Tag: Region Americas

A military veteran accused of telling an undercover FBI agent about a plan to “wipe out” the nation’s Jewish population was convicted on Tuesday of storming the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. A federal judge heard trial testimony without a jury before convicting Virginia resident Hatchet Speed, a former Navy reservist who was assigned to an agency that operates spy satellites. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden is scheduled to sentence Speed on May 8 for his role in a mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. McFadden convicted Speed of all five charges.

Britain and Australia fear that their nuclear-submarine and technology pact with the United States could be hindered by Washington’s export bureaucracy.

At wide-ranging press conference, Foreign Minister Qin Gang also describes Taiwan as a ‘red line’ in relations with US.

  LONDON — Britain’s Ministry of Defence must rapidly grow local industrial capacity in order speed rebuilding weapon stockpiles, the parliamentary Defence Committee says in a report to be published Mar 7. The committee said at the current rate of progress it will take 10 years to replace weapon stocks gifted to Ukraine and rebuild British weapon numbers to an acceptable level. Defense industrial capacity in Britain has atrophied over the decades since the end of the Cold War and…

The “Overt Human Intelligence Collection Program” (OHIC) has been in existence since at least 2016, according to Politico, which did not disclose how it obtained the documents.  Run by the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A), OHIC is intended to gather information about threats such as organized crime and transnational drug trafficking.

LONDON — Britain is to double the number of main battle tanks it is sending to bolster the Ukrainian defenses, the country’s ambassador in London said in a interview with Europe’s Radio Liberty. But the British Ministry of Defence has rowed back on any suggestion Challenger 2 numbers heading for the Ukraine are to be doubled from 14 to 28 – at least for now. The MoD has previously signaled they are open to increasing the numbers of Challengers destined…

The Prosecutor General’s Office has declared Transparency International unwelcome in Russia, describing the Berlin-based organization on Monday as going beyond its mandate to interfere into the country’s internal affairs. “It has been established that the activities of this organization clearly go beyond its declared goals and objectives,” the office said in a statement. “Formally acting as an organization fighting corruption around the world, it interferes in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation, which poses a threat to the foundations…

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Central East Correctional Centre in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, February 10, 2021. 
© 2021 Kawartha 411

A coroner’s inquest into the 2015 death of Abdurahman Hassan, a refugee from Somalia, has brought to light shocking details about Canada’s immigration detention system and abusive conditions in provincial jails. In response, 40 organizations have renewed their call on the federal government to stop incarcerating people in provincial jails for administrative immigration purposes.  The letter was also endorsed by former cabinet ministers Lloyd Axworthy and Allan Rock.

#WelcometoCanada

Our #WelcomeToCanada campaign is going coast to coast. The federal government has contracts with provinces across Canada that allow for immigration detainees to be held in provincial jails. Call on the federal government of Canada to cancel these contracts!

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Abdurahman lived in Canada for two decades before he was placed in immigration detention pending his deportation. He was stripped of his legal status because of several run-ins with the law. Abdurahman had several mental health conditions. After completing his criminal jail sentence, he was incarcerated in immigration detention for three years in a maximum-security provincial jail in Ontario. He was repeatedly subjected to prolonged segregation, in one instance spending 95 consecutive days in isolation.

On top of these punitive and inhumane conditions, Abdurahman’s prolonged detention was unnecessary and arbitrary. His deportation could not be carried out because Somalia was too dangerous for Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers to escort him. There is no legal limit to the duration of immigration detention in Canada, so Abdurahman never knew if or when he would be released.

At the inquest, correctional staff who knew Abdurahman testified that jail was not the right place for him. He could not access the treatment and support he required, and they feared for his safety. Nevertheless, nearly eight years after Abdurahman’s death, CBSA continues to detain people with mental health conditions in provincial jails so they can “access specialized care.”

The inquest counsel recalled the testimony of a correctional officer, one of the last people to spend time with Abdurahman at the hospital. The officer testified they spent the day talking about old times. He helped bathe and feed Abdurahman. “It was a good day,” he said.

Such humane treatment should be the norm. “It should be our goal as a society to ensure that all people, including immigration detainees like Mr. Hassan, be treated with this degree of dignity and care,” the inquest counsel concluded in his closing submissions. “The question is whether there is a will to make that happen.” 

The inquest jury made 53 recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future. Their first is that the federal government should stop using provincial jails for immigration detention in Ontario. Four provinces have already committed to ending this practice, although CBSA insists negotiations are ongoing. It’s time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to finally stand up to CBSA and stop this rights-violating practice across Canada.

Defence minister says Taiwan prepared to ‘fire the first shot’ if Chinese forces enter its territorial space.

“The introduction of independent settlement mechanisms is being successfully carried out, which will help protect cooperation with Cuba from the negative impact of the US trade, economic and financial blockade, as well as establish ties bypassing the financial organizations of unfriendly states,” the Russian diplomat said. In January, the chairman of the Russia-Cuba Business Council, Boris Titov, said that in order to mitigate the effect of Western sanctions, the countries are considering new mechanisms for mutual settlements, including in ruble and cryptocurrencies, as well as clearing schemes.

Moscow has been also promoting its SPFS interbank messaging system as an alternative to SWIFT as the West has ramped up economic restrictions. Nearly 470 participants, including foreign entities from 14 countries, have already joined the SPFS. Russia has also accelerated efforts to move away from the US dollar and euro towards settlements in national currencies.

The United States and California filed the suit alleging that HVI Cat Canyon, which previously owned and operated multiple oil and gas production facilities in Santa Barbara County, California, was liable for:

12 oil spills into waters of the United States in violation of the Clean Water Act;
17 oil spills into waters of the state in violation of state law;
Reimbursement of the federal and state governments’ costs of cleaning up the oil spills;
Natural resource damages under state law for harm to fish, plant, bird, or animal life and habitat; and
Numerous violations of federal Oil Pollution Prevention Regulations identified in 16 EPA inspections across 11 facilities.

The U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have entered into a consent decree with the City of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act regarding the city’s water pollution control facility that discharges undertreated effluent into Massachusetts Bay.

Undertreated sewage from the city’s existing water treatment facility results in a variety of harmful discharges into Massachusetts Bay, including disease causing organisms and toxic pollutants.

A Norfolk Southern train derailed in Clark County on Saturday, prompting Clark County officials to ask residents to shelter in place out of “an abundance of caution.” “The Clark County Emergency Management Agency is asking residents within 1,000 feet of a train derailment at Ohio 41 near the Prime Ohio Business Park to shelter-in-place out of an abundance of caution,” a post by the county reads on Facebook. “We ask that all residents in need of travel to Ohio 41…

The Biden administration has restricted sales of some US technology to 37 companies and organisations, saying that their activity threatened national security. Three-quarters of the companies included in the announcement, which was made on Thursday, are based in China. They include entities that the commerce department said had supported Beijing’s military modernisation or produced technology that risked being diverted for military purposes. The Biden administration has warned in recent weeks that China could be gearing up to provide military support…

A news outlet reported that jewels worth more than $3m were discovered in the backpack of a former aide in October 2021.