The Asian Star April 28 2018

www.theasianstar.com Vol 17 - Issue 13

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Single mother Renuka Amarasingha killed in Toronto van attack Toronto District School Board (TDSB) employee was killed in the Yonge Street rampage that left 10 dead and 14 injured, school board trustee Tiffany Ford said in a Facebook post.

“It was just confirmed that one of our TDSB staff members was killed on Monday in the tragic event. Ms. Renuka Amarasingha, a single mom from Sri Lanka,” Ford’s post states. A statement Toronto van attack victim Renuka from the school Amarasingha with her son Diyon. board added that Amarasingha worked as a nutrition services staff member at Earl Haig Secondary School. She was also a former adult student of TDSB. “This is a difficult Continued on page 7

Vancouver gas prices break record at 158.9 158.9 cents — the new price for a litre of regular gas in Vancouver. The price at the pump jumped by a full cent overnight, with city drivers waking up to the recordbreaking figure on Wednesday morning.

Dan McTeague, who watches Canadian prices for the Gas Buddy site, predicted the jump after prices started to rise drastically from the 1.30-mark in February. He didn’t, however, expect prices to creep up close to the $1.60 mark until summer. If the trend continues, McTeague said, $1.65 is more likely by the summer months. ‘The days of under $1.40-a-litre gasoline are over’: Lower Mainland gas prices set to jump “Whatever prices we see from today on continue to establish new records for gasoline for any major city across North America, and will continue to do so for the remainder of 2018,” he said. “If they can be this high at this time, you can imagine the changeover from winter to summer.”

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Vaisakhi celebrations in Surrey

Huge crowds turned out for Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade last Saturday.

British Columbia moves to cap auto insurance payouts B.C. government introduced legislation on Monday to curb skyrocketing payments for minor injury claims by capping settlements and limiting when accident victims can sue.

The province is the last in Canada to abandon a system in which victims can sue for any type of injury − known as a full tort system − a move it was forced to make to contain staggering losses at the Crown-owned Insurance Corporation of B.C. “These are huge changes for British Columbia, huge changes for ICBC,” AttorneyGeneral David Eby told reporters.Starting next April, settlements for pain and suffering claims

for minor injuries will be capped at $5,500. The definition of a minor injury will be set by cabinet at a later date. Mr. Eby said that will allow the government to respond if lawyers find loopholes to exploit. “We know from other jurisdictions that lawyers will try to get around the definition of minor injury, to try to get people into the B.C. Supreme Court system,” he said. Although the cabinet will determine what constitutes a minor injury, Mr. Eby said the proposed

Continued on page 7

BC government targets tax evasion in condo market to keep prices down British Columbia’s government wants to crack down on tax evasion in the condominium market and gives municipalities more control over rental housing as it looks for ways of easing a housing crunch. Finance Minister Carole James said legislation introduced Tuesday would require developers to collect and report buyer information on the purchase and sale of condos before they are built to ensure the

proper amount of tax is paid. The prices of so-called presale condominiums are inflated by people who buy and sell the properties without ever living in them or paying capital gains tax, she said. “This is a key step to stopping people from using presale condos as a quick, lucrative investment,” James said.

“It’s also to stop them from driving prices up for British C o l u m b i a n s Continued on page 6

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Saturday, April 28, 2018

Local

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Terrifying moment a window falls out during a packed Air India flight Horrifying moments start when passengers saw a window pannel is coming out of the plane during an Amritsar-Delh flight.

The flight from Amritsar to Delhi only lasts 30 minutes but the plane was buffeted by bad weather for almost 15 minutes of that, according to media roports. attendant tries to fix a window panel which has fallen off during a packed flight - less than 24 hours after a woman died when she was sucked through a plane window.

The footage shows the aftermath of severe turbulence which had caused the frame to come loose and left three people needing hospital treatment.

Many of the 240 passengers on board the Air India flight appear panicked as the crew member tries heroically to lodge the panel back in. The attendant can then be seen apparently reassuring the woman sitting by the damaged window - although the woman herself appears, reasonably enough, not entirely happy.

The full flight from Amritsar to Delhi only lasts 30 minutes but the plane was buffeted by bad weather for almost 15 minutes of that, according to The Times Of India newspaper.

The events unfolded as the Boeing 787

Dreamliner flew at a relatively low altitude of 15,000 feet. Overhead oxygen masks were released adding to the panic. A source told the newspaper: “Passengers were naturally terrified.”

Air India Boeing 787An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Boeing He said: “The turbulence on Flight AI 462 was such that the head of a seated passenger, who possibly did not have his seatbelt fastened, hit the overhead cabin because of a bump. The person suffered injuries.

Two more had minor injuries. The inside of a window panel came off. The outside window did not break and there was no depressurisation.”

The incident came just a day after a motherof-two died on an American flight after being sucked through the plane window during a mid-flight emergency.

The left engine on flight 1380, which was carrying 144 passengers from New York to Dallas, is believed to have exploded at 32,000 feet, causing shrapnel to fly off and hit the side of the plane, according to reports.

Jennifer Riordan, a 43-year-old mother-oftwo from New Mexico, was later confirmed as the passenger killed.

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BC universities impose steep tuition increases for foreign students When Gurleen Kaur moved to British Columbia from India to start a diploma program at a Vancouver-area university in January, she thought her savings and a parttime job at a coffee shop would be enough to cover her expenses.

But now she’s facing the prospect of asking her family back home for help after learning her school, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, is increasing tuition for international students by 15 per cent. “It’s kind of hard for us and we have to ask our parents [for help],” Ms. Kaur, an 18-year-old who is taking the university’s computer information-systems diploma program, said in an interview. “We cannot drop our classes here, because if we drop the classes, it’s our loss. We’re here to study.”

Kwantlen is one of several schools in B.C. and elsewhere in Canada that have imposed steep increases for international students, who already pay tuition rates as much as seven times higher than their Canadian counterparts.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University is increasing tuition for new or readmitted international students by 15 per cent this fall. Students who are already enrolled, like Ms. Kaur, will see their fees increase by 7.5 per cent this September and a further 6.98 per cent in September, 2019.

The international student rate for a standard five-course semester will be $9,870 this fall, up from $8,583 in the current year.

In comparison, Canadian students pay about $2,000 per semester.

A spokesperson for the university said the school has had a surge in interest from international students over the past year.

“The surge in demand has created

additional cost pressures for KPU, such as the need to hire additional permanent employees to educate and support our international students,” Tatiana Tomljanovic said in an e-mail. “While we welcome the international recognition of our programs, we need to ensure we can sustain the engaging and highquality experience we currently offer our international students.”

Gurpreet Sabharwal, an international student who is also the Surrey campus representative for the Kwantlen Student Association, said the increase is going to affect many international students, especially those who are from middle-class families.

“I think the university has this presumption that every international student is rich, but that’s not the case,” Mr. Sabharwal said.

“Our tuition is already so high compared to domestic students. We are only allowed to work 20 hours. We hardly manage to pay our bills here, as you know the cost of living in B.C. is so high, especially in the Vancouver area.” The University of Victoria is increasing undergraduate rates for new international students by 20 per cent this fall.

The school is proposing another 15-per-cent increase for the 2019-20 school year. Tuition for current international undergraduate students will increase 4 per cent. Most of the school’s programs currently charge undergraduate international students $9,031 for one term. New students will pay or $10,837 – an additional $1,800. Gayle Gorrill, the University of Victoria’s vice-president of finance and operations, said the school’s international tuition rates haven’t kept up Continued on page 8

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OPINION

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Canada moves to third world natural resource governance with Trans Mountain Whatever the value of having the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion take place or not, the decision of the governments of Canada and Alberta to negotiate a special arrangement with Houston based energy company Kinder Morgan is one that should concern all Canadians. With this decision, Canada is moving from a rule of law approach to natural resource governance to a behind-closed-doors, let’s make a deal, approach. Let’s consider carefully this shift in governance. In response to legal and political efforts by a legitimately elected government (British Columbia), Indigenous Peoples with constitutionally protected legal rights, and other stakeholders exercising rights to protest and undertake legal action, the Government of Canada is teaming up with another provincial government and a foreign investor to circumvent the legal process applicable across the country by creating a private contractual basis for resource infrastructure development. This is a model frequently seen in developing countries, but that was long ago abandoned in developed ones.

First, these two governments are trying to replace the rule of law with the rule of negotiation. By sending Finance Minister Morneau to negotiate with Kinder Morgan on a new deal that gives this company special financial benefits, the governments are moving from a consistent permit process that is known to all actors, to a privately negotiated deal.

Second, in replacing standardized permitting processes with privately negotiated deals, the governments risk creating a demand for this from all major investors. The lesson is easily learned: just threaten to pull out and the government will negotiate a special deal with you, on the law and the economic risks. This, in turn, puts at risk the very stability and consistency a rule of law process is meant to provide.

Third, the governments are promising to alter existing legal rights of other stakeholders in order to do the deal. Teaming up in order to tilt the legal field towards one side in any debate

is a high-risk venture. Tilting it towards foreign investors on one side of the debate at the expense of domestic stakeholders is simply a recipe for ongoing disturbance. Fourth, changing the law to make natural resource investments easier is a policy followed by the Harper government, to the decry of the then Liberal opposition. That policy has failed, as the current legal battles clearly demonstrate. Trying to do it again will generate the same result: many years of legal battles over any newly enacted laws. The only way to avoid this is to bar any legal challenges to a new law, something that would have broader implications for any notion of democracy in Canada.

Fifth, the government and Kinder Morgan are setting aside the very need of a project proponent in the natural resource sector to achieve a social license to operate from key stakeholders. In doing so, the government is overriding the very training it promotes for even the most undeveloped economies to ensure proponents obtain their social licence to operate. It is doing this by creating an investor-government coalition in which the government will make its economic interests synonymous with those of the investor it is supposed to regulate. These types of coalitions rarely succeed. Knowing this, the government still seems intent on taking onto itself, or rather onto Canadian taxpayers, the financial risk of future failure.

Sixth, and finally, we see the impact of the myriad of investment treaties signed by Canada over the last three decades. These all contain a provision called the ‘most-favoured nation rule’.

This means that the government cannot treat an investor from any given country any less favourably than it treats an investor from the most favoured country. In short, by negotiating a special deal with Kinder Morgan because their project faces hurdles, the government may well be creating a right under these treaties for any other foreign investors to have the same functional relief from their legal and financial challenges. “You changed the law and economics for them, now do it for us too” is the simple legal formula here. This will be heard by investors from Europe, China and elsewhere going forward.

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Saturday, April 28, 2018

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Saturday, April 28, 2018 From page 1

BC government targets tax evasion in condo market to keep prices down

trying to get into the housing market.” She said the government will share the presale data it collects with the Canada Revenue Agency to monitor taxes.

The agency said last fall it was analyzing 2,810 transactions of pre-construction condo flipping in Toronto and may carry out audits to find tax evaders. The agency said real estate deals in the hot housing markets in the Toronto and Vancouver areas have been the subject of greater scrutiny.

James said the legislation follows the New Democrats’ pledge earlier this year to spend more than $6 billion on affordable housing over the next decade. She said too many people in B.C. cannot afford homes and

some, including seniors, are at risk of becoming homeless.

The provincial government recently introduced a speculation tax on some vacant homes to encourage rentals, increased the foreign buyers tax on property sales and created a housing hub program to link non-profit and faith groups with property to developers and government to build affordable housing.

“We’re still seeing high prices,” James said.

“Vacancy rates are still a challenge. The hope is that will begin to moderate the market.”

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported last month the average benchmark

price for all properties in Metro Vancouver was just below $1.1 million, an increase of 16 per cent since March 2017. The average price for a detached single family home in Metro Vancouver was $1.6 million.

Rental vacancy rates in the areas around Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna are below one per cent.

Cameron Muir, chief economist at the B.C. Real Estate Association, said the plan to compile data to track presale condominiums is long overdue.

“It’s a data gap that needs to be addressed and I think this is a good move to better understand the presale condo market,” he said, adding the

legislation would force the reporting of the condo flips and allow the government to collect the tax. Housing Minister Selina Robinson said the government also introduced amending legislation to give municipal governments stronger zoning tools to protect and improve the supply of rental properties.

The legislation would allow local governments to ensure existing rental properties cannot be redeveloped for other uses, she said. It would also permit cities to ensure undeveloped land zoned for rental will be used for rental homes, said Robinson.

“Local governments are on the front lines of this housing crisis,” she said. “With this new authority local governments will be able to preserve existing rental stock and encourage the development of new purpose-built rentals within their communities.”

The amendments would require local governments to conduct housing need

assessment surveys and prepare data reports every five years, Robinson said.

Muir said the hot real estate market in Metro Vancouver has deterred developers from embracing the rental construction market.

“The profit tends to be in the condominium side,” he said. “Any measure to induce increased rental construction activity is probably a good one.” Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said there are 10,000 rental buildings from the 1960s in Victoria that require some form of updating, including seismic work.

“We’re definitely looking at incentives for developers,” she said.

Saturday, April 28, 2018 From page 1

LOCAL

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Single mother Renuka Amarasingha killed in Toronto van attack

time for the students and staff that knew her and we will continue to provide support to them in the days and weeks ahead,” the board’s chair, Robin Pilkey, said. A statement from the school Toronto van attack victim Renuka Amarasingha with her son Diyon. board added that Amarasingha worked as a nutrition services staff member at Earl Haig Secondary School. She was also a former adult student of TDSB. A GoFundMe page has been set up by the meditation

British Columbia moves to cap auto insurance payouts From page 1 said the proposed law sets out the framework.

“The core pieces are not changing,” he added.

“The core pieces are to get minor disputes out of the B.C. Supreme Court system.”

Between 2009 and 2016, annual injury costs in B.C. climbed from $1.5-billion to $2.7-billion, a rate of increase that is not sustainable, Mr. Eby said. Under the new model, a resolutions tribunal is expected to resolve small injury claims within 90 days. The NDP previously rejected no-fault insurance – a model that has reduced auto insurance costs in other provinces – as a remedy for rising cost pressures.

To blunt consumer anger over the changes, the cap is being rolled out at the same time that ICBC is boosting benefits for lost pay and medical rehabilitation for all people injured in accidents − the first major improvements in auto accident benefits in more than 25 years.

ICBC is on track to post a $1.3-billion deficit in the fiscal year that ended in March.

The changes, which will not take effect until April of 2019, are expected to reduce costs by $1-billion, even after accounting for the higher costs of benefits. Mr. Eby said the amount of savings will depend in part on whether tougher enforcement on dangerous driving can slow the rate of accidents. As well, he said, the response of lawyers will be a factor. Mr. Eby acknowledged that lawyers involved in ICBC claims may be unhappy. The province is also working on changes to auto insurance premiums to ensure that bad drivers − those who gather speeding tickets or distracted driving penalties − pay higher rates. Mr. Eby said the goal is to get the Crown corporation out of deficit without significant rate hikes for good drivers.

“It is a shift and we recognize there will be unhappiness on the part of many lawyers who engage in personal injury practice,” he said.

“This is a necessary shift. ICBC is in financial crisis, and we are making the changes so that ICBC can provide affordable insurance for British Columbians.”

ICBC, which has a monopoly on basic auto insurance, spends almost one-quarter of its budget on legal fees and related expenses.

John Rice of the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C. said the changes should alarm ICBC’s policy holders.

“Today’s proposed legislative amendments represent one of the most significant attacks on the legal rights of British Columbians in our province’s history,” he said in an interview. “It makes victims pay for reckless and distracted drivers.” The government says the list of minor injuries will cover a broad range, including “abrasions, contusions, lacerations, sprains and strains, pain syndrome, psychological and psychiatric conditions or an injury in a prescribed class of injury, even if chronic.”

centre, Pinnaduwage explained, all the funds will eventually go to the woman’s son. The fundraiser, launched Wednesday morning, had topped $48,000 by the afternoon.

“This is a difficult time for the students and staff that knew her and we will continue to provide support to them in the days and weeks ahead,” the board’s chair, Robin Pilkey, said. Amarasingha was also mourned by union CUPE 4400, who described her as a “well-loved member of the Scarborough community,” in a press release. “Times of difficulty like this, remind us all of the importance of our solidarity and our support for one another in the large, extended family that is our union,” the release read.

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Saturday, April 28, 2018

Alberta’s Notley warns of dire outcome if BC wins authority to regulate oil from Trans Mountain Canada’s economy will “grind to a halt faster than you can say ‘free trade’” if B.C. gets the regulatory powers it’s seeking under a court reference filed Thursday, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says. British Columbia wants the courts to rule the province has the authority to regulate the flow of oil through the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The government has sent draft legislation to the B.C. Court of Appeal asking whether it has the right to enact tougher restrictions for companies — such as Kinder Morgan — transporting heavy oil like diluted bitumen through the province. The legislation would require companies transporting heavy oil to get permits, and those permits would come with restrictions from the government, such as requiring a spill response plan from the company. “B.C. should have a say over whether we put our coast, streams, rivers and

tens of thousands of jobs in harm’s way,” Premier John Horgan said Thursday. Notley fired back that the B.C. government is trying to exploit a constitutional loophole around the environment to target and harass the pipeline project. Environment is a shared jurisdiction, Notley said, but B.C. has strayed “several miles” beyond the parameters that lay out who controls what. “The way B.C. is framing this would effectively drive a truck — but not a train or a pipeline, apparently — through that loophole,” she said. “The resulting consequences would be very, very damaging to our national economy.” She’s confident the application will be dismissed, but has directed Alberta officials to apply to become a party in the case. If B.C. ends up with the power to regulate and restrict the increased flow of bitumen, Notley argued, so too every other province would have the authority to regulate B.C. exports.

Mint employee fired after 2 kg of gold found missing from Ottawa facility The Royal Canadian Mint says an employee has been fired after about two kilograms of gold was discovered missing from its facility in Ottawa. Spokeswoman Alison Crawford says the gold, worth about $110,000 at current prices, was discovered missing last month during an internal inventory.

Crawford says an employee was terminated following an internal investigation and administrative review and the RCMP was called in to investigate.

She says the mint will make no further

comment as the matter is under police investigation. Crawford says large amounts of precious materials are handled at the mint’s facilities, but says incidents of this nature are very uncommon. In a previous incident, an employee stole gold “pucks” from the mint by hiding them in his rectum to evade metal detectors. Leston Lawrence was sentenced in February 2017 to 30 months in prison, and was ordered to pay $190,000 in restitution.

BC universities impose steep tuition increases for foreign students From page 3 with the cost of education. She added the school’s international tuition rates were lower than other universities. “We’ve seen a lot of our peer institutions increase their tuition fees and we have not, so we were very much lower than our peers,” she said. She said the school doesn’t anticipate the tuition increases will drive away international applicants and she noted the school offers financial support for students in need. Dheeraj Alamchandani, director of international student relations of University of Victoria Students’ Society, said such a significant increase will make the school less accessible for many international

students. “I was very disheartened when I heard that. I was very disappointed,” he said, “Those who have considered UVic as a viable and accessible resource for getting education might have to back out because of the financial reasons. That makes global education a lot less accessible for everyone.”

Between 2014 and 2017, the tuition for international students at the University of British Columbia increased more than 10 per cent for three years in a row, though the annual increase was slowed down in 2018, when it was 2 per cent more than the previous year.

Canada moves to third world natural resource From page 4 governance with Trans Mountain forward.

All of this will have a major impact on future natural resource project decision-making.

Where other countries have moved away, and continue to move away, from a contract model in favour of a transparent permit-based rule of law model, Canada is now moving away from the rule of law and back to developing country status in how it manages these projects. No doubt the government will argue that national economic security justifies this change in governance. The end justifies the means. Canadians will have to judge that for themselves.

But the government is also trading basic sovereign rights, and the rights of Canadians, in favour of the interests of one foreign company seeking to make one investment. If this investment is truly financially viable, another form of it will arise. If it is not, government should not be surreptitiously propping it up in a secret negotiating process that overrides the

legal rights of others in the process. And if the government is going to prop up a pipeline, it should open up the process to get the best bid for doing so, not simply fall sway to the threats of a single proponent. Then Canadians can have a proper debate on the role of government in propping up pipelines.

Canada works around the world to help train developing countries to avoid these practices.

It seems it is time to retrain the trainer, lest the implications of this moment be with us for decades to come.

Howard Mann is an international lawyer who specializes in international investment law, and is a former Canadian government climate change negotiator.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Metro Vancouver board members drop pension hike In a second vote on the topic, Metro Vancouver board members instead chose Friday to deny a bylaw that would give them a retroactive pension and a pay raise, following public controversy.

In March, the regional district voted in favour of giving themselves in a retroactive pension of up to $11,000, despite some councillors questioning the move ahead of the fall municipal election.

Members

had

agreed

to

a

retirement allowance of 10.2 per cent of earnings, which is about $1,100, for all members who choose to leave or are not reelected, going back to 2007.

The pension boost followed a change to federal legislation which would see some of the pay that local officials receive be taxed as income.

Surrey School District maps potential catchment areas With construction of Grandview Heights Secondary underway – and expected to open in 2020 – the Surrey School District is educating parents on how it plans to disperse South Surrey students.

The district has drafted four catchment boundaries – labelling one as preferred – that outline how the district plans to balance student numbers between Earl Marriott, Elgin Park, and Semiahmoo secondaries and the new high school, which is to be located at 16988 25 Ave. The district is taking feedback and has scheduled four community forums.

The draft preferred by the district – and released publicly today (Friday) – shows South Surrey students east of Highway 99 and north of the current Hall’s Prairie Elementary catchment area, will become Grandview Heights Secondary students.

The preferred catchment map released by the district shows that Rosemary Heights, Morgan, Sunnyside, Pacific Heights and East Kensington elementaries are to fall within the Grandview Heights Secondary catchment zone.

Earl Marriott’s catchment zone is to include Jessie Lee, Peace Arch, South Meridian and Hall’s Prairie elementaries.

Semiahmoo’s catchment zone is to include Bayridge, H.T. Thrift and White Rock elementaries. And, Elgin Park’s catchment boundary is to include Crescent Park, Ocean Cliff, Ray Shepherd and Semiahmoo Trail elementaries.

The three other catchment boundary options provided by the district show a different outline, but all are relatively similar.

Surrey School District communications officer Jacob Zinn told Peace Arch News Wednesday that come the 2020-21 school year, Grade 12 students will get to stay at their current high school, regardless of their zone. However, if Grades 8-11 students live within the new Grandview Heights

Classes starting from May 14, 2018

Secondary catchment zone, they will be transferred in.

“Unless they have an older sibling in Grade 12 that year, then they will have the option to either stay with their older sibling at their school or they can move to Grandview Heights,” Zinn said.

The four drafts provided by the district show phased-in boundary variances between Elgin Park, Semiahmoo and Earl Marriott catchment areas. In the 2020-21 school year, Grade 9-12 students – outside of the Grandview Heights Secondary catchment area – will not change schools.

However, students entering either Earl Marriott, Elgin Park or Semiahmoo Secondaries will follow the new catchment area, unless they have an older sibling.

Zinn said the drafts were created to provide population balance between high schools and ease overcrowding. Earl Marriott and Semiahmoo secondaries are operating at 123 per cent and 127 per cent capacity, respectively.

Further information about the plan has been added to the PlaceSpeak website (www.placespeak.com/sd36capitalplan).

The website explains the process, and gives parents and students the opportunity to share feedback through an online survey.

South Surrey students up to Grade 9 are being given information packages to take home.

District forums will be held at Earl Marriott on April 30 and May 14, at Elgin Park on March 15 and at Semiahmoo Secondary on May 16, each from 6:30-8 p.m.

The district is encouraging families to attend the specific event for their own school, however, the information presented at each forum will be the same.

LOCAL

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Saturday, April 28, 2018

Violent crimes in Surrey up nine per cent Surrey RCMP’s first quarter crime stats for 2018 indicate violent crime went up nine per cent although homicides were down by 25 per cent and sex offences dropped by 13 per cent.

Property crimes dropped by six per cent overall, with business break-ins dropping by 11 per cent, residential break-ins down by two per cent and auto theft in the first quarter declining by 28 per cent. This is compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.

All told police recorded 1,387 violent crimes in the first quarter of 2018 and 1,274

in the fourth quarter of 2017. The number of property crimes in those same periods was 6,827 compared to 7,288. For those periods, there were three homicides to four, and 82 sexual offences compared to 94.

For property crimes, 6,827 were recorded in the first quarter of 2018 compared to 7,288 in the last three months of 2017.

There were 608 auto thefts compared to 843.

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IHIT appeals for ‘tipsters’ in South Surrey homicide to come forward Police investigating the death of a man incidents may be related and our investigators found on 12 Avenue in South Surrey Thursday have taken steps to secure both scenes for afternoon want to speak with social-media careful analysis.” “tipsters” who reported hearing gunshots in #IHIT is in 17800 block of 12 AVE in south the area. “We need to find out who these #SurreyBC tonight for report of a suspicious tipsters are, it’s vital to the investigation,” death. #IHIT is working together with @ Cpl. Frank Jang of the Integrated Homicide SurreyRCMP to canvass neighbourhood.

Investigation Team Appears targeted. Media told reporters late availability w/ Cpl Frank Thursday, in an Jang at front door of interview outside of Surrey Detachment,14355 the Surrey RCMP 57 AVE, at 10PM. detachment. “I’m Investigators were asking those expected to be at people who may both scenes overnight have heard or collecting evidence. seen anything Jang said the vehicle suspicious in that found on 28 Avenue was Surrey RCMP respond to a suspicious death in area… you need “burned right down to the 18000-block of 12 Avenue in South Surrey to please come the frame” and that police forward and speak with us.” will be canvassing the neighbourhood for Surrey RCMP were alerted to a body in the witnesses and video surveillance that may 18700-block of 12 Avenue around 3:30 p.m. help identify the people or vehicles involved.

April 26. A witness at the scene described Police will also be reviewing reports of seeing a body “covered in a white sheet” in other suspicious activities in the area. the middle of the road.

“That’s definitely one of the things that Shortly after, a report of a vehicle burning we are going to look into,” Jang said. “We’re on 28 Avenue, between 184 and 188 streets, going to look into all the previous police just east of East Kensington Elementary, files associated to that area. If there are any came in. Police are on scene investigating suspicious vehicles, especially recently, that two incidents in South Surrey. Please be frequented the area, we’re going to find out advised that roads are closed along 12th Ave about it.” As of Friday morning, the victim’s between 184 and 176 St and along 28th Ave identity and cause of death had not been between 184th and 188th St. publicly disclosed.

Jang said the man’s death was deemed Anyone with information that could help suspicious, and that police do not believe it investigators is asked to call the IHIT tip was random. As well, police suspect a link line at 1-877-551-4448 or email ihitinfo@ between it and the vehicle fire. rcmp-grc.gc.ca. To remain anonymous, call “At this point, we believe that the two Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

LOCAL

Saturday, April 28, 2018

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BC introduces legislation to limit auto insurance claims The British Columbia government has introduced legislation that will attempt to restore the finances of the public auto insurance agency. Attorney General David Eby had promised changes to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia as it faced a forecasted deficit of $1.3 billion. The proposed changes introduced Monday in the legislature include a limit of $5,500 for pain and suffering on minor injury claims and faster resolutions of disputes.

The bill defines a minor injury as a “physical or mental injury ... that does not result in a serious impairment or a permanent serious disfigurement” and is not resolved in 12 months. It gives the government broad power to define specific minor injuries in the future. “The core pieces are to get minor injury disputes out of the B.C. Supreme Court system,”

said Eby. “We need to be able to respond as cases go forward to ensure our definition stays up to date.”

ICBC placing $5.5K cap for pain and suffering on minor injury claims If approved, the changes will set up a resolution process for cases under $50,000 that allows them to be resolved in as little as 90 days instead of two to three years. Eby says for years, drivers have had to pay more to cover the agency’s spiralling legal and administrative costs.

The government says the changes are necessary to help address the massive growth in the cost of injury claims, which jumped 80 per cent between 2009 and 2016. If passed, the changes will take effect on April 1, 2019. Further changes to insurance rates, based on driving history, are expected later this year.

Abbotsford dormitory destroyed by fire, up to 80 workers homeless As many as 80 migrant workers are out of a place to stay after a dormitory on a rural property that grows flowers burned up in Abbotsford on Thursday.

It’s not clear how the building caught fire, but it did house anywhere between 60 and 80 workers who were left “out of house,” said Abbotsford deputy fire Chief Jeff Adams.

The Mexican consulate was contacted about the incident and consular staff were expected to arrive on scene and help the workers find housing.

It’s not clear whether the workers’ paperwork was in the building when it burned. Adams said it was a tough fire to put out — that it spread quickly with strong winds, and that it took as long as 15 minutes for the first fire crew to reach the location. No one was hurt. No other buildings were involved and the guys did a great job.” The dormitory was empty when fire crews arrived.

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South Asian man killed in Surrey early reports that the victim Homicide investigators are was shot to death. describing a suspicious death in “The mechanism of injury South Surrey as a targeted attack. is still under investigation. I Police were called to a rural myself have heard through stretch of 12th Avenue between social media that there are 176th Street and 184th Street tipsters out there who have around 3:30 p.m., according to the reported hearing gunshots,” Integrated Homicide Investigation he said.

Tea Homicide detectives have “We need to find out who identified the man killed in a hit in these tipsters are. I’m asking Surrey on Thursday as 24-year-old those people who may have Amin Vinepal of Delta.

Amin Vinepal, 24 heard or seen anything Shortly after 3:30 p.m., a body found on the road in the 17800-block of 12th suspicious in that area today, you need to please come forward.”

Avenue. He appeared to have been shot.

Around the time the body was found, The Integrated Homicide Investigation police were also called to a second incident Team has taken over the case.

Around the same time a vehicle fire was nearby, this time a burning vehicle at 187th Street and 28th Avenue. Jang said that vehicle reported in the 18700-block of 28th Avenue.

IHIT investigators believe the vehicle may was burned badly enough that police are not be related to the homicide and anyone with able to identify its make or model yet.

Footage shows that scene appeared to show information is asked to contact the police. The burning of a vehicle just used in a shooting has a police officer covering a second body, this become a hallmark of gang warfare in Metro one charred and lying next to a burned-out Vancouver. IHIT says it is releasing Vinepal’s vehicle with a tarp.

Asked about the tarp on scense, Jang said name in an effort to find out what he was doing before he died. IHIT said Vinepal was known to police were at this point only investigating be associated with gang activity. Investigators one homicide. “I don’t have that information. believe Vinepal’s homicide was not at random Right now it’s our one victim that we’re and was linked to other gang violence in the looking at, and there are no other victims.”

However, he said that police believe the Lower Mainland. IHIT Cpl. Frank Jang said responding officers arrived to find a deceased two crime scenes may be linked. He said adult. Police have not revealed any details officers are now canvassing extensively around both crime scenes, and urged anyone about the age or sex of the victim.

Jang said police are also not confirming with information to contact police.

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LOCAL

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Kwantlen University takes double honours The university, with campuses in Surrey, Langley and Richmond, has been identified as one of B.C.’s top employers and one of Canada’s “Greenest” employers for 2o18, by Mediacorp Canada, the nation’s largest publisher of employment periodicals, based out of Toronto.

“This is wonderful recognition of the great strides KPU has taken to enhance environmental sustainability across its campuses in Surrey, Richmond, Langley and Cloverdale,” said Dr. Alan Davis, KPU’s president. ”Efforts to improve sustainability are woven into the fabric of the university, from

creating energy efficient facilities to integrating sustainability into the curriculum across all our academic disciplines.”

KPU’s “green” initiatives include an on-campus farmers’ market, “harvesting” rainwater, and having a green wall and roof.

The university also offers a range of degrees and diplomas related to environmental stability. The university was established in 1981 and has 1,078 full-time and 709 part-time employees.

West Vancouver woman defrauded of $800,000 in bank inspector scam An elderly West Vancouver resident has been defrauded of more than $800,000 in a new bank inspector scam. The victim, who wishes to remain anonymous, began receiving phone calls earlier this year from individuals claiming to report fraudulent activity on a personal credit card, say investigators. After a series of calls, the victim was then urged to call a second person identified as a bank fraud investigator, who then placed the victim into contact with a third person claiming to be a deputy chief of Vancouver police. The scam artists claimed an investigation was underway at the victim’s personal bank and that personal assets should be moved to a bank in another country for safekeeping. Police say the victim transferred

more than $800,000 before realizing it was a scam. Attempts by the victim’s bank to reverse the transfers have been unsuccessful, and police say the fraud has resulted in loss of most of the victim’s life savings. Apparently, a similar fraud scheme has happened recently in Toronto, where five victims have reported losses of more than $5.1 million, police said. West Vancouver police warn residents not to complete any financial transfer or transaction requested by unknown persons through unsolicited phone calls, email or on-line messaging.

Instead, police say residents should go to their banks in person. Banks or financial institutions will never advise someone to transfer funds to external accounts.

Man drives over fire hose, posing risk to firefighters battling East Van blaze A large fire at a print shop in east Vancouver is out but Vancouver firefighters find themselves reminding the public again about the risks posed when people interfere with fire hoses. The fire at Metropolitan Fine Printers on East Pender Street near Clark Drive flared up late Wednesday evening, forcing nearby streets to be closed. According to reports, no one was injured in the fire.

The fire appears to have started in one of the printing machines.

“Fast and careful work” prevented the fire from spreading to the rest of the block, the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service said on their Twitter account. VFRS spokesman Capt.

Jonathan Gormick said the fire wasn’t fully

out until early Thursday afternoon.

“The first arriving crews were able to save many of the printing company’s computers,” he noted.

An excavator was brought in in the morning to help expose hot spots in the collapsed structure.

Thursday morning, while firefighters were still working to put out the fire, a man drove under caution tape blocking access to Pender and right over a fully engaged fire hose.

The hose, which Gormick said had about 400 kilograms of pressurized water flowing through it, burst, sending a jet of water into the air. The damaged hose is worth about $1,000.

LOCAL

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Cross-border drug bust results in trafficking charges against BC man Charges have been laid against a British Columbia man who is accused of trafficking more than 100 kilograms of drugs between the United States and Canada. RCMP Chief Supt. Keith Finn said a six-month, cross-border investigation with authorities in the United States found two vessels meeting on multiple occasions just south of San Juan Island, between Vancouver Island and Washington state.

“It’s a challenging environment but I think this shows an example of the extent that we do have capabilities that help ensure and provide some comfort that our border integrity is intact,” he said at a news conference Wednesday.

Finn said the investigation is a significant accomplishment for the relatively new marine policing program that allows for a Canadian officer to work on a U.S. vessel and vice versa in order to cross the border easily and prevent smuggling and trafficking between the two countries.

Police seized 55 kilograms of cocaine, 47 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and more than a kilogram of heroin in February 2017 after one of the vessels docked in

Canada, Finn said. “These seizures represent a significant amount of illegal drugs that have been prevented from reaching our streets and harming our people and our communities,” he said. Two high speed vessels, firearms and $150,000 in cash were also seized.

William Barnes, 51, of Saanich has been charged with multiple drug trafficking and firearms offences. Finn said Barnes is not currently in police custody.

Finn said the investigation is continuing, and that with such large qualities of drugs discovered, “we are naturally inclined to believe that there’s an organized crime group that’s behind it.”

U.S. officials said Gary Horton of Washington state has pleaded guilty to trafficking-related charges in connection to the same case. He’ll be sentenced in September.

Dan Behrends, acting assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security in Blaine, Wash., said the origin of the drugs have thus far been traced to California but the investigation is continuing.

BC’s pipeline reference case to argue science not settled on diluted bitumen B.C. government will announce on Thursday the question it will put to the province’s highest court, seeking a ruling on its jurisdiction over the transportation of heavy oil across its borders. The province’s reference case will point to gaps in science to justify its quest to assert its authority over the environment when oil is moved by truck, rail or pipeline.

“We’re not sure – and neither is the Royal Society of Canada – that we know everything we need to know to make pipelines safer, particularly when they cross water bodies,” B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman said in an interview. The B.C. NDP government is battling with neighbouring Alberta over the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline to the West Coast, which would open up access for Alberta’s landlocked oil products to overseas markets. B.C. argues the project would put the environment at risk, in large part because of the increased oil tanker traffic that would transport the oil offshore.

Trans Mountain, Trudeau and the B.C.Alberta feud: A guide to the story so far B.C. intends to refer to the provincial Court of Appeal a question to determine whether it has the jurisdiction to restrict increased shipments of bitumen across its borders. The restrictions are proposed as a temporary measure while an independent scientific advisory panel determines how – or whether – heavy oil spills

in the marine environment can be cleaned up.

Mr. Heyman was citing a 2015 expert panel report from the Royal Society of Canada that identified several information gaps around how bitumen behaves when spilled. That report found “the environmental behaviour of unconventional oils and blended oils currently cannot be predicted with confidence, which affects spill response planning and decisions.”

More recently, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine produced a consensus report, titled Spills of Diluted Bitumen from Pipelines, that underscored the need for further research.

“There remain areas of uncertainty that hamper effective spill response planning and response to spills. These uncertainties span a range of issues, including diluted bitumen’s behaviour in the environment under different conditions, its detection when submerged or sunken, and the best response strategies for mitigating the impacts of submerged and sunken oil,” the report states. Although the federal government has vowed to push the pipeline through over the B.C. government’s objections, it tacitly acknowledged the need for more research when it promised more than $45-million in new science funding last December to study how oil spills behave, how best to clean and contain them, and how to best minimize their environmental impacts.

13

Surrey man charged in fatal crash in Coquitlam Adam Goulding, 31, of Surrey has been charged with driving without due care and attention, under the Motor Vehicle Act, in connection with a three-car crash that killed two girls and a woman in Coquitlam last year.

It happened April 28, 2017 on Lougheed Highway just north of Pitt River Road. The girls

were ages three and nine, and the woman was 30 years old. “We spoke with victims, witnesses, experts in digital data retrieval and vehicle manufacturers to gather every possible piece of evidence,” Corporal Michael McLaughin, of the Coquitlam RCMP. “We only hope this provides the victims’ families some measure of closure.”

Investigators are narrowing in on the suspected killer of Burnaby teen Marrisa Shen Homicide investigators have released a profile of the suspect who killed a 13-yearold girl in a “random attack” in Burnaby, B.C. Marrisa Shen’s body was found in a wooded area in Central Park near her home just hours after she was reported missing last July.

A spokesman with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said Tuesday that its members have consulted with the RCMP’s behavioural sciences group to develop a profile of the girl’s killer.

The profile suggests the attacker likely lived near the park where Shen’s body was found.

Police say the suspect may also have unexpectedly moved from area after the death, uncharacteristically avoided the park, withdrew from social activities, paid close attention to media coverage of the girl’s death and changed his or her pattern of drug or alcohol use.

Cpl. Frank Jang said there is still strong public interest in the case and anyone who recognizes the characteristics or behaviours in someone they know should contact police.

“This was a random attack. I know that’s unsettling to all of us,” he said, adding that residents always need to be mindful of their personal safety.

Jang says investigators have kept a close relationship with the girl’s family and would have liked to have had answers for them nine months ago.

“But in homicide investigations, the way that IHIT operates, we follow the evidence.

We don’t make speculations or assumptions.”

The profile is the latest effort to solve the murder after the homicide team launched a website in January containing details of the investigation with all available video clips of Shen’s movements before she disappeared.

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LOCAL

Saturday, April 28, 2018

One dead, one arrested after altercation One man is dead and another is in custody after an altercation in Vancouver early this morning.

Police and paramedics responded to reports of an injured man at Kingsway and Nanaimo Street just before 1:30 a.m.

Vancouver resident Dam Minh Huu, who was 55, died in hospital.

Homicide detectives have arrested a 48-year-old Vancouver man in the

assault. They say evidence suggests the two men, who knew each other, got into an argument on the street that escalated.

Detectives are not looking for other suspects and do not believe the public is at risk.

Witnesses are asked to call the Vancouver Police Department or Crime Stoppers.

Minister Bruce Ralston with Terry Beech (MP for Burnaby North-Seymour), Dr. Allen Eaves (Chairman, President and CEO of Stemcell Technologies), Navdeep Bains (Federal Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development) and Dr. Sharon A. Louis (VP of R&D at Stemcell Technologies).

Former Mountie sentenced to almost six years on sex charges Former RCMP officer Alan Davidson has been sentenced to almost six years in prison on sex related charges.

Davidson, who turns 63 years old this Sunday, was sentenced to six years in prison minus 15 days in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops Tuesday. He was found guilty of indecently assaulting five boys in the late 1970s and early ‘80s on Dec. 19, 2017, and pleaded guilty to two additional assaults in Saskatchewan. The B.C. assaults took place in

several communities, including Barriere and Clearwater. The judge also ordered Davidson be placed on a sex offender registry for 20 years and he has been prohibited from possessing firearms for 10 years. Davidson was in his 20s and coached youth sports at the time of the offences. He served as an auxiliary police officer before

later becoming an RCMP officer in Saskatchewan. A publication ban in the case protects the identities of the victims, who are now in their 50s but were mostly in their early teens at the time of the assaults.

Davidson faced seven charges in all though he was found not guilty of two

indecent assault charges.

Justice Sheri Ann Donegan said the Crown was unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that consent wasn’t given in those cases. The RCMP says Davidson served at RCMP detachments in Saskatchewan and Alberta from February, 1982 until he retired in August of 1996.

He was arrested in March of 2014 in Calgary where he was living and working for Alberta’s sheriff services.

Man acquitted on terror charges in BC is a security risk, RCMP officer testifies The Facebook posts of a British Columbia man acquitted of terrorism-related charges clearly show he wasn’t just a “couch jihadist” with a big mouth but someone who was becoming radicalized by the Islamic State group and advocating for lone wolf attacks, an RCMP officer has testified.

Const. Tarek Mokdad of the force’s national security division told an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing Monday that he was involved in the investigation of Othman Hamdan before his arrest in Fort St. John,

B.C., in 2015. Mokdad said he wrote a report in 2015 based on the history of Islamic extremism and jihad and another last year on 85 of Hamdan’s Facebook posts.

Hamdan is a Jordanian national who was granted refugee status after moving from the United He referenced both reports at States following the September the hearing and said he testified 2001 attacks. The Immigration and at Hamdan’s trial in B.C. Supreme Refugee Board has already ruled Court, but the reports were Hamdan represents a security not entered as evidence at the risk to Canada and is now trying to determine whether his refugee proceedings. status should be revoked.

Mokdad read numerous posts authored by Hamdan, who also used at least one alias on Facebook.

“I get it from the horse’s mouth,” he said of Hamdan’s posts, adding the man was buying into the cause of the Islamic State with his unwavering support for the group using violence, versus someone who would simply be reading propaganda online and not acting on it. “They talk big but they don’t do anything,” said Mokdad, who was testifying via video from London, Ont. He read Arabic translations of two posts cited in the second report and said Hamdan discussed infrastructure in Canada, including a dam in Revelstoke, B.C., and the Nipigon River Bridge near Nipigon, Ont., suggesting they were weak targets. Mokdad said it’s common for Islamic State supporters to identify areas susceptible or open to attack. “This is something that they never bothered to talk about in court because they never bothered to look at the report,” he said.

Mokdad said many of Hamdan’s posts used a flag adopted by the Islamic State in 2007 as well as a banner and other symbols the group, also known by other names, including Daesh, employs to try and legitimize its political and religious agenda. He said the Islamic State has used Facebook as a podium to spread its propaganda

LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, April 28, 2018

15

Hells Angels clubhouses likely to be used to plan future crimes, lawyer says Three B.C. Hells Angels clubhouses should be forfeited to the province because they are likely to be used to plan crimes in the future, the province’s Civil Forfeiture Office said on Monday in the first day of a civil trial in Vancouver.

Brent Olthuis, the lawyer representing the office, in his opening statement told B.C. Supreme Court the clubhouses serve local chapters of the Hells Angels motorcycle club.

He said one of the main purposes of the group is the facilitation or commission of serious offences that are likely to benefit the Hells Angels. He said the Hells Angels pursue those benefits through a brand that is in part associated with violence and intimidation.

“If these properties remain held on behalf of these chapters of the Hells Angels, they are likely to be used by members to engage in unlawful activities,” he said.

Mr. Olthuis said the Civil Forfeiture Office is not alleging every member of the Hells Angels has committed a crime, nor that every member has a propensity to do so.

But he said the “world, national, regional and local structure of the Hells Angels provides and is intended to provide – this is deliberate – a brand that its members, acting alone or acting in concert, can monetize through criminal means.”

Lawyers representing the Hells Angels have not yet opened their case. They are expected to argue that a section of the

Vancouver’s empty homes tax to pull in $30M Vancouver’s empty homes tax will generate an estimated $30 million for affordable housing in its first year, Mayor Gregor Robertson announced Monday. The highest tax paid was $250,000 for one home, while the median amount of tax paid was $9,900, Robertson said at city hall. “For those who did not rent their property and chose to pay the empty homes tax, I just want to say thank you for contributing to Vancouver affordable housing funding,” said the mayor.

Of about 183,000 registered residential homes in the city, only 3,300 properties were subject to the tax. Another 5,200 empty or unoccupied homes were exempt, because

they were either having title transferred, under renovation or redevelopment, restricted from rentals under strata rules, the owner had recently died, or they were being used for work in Vancouver.

More than 2,000 Va n c o u v e r property owners fail to declare status for empty homes tax Of the homes declared vacant by their owners, 56 per cent were in downtown Vancouver or the West End. “For those who did rent their homes, thank you very much for adding to the rental housing supply here in Vancouver,” he said.

British Columbia cracks down on drug-making equipment B.C. government has tabled a bill to regulate the use and ownership of pill presses and related equipment in its latest effort to combat the province’s overdose crisis.

Bill 27, the Pill Press and Related Equipment Control Act, would essentially restrict use and ownership of the equipment to authorized health professionals, such as pharmacists. It mirrors similar legislation enacted in Alberta and Ontario.

Federal legislation that became law in May, 2017, already restricts the importation of pill-press equipment. But B.C. Public Safety Minister and Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth said Wednesday that police had asked for more control and monitoring of the equipment once it’s in the province.

“Law-enforcement authorities have identified some significant loopholes in the federal legislation, which this piece of legislation that we are tabling today will plug,” Mr. Farnworth said when introducing the bill.

He elaborated later, telling media that the federal legislation didn’t track the individual purchasing the equipment; one only had to register as an importer.

“What this legislation will do is allow for the creation of a registrar that will be able to look at who’s actually buying them; those records have to be kept [and] background checks will have to be done on who’s selling these,” he said.

The overdose crisis that has swept Canada, hitting British Columbia particularly hard, is being driven overwhelmingly by illicit fentanyl. Traffickers import the drug, most often in powder form, and press it into pills or cut it into other drugs domestically.

In opposition, Mr. Farnworth tabled pillpress legislation in the summer of 2016, but the Liberal government at the time did not act on the the private member’s bill. Then-premier Christy Clark instead called on the federal

province’s civil-forfeiture legislation is unconstitutional and the B.C. government has created a new criminal process that lacks the presumption of innocence and protections against self-incrimination.

The Globe and Mail has reported extensively on the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office, which does not need a criminal conviction or charges to pursue a file. The office was originally billed as

a way to fight organized crime, but has come to have a far broader reach. The Globe has interviewed those who have had to fight to keep their homes, vehicles and cash. Others have been unable to afford a defence. Cases led by the office face a lower standard of proof than criminal cases – on a balance of probabilities rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.

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LOCAL

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Thousands celebrate birth of Sikh faith at Surrey’s annual Vaisakhi parade The event is considered one of the biggest outside of India

In the Newton area of Surrey B.C. on Saturday thousands of people participated in one of the largest Vaisakhi parades outside of India. Vaisakhi celebrates the beginning of the Punjabi harvest and marks the birth of the Sikh faith. Organizers estimate around 500,000 people take part in the annual parade.

The parade began 9 a.m. PT at the Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar,

located at 12885 85th Ave., and will conclude there at approximately 6 p.m.

Some of the delicious food at Surrey Vaisakhi parade on Saturday April 21, 2018.

(Roshini Nair) It is known for its bright colours, festive floats, and delicious (free!) food, that is handed out by businesses and families.

This year, two brothers from Surrey

are hoping businesses and families who serve up free food at the parade find alternatives to Styrofoam to cut down on the waste headed to the landfill.

Surrey brothers want to make local Vaisakhi ‘foam free’ A recycling station at the Surrey Vaisakhi paradeonSaturdayApril21,2018.(MeeraBains) There are road closures in place for the parade

and the event, which spans from 71B Avenue to 87B Avenue and between 124 and 134 Streets.

TransLink says detours are impacting the 323, 324 and 329 routes.

A tent at the Surrey Vaisakhi parade displayed a sign supporting the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team, which was involved in a fatal bus accident on April 6, 2018. 16 people died and 13 were injured.

Vancouver’s Chinese community receives apology for historical discrimination

Vancouver city council has delivered a formal apology to the Chinese community for historical discrimination.

Mayor Gregor Robertson, who read the apology in the English, said it was an important day to come together, recognize wrongdoings and build a better future.

The apology publicly acknowledged past legislation, regulations and policies of previous city councils that discriminated against residents of Chinese descent.

PhotosVancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson delivers apology Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson delivers an apology on behalf of the city for past discrimination against residents of Chinese descent, during a special city council meeting in Chinatown, in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday April 22, 2018.

Former city councils barred residents of Chinese descent from voting until 1948, and from civic employment until 1952. They also advocated for discriminatory policies like the federal head tax, and made various attempts at segregating public spaces like swimming pools and cemeteries. More than 500 people gathered at the Chinese Cultural Centre for the event, which was part of a larger Chinatown Cultural Day celebration. Former Vancouver City councillors Maggie Ip and Bill Yee read the apology in Cantonese and the Sze Yup dialect.

The City of New Westminster became the first B.C. municipality to formally apologize to Chinese-Canadians for past discrimination in 2010.

In 2015, Chinese-Canadians received an apology from then-premier Christy Clark on behalf of British Columbia for more than 100 racist laws, regulations and policies of past B.C. governments.

In 2006, the federal government offered an apology for the head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants and included $20,000 in compensation for families or surviving people who paid the tax.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

DREAM CARPET

17

18

NATIONAL

Reg Lewis says it’s time to expose the “dirty secret� of the trucking industry.

Lewis says he and other driving instructors are knowingly sending hundreds of ill-prepared semi-trailer drivers onto Canada’s highways, grid roads and city streets every year. Lewis says they have no choice — instructors aren’t allowed to fail a student who can pass the most basic written and road exams, which many of them describe as a “joke.� The rules are similar in nearly every province, according to the to Canadian Trucking Alliance, including Saskatchewan, site of the recent collision between a semi and the Humboldt Broncos bus that left 16 dead. “I’m hog-tied by what I can do. It’s not safe,� the Swift Current, Sask., man said. Lewis is not alone. Kinley, Sask., instructor Mel Meikle said he quit several

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Semi-trailer driving tests in Canada too easy years ago, overwhelmed by frustration and guilt. “If you go out there and kill someone, that’s on my shoulders,� Meikle said.

The written and road exams are far too easy, they say. Meikle said almost “anyone with a pulse� can get their Class 1 licence.

The statistics appear to support their claims.

According to Saskatchewan Government Insurance, 73 per cent of the 2,051 students who took the test last year passed on their first try. SGI allows students to retest as soon as they can book an appointment, and it seems most do. Roughly three-quarters of students pass on their second try. For the shrinking fraction that still need to keep coming back, passing rates for the third,

fourth and fifth attempts are 67, 68 and 79 per cent respectively.

The one student who took the Class 1 exam for the eighth time last year passed.

The majority of these students pay to take a week or so of training. But more than 200 of them took no training at all, according to SGI.\That’s because they don’t have to.

Last year, Ontario became the first province where any training is mandatory.

Drivers must take a minimum of 103 hours, or roughly three weeks, of training.

In Saskatchewan and elsewhere, training remains optional.

“I want to reassure people we’re working on it,� Saskatchewan Government Insurance Minister Joe Hargrave said. Lewis, Meikle and more than a dozen others inside the trucking industry are skeptical. They say they’re speaking out so that something good can come from the Broncos crash.

The tragedy affected Lewis deeper than most, taking his mind back to another highway nightmare.

BC gov’t to give cities power to create rental-only zoning Local governments in BC could soon have the power to zone areas for rental housing.

Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson introduced the Local Government Statutes (Residential Rental Tenure Zoning) Amendment Act in the legislature Tuesday, which would give municipalities the GPMMPXJOH QPXFST t ;POF VOEFWFMPQFE land for rental housing, or mandate a certain percentage of units on the MBOE CF SFOUBM t 'PSDF FYJTUJOH SFOUBM properties to remain rental only after redevelopment. The changes were promised by the government in February’s budget, as part of its 30-point housing plan. “We are committed to ensuring that local governments have the supports, the resources and information they require to decide how they can best address the housing needs in their community,� said Robinson.

However, municipalities can choose not to use the new zoning tools, or only mandate a small percentage of units in rental areas actually be rentals. “Local governments have to have autonomy. What might work here in Victoria might not work in Merritt,� said Robinson. “They’re facing this housing affordability crisis along with us ... so I expect local government will continue to work [with us] in making sure there’s the kind of housing people need.� Finance Minister Carole James (right), along with Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson (centre) and Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps (left) speak to reporters about the new housing legislation on Apr. 24, 2018.

The government also brought forward two other pieces of legislation on Tuesday related to housing. One amends the Real Estate Development Marketing Act, forcing real estate developers to report when a condo unit is flipped prior to the completion of construction, and allowing the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate to investigate if there is evidence that such information is not being disclosed. Penalties have also been increased by more than 1,000 per cent — up to $250,000 fines for individuals and $500,000 for corporations not complying with a requirement. If criminal charges are laid, fines will be up to $1.25 million for individuals or corporations in a first conviction, and up to $2.5 million for a second conviction.

Task force on renting in B.C. launched by government “It will be significant.

We know how important it is, and that British Columbians expect that everyone pay their fair share of taxes, and if someone is avoiding their taxes

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Ontario Liberals substantially understated deficits, province’s Auditor-General warns Ontario’s Auditor-General says the Liberals have understated the province’s projected deficits by billions of dollars, casting doubt on the government’s fiscal forecast weeks ahead of a spring election.

It’s the latest development in a longrunning dispute between Bonnie Lysyk and Canada’s second-largest government.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa repeated his assertion on Wednesday that the Liberals had delivered a small surplus for the fiscal year ended March 31 – the first balanced budget in Ontario since the financial crisis of 2008-09. However, during the release of last month’s budget, he projected deficits of more than $6-billion over each of the next three years and further shortfalls for the following three. Ms. Lysyk presented a much different picture on Wednesday when she released her review of last month’s pre-election report, a financial document that the government is obliged to present to Ontarians before an election.

She concluded that the report substantially understated expenses and deficits and “is not a reasonable presentation of Ontario’s finances.”

Using proper accounting, she said, this fiscal year’s deficit should have been forecast at $11.7-billion, or 75 per cent higher than the government’s estimate of $6.7-billion. By 2020, Ms. Lysyk’s estimate of the deficit is nearly double that supplied by the government.

Ms. Lysyk warned that understated deficits could lead officials to authorize new spending “when the money is actually needed to pay for expenses they’ve already incurred.” The discrepancies arise from two distinct issues. The first is the Fair

Hydro Plan, introduced last year to lower electricity rates for Ontario consumers.

Ms. Lysyk said the government will now have to borrow to pay power generators for providing electricity. But neither those expenses nor the resulting interest costs, she said, were included in the pre-election report’s estimates, resulting in distortions that add up to more than $2-billion each year over the next three years. Ms. Lysyk said last year that the government deliberately structured the rate-reduction plan to avoid showing a deficit and rising debt on its books.

The second issue involves how the government calculates pension expenses.

The Auditor-General says the government is erroneously recording revenue from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and “insufficient” expenses from the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Pension Plan.

Eleanor McMahon, president of the Treasury Board, Mr. Sousa and Ms. Lysyk met on Tuesday to discuss their differences; all three characterized the discussions as respectful, but no resolution was reached. “Our opinion hasn’t changed,” Ms. McMahon said. Mr. Sousa defended the government’s financial presentation. “Ontario has been noted for having the most transparent numbers by the Conference Board of Canada,” he told reporters. “Nothing is hidden.” The Conference Board said it doesn’t rank provincial governments on transparency or quality of financial reporting. “I’ve talked to all different people, and nobody seems to know where this is coming from,” spokeswoman Yvonne Squires said. “We don’t have research in this area.”

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10 dead, 15 injured in north Toronto van ramming attack Ten people are dead and 15 others are and surveillance cameras in the area, he said. injured after a van driver plowed into a number Police were called to the Yonge and Finch area of pedestrians Monday in the Yonge Street and for a report of a crash around 1:30 p.m. after Finch Avenue area of North York in Toronto. a van driving southbound on Yonge Street One suspect is in custody. Alek Minassian, mounted the curb and hit pedestrians on the a 25-year-old sidewalk before Richmond Hill, being stopped by Ont., man, is the police. What we alleged driver in know about the the attack. His suspect in van LinkedIn profile attack identifies him ‘I saw people as a student at go flying’: Seneca College.

Witness accounts Government from the scene officials briefed on Police said the the investigation driver at times so far say the drove in both suspect is not associated with any north and southbound lanes organized terrorist group and he along a nearly kilometre-long does not represent a larger threat to strip over the course of the national security. attack. The suspect was arrested The officials spoke on condition 26 minutes after police received of anonymity because they were the 911 call, police Chief Mark not authorized to speak publicly Saunders said. “There were a about the investigation. lot of pedestrians out enjoying, All available resources mobilized: a lot of witnesses out enjoying police the sunny afternoon,” Yuen Toronto police Deputy Chief said. Police are establishing two Alek Minassian, 25 Peter Yuen told reporters police hotlines — one for victims and have mobilized all available resources and that their families, and the other for witnesses to call officers expect to be at the scene for a number in information related of days to come. Police inspect a Ryder van to the incident. How the first hours after suspected of being involved in the collisions attack unfolded, how authorities reacted injuring numerous people at Yonge and Finch. immediately after the attack Terror-threat level “This is going to be a long investigation,” remains unchanged Yuen said. There were numerous witnesses

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Saturday, April 28, 2018

Saskatchewan government to mandate training for semi-truck drivers after Humboldt Broncos crash Starting early 2019, the Saskatchewan government will mandate a minimum 70 hours of Class 1 driver training.

The news comes after 16 people were killed and 13 injured in a crash between a semi-truck and the Humboldt Broncos team bus on April 6.

A Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) memo from April 25, obtained by Global News, references the disaster at the

intersection of Highway 35 and Highway 335.

“As you know, a lot has been in the media following the Humboldt tragedy and there is a spotlight on Class 1 testing and Class 1 driver training and that’s OK,” the memo reads.

“We are all united in wanting to make our roads as safe as possible.”

Currently, all provinces require commercial drivers to pass written, medical and road tests, with training encouraged but not

mandatory. Only Ontario requires drivers to complete a 103.5-hour course in the classroom and at the wheel with a licensed school.

The memo states the curriculum will include at least 70 hours of in-class, in-yard and behind-the-wheel training. It notes there is a possibility this will be increased to 103.5 hours to match Ontario’s legislation.

“Mandatory training will set a standard, so all

drivers are trained with the right competencies.

The training will produce qualified and skilled drivers and it will eliminate inconsistencies between how people are getting their training and the content of that training,” it continues.

It also states that SGI has been working since 2017 to come up with a standardized curriculum and a required number of hours of training.

Bigger federal deficits than expected on the horizon, but there’s a silver lining: PBO higher than the government’s forecast of $17.5 billion.

The report says the morethe next two years. For 2019-20, Jeansubstantial deficit projections are Denis Frechette’s team predicts a mainly caused by higher than $21.4-billion deficit, $3.9 billion The federal budget watchdog says the Trudeau government is on track to run deficits nearly $8 billion deeper than expected over

expected costs for the government from public debt charges, direct program expenses and children’s benefits. The budget office also estimates there is approximately a five per cent chance the federal budget will be balanced or will show a surplus in 2020-21.

The report, however, does contain some figures that are more positive than Ottawa’s projections, including smaller-than-expected deficits for 2017-18, by $600 million, and for

2022-23, by $1.7 billion. There’s still a very small chance of returning to balance, however, if nothing changes. The PBO also makes some predictions linked to interest rates.

“We assume that the Bank of Canada will maintain its policy interest rate at 1.25 per cent until May, with policy rate increases of 25 basis points each quarter until the policy rate is returned to its (nominal) neutral level of 3.0 per cent by the first quarter of 2020,” the report states.

Building a strong mentor relationship Moving to a new country comes with a number of challenges, which include navigating the job market and building a professional network. If you are moving to Canada without a job in place, it may take some time to get established and find a fulfilling career.

“One way to build your network and learn more about workforce dynamics in Canada is by establishing relationships with trusted, experienced mentors. They can help answer questions you might have, share relevant experiences with you, and support you while growing professionally (and/ or personally) in Canada,“ says Ivy Chiu, Senior Director, Newcomer Client Strategies at RBC. Community-based organizations like the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) are helping newcomers settlein with mentorship programs that match immigrants with professional advisors in their specific fields of interest. To learn more, go to triec.ca.

Regardless of your employment status after arriving in Canada, you may find it useful to expand your network by signing up for one of the newcomer mentorship programs. As you get started, here are a few tips on building a successful, longlasting mentoring relationship.

1.

Establish Goals: It will be helpful to set long and short term goals from the very beginning of your mentoring relationship.

They do not need to be audacious goals, but having a solid achievable road map in place will be a good tool for both you

and your mentor. Examples of goals may include resume and cover letter writing, effective communication skills, interview preparation, job searching tactics, and best practices in Canada. Having a few goals in mind, you can start each meeting by discussing your progress to help set you on track for success.

2.

Build a two-way dialogue – While your mentor will be providing you with advice and support, remember that a successful mentorship requires a two-way dialogue approach.

Ask questions when you are uncertain about specific subjects, and also be open to receiving feedback from your mentor; their goal is to help you succeed. Think about what you want to focus on ahead of your meetings to ensure you both get as much out of the meeting as possible.

3.

Continue the conversation: Your relationship with your mentor may extend beyond the desired program timeline. Discuss what the best ways to communicate with your mentor will be afterwards so that you have a better understanding of how to effectively keep in touch. By maintaining a professional relationship with your mentor, it will help extend your network as you continue to develop professionally in Canada.

Settling into your new life can take some time, and taking steps to establish yourself can help ease the process.

For more information on settling in Canada visit rbc.com/newcomers

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Janet Austin is BC’s newest lieutenant governor The former head of multiple community organizations has been sworn in as British Columbia’s newest lieutenant governor.

Janet Austin officially took on the role of the Queen’s representative in BC on Tuesday with a ceremony in Victoria.

Following the event, the new lieutenant governor inspected a 100-person guard of honour and received a 15-gun salute.

Austin previously worked as the CEO of the Metro Vancouver YWCA, the executive director of Big Sisters of B.C. Lower Mainland, and for B.C. Housing.

Premier John Horgan says she brings an “extraordinary list of accomplishments and tireless advocacy” to the appointment.

Austin is the province’s 30th lieutenant governor and follows Judith Guichon, who held the post for six years.

Guichon praised her successor when the appointment was announced earlier this year.

“As someone who has dedicated her career to championing women’s equality and social

change, she is a wonderful choice to represent Her Majesty the Queen in this great province,’’ Guichon said in a news release. “Ms. Austin will continue to inspire and connect British Columbians in this role.’’ Sunnybrook’s Dr. Fred Brenneman, left, nurse Miranda Lamb and Dr. Avery Nathens were all impressed with how well the hospital handled its largestever Code Orange, treating 10 victims from the Yonge St. van rampage Monday afternoon.

Preparation helped Sunnybrook cope with its biggest-ever Code Orange The suspect in the Toronto van attack that killed 10 people and injured 15 others on Monday is a 25-year-old man named Alek Minassian from the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill.

Most victims in van rampage on Yonge St. were women, police say

Things to know about the ongoing influx of asylum seekers in Canada he number of illegal border crossings is up significantly this year compared with the same period last year, so federal and law enforcement officials have been preparing for possibility of another spike as the weather warms up.

Departmental, RCMP and border officials provided a technical briefing this week on the plans they have developed as a result of lessons learned from pressures and concerns arising from last year’s spike in irregular migrants coming across the Canada-U.S. border. 1.

The numbers are trending upward. Last year, RCMP intercepted a total of 20,493 people who crossed the border illegally.

That means they did not present at an official port-of-entry and instead came across the border through unofficial paths to make a refugee claim in Canada. So far this year, 6,373 irregular migrants have arrived in Canada this way. That’s an increase of 128 per cent over the number who arrived in Canada between January and April 2017, which was 2,784. 2. Quebec is the

hotspot. Of the 6,373 border crossers that have arrived so far in 2018, the majority — 5,609 — have done so in Quebec. However, about 40 per cent of say they are planning to settle elsewhere in Canada, mainly in Ontario. That’s why Quebec and the federal government are working on a plan to try to encourage asylum seekers away from highly saturated areas like Montreal and Toronto, in the hopes they might instead settle in outlying regions of the two provinces where labour shortages exist and migrants could find more employment opportunities. 3. Housing remains a question mark. Quebec has told the feds it will only open four temporary shelters for refugee claimants this year, with a total of 1,850 spaces. The province says it will not open Olympic Stadium or the nine other temporary shelters it operated last year for migrants because these were spaces not intended for accommodations, such as school gymnasiums.

Tories file motion to stop asylum seekers at illegal entry points Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel introduced a motion Tuesday that’s being debated in the House and calls on the government to act on the influx of asylum seekers at the U.S.–Canada border.

In addition to asking that the government ensure border service agencies are properly equipped, Rempel’s motion calls on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to admit the “irresponsibility of tweeting #WelcometoCanada to those seeking to enter Canada through illegal means.”

Rempel is calling on the government to table a plan in the House before May 11 to stop the influx of asylum seekers entering Canada from the United States and take “appropriate measures to handle those” who have already claimed asylum.

Rempel and public safety critic Pierre Paul-Hus reiterated at a press conference that despite the Conservative party’s repeated calls to come up with a plan, Trudeau has “failed”

to manage the illegal border crossings.

Last week Quebec criticized Ottawa for not accepting its share of costs associated with housing the thousands of asylum seekers who are entering from the U.S. CBC News reported that federal officials are considering a new deal that would see asylum seekers moved out of Quebec. Immigration officials said last week during a briefing that 5,000 migrants have crossed into Quebec since January, which is more than double the number of asylum seekers who crossed this time last year. Last year RCMP officers intercepted 18,836 asylum seekers in Quebec.

Blaney calls for crackdown on illegal migrants Conservative leadership candidate Steven Blaney played off the increase in migrants crossing the bor... O’Leary goes after border-hoppers ‘pretending’ to be refugees Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O’Leary waded into the border-hopping debate Tuesday, insist.

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INDIA

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Lecturer ‘sent gift bomb’ that killed groom The police on Wednesday claimed to have cracked the wedding gift parcel bomb case of Bolangir alleging that a college lecturer masterminded it for being replaced by the mother of one of the two persons killed in the blast in February. Punjilal Meher, the accused and a colleague of the deceased groom’s mother, was arrested by the Crime Branch last night, Director General of Police RP Sharma

said. “The Crime Branch sleuths, in course of their investigation, zeroed in on Punjilal Meher as the mastermind in the parcel gift blast case. They confirmed his complicity during its investigation in Raipur,” he said.

Soumya and Reema Sahu had married on February 18. Five days later, they received a parcel as a wedding gift that exploded —

FIR against Azam Khan in job scam Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was on Wednesday booked by the SIT of the Uttar Pradesh Police for alleged irregularities during recruitment in the Jal Nigam under the previous regime. Khan was booked along with others under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public

servant), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) besides the Prevention of Corruption Act, official sources said. The SIT is probing complaints of anomalies during the recruitment of 1,342 persons in the Jal Nigam under the Akhilesh Yadav regime. Aptech, which conducted the online exam for the recruitment, has also been named in the FIR.

FCI to hire 400 trains to transport wheat: Minister Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Wednesday said the FCI had planned 400 special trains for transporting wheat procured from Punjab’s grain markets to other states. During his visit to Talwandi Sabo for reviewing the wheat procurement, the minister said the state government had written to Chief Managing Director, FCI, stating that keeping the interests of farmers in mind, more special trains should be run so that procured wheat could be lifted on time.

He said the government was committed to procuring every grain of the priceless yield of farmers. “The procured wheat is being stored at the godowns of state procurement agencies as well as those of the FCI. Besides, arrangements have been made to send

procured wheat directly from grain markets to other states so that there is no glut-like situation in Punjab,” he said. Ashu revealed that 91 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat had reached the grain markets by Tuesday evening, of which 89.36 lakh MT had been procured. Around 65 per cent of the crop had already been lifted from the grain markets, while work on lifting the rest was in full swing.

He added that around 130 LMT of wheat was expected to reach grain markets in the state.

Answering a media query, he said payment of Rs 9,373.28 crore had been transferred to the accounts of commission agents across the state till April 24. He visited the grain markets of Talwandi Sabo and Rama Mandi.

‘Once-in-a-generation’ opportunity for US to find more common ground with India: Jim Mattis India is probably the one nation where the US has a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to find more common ground but both the countries have to get an understanding of each other’s interests, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said.

India, a ‘Major Defence Partner’ of the US, is seeking to purchase a large number of armed and surveillance drones from America.

US President Donald Trump recently ordered government agencies to expedite and expand arms sales abroad, including exports of advanced drones to reinforce allied armies, a move expected to be helpful to countries like India.

“Probably most importantly, as we look overall at this region, I’d look at India, the largest democracy on the planet and one where we probably have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to find more common ground,” Mattis told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing.

Mattis, during a Congressional hearing, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that: “Probably most importantly, as we look overall at this region, I’d look at India, the largest democracy on the planet and one where we probably have a once-in-a-generation

opportunity to find more common ground”.

“I think it’s there. We just have to find it. We don’t have to search hard for it in the sense of creating it. We just have to get an understanding of each other’s interests. I think there’s a lot of common ground there,” Mattis said.

He was responding to a question from Senator Mazie Hirono from Hawaii on the Indo-Pacific region.

“There is an ongoing effort to build our military structure in the Pacific.

And much of this is by, with and through our allies. And I would say, from down under in Australia, all the way up through Japan and Korea, you see this actively underway.

“We also have to be open to nations such as Indonesia, the fulcrum of the Indo-Pacific region; Vietnam, as it comes of age and adapts, with many of their students here in our country being educated, as we build new ties for the future,” Mattis said.

Delhi jeweller jumps to death from DRI office after raid at his premises A Delhi-based jeweller allegedly committed suicide after jumping off the sixth floor of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) building in the national capital, after a raid was conducted at his store and residence in the city.

The jeweller, who has been identified as Gaurav Gupta, was found lying in a pool of blood after jumping off the building at around noon. He was shifted to Safdarjung Hospital by the officials present at the CGO complex but was declared brought dead on arrival. According to the DRI officials, the man was neither summoned nor arrested after the raid. The DRI said in a release, “A total of Rs 13 crore smuggled goods were seized from Gaurav Gupta’s possession. But unfortunately, the owner

of the smuggled goods jumped through the window of the visitor’s room around noon.

He was neither summoned nor arrested by the DRI. The person was immediately taken to the Safdarjung Hospital by officers of DRI and CISF of CGO complex, but his life could not be saved.” However, the wife of the deceased, Stuti Gupta, has written a letter to the SHO of Shalimar Bagh to take stringent action against DRI official Nishant and his team. The wife has alleged that Gaurav was murdered by the said DRI officials. The police have said that the deceased’s body will be given to the family after the post-mortem. Further probe is under way.

13 children killed in bus-train collision in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh At least 13 school children died on the spot and eight suffered injuries when the school van in which they were travelling was hit by a train at a railway crossing in Kushinagar on Thursday morning. Taking serious note of the incident, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath ordered immediate assistance to the victims and their families and directed Commissioner Gorakhpur to conduct a probe into the mishap. The CM also visited the injured as well as the accident site.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also tweeted expressing their condolences over the deaths.

The incident took place at around 7.30 am at Bahpurva railway crossing under Vishnupura police station of Kushinagar district. The van driver also died on the spot.

There were unconfirmed reports that van driver was listening to music using earphones when the incident took place. The train involved in the incident was on its way to Gorakhpur from Sivan. The van was carrying over 20 school children. “ A Tata Magic school van carrying school children collided with passenger train (55075) coming from Sivan to Gorakhpur at unmanned railway crossing number 45, around 7.30 am. The gate mitra tried to stop the van driver but he didn’t stop and his van somehow stopped at the track. The railway crossing comes under Banaras division where the accident took occurred in which 10-12 children died on the spot.” CPRO, NE Railway, Sanjay Yadav said.

PUNJAB

Saturday, April 28, 2018

MLA Bains ‘conceals’ passport information A day after Lok Insaaf Party supremo Simarjit Singh Bains, along with his supporters, allegedly created a ruckus at the Passport Sewa Kendra (PSK) in Ludhiana, the Regional Passport Office (RPO) has served a show-cause notice on the MLA for withholding some information while getting his passport reissued. The MLA from Atam Nagar constituency in Ludhiana has been given a week to reply to the notice. “Simarjit Singh Bains had not disclosed some material information while getting his passport reissued. A show-cause notice has been served

on the MLA, giving him seven days to reply.

If Bains fails to respond, his passport will be cancelled and impounded,” said Regional Passport Officer Sibash Kabiraj. The passport official said a week ago, the MLA had got an order from court to reissue his short validity passport. However, he misled the passport office as he stated that only one criminal case was registered against him while he was facing around half a dozen cases, he added.

Sources said as per the affidavit submitted

by Bains during the Assembly elections, about six criminal cases were pending against him.

SGPC to probe Kiran Bala episode The SGPC on Wednesday constituted a five-member committee to determine how Hoshiarpur-based woman Kiran Bala went to Pakistan on pilgrimage and married a Lahore man there. But the SGPC remained silent over the identical case of Amritsar resident Amarjit Singh who too reached Pakistan with the same SGPC-sponsored pilgrimage with the purpose of meeting his Facebook friend who lives in Sheikhupura. Meanwhile, the Pakistan

Two killed, 32 injured in gas cylinder blast in Ludhiana A mother-son duo was killed after a gas cylinder exploded in a labour colony in Giaspura area here on Thursday morning. As many as 32 others were injured in the blast.

Sunita and her son Raj Yadav succumbed to their injuries at CMC Hospital in the evening.

Earlier, Assistant Commissioner of Police Dharmpal and SDM (East) Amarjit Singh Bains told reporters that the cylinder explosion took place in a house belonging to a man identified as Ashok Kumar in Smart Colony. The gas cylinder caught fire. As Ashok, his wife and some neighbours tried to put out the flames, the cylinder exploded causing injuries to those who had gathered around the spot. Sub-Divisional Magistrate Bains said the injured included Ashok, his wife and a few women and children. He said the injured have been rushed to nearby hospitals. Smart Colony is home to migrant labourers. The name of the injured are Yaswant Singh, Shashi Singh, Gobind, Ramnaresh, Pooja Yadav, Ashok Yadav, Surinder, Kajal, Kamlesh, Bittu Rajan, Uttam, Amit, Rakesh Kumar, Dharminder, Anjun Devi, Varinder,

Here’s why 50% of procured wheat lying in open in Punjab Due to bumper produce this season, Punjab’s major concern is storing the procured wheat. Almost 50 per cent of the wheat procured this year will be stored in the open in mandis. The covered storage space has all been used by the paddy from the last kharif season.

The wheat is still arriving in mandis.

This wheat will be subjected to vagaries of weather in case it is not lifted immediately, and could go waste.

The matter was raised by a Punjab government delegation, led by Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, during a meeting with Secretary, Food, GoI, Ravi Kant here on Thursday. Raising the issue of anything between 55-60 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat that would have to be stored in the open, the state pressed upon the Centre to run more trains next month (Centre has already assured of running 400 special trains for transporting wheat from Punjab to recipient states), so that this wheat stored in the open is first lifted.

Shiromani Gurdwara Committee (PSGPC) continues to demand Kiran Bala’s deportation from Pakistan. Gopal Singh Chawla, general secretary, PSGPC, said, “The SGPC should be more attentive while recommending the name of pilgrims. Both pilgrims brought a bad name to the pilgrimage.

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Students of ‘scrap-funded’ academy shine Students of ‘Raddi to Education’, a free academy run by some local youths for needy people, have excelled in their PSEB Class XII examination, results of which were declared on Monday. This group of youths goes door to door to collect scrap like old newspapers, which they sell to meet the expenses of the academy. The academy that started by three youngsters last year now has a team of 15 persons running it. At present, the academy is being run from a single-room shop at Kirat Nagar here. Khushdeep Arora, a teacher at the academy, said, “During the last academic session, we had 120 students from classes VI to BA. They all belonged to poor families. We provided them education free of cost. Some of them resided in shanties and had never gone to school. We helped them in getting

their Aadhaar cards made and motivated them to take admission in school.” “Some of our students scored above 70 per cent in the PSEB Class XII results.

Mohammad Javed got 80 per cent marks, Himanshu 70 per cent, Prem Kumar 77 per cent and Jaspreet Singh 75 per cent.”

Sarbjit Singh, a founder member of the academy, said, “When we started this academy, we were totally dependent on scrap.

But now, some people are donating books to the academy. We have opened a library as well for needy students.” “We believe that if one helps somebody with money, it will last for a limited period, but education will remain with the educated forever, transform their as well as their progeny’s lives,” he said.

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INDIA

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Asaram gets jail till death A special trial court set up at the heavily fortified Jodhpur Central Jail on Wednesday sentenced selfstyled godman Asaram Bapu to jail till death, finding him guilty of raping a teenaged girl in his ashram in August 2013. This is the second conviction in a high-profile sexual offence case involving a self-styled guru after Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sent to jail for 20 years last August. Special Judge Madhusudhan Sharma sentenced co-accused Shilpi and Sharad to 20 years’ jail each and acquitted two others, Prakash and Shiva. Besides, the court slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Asaram and Rs 50,000 each on the other convicts, public prosecutor Pokhar Ram Vishnoi said. “Soon after the verdict, 77-year-old Asaram and other

convicts broke down. The court considered Asaram’s act under the heinous crime category,” victimfamily’s counsel Rajendra Singh told mediapersons.

“A self-claimed spiritual guru has done the disgusting act of sexual exploitation with his teenaged disciple who had full faith on him. The convict should not be spared and the maximum punishment be awarded, lifer to Asaram till natural life time, and 20 years each to his assistants who felicitated him in the act,” Singh said, quoting from the 453-page verdict.

“We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice,” the victim’s father said, adding that the family had been living in constant fear and their business had been hit.

Happy to host you in 2019: PM Modi to President Xi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday offered to host the next informal summit with Xi Jinping in India next year, a proposal which elicited a positive response from the Chinese President.

During his delegation-level talks as part of an unprecedented informal summit with President Xi in the central Chinese city, Modi said such informal summits should become a tradition between the two countries.

“I’ll be happy, if in 2019, we can have such informal summit in India,” Modi told Xi. On his part, President Xi said the two countries have established closer partnership and made positive progress in recent years. “In

the past five years, we have achieved a lot. We have met each other on many occasions,” he said. The Chinese President said he believes in future and they could meet in format like this from time to time. “I look forward to in-depth communication with your Excellency, and ensure we can build common understanding and help to take the China-India relationship to the next level,” he said. The first informal summit between Modi and Xi in Wuhan — the favourite holiday spot of revolutionary Chinese leader Mao Zedong — is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Dokalam standoff last year.

5 years jail for Pujari gang members for plotting to kill Mahesh Bhatt Ten members of the Ravi Pujari gang were sentenced to five years in jail by a Mumbai court on Wednesday for conspiring to kill filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and his family members in 2014.

Judge Shridhar Bhosle of the special court for cases registered under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) held the 10 men guilty under section 120B of the IPC (criminal conspiracy) and relevant provisions of the Arms Act, while acquitting two others, Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said.

The Mumbai police had arrested the 12 members of the Pujari gang in 2014, before the plot to kill Bhatt could be executed.

Ishrat Sheikh, Mohammad Hasnat Khan,

Azim Khan, Ashpak Sayyed, Asif Khan, Shahnawaz Sheikh, Firoz Sayyed, Shabir Sheikh, Rahim Khan and Anis Merchant were convicted for illegal possession of weapons under the Arms Act and for hatching the conspiracy.

Justice delayed but not deniedAshoke Lahiri Ravikesh Singh and Yusuf Kadri were acquitted. Notorious gangster Ravi Pujari and another man were shown as absconding accused in the case, Gharat said. According to the prosecution, Pujari, said to be living abroad, wanted to revive his gang in Mumbai by targeting Bhatt or his brother Mukesh, also a filmmaker, or Bhatt’s son Rahul.

Asus ZenFone Max Pro is a crazy affordable phone for India Watch out Xiaomi, Asus is eyeing your top spot in India with its new ZenFone Max Pro, and it’s making a pretty good case to do so.

The 10,999 Indian rupee phone (which converts to about $165, £115 and AU$215) made its debut Monday in Delhi with a pretty impressive feature set given its rock-bottom starting price for a 3GB model with 32GB onboard storage. The 4GB model with 64GB onboard storage is going for 12,999 Indian rupee (approximately $195, £140 and AU$255), while a version with a better 16-megapixel front and rear camera will sell for 14,999 Indian rupee (approximately $225, £160 and AU$295).

Housed in metal, the 6-inch full-HD Max Pro packs a massive 5,000mAh battery, which should last a whole day, while carrying at least 3GB of RAM and up to 64GB of onboard storage. It will sport dual 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel cameras on the rear, with a front

8-megapixel selfie shooter. That’s not all, as the Max Pro will also have powerful speakers and run on pure Android 8.1. It’s the first Asus phone to actually run pure Android, but there doesn’t seem to be an Android One branding that usually comes with such devices.

Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 636 processor, you should be able to easily play games like Asphalt 8. There’s also a standalone expandable memory slot on top of its dual-SIM capabilities, unlike other phones where you have to choose between the SIM or microSD card. It’s no surprise then, that the launch of the ZenFone Max Pro will put some pressure on Xiaomi’s current lead in India, where the Chinese company is doing very well, having shipped 8.2 million phones between October and December last year in the country, beating out Korean giant Samsung in the process.

And one of its phones, the $235 Xiaomi Mi

TCS becomes first Indian technology firm to hit $100 billion in market capitalisation The market capitalisation of Tata Consultancy Services touched the $100-billion (Rs 6.62-lakh-crore) mark on Monday as its shares continued to rise after the company reported higher-than-expected earnings for the January-March quarter last week.

In earnings released on Thursday, Tata Consultancy Services had reported a 4.5% year-on-year rise in its net profit, to Rs 6,904 crore in January-March.

The company is the first Indian information technology firm to reach the mark, according to BloombergQuint. It had touched the

$25-billion mark in 2010 and $75-billion mark in 2014. Reliance Industries Limited was the first Indian company to cross $100 billion in 2007, but its market capitalisation is now $89.36 billion, Mint reported.

At 9.49 am, the market value of Tata Consultancy Services was Rs 6.63 lakh crore, The Economic Times reported.

At 11.25 am, the company’s shares were up 2.7% since Friday’s close, to reach Rs 3,494.95.

Its shares have risen almost 10% in the last two trading sessions.

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SOUT ASIA

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Nepal-China agree to expand connectivity Nepal and China have agreed to expand connectivity and development of TransHimalayan multi-dimensional transport network, according to an official statement today. The agreement has been made “for attaining common prosperity by incorporating areas such as railway line, trading port, air transport, electricity and communication”, said a press communique issued by the Foreign Ministry of Nepal on conclusion of the five-day official visit to China by Foreign Minister Pradip Gyawali, who returned Kathmandu today. “During his bilateral talk with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the two leaders agreed to expedite works relating to implementing various agreements and

understandings reached during the visits paid

by Prime Minister K P Oli and (former) Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” in 2016 and 2017 respectively,” according to the release. “We have also agreed to give continuity to exchange of high level visits between the two countries for promoting bilateral relations

Bangladesh official says no rush for free trade pact with China Bangladesh is in no rush to sign a free trade agreement with China, a senior Bangladeshi trade official said on Tuesday, though Chinese officials said it would help the poor South Asian country cut its deficit with its largest trading partner. China is expected to host talks in June, having first floated the idea of an FTA in 2016. Bangladesh does not have an FTA with any trade partner. “We have no intention to sign such an agreement right now and we are not in a hurry, but we may continue to discuss this,” Shubhashish Bose, secretary of the commerce ministry, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Bangladesh mainly imports machinery, cotton,

consumer products and chemical and chemical products from China, while exporting jute, jute products, readymade garments and processed leather the other way.

Li Guangjun, economic and commercial counselor at the China’s embassy in Dhaka, said an agreement would help Bangladesh reduce its deficit, as exports to China only accounted for $1 billion of the $16 billion annual trade between the two countries. “We would like to see more exports from Bangladesh and for that it needs to become more competitive,” Li told Reuters. “We believe if Bangladesh signs a free trade agreement, it would then reduce this huge trade gap,” he said, adding that it would lead to more Chinese investment in Bangladesh, and more diversity in Bangladesh’s exports.

Both officials said studies were needed to weigh the pros and cons.

Afghan girl spends life disguised as ‘son’ her parents wanted NEWS RELEASE April 20, 2018 Surrey, BC –DIVERSE Community Resources Society has received two Civil Forfeiture Grants from the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General to augment their work with providing timely and key supports to vulnerable people in their communities. The Honorable Mike Farnworth made the funding announcement at DIVERSEcity’s Community Campus today.

“Sharing proceeds of crime back with communities, to prevent crime and victimization and help victims to become survivors, is one more way we’re enhancing the services that people count on,” said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, at an announcement coinciding with Prevention of Violence Against Women Week in B.C. “Many of this year’s grant recipients are working with some of our most vulnerable citizens, helping to rebuild and heal after years and, in some cases, lifetimes of violence.”

“As our name implies, our organization promotes a safer, more inclusive Surrey. We envision a community where everyone feels they belong and can achieve their goals. These grants will further this important work,” said Neelam Sahota, CEO of DIVERSEcity. “These grants will help empower women who have experienced domestic violence to seek the supports they need to maximize their safety and live without violence. The grants will also facilitate change and growth for women who experience conflict with the law to help create better outcomes for children and families.”

Sitara Wafadar yearns for long hair like other girls. Instead, the Afghan teenager has disguised herself as a boy for more than a decade, forced by her parents to be the “son” they never had.

With five sisters and no brothers, Sitara lives by the gender-twisting custom known as “bacha poshi”, which in Dari refers to a girl “dressed as a boy”, enabling her to safely perform the duties of a son in the patriarchal country.

The 18-year-old, who resides with her impoverished family in a mud-brick house in a village in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar, has pretended to be a boy for most of her life.

Every morning she puts on the baggy shirt and trousers and flip flops typically worn

by Afghan males. Sometimes she covers her

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short brown hair with a scarf and deepens her voice to conceal her real gender.

“I never think that I am a girl,” Sitara tells AFP at the brick factory where she and her elderly father work six days a week as bonded labourers to repay money they borrowed from the owner and feed the family.

“My father always says ‘Sitara is like my eldest son’. Sometimes... I attend funerals as his eldest son” -- something she would never be allowed to do as a girl.

Bacha poshi has a long history in deeply conservative Afghanistan, where boys are valued more highly than girls and women are often confined to the home.

Normally it is families with no male heirs who make a daughter dress as a boy so she can carry out the duties of a son without getting harassed, or worse.

But some girls choose to pose as boys so they can enjoy the freedom their male counterparts take for granted in a country that treats women as second-class citizens.

While most bacha posh, as they are known, Continued on next page

SOUTH ASIA

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Facebook accused of ignoring government warnings before mob violence in Sri Lanka Angry mobs of Buddhists in Sri Lanka last month attacked minority Muslims, burning mosques and killing at least one. Those riots appear to have been triggered in part by false stories spread on Facebook and WhatsApp. And despite efforts by governments and nonprofits to alert them to the mounting risk, Facebook is accused of doing next to nothing to remove clear incitements to violence in the weeks leading up to the attacks. The sequence of events in Sri Lanka is detailed in a bruising new report by the New York Times, which threatens to undermine F a c e b o o k ’s longstanding claim to be a force for good in the world. At their heart were allegations of a plot by Muslim Sri Lankans to sterilize the country’s Sinhalese-speaking Buddhist majority, supported by a false story on Facebook saying that police had seized 23,000 sterilization pills from a Muslim pharmacist in the town of Ampara. In an episode eerily reminiscent of reactions to the Hillary Clinton Pizzagate conspiracy theory, those stories led a mob of Buddhists to storm a Muslim-owned restaurant in the town of Ampara, falsely claiming its food was laced with drugs. The exchange exploded into beatings, rioting, and mosque-burning.

Video of those events was also uploaded to Facebook, feeding further violence and the death of a 27-year-old aspiring journalist.

Aside from the brutal violence itself, the most disturbing part of the Times report is the allegation that Facebook, which has no offices in Sri Lanka, ignored or deflected repeated attempts by government officials and nonprofit monitors to intervene in a growing storm of hatred. As early as October of 2017, Sri Lankan officials pleaded with Facebook to better police hate speech, hire more Sinhalese-speaking content screeners, and establish a direct point of contact with local authorities.

Afghan girl spends life disguised as ‘son’ her parents wanted From previous page stop dressing as a boy after reaching puberty, Sitara says she keeps wearing male clothing “to protect myself ” at the brick kiln.

“When I go to work most people do not realise that I am a girl,” Sitara says.

“If they realised that an 18-year-old girl was working morning to evening in a brick factory then I would encounter many problems. I could even be kidnapped.”

Sitara started working at the factory when she was eight, following in the footsteps of her four older sisters, who also made bricks instead of going to school -- until they married, after which they stayed home.

She makes 500 bricks a day in return for 160 Afghanis (just over $2). From 7:00 am to 5:00 pm she crouches on the ground preparing mud and clay and then pushing it into brick moulds under the hot sun that has turned her skin brown. “I don’t feel ashamed about what I am doing but people my age tell me ‘you have reached puberty and now you don’t have to work at a brick factory’,” Sitara says.

“But what should I do? I don’t have any other choice.” Sitara’s father, Noor, says “almighty Allah” did not give him a son, leaving him with no choice but to force his daughter to dress as a boy and work.

Picking up pieces but future tense for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter. Instead, Facebook insisted its content-flagging tool would be enough to alert the company to dangerous content. Members of a Sri Lankan group called the Center for Policy Alternatives did as recommended, repeatedly flagging posts including messages such as “Kill all Muslims, don’t even save an infant.” But “nearly every report,” according to the Times, was deemed to not violate Facebook’s standards.

According to the Times, Facebook still has not filled around 25 positions for Sinhalese screeners that have been open since June.

T h e violence in Sri Lanka mirrors s i m i l ar events in Myanmar, India, Mexico, and even the United States. They strike at the heart of Facebook’s utopian promise to connect people, showing that such connections can spread violent hatred as quickly as cute baby pictures.

Ethnic and religious resentments are not created by Facebook. But as the Times points out, Facebook’s core structure – including an algorithm that prioritizes content that gets the most engagement – may help foment outrage and tribalism. In nations with weak legal

27

In August 2017 when international aids agencies had sent relief to the Kutupalong megacamp at Cox’s Bazar, a Rohingya lady had boiled a sanitary napkin, while another had tried to wash her hijab with milk powder!

Eight months later, the refugees know better.

The hilly tract of land that’s been converted into a tent city now offers shelter to close to eight lakh of them. Multiple bamboo bridges connect a dusty road from the entrance of the camp to the main valley that is dotted with shelter homes, learning centre, health clinics, stitching units, tubewells, a masjid and even a cemetery. The Bangladesh government and various international agencies have ensured that those who had fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state now have better living conditions. The refugees are happy that they don’t need to worry about where their next meal or medicines will come from. They have been given ID cards.

“Trauma care centres are addressing their psychological issues. Children are given basic education. To prevent radicalisation, we have motivation programmes. There have been no reports of trafficking,” says Shamimul Huq Pavel, the camp-in-charge of five camps at Kutupalong. The onset of monsoons when the camp might get flooded and the muddy roads get water-logged is their only immediate worry.

But soon, the Bangladesh government plans to shift them to a place next to this camp to ensure safety. However, the bigger question now concerning everyone is their repatriation. On April 14, five Rohingya refugees had crossed

over. Soon after, Myanmar issued a statement claiming to have repatriated the first family of five members — a matter dubbed as Myanmar’s public relations stunt. At the Commonwealth Summit in London, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina had said, “Maybe (Myanmar) wants to show the world they are taking them back. It’s a good sign. If they want, then why only one family? We have already submitted the names of 8,000 families, but they’ve not taken them back.”

Back at Kutupalong, the refugees are divided over the repatriation issue. Rape survivor Tamija Khatun, 20, sitting in a corner of a stitching unit, lifts her black veil and softly says, “One night, just two months after my marriage, this person just entered our house.

I watched him fell my husband into pieces in front of my eyes. Then, he jumped on me like an animal and raped me.” After seven months at the camp, the young widow is still counting her losses. “Do I return to insecurity and fear of being raped again? I will return only if I am assured of my dignity and rights.”

A 28-year-old man pulls out his mobile phone to show gory photos of his beheaded neighbours in Myanmar as part of “ethnic cleansing”.

But, there are some who still dream of returning despite all the odds. “Life is better here but the place where one is born will always remain the motherland. Had the military not tortured me, I’d have never fled from there.

Someday, I hope to return to my roots,” says

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FIJI

Saturday, April 28, 2018

6 month jail for former gov’t official accused of collecting money from villagers for personal use A former employee of the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development has been sentenced to twelve months but will only spend six months behind bars for collecting money from villagers for her personal use.

She has also been given a suspended sentence of two years. Nanise Gucake was charged with one count of Corrupt Transactions of Agents by FICAC last year.

Gucake was found to have collected a total of $418.00 from nine different people from the

districts of Korotasere, Saqani, and Tawake between February and April 2015 for her own personal use. An internal revenue audit in the same year discovered that she attempted to overwrite the dates and figures on the copies of the receipts to cover her tracks.

While delivering his sentence, Resident Magistrate Senileba Levaci said the court recognised that Gucake is a first offender and had entered an early Guilty plea, however her conduct was a serious breach of trust.

Trial of MP Balmindar Singh set for October 29th and 30th The trial date of FijiFirst MP, Balmindar Singh has been set for October 29th and 30th.

It is alleged that Singh assaulted a man at Desi Haze Nightclub at 1am on the 17th of December last year. He had earlier pleaded not guilty to a

count of assault causing actual bodily harm.

The prosecution has confirmed that they will present five witnesses in the trial while the defence counsel will also present five witnesses.

Fijian means more than just being a Fiji citizen for the i-Taukei - Rabuka Here in Fiji, depending on the context, we can all be Fijians when we are overseas, or when we are representing Fiji, but locally for ease of identification of who we are, we can refer to each other as native or indigenous Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Chinese-Fijians, European or part-European Fijians, and Banabans and Rotumans. Those are the words of SODELPA Leader Sitiveni Rabuka as he told law students at the University of Fiji that he has reservations about the common name ‘Fijian’ for everyone in the country. Rabuka says for an indigenous iTaukei, to be called a “Fijian” means much more than being a citizen of Fiji. He says it means being registered in the iTaukei Vola ni Kawa Bula (VKB) as a member of a customary landowning Mataqali. He says it is for this reason, that it has been very hard for many iTaukei to understand the Bainimarama government’s rationale for unilaterally appropriating the name “Fijian” for use as the common name of all Fiji citizens. Rabuka also revealed that in his personal submission to the Professor Yash Ghai Constitutional Commission, he suggested that the then Indians in

Fiji should not be forced to discard their distinctive identity as members of a very proud race and adopt a name already used to identify the proud indigenous race of Fiji.

SODELPA Leader, Sitiveni Rabuka says he personally has three reservations about the adoption in the 2013 Constitution of “Fijian” as our common name. According to him the people were never consulted. Rabuka says the common name was imposed, just like the unilateral revocation of the 1997 Constitution and removal and abolition of the Great Council of Chiefs. The SODELPA Leader says the people of Fiji have a right to be consulted and to be heard on this very important issue. Rabuka says secondly, the 2013 Constitution, for the first time in Fiji’s constitutional history, has allowed a Fiji citizen to hold citizenship of a foreign State simultaneously. He says this dual nationality is a good thing in the context of our globalised world but Rabuka says it creates the dubious situation about a person’s patriotic loyalty and attachment to Fiji when one is at the same time the national of another State.

12 children injured 1 in critical condition after a multi-vehicle accident involving school bus in the US A multi-vehicle accident involving a school bus in the United States has injured 12 children, one is in critical condition.

Police in Cincinnati says two toddlers suffered serious injuries when the car they were travelling in was struck by an out of

control car before slamming into a school bus.

Twenty students were on the bus and a 12-year-old is in a critical condition at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Police say excessive speed is being blamed for the crash.

Ba flood victims given cooking stoves and 4 liters of kerosene by Government Flood affected victims in Ba were given cooking stoves and four liters of kerosene per household yesterday. The distribution was directed by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and was headed by Assistant Minister for Agriculture Viam Pillay who was accompanied by other government officials.

Pillay says while distributing the food ration it was discovered that affected families

also needed the cooking facilities as it was all destroyed by the flood waters, so the Government decided to give out cooking stoves and kerosene.

The Assistant Minister says they will be distributing 1000 stoves and kerosene to the most affected families and if there is a need, more will be delivered later.

LTA confiscates fake taxi number plate The Land Transport Authority enforcement officers confiscated a fake taxi number plate earlier this week.

LTA says the number plate was made by an external source.

Board Chairman Vijay Maharaj says an investigation is underway.

Maharaj says the vehicle owner was issued with a fine.

He says this is a criminal offence under the Vehicle Registration and Construction Act 2000.

Maharaj says under the act, drivers who

modify their vehicles illegally, which include number plates could be fined up to $1000 and even be imprisoned.

Maharaj adds as a reactive measure in the interest of the safety of the public, they will be soon be giving zonal plates for all taxis.

The taxis in the Western Division will have number plates that will be Sky Blue, the taxis in the Central/ Eastern Division will be Lime Green while taxis in the Northern Division will have Orange number plates.

Fiji Revenue and Customs Service opens Labasa branch AS part of its future directive the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service will implement a number of technological changes with regards too the payment of taxes qnd improving its proceses and timelines in the coming months.

Officiating at the opening of the newly revamped FRCS Labasa office, chief executive officer Visavanath Dass said they were looking into updating the areas of electronic payment and lodgement of returns. “This will enable our taxpayers to

make a payment from anywhere as long as you have internet and phone access,” he said.

“While we have imposed severe penalties and fines for tax offenders, we are committed to implement processes for ease of doing business in Fiji.

“Revenue and Customs is here to administer the tax and customs law and it is our duty to ensure fairness and consistency in application of the law thus creating a level playing field for all taxpayers.”

PAKISTAN

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Foreign minister Khawaja Asif disqualified for life In another blow to PML-N, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has been disqualified by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on the basis of holding an Abu Dhabi Iqama (work permit). On April 10, an IHC larger bench had reserved its judgment in a matter where a Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar sought disqualification of the federal minister on the basis of work permit.

Justice Athar Minallah heading the threemember bench, read out the order disqualifying the foreign minister under Article 62(1)(f).

Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani were the other members of the

Impasse continues over new name for Islamabad airport

bench. “We declare that the Respondent was not qualified to contest the General Election of 2013 from NA 110 as he did not fulfill the conditions described under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, read with section 99(1)(f) of the Act of 197,” the judgement stated. Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf ’s Usman Dar filed this petition seeking disqualification of Asif for concealing the facts that he was an Iqama holder, legal advisor of a company in UAE and his recent labour card was issued on June 29, 2017. Khawaja Asif on the other hand took a view that he concealed nothing and his Iqama was declared in the nomination paper.

Police exhume body of Italian woman over suspected honor killing Police on Wednesday exhumed the body of investigation,” said police officer Waqar Gujjar.

Cheema’s father, brother and uncle Italian-Pakistani woman Sana Cheema over claims that she had been murdered are currently being held in custody by her relatives in a so-called honour for questioning but have not been charged, added Gujrat police officer killing, the case that has made headlines across the world.

Mudassar Sajjad.

Police in city of Gujrat in Punjab “Now it depends on the post mortem report. If it determines the launched an investigation earlier this week into the death of Sana Cheema, a cause of death is due to murder, only Sana Cheema then will police charge the suspects,” woman of Pakistani origin and believed to have been in her mid-twenties, after said Sajjad. allegations that she had been murdered by her According to family members, Cheema relatives went viral online. died earlier this month after succumbing to “After the news of her death spread on social an unspecified illness, said police officer Syed media, police found the family and started an Mobarak.

United Autos launch all new hatchback Bravo United Autos Pakistan brings new 800cc and 1000cc vehicles in the country. And for this, the company even built its own manufacturing plant in Lahore. According to reports, the hatchback car an 800cc Mehran look alike. The company imports two units of J-TT. And now it seems that the company might launch completely new hatchback, not a Mehran clone or it might introduce not one but two hatchbacks for local consumers, as United Autos has applied to Intellectual

29

Property Organization of Pakistan for the copyright of car namely ‘United Bravo’.

United Autos say indeed they have applied for copyright and its all-new vehicle for Pakistani consumers. It is equipped with all the features which the locally produced hatchbacks lack, the United official further added. It is not yet confirmed whether the company will launch two new hatchbacks or will launch only one of the two mentioned above.

The committee which was formed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif two weeks before his disqualification under Ports and Shipping Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and comprising Adviser on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui, Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law Barrister Zafarullah, proposed names for Islamabad’s new airport were 1) Liaquat Ali Khan international airport 2) Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah international airport or 3) Gandhara international airport.

However, during one of the recent meetings of the federal cabinet, the prime minister rejected all the three names after listening to the arguments of his colleagues. According to sources, a thorough debate was held during

the meeting in question, with most of the participants stressing that the airport should be named after some Pakistan Movement personality so that no one could change its name on political grounds in future. A majority of the ministers agreed that the name should be Liaquat Ali Khan airport.

Russia keen to expand military ties with Pakistan, top Russian official tells General Bajwa Army chief General Bajwa who reached in Russia on an official visit Tuesday met with Russian military chief who said that Pakistan a geostrategically important country and Moscow is keen to expand its existing bilateral military-to-military cooperation with Pakistann in a meeting with Army chief. The COAS also met with Commander of Russian Federation Ground Forces, Colonel General Oleg Salyukov at Kremlin Palace.

Russian Ground Forces Commander Russian Army Commander Colonel General Oleg Salyukov acknowledged achievements of Pakistan meeting with General Bajwa (right). army in the fight against terrorism and help resolve complex situations in the region. contributions for regional peace and stability. He said Pakistan would continue to play its General Qamar Javed Bajwa thanked Russian part to keep conflicts away from the region Ground Forces Commander and said that and seek approaches, which bring regional Pakistan reciprocated desire of enhanced convergences into play rather than the bilateral military engagements. He said that divergences.

Russia had recently played a positive role to

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NRI

Saturday, April 28, 2018

British Sikh MP launches campaign for direct Amritsar-London flights Britain’s first turbaned Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, along with two NGOs, has started a campaign for the launch of a direct flight between London and Amritsar, a long-pending demand of the BritishPunjabi diaspora. The Labour party MP for Slough joined hands with the UK-based NGO, Social Education Volunteer Association (SEVA) Trust and the UK chapter of the Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM), at an event within the House of Commons complex recently to initiate efforts to push for starting of the non-stop flight services with the Indian and Punjab governments. “In 2016, even with no direct connectivity, approximately 1.89 lakh passengers (517 per day) travelled between Amritsar and the UK as transit passengers, via other Indian and foreign airports. The demand

is there and we hope the supply will come soon,” Dhesi said. His campaign has found the backing of other British and Indian MPs, including fellow Labour Party MP Seema Malhotra and Congress MP for Amritsar, Gurjeet Singh Aujla.

They believe that in addition to better connectivity for millions of passengers, a direct air link between Punjab and Britain holds immense potential to boost trade and tourism and to strengthen India-UK relationship. The MPs believe that London Heathrow, one of the world’s biggest aviation transit hubs, will open up new onward connections to Europe, Canada and the US. It will also enable farmers and businessmen from Amritsar and adjoining regions to resume export of dry and perishable goods to the UK,

Nikki Haley fights back over sanctions, exposing political tensions Deep divisions over United States foreign policy, usually debated in private, are spilling dramatically into public view as Donald Trump’s top advisers struggle to make sense of his rapidly changing views on Syria and Russia. Last week, shortly after asking the Pentagon to draw up plans to withdraw from Syria, the president changed his mind, ordering a military strike that left State Department staffers “whipsawed” by the reversal. “I think that people here are pretty much as clueless as everyone else in terms of what do you tell other countries about our approach in Syria now,” one senior staffer told me. Another State staffer groaned that Trump appeared to be “winging it” in Syria, a “Helter Skelter” approach to a crisis that demands discipline. “You have to have a really thought-out plan and think about all the unexpected consequences and contingencies

and that is nowhere to be found,” they told me.

“Stuff is being done in a vacuum.”

Confusion turned to chaos again this week when United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced plans to impose new sanctions on Russia for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, only to be swiftly contradicted by other White House officials. Trump himself was reportedly outraged when he saw Haley discussing sanctions on television Sunday, believing that she was speaking without authorization.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders walked back her remarks from the podium on Monday and other administration officials, eager to ingratiate themselves, joined in throwing Haley under the bus.

Billionaire Khosla is asking US Supreme Court to keep people off his California beach property Vinod Khosla is used to playing long odds on some of the startups he backs. Now, the billionaire venture capitalist is using a similar approach for another project: a legal battle over public access to his beach south of San Francisco. Khosla, 63, believes he has the right to cut off the lone road to the waterfront at Martins Beach, a property he paid $32.5 million for a decade ago. State law says the public owns all coastline on the ocean side of the mean high tide line. Khosla says he shouldn’t have to open up his private land without compensation to allow passage to the cove, which is buttressed by cliffs and impossible to reach otherwise except by water.

By the time he shut the gate in late 2009, surfers had been hitting the waves at Martins Beach for decades.

When he cut off their access, a stream of lawsuits followed.

Martins Beach near Half Moon Bay, California.Taking a strong and unpopular position is vintage Khosla. His views on public beach access transcend the familiar world of venture capital and have made him the subject of widespread criticism. In coming months, he’ll learn if the U.S. Supreme Court plans to take on the case. Khosla’s petition earlier this year to the highest court in the land raises the question as to why, in an era of enormous perceived arrogance by technology companies, Khosla is giving the public yet another reason to rage about industry leaders.

“It’s a matter of principle, not whether the timing is right,” Khosla says about the case in an interview. “This is about unfairness, and I don’t tolerate unfairness.” In a country based on rule of law, squelching the rights of property owners is just wrong, he adds. “I’ve never seen anyone who needs a PR person more than Vinod right now,” says James Markarian, who once advised portfolio companies at Khosla Ventures and

thinks highly of Khosla. “You need world class, the Johnny Cochran of PR.” Khosla says that at the advice of a top aide he recently met with a prospective public relations professional but decided against hiring her. Public relations factor little into his motivation in general, even when the situation concerns a powerful financier seemingly trampling on the enjoyment of regular folk. Instead, Khosla’s decision to take the fight to the Supreme Court reflects a man obsessed with winning and what he sees as fair play. Khosla’s determination dates from at least his earliest days in Silicon Valley. Originally from Delhi, Khosla came to the U.S. for a master’s degree in biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He then applied to Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, which rejected him. Bent on getting in, Khosla lobbied school officials, first sweet-talking his way onto the waitlist, and then making a series of calls to the head of admissions saying he would take the spot of whichever admitted student didn’t show up. He won entry two days before classes began.

Khosla has been in Silicon Valley ever since, working at a design-automation company, Daisy Systems, and then co-founding Sun Microsystems, the computer services company behind the programming language Java. Sun’s 1986 initial public offering cemented his fortune, building on a payout from the Daisy IPO earlier.

When he started his eponymous venture firm in 2004, Khosla was winding down a nearly twodecade run at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, known for early investments in Amazon.com Inc. and Google. Along with his successes there, such as backing Juniper Networks, he built a reputation as a venture capitalist with a very particular style.

31

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Akshay Kumar Auctions ‘Rustom’ Costume for Charity Akshay Kumar is putting up the naval uniform, which he donned in the film “Rustom,� for auction.

The proceedings from the bid will support the cause of animal welfare.

Kumar, who won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in “Rustom,� tweeted a photograph from the film.

Alongside the photograph, it was written: “Win the original Naval uniform I wore in the movie ‘Rustom’.

Bidding closes May 26.�

The actor, 50, captioned it: “Hi all. I’m thrilled to announce that you can bid to win the actual naval officer

‘My Favorite Hero I Have Ever Worked with is Kareena Kapoor’: Sonam Kapoor

uniform I wore in ‘Rustom’.

Au c t i o n’s proceeds will support the cause of animal rescue and welfare. Place your bid at h t t p : / / w w w.

SaltScout.com.� “Rustom,� a period thriller, is directed by Tinu Suresh Desai.

It also stars actress Ileana D’Cruz.

The film is based on the reallife incident of Naval Officer K. M. Nanavati and businessman Prem Ahuja.

Kareena Kapoor Khan is Sonam Kapoor’s “favorite hero� she has worked with. Sonam and Kareena star together in “Veere Di Wedding,� which also features Swara Bhaskar and newcomer Shikha Talsania. At the film’s trailer launch here on Apr. 25, Sonam Kapoor was asked that since the film does not have a male lead, what was her experience like.

She said: “My favorite hero I have ever worked with is Kareena Kapoor.

I am telling you, it is the easiest thing to work with other women. “Unfor tunately, our conditioning is such that people expect women to pull other women down and compete with each other.

But what’s amazing is to actually work towards the same goal and create the best possible version of something. If all girls come together, they can literally move the world.� When asked why haven’t there been enough films about female

bonding, other than “Aisha� which also starred Sonam, the actress said: “’Aisha’ wasn’t a friendship film. It was a film about a girl and her friends. But this film is an ensemble film that is about each girl’s journey. Each of us has an equally

important story to tell. “Of course, the story is about one of the friends getting married, and it is from her perspective. “It is a story about friendship, about girls... And I don’t think such a film has been made before where it is entertaining, it is fun, it has got romance, dance and drama. It has got everything.

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Saturday, April 28, 2018

‘Disha has amazing screen presence!’ Tiger Shroff

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Point to be noted: rarely does an actor reach a stature where all five of his releases and the only three titled ones among his four forthcoming films are directly named after his character. “Heropanti,� Tiger Shroff ’s 2014 debut and hit, referred to him as the ‘Hero.’ “Baaghi� (his second film and even bigger hit) and “Baaghi 2� now, and his two flops to date, “A Flying Jatt� and “Munna Michael,� as well as the forthcoming “Student Of The Year 2,� “Rambo� (Sylvester Stallone has wished Shroff and the movie well, as it is a licensed remake) and “Baaghi 3,� all denote the characters Shroff played or plays in them.

Only Yash Raj Films’ action drama, toplined by Shroff ’s idol Hrithik Roshan, as yet, is untitled. And it is rarer to have a sequel within just five releases in as many years and have the third installment (“Baaghi 3�) announced on the eve of the second film’s release. Right now, “Baaghi 2� sees him in a new look with hair cropped very short – he is playing an Army officer and looks amazingly like his father, Jackie

Shroff. Here, then, is a rapid-fire with the actor. Interview: Q: “Baaghi 3� announced before knowing the fate of “Baaghi 2� – this is an industry first. How does it feel?

A (Smiles): I am grateful to Sajid Nadiadwala-sir for having so much confidence in our team! I am also happy that the trailer has been so well received.

This time, we have a great story and a great cast to back the great action. Expectations are already high after “Baaghi,� and I hope we fulfill them in “Baaghi 2� before moving to “Baaghi 3.� Q: “Baaghi 2� demanded a transformation in looks, beginning with your hair. How easy was that?

A: I was very reluctant about cutting my hair short, and those who have watched the video of that know it. Sajid-sir and Ahmedsir (director Ahmed Khan) convinced me, but I felt very emotional and even very scared. Afterward, I felt naked! I did not want to go out and even wore a cap for some time! But people liked my look, and now I have the confidence to experiment and take risks with my looks.

Kunal Nayaar unal Nayyar was born on 30 April 1981 He is known for his role as Rajesh Koothrappali in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. According to Forbes, Nayyar was third on the list of World’s Highest-Paid TV Actors for 2015, tied with co-star Simon Helberg, and with Mark Harmon and Ashton Kutcher, with earnings of US$20 million after The Big Bang Theory Nayyar was born in Hounslow, London, to a Punjabi family and was brought up in New Delhi, India.

He attended St Columba’s School in New Delhi, where he played badminton for the school team. His parents live in New Delhi.In 1999, Nayyar moved to the United States to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Portland, Oregon.[6] Working on his degree, he started taking acting classes and appeared in several school plays. After participating in the American College Theater Festival, Nayyar decided to become a

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professional actor. He then attended Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

where he received a Master o f Fine Arts in Acting.

After graduating, Nayyar found work doing American television ads and plays on the London stage.[8]

his role in the West Coast production of Rajiv Joseph’s 2006 play Huck & Holden, where he portrayed an Indian exchange student

Bollywood Stars’ Birthdays

KUNAL NAYYAR APRIL 30

MOUSHUMI CHATTERJEE APRIL 26

ROHIT SHARMA APRIL 30

BABITA APRIL 20

Bollywood

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Film: ‘Baghi 2’

Baaghi 2 Story: Neha (Disha Patani) calls for her exboyfriend and army man Ranveer (Tiger Shroff ) to find her 3-year-old daughter Rhea, who’s been kidnapped 2 months ago. Ranveer aka Ronny has to solve the mystery of the missing child.

Review: Baaghi 2 is an all-out action film with suspense and thriller elements. The first half is all about the setup. A distraught mother reaches out to her ex-boyfriend Ronny for help. But once Ronny starts investigating the case, he finds out that no one has a clue about Neha’s daughter. The build up is slow but steady and by interval time the film manages to pique the viewer’s interest. It takes a while to establish the story, the suspense and it’s characters. There are a few action sequences in the first half, but the main focus remains on Neha’s and Ronny’s relationship and the way their past affects their present. The second half though is a completely different tale.

The slow pace of suspense and the romantic

track give way to twists, turns and an actionpacked finale. Ronny goes from the slightly confused soldier to an absolute blood-thirsty nutter with nothing but revenge on his mind.

It gives Tiger Shroff the chance to exhibit his martial arts skills in full glory. He turns into a desi-version of Rambo as he annihilates an entire army with blazing guns and high flying kicks. It is here, that director Ahmed Khan’s movie trades style for substance. The focus is all on belting out slick action sequences that look cool. It’s disappointing that the story suffers in this attempt to impress with the action choreography and stunts. There are quite a few plot reveals and character twists during the latter part of Baaghi 2, but they’re not done convincingly. The direction falters as the film’s initial pace which is a setup for the thrills, doesn’t fit in with the high on action and adrenaline second half. If you have grown up on Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, the sight of Tiger Shroff wreaking havoc as a one man army can be exhilarating. Tiger pulls off his trademark kicks and punches with effortless ease. He looks good as a ripped and intense soldier waging war against the bad guys. For most parts, the movie sticks to its leading man’s strengths and that’s a

Apr

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ISHQ TERA *ing: Hrishitaa Bhatt, Mohit Madaan

Apr

20

High Jack

*ing: Sumeet Vyas, Sonnalli Seygall

New Released Bollywood Films Apr

20

Apr

20

Khido Khundi

*ing: Ranjit Bawa, Mandy Takha

April

06

Daas Dev

MISSING

*ing: Aditi Rao Hydari,Richa Chaddha,

*ing: Tabu, Manoj Bajpai

3

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Bollywood

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Indian American Actor Vandit Bhatt on Breaking Cliches At a time when the diversity debate in Hollywood is getting bigger with every passing moment, the Apu controversy – that emerged from the world of “The Simpsons” – is not only alive but making headlines as well. But all is not lost.

Indian American actor Vandit Bhatt says there were many misrepresentations about people of color, but they are being wiped out due to increasing conversations around inclusion.

The actor, who traces his roots to Hyderabad, is glad that he never had to play a stereotypical character.

Asked about the impact of the diversity debate concerning the ongoing stir around a South Asian character called Apu from “The Simpsons”, Vandit Bhatt told IANS over the phone from New York: “I will be honest with you. I feel like things are changing for the better and this is from my personal experience. “When I started acting, there were far more

misrepresentations.” that.”

Apu had to grapple with the troubling Bhatt moved stereotype of a to the US after convenience store clerk his mother got with an exaggerated, a job in the fake Indian accent since country. He is the show’s inception. known for his So, has anything work on “The changed?

Michael J. Fox “I have been acting Show”, “Mercy”, professionally in the “42 Seconds of States for the last 10Happiness” and 15 years. In this time “Ripped”. span, I feel like it has changed so much. I He will soon have had so many more be seen with opportunities. I am Indian actress grateful that I never had P r i y a n k a to kind of play someone Chopra in the stereotypical like that (Apu). I have always third season of “Quantico,” which airs in India had an opportunity to play human being on Star World. versus stereotype. I feel very lucky about

Wednesday.........................CLOSED

The actor, the nucleus of whose family remains in Hyderabad, is confident that change is seeping into the entertainment industry.

“I notice that ever since we started talking so much about diversity and representation, started having these conversations out loud. For the first time I think real change is happening slowly but gradually.” Bhatt pointed out an example.

“I have noticed a difference between casting from last year to this year. This is the time of the year when (actors) for all the new seasons of the show are cast. I am seeing so much diversity.”

He said “someone” is paying attention to the whole diversity dialogue.

“We are having all these conversations, and I think someone out there is listening to or at least paying attention to it.”

Lauding his “Quantico” co-star Priyanka Chopra for setting an example for many, he said: “What Priyanka is doing is so fantastic. She carries her show so well. I think it matters that people see someone like that in the main role on a main TV show.

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Saturday, April 28, 2018

Bollywood

How Kareena lost 16 kg Kareena is on weight loss spree for past few months and her recent pictures are a proof that hard work pays well.

The actress gave birth to son Taimur Ali Khan in December last year and gained around 18 kgs during her pregnancy.

Well, thanks to all hose ghee and parathas. Reportedly, Bebo has already shed nearly 16 kgs of her post-pregnancy weight in past three months.

Kareena is often spotted outside her gym and yoga classes with BFF Amrita Arora and the duo hits the gym together. It is always good to have a partner in the gym.

Amrita often shares some of

their workout videos on Instagram that clearly show how much hard work Kareena is putting in to get back in shape. From trying her hand at Kick Boxing, Battle Ropes, Yoga and many other forms of exercises to keeping a strict tab on her diet, Kareena is leaving no stone unturned to lose those extra kilos. In 2016, Kareena took on a starring role opposite Arjun Kapoor in Ki & Ka, a romantic comedy about gender stereotypes from the writer-director R. Balki.

She was cast as the ambitious and career-oriented Kia Bansal, and was particularly drawn to the project for its relevance and novel concept. Critics were divided in their opinion of the film, but it

Rani Mukerji felicitates winners of Camlin-‘Hichki’ contest A hit is a hit is a hit.

Rani Mukerji a.k.a Naina Mathur, the idealistic teacher of “Hichki” has always had a fan following among kids, and this has been heightened by her role in her newest (one can call it) home production.

Mukerji visited KidZania, an Indoor Global Theme Park at R-City Mall in Mumbai Apr. 4 for a Meet & Greet with winners of the Camlin-“Hichki” contest.

The contest, “My Hichki Moment,” was something wherein the participants had to talk about an experience or a difficult situation that they overcame in life with #MyHichkiMoment in the form of a sketch or a video. It concluded on the Facebook

page of Kokuyo Camlin, leading manufacturers of art materials. This contest saw active participation and some interesting stories of students overcoming their hurdles and proving themselves. Mukerji gave away Kokuyo Camlins gift hampers to five social media contest winners as well.

After the felicitation, Mukerji answered some questions by some budding journalist kids at KidZania!

Along with the social media contest, there were other contests held too, one at Camlin Arts & Crafts Studio at KidZania wherein kids made greeting cards and wrote few beautiful thoughts about their teachers and colored them. Also, at the Camlin Painting

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Bollywood

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Vikrant, Jackie give desi twist to Criminal Justice Actor duo to headline Indian adaptation of BAFTA-winning BBC crime drama, which will be helmed by director by Tigmanshu Dhulia MOHAR BASU mohar.basu@mid-day.com TWO months after it was announced that BAFTA-winning BBC crime drama, Criminal Justice, was getting an Indian adaptation, the makers have zeroed in on the cast. mid-day has learnt that Vikrant Massey and Jackie Shroff will feature in the series that will be directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia. Padmaavat actor Anupriya Goenka, Pankaj Tripathi and Mita Vashisht have also been roped in for the show, which is produced by Applause Entertainment along with BBC India.

A self-confessed fan of the original series, Massey reveals that he was only too happy to be part of a crime drama — a genre that remains largely untapped in India. Having started the shoot in a suburban studio in Mumbai earlier this week, the actor shared an image of the clapboard of the first day’s shoot on his social media handle. “What I liked most was the intensity of my character. And with an out-

Anupam Kher as Dr Manmohan Singh in the film; (inset) Singh

‘Devoted six months just to study script’ Slipping into the role of former PM Dr Manmohan Singh in next, Kher says film will be among the most important in recent times

Still from Criminal Justice; (right) Vikrant Massey and Jackie Shroff; (inset) Tigmanshu Dhulia standing director like Tigmanshu behind the camera, I am looking forward to seeing how this character unfolds,” said Massey.

The series, that has already spawned off a US adaptation (The Night Of), is being reworked by Shridhar Raghavan to appeal to the Indian audience. The directorial baton will be shared by Dhulia and Vishal Furia, who is known for his Marathi horror film Lapachappi (2016).

Dhulia, on his part, is proud

‘As the audiences have evolved, directors have more opportunity to experiment’ Tigmanshu Dhulia

to be associated with the Indian counterpart of a series that has been celebrated across the world. “As the Indian audiences have evolved in terms of the content they want to see, directors like me have more opportunities to experiment with our projects.

The story of this show engulfs you,” Dhulia says. Elated about having an eclectic team for their small screen offering, Sameer Nair (CEO, Applause) says, “We are happy to announce this mix of a powerful story and a fabulous team of actors and story-tellers.”

MOHAR BASU mohar.basu@mid-day.com

‘Alia helped me improve my act in film’ Vicky Kaushal on how “easy to bond with” Bhatt helped him strike a friendship that seamlessly translated on screen in Raazi MOHAR BASU mohar.basu@mid-day.com

Vicky Kaushal; (right) with Alia Bhatt in the film

DISTINCT though they are with their choice of films, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal are both, however, fine actors in their respective fields. The casting of Kaushal alongside Bhatt in Raazi was unlikely, but with this commercial venture, the actor thinks he can finally shed the image of being an indie artiste.

“I think it’s ironic to tag actors as indie or commercial artistes. Films are films, and any venture needs the industry’s support. Movies like Newton and October are making it easier for this line to be blurred. Actors don’t have cat-

egories,” Kaushal tells mid-day.

If initial glimpses are anything to go by, Bhatt and Kaushal’s chemistry is among the prominent elements that

cinegoers should watch out for, when heading for this film.

Kaushal admits that the comfort that translated on screen was a result of the bond they shared off it.

“We made the effort to be at ease with one another between shots. Alia is easy to bond with.

She is transparent, and doesn’t have the airs of being a star. When you talk to her, you talk to the person she is. That kind of energy helps you connect.

Such people help in uplifting the co-actor’s work. I believe, I did a better job in the film than I am capable of because I had a co-actor like her, and a director like Meghna Gulzar.”

EVEN with 45 days left before he can wrap up his upcoming political biographical film, Anupam Kher has managed to keep curiosity around The Accidental Prime Minister alive by sprinkling his Twitter feed with grabs and videos from the sets.

While the makeup artistes working on Kher are to credit for his uncanny resemblance to former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the actor, on his part, is also to applaud for nabbing his mannerisms.

“I had seen 50 hours of footage of our former prime minister to ape his body language,” Kher tells mid-day. He says that while essaying the role of a person who “existed in the black-and-white” era is difficult, playing the part of someone who is alive is more challenging. “The man was our PM for 10 years. He was on TV 24/7. We all know how he blinks, walks and talks. So, I had to imbibe these characteristics perfectly.”

Singh, says Kher, isn’t par-

‘He was our PM for 10 years. We know how he blinks, walks and talks. I had to imbibe these mannerisms perfectly’

ticularly demonstrative with his expression. Yet, the impact he leaves on people can be everlasting. It was these factors that made his task even more challenging, given that it upped the chances of going amiss. “My reference point was Sanjay Baru’s book [on which this film is based]. The script [penned by Hansal Mehta] is my Bible. Our research left us with so much content that I had to work on only the material for six months.”

The audience’s appreciation of his first look as the politician was motivation to work harder. In order to internalise his energy, Kher would even wake up at 5.30 am to practise yoga and meditate. News updates are testimony that a fair share of effort is being put in by all the teams working on director Vijay Gutte’s bilingual (English and Hindi). And Kher admits that this investment is fitting, given that “movie viewing is no longer seen as a picnic” for viewers. “The audience is particular about what they should watch. It was important that we worked on a project that was contextually strong.”

Even if that meant giving his nod to play the part of a politician whose ideologies he doesn’t abide by. “But, an actor cannot be biased when approaching a role. This will be the most important film of our times. It’s being helmed on the same scale that Gandhi [Richard Attenborough’s 1982 Brit-Indian venture] was mounted on.”

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Prabhu Dheva: ‘Interest works most in dance, not talent!’

He is starring in the first Indian silent film since 1987’s “Pushpak” (which, thank you, he has watched), and that too in a path-breaking negative protagonist’s role.

Prabhu Dheva, choreographer, director, and actor, even wonders why he was cast by eminent director Karthik Subbaraj!

Interview with Prabhu Dheva: Q: So did you ask him that?

A: I did, after it sunk in that it was a silent film. Two hours, I told him, how can there no dialogues? He told me, “Listen to the script.” I listened as he was a good director. I was very happy with what I heard, and asked him why he thought of me. He said, “Because you can do it.” So I did! Q: Do you think that such films rely more on your expressions and body language and you as a choreographer have that as a strong point?

A: No, I don’t think so. But he had lots of confidence in me.

When he explained the scene, I wanted to be spontaneous, so I told him I would not rehearse but head straight for the shot.

He could correct me if I did it wrong. He agreed. You will love the film. After the 10th minute, you will feel this is not a silent film. Q: Now that you have done it, how is the process different from that of a normal film? A: There is no difference.

This is a tough film to make but Karthik made it very easy, I am very excited. I would have gladly done any film he offered, but this was special.

Q: With a story like this, do you get inspired to direct something out of the box as well?

A (Laughs): If I offer producers something different, they say, “Good. Now let’s make a commercial film!”

Q: Why do you say we will not feel that it is a silent film after 10 minutes?

A: Because the story is that way. The last 90 minutes of 120 is the climax! It is the story of one night and you will not want to turn! In “Pushpak,” there

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Saturday, April 28, 2018

It’s as old as the hills

‘Aishwarya is an Indian beauty, not Diana Hayden’

Shatrughan Sinha is the latest to join the debate on the casting couch in Over two decades later, Tripura Chief Minister Bollywood. The actor-politician Biplab Kumar Deb wonders how Diana Hayden wonders why there was a hue and cry bagged the Miss World crown in 1997. He reportedly about Saroj Khan’s recent comments. said at an event in Agartala that international beauty The veteran choreographer had said contests were a joke and that he failed to understand that sexual favours are demanded the judging process. “We see women as goddess and given in Bollywood. Shotgun Laxmi and Saraswati. Aishwarya Rai represents the Sinha has reportedly said, Indian women. She became the Miss World (1994) “It’s an old and time-tested and that’s all right. But I do not understand the way of getting ahead in beauty of Diana Hayden,” he said. Diana has issued a life. You please me I’ll statement saying she is proud of her exotic brown please you... this has colour. “With regards to me winning the Miss World, been happening since it’s a pity and shame that time immemorial in when you win the biggest Bollywood and politics. beauty pageant in the What is there to get so upset world, you get about it?” Instead of taking on criticised.”

The debate, Khan, he said the perpetrators she felt, highlighted a need to be condemned. larger problem in India, that of a fairness bias. She wondered why the CM had compared her to Aishwarya and not Priyanka Chopra or Manushi Chhillar.

Tu kitne baras ka?

Yesterday, Varun Dhawan shared a fan’s meme on Instastory, which had Taimur Ali Khan and him exchanging thoughts.

The meme has the actor and Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan’s son’s photographs in a similar pose. Varun is seen asking Taimur, “Do you know I turned 31?”

The kid responds, “But you look as young as me!” The actor celebrated his birthday on April 24. Online fans feel the actor looks much younger and cuteness has always been his forte, just like Taimur’s.

Counting the days

Preparations for the sangeet ceremony of Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja’s impending wedding celebrations on May 7 and 8 have begun. There’s chatter that Janhvi Kapoor will be performing on late mum Sridevi’s chartbusters, Mere Haathon Mein Nau Nau Chudiyan and Kissi Ke Haath Naa Aayegi Yeh Ladki. Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh (he is related to the Kapoors) will shake a leg to My Name Is Lakhan. The bridal couple is apparently keen on sending e-invites instead of the hardbound thick wedding cards that weigh a tonne. If true, Sonam and Anand will sure be setting an example in paper-saving tips.

Festival ready

Raanjhanaa (2013) actor Dhanush is among the star brigade that is winging its way to the Cannes Film Festival. The actor will unveil the poster and promote his IndoFrench production, Ken Scott’s The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir, on May 11, which is being observed as India Day at the Cannes Film Market. It’s Rajinikanth’s son-in-law’s first international project and they are pulling out all stops to ensure that Dhanush grabs eyeballs in the French Riviera.

Wax of success Mahesh Babu is getting waxed.

Madame Tussauds is creating a replica of him, and not of his iconic characters. The South star recently met the team of artistes involved in the process. His latest film, Bharat Ane Nenu, has collected 125 crore in just six days, making it the actor’s biggest hit so far.

Chugging along Ranveer Singh now has a train named after him in Switzerland. As brand ambassador of the country, the authorities decided to take the Padmaavat actor’s association a bit further. The Ranveer On Tour is for the hordes of tourists from India that Singh has brought to their country. The train will travel across the Golden Line converging on the Swiss Alps. It will be inaugurated by the star on April 30. He is also said to have a huge fan following among the Swiss folk.

99

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Ranbir Kapoor best to play Sanjay Dutt, says Suniel Shetty

R

anbir Kapoor is the best fit to play Sanjay Dutt onscreen, says the latter’s Rudraksh co-star Suniel Shetty.

Shetty was present at the semi-final of the Wheelchair Cricket Series between India and Bangladesh on Tuesday.

As Dutt’s biopic is in the making, Shetty was asked if there will ever be a film on his life.

“I don’t think its worthy, but Sanjay’s biopic is happening and I think nobody else would do a better job at playing Sanjay than Ranbir. I saw Ranbir’s pictures and he looks exactly like Sanjay,” said Shetty.

The actor was happy about supporting a tournament for the differently abled.

“I think cricket on a wheelchair is an amazing concept, I would like to congratulate the organisers and NGOs those have made it happen. We should take more initiatives like these. By God’s grace we have everything and still if we look at their spirit and energy we will be able to learn a lot,” said Shetty.

“So when I was told such a tournament was going to take place between two countries [Bangladesh and India], I thought it is important that I become a part of this. I always think God has given us so many privileges, so it is important that we can do as much as possible for others,” he added.

He said people are trying to do their bit for the speciallyabled people.

“I run an NGO myself. It is called Save the Children India. They work really hard for specially-abled kids.

They also organise sports tournaments for them and we get around 18 to 19 teams from Maharashtra. Just looking at them and their spirit makes you feel like you have to do more and more for them,” said Shetty.

On the big screen, the actor was last seen in a negative role in the 2017 release A Gentleman, directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK.

Sanya Malhotra’s ‘Badhaai Ho’ Junglee Pictures’ “Badhaai Ho,” starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Sanya Malhotra, wrapped up the shoot Mar. 21. This is Junglee Pictures’ next outing with Ayushmann Khurrana after the 2017 sleeper success, “Bareilly Ki Barfi.” The team celebrated the wrap by indulging in a small celebration, with lead actors Khurrana and Malhotra having a gala time by dancing their heart out. “Badhaai Ho” is a coming-of-age story of a family as it grapples with some unexpected news. The film is directed by Amit Sharma, who has helmed over a 1000 ad films, including one on Google Reunion and a short film for Kashmir Tourism, and made his feature film debut in 2015 with “Tevar,” starring Arjun Kapoor.

Ayushmann Khurrana was born 14 September 1984) is an Indian film actor, singer and anchor. He is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards. In

2012, Khurrana made his film debut in Shoojit Sircar’s romantic comedy Vicky Donor, which touched on the topic of sperm donation in India, and received Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.[2] [3] He rose to prominence with romantic comedies Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) and Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017), and comedy-drama Shubh Mangal Savdhaan (2017), all of which received critical and commercial success. He hosted 63rd Filmfare Awards with Shah Rukh Khan, Parineeti Chopra and Karan Johar. In Chandigarh born to Poonam and P. Khurrana, He studied at St. John’s High School and DAV College in Chandigarh. Then Panjab University, in Chandigarh.] He did work theatre for five years. He was also the founding member of DAV College’s “Aaghaaz” and “Manchtantra”,

10

Classifieds / Jobs

Saturday, April 28, 2018

NOW HIRING

NOW HIRING

CNC Machine Operators in Surrey email resume to jobs@machining.ca Please mention AS subject line when applying

Metro Standard Insulation Ltd is hiring experienced or inexperienced insulation installer, LMIA work permit available. Good pay, ride available. Please call: 778-927-1005 - 778-838-6447 E-mail: info@metrostandardinsulation.com

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Name change I, Simranjit Singh, son of Jasmeet Kaur, holder of Indian Passport No. N1251894 issued at Kolkata , on 09/07/2015, permanent resident of 130/1 B.T. Road Baranagar, North 24 Parganas 700108 West Bengal, India, and presently residing at 12777,67A Avenue, Surrey BC Canada V3W 1L9, do hereby change my name from Simranjit Singh to Simranjit Singh Dhaliwal with immediate effect.

Community news South Asian Seniors - Muscle Pain, Joint Pain or Body Pain & Solutions, Dr. Nisha Dogra & Dr. S . Bhagat on April 29th 2018, 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm.

Vedic Seniors Parivar Center of Vedic Hindu Cultural Society Surrey invites South Asian Adults / Senior members and also nonmembers to attend a power presentation on Muscle Pain, Joint Pain or Body Pain & Solutions by Dr. Nisha Dogra Ph. DMHS & Dr. Sudershan Bhagat MD Pathology, on April 29th 2018 (Sunday) from 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm at Shanti Niketan hall of Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple 8321 - 140th street Surrey BC. Dr. Dogra & Dr. Bhagat will answer all your questions on

Tea and light snacks will be served in the end. Project funded by Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program for Hindi speaking seniors. Please contact Surendra Handa Coordinator Tel. 604 - 507 - 9945 for further information.

South Asian Seniors Share My Experiences of Recent Visit to China, South Korea & Japan, April 22nd 2018 (Sunday), at Shanti Niketan hall, from 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm.

Vedic Seniors Parivar Center of Vedic Hindu Cultural Society Surrey invites

South Asian adults/ Senior members and nonmembers also to attend a presentation to share my experiences of most recent visit to China, South Korea & Japan for 21 days. It has been a most spectacular experience to see the advancement in these countries and their warm culture. The presentation will be held on April 22nd 2018 (Sunday) from 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm at Shanti Niketan hall of Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple 8321 140th street Surrey BC. I will try my best to answer your questions if you have about these countries. Tea & light snacks will be served after the presentation. Project funded by Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program for Hindi speaking seniors. Please call Surendra Handa Coordinator Tel. 604 - 507 - 9945 for further information.

------------------------------------------------Dr. M.R. Rajagopal visit to Victoria and Vancouver April 9-10, 2018 See and hear 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee LIVE BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW! The event is expected to sell out!

A 2018 Nobel Peace Prize nominee from Kerala, India is coming to BC April 9-10, 2018.The BC Centre for Palliative Care and Victoria Hospice are honoured to be co-presenting the BC premiere of

Hippocratic: 18 Experiments in Gently

11

12

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Not a movie, it’s a mess Weeks after Screwvala takes over Kedarnath, three studios claim they bought film’s theatrical rights from Prernaa; Gattu files complaint against former biz partner

RK to hook up with bro-com king Luv? Sources say Kapoor in talks with Sonu Ke Titu director for laugh riot

STAR TRACK

Continued from page 1 MID-DAY has learnt that three companies — Vashu Bhagnani’s Pooja Entertainment, Gothic Entertainment and Kolkata-based Padma Ispat Private Limited — have knocked on Screwvala’s door, claiming that they own the Indian theatrical rights of the Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan starrer. The studios have reportedly also sent a copy of their contracts with Aroraa of KriArj Entertainment, which state that she has sold the rights to them.

Says a source, “Ronnie and Abhishek were stunned when they received a copy of the legal agreement between Prerna and Vashu Bhagnani, which showed that she had sold Indian theatrical rights of her entire slate to him. Soon, they were approached by two more companies which made similar claims. Neither of the other former producers [Ekta Kapoor and Bhushan Kumar] were aware of these agreements.”

Confirming that an NC has been filed against his estranged business partner, Abhishek said, “It’s shocking to know that there are people in the business who think it’s okay to sell assets that do not belong to them.”

Aroraa, on her part, said, “Everything has now been sold to Ronnie Screwvala.

Vashu Bhagnani; Ronnie Screwvala But at no point did I or KriArj know about it [the sale] till we read it in the papers. I only had got a confirmation from T-Series and an NOC letter from them saying that Abhishek will return the 15 crore before the shoot.

Regarding Vashuji, we had a longterm deal to make films together.

But I had no time to inform him about the termination of the Kedarnath deal. Vashuji [must have] read it in the papers too, and approached Ronnie accordingly. I should have officially terminated my paperwork with Vashuji. Where Gothic and Padma Ispat are concerned, they have nothing to do with the film.

This will be proved in the court.”

Bhagnani said that the release rights rest with him: “I have been doing business with Prernaa for over a year. I was shocked to read that Ronnie has taken over the film when the rights are with me. He can’t release the movie, without my consent, and until he pays me my money.”

HIS commendable performances in his films notwithstanding, Ranbir Kapoor has been struggling for that elusive hit of late. While the actor has an enviable line-up of films — Sanju and Brahmastra — we hear that in his bid to strike gold at the box office, he has been meeting a few directors. Luv Ranjan, fresh out of the success of Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, is apparently one of the filmmakers that he is in talks with.

A source revealed, “Both of them are keen to collaborate on a film.

Ranjan bounced off the premise of his next to Ranbir, who expressed his interest in the project. It is a romantic comedy, along the lines of Ranjan’s previous comic capers.

The script is being developed and if all goes as planned, RK will sign it in August. The film will roll right after he wraps up Brahmastra.”

When we reached out to Ranjan, the director said, “Ranbir and I have met many times. We are keen on working with each other, but nothing has been finalised. I have taken a break from direction and am currently concentrating on

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Vol. 9 No. 13

Saturday - April 28, 2018

Condo owners make big gains?

Condo owners make big gains, but nearly half arenโ t making enough rent to cover costs About half of the newly completed condos in the GTA last year were bought as rental investments and these investors likely realized a return of about 155 per cent before closing costs Nearly half of all investors who bought condominiums completed in the Toronto area last year arenโ t making enough rent to cover their holding costs, despite chalking up exceptional gains on the value of their properties, a new study finds. No less than 44 per cent of investors who took possession of new units in 2017 were in negative cash

flow โ that is their rental income fell short of the amount needed to cover their mortgage payments and condominium fees, according to the study by CIBC and Urbanation, a market analysis firm. Though 45 per cent of those investors were short by less than $500 per month, another 20 per cent were short between $500 and $1,000 per month. And 34.5 per cent were in the hole for more than $1,000 per month. โ We know now that many of them are in negative cash flow, but they also made very nice money on their investment,โ said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets Inc. โ The question is will they begin to sell?โ Investors who bought condominiums for the purpose of renting accounted for 48 per cent of all newly completed units in the Greater Toronto Area in 2017. The resale price of those units โ most of which were bought between 2011 and 2013, before the market boomed โ was an average $817 per square foot in 2017, up 51 per cent from their average pre-sale price of $541 per square foot. An average of five years elapsed between when the units were pre-sold โ or purchased from the developer ahead of construction โ

Continued on next pages

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14

Real Estate

Condo owners gaining big profits?

From page 13 and when they were completed. Assuming a down payment of 20 per cent or $75,000 — the average paid out — these investors realized a return of 155 per cent before closing costs, the study found.

“The return is stronger than it has been historically and that’s largely due to the price increases we saw over the last couple of years,” said Shaun Hildebrand, Urbanation’s senior vice-president. “But when you peel back all the layers you find some weak spots.”

Indeed, investors also paid higher rates on their mortgages, with 30 per cent of those studied paying an interest rate that is greater than 6 per cent and 16 per cent of investors paying more than 9 per cent. “It is these investors who are up against rising interest rates and now rent controls that create some vulnerabilities for the market,” said Hildebrand.

“The risks seem to be contained at this point but the economics of investing is likely to become more challenging in the coming years.”

The current boom in condo prices — driven by tight supply and soaring demand — won’t last forever, he cautions. Roughly 60,000 new units are currently under construction in the GTA and 20,000 new units are expected to be completed annually between now and 2021.

“No doubt there’s going to be more deliveries over the next three to four years than there has been over the previous four to five years,” Hildebrand said. “So in that sense, the market

is up against more supply and it’s unlikely the growth in price and rents we’ve seen over the last three to four years is going to repeat itself.”

To cover carrying costs of units pre-sold this year and scheduled for completion in 2021, investors with a 20 per cent down payment would need to raise the rent by 17 per cent over the next four years if there were no change in mortgage rates, the study finds. If mortgage rates increase by 100 basis points, rents would need to increase by 28 per cent over the period and by 39 per cent if rates increase by 200 basis points.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

CMHC says Canada’s housing industry is still highly vulnerable to market instability Canada’s housing sector is facing a high degree of vulnerability to market instability for the seventh straight quarter, with Toronto, Hamilton, Vancouver and Victoria shouldering the brunt of the risks. That’s according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which analyzed overheating, acceleration of home prices, overvaluations and overbuilding in markets across the country in its quarterly assessment, released on Thursday. “There is a lot of demand for existing homes relative to supply and that is why the overheating indicator is high in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto and Hamilton,” said CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan. “We have this constraint on the supply side, but at the same time, the local economies (in Toronto and Vancouver) have been very strong, generating a lot of jobs, attracting people to live in those markets, so there has been a lot of increase in demand in these markets, but without the supply, that demand goes into house price increases.”

Even though stricter regulations around uninsured mortgages from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions were in effect throughout the quarter, the CMHC report said Toronto’s balance between supply and demand was not

affected and the sales-to-new listings ration remained “virtually unchanged.”

The OFSI rules, it said, heightened demand for more affordable housing within the city, just as the city was seeing a decline in the inventory of houses in all categories.

Dugan said there weren’t any surprises CMHC found when compiling the report, but he did spot “a little bit of a softening” of market activity in Toronto and less of a “spillover” in demand from the city to neighbouring communities, i n c l u d i n g Hamilton.

However, CMHC said Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina had still fared much better. It assessed the cities as having moderate vulnerability because of overbuilding. Winnipeg, Ottawa, Quebec City, Moncton, Halifax and St. John’s, it said, faced even less risk, earning a low vulnerability ranking. Montreal also fell into that category, but CMHC warned it might have to revise that assessment, given the rapid growth of house prices in some neighbourhoods. “We just have our eye on that market to see whether price growth remains sustained and maybe spreads to more neighbourhoods within Montreal,” said Dugan.

Real Estate

Saturday, April 28, 2018

15

Billions in BC assets caught up in high-profile China says the former chairman of Beijingbased Anbang Insurance Group defrauded mom-and-pop retail investors of more than US$10 billion and the company used that money to buy trophy assets overseas, including prime office towers in downtown Vancouver and a major B.C. seniors’ care company. The allegation puts these B.C. deals, which each exceeded $1 billion, into the world of what is emerging as one of China’s biggest financial crime trials, with pundits trying to parse out Beijing’s desire to crack down on rising debt levels versus its political motivations for going after Wu Xiaohui and Anbang.

“It’s so interesting,” says Christine Duhaime, a Vancouver-based lawyer. “Goodness knows what it means for the Vancouver assets other than there will be a fire sale to get rid of them.”

She’s been watching Anbang’s activities in Vancouver since it first got the green light from the federal government in 2016 to buy the Bentall Centre office towers and retail mall in two transactions for over $1 billion, even though it wasn’t clear how Ottawa was able to tick off basic ownership questions about Anbang when no one else in the world could. She also drew attention to the speed at which Anbang’s $1 billion-plus purchase

risky wealth-management products to unsophisticated investors in China. “(Money from) practices that happen elsewhere is coming to us. We are connected to it. If we are not putting the proper measures in place, we are complicit,” says Nahirny. Since a 2015 exposé in The New York Times about “hidden global wealth” pouring into Manhattan’s most elite condo buildings, there has been some attention on a “growing proportion” of wealthy foreigners, who have been the subject of government inquiries in their home countries for cases involving whitecollar housing or environmental violations and financial fraud, buying assets in North America with few questions asked.

of Vancouverbased Retirement Concepts, a seniors’ care company, was approved by the federal government in 2017, considering the layers of ownership and the sheer task of translating verifying supporting documents from Chinese to English.

Now, the visual of what is being suggested by the Chinese government’s allegations against Wu and Anbang should be a wake-up call, according to Alesia Nahirny, executive director of Transparency International Canada. Nahirny says she wouldn’t categorize Anbang’s funds as necessarily being illicit.

That’s normally a description reserved for money that is tied to nefarious and organized crime, but she says it’s a problem if Anbang has been diverting funds into deals in Canada that it raised by aggressively promoting

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