Syria's Assad, Libya's Gadhafi both under pressure

 August 19, 2011

It would appear international leaders have had enough of the frequent military reprisals in Syriaduring that nation's five-month-old uprising. The leaders of the United States, Britan, France, Germany, Canada and the European Union joined together Thursday, asking for Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign, citing the brutal repression of his people. A group of human rights observers from the United Nations went so far as to say what Assad is doing "may amount to crimes against humanity."
The latest military crackdown by the Assad government featured the use of gunboats for the first time. Perhaps sensing some international backlash, Assad told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday that military operations against protestors had ended. That seemed a hollow pledge after Syrian forces fired on protestors on Friday, killing at least 20.
Suncor, the Canadian energy company, said even though it has operations in Syria, it is not connected to the Assad regime.
To segue to events in Libya this week, The Rundown cedes the floor to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, who compared Assad to Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi. There were reports this week that Gadhafi loyalists were using scud missiles for the first time as they try to hold back rebel forces that have been backed by NATO. There were also stories that Gadhafi troops were using a hospital as a base of operation.
Like Assad, though, the heat was on Gadhafi by week's end, as the rebels mounted a strong pushtoward the capital of Tripoli, the capital city being rocked by thunderous explosions. Citizens supporting the Gadhafi regime seemed unconcerned by the offensive.

England riots: Vancouver police reject comparisons

August 19, 2011

Developments following the riots in London last week took something of a Canadian twist, with the police in Vancouver quick to dismiss comparisons that arose between the London uprising and the destruction that followed the Stanley Cup loss by the Vancouver Canucks in June. The revolts were not the same, the Vancouver police said, and held a press conference at which a member of their force, who once served in London cited the differences as he saw them: Vancouver's rebellion sprung from sports and was controlled while London's erupted from social issues and was underscored by rising tension.
Meanwhile, back in London, officials were still sorting out the causes of the riots, many citing abroken social | contract and a moral collapse that British Prime Minister David Cameron said must be reversed.
If you were worried about the locations for next summer's Olympics, don't be. Those sites were protected by the police during the riots.
Meanwhile, the thousands of arrests have started, with at least a thousand people being charged, including a 16-year-old in the death of a senior citizen. Two men who attempted to incite riots via their Facebook page were given four-year sentences on Tuesday.

Politics: Charest death hoax, separatist movement stumbling, Layton to miss NDP caucus

August 19, 2011 

The Rundown's political roundup moves swiftly from the obvious to the bizarre.
Liberal Leader Bob Rae knows the obvious: his party has a challenge to recapture the interests of Quebec,once a bastion of Liberal support.
The bizarre? Someone hacked the website of the newspaper Le Devoir to post a story saying Quebec Premier Jean Charestwas dead. Hours later, a joking Charest proved the story to be false. That incident came days after former federal Conservative cabinet minister Lawrence Cannon said the politician who has most impressed him isn't Prime Minister Stephen Harper but Charest.
Elsewhere, the separatist movement continues to scuffle. The Bloc Quebecois faces a delay in selecting its new leader, to replace the departed Gilles Duceppe, who himself walked away from a job at the CBC after a disagreement on terms. And a group of Quebec sovereigntists has declared the Parti Quebecois all used up.
Federally, the NDP will not have its leader, Jack Layton, on hand for its first caucus meeting after the summer recess. Layton is taking a leave to get treatment for a second bout of cancer.
The party also alleged this week that the legacy fund for the G8 summit in 2010 was run out of the constituency office of cabinet minister Tony Clement, the MP for that area. The NDP says that allowed the government to avoid the scrutiny of the auditor general.

Kelowna shooting raises fear of gang war in B.C.

August 19, 2011 

The killing of a Vancouver gang member at a casino in Kelowna, B.C., has stoked fears that a gang war could be underway even as the RCMP said it was too early to link the casino death to the subsequent shooting late Monday night of a man in Surrey, B.C., who has gang connections.
In Kelowna, Jonathan Bacon, along with his two brothers a member of the Red Scorpions gang, was fatally shot in broad daylight by a man wearing a balaclava on Sunday afternoon as he left a casino with five other people, one of them a Hells Angels member. Four of the other people were wounded, the CBC reporting one of the women in the car has become a quadriplegic because of the attack.
It is not clear if Bacon was the target of the killing but as the investigation unfolded, the RCMP dismissed talk that a statement was being made by the shooting.
The incident, in a favourite Canadian tourist destination, on an otherwise idyllic afternoon, stunned people in Kelowna. The town is taking steps to combat a known gangster presence in the area.
It is the second incident of violent crime to strike in the Okanagan Valley of B.C., known more for its boating lakes, fruit orchards and vineyards. On Aug. 3, the RCMP apprehended David Bobbitt, a fugitive wanted after a woman was discovered brutally beaten and assaulted in a Penticton, B.C., store Bobbitt operated.
In other Canadian criminal news, Romeo Cormier was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday following his conviction last month on kidnapping and sexual assault charges. Cormier, 63, was found guilty of abducting a woman from a shopping mall, keeping her in a room for a month and sexually assaulting her.

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