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AFP
IMPHAL - A blast near a hub of security forces in Imphal killed 17 people and injured 20 this evening, two days after a grenade explosion near the chief minister’s office. The bomb was fitted to a two-wheeler popularly called a moped. Police suspect that the headquarters of 20 Assam Rifles, and the Manipur police commando complex 200 metres away, where personnel live with their families, were the targets. (Telegraph India)
MORE: Bomb blast in NE India
AP
CALI - Two men were shot to death Tuesday in a clash with riot police amid a burgeoning Indian protest in southwestern Colombia. The men were shot in the head and back as they sought to join thousands of Indians marching on Colombia's second-largest city, Cali. Other demonstrators said government security forces fired on the men, but Colombian authorities denied the allegation. Police claim protesters attacked them with homemade explosives. (CNN)
PREVIOUS: Indigenous peoples in Colombia
RELATED: Colombia hails end of drugs ring
LOS ANGELES - An undercover investigation that put federal agents inside the notorious Mongols motorcycle gang ended Tuesday with arrests of dozens of members on warrants ranging from drug sales to murder and a move by the government to seize the group's name. (AP)
MORE: Raid targets Mongols MC
GUINEA - The new head of Guinea's anti-drugs unit has told the BBC that some of his agents are corrupt. Police Commissioner Moussa Sackho Camara said that some suspected drugs traffickers had been freed from detention without his knowledge. He also said that when he took over in August, some junior agents had parked their limousines outside the office. (BBC)
PARIS - With some European corporate gems trading at beaten-down prices because of recent market turbulence, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on Tuesday suggested that European leaders should set up their own sovereign wealth funds to buy stakes in crucial industries to shield them from potential foreign raiders. (IHT)
PREVIOUS: FBI struggles Corporations contribute to lawmakers' pet charities Wall Street has been good for me Economic crisis Corporate Scandals
RELATED: Loonie falls under 80 cents US Euro pound pummeled World leaders invited to US for economic summit
FDA inspection system outdated
WASHINGTON - The US Food and Drug Administration's system that monitors inspections of drug manufacturing plants worldwide is outdated and inaccurate, according to a government report released on Wednesday. (Reuters)
REPORT: GAO drug safety
Poverty, inequality rates jump in Canada
OTTAWA - Poverty and inequality rates have increased rapidly in Canada since 1995, reaching levels higher than the average developed country, says a report from an international organization of 30 countries. The report, released Tuesday by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), found the gap between Canada's rich and poor widened more than in most developed countries between 1995 and 2005. (CP)
REPORT: Growing unequal
MORE: Income inequality
Seventeen countries led by France and Germany decided on Tuesday to draw up a new blacklist of tax havens which could include Switzerland, in a first step toward rewriting the rules of global finance. The world's 40-odd tax havens, such as the Cayman Islands and Jersey, are known hideaways for undeclared revenue and host many of the non-regulated hedge funds that came under fire following the recent financial meltdown.
(AFP)
Baby boomers drive up suicide rates
A new six-year analysis in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the US suicide rate rose to 11 per 100,000 people in 2005, from 10.5 per 100,000 in 1999, an increase of just under 5%. The report found that virtually all of the increase was attributable to a nearly 16% jump in suicides among people ages 40 to 64, a group not commonly seen as high-risk. The rate for that age group rose to 15.6 per 100,000 in 2005, from 13.5 per 100,000 in 1999. (Los Angeles Times)
MORE: Middle-aged women drive rise in US suicides 2.7M Canadians carrying for seniors Eroding model for US health insurance
OTTAWA - "I failed." With those words, Stéphane Dion gave up the Liberal leadership, a prize hard-won less than two years ago and lost in the wake of the worst election results for the party in 20 years. (Toronto Star)
MORE: Nice guys don't last in politics
PREVIOUS: Preliminary Results 59.1% voter turnout Results, ridings & candidates Canada: life in a banana republic
OTTAWA - The head of a $60-million commission into the bitter legacy of Canada's residential schools has quit, citing "incurable problems" with respect to his two commissioners that, he says, threaten to paralyse the process and doom it to failure. (CanWest)
MORE: Bitter finger pointing Chairman quits
PREVIOUS: Truth & Reconciliation Commission
Barlow named 1st UN water adviser
Canadian activist Maude Barlow has been appointed as the United Nation's first senior adviser on water issues, a role she hopes to use to establish water as a human right and to convince Canada to "change its shameful position" on the issue. Barlow, chair of the citizens' advocacy group Council of Canadians, will work with the current president of the UN General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. She is also co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, a group that works to protect fresh water from trade and privatization around the world.
(CBC)
PREVIOUS: Activist cash: Maude Barlow
Officials' actions contributed
OTTAWA - The actions of Canadian officials made an indirect contribution to the torture of Arab-Canadian men in Syria, a federal inquiry says. Former Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci made the finding in a 548-page report released Tuesday into the cases of Arab-Canadians Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin. (CTV)
MORE: Inquiry cites 'indirect' Canadian role
REPORT: Iacobucci inquiry
BANGKOK - A Thai court on Tuesday found ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra guilty of conflict of interest and sentenced him in absentia to two years in jail, in the first ruling against the exiled multi-millionaire. "This verdict won't change anybody's opinion. Some people think he's a corrupt crook and other people think he's unfairly persecuted," said Thai historian and author Chris Baker. (AFP)
MORE: Thaksin falls foul of courts Former Thai PM sentenced
PREVIOUS: PAD mass protest Politics of Thailand
RIYADH - Saudi authorities have indicted 991 suspected militants on charges that they participated in terrorist attacks carried out in the kingdom over the last five years, the interior minister said Tuesday. (AP)
CORRAL SPRING - Thieves in Jamaica have embarrassed police and triggered a political row by stealing a beach - and making a clean getaway. Hundreds of tonnes of white sand vanished from a planned resort on the island's north coast in July but three months later there is no sign of suspects nor sand. An estimated 500 truck-loads of sand were removed from the Corral Spring beach in Trelawny and were believed to have been sold to rival resorts, a hefty logistical feat which has stumped police. (Guardian UK)
Xinhua
SEOUL - A financially strapped South Korean man went on an arson and stabbing rampage in Seoul on Monday, leaving six people dead and seven others wounded, police said. The 31-year-old suspect, identified only by his surname, Jeong, first set fire to his room in a low-cost lodging facility in southern Seoul and then stabbed other residents with a sashimi knife while fleeing the fire, police said. Five people were stabbed to death and another died after jumping out of a window to escape the blaze, police said. Seven others were wounded, including four seriously, and the death toll could rise, according to police. (AP)
MORE: At least 2 Chinese citizens killed in Seoul
Gayle Williams
KABUL - Taliban gunmen killed a British Christian aid worker in Kabul this morning for 'spreading her religion'. Gayle Williams, 34, worked with handicapped Afghans and was killed in the western part of Kabul as she was walking to work around 8am, officials said. The gunmen, who were on a motorbike, shot Ms Williams in the body and leg with a pistol. (Daily Mail)
MORE: Mother's tribute
RELATED: UNICEF aid worker killed in Somalia
AFP
ISTANBUL - A Turkish court Monday resumed the first hearing of a case against 86 people accused of membership to a group that allegedly plotted to overthrow the country's Islamist-rooted government. In a declaration made at the restart of the hearing, the judge said separate trials would be held for those in detention and those released pending prosecution, adding each of the suspects in the Ergenekon case would be represented by a maximum of three lawyers.
(Hurriyet)
MORE: Trial against alleged plotters opens chaotically Court to hear high-profile coup case PREVIOUS: Ergenekon network
OTTAWA - A record number of Mexicans are fleeing to Canada, claiming their own country cannot keep them safe as it struggles to contain a grisly narcotics war that is spilling into nightclubs and restaurants. There are currently 9,070 Mexican refugee claimants waiting to have their cases heard, the largest number yet from one country since the Immigration and Refugee Board was established in 1989. (Globe & Mail)
PREVIOUS: Mexico under siege Cartels
AP
Hurricane Ike left another grim task when it struck last month: Its 13-foot storm surge washed an estimated 200 caskets out of their graves, ripping through most of Cameron Parish's 47 cemeteries and others in southwest Louisiana and coastal Texas. Some coffins floated miles into the marsh. At Hollywood Cemetery in Orange, Texas, Ike unearthed about 100 caskets. Dozens more were disgorged in hard-hit Galveston.
(AP)
Damian Oldfield Anthony Morley
LEEDS - A chef who murdered a boyfriend before cooking a section of his flesh with fresh herbs and olive oil and chewing a piece has been jailed for a minimum of 30 years. Former Mr Gay UK Anthony Morley, 36, from Bexley Place, Leeds, was sentenced to life in jail after he was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of murdering Damian Oldfield in April this year.
(Telegraph UK)
PREVIOUS: Chef found guilty Chef cooked boyfriend Chef found guilty of murder
GENEVA - Chocolate-flavoured body spreads sold in British sex shops have been found to be tainted with melamine, the chemical that made thousands of babies ill in China, food safety authorities said on Monday. The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) said melamine had been found in Chinese-made "I Love You" sets, sold at Ann Summers sex shops, containing chocolate and strawberry body pens and chocolate-flavoured penis and nipple spreads. (Reuters)
PREVIOUS: 2008 milk scandal 2007 pet food recalls Greed & corruption China
LONDON - Britain's Ministry of Defence on Monday made public its secret files on UFO sightings, with the dossier including a range of reports from a close encounter with a UFO over Kent and a letter from a woman claiming to be an alien warrior. The 19 different incidents were recorded between 1986 and 1992, and published on the National Archives website. (AFP)
Summit members shift focus from economy to language
QUEBEC CITY - World leaders will talk about the state of the French language on Sunday, their final day of a three-day Francophonie summit in Quebec City. The Francophonie represents 55 countries and 13 observer nations where people speak French. On Saturday, delegates unanimously backed French President Nicolas Sarkozy's call for more discussions, as well as economic reforms, to ease global financial woes.
(CBC)
MORE: Sarkozy has separatists in a tizzy Parizeau blasts Sarkozy's talk of unity
PREVIOUS: Summit to tackles human rights, economy, environment
Time to say goodbye to the CRTC era
OTTAWA - The assault on free speech and press in Canada continues on many bewildering fronts. While our "human rights" kangaroo courts have suffered recent setbacks, from having overreached in their attempts to prosecute mainstream conservative journalists, their retreat is an illusion. But the method of using regulatory commissions to silence opposition to an activist agenda is hardly restricted to "human rights." The latest power grab is through the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). (Ottawa Citizen)
MORE: CRTC calls for Digital Restrictions Management
PREVIOUS: Regulators turn to the internet Big Brother
Passports needed to buy mobile phones
LONDON - Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance. A compulsory national register for the owners of all 72m mobile phones in Britain would be part of a much bigger database to combat terrorism and crime. (Times online)
PREVIOUS: UK to store records of all calls, e-mail and internet visits Broad new 'Big Brother' surveillance powers
Doctors paid not to send patients to hospitals
LONDON - Family doctors are being paid thousands of pounds not to send their patients to hospital for specialist treatment, sparking fears over standards of care. Dozens of incentive schemes have been uncovered which allow GPs to profit by slashing the number of patients they refer for hospital care.
(Telegraph UK)
Vice mayor given suspended death penalty
Liu Zhihua
BEIJING - Beijing's former vice mayor Liu Zhihua was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes, local media reported Sunday, citing a Saturday court ruling. Liu, 59, was charged with taking bribes of about 6.97 million yuan ($1.02M) when he was vice mayor of Beijing and director of the management committee of Zhongguancun Science Park from 1999 to 2006, according to Hengshui Intermediate People's Court in neighboring Hebei Province. (Xinhua)
PREVIOUS: Beijing Olympic official sacked over corruption
RELATED: Not for publication in Canada China tightens grip on Muslims China builds Buddhism academy in Tibet
BBC
KANDAHAR - Taliban militants hijacked a bus in southern Afghanistan last week and killed as many as 40 passengers, authorities said, although only six beheaded bodies were recovered on Sunday. Kandahar provincial police chief Mutihullah Khan Qatah said there were 50 passengers aboard the bus when it was ambushed Thursday in Maiwand district. (AFP)
MORE: Taleban bus attacks
AP
MOGADISHU - Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein Sunday welcomed the arrival of seven NATO warships off the coast of his country to help in the battle against pirates in the region. Responding to a request from the United Nations, NATO defense ministers recently authorized the fleet of naval vessels to help protect UN World Food Program ships carrying relief supplies to Somalia. The WFP ships had been protected by Canadian military vessels under a temporary arrangement that expired this week. (CNN)
REPORT: CH: Piracy in Somalia
PREVIOUS: Somali pirates General crimes
PARIS - The French bank Caisse d'Epargne lost around 600 million euros ($800M) in a derivatives trading "incident" during last week's market turmoil, the company said on Friday in a statement. The dramatic loss suffered by the mutual bank, which counts almost one in two French savers as a customer, was the latest blow to confidence in a sector already ravaged by the credit crunch. (AFP)
MORE: Bank admits trading loss Unauthorized trading
IMF to investigate its director
WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is investigating whether its French director abused his power in an alleged relationship with a subordinate. The IMF said the inquiry was instigated by a long-serving governing board member, A. Shakour Shaalan of Egypt. The investigation is believed to centre on whether Mr Strauss-Kahn had a relationship with Piroska Nagy, until recently a senior IMF official.
(BBC)
MORE: IMF probes chief over tie to worker
LONDON - Strict limits are to be imposed on immigration amid fears that unemployment rises in the economic downturn will fuel racial tension. The latest figures estimate that net migration - the gap between those entering and those leaving the country - will run at more than 200,000 a year until 2012. About 70% of population growth over the next 25 years is expected to be a result of migration. (Times online)
MORE: Immigration to Britain 'will be capped'
BELFAST - Convicted killer Michael Stone stormed the Irish Parliament with enough homemade bombs to kill dozens in a rain of fire and nails. But it was all in the name of art, he says. The lifelong terrorist, now awaiting judgment in Ireland for his November 2006 raid on the Stormont Parliamentary Building in Belfast, is trying a novel defense against the attempted murder charges he's facing: His bombs were part of an innocent performance art installation and nothing more.
(Fox)
Family grapples with alleged suicide
Hayley Kohle
WINNIPEG - The family of a Manitoba model who died in Milan last week is struggling with the suggestion Hayley Kohle jumped from the balcony of her seventh-storey apartment. “My biggest question is why didn’t she come home (if she was sad),” said Bridget Kohle, the sister of Hayley Kohle, 26, who had been modeling from her Milan base for about a year. (Winnipeg Free Press)
PREVIOUS: Suicide suspected: Agency Model jumped to her death
OTTAWA - The federal government has decided to add bisphenol A to the country's list of toxic substances, a move that is likely to renew attention on the widespread use of the controversial chemical in almost all food cans sold in Canada. (Globe & Mail)
MORE: Prohibition on bisphenol A $5M donation raises questions
MONTREAL - Nicolo Rizzuto sat through his sentencing hearing with the patient look of a man who knows he'll be sleeping in his own bed for the first time in nearly two years. The octogenarian leaned forward in his chair in the prisoner's dock of the Gouin courthouse yesterday and stared at his hands as Quebec Court Judge Jean-Pierre Bonin essentially rubber-stamped a decision that sources say was made months ago.
(Montreal Gazette)
PREVIOUS: Probation Lenient sentence Project Colisee Mafia
Breaking up Government and Corporate 'Organized Crime'
As noted in the "Godfather" movie, one man with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns. The modern model of organized crime is government officials taking donations from corporations and passing special laws to assist corporations to squash competition and use the stockholder's finances to enrich themselves and friends. This mutually beneficial relationship is a replica of the methods used by criminals paying off dirty cops except the "organized crime" is happening in Washington's federal buildings, paying off government officials. (Hernando Today)
UK condemned for failure to tackle bribery
LONDON - The UK government has been strongly criticised for its "continued failure" to meet its international obligations on tackling "foreign bribery" in a damning report published today. An international watchdog called for swift measures to introduce foreign bribery legislation in Britain and to "establish effective corporate liability for bribery as a matter of high priority". The demands are made in a 75-page inquiry report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's working group on bribery. (Guardian UK)
REPORT: Phase 2 bis report on the UK .pdf
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Todd "Joe" Krantz
VANCOUVER - A well-known gangster from the Independent Soldiers who ran an extreme fighting club was gunned down just after 9pm Monday as he left his Clearbrook Road gym. Twenty-eight year-old Todd Joseph (Joe) Krantz was sprayed with gunfire in the back stairwell of his World Extreme Fighting Club in a complex on a busy strip just off the Trans-Canada Highway here. (Vancouver Sun)
MORE: Victim was facing gun, drug charges RIP Todd "Joe" Krantz IS member slain at gym
PREVIOUS: Apparent gang hit Fatal shooting Gang associate dead Man faces drug charges after suite raided where his daughter slept Gangs
Rajiv Dharamdial
BRAMPTON - A 15-year-old youth, arrested today in the stabbing death last week of a 14-year-old boy as he walked home from school, will appear in a Brampton courtroom. Rajiv Dharamdial was stabbed dead last Tuesday. He called 911 in a frantic attempt to save his life. (Toronto Star)
MORE: 15-year-old charged
PREVIOUS: Dying teen dialed 911 Teen murdered on way home from school 14-year-old victim
Traffic cop killed by alleged drunk driver
DALTON - A Toronto police officer who dedicated his career to keeping the roads safe was killed this weekend after an alleged drunk driver rear-ended his truck as he travelled in the US. Const. Randy Tallon, 50, a 20-year veteran of the Toronto police, was driving south to Florida over the weekend with his girlfriend when his vehicle was struck from behind and rolled several times. (Toronto Star)
MORE: Traffic cop killed Tallon killed in Dalton wreck
Daniel Tessier Basil Parasiris
MONTREAL - An inadequate risk assessment and a sloppy search of the federal gun registry led to the fatal shooting of Laval police officer Daniel Tessier south of Montreal, according to a report issued Wednesday by Quebec's Workplace, Health and Safety Commission. Basil Parasiris shot and killed Tessier during the botched drug raid at his home on March 2, 2007. Earlier this year a jury acquitted Parasiris, who had claimed police did not properly identify themselves and that he thought they were home invaders. (CTV)
PREVIOUS: Police
Division should stand up for itself
VANCOUVER - The RCMP has its problems but nothing justifies cowering before special interest groups. This time, it's "E" Division that's under fire from the Pivot Legal Society in a Vancouver battleground where electoral politics has nothing on the politics of supervised drug injection. (CanWest)
PREVIOUS: RCMP tactics under fire RCMP attempted to discredit Insite, Pivot says Critique of INSITE injection site Critical evaluation of the effects of safe injection facilities Vancouver crime
VPD goes after CPS for recruits
CALGARY - At a time when the Calgary Police Service is looking to boost its numbers, another police force has marched into town in an effort to shore up its own recruits. (Calgary Herald)
MORE: VPD efforts in Calgary not exactly welcome
VANCOUVER - When Tim Fanning's mother called police to say that a strange man was in her home, the first thing he did was go to her house to make sure she was all right. After an arrest was made, he called a news conference. (Globe & Mail)
Corrections Canada billed for pot
EDMONTON - Correctional Service of Canada scrambled to craft a no-pot rule for prisoners and parolees after it was hit with two surprise bills for medicinal marijuana. The heavily censored documents from March 2005 suggest the recipient of the medicinal weed was on parole at a halfway house, but CSC insists it does not pay for - or provide - dried cannabis to any offenders. (Sun Media)
RELATED: Coddling the criminal Statistics do lie
BC Premier slams 'savages' remark
VANCOUVER - Premier Gordon Campbell has lambasted remarks by high-profile VANOC board member Dick Pound that referred to "savages" who occupied Canada hundreds of years ago, as calls emerged for Mr. Pound to resign from the board governing the 2010 Winter Olympics. Questioned yesterday about Mr. Pound's statement, the Premier called it "totally unacceptable." He urged the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, an officer of the Order of Canada, "to do anything he possibly can" to apologize and make amends. (Globe & Mail)
OTTAWA - The August 2006 spill of almost a billion litres of sewage into the Ottawa River and the subsequent non-reporting of the event was the result of "incompetent management" that treated the spill and several others as routine, the city's auditor general has found. (Ottawa Citizen)
REPORT: Audit of the 2006 Sewage Spill .pdf
Cities not getting true air quality story
TORONTO - The federal and provincial governments are lulling Ontario residents into a false sense of security about the level of pollution they're breathing in on city streets, the province's environment watchdog warned today. The air quality city dwellers actually endure can differ ``significantly" from the readings provided by the province and Environment Canada because they don't factor in street-level pollution, Environmental Commissioner Miller said in his annual report. (CP)
REPORT: ECO 2007/2008 annual report
RELATED: Anti-smoking warnings make you want to smoke
TORONTO - An aspiring paramedic who fatally stabbed a Centennial College student in a booze-fuelled dispute was sentenced to eight years yesterday. Carlos Tapia pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Aug. 22, 2007, slaying of Sharmarke Handouleh, 20, at The East Mall Park. (Sun Media)
MORE: Teen gets 8 years
PREVIOUS: Witnesses watched park stabbing
MONTREAL - A man alleged to be a leader of the Blood Mafia Family street gang and who was to be deported yesterday to his native Haiti has received a last-minute reprieve from a Federal Court judge. Federal Court Chief Justice Allan Lutfy ruled late Monday that Valdano Toussaint should be allowed to stay in Canada, given the precarious humanitarian situation in the Caribbean country. (Montreal Gazette)
MONTREAL - A fourth man has been arrested in the theft of nearly a tonne of commercial explosives later found in the hands of men believed to be linked to the Hells Angels. Mike Gagnon, 28, of Ste. Anne des Monts, is alleged to have taken part in the theft of more than 1,200 kilograms of commercial grade explosives from a quarry in St. Ulric. The SQ says the three other accused are believed to have ties to an outlaw motorcycle gang, reportedly the Hells Angels.
(Montreal Gazette)
PREVIOUS: Explosives seized Explosives found
CanWest
SOREL-TRACY - Only one question still hangs in the air around the burnt offering that used to be the Hells Angels bunker in Sorel: Will this attack spark another violent gang war? (Montreal Gazette)
MORE: Squad formed to handle gang intelligence Men fled in pickup Explosion catches residents, police by surprise
PREVIOUS: Investigators to sift through ashes Bunker torched Police investigating
Corruption trial judge sets deadline
VANCOUVER - The judge in the corruption trial of three former government aides said Monday she wants all disclosure issues resolved by the end of the year - five years after a police raid on the BC legislature on Dec. 28, 2003. The case popped up briefly in BC Supreme Court for a review of progress of Crown disclosure of documents. (Vancouver Sun)
PREVIOUS: Raid on BC Ministerial Offices
MONTREAL - Police are investigating an incident involving one of their own officers who allegedly went into a local gym, barricaded himself in an office, took out his gun and began firing into the ceiling and walls. The four-hour standoff ended after police talked their colleague into opening the door. That's when police shot rubber bullets at the "incoherent" man. No one was seriously injured, and the 33-year-old man was taken to hospital for psychological testing. (CTV)
David Ennis, formerly known as David Shearing
CLEARWATER - When Mounties caught up with the labourer, loner and all-time loser in BC's northern winter of 1983, they knew they had come face-to-face with one of Canada's most cold-blooded, calculating killers. Little remained of David Shearing's roasted victims - grandpa George and grandma Edith Bentley, daughter Jackie Johnson, husband Bob and grandkids Janet and Karen. (Vancouver Province)
MORE: 'Nobody thinks he should get out' Residents fight killer's release Shot at parole awaits killer
Molly Justice
VICTORIA - Homicide file #98-12253 - the killing of Molly Justice - sits on a metal shelf in a locked storage room at the Saanich police station. A single brown cardboard box filled with letters, notebooks, an unidentified knife, three leather gloves and other curious bits of evidence is all that remains of one of the most famous cold cases in Victoria's history. Last reviewed in 1996, the file officially remains open, inactive and unsolved. But Saanich police have long believed they know who killed the 15-year-old seamstress on Jan. 18, 1943; they just never got a chance to prove it. (Victoria Times Colonist)
MORE: 65-year-old mystery
CALGARY - Arson investigators suspect a fire bug is responsible for a string of blazes in the southwest this weekend - and might be linked to a rash of unsolved fires that caused $2 million worth of damage in the summer. Five fires are believed to have been deliberately lit in the early morning hours of Saturday and Sunday in the southwest communities of Marda Loop, Killarney, Glenbrook and Rosscarrock. (Sun Media)
HAMILTON - The long-awaited trial of Johnson Aziga - believed to be the first Canadian charged with murder in an HIV infection case -- is expected to start in Superior Court today. It has been more than five years since Hamilton police charged the 52-year-old Ugandan-born civil servant with counts of aggravated sexual assault for allegedly having unprotected sexual intercourse with 11 women in southern Ontario. It's also alleged that he failed to disclose that he was HIV positive during these encounters between 1999 to 2003. (Hamilton Spectator)
Michael Schmidt
NEWMARKET - An organic farmer from Ontario has been found guilty of contempt of court in a case revolving around the sale of raw milk. Michael Schmidt has run a co-operative organic dairy farm near Owen Sound, for more than 20 years. York Region officials accuse him of selling or distributing the product, even after a court order not to do so. (Toronto Star)
MORE: Farmer asks for maximum sentence
PREVIOUS: Real milk in Canada Dairy farmers of Canada Regulators
HALIFAX - Fewer than four out of 10 eligible voters cast a ballot in the Halifax municipal election, with some people blaming the low turnout on voter fatigue. There were 284,258 eligible voters in the Halifax Regional Municipality. But only a handful more than 100,000 voted Saturday or in advance polls - a turnout of just 37%. (CBC)
TORONTO - More than 20 people have been arrested and at least 300 are being held after Toronto police raided a club in the entertainment district this morning. At 4am, police went to Club 338 on Adelaide St. W.
(Toronto Star)
EDMONTON - A shocking midday shootout between the drivers of two vehicles racing through busy city streets has left some Edmontonians fearful. Police said the brazen gun-slinging began when shots were fired by the occupant of a black SUV, whose target appeared to be the driver of a green Honda Civic, near 102 Ave & 124 St. The next set of bullets was unleashed near 102 Ave & 128 St. Following the second shootout, more complaints were lodged from callers near 102 Ave & 150 St. Shots were also reported in the area of 107 Ave & 142 St. (Sun Media)
Video captures shooting aftermath
660 News
CALGARY - Police are still hunting for the gunman in Friday morning's shooting inside Mirage Bar & Grill that sent five people to hospital. Four men and a 23-year-old woman were shot. Two remain in hospital with serious injuries. Police say the assailant targeted one man and his friend, who are in their early 20s. (Calgary Herald)
PREVIOUS: Bar-room shootout Gunman on the loose Gunman opens fire in Calgary lounge
RELATED: Violence drives clients to neighbourhood pubs Bar owners seek help from cops Chief snipes at political 'shell game' Silly Hall at work
CALGARY - Four years after a gangster was ordered deported from Canada, he's still in Calgary and now granted freedom to be released from custody. At a federal Court of Appeal hearing Friday, Nghia Trong Nguyen-Tran, known as Jackie Tran, was granted approval to be released. (Sun Media)
RCMP
CALGARY - Oil and gas rich Alberta has become a "prime location" for terrorists looking to capitalize on shaky economic times in Canada and the US, terrorism experts said at a national conference for emergency officials in Calgary on Saturday. (Calgary Herald)
PREVIOUS: Pipeline hit by second bomb Community on edge Pipeline targeted by bomber again BC pipeline sabotage Bomb blast rattles pipeline Pipeline bombing could have been much worse
VICTORIA - I've got a great suggestion for Madam Justice Carol Ross, the judge who ruled last week that it's OK for street people to camp in city parks: Why not let the homeless just bunk down in your courtroom every night? After all, it's a public space and it would be a lot more comfortable for people than sleeping in a cold, wet park. (Vancouver Province)
PREVIOUS: Judge pitched her tent on shaky grounds Homeless bylaws 'unconstitutional' No solutions in courts 'I'm trying not to gloat too much' Police break up tent city Right to camp in city parks
EDMONTON - An Edmonton teenage hit- man had a friend take pictures of him holding the cash he was paid for shooting a dial-a-doper in the head after luring him to a drug deal. Then, the underage gunman - also a dial-a-doper - took a taxi to West Edmonton Mall, rented the Fantasyland Hotel's Hollywood Suite and went on a shopping spree. He then returned to the top-floor hotel room and, while partying with friends, calmly confessed to the cold-blooded killing of Brandon "Bruce" Dierich, 23. (Sun Media)
MORE: Teen hitman stuffed face with cash
PREVIOUS: Brandon Dierich
Calgary Herald
CALGARY - The family of Derrick Lee Four Horns has spent the past several months trying to track him down. A shocking phone call put an end to the search when the family was told Four Horns was killed early Sunday morning in Calgary's 28th homicide of the year. Four Horns was stabbed to death at the Cecil Hotel.
(Calgary Herald)
PREVIOUS: Killing renews calls to shut bar
Another success for Justice Canada
BRAMPTON - A Brampton gang member banned for life from having weapons - and under house arrest - has been charged with shooting and killing a man at an engagement party last weekend. In fact, the arrested man - Jagit Singh Gill, 23, of Brampton - has received three lifetime weapons-prohibition orders at various stages. Despite his strict bail conditions for a cocaine trafficking charge, police allege Gill, a known member of the Brown Bandits, a South Asian gang, left his home to attend the engagement party as an invited guest. Police allege he and another man, yet to be arrested, shot Hardupinder (Harry) Gill, 29. (Toronto Star)
PREVIOUS: Gang member arrested Police arrest suspect Arrest made
Brandon Paltooram
MISSISSAUGA - A 16-year-old youth has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of Brandon Paltooram, whose funeral is being held this morning. Paltooram was killed after he tried to stick up for a friend who said she was physically assaulted by a group of young men. (Sun Media)
MORE: Teen charged Young offender arrested
PREVIOUS: Victim tried to aid girlfriend
VICTORIA - William Aaron Sproule has been sentenced to two and a half years in a federal penitentiary for breaking into an Oak Bay house where a young man was beaten to death on Feb. 1, 2004. In May, a BC Supreme Court jury found Sproule, 28, not guilty of attempted robbery and manslaughter in the death of Terry McLean. He was convicted on a charge of break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence.
(Victoria Times Colonist)
PREVIOUS: Not guilty Mr. Big ruse worked 'Drug rip' was not meant to end in death Trial to start
VANCOUVER - Three of the five accused in the high-profile kidnapping of a young Vancouver man have been found guilty. Jose Hernandez and Anh The Nguyen were found guilty on both counts. Joshua Ponicappo, and Van Van Vu were acquitted. Sam Tuan Vu was found not guilty of kidnapping, but guilty of unlawful confinement. (CTV)
MORE: 2 guilty of kidnapping
PREVIOUS: Vancouver Crime
DNA used to solve 1995 rape case
Neil Lester Johnson sketch
EDMONTON - The mother of a city woman abducted and raped by a stranger 13 years ago when she was seven years old wept tears of relief yesterday as the man was found guilty. After just over two hours of deliberation, a jury convicted 32-year-old Neil Lester Johnson of aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping and unlawful confinement. (Sun Media)
MORE: DNA evidence convicts rapist
PREVIOUS: Girl's video describes 1995 rape
WINNIPEG - A rookie drug courier was handed a four-year prison sentence yesterday for his role in a massive RCMP drug investigation in which 18 people were charged across Canada, including several Hells Angels members. Winnipegger Jason Pineda, 26, pleaded guilty yesterday to trafficking cocaine and possessing proceeds of crime in relation to an August 2007 incident in which he sold two kilograms of coke to an undercover cop working on a sting called Project Drill. (Sun Media)
CTV
CALGARY - Video of a violent takedown during a Calgary Stampeders game has surfaced on an internet video site. The video shows a Calgary police officer wading into the crowd and tackling a Saskatchewan Rough Riders fan during an ugly brawl at the game.
(CTV)
MORE: Ruckus puts spotlight on security Fans police confrontation caught on video
EDMONTON - Chris Hayduk was power-washing a building on 118th Avenue when he suddenly found himself surrounded by belligerent prostitutes and their goons. "They got quite confrontational right off the bat," he said. "Two more guys stepped in behind me ... and that was their attempt to get me to leave." The six-foot-four Hayduk is a police officer and not easily intimidated. Yet, he was unsettled by this encounter in his neighbourhood and he decided to take matters into his own hands - but not as a police officer. (Edmonton Journal)
MORE: Citizens hang out to fight crime
ORILLIA, ONT. - Called to testify at a disciplinary hearing, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino flatly rejected the allegation he was being malicious or political when he chose to charge two officers with misconduct. "With respect, this is hysterical nonsense. None of this is true," Fantino said. "It's absolutely mind-boggling." At the centre of the fray are Insp. Alison Jevons and Supt. Ken MacDonald. In 2005, both were involved in an internal probe against Det. Staff Sgt. Mark Zulinski. (Toronto Star)
Victims took risks, chief says
PEEL - Most of Peel's homicide victims are victims of their own recklessness, Peel Police Chief Mike Metcalf said yesterday, insisting Mississauga and Brampton are safe, despite this year's record number of slayings. "Law-abiding citizens don't find themselves in these risky situations," Metcalf told regional councillors at a meeting where he provided few answers as to why there have been a record 24 homicides this year. In the 15 killings in Mississauga and nine in Brampton, Metcalf said, the vast majority of victims knew their killer in some way. (Toronto Star)
PREVIOUS: Murder rate rattles Peel Why so many murders in Peel? Peel streets safe, Chief says
Gerald Supernault
WILLIAMS LAKE - RCMP are now treating the case of Gerald Randall Supernault as a homicide investigation. The Sugar Cane man’s body was found on the reserve on Oct. 5. (Williams Lake Tribune)
MORE: Death now a homicide Foul play not ruled out
Murder suspect may have fled to Calgary
Jonathon Anders Muzychka
CALGARY - Police are warning the public about an escaped murder suspect who may be in the city after breaking out of a Winnipeg-area jail. Jonathon Anders Muzychka scaled a razor wire fence at the Headingley Correctional Centre and swam across the Assiniboine River to freedom on Oct. 5. Muzychka, 31, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the killing of Jacinto Eduardo Etcheverry, a 45-year-old Winnipegger who disappeared in July and whose body still hasn't been found. (Calgary Herald)
PREVIOUS: RCMP request assistance
Gang violence has Prince George worried
PRINCE GEORGE - Business owners in downtown Prince George are worried about escalating gang violence after a bomb was thrown through the window of a clothing store (G'Z Up Clothing and Apparel). The bomb did not detonate, although police say it was capable of exploding. (Vancouver Province)
PREVIOUS: Bomb tossed into store Bomb did not explode The real thing Bomb unit removes 'package''
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Wednesday, October 22, 2008 17:46:00