PRESS DIGEST - Canada - Nov 3

Nov 3 (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:

- While thousands of Canadians line up for H1N1 vaccinations and people around the world worry about the spread of the virus, the pandemic is proving to be a financial windfall for many big corporations.

- Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai welcomed his re-election by default Tuesday and reached out to opponents, promising to create a government of national participation and banish corruption that has undermined his administration.

BUSINESS:

- A little-known numbered company inside CanWest Global Communications Corp CGS.TO is now at the heart of a major legal battle between Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) and the powerful bondholders controlling the media company.

Goldman is attacking the distressed funds that control Canada's largest media company and asking the courts to rebuild barriers that separate CanWest's profitable specialty television from its parent.

- For the first time since 1964, automakers are on pace to produce fewer vehicles in Canada than they sell here -- a development that has alarmed the Canadian Auto Workers union and underscores how badly the severe slump in the U.S. market has hammered Canada's largest manufacturing industry.

NATIONAL POST:

- A year after winning landslide victories in the 2008 presidential and congressional campaigns, Democrats are struggling to avoid defeat on Tuesday in a trio of off-year elections touted as an early test of Americans' patience with Barack Obama.

FINANCIAL POST:

- A landmark investigation by the federal Competition Bureau may dramatically change the way homes are bought and sold in Canada.

The Canadian Real Estate Association has informed its members that a two-year inquiry by the Competition Bureau has been completed and that significant changes to their practices have been requested.