http://www.truthout.org/oil-spill-gulf-mexico-disaster-growing-moment58925
The current incident demonstrates the risks and degree of difficulty of the global gambit to go ever further afield into the earth's deep crevasses to find oil. Trying to shut off a well 5,000 feet below the ocean surface has never been done.
Massive B.C. dam project approved
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/19/bc-site-c-announcement-peace-river-dam.html?ref=rss
The B.C. government has approved a $6.6-billion plan to build a massive hydroelectric dam on the Peace River, nearly 40 years after it was first proposed.
The Council of Treaty 8 Chiefs, representing First Nations in the Peace region, said in a release that when combined with forestry, oil and gas and mining projects, the dam would cause irrevocable damage to fish, wildlife and local agriculture.
Copper thieves destroy $2.7M BC Hydro cable
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/14/bc-hydro-substation-copper-wire.html?ref=rss
Abdelrazik’s bank assets frozen
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/04/16/abdelrazik-desjardins-bank-account.html?ref=rss
Caisse Populaire Desjardins has frozen a bank account opened by Abousfian Abdelrazik, the Montreal man who spent more than six years stuck in Sudan after he was placed on a UN Security Council watch list amid allegations he has ties to terrorism.
Abousfian Abdelrazik speaks about his experiences in Sudan during a news conference on Parliament Hill on July 23, 2009. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press) The allegations have never been substantiated. Canadians stranded far from home - The diplomatic messes of recent years
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/08/14/f-stranded-canadians235.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/08/14/f-stranded-canadians235.html
Canada tops allies in Afghan prisoner transfers
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/18/canada-afghanistan-prisoners.html?ref=rss
Canada outstripped its NATO allies almost two-to-one in the number of prisoners it turned over to Afghan authorities in the first nine months of last year, figures prepared for the Afghan government show.
The statistics were compiled by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and made available to The Canadian Press. The federal government does not disclose them.
Government pressed on Afghan war documents
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100427/canada/canada_politics_afghanistan_military_prisoner
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Tory government refused to comply with the order, citing national security concerns, and instead produced tens of thousands of heavily redacted pages.
"It is the view of the chair that accepting an unconditional authority of the executive to censor the information provided to Parliament would, in fact, jeopardize the very separation of powers that is purported to lie at the heart of our parliamentary system and the independence of its constituent parts," Milliken said.
"Therefore, the chair must conclude that it is perfectly within the existing privileges of the House to order production of the documents in question."
Afghan records denial is privilege breach: Speaker
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/27/afghan-detainee-documents-speaker-milliken-privilege-ruling.html?ref=rss
Speaker of the House Peter Milliken gave the Conservative minority government and opposition parties two weeks' time to resolve the impasse.
Otherwise, Milliken said he would return with a decision to hold the government in contempt of Parliament, which may provoke snap elections.
Military investigator unaware of detainee ruling
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/12/afghan-detainees-mpcc-hearings.html?ref=rss
Knowing about war crimes
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/23/f-knowingaboutwarcrimes.html
There was one problem when senior ministers and officials of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government said they were unaware of reports that prisoners were being tortured in Afghan jails, including prisoners handed over to Afghan authorities by Canadian soldiers.
Both international and Canadian law require officials in a position of "superior responsibility" to know or try to find out what is happening if they are told or suspect that a war crime or crime against humanity is being committed or about to be committed.
A second, lesser known, defence is also not permitted.
For someone in a position of responsibility, "I didn't know" is not a defence against an accusation of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
There is also a standard of "had reason to know," which compels officials to thoroughly investigate allegations (of not as "wide spread") war crimes once they are reported.
Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin filed reports between April 2006 and October 2007 outlining his concerns about the torture of detainees by Afghan authorities. Colvin said he copied his emails to about 70 high-ranking Canadian military and civilian officials.
At about the same time, in April 2007, the Globe and Mail newspaper published its own investigation into torture in Afghanistan.
Despite the letter of international law, it is highly unlikely that Canadian officials would ever be brought before a war crimes tribunal, where it could be alleged they had "reason to know" that prisoners transferred from Canadian to Afghan jurisdiction were being tortured. The Japanese complaint that tribunals are "victor's justice" still holds true.
Afghan torture allegations erupt in U.K.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/20/britain-detainees.html?ref=rss
Afghan detainees handed over by British troops to Afghan secret police were regularly beaten with weapons, hung from the ceiling and electrocuted, according to detailed allegations made public in a London courtroom on Tuesday
B.C. asks court to toss Taser lawsuit
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/12/bc-taser-international-lawsuit.html?ref=rss
The company that manufactures Tasers has no more right to dictate regulations for their use than cigarette makers do over second-hand smoke regulations, says the B.C. government.
Taser has a history of legal action in defending its products and last year said that it had won its 100th dismissal of a liability lawsuit.
( Translation : It has evaded responsibility 100 times. Quite the 'recommendation.' )
Alberta opposes bigger CPP
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/04/13/calgary-alberta-morton-pension-reform-cpp.html?ref=rss
Canada seeks global forum on truth commissions
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/27/aboriginal-reconciliation.html
about 25,000 former students in Canada have either not received any compensation, or they were paid for some of the years they had spent in residential schools.
Sinclair said compensation applicants should not be required to prove that they had gone to residential schools, which is the case under the current compensation system.
"My view is, and I say this even as a judge, that I think that the onus should be on INAC [Indian and Northern Affairs Canada] to prove they didn't go," he said.
"If somebody is prepared to sign an affidavit saying, 'I went to these schools at this point in time,' and swear under oath that that's where they went to school, then I think the onus should be on the government to disprove that claim."
Furthermore, Sinclair said the government is missing about 20 per cent of records from residential schools.
UN pulls staff from Kandahar
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/26/afghanistan-kandahar-un-pullout.html?ref=rss
Merkel fights public opposition to Afghan mission
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/22/germany-afghanistan-support.html
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to drum up support at home for the country's military mission in Afghanistan in an uphill battle against growing public resistance to it.
Kaczynski's twin to run for Polish presidency
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/26/poland-presidential-elections.html?ref=rss
Israel halts East Jerusalem construction: reports
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/26/israel-construction-possible-freeze.html?ref=rss
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