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Nicholas Bulger
KANDAHAR - A Canadian soldier travelling in a convoy carrying the senior commander in Kandahar province was killed Friday when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. Cpl. Nicholas Bulger, 30, was a member of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton. (CTV)
MORE: Canadian solider killed Bomb claims Edmonton based soldier
AFP
ATHENS - A top Greek judge's car was destroyed in a bomb blast Friday while a tax office caught fire in a separate attack and another bombing targeted a government-affiliated migration organization, police said. The car of the chairman of the Council of States, Greece's top administrative court, was gutted in the explosion of a gas canister bomb that was planted under his service car. (AFP)
MORE: McDonald's, not tax office, bomb target
NIAMEY - The opposition in Niger has condemned President Mamadou Tandja's decision to appoint a new constitutional court days after he dissolved the previous one. Mr Tandja dismissed the country's top judges after they ruled that his plan to hold a referendum on extending his stay in power was illegal. The US and UN have led criticism of Mr Tandja's attempts to stay in power. (BBC)
PREVIOUS: Tandja takes control Opposition accuses Tandja of coup
Interim government open to early vote
TEGUCIGALPA - Honduras' interim government said on Thursday it was open to holding early elections to resolve the impasse over ousted President Manuel Zelaya, as the OAS readied a mission to Honduras to push for his reinstatement. The Honduran administration has so far rebuffed any attempts to bring back Mr. Zelaya, who was ousted in a military coup last Sunday in a dispute over presidential term limits.
(Reuters)
PREVIOUS: UN calls for reinstatement What was on Zelaya’s referendum ballot Supreme Court ordered army coup
Prisoners on the run cannot be named
LONDON - Prisoners on the run from Holleseley Bay prison cannot be identified because it would breach their rights to privacy, the Ministry of Justice has said. They say releasing their names would breach obligations under the Data Protection Act. (Telegraph UK)
NEW YORK - The man gunned down while waiting for a bus in Staten Island's Arden Heights section had ties to the Bonanno crime family, multiple law enforcement sources said today. One source believed Anthony Seccafico, 46, was actually a soldier in the mob family.
(Staten Island Advance)
MORE: Bonanno power struggle Made man whacked
PREVIOUS: Salvatore Montagna Mafia
EDMONTON - Edmontonians had no right to know about council's secret vote to sell $5B of public assets because councillors were acting as shareholders and not as elected officials when they cut the deal, court documents suggest. As a result, the law that requires councillors to make decisions in public doesn't apply, documents say. The legal explanation for the secret deal was outlined in two statements of defence filed last week by city councillors and Epcor officials in connection with a lawsuit that seeks to stop the deal to sell the company's power generation. (Edmonton Journal)
MORE: Injunction sought
Water meters cost twice estimate
MONTREAL - Montrealers will pay more than double what a consultant's study told city hall it would cost to purchase and install water meters. A November 2003 study by Gaz Métropolitain concluded it would cost $31.97M, plus tax, to buy and install 30,390 meters in industrial, commercial and institutional buildings, as well as in apartment buildings with more than 12 units. However, the city's $355.8M contract with the consortium Génieau, awarded in 2007, includes $74M, plus tax, to buy and install 30,500 meters in industrial, commercial and institutional buildings on the island.
(Montreal Gazette)
PREVIOUS: Cost of water meter corruption probe
No church cash in alleged scheme
TORONTO - The Canadian ministry behind 100 Huntley Street said Thursday that church money was not misappropriated by two of the TV show's hosts who have been suspended over alleged links to a $14.1M Ponzi scheme. Any investments made by Ron and Reynold Mainse were "personal and private" in nature and did not draw from the ministry's 20,000-plus pool of donors, said Doug McKenzie, CEO of Crossroads Christian Communications. (CP)
MORE: Huntley St hosts suspended during probe
REGINA - Troy K. Metz of Regina and Dallas L. Robinson, formerly of Regina, were named in a civil fraud action filed by the SEC in US district court in Florida June 25. The SEC complaint alleges that Metz and Robinson, along with Johnny Ray Arnold, who were senior officers of Prime Time Group, "participated in the dissemination of false and misleading press releases" from February 2006 to November 2007. (Regina Leader-Post)
AP
French investigators trying to find out why an Air France plane crashed in the Atlantic say they believe it broke up on contact with water, not in the air. They said they reached that conclusion after examining the plane's wreckage. All 228 people aboard the plane were killed when it plunged into the ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on 1 June. (BBC)
PREVIOUS: Air France flight 447
TORONTO - Growing public anger over Toronto's municipal strike has shone a spotlight on disparities between compensation in government jobs and the private sector, analysts say. A recent CFIB report based on 2006 census findings shows government and public-sector employees are typically paid between 8 and 17% more than similarly employed individuals in the private sector. When other benefits are taken into account, the number rises to more than 30%. (National Post)
REPORT: Comparison of public-sector, private-sector wages .pdf
MORE: Political garbage
PREVIOUS: Fair pensions for all Payrolls decline
RELATED: MPs resist AG's look at their expenses
54% in BC will spend less on vacation AHS faces $1.1B budget shortfall
Before he was hanged, Saddam Hussein told the FBI that he let the world believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction because he didn't want his greatest enemy, Iran, to discover Iraq's weaknesses, according to newly released FBI interview notes. (Fox)
REPORT: Saddam's FBI interviews
Arab group exec's anti-Canada tirade
TORONTO - The Canadian Arab Federation moved to distance itself from one of its own executives who resigned yesterday after he apparently posted "F--- Canada Day" on his Facebook page, called Canada a "genocidal state," and said he "couldn't be more ashamed to be Canadian." The tirade on Omar Shaban's profile stirred up a firestorm of controversy and put CAF leaders in damage-control mode as they were quick to condemn the posting on the social networking site. (Sun Media)
LONDON - Copies of a book by Scotland Yard's former anti-terrorism chief were today removed from the shelves after the Attorney General obtained a last-minute injunction preventing it from going on sale. The ban on sales of The Terrorist Hunters by Andy Hayman was issued by a High Court judge just before midnight after a hearing conducted by telephone conference call.
(Times online)
California declares fiscal emergency
SACRAMENTO - California's controller will start paying many of the state's bills with IOUs as soon as Thursday after lawmakers failed to close the state's worsening budget deficit, adding a new measure of indignity to a state sinking deeper into dysfunction. Lawmakers' failure to act on Tuesday, the end of the fiscal year, also widened California's deficit from what already had been a whopping $24.3B - more than a quarter of its general fund. (AP)
Twitter followers 'can be bought'
Twitter users who lack an audience for their messages can now buy followers. Australian social media marketing company uSocial is offering a paid service that finds followers for users of the micro-blogging service. Followers are available in blocks starting at $87 for 1,000. The biggest block uSocial is selling is 100,000 people. (BBC)
RELATED: Companies pledge more openness about Web tracking
Homosexuality decriminalized in Delhi
DELHI - An Indian court today decriminalized homosexuality - but only in the country's capital, Delhi. The Delhi high court ruled that treating consensual gay sex as a crime was a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's constitution. (Guardian UK)
MORE: Homosexuality is no crime
Appeals court quashes challenge
BARRIE - Two members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club have lost their challenge of Ottawa's anti-gang law in an appeals court ruling that upholds their conviction for extortion as well as the constitutionality of stiffer sentences for gangsters. (National Post)
JUDGMENT: 2009 ONCA 0532
MORE: Court upholds 'anti-gang' law
PREVIOUS: Angels' appeal gang law Hells Angels criminal organization, judge rules Hells Angels declared a criminal organization Bikers
Teen recovers after miracle rescue
AFP
MORONI - The only survivor from a Yemeni jet that crashed into the Indian Ocean this week was recovering in hospital Wednesday after she was found clinging to debris, barely able to swim, in an ocean dotted with floating corpses. (CanWest)
MORE: Black box found
PREVIOUS: Yemenia Flight 626
AP
VIAREGGIO - Two children badly burned when a train exploded as it passed through an Italian town have died of their injuries, taking the death toll to 16. The three-year-old girl and the two-year-old boy had both suffered burns on 90% of their bodies, officials said. At least a dozen other people remain in a critical state, according to reports. (BBC)
MORE: Death toll rises
PREVIOUS: 2009 Viareggio train derailment
Nicolas Desnoyers-Langlois Louise Desnoyers
NORTH HERO, Vt. - A Vermont judge has sentenced a 51-year-old Montreal woman to 15 years in prison for drowning her 8-year-old son three years ago. Louise Desnoyers pleaded no contest earlier this year in the death of Nicholas Desnoyers-Langlois. She told authorities she held her son under water so he wouldn't have to suffer through her impending break-up with his father. (AP)
MORE: Mom sentenced
PREVIOUS: Mother charged Vermont State Police
OTTAWA - Canada will adopt climate-change regulations comparable to those of the US - including new rules for oil sands producers and refiners - to avoid punitive “green” tariffs, Environment Minister Jim Prentice says. Mr. Prentice said it is too early to predict whether the bill that narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives last Friday will be adopted in its current form by the Senate, where it faces a rougher ride. (Globe & Mail)
MORE: Cap and Trade Dementia
PREVIOUS: Senate inquiry into suppressed report
Proposed NCEE comments .pdf House passes cap-and-trade bill Climate Debate
WASHINGTON - Sen. Daniel K. Inouye's staff contacted federal regulators last fall to ask about the bailout application (TARP) of an ailing Hawaii bank that he had helped to establish and where he has invested the bulk of his personal wealth. The FDIC already had decided that it didn't meet the criteria for receiving a favorable recommendation and had forwarded the application to a council that reviewed marginal cases. (Washington Post)
PREVIOUS: Global meltdown
RELATED: Worldwide governance indicators
LA Times
MOSCOW - Thousands of casinos, slot-machine parlors and betting halls across Russia shut down Wednesday, complying with sweeping new restrictions that require all gambling business to relocate to four remote regions of the country. The law, which went into effect at midnight Wednesday, was estimated to put than 400,000 people out of work at a time when Russia's economic crisis is deepening and unemployment is rising. (AP)
MORE: Russia bans casinos Putin sends casinos to Siberia
SYDNEY - A judge has convicted two anti-sealing activists of coming too close to a hunt without a permit off Cape Breton. In April 2008, the ship the Farley Mowat, captained by Dutch national Alex Cornelissen and carrying Swede Peter Hammarstedt, was boarded by the Canadian Coast Guard. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which owns the ship, say the vessel was merely monitoring the seal hunt. But sealers allege the ship's crew was harassing them and endangering their lives. (CBC)
MORE: Officers convicted in absentia
VOA
KIRKUK - At least 15 people have been killed in a car bomb at a market place in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, officials say. It came as US troops completed their withdrawal from towns and cities in Iraq, six years after the invasion. Iraqi and US troops are on alert for insurgent attacks during the pullback, which was declared a national holiday. (BBC)
MORE: Bombing in Kirkuk US completes pullout from Iraq cities Most oil companies reject Iraq's terms
PREVIOUS: Post invasion Iraq
Double edge sword
The Guardian UK is using Crowdsourcing in ID’ing the dead and detained in Iran while the Iranian government is using Crowdsourcing to ID protesters.
MORE: Officials declare vote valid
PREVIOUS: 2009 election protests
Arthur Lelland Sayler
EDMONTON - Local cops are closely watching what US media are calling one of the worst child- porn cases ever as it unfolds in Mexico. Edmonton police Staff Sgt. Howard Kunce of the Integrated Child Exploitation Unit said it will likely take a couple of weeks for Mexican and Canadian federal cops to sort through the mountain of evidence seized last week from a Tijuana beachfront home belonging to Canadian Arthur Leland Sayler. (Sun Media)
MORE: Police explore local link
PREVIOUS: Global kid-porn ring Canadian arrested
MEXICO CITY - A Mexican federal judge ordered 94 law-enforcement personnel held for 40 days pending possible charges that they colluded with the Gulf drug cartel, the Attorney General’s Office said Monday. The potential defendants were arrested last week in the east-central state of Hidalgo. The ruling applies to 85 members of the municipal police force in Pachuca, the state capital; six agents of the Hidalgo AG office, the police chief in the town of Mineral de la Reforma, the regional boss of the Federal Investigations Agency and a civilian official. (LAHT)
PREVIOUS: Cartels
Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi
SYDNEY - The head of the Comanchero bikie gang, Mahmoud 'Mick' Hawi, has been charged with murder over the fatal brawl at Sydney Airport three months ago. The 29-year-old was on Tuesday arrested for the second time over the brawl between rival bikies, in which 29-year-old Anthony Zervas, the brother of a Hell's Angel, was bashed to death in March. Hawi was already on charges of riot and affray over the fight, along with five other Comancheros. (ABC)
PREVIOUS: Bikers
AP
PICO RIVERA - Police officials said they were on alert on Saturday for outlaw motorcycle gang activity in Azusa, but were taken by surprise when three people were killed and seven others injured at a fundraiser held in Pico Rivera by the Old School Riders motorcycle club, which is not gang affiliated. Area law enforcement agencies received a "tactical bulletin" over the weekend informing them of a gathering of the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang in Azusa, officials said. (Pasadena Star News)
MORE: Shooting an ambush
PREVIOUS: 3 killed, 7 wounded
NEW YORK - A person familiar with the investigation said 10 more people would face federal charges by the time the probe into the multibillion-dollar fraud is complete. So far, only Madoff and an accountant accused of failing to make basic auditing checks have been criminally charged. (AP)
PREVIOUS: 150 years Madoff stripped of assets
WASHINGTON - Banks and credit card companies across the country are still feeling the effects of the recession. And recent banking reform legislation passed by Congress limits their ability to raise interest rates. So guess how they're looking to make up for the lost revenue? You guessed it: They're increasing the fees they charge customers. Banks and credit card companies are notorious for the fine print in which they bury information on fees. Most Americans don't go through it line by line, but even if they did, it would be hard to get a clear picture of what's new. (ABC)
BEIJING - China will delay the mandatory installation of the controversial "Green Dam-Youth Escort" filtering software on new computers, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said. (Xinhua)
MORE: Pressure brings delay Who framed Google China Internet censorship: who controls what
PREVIOUS: Unique protest Green Dam Escort Big Brother: China
Free tuition for children of fallen soldiers
OTTAWA - The University of Ottawa is offering free tuition for the children of Canadian soldiers killed in action. (CTV)
Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA - There may have been a massive gold heist at the Royal Canadian Mint, an external audit has found. The findings of the long-awaited audit, released Monday, conclude that $15.3M in missing gold is not the result of accounting or bookkeeping errors, raising the distinct possibility the gold may have been stolen.
(Ottawa Citizen)
MORE: Missing gold not accounting error
PREVIOUS: Tour guide not briefed on spin Your gold is safe with us Cops called Mint freezes bonus pay
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has picked his members for a special panel on Employment Insurance struck this month in a deal to avoid a summer election. Harper named Human Resources Minister Diane Finley, his parliamentary secretary, Pierre Poilievre, and Malcolm Brown, a senior official in the Human Resources and Skills Development Department, to the working group. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has said he will appoint MPs Michael Savage and Marlene Jennings, along with Kevin Chan, his head of policy who is a former senior bureaucrat with the Privy Council. (CP)
Ontario slacking over sewage oversight
TORONTO - Billions of litres of untreated sewage are gushing into Ontario's waterways due to aging infrastructure and poor provincial oversight, says a report by environmental group Ecojustice. The report, "Flushing out the truth," compiles the amount of sewage dumped into lakes and rivers by various Ontario municipalities in 2006 and 2007. (CP)
Xinhua
HARBIN - The death toll has risen to four after one more body was recovered from a river in northeast China after part of a road bridge collapsed early Monday, sending vehicles plunging into the water below. Eighteen people had been rescued out of the Hulan River beneath the bridge in Tieli City as of 11am, among whom five were injured. But one died at hospital. (Xinhua)
RELATED: Apartment tower collapses
MUNICH - The former boss of Siemens in Greece, Michael Christoforakos, was arrested last week in Germany after going on the run. While Greece wants to see him extradited, Munich prosecutors may prefer to keep him in Germany if he agrees to spill the beans on the extent of the Siemens bribery scandal. (Spiegel)
LONDON - A company awarded an important role in the Government’s attempt to shut down hundreds of bogus colleges is run by a man who was dismissed from his post at a university. Maurice Dimmock is the director and chief executive of an organization that inspects and accredits private colleges which want to admit foreign students. The Accreditation Service for International Colleges (ASIC) has given 180 institutions the stamp of approval since he set it up in 2007. Among them is a Manchester college exposed last month as the front for an immigration scam which helped 1,000 fake students to enter or stay in Britain. (Times online)
Sikh Times
TORONTO - A Brampton man who's considered a modern-day Robin Hood has been convicted in the US of leading a drug smuggling ring that trucked at least 36,000 kilos of cocaine from California to Toronto. Tractor-trailer loads of cocaine were smuggled to the GTA and sold to Asian gang members who "cut" it for sale on the streets, according to US justice officials.
(Sun Media)
MORE: Convictions in drug case 'Biggest there is'
PREVIOUS: Bakersfield drug bust Drug dealers with a big heart
Wanted: One selfless champion of democracy
OTTAWA - Leonard Cohen's best lines about democracy aren't in his song about democracy. They're in "Anthem," in which he tosses off two sentences so lovely and insightful that most writers would be content to call them a life's work. "There is a crack, a crack in everything/That's how the light gets in." (Toronto Star)
PREVIOUS: Our MPs' spending secrets Turned-off Canadians tuning out Youth feel political disconnect Media's role Watchdogs or lapdogs Risks of rewriting rules Private tips help pry open doors Members of Parliament MPs ink secret deal on cash Life in a banana republic Entitled
Revealed: MPs' pay for 2nd jobs
LONDON - A survey has uncovered the outside interests of dozens of MPs who hold down paid positions, ranging from legal and media work to crofting, and even grave digging. One earns £750 an hour for helping to organise an awards ceremony for the drinks industry, while another is paid more than £1,300 a day to provide business advice. John Bercow, the new Speaker of the House of Commons, was paid £40,000 by a health care firm that runs a number of special needs schools after he wrote a government report that led to an increase in special needs funding. (Telegraph UK)
MORE: Fraud inquiry into government jobs scheme
PREVIOUS: UK Parliamentary expenses scandal
Doctor interviewed, 2nd autopsy
LOS ANGELES - Police completed a three-hour interview Saturday night with the doctor who was with Michael Jackson when the pop star went into cardiac arrest, and a source close to the investigation said detectives found "no red flag" during the discussion. A private pathologist, meanwhile, conducted a second autopsy on Jackson's body hours after it was released to relatives by the Los Angeles County coroner. (Los Angeles Times)
PREVIOUS: Finances will take years to unwind Tests need for cause of death Cocktail of daily drugs
Conspiracy surrounds $134B 'bond' find
BBC
What do you get when you mix two Japanese nationals with some fake US government bonds, a slow train to Switzerland and members of the Italian financial guard? The answer is a $134B conspiracy theory which has fired up a whole realm of financial bloggers on the internet. (BBC)
MORE: That old $134B in a suitcase trick Bond smuggling mystery thickens
OTTAWA - Privy Council officials have ended months of stonewalling and handed over documents requested by the federal information watchdog. Yesterday's disclosure of files came only after Information Commissioner Robert Marleau threatened to have his staff enter the Privy Council offices and seize the paperwork themselves. (Toronto Star)
PREVIOUS: Information commissioner resigns
RELATED: Ordinary anything but for Canadian Internet
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Vancouver Province
VANCOUVER - Police are investigating a suspected homicide after a 60-year-old contractor was killed in an altercation outside his 7500-block Meadow Ave Burnaby business Thursday morning. Alberto Morgadinho, owner of Berto Contractors Ltd., died while fighting off a car thief according to employee Dave Twaites. (Vancouver Province)
MORE: Homicide investigation Man dies following altercation Man dies in hit-and-run
Vancouver Sun
VANCOUVER - A dead body had been found at Bridal Falls Provincial Park near the Agassiz-Rosedale Highway 1 turnoff. Agassiz RCMP were on the scene at the popular recreational area from about 8:45am Friday after they received a report of a body being found. "It's an adult male. He's unidentified at this time," RCMP spokesperson Const. Angelina Bowen said. (Vancouver Sun)
MORE: Foul play suspected
PENTICTON - The shooting death of a 57-year-old Penticton woman has left plenty of unanswered questions, as an investigation continues into what RCMP describe as a “suspicious death.” The woman, whose name has not been released, was found inside her Winnipeg St apartment by emergency personnel responding to a 911 call on Wednesday afternoon.
(Penticton Herald)
MORE: Suspicious death
TROUT LAKE - A 15-year-old male youth has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a 21-year-old male from the Peerless Lake Settlement near Red Earth Creek. An autopsy concluded that the death of Dylan Fleury Netowastenum to be a homicide. Police discovered the body of Netowastenum on Canada Day in a home on the nearby Trout Lake settlement just after 10am. (CTV)
MORE: Death a homicide Death investigated
Winnipeg Free Press
WINNIPEG - City police now say a 45-year-old woman found dead in an apartment in Wolseley on Tuesday was murdered. The body of Lillian Ann Green of Poplar River was found in a suite in the 200 block of Evanson Street around 5:40pm. Athan Kaz Courchaine, 30, of Winnipeg was arrested Thursday and charged with second-degree murder in connection to Green's death.
(Winnipeg Free Press)
MORE: Man charged
PREVIOUS: Woman found dead
Keith Goddard Douglas Hanks & Keith Wright
EDMONTON - Two 21-year-old Edmonton men are wanted on warrants for the second-degree murder of a city man. Keith Edward Wright and Douglas Gordon Hanks are wanted on warrants for the second-degree murder of Keith Goddard. (CTV)
MORE: Police searching for 2 suspects
PREVIOUS: Victim returned to party Homicide
CTV
KINGSTON - Mystery continues to surround the deaths of three Montreal sisters and their aunt, found submerged inside a car in a Rideau Canal lock near Kingston. Last night, Kingston Police identified the dead as sisters Zainab Shafia, 19, Sahar Shafia, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, and their aunt, Rona Amir Mohammed, 50. (Toronto Star)
MORE: Family believes deaths were an accident
PREVIOUS: Death plunge a mystery 4 bodies found
Cherisse Houle
WINNIPEG - The body of a girl found in a stream in the R.M. of Rosser has been identified as Cherisse Houle, 17, of Winnipeg. An autopsy has been performed, however the cause of death has not been determined. The teen was reported missing to the Winnipeg Police Service on June 26. The Winnipeg RCMP Serious and Major Crime Units continue to investigate her death.
(Winnipeg Free Press)
OTTAWA - One of three men accused in the execution-style slaying of an Ottawa street gang member has been committed to stand trial on a first-degree murder charge. Mahmoud Kayem, 24, showed no emotion as Ontario Court Justice Jack Nadelle handed down his decision Friday. Kayem was charged last June in connection with the August 2006 killing of 22-year-old Mohamed Zalal, whose body was found in a farmer’s field near Vars. Zalal, a known member of the Ledbury Banff Crips street gang, had been shot in the head.
(Ottawa Citizen)
PREVIOUS: 2 charged in gang killing
VANCOUVER - Despite a crackdown on gun and gang violence, some judges are still granting accused criminals bail on strict conditions and with large sureties posted. Two recent cases with alleged links to gangs resulted in the release of an accused killer on a $100,000 bond, and of a man facing 13 gun charges on $175,000 in bond and cash. (Vancouver Sun)
PREVIOUS: Gang war Justice in our times Drug war on another border: Canada Gangs
Luke Sommer Clay Roueche
VANCOUVER - In an exclusive interview, the mother of convicted bank robber Luke Sommer explains how her son became involved in an alleged prison break plan with a notorious BC gangster Clayton Roueche. Sommer and Roueche became friends and allegedly started plotting to escape from SeaTac prison. The plan allegedly involved blowing up Seatac and killing guards if necessary. The case came to light after prison officials moved Roueche out of Washington to Illinois. (CTV)
PREVIOUS: Gang leader moved Organized crime
Dennis Cheeseman & Shawn Hennessey
MAYERTHORPE - Where Dennis Cheeseman earns the trust of his Mr. Big bosses by fingering a wayward colleague. (Edmonton Journal)
PREVIOUS: Web of lies series Mayerthorpe Incident
Shooting: 4 RCMP Officers dead
Peel Regional Police
MISSISSAUGA - Investigators with Peel Regional Police say the $10M fire that destroyed 60 townhomes under construction is a case of arson - and they've got pictures of a possible suspect. (CTV)
PREVIOUS: 2nd suspicious fire Suspicious fire
Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON - Two boys aged 9 and 11 are to blame for a blaze at a vacant fast food restaurant in northeast Edmonton, city police believe. The fire at a building previously occupied by McDonald's, is said to have started in a trash can behind the building just before 3pm Wednesday. (CTV)
MORE: Suspects too young to charge
CityNews
MISSISSAUGA - Officers were on the scene of a suspected truckjacking Thursday. It apparently started at an LG Electronics plant on Matheson Boulevard in Mississauga, where the driver was over-powered and forced into the back of the rig. The suspects then allegedly drove the truck to Ajax where skids of TV's were carted off. (CityNews)
CTV
EDMONTON - Around 10 minutes before midnight, a No. 8 Mill Woods Transit Centre bus was loading passengers in front of the bus stop across from the Hotel Macdonald when a fight broke out between a number of people. An adult male was stabbed on the sidewalk right beside where the bus had pulled up. The bus was packed with people heading home from the fireworks - all of whom were witnesses. Police have one person in custody, but are looking for some other suspects. (Edmonton Journal)
MORE: Downtown stabbing Deadly end
Victim linked to Red Scorpions
CBC
VANCOUVER - An Abbotsford family is grieving the loss of an “awesome guy” after the targeted shooting Tuesday of 36-year-old Jaswant (Billy) Rai. Rai’s sister Bonnie, a recent NDP candidate both provincially and federally, said the family was shocked and devastated at Rai’s violent demise. Rai was gunned down in the 30200-block of Spallin Ave just after midnight Saturday in what police described as “a targeted hit.” Rai was charged in February 1996, along with future Bacon brothers associates Rabinder Ahuja and Godwin Cheng, with assault causing bodily harm and uttering death threats. (Vancouver Sun)
PREVIOUS: Deadly shooting Body found Targeted hit
ST. CATHARINES - Blasting Niagara Region police officers for flouting the law and abusing their authority, a judge has sided with a St. Catharines man who claimed he was falsely arrested and Tasered multiple times. In his civil court ruling, Judge Raymond Harris said the officers who stopped Michael Parsons in 2003 on the outskirts of Niagara Falls weren't in danger from Parsons. But Parsons was in danger from them. (CP)
WINNIPEG - Fari Noedost stepped out of Stony Mountain penitentiary this week and should have immediately been put on a plane with a one-way ticket back to Iran. Instead, the convicted sex offender and drug dealer remains on Canadian soil as federal immigration officials debate the ethics of deporting him back to his politically unstable homeland - a debate that could see him released on bail in the meantime.
(Mike on Crime)
No more roadkill moose for charities
ST. JOHN'S - Charitable organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador are upset after the provincial government recently discontinued the donation of roadkill moose meat, saying the decision strips them of a vital source of fundraising. The government's decision comes after the auditor general flagged problems earlier this year about the department's donations of wild game meat. After a review, it decided to stop donating roadkill moose meat, saying the practice would expose them to liability if any health or safety risks arose. There are about 700 collisions involving moose on highways annually. (CP)
POUCE COUPE - Investigators have now confirmed that another natural gas pipeline in northeastern BC has been the target of an explosive attack. A wellhead was severely damaged by the blast and EnCana workers are still stabilizing and sealing the pipe. (Edmonton Jounral)
MORE: 5th pipeline explosion
CBC
VICTORIA - British Columbians will celebrate Canada Day by paying a little more at the pumps. The national holiday Wednesday marks the first anniversary of the tax, which will increase 50%, adding 1.17 cents to the price of a litre of gas. (CBC)
COMMENT: Carbon tax coercion continues
PREVIOUS: Carbon tax adds to health cost woes
Carbon tax expect to collect $2.3B out of your pocket
Albert Goosehead
WINNIPEG - It is an unthinkable loss, but the family of a 12-year-old boy who was beaten to death with a baseball bat is doing its best to be strong. Nadine Goosehead's eldest Albert was murdered over the weekend. It happened on the Bloodvein First Nation, but the family still does not have many concrete details of exactly what happened to their boy. (CTV)
Terrence Hughes Garth Palmer
BRAMPTON - Peel regional police say they have made an arrest in connection with a double homicide in Brampton that occurred earlier this month. On June 6, Peel police responded to a report of shots fired at 8678 Chinguacousy Rd. There's they found Terrence Elliott Hughes, 40, and Garth Nicholas Palmer, 29. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. Six other people were struck by gunfire. Police arrested Mustafa Omar, 22, at his home in Toronto and charged him with second-degree murder. (CTV)
MORE: Police make arrest
PREVIOUS: Hughes & Palmer homicides 2 killed named Mystery surrounds shooting Victims identified 2 dead in shooting
Daniel Levesque Aaron Lee Stevens
CALGARY - RCMP arrested Aaron Lee Stevens at about 11:30pm Monday night near the hamlet of Arrowwood, southeast of Calgary. Aaron Stevens was wanted for the first degree murder of 29-year old Daniel Levesque. Levesque was brutally killed in his home on Braniff Rd. SW on June 29, 2008. (CTV)
PREVIOUS: Victim identified
CALGARY - A Calgary man received a life sentence for second degree murder with no parole for 18 years for shooting and killing a man he claims was once his best friend. 41-year-old Bill Pappas shot Brian Kullman at point blank range in the back of the head at Kullman's Inglewood condo in November 2006. (CTV)
PREVIOUS: Pappas guilty Suspect cites extortion Suspect charged in death of cyclist Suspect had ticket to Rome Body found near Elbow Falls
Family presses for criminal charges
Calgary Herald
CALGARY - The death of the three young roommates - Tiffany Cox, Jonathan St. Pierre and Colleen Mantei - put the poor kids in the history books as the most casualties in a single fire in our city over the past 20 years. It was discovered a space heater caused the fire after it came into contact with combustible materials. Landlords, Akif and Bushra Amin, each face seven charges under the Public Health Act and five under the Alberta Fire Code, for improper bars on the bedroom windows and an inadequate smoke alarm system.
(Calgary Herald)
PREVIOUS: Delay of care cited in death Public Health charges in deadly fire
Alysa Zatelny
EDMONTON - The medical examiner’s office has positively identified the remains of a woman found on the edge of Grande Prairie last week. Dental records match those of Alysa Zatelny, 19, a Grande Prairie woman last seen by a friend on June 11. The medical examiner is still working to figure out how Zatelny died. Christopher Francis Podruzny, 21, and a 14-year-old girl who cannot be identified have been charged with causing an indignity to a human body. (Edmonton Journal)
PREVIOUS: Family not informed Charges laid
TORONTO - Jurors in a murder trial in Toronto earlier this year were subjected to background checks without their knowledge, it was revealed in Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday. At least a dozen of the 190 potential jurors in the second-degree murder trial of Jeffrey Tuck had their names highlighted which indicated they had "contact with police," although there was no further explanation of the phrase. (National Post)
EDMONTON - Police chief Mike Boyd told the media Tuesday he plans to take immediate action to repair his relationship with rank-and-file members and will ensure their concerns are addressed. (CTV)
MORE: Chief tries to mend fences
PREVIOUS: Posters mock police chief Chief reacts to apparent smear campaign Chief investigates rank-and-file revolt
Vancouver Sun
VANCOUVER - A 28-year-old Maple Ridge man has been charged with second-degree murder in the May 28 shooting of another man with ties to organized crime. Hershan Singh (Shawn) Bains was arrested Friday in connection with the murder a month earlier of Steve Nagra, who drove himself to hospital, collapsed and later died. (Vancouver Sun)
MORE: Arrest made
PREVIOUS: Victim identified Victim suspected drug dealer Victim dies
Daniel Valladeres
GATINEAU - A 26-year-old Ottawa man appeared in Gatineau court Tuesday on a first-degree murder charge following the death of 19-year-old David Valladares, who was shot and killed outside the Cabaret Le Pink strip club in Aylmer Thursday. A 16-year-old was also injured in the incident. Mohamed Farouk Ahmed was arrested Sunday in a Gatineau residence on Des Grives Boulverad along with Mustafa Ahmed, 21, of Ottawa, and Adil Hassan Omer, 25, of Gatineau. Mustafa Ahmed and Omer ware charged with drug-trafficking offences. (Ottawa Citizen)
MORE: 3 arrested
PREVIOUS: Bloodbath at strip club
Gage Prevost Natalie Pasqua
CALGARY - The Alberta Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for Natalie Pasqua, the woman convicted of pushing 17-year-old Gage Prevost to his death from a downtown LRT platform. Pasqua was convicted by a jury of second degree murder in February 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for a minimum of 12 years. (CTV)
MORE: New trial ordered Convicted gets new trial
PREVIOUS: Guilty in C-Train murder Pasqua guilty
Suspect in transit killing arrested
Douglas Edgett Cheryl Pyne David Ouellette
MONCTON - A 38-year-old Moncton man was sentenced to two lengthy prison terms on Monday for his involvement in two slayings. Court of Queen's Bench Judge George Rideout ordered David Joseph Ouellette to serve a life sentence with no chance of parole for 15 years for second-degree murder in the killing of Douglas Edgett, and seven years for manslaughter for killing Cheryl Pyne. (CBC)
MORE: No remorse
PREVIOUS: Guilty pleas Guilty pleas in cold cases
RCMP lay charges in cold cases
Amanda Power Warren White
ST. JOHN'S - A St. John's man who strangled his girlfriend last year, and later cut her body into pieces to dispose of it, was sentenced Tuesday to at least 17 years in prison before he can ask for parole. Warren White, 36, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder in the death of Amanda Power, 29, whose torso was discovered in a suitcase near their Warbury Street home. (CBC)
PREVIOUS: Man dismembered girlfriend Jarring photographs Chilling evidence
Katlin Cousineau
BARRIE - One by one, close-up photos of the charred remains of Katlin Cousineau were shown to a solemn-looking jury yesterday. So far in the trial, the jury has heard that a fire was deliberately set to a Midland home to destroy all evidence of how the mentally challenged woman was brutally tortured with a blow torch Nov. 12, 2005. (Sun Media)
PREVIOUS: He set her on fire, then prayed Final moments detailed Abuse a game 'She was just lying there, humming' Woman suffered 'degradation' Judge shaken by 'sadistic’ death
VICTORIA - How much are BC's top executives earning? This is the second consecutive year compensation figures - including salaries, incentives and other benefits for executives at all BC public-sector organizations - have been released. Government figures released Monday show six of BC's top public-sector executives made more than half a million dollars last year. (Vancouver Sun)
REPORT: Executive compensation disclosure
PREVIOUS: If you do it, we will tax it Entitled
RELATED: Info denial raises concern Need for transparency in public sector pensions .pdf
Judge orders emails be disclosed
VANCOUVER - The judge in the Basi-Virk case has ordered the e-mails of 15 MLAs be disclosed to the defence. Justice Elizabeth Bennett, however, ruled against disclosure of e-mails from Premier Gordon Campbell, saying the defence failed to establish likely relevance. The ruling applied only to the premier's MLA e-mail account. (Vancouver Sun)
PREVIOUS: Raid on ministerial offices
Community uproar closes shelter
Vancouver Province
VANCOUVER - It’s one homeless shelter down, one to go for False Creek North residents. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and BC Housing Minister Rich Coleman relented Monday in the face of fierce community opposition, closing a troubled Granville Street 38-bed homeless shelter, effective Wednesday, and giving a nearby Howe Street shelter a 30-day reprieve. (Vancouver Province)
MORE: Shelter freak show
WINNIPEG - A 12-year-old Garden Hill First Nation girl suffered a fractured skull and other injuries after she resisted a girl gang "beat-in," a court heard last week. Five girls ranging in age from 14 to 17 were arrested in connection with the December 2008 attack. On Friday, a 16-year-old accused was sentenced to nine months custody and community supervision and 18 months supervised probation. The sentence is in addition to 51/2 months the girl has already spent in custody. (Sun Media)
Toronto Star
MISSISSAUGA - Gunfire erupted early yesterday at a house party in Malton, leaving a 22-year-old man dead on a street where violence has occurred in the past. Peel Police say shots rang out in front of the home on Monica Dr just after 2:30am. Officers found Nicarno Anthony Wright suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Wright was rushed to Etobicoke General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. (Sun Media)
MORE: Police investigating house party homicide
Police appeal to house party crowd Guest flee
CTV
MONTREAL - A 21-year-old Sept-Îles man was charged with second-degree murder Monday in connection with the death of Eric Tremblay, who was found Friday in
Viger Park. Julien Labrie appeared briefly in Quebec Court, was kept in detention and is to be back in court Friday. (Montreal Gazette)
MORE: Charges expected
CTV
MAGRATH - Two 18-year-olds have been charged with murder after a man was fatally stabbed in Magrath. Lyle Scott Madge, 29, died shortly after being stabbed outside a house in front of witnesses Saturday at 2a m. Police say alcohol was a factor in an altercation that flared between two groups of men. Addison Wakefield has been charged with second-degree murder. Kristian Ramberg is charged with assault with a weapon.
(Calgary Herald)
MORE: Murder in Magrath
HAMILTON - An initial investigation showed that a black SUV that was driving west on York Blvd had struck and killed 81-year-old Tong Vi Duong of Hamilton. The SUV continued down the road and as it approached Valley Inn Rd., it rear-ended a silver Honda, causing it to hit the median and cross into oncoming traffic before being struck by an eastbound truck. The driver, 29-year-old Hannah Gordon, was pronounced dead at the scene. Passenger Jeffrey Roche, 29, was taken to hospital but later died. Allan Maki, 40, of Stoney Creek, faces three counts of criminal negligence causing death and three counts of dangerous driving causing death. (Toronto Star)
MORE: Victims were newlyweds
VICTORIA - A 48-year-old Victoria man was found dead in a Victoria police cell Saturday night, just an hour after he was arrested for public intoxication, police announced Sunday. About 7:30pm Saturday, officers responded to a call from a passerby who had seen three people passed out by Hillside Avenue and Blanshard Street, police said. The three - two men and a woman - were examined by ambulance paramedics before being arrested and jailed for public intoxication. About an hour later, an officer discovered that one of the men was unresponsive. (Victoria Times Colonist)
MORE: Man identified
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Friday, July 03, 2009 13:44:59