Prime Time Crime is collected and published by Leo Knight, a former Canadian police officer, security expert and media commentator. Site edited by Chris.
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On this 100th anniversary of Mother's Day, the woman credited with creating one of the world's most celebrated holidays probably wouldn't be pleased with all the flowers, candy or gifts. Anna Jarvis would want us to give mothers a white carnation - she felt it signified the purity of a mother's love. (AP)
Brink of a self-inflicted disaster
AP
YANGON - Myanmar may be on the brink of a second disaster, "potentially larger than the first," but this time self-inflicted. More than a week after Cyclone Nargis hit, the Myanmar government's continued refusal to allow more than a trickle of aid into the country and no experienced disaster relief workers has upped the chance of disease wiping out more people than the cyclone and the tidal surge that followed it. (CanWest)
MORE: Relief boat sinks
PREVIOUS: Generals turn aid into propaganda Officials hand out ballot papers already filled in WFP donors NASA 2007 anti-government protests
Fighting reported in Northern Lebanon
AP
BEIRUT - Heavy fighting broke out between pro- and anti-government supporters in Lebanon's central mountains overlooking the capital Sunday sending echoes of gunfire and explosions rolling across Beirut, security officials said. (AP)
MORE: Fighting spreads east of Beirut
PREVIOUS: Hezbollah agrees to withdraw forces Hezbollah 2007 Lebanon conflict 1975-1990 civil war
AFP
KHARTOUM - Sudan says it has cut off diplomatic relations with Chad, blaming it for helping rebels from Darfur to launch an attack on Sudan's capital, Khartoum. Both Chad and Jem rebels deny working together to launch the assault on the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman, which the rebels say they have taken control of. (BBC)
PREVIOUS: Darfur conflict
AP
KATHMANDU, Nepal - Police have arrested some 560 Tibetan women, including many Buddhist nuns, after breaking up demonstrations against China's crackdown in Tibet. In the first example of all-women protests, three rallies in Kathmandu were quickly stopped by police. It was the biggest round-up since Tibetan exiles began near daily demonstrations in March. (BBC)
PREVIOUS: 2008 unrest in Tibet
AP
CIUDAD JUAREZ - The No. 2 police officer in a Mexican border city across from Texas was shot dead Saturday, the latest high-ranking official killed in an onslaught of attacks blamed on gangs resisting a crackdown. Gunman sprayed Juan Antonio Roman Garcia's car with bullets outside his home in Ciudad Juarez, officials said. The attack came months after his name appeared at the top of a hit list left at a monument for fallen police officers. (AP)
MORE: Intensifying the fight
PREVIOUS: Gunmen kill another top cop Mexico vows to continue war Another top law officer gunned down Sinaloa cartel suspected in Millan Gomez murder Organized Crime
HOUSTON - Neighbors bringing a loose bull back to a northeast Houston home discovered a gruesome scene that revealed a man and his family shot dead. Police on scene said it is possible the deaths are the result of a murder/suicide, but had not ruled out that all five people had been murdered. The bodies were found at a home in the 10100 block of Stonewood about 3:30 pm Saturday. (KHOU)
MORE: Family in dire financial straits
It was supposed to be a stress-free investment for Florence and Jim Langford. After all, the retired Saskatchewan couple was only looking for a little extra income to supplement their retirement savings. (W-Five)
Human rights abusers hijacking UN
Each year, the human rights watchdog Freedom House surveys all 193 countries in the world, plus 15 select territories, and assesses the state of freedom in each. During 2007, Freedom House determined that 90 countries (47%) were free. (Calgary Herald)
REPORT: How HRC members voted: 2007-2008 .pdf Evaluation of 2008-2011 HRC candidates .pdf
Reuters
OTTAWA - Drivers filling up for the May long weekend face fuel prices scraping up against their all-time highs, and some will pay for more gas than they actually put in their tanks. A Citizen investigation shows that between Jan. 1, 1999, and Aug. 28, 2007, nearly 5% of gas pumps tested in Canada - about one pump in 20 - failed government inspections by dispensing less fuel than they should. (Ottawa Citizen)
MORE: Feature report hosed at the pump
RCMP target three reserves for contraband tobacco
OTTAWA - The RCMP and the Conservative government are targeting three of the most volatile native reserves in the country as part of a new effort to battle contraband tobacco and organized crime. A report released Wednesday by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and RCMP Assistant Commissioner Raf Souccar singled out Kahnawake in Quebec and Tyendinaga and Six Nations in Ontario as the Canadian sources of illicitly manufactured tobacco. (Globe & Mail)
PREVIOUS: Native leader warns of confrontations over tobacco strategy Taxes are fueling Organized Crime RCMP sounds alarm over illegal smokes
BEIJING - China has recorded 27,499 hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) cases so far this year as of Friday, resulting in 34 deaths, according to a Xinhua tally of local official figures. The figure stood at 24,934 on Thursday. (Xinhua)
PREVIOUS: Virus infection nears 20,000 China issues alert Nationwide fight against fatal virus
BRUSSELS - Microsoft said on Friday it was appealing against a record 899 million euro ($1.39 billion) fine imposed by the European Commission for using high prices to discourage software competition. (Reuters)
IRVING - FBI agents have searched an Irving business with alleged ties to east coast Mafia families. On its website, First Plus Financial Group describes itself as a company that provides financial and management services to both consumer and commercial businesses. However, according to a search warrant the FBI is investigating if the Irving company has ties to the Mafia. (CBC 11)
LA Times
LOS ANGELES - A fight between rival groups of black and Latino students at Locke High School quickly escalated into a campus-wide melee Friday, with as many as 600 students brawling until police restored calm with billy clubs. (LA Times)
Armed gangs spreading violence
THE PAS/HOBBEMA - In the past five years, aboriginal gangs (ABOC), as they are classified by the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, have surpassed outlaw motorcycle gangs and Italian organized crime syndicates as the largest single group held in federal prisons, with 536 members serving federal sentences. 90% of them are doing time on the Prairies, dominated by three established gangs: the Indian Posse, the Native Syndicate and the Warriors. (Globe & Mail)
PRISON GANG PROFILE: Alberta Warriors Indian Posse Manitoba Warriors Native Syndicate Redd Alert
PREVIOUS: Aboriginal gangs in 'crisis proportions' Gangs
LONDON - Police are hunting for a gang of girls who were seen pouring a mysterious purple liquid through the letterbox of a house at the centre of a deadly blast in North West London. The incident happened about 10 hours before the property in Stanley Road, South Harrow, was levelled in a blast, which also destroyed two other houses and killed a man living next door. The man has been named locally as Emad Qureshi, 26.
(Times online)
MORE: Girl gang 'blew up Harrow house for revenge'
Violence as an infectious disease
It's always been a fantasy in utopian, and dystopian, science fiction: Human beings will somehow find a cure, a magical vaccine, to eradicate gang violence. The theory is that a shooting, or whatever else might trigger murderous rage in the gang world, leads to a virulent outbreak of anger. This leads to an impulsive and often temporary desire by individuals to retaliate, both for revenge and face-saving machismo. If those people can be isolated - much like a person infected with a deadly virus - and treated (that is, reasoned out of their violent response), the transmission of violence can be stopped. (Vancouver Sun)
PREVIOUS: CeaseFire Crime in Chicago
Williams lashes inquiry for 'inquisitorial methods'
St. JOHN’S - Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams had sharp words Thursday for how the breast cancer inquiry that his government struck a year ago is performing. "I think a lot of people are concerned by the inquiry- not so much the format of the inquiry, but the style of the inquiry," Williams said Thursday evening after a high-level meeting with medical officials aimed at solving a crisis in staffing levels among pathologists and other professionals. (CBC)
PREVIOUS: Cameron inquiry Review of pathology results College defends 'problematic' testing 700 cases reviewed The Entitled
Law allows disclosure of health info
Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian, and BC counterpart David Loukidelis, say privacy laws do not prevent contacting a family if there are real concerns someone might seriously hurt themselves. Cavoukian adds that if someone uses common sense and good faith to disclose information, her office will not "come down on them,'' adding "privacy is important, but preserving life is more important.'' (CP)
Hate allegation made against Herald cartoon
HALIFAX - Police are investigating an allegation that an editorial cartoon in The Chronicle Herald promoted hatred. The cartoon by award-winning Herald staff cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon appeared on April 18 and depicted Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, a former Nova Scotia woman now living in Ontario. She had told the Herald that she would seek millions of dollars in compensation from the federal government after terrorism-related charges against her husband, Qayyum Abdul Jamal, were stayed. (Halifax Chronicle Herald)
MORE: Another Islamic group files a hate speech complaint Battle of Khartoon comes to Halifax
PREVIOUS: Big Brother
Oda admits she failed to report fees
OTTAWA - Conservative cabinet minister Bev Oda acknowledged to the House of Commons yesterday that she failed to publicly report thousands of dollars in limo bills. After being outed this week by an access-to-information request by the NDP, Oda told the Commons that "administrative errors" were responsible for the oversight. (Toronto Star)
PREVIOUS: Oda accused of 'conflict' over broadcast executives fundraiser
Julie Couillard & Maxime Bernier
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is brushing off security concerns over the relationship between a top cabinet minister and an ex-girlfriend with past ties to the Hells Angels. (CP)
COMMENT: Not much at all
PREVIOUS: Bernier to Opposition: mind your own business Minister's onetime partner was target
'Dramatic escalation of attacks'
HARARE - President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa arrived in Zimbabwe on Friday for talks with the country's longtime leader, Robert Mugabe, as fresh evidence emerged that forces sponsored by Mugabe's government are accelerating their attacks on the political opposition. (IHT)
PREVIOUS: Zimbabwean election 2008
President agrees to vote of confidence
BOLIVIA - President Evo Morales said Thursday he supports a congressional decision to hold a referendum on whether he and his administration should remain in power amid a move for autonomy that he opposes.
(CNN)
PREVIOUS: Vote for autonomy Morales rejects autonomy vote Revolt against the peasant president
AIG reports a $7.8B loss in quarter
NEW YORK - The fortunes of the world's biggest insurance company, American International Group, rise and fall on precise calculations of risk. Last quarter, those calculations went seriously awry. In the worst three months of the company's 89-year history, AIG lost $7.81 billion, primarily from bad investments in complex financial instruments. (IHT)
COMMENT: Why piggy banks are in vogue
PREVIOUS: Credit default swap Arcane market is next to face big credit test UK repossession claims rise by 16% US repossession rate doubles Subprime mortgage crisis
BBC sorry for keeping charity cash
LONDON - The BBC today apologised for keeping £106,000 made from premium-rate phone calls on about two dozen shows that should have been given to charity. The issue involved the BBC Worldwide subsidiary Audiocall, which provides premium-rate phone lines to many BBC shows. (Guardian UK)
'No sign' Canada is keeping track of illegal migrants
OTTAWA - Canada's border agency's failure to track down 41,000 illegal migrants may be only the tip of the iceberg as an unknown number of people simply overstay in the country after their visas expire, a security expert warns. With the federal government's rapid expansion of the temporary foreign worker program, many of these overseas workers may just want to stay here - legally or not - after their work permits end and simply go underground, said Martin Collacott of the Fraser Institute. (Toronto Star)
REPORT: May 2008 - Immigration and Security .pdf
COMMENT: Plenty of room for more tax cuts
PREVIOUS: 2008 May report of the AG of Canada 41,000 rejects lost in our midst AG's report lacks lightning bolts of history Sponsorship Scandal
OTTAWA - The RCMP is investigating seven suspected terrorist plots so disturbing they "keep me awake at night," the senior Mountie for national security disclosed yesterday. The seven cases are among an unprecedented 848 national security cases, most related to terrorism, currently under investigation, Assistant Commissioner McDonell told an Ottawa conference on critical infrastructure protection. (Ottawa Citizen)
PREVIOUS: CSIS keeping tabs on protesters Protests 'to get more violent' Extremist activity associated with 2010 A changed perspective
Putin passes power, or does he?
Vladimir Putin & Dmitry Medvedev
MOSCOW - Dmitri Medvedev, the Kremlin insider and unprepossessing lawyer who had never held elected office before, was sworn in as the Russian president Wednesday inside the Grand Kremlin Palace. The ceremony, mixing czarist splendor with renewed Russian confidence, marked the passing of formal power from President Vladimir Putin to his young and untested protégé. But the events also served as a tribute to the enduring stature and popularity of Putin, who Medvedev nominated as prime minister within hours of taking office. (IHT)
PREVIOUS: Russia and the return of the FSB
Federal Security Service (FSB)
Wayne Nelson Corliss
PARIS - Police detained a suspected pedophile in New Jersey Thursday, just two days after Interpol made a rare appeal for public help in the international manhunt to catch him, the police agency said. Wayne Nelson Corliss, 58, was detained in Union City, N.J., Interpol said. He is suspected of sexually abusing at least three boys from Southeast Asia thought to have been as young as 6 to 10 years old, the international police agency said. (AP)
PREVIOUS: Worldwide search Images of 'paedophile' released Interpol Wanted
FBI withdraws national security letter
SAN FRANCISCO - A non-profit digital library has successfully fought an FBI attempt to seize information about one of its users, and is calling on other groups to challenge government agencies attempting to obtain online customer information without a judge's order. The FBI presented the San Francisco-based Internet Archive with a national security letter in November asking for a library patron's records. The group sued the agency a month later, alleging the letter violated free speech rights because they prohibit recipients from talking to anyone else about them. (AP)
Is the fix in on new copyright laws?
OTTAWA - Representatives of the US government and the entertainment industry met on Wednesday night with a group of MPs studying intellectual property to talk about cracking down on copyright infringements. Caucus members are also planning a trip to Washington before the new law is introduced to meet with the congressional leaders and other groups working on copyright and piracy issues. Industry Minister Jim Prentice was set to table the legislation last December, but pulled it at the last minute amid concerns the Canadian legislation too closely resembled the US law. (CanWest)
PREVIOUS: Geist: Copyright Canada Copyrights and regulated markets
DND's cloak of secrecy covers would-be suppliers
OTTAWA - The Defence Department has increased the secrecy around the way it spends taxpayers' money by bringing in a new rule that prevents companies interested in bidding on equipment projects from talking publicly. That stipulation, however, does not have to do with security aspects of the project and is aimed more at controlling what the media might write, defence industry insiders say. (Ottawa Citizen)
PREVIOUS: AG balks at vetting by PMO Why did fed kill information registry CAIRS Tories kill information registry No respect
'He just thought it was his duty to serve'
Michael Starker
KANDAHAR - Cpl. Michael Starker had already dedicated years of his life to the Canadian military when volunteers were sought to serve in the dangerous Afghan mission. Despite having a wife and a career as a Calgary paramedic, the local medic felt the need to serve one more time. (Calgary Herald)
MORE: Militants kill medic Medic killed in ambush
RELATED: Mission shifting toward development: incoming commander
MANILA - More than 200 million children worldwide under age 5 do not get basic health care, leading to nearly 10 million deaths annually from treatable ailments like diarrhea and pneumonia, a US-based charity said Wednesday. Use of existing, low-cost tools and knowledge could save more than 6 million of the 9.7 million children who die yearly from easily preventable or curable causes, the report said. They include antibiotics that cost less than $0.30 to treat pneumonia, the top killer of children under 5, and oral rehydration therapy (cost about $0.10) for diarrhea, the second top killer. (AP)
REPORT: Annual Report 2007 .pdf
RELATED: State of the World's Mothers 2008 .pdf
Kind of makes you wonder about the righteousness of Canadians screaming for money for their special interests doesn’t it. – Chris
Federal agents raid office of Special Counsel
WASHINGTON - Nearly two dozen federal agents yesterday raided the Washington headquarters of the agency that protects government whistle-blowers, as part of an intensifying criminal investigation of its leader, who is fighting allegations of improper political bias and obstruction of justice. Agents fanned out yesterday morning in the agency's building on M Street, where they sequestered Office of Special Counsel chief Scott Bloch for questioning, served grand-jury subpoenas on 17 employees and shut down access to computer networks in a search lasting more than five hours.
(Washington Post)
MORE: Bloch misused own task force
Possible 'Smiley Face Gang' link
New details have emerged in the search for missing 19-year-old Middlebury College freshman Nicholas Garza that could link him to the so-called "Smiley Face Gang," which a group of retired detectives believes is responsible for the apparent drowning deaths of dozens of young men across the country. (Fox)
PREVIOUS: FBI: 'No evidence to support' 'Smiley face gang' 'Smiling face' gang Detectives chase murder mystery Murder connects dozens around country
POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS
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Sun Media
WINNIPEG - 34-year-old man is the city's latest murder victim after an apparent drive-by shooting sprayed a Pembina Highway watering hole with bullets early yesterday morning. Broken glass and blood covered portions of a patio at the Quality Inn at 635 Pembina Hwy. (Sun Media)
MORE: Drive-by shooting fatal Police identify victim
Still no suspects in shooting
CTV
VANCOUVER - The victim in Metro Vancouver's latest fatal shooting did not have any known gang ties, according to police. A 23 year old Langley man was driving a Porsche Cayenne SUV in Burnaby Friday night when gunfire erupted from another vehicle. He died after veering off the road into a building near Kingsway and 14th. A 17 year old girl from Surrey driving a silver Jeep SUV behind him was also shot at, and taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
(News 1130)
MORE: Shots fired at two cars 3rd deadly shooting in 3 days
PREVIOUS: Another shooting 1 dead, 1 injured after shooting Man gunned down
VERNON, BC - A man has been found dead at the end of a Vernon driveway, and Mounties say it's a homicide. It happened at the 53-hundred block of McIntosh Road - Mounties were there just before 10:30 Friday night in response to hearing shots fired. Gord Molendyk with the Vernon RCMP says the man in his mid-twenties was dead when they arrived on the scene. Molendyk tells us police are sure the death was not a random act, and the man who was killed is known to police.
(AM1150)
A Canadian man's death at a remote US wilderness campsite is a mystery, says a US sheriff. The body of Peter Kim, 37, who lived recently in Vancouver, was discovered last week in an "extremely remote" area of Washington, 50 kilometres from the Canadian border. He had been dead since February. (Vancouver Province)
VANCOUVER - Two rewards have been posted for the safe return of Mia, the female spider monkey presumed stolen from the Greater Vancouver Zoo. Peer and Victoria Winter of Coquitlam are offering $5,000 to anyone who returns Mia unharmed. The zoo has also set up a separate reward, funded by public donations, for information leading to Mia's safe return. It will match the cash raised up to $3,000. (Vancouver Province)
PREVIOUS: Jocko dead, mate missing RCMP seek motive
Vancouver Province
VANCOUVER - About 2,000 people representing 60 interest groups came out to a community rally at South Delta Secondary yesterday afternoon. The demonstration, organized by Tsawwassen's Spirit of Delta citizen's group, was held in a last-ditch effort to get Premier Gordon Campbell to halt the controversial overhead, high-voltage power-line project that has residents fuming. (Vancouver Province)
RELATED: New universities a smokescreen
Patrons lighting up in some clubs
TORONTO - Nearly two years after the province imposed a sweeping ban of smoking in all enclosed public and work spaces, and four years after all public places in Toronto went smoke-free (except outdoor patios and designated smoking rooms), there are still pockets of dissent throughout the city. Many establishments turn a blind eye to smoking to differentiate themselves from other venues and stay competitive in the industry. (Toronto Star)
MONTREAL - A trusted teacher caught in an apparent kiddie porn sting south of the border. How do you explain that to the kids? That's the question parents of Selwyn House students are facing this weekend. The cause was the arrest Thursday in Virginia of Richard Doucet, a popular Grade 3 and Grade 5 teacher. He is now behind bars on child pornography and solicitation charges. (Montreal Gazette)
MORE: School rocked by another sex scandal
PREVIOUS: Teacher held on child-sex charges
VANCOUVER - The 40-year-old gunned down in a targeted hit late Thursday on a quiet Abbotsford street was a member of the United Nations or UN gang. The man, whose identity is being withheld by investigators, was gunned down on the front steps of the house he had shared with his wife and daughters for several months. (Vancouver Sun)
PREVIOUS: Man familiar to police shot dead
Woman dies attempting to escape police
VANCOUVER - A Richmond woman who fell several stories off a high-rise condo while eluding police has died in hospital from her injuries. Samantha Sczerkowsky, 22, fell from between the fifth and fourth floor of a Richmond apartment on Thursday. (Vancouver Province)
Ashton Moen
CALGARY - An Alberta man must serve at least 18 years in prison for killing a teenage girl and dumping her body on the side of a rural road, a judge decided Friday. The judge said 32-year-old Colin Winsor must serve at least 18 years of his life sentence before he is eligible for parole. Winsor was convicted in March of second-degree murder and indecent interference with human remains in the 2006 death of 17-year-old Ashton Moen. (CBC)
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