial doubt" about its ability to continue as a going concern, according to a securities filing on Monday. ((Compiled by Bangalore Equities Newsdesk +91 80 4135 5800; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780))