www.theasianstar.com Vol 17 - Issue 50
Saturday, December 15, 2018
South Asian man charged with causing death by hit-and-run A South Asian man has been charged in a 2016 hitand-run that claimed the life of a skateboarder. Amanpreet Sohal, 23, has been charged with failure to stop at an accident causing bodily harm and dangerous driving causing death. Police said in a news release Friday that the charges stem from a two-year investigation into the April 17 death of 30-yearold Ryan Barron. Barron was skateboarding with a friend on Heather Street near West 54th Avenue at around 2:30 a.m. when he was hit by a vehicle,
police said. He was taken to hospital, where he later died. The driver did not remain at the scene. Police said officers located the vehicle believed to be involved in the incident at a home in East Vancouver two days later. It was seized. “Our job is to work on behalf of Ryan and his family to ensure the person responsible for his death is held accountable for their actions,� Const. Jason Doucette said. Sohal is expected to appear before a provincial court judge Friday.
Former PM Harper says Canada should ban Huawei from 5G Networks China has warned Canada of ‘serious consequences’ for its role in CFO Meng Wanzhou—and daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei—at the Vancouver International Airport. She was in transit on a flight to Mexico. Huawei has been accused of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, by using a Hong Kong shell company to do business dealings for network equipment. The distrust of Huawei relates to company founder Zhengfei and his history in China’s People’s Liberation Army, and his role as engineer in the country’s Communist Party. Now, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper—in an
interview with FOX News—is harping out against Huawei, urging Canada to remove the company’s ties to our 5G networks. “I obviously note that the United States is encouraging western allies to essentially push Huawei out of the emerging 5G network and my personal view is that that is something western countries should be doing in terms of our own long-term security issues,� Harper said. Harper refused to comment on the recent arrest of Huawei’s CFO, only to acknowledge the alleged ties the company—and its subsidiary ZTE—have with Chinese security, saying “we think there are some real Continued on page 7
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BC court upholds extradition of mother & uncle accused of Jassi Sidhu’s ‘honour killing’ in India A court has upheld the extradition of two British Columbia residents accused of hiring assailants to murder their relative in India because she married a poor rickshaw driver. BC Court of Appeal has denied Malkit Kaur Sidhu and Surjit Singh Badesha’s request for a stay of proceedings and a judicial review. Indian authorities allege the pair were involved in the so-called “honour killing� of Sidhu’s
daughter and Badesha’s niece, Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, in 2000. An RCMP operation to extradite the two was halted in Jassi Sidhu Toronto as they were boarding a Delhi-bound plane in September 2017 when their lawyers filed applications for judicial review. Sidhu and Continued on page 7
Two South Asian brothers face second-degree murder charges in death of 14-year-old boy Police west of Toronto say two brothers have been arrested in the death of a 14-year-old boy. Investigators have said the teen’s body was found in a park in Mississauga, Ont., on Friday shortly before 8 a.m. Peel regional police have not released a cause of death, but identified the boy Saturday as Riley Driver-Martin. Police said Saturday morning that a suspect, 20-year-old Nicholas Mahabir of Mississauga,
had been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the incident They later said a second suspect – Mahabir’s brother, 20-year-old Mark Mahabir of Mississauga – surrendered to police and was set to appear in court Sunday to face the same charge. Investigators have not said whether the suspects had any relationship to the boy.
South Asian man wanted in attempted murder investigation Toronto police are continuing their search for a man accused of violently attacking a 16-year-old girl and a 37-year-old woman last month. A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for the man, who is wanted on a charge of attempted murder, as well as two counts each of assault with a weapon and aggravated assault. Police
say the accused was last seen in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Nov. 24, a day after the alleged attack. They say Harry Rajkumar, 46, was trying to withdraw money from an ATM at Casino Niagara. Investigators are asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to come forward.
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www.theasianstar.com Vol 17 - Issue 50
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Vancouver property tax set to jump 5% Vancouver’s new city council will review the city’s 2019 budget on Tuesday, including a property tax hike of nearly five per cent. The city says a sizable chunk of that increase is due to the province’s new Employer Health Tax (EHT), meant to fund the elimination of MSP premiums. If approved, the 4.9-per-cent increase would amount to an extra $41 next year for the median strata owner, an additional $108 for the median singlefamily homeowner and a tax hike of $193 for the median business property owner. The city said it arrived at the 4.9 per cent figure by factoring inflation (2.2 per cent), new infrastructure included in the 2019-2022 capital plan (one per cent) and paying for EHT (1.7 per cent). “While this is an increased cost to
the city in 2019, the city can expect a marginal positive financial impact in 2020 upon the elimination of MSP premiums,” states a city budget document. The EHT, which was formally approved in October, will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, while MSP won’t be be eliminated until a year later on Jan. 1, 2020. Property taxes aren’t the only thing in the budget set to climb. The budget proposes a combined utility fee hike of 8.7 per cent, which would amount to an additional $119 per year for the median single-family homeowner and an additional $115 per year for the median business property. Recreation fees are also slated to jump two per cent, while permit fees could rise by 12 per cent or more. Continued on page 6
Emails contradict MP’s claims about when he was given confidential report on multimillion-dollar land deal Two MPs were given a confidential report on the property at the heart of a controversial Brampton land deal months before a company with Liberal Party connections bought it, according to emails obtained by the National Post. One of the MPs, Raj Grewal, had previously claimed he did not see the report until almost a year after the purchase. The revelation adds another wrinkle to a complex series of events that sources say the Toronto-area municipality has asked the RCMP to review. Meanwhile, the MPs in question and some of the company’s directors complain the matter has unfairly tarnished their reputations.
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At the core of the affair is the city’s purchase of a chunk of land it needed to build a muchdelayed overpass across a set of railroad tracks to alleviate traffic on a major arterial road. The June 2016 internal report by city staff, a copy of which was also obtained by the Post, suggests the city had little choice but to buy the property and recommended paying up to the province’s $3.1-million asking price. But the government had recently put the land on the open market and months later sold it to Goreway Heaven Inc. for a slightly higher sum, $3.35 million. Then in January 2018, Goreway Heaven sold the same parcel to the city for $4.4 million, an increase of Continued on page 6
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Canadian Sikhs upset with reference to Sikh extremism in terrorism report A Liberal MP has taken the unusual step of demanding that a reference to Sikh terrorism be excised from a government report, saying there is no evidence that such a threat exists in Canada and the mention of it unfairly tarnishes a peaceful, 600,000-strong community. Randeep Sarai, the member for B.C.’s Surrey Centre riding, made the request in a letter Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands with Sikh MPs and supporters to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale that follows two days of the inclusion of Sikh extremism as one of the emotional reaction to the report from the terrorist menaces facing this country. The citation merely references the Air India politically important Sikh community.Sikhs bombing of 1985 – Canada’s worst terrorist through the country. The opposition Conservatives and NDP attack – and resurrects a dark period for the have also called into question the reference. community, he writes to Goodale. “Since Sarai says he reviewed the document in 1985, when I was 10 years old, I have seen how detail and could find no evidence to justify Sikhs in Canada have had to wear the stigma Continued on page 6
Former NDP MP Svend Robinson ‘very seriously considering’ federal run in 2019 Former NDP MP Svend Robinson says he is “very seriously considering” a return to federal politics, noting that his former party is facing challenging times. Robinson, 66, represented the Vancouver-area riding of Burnaby for 25 years. He left politics in 2004 after he admitted stealing a diamond ring from an auction, saying he was under too much strain at the time. Since then, he has spent time in Switzerland working with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. After retiring last year, Robinson and his partner moved to Cyprus. Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is planning to run in the byelection for Burnaby South. (Cole Burston/Canadian Press)
If he decides to run, Robinson said he would seek election in Burnaby North— Seymour and hopefully help out the NDP candidate in the neighbouring riding — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is expected to face a byelection in Burnaby South in February. The NDP won Burnaby South by a little more than 500 votes in the 2015 federal election. Jagmeet Singh says he will continue to run in Burnaby South “I will do everything I can to support Jagmeet and support him in his campaign for election in Burnaby South. Hopefully if I’m a candidate in a neighbouring riding, that will be of some assistance,’’ Robinson said on the phone from Cyprus.
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OPINION
By Steven Globerman and Bacchus Barua, The Fraser Institute
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Canada’s free ride on US drug development may end soon
In October, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump outlined a plan that, if implemented, would substantially lower the amount the U.S. government will pay drugmakers for certain pharmaceuticals covered by its Medicare plan Though limited in scope, Trump’s changes are a clear step toward controlling domestic drug prices while taking a swipe at what he calls “foreign freeloaders” - other countries he says benefit from U.S. innovation without paying their share of the full costs associated with developing new drugs.This is a problem for Canadians because we’re one of the freeloading countries. Health Canada uses a reference-pricing system to establish maximum prices that drug manufacturers can charge here. The government uses prices paid for specific drugs in certain developed countries (including France, the United Kingdom and Italy) to
identify an average price that sets an upperlimit for the price in Canada. Even though Canada’s reference basket also included the United States, which has the highest prices globally, the inclusion of other countries means Canadian drug prices have been well below prices for identical drugs sold in the U.S. In a bid to get even steeper discounts, Health Canada recently proposed changes to our reference-pricing system, including to drop the two countries with the highest prices (the U.S. and Switzerland) from the set of countries used to calculate international reference prices. That will result in lower average prices and even greater disparities in drug prices between the U.S. and Canada. Though such policies have delayed access to newer medications, overall, this strategy
has enabled many countries - including Canada - to ride the coattails of American pharmaceutical innovation by paying less than its proportionate share of the costs of research and development. The U.S. administration’s new plan includes several initiatives meant to reduce expenditures on drugs provided under Medicare Part B program. Although this federal program only covers drugs used by physicians for inpatient treatments in hospitals and clinics, Trump’s plan to use international reference-pricing similar to Canada’s price-control strategy represents a significant shift in U.S. pharmaceutical policy. The prices paid by Medicare to private-sector drug vendors would be based on the average prices paid by a group of 16 other countries, including Canada.
Trudeau fails to punish foreign fighters Justin Trudeau knows there is a problem with ISIS terrorists in Canada, just don’t ask
him to do anything about it. The governing Liberals tabled their response to a near unanimous motion passed in the House of Commons that called on the government to bring returning ISIS fighters to justice. Brought forward by the Conservatives, the motion was passed 280-1 with only Green Party MP Elizabeth May voting against it. The motion called for the government to, “…immediately bring to justice anyone who has fought as an ISIS terrorist or participated in any terrorist activity, including those who are in Canada or have Canadian citizenship.” The Liberals backed it when it came time for the vote but failed when it came to delivering on a plan to get this done. Their six page response tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday was mostly fluff. There was plenty about the fine work the RCMP is doing monitoring people, the work that other intelligence agencies do to keep tabs on terrorists but nothing about bringing anyone to justice. There are an estimated 190 people with connections to Canada that have gone off to fight for ISIS or like-minded groups and are still out of the country.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018 From page 3
Emails contradict MP’s claims about when he was given confidential report on multimillion-dollar land deal
per cent. Goreway Heaven says it had planned to develop the land, but was forced to sell when the city applied to expropriate part of it. At a closed meeting last month Brampton city council decided to refer the matter to the RCMP, sources told the Post, noting that a confidential report on the issue had been shared with local MPs Raj Grewal and Navdeep Bains, who is also the federal economic development minister. Goreway Heaven has some Liberal connections, including the fact one of the company’s directors, Bhagwan Grewal, is a former Liberal riding association president and was part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s official trip to India earlier this year. Several of the company’s directors match the names of Liberal donors listed in Elections Canada records, with a smaller number of directors donating to the Conservatives
and NDP. Both MPs have strongly denied they leaked the confidential information to Goreway Heaven. The company says it never saw the report, and was one of 24 “potential purchasers” of the property. Two of the company’s directors, Jaswinder Bhatti and Kulwant Riarh, told the Post the company did not discuss the deal with either MP. “Let me be clear: any insinuation or allegation of wrongdoing on my part is false and baseless,” Bains said in a recent Facebook post. Recently sold land in Brampton, Ont., confidential information on which was apparently given to Liberal MP Raj Grewal by an aide to the cityâ s mayor. J.P. Moczulski for Postmedia News In statement to the Post Friday he added that he routinely handles sensitive information and does so “with the utmost care and in accordance with the highest ethical standards.”
Canadian Sikhs upset with reference to Sikh extremism in terrorism report From page 3
The document in question is Public Safety Canada’s annual report on the country’s terrorism threats. A section on current dangers lists “Sunni Islamist extremism” and “right-wing extremism” followed by “Sikh (Khalistani) extremism.” There had been no mention of Sikh extremism in previous years. The 2018 report notes that while violent activities in support of an independent Sikh homeland (Khalistan) in India have fallen since the 1980s when terrorists carried out the bombing of an Air India flight, killing 331 people, “support for the extreme ideologies of such groups remains. For example, in Canada, two key Sikh organizations, Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation, have been identified as being associated with terrorism and remain listed terrorist entities under the Criminal Code.” But Sarai added his voice to that of many Sikh leaders this week, who said lawful activism in support of the separatist cause is in no way a threat or a sign of incipient terrorism. “If that does not spill over to hate or violence, people have every right to believe in different ideologies or movements,” wrote the MP. “We must call out terrorism wherever it occurs, including recent attacks from the far right targeting women in Toronto & Muslims in QC,” said Sarai. New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh, of Sikh background himself, said in a Tweet Thursday that terrorism of all sorts, including the far right targeting of women in Toronto and Muslims in Quebec City. “The Liberal’s public safety report fails to do this – but does stoke fear w/o any evidence about the Sikh community, which is dangerous & wrong,” he Tweeted, referring to the report’s lack of mention of the Toronto van attack and Quebec mosque murders. The government should quickly offer a detailed explanation of why it included Sikh extremism as a possible threat, or modify the report, said Matthew Dube, the NDP’s public-safety critic. “When something comes out of nowhere, when there hasn’t been a specific act of violence that has led to this identification, it certainly does cause some issues, and I think the government needs to be sensitive to that,” he said in an interview. Conservative MP Garnett Genuis also urged the government to provide more SWITCH TO FREEDOM AND YOU COULD GET information to justify the report. A BONUS OF UP TO 100 GIGS OF DATA. “References to ‘Sikh We have something special for you this holiday season. In addition to extremism’ or other “extremisms” getting lots of data on a Freedom plan, you could get a bonus of up to without context or evidence 100 GB too. Let the celebrations begin. is an irresponsible way for the freedommobile.ca government to communicate about Learn more at freedommobile.ca. *The 100GB Big Binge Bonus offer is available for a limited time and is subject to change or cancellation without notice. To get the 100GB Big Binge Bonus, you must activate a new service or upgrade your phone on an “Eligible Plan” (rate plan with a recurring charge of $60 per month or higher) with MyTab on a 24 month services agreement during the promotion period. Bonus 100GB of data will only be used after you have used a sensitive issue,” he said on Twitter. up all the fast LTE data in your rate plan each month and, once the total 100GB of bonus data is depleted, it will not be replenished. The bonus data will remain available on your account for as long as you remain an active customer of ‘Sikh extremist’,” Sarai says. “Students were taunted, people were refused employment.… Finally, after 30 years, these words stopped being headlines on our newspapers, and Sikh Canadians were seen simply as Canadians, regardless of what was on their heads.” He calls on Goodale to “immediately” remove the heading “Sikh (Khalistani) Extremism” from the report, and goes on to say that changes should be made to ensure that no group, Sikh or otherwise, is mentioned in future by their religious or ethnic background in such a sensitive report.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018 From page 1
Former PM Harper says Canada should ban Huawei from 5G Networks 5G networks
serious issues there.” Canada’s Trudeau government, a member of the Five Eyes Intelligence community, has refused to ban Huawei 5G equipment, unlike fellow members Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Fellow member the United Kingdom saw company BT last week announced it was removing Huawei equipment from current 3G and 4G networks, while also skipping the company’s 5G hardware as well. The Canadian government is undergoing a review of whether Huawei poses a risk. Canada’s Big 3 Carriers Still Working with Huawei; Removing 5G to Be Costly Rogers told The Logic it is still working with Huawei as a sponsor of Hockey Night
From page 3 Robinson, pictured here in Parliament in 2003, said he spent a month door-knocking in the Burnaby North—Seymour riding this fall and sent a letter to residents saying he is seriously considering a run. Despite insisting he hasn’t made up his mind, Robinson said he spent a month door-knocking in the riding this fall and sent a letter to residents saying he is seriously considering a run. His letter closed by pointing out a nomination meeting will take place early in the new year. “And then we will have to work very hard together over the months leading up to the election in October of next year to take back the riding. Let’s do this!” the letter said. Speaking from Cyprus, Robinson said he thinks he could add some veteran know-how to the federal NDP given the number of experienced caucus members not standing for re-election next year. ‘I was fighting Trans Mountain 30 years ago’ Liberal Terry Beech is running again in Burnaby North—Seymour, which is set to become a battleground riding next year over Liberal pledges to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline. The pipeline ends in the riding. “I was fighting the Trans Mountain pipeline 30 years ago because of the threat to the environment then,” Robinson said. “[The 2019 election is] probably the last chance we will have to really make a difference on what I say is the most fundamental issue in the next election: climate change,” he continued.
Vancouver property tax set to jump 5% From page 3 Overall, the city is proposing a 2019 operating budget of $1.516 billion along with $371 million in new capital spending to “address aging city infrastructure and amenities.” The operating budget also includes new spending of $7.7 million for housing supply and affordability, $7.7 million to “improve and maintain” service levels, $5.4 million for public safety, $3.7 million in arts and culture funding and $3.2 million to “provide safe and healthy workspaces and public spaces.”
BC court upholds extradition of mother & uncle From page 1 Badesha’s application argued they weren’t given the chance to review the federal justice minister’s decisions to extradite them and they were denied access to counsel. The appeal court says the justice minister’s actions did amount to an Jassi Sidhu abuse of process but it does not warrant a stay of proceedings in this case.
in Canada. Rogers partnered with Ericsson for its 5G network plans. Telus partnered with Huawei and recently conducted 5G trials, while Bell works with Nokia and Huawei for 5G. Shaw’s Freedom Mobile is using Nokia equipment for its 5G plans and did not confirm whether it used Huawei equipment. SaskTel told The Logic it uses Huawei
equipment for a portion of its 4G network, while Ice Wireless in north uses Huawei hardware for its 3G and wireless broadband network. “We have seen no reason— based on our internal security audits—to believe the media reports out there about Huawei,” said Samer Bishay, CEO of Ice Wireless, to The Logic. As for the cost of Canada’s wireless carriers to remove Huawei’s equipment
from its networks? According to the Globe and Mail, it could exceed $1 billion dollars, according to unnamed telecom executives. The cost to rip out Huawei is said to be $500 million to $1 billion for Telus, while for Bell it would be hundreds of millions of dollars. The total cost for both companies to remove Huawei gear was pegged at over $1 billion dollars, with tens of thousands of antennas removed in the process. As for Huawei CFO Wangzhou, she spent the weekend in a Vancouver jail, as her Friday bail decision did not conclude, and is set to resume on Monday. What do you think? Should Canada’s ban Huawei 5G equipment like its allies?
Former NDP MP Svend Robinson ‘very seriously considering’ federal run in 2019
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
‘Humbled’ Modi suffers defeats ahead of 2019 India polls India’s ruling party suffered stinging election defeats in at least two stronghold states, results showed Tuesday, in a big blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi before national polls in 2019. The votes held earlier this month and in November were seen as a dress rehearsal for next year when Modi will likely go headto-head with a emboldened Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party for a second term. “We accept the people’s mandate with humility,” Modi said late Tuesday on Twitter.
“I thank the people of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for giving us the opportunity to serve these states. The BJP Governments in these states worked tirelessly for the welfare of the people.” “We defeated the BJP today, we will defeat them in 2019 too,” Indian media quoted Gandhi as saying. “Mr Modi sold a vision to the country five years ago. India had the patience to give them five years. But they have failed.” In both the central state of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in the west, the chief
ministers from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) conceded defeat, while in Madhya Pradesh the outcome was on a knife-edge.In Chhattisgarh, ruled by the BJP for 15 years, initial results showed the BJP winning just 16 seats, down from 49 in the outgoing parliament, trailing Congress on 68 in the 90-seat state parliament. Congress also trounced the BJP in Rajasthan, governed since 2013 by the BJP’s Vasundhara Raje, an unpopular local princess, winning 99 seats ahead of the BJP on 73 — 89 fewer than in the last election. Television footage showed jubilant Congress workers bursting
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firecrackers and dancing at regional party offices in both states. In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh the BJP also suffered from voter fatigue after 15 years in office, with Congress set to be two seats short of a majority and five ahead of the BJP. In two other smaller states also releasing results Tuesday, Telangana in the south and remote Mizoram in the northeast, regional parties looked to be leading. Congress’s five-time Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla was routed by the regional Mizo National Front, a BJP ally. In Telangana the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi won handsomely — at the expense of Congress. But it was Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh that mattered most for the Hindu nationalist BJP, which swept to power nationally under Modi in 2014. They form part of the “Hindi Belt” or “Cow Belt” region of around 475 million people — more than the United States, Canada and Mexico combined — where the right-wing BJP has its core support base. Before the recent five elections, the BJP ruled 19 out of 29 Indian states either outright or in alliance with local parties. Congress rules just two states, including one in partnership. But the latest results are a blow to the image of Modi as an invincible votewinner, and puts the 68-year-old on the back foot months before he seeks a second term in office. It also strengthen 48-year-old Gandhi — scion of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty — with Congress having lost more than a dozen states to the BJP since Modi took office in 2014. The results could also help his party cobble together a grand alliance of smaller parties to take on the BJP next year, with Gandhi at its head. “The message (from voters) is very clear. (Modi) needs to address the main issues of employment, corruption, and damage to economic structures,” Gandhi said on Tuesday. Analysts have linked the BJP’s apparent dwindling support to growing rural distress and unemployment. Nearly 55 percent of India’s 1.25-billion population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture, and farmers form an important voting bloc for parties. “The verdict is the cumulative result of the issues faced by people in these states,” Gurpreet Mahajan, a political scientist at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University said.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Metro Vancouver rainstorm provides otters leisurely swim on Burnaby street As commuters slogged through an ugly rainstorm on Thursday morning, two otters found time to go for a leisurely swim on a flooded Burnaby road. Torrential rainfall flooded Still Creek Drive in the morning,
leaving some vehicles — including an RCMP cruiser — stuck in the water. A look at the flooding on Still Creek Ave & Westminster Ave in Burnaby this morning. A police cruiser got stuck & had to be pushed out.
Explosion during bank robbery injures security guards Two guards were injured in an explosion as they were robbed at an Edmonton bank on Thursday morning. Edmonton police say the robbery occurred on early Thursday morning at a Scotiabank in the city’s northeast end, explosion during bank robbery injures security guards.
The armoured car guards were sent to hospital after an armed robbery and explosion at a bank in north Edmonton. Guards injured in explosion in stable condition The security guards injured by the explosion at Alberta bank are in stable condition.
Supreme Court strikes down mandatory victim surcharges The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a law that sparked a near rebellion among judges is a form of cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore unconstitutional. The former Conservative government made an existing “victim surcharge” mandatory for all convicted offenders. Before the fall of 2013, judges could waive the financial charge for offenders they deemed unable to pay. (A Liberal government bill that would give judges back their discretion over the surcharge is now before the Senate.) The case before the Supreme Court involved several impoverished offenders from Ontario and Quebec, including a blind, mentally ill
woman with a monthly income of $831. She had pleaded guilty to assault and uttering threats, and faced a surcharge of $200. The appeal courts in Ontario and Quebec had ruled the mandatory surcharge constitutional. “The impact and effects of the surcharge, taken together, create circumstances that are grossly disproportionate, outrage the standards of decency, and are both abhorrent and intolerable,” Justice Sheila Martin wrote for the majority in the 7-2 ruling, with Justice Malcolm Rowe and Justice Suzanne Côté in the minority.
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Trudeau condemns West Bank terror attack after baby of Israeli-Canadian dies Prime Minister Trudeau on Thursday condemned a terror attack in West Bank earlier this week that caused the death of a baby boy, calling the shooting outside the Ofra settlement “heinous terrorist violence.” Seven Israelis were injured in the attack Sunday, including Shira Ish-Ran, 21, who at 30 weeks pregnant underwent an emergency Caesarian-section after being shot in the upper body. Though doctors initially described the birth as a “miracle,” the infant was later placed under intensive care and died on Wednesday. Ish-Ran’s husband Amichai, who is a Canadian citizen, was also injured in the attack. “This heinous terrorist violence targeting civilians is completely inexcusable. May the boy’s memory be a blessing, and may the injured recover,” Trudeau wrote on Twitter. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland also condemned the shooting. “Canada condemns this attack on civilians
and wishes all injured a swift recovery,” she tweeted. Hundreds of mourners gathered at Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives cemetery Wednesday night for the funeral of the newborn, who had been pronounced dead by doctors at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem after several days in intensive care. Amichai (left) and Shira Ish-Ran, wounded in a December 9, 2018, terrorist attack outside Ofra in the West Bank, are seen at their wedding.Shira and Amichai Ish-Ran were recovering from gunshot wounds at the hospital and were unable to attend the funeral. Shortly before the burial, the baby underwent a symbolic circumcision and was named Amiad Yisrael. The funeral took place as Israeli forces raided a Palestinian village and killed one of the suspected perpetrators, Salih Barghouti, and arrested four other suspects in the terror attack. Hamas claimed Barghouti as one of its members.
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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard says she is ‘seriously considering’ a 2020 White House bid Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who has made recent trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, confirmed Wednesday night that she is “seriously considering” a 2020 White House bid. Gabbard, 37, considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, was one of the first female combat veterans to join Congress and was a high-profile supporter of the 2016 presidential bid of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). During an appearance Wednesday night on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Gabbard was asked if she is planning to run for president, an office recently held by another politician with roots in Hawaii, former president Barack Obama. “I’m seriously considering it,” Gabbard said, adding: “I’m concerned about the direction of the country.” Pressed by host Chris Matthews on what might stop her, Gabbard said: “I don’t know. I’m thinking through it very carefully.” [Julián Castro makes early move toward a 2020 White House bid]
If Gabbard moves forward with a presidential bid, she will join what is expected to be a crowded Democratic field, possibly including Sanders, who is looking at another White House run. While in New Hampshire earlier this month, Gabbard brushed off a question about whether Sanders’s plans would have an impact on her decision, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “I think you’ll have to ask him about what his plans are,” she said. “I’m thinking through how I can best be of service to our country.” During stops in New Hampshire, Gabbard reportedly highlighted her support for a single-payer Medicare-for-all health-care bill and her efforts to reduce
the influence of money in politics, among other policies. If she won, Gabbard would be the youngest person to be elected president. To date, the youngest has been John F. Kennedy, who was 43. Gabbard was first elected to the House in 2012, becoming the first Hindu member of Congress. She served in a field
medical unit of the Hawaii Army National Guard in a combat zone in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and was deployed to Kuwait from 2008 to 2009. Gabbard has since advocated for an antiinterventionist foreign policy. She previously served as vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, a position she left in 2016 when she announced her support for Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination over Hillary Clinton.
Supreme Court strikes down mandatory victim surcharges From page 9 “Many of the people involved in our criminal justice system are poor, live with addiction or other mental-health issues, and are otherwise disadvantaged or marginalized. When unable to pay the victim surcharge, they face what becomes, realistically, an indeterminate sentence. As long as they cannot pay, they may be taken into police custody, imprisoned for default, prevented from seeking a pardon, and targeted by collection agencies. In effect, not only are impecunious offenders treated far more harshly than those with access to the requisite funds, their inability to pay this part of their debt to society may further contribute to their disadvantage and stigmatization.” The Conservative government’s stated goal with the mandatory charge was to “rebalance” the justice system, giving more aid to victims and fewer rights to offenders. It set the charge at $100 for each minor offence, and $200 for each major one; for multiple offences, the charge could amount
to hundreds of dollars. The money was to be set aside for victim services offered by the provinces. The mandatory nature of the charge prompted bursts of public criticism from judges. Ontario Provincial Court Justice Colin Westman, in an interview with The Globe and Mail, called it a “tax on broken souls.” (He is now retired, but was a sitting judge in Kitchener at the time.) Like many other judges in several provinces, he found a creative way around the charge. The victim-surcharge law gave judges the option of setting a fine, as an alternative to the $100 or $200 surcharge; whatever the fine was, a surcharge of 30 per cent would be tacked on. Justice Westman set the fine at $1, bringing a surcharge of 30 cents. Justice Patrick Healy, then of the Quebec Court, wrote a 10,000word ruling explaining why he was setting the fine at $5, with a surcharge of $1.50. (The federal Liberal government has since elevated Justice Healy to the Quebec Court of Appeal, the highest court in the province.)
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Saturday, December 15, 2018 Huawei’s CFO gets $10 Million bail while she awaits decision on extradition to USA Huawei’s chief financial officer has been released on $10 million bail — with five guarantors — as she awaits possible extradition to the United States on fraud charges. Meng Wanzhou, 46 (pictured), was granted bail after three days of hearings concluded on Tuesday afternoon. She exited through a side door at BC Supreme Court in downtown Vancouver around 8 pm, nearly five hours after Justice William Ehrcke delivered his decision. Dressed in a bright hoodie and jacket, Meng was surrounded by security and rushed into a black car, headed to the westside home where she is set to live. In delivering his reasons for granting the bail, the judge said $7 million of that bail payment must be made in cash. Meng must also report to a bail supervisor, maintain good behaviour, live at a house owned by her husband, Liu Xiaozong, and stay in that house between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Huawei official Meng Wanzhou, arrested on a U.S. warrant, was released on $10 million bail 0:51 She must also surrender her passports, wear an electronic monitoring bracelet on her ankle and live under surveillance 24/7. Meng has been ordered to pay the surveillance costs herself. After Ehrcke finished reading his reasons for granting bail, Meng turned to smile and wave at her husband sitting in the front row. He’d been sitting hunched over with his chin in his hands as the judge spoke. Ehrcke said the “sole question” he had to consider was whether bail terms proposed by Meng’s legal team were enough to “offset the risk” of her fleeing Canada.
He told the courtroom he believed “the risk of her non-attendance in court can be reduced to an acceptable level” under the bail conditions. The decision, which prompted an eruption of applause from the packed courtroom gallery, comes after a back and forth between Meng’s lawyers and Canadian prosecutors acting on behalf of the U.S. Meng sits in court during the third day of her bail hearing at BC Supreme Court in Vancouver on Tuesday. Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s multi-billionaire founder, was detained in Vancouver on fraud charges at the request of U.S. authorities more than a week ago. She was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on her way from Hong Kong to Mexico. Huawei is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of network gear for phone and internet companies, with partnerships with various Canadian universities as well as BCE and Telus. Its 2017 annual report said it brought in more than $90 billion US in revenue. The extradition process could take months. Meng is scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 6 to set a date for those proceedings. In a statement posted on Twitter, Huawei Technologies said it “looks forward to a timely resolution.” “We have every confidence that the Canadian and U.S. legal systems will reach a just conclusion in the following proceedings. As we have stressed all along, Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries and regions where we operate, including export control and sanction laws of the UN, U.S., and EU,” it read in part.
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BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson in Surrey BC Liberal leader and official Opposition Leader Andrew Wilkinson visited the Asian Star offices in Surrey last week. Wilkinson, who was in Surrey to meet with South Asian community and media, said that he is optimistic about the future, providing the next generation with right opportunities including strong private sector jobs, business, higher education and safe streets.
AndrewWilkinson in the Asian Star offices in Surrey last week.
Metro Vancouver mayors vote to develop $1.65B Fraser Highway SkyTrain plans Metro Vancouver mayors took one more step along the road to SkyTrain on Fraser Highway at their meeting on Thursday. The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation voted to “proceed immediately with planning and project development work” for SkyTrain along Fraser Highway. The vote followed heated, divisive debate over if Surrey should be allowed to completely rejig South of the Fraser transit plans. TransLink reveals new plans for proposed Surrey-Langley SkyTrain
At the heart of Thursday’s meeting was what should be done with the $1.65 billion previously allocated to light rail. Plans for light rail were cleared off the table after the Mayors’ Council voted last month to proceed with SkyTrain. The regional body’s vote followed that of Surrey’s council, which voted to “cancel” light rail in favour of SkyTrain after the Oct. 20 election. Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum called his slate’s election a “referendum” on SkyTrain and said that an “overwhelming number” of his city’s residents support it.
China confirms detention of 2 Canadians on suspicion of ‘endangering national security’ Two Canadian have been detained in China on suspicion of “endangering national security,” the country’s foreign ministry said Thursday. Spokesman Lu Kang confirmed that entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig were taken into custody on Monday and that they are being handled separately. Canada has been informed of the detentions, Lu said, but declined to say whether the men have been provided with lawyers. The two cases ratchet up pressure on Canada, which is holding an executive of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. China has demanded the immediate release of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s CFO and the daughter of its founder. Meng was arrested in Canada earlier this month at the request of the United States, which is hoping to have her extradited over allegations
she tried to bypass American trade sanctions on Iran and lied to U.S. banks about her actions. former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig (left) and entrepreneur Michael Spavor (right) were taken into custody in China on Monday and that they are being handled separately. Asked if the Canadian men’s detentions were related to Meng’s arrest, Lu said they were being handled according to Chinese law. The Chinese official’s comments come hours after Global Affairs Canada confirmed that Spavor, the founder of a non-profit that organizes cultural-exchange trips to North Korea, was the second Canadian to be detained in China. “We are working very hard to ascertain his whereabouts and we continue to raise this with the Chinese government,” Global Affairs spokesman Guillaume Berube confirmed in an email Wednesday night.
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David Eby ‘disappointed’ after charges stayed in high-profile money laundering case British Columbia’s attorney general says the provincial government is still “in the dark� after one of the largest anti-money laundering cases in Canadian history fell apart last month. Federal prosecutors stayed charges against a Richmond-based company and its two principal operators on the eve of trial. At an event on Thursday, David Eby said he was “disappointed� by the development, adding that province still isn’t sure how such a highprofile case could fall through so suddenly. “It is a crisis for our province. I think it is a matter of concern across the province and across the country, increasingly, and it is a disturbing signal that a prosecution of this magnitude collapses shortly before going to trial,� he said. Eby reiterated that view Thursday, adding that the news has contributed to concerns over Canada’s ability to combat dirty money. “I still remain concerned that British
Columbia and Canada simply do not have the resources or capacity to prosecute and convict those involved in transnational organized crime and money laundering, which apparently the RCMP believes has infiltrated our real estate market in a serious way,� he said. Eby said the province’s lawyers were in court this week to resist the application of the accused in the file to have millions of dollars returned to them earlier than the law requires. The province has also been in touch with the federal government, specifically Minister of Border Security and Crime Reduction Bill Blair, who was recently tasked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to assist B.C. in its anti-money laundering efforts.
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“He shares our view that the situation is unacceptable and he’s pledged to work with us to address it and I believe he’s quite serious about that,� Eby said. The federal RCMP started investigating money laundering at B.C. casinos in 2015. That led to charges being laid against Silver International and its operators in 2017. Mounties have said they
are reviewing their own actions in relation to the case’s collapse, and B.C. is reviewing the case with its own lawyers while calling for clarity on the matter from Ottawa. The news comes as the province awaits a report by former RCMP commission Peter German into dirty money in the real estate industry, luxury cars and horse racing—the second phase of a wide-ranging fact-finding mission into the province’s dirty money problem that began by looking at B.C. casinos. The results of that report are available here.
Quebec residents near Canada - US border to be paid for asylum seeker disruption Quebecers living by the Canada-United States border where thousands of migrants have crossed illegally into the country since 2017 will be eligible for payments of up to $25,000, the federal government announced on Wednesday. Life along the previously sleepy Roxham Road -- the main entry point for migrants entering the country on foot -- has been disturbed, and residents deserve to be compensated, Border Security Minister Bill Blair said. “I’ve been there. I’ve spoken to the residents. I’ve seen the level of activity of the RCMP, the (Canada Border Services Agency) and other officials that has impacted what is otherwise a quiet, rural road,� Blair told reporters. Roughly 96 per cent of all migrants who
have crossed illegally into Canada since 2017 have done so at Roxham Road. The federal Immigration Department says 16,000 people crossed the CanadaU.S. border illegally into Quebec through the end of October this year, and about
19,000 did last year. Bureaucrats divided the Roxham Road area into three zones based on proximity to the border.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018 No additional funding for Surrey SkyTrain, says Premier Premier John Horgan says there’s no additional provincial money available for Surrey if it needs more to pay for Mayor Doug McCallum’s election promise to switch to SkyTrain. Horgan said he’s spoken with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and both governments will only fund the amount they’d previously agreed to — roughly 40 per cent each — for Phase 2 two of Metro Vancouver’s transit expansion plan. Originally, that plan included a $1.65-billion Surrey-Newton-Guildford light rail transit project. But the Mayor’s Council on Regional Transportation voted to suspend LRT in November after McCallum won the Surrey mayoralty on a promise to switch to a SkyTrain line from Surrey to Langley, which TransLink estimates could cost more than $2.6 billion. “The two orders of government, federal and provincial, are doing what they can to provide more money to get this going,” Horgan told Postmedia News on Wednesday. “If Mr. McCallum wants to raise taxes in Surrey to fill the gap he’s welcome to. I don’t think the people of Surrey will embrace that. But that’s the only way there’s going to be
more money, it’s going to come out of his pocket not out of the federal or provincial pie.” The region’s mayors will vote Thursday on whether to start planning for SkyTrain on a timetable of operation by 2025. How to fund the apparent billiondollar gap between LRT and SkyTrain remains a point of contention. McCallum has said he thinks the entire Surrey to Langley SkyTrain line can be built for much less than TransLink estimates. Mayors said in November that any SkyTrain proposal should only draw on the $1.65 billion set aside for Phase 2 — though that won’t be enough to build the full 16-kilometre line to the centre of Langley. Phase 3 of the mayors’ plan also has another $1.9 billion allocated for rapid transit South of the Fraser, but that part of the plan has not yet been funded, and what kind of rapid transit it will be used for — SkyTrain, light rail or rapid bus — has not yet been determined. The Mayors’ Council will vote tomorrow on whether to direct TransLink staff to go ahead with a refresh of that rapid transit plan.
Premier Horgan opens door to include dental coverage within BC’s health care system Premier John Horgan is not opposed to the idea of the province covering dental care as part of the provincial health care system. “We have been looking at it and hopefully we will be able to do something about it in the next budget,” Horgan said. The Ontario NDP unveiled a campaign promise in March in to extend dental care to people in the country’s most populated province without insurance coverage. The NDP estimated the plan would provide dental benefits to 4.5 million Ontarians at a cost of $1.2 billion. The plan would cover basic procedures such as dentures, exams, X-rays, fillings, cleanings and restorative work. “It would take pressure off of our doctors’ offices, and off of our hospitals, where people are now forced to go when they’re in absolute crisis when it comes to their mouth and their oral health and their dental needs,” NDP leader Andrea Horwath said during the election campaign. Under the plan, public cash would cover care for seniors without insurance and those on social assistance. For employers, the NDP would make offering a minimum standard of dental coverage mandatory, including for part-time and contract workers.
British Columbia’s Medical Service Plan (MSP) premiums currently cover medically necessary services provided by physicians and midwives, dental and oral surgery performed in a hospital, eye examinations that are medically required and some orthodontic services. Horgan said that his own experience has made it clear to him how important dental services are. “I got my two front teeth knocked out playing basketball when I was a kid and it meant that I was always tentative about smiling. Dental care, dental health is critically important to physical well-being as well as mental well-being,” Horgan said. “I believe it’s an area we need to move into with kids and get good habits with good oral hygiene and make sure that is funded.” In 2008, the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) supported a motion to ask the province to take immediate steps to remove access barriers to dental health care, allocate more funding for basic dental health care insurance for low income individuals and families in the province, and work with the BC Dental Association to resolve the discrepancy between the BC Dental Fee guide and the actual fees charged by dentists.
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Funeral announcement Raspal Kaur Pabla - April 5, 1944 - December 6th, 2018 With great sadness and heavy hearts, we announce that Mrs. Raspal Kaur Pabla passed away peacefully on December 6th, 2018 after a courageous battle with cancer, at the age of 74. Raspal is survived by her husband, Kewal Singh Pabla, and her children, Avtar (Daljit), Parmjit (Kulwant), Manjit (Harpal) and Sarbjit (Baljit). In addition to being a loving wife and mother, Raspal was an amazing grandmother to seven granddaughters
and six grandsons. Known to have a heart of gold, Raspal will be missed dearly by her entire family, her relatives, and any person that ever came to know her. Funeral services for Raspal will be held at Riverside Funeral Home (7410 Hopcott Road, Delta, BC) on Sunday, December 16th, 2018 at 3PM followed by prayer service at Gurudwara Nanak Niwas (8600 No. 5 Road, Richmond, BC). For more information : Avtar Pabla 778-251-8502 Kewal Pabla- 604-720-5900 - Manjit Pabla 778-929-2626
Banks told to watch for signs of ‘extremist travellers’ returning to Canada Canada’s financial intelligence agency warned banks on Thursday to watch for signs that foreign terrorist fighters may be trying to return home from places like Syria and Iraq. The reactivation of a dormant bank account linked to an “extremist traveller” may indicate that he or she is preparing to come back to Canada, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) said. Unusual money transfers and new sources of income such as employment or social assistance could also be
indicators, FINTRAC said in its firstever Terrorism Financing Assessment. “While extremist travellers may remain in the conflict zone after the conflict subsides, some attempt to return home or try to go to a third country,” the report said. “This stage is critical in terms of public safety, since returning extremist travellers may bring their combat experience and connections to terrorist groups home.” According to government estimates, about 190 extremists have left Canada to take part in foreign terrorist groups.
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Anger grows over mention of Sikh extremism in federal terror threat report Sikh groups accused Canadian Sikhs and denying these baseless extremism.” There had been no mention Ottawa of capitulating to the Indian government, which has allegations, it appears that the Canadian of Sikh extremism in previous years. John Ivison: How a trickle of Sikhs repeatedly pushed a narrative that government is content to capitulate to Indian fleeing India for Canada Canada is harbouring Sikh extremists demands to crack down on became a torrent Several groups within Canada’s Sikh the Sikh activists,” said a Sikh Canadians community demanded Wednesday that statement from the Ontario dismayed by extremism the federal government provide evidence Khalsa Darbar, one of allegations following to support a claim made in a recent terror Canada’s largest gurdwaras Justin Trudeau’s India visit in Mississauga. assessment report that “Sikh extremism” based Why Sikh separatism has The document drawing was a current threat to the country. re-emerged as a flashpoint The groups accused Ottawa of capitulating to scrutiny is Public Safety in Canadian politics the Indian government, which has repeatedly Canada’s annual report on The 2018 report notes pushed a narrative that Canada is harbouring the terrorism threat to the that while violent activities Sikh extremists, and suggested the report country. A section on current threats lists seemed more driven by politics than intelligence. “Sunni Islamist extremism” and “right-wing in support of an independent Sikh homeland “Rather than defending the reputation of extremism” followed by “Sikh (Khalistani) (Khalistan) in India have fallen since the 1980s when terrorists carried out the bombing of an Air India flight, killing 331 people, VGH introduces cutting-edge technologyto to help patients “support for the extreme ideologies of such with injuries & trauma groups remains. For example, in Canada, two key Sikh organizations, Babbar Khalsa VGH is the first hospital in Western It can only be used for International and the International Sikh Youth Canada to host a REBOA (Resuscitative injuries to the lower body. Federation, have been identified as being endovascular balloon occlusion of Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) associated with terrorism and remain listed the aorta), which will be used to help said VGH first used REBOA on a critical terrorist entities under the Criminal Code.” patients suffering from injuries such But several Sikh organizations, representing some of the half-million Sikhs living in Canada, said that pro-Khalistan activism is being falsely equated with extremism and wondered why Public Safety Canada was publicizing the threat now when the report makes reference to only historical acts of violence. “We see activism on the ground here in Canada with respect to different issues, but there’s nothing to suggest violence of any
sort,” said Balpreet Singh, legal counsel for the World Sikh Organization of Canada. “It damages our reputation.” In a joint statement, the B.C. Sikh Gurdwaras Council and the Ontario Gurdwaras Committee, a coalition representing 30 places of worship, said the Sikh community had been maligned by the government’s “generalized” accusations, which were “irresponsible and could have wide standing effects on Sikhs throughout Canada.” “We have to go back at least three decades to find anything. … What’s happened in the last year for the Sikh community to be included? What context can they give us? Why now?” Moninder Singh, the B.C. council’s spokesman, said in an interview. “We’re a highly visible minority in this country, but we’re still subject to hate crimes. We’re lumped up with a lot of Islamophobia.” Asked Wednesday why Sikh extremism was suddenly included in the annual threat report, a government official cited a line in the report that referred to ongoing support by some Canadians for Shia and Sikh extremist groups, “including through financing.” The official wouldn’t elaborate. In an emailed statement, the office of Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale added: “Our government would never equate any one community with extremism. The annual Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada is prepared by officials to describe the current terrorist threat environment. The report noted that the National Terrorism Threat Level remains unchanged.”
Six-year-old girl lured from playground, sexually assaulted: Vancouver police say as gunshot wounds or pelvis fractures. The tool works by placing a temporary balloon in the patient’s aorta, which, once inflated, blocks blood flow to a traumatic wound — while still allowing blood to travel to the brain and heart. Once the balloon is in place, emergency room staff have about 45 minutes to stabilize the patient for surgery.
patient who was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the abdomen. VGH believes REBOA could help save up to 15 patients a year. REBOA was initially developed by military trauma surgeons for use on patients with gunshot wounds, and was first introduced to civilian hospitals in the U.S. in 2016, followed soon after by Europe.
Six-year-old girl lured from a playground and sexually assaulted, Vancouver police say a man lured a six-year-old girl from an elementary school playground and sexually assaulted her. Police say it happened on Dec. 5 when the girl was at the playground outside Sexsmit Elementary School in south Vancouver.
The department’s sex crimes unit is looking for dash-cam footage from anyone who may have been driving in the area between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The department’s sex crimes unit is looking for dash-cam footage from anyone who may have been driving in the area between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Vancouver says court decision allows it to close illegal pot shops Vancouver says a court decision has reaffirmed the city’s authority to shut down illegal marijuana dispensaries. In a news release, the city says the B.C. Supreme Court’s decision to order the closing of unlicensed retail shops also sets a precedent if illegal operators fight injunctions requiring them to close in the future. The city says it filed 53 injunctions against businesses that were operating outside its regulations, but only 28 stores participated in the legal test case after some closed down. Years before cannabis became legal, illegal marijuana-related businesses grew so the city introduced regulations and fees to control where medical pot dispensaries could operate. Injunctions were filed on May 31, 2016, against the businesses that didn’t have approval to operate but remained open after missing a deadline to close. The city says it has collected almost $3 million from more than 3,700 tickets that were issued against businesses operating outside its regulations. “This (court) decision reaffirms the city’s authority over land use and our municipal business licensing for cannabis retail, and confirms the regulatory regime introduced in 2015 was well within the city’s jurisdiction to establish,” Kaye Krishna, the city’s general manager, development, buildings and licensing, said in the news release.
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Funeral announcement South Asian Business Association of B.C. donates $1300 to Surrey Food Bank
South Asian Business Association of B.C. donated $1300 to Surrey Food Bank. SABA’s each director donated $100 for this good cause, during annual diner event.
ICBC video showing a man faking parking lot injury It’s a case of attempted fraud that ICBC wants you to see. In October 2017, ICBC received a call from a man saying he had fractured his foot after being pinned under a vehicle for 10 to 20 seconds in a Lower Mainland parking lot. Turns out, after ICBC received security footage of the incident, the man can be seen falling to the ground after a collision occurs and not pinned under the vehicle at all. A car can be seen rolling backward in the parking lot and striking another car that was driving forward. Joanna Linsangan, a spokesperson for ICBC, said this man also provided them a witness’ name and phone number but the security footage, found by a security guard, told a different story. “If the security guard had not gone back to look at the footage, to contact that driver, to share the video, then we would not have had this information,” Linsangan said. “If you see something, say something, because your
voice could be what we need to make sure a fraudster doesn’t get paid out.” Linsangan said last year, ICBC opened 16,000 claims that were flagged as potentially fraudulent claims and about 54 per cent of them had some element of fraud. This can include things like vehicle damage claims, injury claim or licensing fraud. Linsangan said an estimated 4,500 last year actually involved injury fraud. Newly released ICBC security footage reveals the extreme lengths people will go to to try and defraud the insurance corporation – and as Aaron McArthur reports, the scam is just one of thousands of attempts that likely cost ICBC hundreds of millions each year. “It happens enough that ICBC has found a need to increase the number of staff to look at these types of claims,” she added. “So we were at 60 and now we have 126 staff specifically looking at claims and other types of fraud that are happening within our company.”
Vancouver calls on province to withdraw tax on homes worth over $3 million Owners of properties worth $3 million and up converged on city hall Wednesday to protest what they call an unfair tax levied by the province. They were there to support a motion from Rebecca Bligh, a city councillor with the Non-Partisan Association. Bligh’s motion argued that a steep increase to the provincial portion of property tax for high-value homes amounts to an incursion on the city’s taxation powers, as well as being an unfair form of taxation. Homeowners affected by the province’s increased tax on homes worth over $3 million came to Vancouver city hall on Wednesday to support a motion that asks the province to withdraw the tax. Homeowners affected by the province’s increased tax on homes worth over $3 million came to Vancouver city hall on Wednesday to support a motion that asks the province to withdraw the tax. The motion called for the city to send a letter to the province asking for the tax to be withdrawn. It passed, with support from five NPA councillors and three Green councillors. The motion reignited a contentious conversation, divided by class and geography, about the tax, Vancouver’s inflated real-estate market and who is really struggling in the city. Following an extraordinary spike in land values in 2016, nearly all singlefamily homes on Vancouver’s west side are
now worth millions, with $3- to $6-million valuations common, reaching into double
With great sadness and heavy hearts, we announce that Mrs. Charanjit Kaur Johal passed away peacefully on December 12, 2018 at the age of 88. Mrs. Johal belonged to Village Salempur Masanda, Distt; Jalandhar. Charanjit is survived by her husband, daughter & grandchildren’s. Known to have a heart of gold, She will be missed dearly by her entire family,
her relatives, and any person that ever came to know her. Funeral services for Charanjit will be held at Riverside Funeral Home (7410 Hopcott Road, Delta, BC) on Tuesday, December 18th, 2018 at 1PM followed by prayer service at Gurdwara Sahib Brookside 8365 140 St, Surrey B C. For more information: 604-507-9159
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
A man who killed two Mac’s Edmonton man jailed for life for killing two, including South Asian store workers in December 2015 has been sentenced to life in Graesser decided Surveillance video prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. that consecutive shows clerk Ricky Laylin Delorme and two accomplices sentences would not robbed and shot Karanpal Bhangu and Cenabre opening the till have been appropriate at the request of a masked Ricky Cenabre three years ago. The given the killer’s gunman during a robbery clerks were working overnight shifts difficult upbringing at a Mac’s convenience alone at two Edmonton Mac’s stores. and Indigenous Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench store on Dec. 18, 2015. b a ck g rou n d. Justice Robert Graesser rejected the (Court of Queen’s Bench) Such a crushing The judge called Crown’s request to impose consecutive Laylin Delorme sentence, he said, sentences, which would have made the crimes “planned would remove Delorme wait 50 years to apply for parole. and deliberate” and refused to accept any incentive for rehabilitation. Delorme was convicted by a jury earlier Delorme’s explanation that he was “A prisoner should have some hope this year of two counts of first-degree murder. under the influence of drugs and alcohol that a sentence will end,” Graesser said. when he committed the offences. A relative of Delorme’s who was 13 years old Delorme, 27, showed no reaction in the “I reject drug and alcohol abuse as at the time of the shootings was convicted on prisoner’s box when the sentence was imposed. any excuse, ” Graesser said. “There was two counts of manslaughter. A third accused, The judge addressed some of Colton Steinhauer, is scheduled to go to trial minimal evidence of alcohol impairment his comments to Cenabre’s family. and no evidence of impairment by drugs. ” next year on two counts of first-degree murder. “This case has tragically impacted so many The judge described the excuse “These were cold, senseless killings,” people,” Graesser said. “I hope the Cenabre a self-serving attempt by Graesser said. “The victims had co- as family will not be too dismayed by the sentence.” operated fully. There was no need for there Delorme to shift some of the blame. The judge said he hoped the family Despite the nature of the crimes, to be any shootings, let alone killings.” may one day be able to forgive Delorme.
Canadian cities with highest hospitalization rates for opioid poisonings in 2017 Canada’s smaller communities are being hit hardest by the overdose crisis with hospitalization rates for opioid poisoning that are more than double those of larger cities, according to a new report. The analysis from the Canadian Institute for Health Information looked at opioid hospitalizations across the country in 2017 and found communities of 50,000 to 99,999 people had rates that were 2.5 times higher than cities with populations over 500,000. Smaller BC cities like Nanaimo, Prince George & Kelowna or in Ontario cities like Brantford & Belleville had the highest ageadjusted rates per 100,000 people, according to data broken down by census subdivision. When looking at the larger metropolitan data, Kelowna, Brantford and Thunder Bay had the highest rates per 100,000 people.
Kelowna, for example, has a hospitalization opioid overdose rate of 52.8 per 100,000 while Vancouver has a rate of 20.4 per 100,000 when adjusting for age. Opioid poisoning occurs when a wrong dosage is taken, it’s combined with another drug or alcohol, or if it was illegally obtained, according to CIHI researchers. The surge in overdose deaths nationally that has killed more than 9,000 since 2016 has largely been attributed to the rise of illicit fentanyl and other powerful synthetic opioids. Across Canada, the fastest-growing rates of hospitalizations due to opioid poisoning were seen among males age 25 to 44. Other findings from the analysis show the rate of hospitalizations for neonatal opioid withdrawal symptoms increased by 21 per cent between 2013 and 2017.
“But forgiveness must be earned and not just given because it’s requested,” he said. “Mr. Delorme has a minimum of 25 years to prove he’s worthy of some forgiveness.” Cenabre’s niece, Faith Alcazaren, said the family had already decided to accept whatever sentence the judge imposed. “Even with how many years he would stay in prison, that wouldn’t change the fact we have lost our family member,” she said. “But 25 years, even 100 years, is not enough.” Confrontation in courthouse Emotions boiled over in the courthouse lobby following the hearing, as members of Delorme’s family passed by Cenabre’s wife, niece and 18-year-old son. There was a scream, then Cenabre’s wife and niece were seen physically holding back the visibly upset teenager. Cenabre’s wife collapsed to the floor sobbing, as sheriffs intervened and tried to de-escalate the situation. “I’m so scared,” Alcazaren later told reporters. “These two guys went to us and then he said, ‘Get out from our country. You do not belong here. Or else something will happen.’ “
man
Two Kelowna women charged with hospice fraud facing additional charges Two Kelowna women charged with fraud and theft while employed at the Central Okanagan Hospice Association (COHA) made brief court appearances on Tuesday. Susan Steen, the former executive direction of COHA, is alleged to have stolen more than $100,000 from COHA between 2012 and 2016. Steen said that she suffers from a gambling problem. She has yet to enter a plea to the charges. Steen’s co-accused, Melanie Gray, was also in the court on Tuesday. Former office manager of COHA is alleged to have stolen $69,000 — also with COHA’s credit card. Melanie Gray is alleged of stealing $69,000
from Central Okanagan Hospice Association. Neither women showed up with a lawyer and are due back in Kelowna court in January. Steen is facing additional charges in Nanaimo, where she’s alleged to have stolen roughly $6,000 from the Nanaimo Community Hospice Society, where she was hired as executive director for six months after leaving Kelowna. These two women already charged with stealing $180K from Okanagan hospice The Nanaimo hospice says it was able to recoup $2,000 of the missing funds by garnishing Steen’s wages. “I kept gambling. I didn’t know what I was doing,” Steen said.
Public health officials across the Officials reviewing safer opioids after more than 2,000 killed in 6 months treatments people require. country are seriously considering Tam said clamping 2,000 lives in the first half of the year. Creating a safer opioid supply is “being increasing the supply of safer down on the marketCanada’s chief public health officer actively reviewed and discussed” with opioids to quell a crisis that newly released driven supply of illicit drugs won’t be easy, data show helped claim more than said Wednesday a toxic drug supply is provinces and territories, Dr. Theresa adding she also hopes Canadians come to a key part of Canada’s opioid epidemic. Tam said, and will require exploring what understand the seriousness of the problem.
Fentanyl found at a Delta high school Delta parents are being warned once again about the dangers of fentanyl, after fake Xanax pills brought to school by a student were found to contain fentanyl. According to a joint letter to parents from the Delta School District and Delta Police Department, a student brought pills to school that were purchased illicitly as Xanax, a prescription tranquilizer often used to treat anxiety that can be addictive when abused. The pills were confiscated, and found to contain fentanyl. The school district did not release which secondary school the drugs were found in or the date of the incident, but said the DPD is investigating. Each Delta high school will also be receiving a Narcan nasal spray kit in the next few days. “This is extremely concerning information and as such, we felt it was essential to share this with our parent and extended community,” Jen Hill, communications manager for the Delta School District, said in an email.
man – it is obvious that the cast was repeated by chance. The film industry, however, has been prone to repeat entire star-casts, not just star pairs, maybe for luck: a sequel of casting, so to speak? Here’s a look at the interesting cases. Amitabh Bachchan-Raakhee-Vinod Mehra A man for whom stars were just vehicles to tell real-life stories and would enact lifelike and not larger-than-life characters in his films
Katrina, Shah Rukh and Anushka’s new adventure
New film “Zero” repeats the principal leads of Yash Chopra’s “Jab Tak Hai Jaan” – Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, in a
second love triangle. With Salman Khan initially offered the role Shah Rukh has done now that of a vertically-challenged
– Hrishikesh Mukherjee – actually cast Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee and Vinod Mehra again after the 1979 success “Jurmana” in the 1982 “Bemisal.” Maybe the common producer (Debvesh Ghosh) wanted to cash in. But Mukherjee did not compromise, managed to get an interesting storyline with a slight difference – in “Bemisal” there were ‘two’ Amitabhs.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
HOROSCOPE
Dharmendra turns 83 As the actor turns 83 on 8 December, here’s a look at his fantastic journey. Dharmendra is often called the original He-Man of Bollywood. But the actor says he has never felt the trappings of an image and has tried to become someone new every time he’s seen on the big screen. “I have always broken my image every time I went on screen. I don’t believe I have an image,� he says. Dharmendra began his career playing a common man in films like Anpadh, Bandini, Anupama and Aaya Saawan Jhoom Ke. His smouldering good looks earned him the moniker - ‘Greek God’ of Bollywood. “I don’t know what it means to be a Greek god but people used to call me one. People have given me a lot of love but I never got high on it. The love has given me a strong foothold. And I try to maintain this love, I hope it never wears away,� said Dharmendra. In the 70s, he transitioned into playing the desi macho characters in films like Sholay and Dharam Veer, while playing comic roles in films
like Guddi, Chupke Chupke, Mera Gaon Mera Desh. In 1997, Dharmendra received e Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. While accepting the award from Dilip Kumar and his wife Saira Banu, Dharmendra became emotional and remarked that he had never won any Filmfare award in the Best Actor category despite having worked in so many successful films and nearly a hundred popular movies. Speaking on this occasion Dilip Kumar commented, “Whenever I get to meet with God Almighty, I will set before Him my only complaint - why did you not make me as handsome as Dharmendra?�. He experimented with film production; he launched both of his sons in films: Sunny Deol in Betaab (1983) and Bobby Deol in Barsaat (1995) as well as his nephew Abhay Deol in Socha Na Tha (2005). He was the presenter for his films like Satyakam (1969) and Kab Kyun Aur Kahan (1970). In one of her interviews, actress Preity Zinta has been quoted as saying that Dharmendra is her favourite actor.
Sanjay Dutt on shooting spree Sanjay Dutt will not be celebrating Christmas with his children and family because he is shooting for his period drama “Panipat.� Usually, the actor likes to spend important occasions like birthdays and festivals with wife Maanyaata and kids Shahraan and Iqra, but this year, Dutt will be giving the Christmas and New Year celebrations with his family a miss. The actor has committed 60 days to Ashutosh Gowariker’s film. Dutt has been extremely busy since a couple of months with multiple projects. The actor even returned home for Diwali only late at night. He has completed his South remake production “Prasthaanam’ in Lucknow—he plays the leader of a political party in Uttar Pradesh, and is working on Gowariker’s other project “Toolsidas Junior� and the multi-star “Kalank� simultaneously. Dutt is making news for his bald look and
beard and made an appearance in his latest avatar at the wedding reception of Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh recently. Earlier, the actor was also spotted on the sets of his new film “Shamshera.� He has an interesting line up of projects ahead with “Torbaaz� and “Sadak 2� also on the way. With seven films on hand, he must be the busiest star today! Sequel of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., was Lage Raho Munna Bhai released in late 2006. Dutt received a number of awards for his performance in the film, along with an award from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his work in the Munna bhai series. Media counted the character of Munna Bhai as one of top 20 fictional characters in Bollywood.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
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Bollywood
Actor Dilip Kumar turns 96 Actor Dilip Kumar celebrates his 96th birthday according to media reports the actor is going to celebrate his birthday with close friends and family. Dilip Kumar’s family friend Faisal Farooqui said in a recent media interaction that the actor has not celebrated his birthday for a long time, but this year Dilip Kumar is going to celebrate his 96th birthday. He also said that Dilip Kumar’s wife Saira Banu will host a get together inviting brother and sisters at their home. “He (Dilip Kumar) has not done that in a very long time and birthdays are occasions where the family gets together and some close friends get together. So, Saab’s brothers and sisters and Saira Banuji’s extended family will come and then my family and some close friends gather together,” media quoted Faisal Farooqui. In his recent interview, Faisal Farooqui also shared some updates about his health. He mentioned that the actor is mostly at his home and does not need any hospitalisation. “He is recuperating in such a way that he does not need any hospitalisation now. He is at
home and follows his diet, which is taken care of by Saira Banuji,” he said. On his 96th birthday, wishing Dilip Kumar Sahib a good health and happy birthday to you Dilip Kumar. Dilip Kumar was born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan to Ayesha Begum and father Lala Ghulam Sarwar Khan on December 11, 1922 in Peshawar. Dilip’s first film was Jwar Bhata in 1944. After few more films, it was Jugnu (1947), in which he starred alongwith Noor Jehan, that became his first major hit film at the box office. His next major hits were 1948 films Shaheed and Mela. He got his breakthrough in 1949 with Mehboob Khan’s Andaz, in which he starred alongside Raj Kapoor and Nargis. Shabnam also released that year was another box office hit. Dilip Kumar won nine Filmfare Awards and He is first recipient of Filmfare Best Actor Award (1954). Critics acclaimed Dilip as one of the greatest actors in the history of Indian cinema.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Press release
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Making life more affordable for you and your family By John Horgan, Premier British Columbia Too many people in B.C. have struggled to make ends meet and find a home they can afford. The holiday season often adds the financial strain of travel and entertaining, and combined with the high costs of rent, child care and other expenses, it can be overwhelming. Our government has been working hard to make life more affordable for all British Columbians – through the holiday season and throughout the year. The housing crisis was allowed to escalate for over a decade without government action. We’re taking strong steps to tackle it and deliver affordable housing for B.C. families. We’ve made the largest investment in affordable housing in B.C.’s history – more than $7 billion over 10 years. We’re working to curb
demand and bring in protections for renters and manufactured home owners. And we’re using tools to moderate the housing market, like the speculation and vacancy tax. Through the Building BC: Community Housing Fund, we are building 14,000 new affordable homes for low and middle-income individuals, seniors and families, which is our first step to build 114,000 homes for people over the next 10 years. To help renters, we are taking the recommendations of B.C.’s Rental Housing Task Force and cutting the annual allowable rent increase by 2%, while increasing funding to the Residential Tenancy Branch. We also closed the fixed-term loophole and the geographic loophole, which gives renters more protection from unfair evictions and rent increases. To care for kids and help lift families up, we created a child care fee reduction of up to $350
Op-Ed: Is it time for an external review of the Speaker? In the past two weeks, two senior officials with 30 years’ service have been suspended from their posts at the British Columbia Legislature at the initiative of the Speaker, and the normally low profile role of the Speaker of the Legislature has been mired in controversy. It has been noted that between elections the Speaker is accountable to no one unless he dies or resigns. Even the President of the USA can be removed when he or she is incapacitated or unable to serve, but the Speaker faces no such limits and our laws do not provide for his review or replacement. These dramatic events in the BC Legislature have led many of us to wonder – should the citizens of BC be able to hold the Speaker accountable? A fundamental aspect of our democracy is the idea of accountability. Parliaments developed to keep the Crown accountable to the people through the election of representatives. For many years this was enough. But as the role of government grew, parliaments created new offices to assist them in their responsibility to hold public administration to account. To cite just a few examples, Auditors General hold governments to account on financial matters; Ombuds offices hold governments to account on individual administrative issues; and advocates for children hold governments to account when government becomes the effective parent of children in need of care. In each case, these offices are – in turn – accountable to the legislatures that appoint them. And of course, members of the legislature are accountable to the citizens at every election. Some might ask “what of judges? – don’t they lack accountability?” While it is true that judicial independence is a fundamental part of our democracy, judges are accountable when their judgments are subject to appeal. And ultimately, even a judge can be removed from office in extraordinary circumstances that thankfully rarely arise. I raise the example of judges because it has been suggested – falsely in my view – that
the Speaker has a quasi-judicial role. But even if that were true, he must still be accountable. My point is that with the entire fabric democratic government being woven with accountability, it cannot be that the Speaker of the Legislature is accountable to no one. So what to do? The Speaker recently told off a reporter, saying that the media should do its due diligence. That is exactly what should occur. When due diligence is needed in areas where information is sensitive or confidential, we turn to trusted authorities. We ask them to review the circumstances and report not the facts and circumstances, but their conclusions on whether matters have been dealt with fairly or not. So let’s appoint a trusted person to review the circumstances to date and, if the facts warrant, reassure the public that appropriate decisions have been made. The public must have confidence in its democratic institutions. Let’s have someone do the due diligence suggested by the Speaker to reassure us that confidence in the operation of the Legislature is warranted. This person must be independent of the Legislature, the Speaker, government and any BC political party. What about former Governor General David Johnston or a former speaker of another parliament? They would be strong candidates for the role. Let them review all of the circumstances and report to us whether our institution has acted properly, and what improvements are needed to restore credibility. Our democracy depends upon public confidence in our institutions of governance. Our strength lies in our ability to constantly improve these institutions, rather than let them drift into controversy without any plan for improvement. The time has come for the Speaker to be accountable to the citizens of BC, just as every other institution has been for decades. Andrew Wilkinson BC Liberal Party Leader MLA, Vancouver-Quilchena
per month for eligible child care spaces. We also introduced the Affordable Child Care Benefit earlier this year, which is available to families with a yearly income of up to $110,000, and can save families up to $15,000
per year, per child. To make licensed child care more accessible, we invested $237 million into the creation of 22,000 new licensed child care spaces around the province.
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Vol. 9 No. 50
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Saturday - December 15, 2018
In BC’s rugged north as Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s $31 billion (US) liquefied natural gas project sparks an economic boom in the remote region. BC’s housing boom is set to shift to the BC’s North Coast, a sparsely populated region usually synonymous with untamed wilderness, black bears and glacial fjords — is set for a turnaround as Shell and its four partners ramp up activity on Canada’s largest infrastructure project ever, according to
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North of BC becoming real estate boom Bryan Yu, deputy chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union. Residential home prices in the North Coast are set to surge faster than any other region in the province through 2020 as the project in Kitimat prepares to employ as many as 7,500 people at its peak, according to forecasts from Yu. In contrast, prices in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland area — once one of the hottest housing markets in North America — will fall, keeping the overall
provincial median price flat. More broadly, the real estate slowdown in Greater Vancouver — the province’s largest metropolitan area — will dampen British Columbia’s overall prospects. The province’s annual economic growth will slow to a range of about 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent through 2020, down from 3.8 per cent in 2017, Central 1 said in a report Tuesday. That reflects a shift in fortunes. Three years ago when Vancouver’s economy was roaring
along as housing prices surged, the resourcedependent north was suffering a downturn. Lumber exports were falling, mining projects faced dismal commodity prices, and more than a dozen LNG projects were stalled amid a global gas glut. In addition to the LNG project announced last month, the North Coast region is also benefiting from firmer demand for wood products and a booming port in nearby Prince Rupert, according to Central 1.
2019 roperty assessment changes After years of dramatic increases in B.C.’s property assessments, this year they will likely be more moderate, with some Vancouver homes going down in value. That’s according to B.C. Assessment, which said Thursday that it is seeing signs of moderation as the real estate market softens in some areas of the province. The soon-to-be-released 2019 property assessments are based on what was happening in the real estate market as of July 1. Assessor Tina Ireland said changes in property assessments depend on where you live.
For example, she said assessed values for detached single-family homes in many areas of Metro Vancouver may soften, while other markets and areas of the province will see modest increases over last year’s values. B.C. Assessment says some Metro detached single-family homes were showing decreases in value of five to 10 per cent over last year,
including in areas of Vancouver, the North Shore, South Surrey, White Rock, South Delta and Richmond. The rest of the province can expect increases of five to 15 per cent for single-family homes. This includes the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, Okanagan and the north. In many parts of the central and northern Island, values increased closer to 20 per cent, the
agency said. In Kitimat, the agency added, the increases were even greater in response to activity within the resource sector. B.C. Assessment says condos increased with typical values of 10 to 20 per cent across most of the province. Vancouver, the North Shore and Burnaby increases were slightly less than this range while the eastern Fraser Valley increases may be higher in some cases. All B.C. homeowners should receive their annual property assessment notices in early January. B.C. Assessment will send out notification letters this month to property owners whose assessments are up more than the average change.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018 The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home supply is rising and reaching levels not seen in roughly four years, even as the average price inches up year-over-year. The board says the composite benchmark price for all homes was $1,062,100 in October -- up one per cent since October 2017, but down 3.3 per cent over the last three months. Sales of all types of homes -- detached, townhomes and condos -- in October fell 34.9 per cent compared with the same month last year, dropping 26.8 per cent below the 10year October sales average. Prices easing but Canada’s housing
Vancouver home sales drop below average last month market still ‘highly vulnerable’: CMHC Interest rates and anxiety on the rise in B.C. Meanwhile, nearly 4,900 new properties were listed for sale last month, up 7.4 per cent compared with October last year. Nearly 13,000 homes are listed in Metro Vancouver or 42.1 per cent more than in October 2017. Board president Phil Moore says the additional supply gives home buyers more choice and home sellers more competition. Detached home sales fell 32.2 per cent in October compared with the same month last year, while the benchmark
Real estate market expected to mederate over next 2 years
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the country’s real estate market is expected to moderate over the next two years as the growth in housing prices is expected to slow to more in line with economic fundamentals.In its 2018 housing market outlook released today, the national housing agency projects housing starts and sales are both expected to decline
price fell to $1,524,000 marking a 5.1 per cent drop year-overyear and 3.9 per cent fall over the last three months. Sales of townhomes declined 37.5 per cent and condos fell 35.7 per cent year-over-year. The benchmark price for townhomes rose 4.4 per cent from last year to $829,200, while condo prices jumped 5.8 per cent to $683,500. Over the past three months, townhome
in 2019 and 2020.It predicts housing starts for single and multi-unit starts will fall to between 193,700 and 204,500 in 2019, while sales are anticipated to be between 478,400 and 497,400 units. Prices are anticipated to range between $501,400 and $521,600. CMHC says it expects economic indicators
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prices fell 2.8 per cent and condo prices dropped 3.1. The threemonth price drop “is providing a little relief for those looking to buy compared to the all-time highs we’ve experienced over the last year,” says Moore.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
37% of Metro Vancouverites think real estate market is ‘extremely corrupt’: report A new report paints a grim picture of how Metro Vancouverites perceive the region’s real estate market. The report by non-profit Transparency International Canada, based on an online survey of residents of B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan in August 2018, describes Western Canadians’ views and perceptions on corruption in Canada. A disturbing signal’: AG laments collapse of high-profile probe into B.C. money laundering According to the survey, 37 per cent of respondents in Metro Vancouver described the real estate sector as “extremely corrupt,” while only 15 per cent of Western Canadians outside the Vancouver area felt this way. In general, Western Canadians perceived federal political parties as the institution most affected by corruption. But for the Vancouver area — where housing affordability has become the most important local political issue — the report highlighted the real estate industry as a particular cause for concern. Reports by independent commissioner Peter German and the media have revealed how easy it is to launder money in the region and how this laundered money can end up in other sectors, specifically real estate. From loan sharks to organized crime: author of money-laundering report explains what he uncovered At a keynote speech Thursday in Vancouver for Transparency International Canada, B.C. Attorney General David Eby acknowledged the situation.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
Natural gas consumers will pay more from January Natural gas customers in BC will pay more starting from January 1, 2019. FortisBC says residential customers on the Mainland and Vancouver Island will pay nine per cent more a year under new interim rates approved by the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC). That amounts to approximately $68 more a year for the average annual usage of 90 gigajoules. But that’s worrying for farmers like Tamara Jansen, who use far more natural gas In their businesses and whose business has already taken a hit because of the pipeline rupture earlier this year. Jansen’s business uses roughly 800 gigajoules a day and even a slight increase, she
says, can result in astronomical cost increases. Tamara Jansen, co-owner of Darvonda Nurseries, is worried about FortisBC’s natural gas rate hikes. Her business has already been hit hard by the pipeline rupture earlier this year. “Because we’re on the spot market we were averaging about $2.50 a gigajoule when it’s been average. Now it’s maybe $10, $11 a gigajoule … so us for instance if we have a day that normally cost us $2,000 to heat the greenhouse, suddenly it goes up to $20,000 dollars.” Jansen says she’s not alone either. Many of her colleagues are feeling the effects as well “Everybody’s changing their crop timings and so forth because they have to do something.
‘It is fair to say there are some worries’:
Jagmeet Singh prepares for challenging 2019 After a year as leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh is facing his biggest political fight: trying to secure a seat in Parliament amid anemic fundraising, polls that show his party stuck in third place, and a growing list of veteran members of Parliament who will sit the next election out. A party leader who can’t win a seat customarily steps aside, though it hasn’t happened in a byelection since the 1940s. Singh won’t say what he’ll do if he loses the
byelection in British Columbia’s Burnaby South expected in February. “I am confident that we will win,” Singh said in an interview on Monday. “I am confident that our message and the solutions that we’re proposing will connect to people.” Singh, a seatless leader since October 2017, said it’s “fair to say” some in the New Democratic Party have worries about its prospects. He said he tells New Democrats to remember their constituents. “I remind our team that we are there fighting for those folks to make their lives better and they count on us,” he said. “I think there are some worries around some of the difficulties we’ve had over the past two years and the fact those two years have put us in a bit of a tough position.” Singh’s confidence isn’t shared universally by current MPs and longtime members, however. Several privately grumble about Singh’s leadership, party fundraising and the beleaguered state of the party that’s left many wondering whether they will even put their own names on ballots in 2019. The remaining MPs who won seats in Quebec in the NDP’s “orange wave”of 2011 -- there were 59 of them after that breakthrough election and only 16 after the 2015 vote -- are particularly concerned. In one Quebec byelection earlier this year, the NDP placed fourth in a riding it won in 2011 and then lost narrowly in 2015. Over the weekend, NDP MP Fin Donnelly joined a growing list of incumbents who will not seek re-election in 2019.
Pakistani woman says working with refugees for UN entitles her to fast-tracked Canadian citizenship A Pakistani woman wants the federal government to fast-track her citizenship application under an obscure provision of the law that rewards people who provide “services of an exceptional value to Canada.” In the past, such accommodations have been granted to foreign athletes so they can compete for Canada at the Olympic Games. But in this instance, Bushra Halepota, who has permanent resident status in Canada, says her work with the United Nations to help refugees and efforts to further global peace deserve special consideration. Halepota’s application was initially rejected by a senior representative of Ahmed Hussen, the federal immigration minister. The representative found that while Halepota’s work was “commendable” and “noble,” awarding her citizenship would invite applications from any person who worked for a humanitarian organization. But in a decision last week, a Federal Court judge sent the case back for reconsideration after finding that Halepota’s claim was not decided on its merits. “I strongly believe that Ms. Halepota’s work for the (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) should be considered as exceptional value to Canada because her work is consistent with the Canadian mandate to save lives, reduce suffering and help those affected by conflicts,” her Toronto lawyer, Nilofar Ahmadi, told the National Post in an email.
LOCAL / NATIONAL
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Calgary’s former transportation chief pocketed nearly $500,000 The city’s former transportation boss received a payout of $471,596 following an abrupt departure from the job one year ago. The compensation package — equivalent to 16 months of salary, benefits and pension contributions — is revealed in previously confidential documents obtained by Postmedia surrounding the settlement reached between Mac Logan and city management. In a letter outlining terms of the settlement, the city also agreed to use specific language to describe Logan’s departure. City manager Jeff Fielding agreed to say he and Logan had “reached a mutual decision that he resign from his employment” as the general manager of transportation. In exchange, Logan agreed he wouldn’t take further legal action against the city or disclose the terms of his release agreement. A civil engineer by training, Logan started with the city in 1995. He became general manager of transportation in March 2010, and was earning an annual salary of $321,500 by the time of his departure. He oversaw a decade of major transportation infrastructure projects, including the airport tunnel and ring road construction; he was also the architect behind Calgary’s key transit strategy, RouteAhead, which laid the groundwork for the Green Line and cycle track network. In the weeks before his resignation,
Logan was on leave from his job just as work was ramping up on the multibillion-dollar Green Line project. By the time the new city council was sworn into office in October 2017, some council members were aware that Logan was no longer acting as head of transportation, though they didn’t know why. The news would become public when, prompted by a question from Coun. Jeromy Farkas, Fielding finally announced in council chambers on Dec. 18 that Logan had resigned from his post. In fact, city staff were aware much earlier that Logan’s departure was official. Correspondence between a city lawyer and senior managers suggest matters came to a head at the end of November. “I spoke to (Mac Logan) this morning and extended the deadline to December 5th. I also gave him a heads up that the media is asking questions. He understands that we are trying to keep the matter confidential and he intends to do the same,” a city lawyer wrote on Nov. 28. Lawyers for both sides sat down Dec. 6 to hash out an agreement. By late in the afternoon, the city lawyer fired off an email to her boss: Reached at his home last week, Logan declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of his agreement with the city. The former city executive incorporated his own consulting firm last December, a few days after his resignation became official.
25 men charged in human trafficking investigation Police have charged 25 men with obtaining sexual services following a six week investigation into human trafficking in London, Woodstock, St. Thomas and Strathroy. About 15 women and girls were contacted by London Police and they were able to help at least two of them to escape. “Many of the women are living in fear,” says
Detective David Ellyatt. “What we’re trying to do is build trust with them, so that they know they’ll be heard, that they’ll be listened to, that they will be believed.” While most were from the London Ontario area, some came from as far away as the Toronto, Quebec and even Hong Kong.
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More than two years later, no Canadian Panama Papers charges have been filed Two and a half years after the landmark Panama Papers leak of offshore financial information, the Canada Revenue Agency has yet to charge or convict anyone with offshore tax evasion. “To date, no Canadian taxpayer or company has been charged with an offence as a result of information received from the Panama or Paradise Paper affairs,” said Dany Morin, spokesman for the department. While the CRA currently has 50 “mature” investigations into offshore tax evasion, it appears that few of them are related to the Panama Papers, a massive leak of confidential offshore financial
information that rocked the world and led to the resignations of top government officials in a number of countries. “In relation to the Panama and Paradise Papers specifically, several criminal investigations are ongoing,” wrote Morin. “As with any criminal investigation undertaken by law enforcement bodies, including the CRA, these can be complex and require months or years to complete.” CRA deploys new weapons against tax evasion: Freezing assets, seizing property Morin refused to state exactly how many ongoing investigations are related to the Panama or Paradise papers.
Police say they have busted gun-manufacturing ring in the Toronto area Police in the Greater Toronto Area say they have dismantled a major weapons trafficking operation responsible for manufacturing and selling at least 120 untraceable guns. Twenty-three people are facing 156 charges in connection with an alleged crime ring that built and sold what are known as ghost guns – firearms without a serial number or other identifying markers. The traffickers allegedly assembled legally purchased gun components into fully functional, illegal handguns, exploiting a grey area in national gun regulations that allows for the unchecked sale of certain firearms components. “These are legally obtained parts that you can legally buy being put together to create these untraceable handguns,”
said Superintendent Bryan MacKillop, director of the Ontario Provincial Police Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, which led the joint investigation. The joint investigation officially launched this year, but had its origins in 2016, when ghost guns began turning up on Toronto streets, a trend that soon spread across the region. In April, investigators initiated Project Renner, led by the OPP, with participation from police in Toronto, Hamilton, Barrie and the regions of Halton, Durham, Peel, London and Niagara. Since then, the project team has seized 14 handguns, six long-guns and an array of prohibited accessories, including silencers, grenades, a stun gun and body armour.
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Facts about the Senate’s beautiful new home for the next decade Canada’s senators took possession of their new chamber Thursday, a refurbished train station with ties to the First World War, constitutional talks and the King of Rock and Roll. It took six years and $219 million to convert the building, which will be home to the Senate for at least a decade while Centre Block is gutted and refurbished. In accepting the newly renamed Senate of Canada Building, Speaker George Furey said it was appropriate that a train station should serve as Parliament’s Upper Chamber. The railroad was essential for Confederation by spreading economic wealth, while the Senate ensured Canada’s regional and minority interests were protected. “Within these walls we will continue to debate issues that reflect the challenges of our time … a forward-looking institution
with the interest of future generations always uppermost in our minds,” Furey said. The century-old building began life as Ottawa’s Union Station, linked by underground tunnel to the Château Laurier that opened at the same time across Rideau Street. When the trains stopped arriving in 1966 (a few years after Elvis Presley alighted to play a 1957 concert at the old Ottawa Auditorium), the building was converted to the Government Conference Centre. Diamond Schmitt Architects of Toronto and KWC Architects of Ottawa oversaw the project, which involved adding a floor inside the cavernous main hall that increased floor space by 40 per cent. The building also received a seismic upgrade and new mechanical systems to replace its existing services which had fallen into disrepair.
Liberals’ election reform bill becomes law on last day of parliamentary sitting After receiving royal assent today — the final day of the current parliamentary sitting before the Christmas break — the Liberal government’s electoral reform bill, C-76, is now law. The Trudeau government tabled C-76 last year. It limits the length of federal election campaigns, restricts the amount of spending allowed in the period immediately before a campaign, works to prevent foreign interference and introduces new rules to regulate third-party political activity. On third parties, the bill would require them to use a dedicated Canadian bank account for payment of election-related spending. It also limits their spending on advertising, surveys and other election-related activities to $1 million in the two months before an election is called, and to $500,000 during the campaign. Elections watchdog could use new powers to tackle old cases — but not ‘robocalls’ Commissioner of Elections Yves Côté told CBC in October that Parliament needed to adopt C-76 by December to give him powers to fight foreign interference and
social media abuse in the coming federal election, scheduled for October 2019. “We have reached a critical moment now and, to me, I would say if this bill is not passed by December, we’re going to be in a very, very difficult situation,” he said. Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault also called for C-76 to be adopted in short order to give him time to implement it during the next election. Other bills that were given royal assent today include C-21, introduced by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale more than two years ago. The bill would implement an “entry/ exit program” to keep track of when individual Canadians enter and leave the country — information that wasn’t always collected in the past. Bill C-47, the Act to Amend the Export and Import Permits Act, was also given royal assent. The act enables Canada to join the international Arms Trade Treaty — something the Liberals promised they would do during the 2015 election campaign.
Canada stokes concerns with decision to accept Alipay credit reports on visa applications Canada’s immigration ministry now accepts credit reports produced by a Chinese mobile app as proof that Chinese citizens applying for travel visas are financially stable — a seemingly benign gesture aimed at accommodating tourists that is instead raising concerns with some scholars studying the rise of a socalled social credit system in China. The mobile app Alipay, run by the financial wing of the Chinese retailing behemoth Alibaba, has become a major method of payment in China’s largely cashless society, with 900 million users globally. It’s somewhat akin to other mobile payment apps — Google or Apple Pay — though it also offers an opt-in credit ranking system. That system, Sesame Credit, draws from a number of loosely defined sources that extend deeper into personal data than typical
North American credit ratings, looking at a user’s professional and educational background, the kind of products they buy, and how they interact with other Alipay users. The app generates a score between 350 and 950, doling out privileges to highranking users, such as the ability to rent a bike or book a hotel without a deposit. That methodology has come under scrutiny amid concerns about how it could intersect with China’s professed plans to implement a system of “social credit” that would essentially monitor the trustworthiness and political conformity of its citizens. Sesame Credit strongly denies any ties to the burgeoning state system, saying in a statement that it is independent and “does not share users’ scores or underlying data with any third party, including the government, without the user’s prior consent.”
PM Trudeau names four new senators — including a failed Liberal candidate Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s push to reconstitute the Senate and stack its benches with Independent senators continued apace today as he named four more people to the Senate — filling all the remaining vacancies in the Red Chamber. But despite his promise of a nonpartisan appointments process, two of the senators named Wednesday have Liberal backgrounds. One actually ran as a Liberal, and lost, in the 2011 federal election. Another is a former Liberal premier. The Senate has been without a full complement of 105 members for more than eight years, in part because former prime minister Stephen Harper refused to appoint new senators during the expenses scandal. Trudeau, meanwhile, has relied on an independent advisory board process that has been moving slowly. In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office named the four new Senate appointments: former Liberal Yukon premier Pat Duncan; Margaret Anderson, an Indigenous public servant from the Northwest Territories; Nova Scotia mental health expert Stanley Kutcher; and celebrated Jamaica-born, Ontariobased neonatologist Rosemary Moodie. Kutcher stood as the Liberal
candidate in the riding of Halifax but lost to the NDP candidate, Megan Leslie. “These four new independent senators bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience that will greatly benefit Parliament and all of Canada. They know what it means to serve and have dedicated their careers to making a difference in the lives of others. I look forward to working with them on issues that matter most to Canadians,” Trudeau said in a statement. After these appointments, Trudeau will have named nearly half — 49 out of 105 — of all sitting senators. The numbers of women and selfidentified Indigenous senators also have climbed considerably under Trudeau. Women now represent 47 per cent of the chamber. The number of Indigenous senators has doubled and stands at 10. Powerful Senate committee wants to meet in secret more often Senators are being lobbied more than ever — and some are feeling overwhelmed As has been standard practice of late, the Trudeau appointees are expected to sit as non-affiliated, or independent, members of the Senate and not as members of one of the party caucuses.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
MPs ‘very nervous’ about Canadian election meddling as final report on Facebook data breach released Members of parliament investigating Facebook’s role in a high-profile data breach encountered what one member described as a “very dark and large and bizarre world” of electoral chicanery that was beyond their most dismal expectations as they investigated an incident that saw the data of 600,000 Canadians improperly shared. “I’m very nervous about Canada’s electoral system heading into 2019,” said NDP MP Charlie Angus, at a press conference on Tuesday. “The kind of political hijinks we saw in 2015 and 2011 will look like stagecoach robberies compared to what’s going to happen in 2019.” Angus said there’s a naïveté in Canada about the “very dark” world that is currently engaged in a “data arms race.” With the goal of avoiding the hijinks described by Angus, MPs from all three major parties gathered Tuesday to release their final report into a data breach that affected about 87 million Facebook users worldwide, who had their data harvested by
a company called Cambridge Analytica and used for political ends. With the United States looking into foreign interference in its 2016 presidential election and Facebook facing scrutiny over how its platform can be manipulated, the members of the House of Commons ethics committee recommended some big changes for social media platforms. Their report urges the government to require that social media platforms create a searchable and “userfriendly” database to allow users to see who is buying political ads and whom they are targeting. The report also recommended “algorithmic transparency” that would allow regulators to audit the code beneath features like the Facebook news feed. Another recommendation called for a requirement for social media platforms to remove illegal content quickly or face “monetary sanctions commensurate with the dominance of the social platform.”
Quebec to receive $1.4-billion equalization boost while oil-producing provinces face deficits Quebec will receive $13.1-billion in equalization payments next year – a $1.4-billion increase – while Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador continue to be left out even though Canada’s oil-producing provinces are facing deficits and hard times. The three energy-producing provinces petitioned Ottawa last year to rework the federal transfer formula but Finance Minister Bill Morneau resisted and locked in the existing rules for five years. The Finance Department released the federal transfer figures for the 2019-20 fiscal year on Sunday evening just as Mr. Morneau prepared to host his provincial and territorial colleagues for dinner and then a day of meetings on Monday in Ottawa. The equalization system is part of the
Canadian Constitution and is aimed at ensuring provinces can provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation. But the formula’s details are highly complex and have been revised over time. It is a frequent source of tension between the “have” provinces and the “have not” provinces that receive the payments. Four other provinces will receive equalization payments next year, including $2.3-billion to Manitoba, $2-billion each for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and $419-million for Prince Edward Island. The governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador – where government finances are heavily influenced by the state of the energy sector – are all running budget deficits.
Federal Conservatives would win majority if election held today: Forum poll The federal Conservative party would win a majority is an election was held today, a new poll shows. In a recent random sampling, 43% said they would vote conservative, while 34% would cast a Liberal ballot. “The Conservatives have a strong and steady lead over the Liberals as we go into the New Year,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research, which conducted the survey. “With more than half of the NDP, BQ (Bloc Quebecois) and Green voters believing that Canada is better off now than it was four years ago, it will be imperative for (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau’s Liberals to capture uncommitted voters from those parties in
order to have a chance at winning the election over (Andrew) Scheer’s Conservatives. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at the Fortune Global Forum in Toronto on Monday, October 15, 2018. Favouring the Conservatives is the latest results finding that 54% of respondents disapprove of the job Trudeau is doing, which include a number of unpopular gaffes. The PM was recently criticized for tweeting to a late night TV celebrity that Canada would donate $50 millions to an education charity the host was involved in. Critics said Trudeau was trying to impress a celebrity.
CRA deploys new weapons against tax evasion: Freezing assets, seizing property Canada Revenue Agency is using a new tool in its battle against tax evasion — one that experts say could radically change the way it pursues tax cheats. For the first time, the agency has used proceeds-of-crime provisions in the law to freeze the assets of individuals charged with tax evasion. Up to now, those provisions have been used only in cases involving suspected terrorist financing or money laundering. “That is a tool that we have not used in the past,” said Stéphane Bonin of CRA’s criminal investigations division. “I can say that this is indeed the first time, but I can promise you that this is not the last
time that we [will use] those provisions of the Criminal Code to restrain or seize assets that tax evaders have acquired through their illegal behaviours.” Marc Tassé, a professor with the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management, said CRA’s decision to use proceeds-of-crime powers to go after tax dodgers will send a message. “People who might have done some tax evasion already will see it as a game-changer,” he said. University of Ottawa professor Marc Tassé says using proceeds of crime provisions in cases of alleged tax evasion is a ‘game-changer.’
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BJP’s poll performance not discussed at its party meeting The BJP parliamentary party on Thursday paid respects to late leaders, former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Union Minister Ananth Kumar and Begusarai MP Bhola Singh. However, according to leaders who participated in the meeting addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, no reference was made to the party’s dismal performance in the recent Assembly elections. Meanwhile, BJP national office-bearers will meet at 5 pm on Thursday at the BJP headquarters here.
Kamal Nath is Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Congress tweets
Kamal Nath is the new chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, the Congress tweeted from its official handle. “An era of change is upon MP,” the Congress tweeted. “Our best wishes to Shri @OfficeOfKNath for being elected CM of Madhya Pradesh,” the tweet said. The announcement comes after suspense throughout the day over who would become the chief minister of the state. The Congress is yet to announce who will become the chief ministers of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot has an edge over Sachin Pilot to be chief minister Rajasthan, sources have told NDTV. Earlier today, top Congress leaders from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh went into a huddle with Congress president Party leaders, who insist that the meeting Rahul Gandhi to discuss who will be chief was planned much before the results, ministers for the two states. At the Congress’ assert that organisational matters would be legislature party meeting yesterday, MLAs discussed. from both states passed an order saying the
India’s economy is an ‘elephant that is starting to run’, according to the IMF How do you supercharge one of the fastestgrowing economies in the world? India – heralded by the International Monetary Fund as an “elephant starting to run” – now makes up 15% of global growth, fueled by reforms, foreign investment and strong domestic demand. And it’s set to pass Japan and Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030, according to estimates from HSBC. Even so, the nation faces risks from international trade wars and high oil prices. And the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2018 shows scope for further reform: while India ranks 58th out of 140 in the overall index, it’s behind China and
Russia, and slips to 75th when assessed for labour-market efficiency. “India’s economy has enormous potential,” Shilan Shah, a senior economist at Capital Economics told the World Economic Forum in an interview. “Over the longer term the challenges are very much on the reform front, the labour market is still very dysfunctional and there hasn’t been much evidence that the government wants to tackle that.” To spur the economy, Narendra Modi’s government has already reformed monetary policy, introduced a new banking code, as well as a goods and services tax to bolster internal trade, and taken steps to improve the business climate.
Kamal Nath emerges new CM of Madhya Pradesh
final decision will be that of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. The BJP too has arranged a marathon 7-hour meeting today where the results of the recently held assembly elections would be analysed. BJP chief Amit Shah has reportedly asked for a detailed report from each district of each states.
Isha Ambani, daughter of India’s richest man gets married in 16th century Indian palace with Clinton & Beyonce in attendance In a season of big Indian weddings, the Wednesday marriage of the scions of two billionaire families might be the biggest of them all. The bride, Isha Ambani, is the Ivy Leagueeducated daughter of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, thought to be India’s richest man. Forbes estimates his net worth at over $43 billion. The groom, Anand Piramal, is the relative pauper. His father, industrialist Ajay Piramal, is thought to be worth $10 billion. The wedding is being held in Mumbai on Wednesday but festivities began weeks ago, starting in September with an engagement party at a lakeside Italian palace. Over the weekend, thousands attended pre-wedding parties at a 16th century palace
in the Indian desert city of Udaipur, where videos shot by partiers showed Hillary Clinton dancing with Shah Rukh Khan, one of India’s biggest movie stars, as former Secretary of State John Kerry danced just a few feet away. “Beyonce Lights Up Udaipur,” the Times of India shouted in a Tuesday headline. In this Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018 file photo, singer Beyonce arrives to perform at the wedding of Isha Ambani, the daughter of India’s richest mogul, and Anand Piramal, the son of one of India’s biggest industrialists, at the airport in Udaipur, India.
Governor Central Bank of India resigns India’s central bank governor Urjit Patel has resigned from his post citing “personal reasons”. His resignation comes amid reports of a rift between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. This marks a rare case of a serving governor leaving his job midway through his three-year term. Correspondents say the move is likely to undermine confidence in the economy and cause the rupee to fall. Although India’s $2.6tn (€2.3tn; £2tn) economy has recently been boosted by a strong performance in consumer spending
and manufacturing, the rupee has already fallen significantly against the surging dollar so far this year, private investment remains slack and there are doubts on whether the economy will accelerate further, says the BBC’s Soutik Biswas in Delhi. India will vote in a general election in the first half of next year, with polls due by May. Why is India at war with its central bank? In a statement announcing his resignation, Mr Patel thanked his staff and officers, calling them the reason for the “bank’s considerable accomplishments in recent years”.
An Indian electric vehicle pioneer is betting big on E-Rickshaws It’s difficult to make a sales pitch for an electric personal vehicle (EV) in India. So Mahindra Electric, one of the early movers in India’s EV space, is placing its bets on electric three-wheelers. On Dec.12, the company said that by March 2019 it will supply 1,000 e-rickshaws to SmartE, a Gurugrambased electric three-wheeler aggregator. Three-wheelers have always been a popular mode of public transport in India, and Mahindra is the first major auto player to enter the electric three-wheeler segment. Last month, Mahindra Electric, a division of the
Indian retail-to-automobile conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra, launched two models of e-rickshaws—the Treo and Treo Yaari. “The sale of personal vehicles is pretty low, particularly four-wheelers,” said Mahesh Babu, CEO of Mahindra Electric. About 2,000 of the company’s electric four-wheelers, which include brands like e2oPlus and eVerito, run as cabs, he said. He added that most of the sales in the last two years have been to commercial fleet operators like Ola, Uber, and car rental company Zoomcar.
PUNJAB
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Talks with CM Amarinder Singh “cordial” says Navjot Sidhu Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu called on Chief Minister Amarinder Singh at his residence and held “cordial talks”. The meeting follows demands for Mr Sidhu’s resignation by his cabinet colleagues after he had said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi was his “captain” while Amarinder Singh was an “Army captain”. He made the remarks when asked by the media why he attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor in Pakistan despite the chief minister’s disapproval. “The talks between us were cordial,” Mr Sidhu told reporters after visiting the chief minister. Without giving out further details, Mr Sidhu said they spoke about many other things and that CM Amarinder’s health was better now. The chief minister was suffering from a viral fever.
Bank robbery in Amritsar Four persons, equipped with countrymade pistols, robbed a branch of the Axis Bank at Saido Lahal village in Khujala falling under the Tarsikka police station in broad daylight here on Wednesday. Before fleeing they took away the digital video recorder of the CCTV cameras with them. As per information, one of the accused entered the bank as customer. Later, three of his accomplices barged into the bank and took all the staff hostage. They reportedly decamped with Rs 11.54 lakh while the police authorities pegged the figure at Rs 10 lakh. They collected money from the cash counter and strong room. Senior police officials led by SSP Parampal Singh reached the spot and started investigations. “The four accused came in an i20 car while their fifth accomplice was on a bike and keeping a watch outside the bank.
Clerk arrested for fraud Malout, Sadar police arrested a clerk of streasury office, Malout for allegedly involed in fraud of more than Rs 14 lakh by tampering with revenue stamp documents. Accused Sakattar Singh arrested on complaint filed by the District Treasury Officer, Muktsar. A case has been registered under Sections 409, 420, 465, 466, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act after conducting a probe. Narinder Singh, District Treasury Officer, Muktsar, however, refused to give any details. He simply said, “The orders in this regard had come from the head office.” Meanwhile, sources said the fraud had come to light when some staff from other station was sent to the Malout office. “Not just some stamp documents were missing, but fake challans prepared by the clerk were also found,” they claimed. Earlier this year, Excise and Taxation Department officials had unearthed a fraud of more than Rs 27 lakh of special development fund that liquor contractors of Muktsar district were supposed to deposit with the treasury office. The fraud was allegedly committed during the last financial year, but it came to light when officials audited the records. It was found that a liquor firm had submitted fake bank receipts of Rs 27,05,400. Officials investigated the matter and issued a notice to the liquor firm.
“The love and affection which I got from the CM after meeting him is indicative of the fact that the whole issue had been blown out of proportion,” he said, adding that “the CM did not say anything to me in this respect (controversy)... many times certain things are misinterpreted,” Mr Sidhu said. This was Mr Sidhu’s first meeting with Amarinder Singh after a controversy erupted over his remarks. Mr Sidhu, however, had later described Amarinder Singh as a “fatherly figure” and had said he will sort out the issue with him. “You don’t wash dirty linen in public. He (Amarinder Singh) is a fatherly figure. I love him. I respect him. I will sort it out myself,” Sidhu had told reporters during poll campaigning in Rajasthan.
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Supreme Court extends tenures of Director General Police Punjab & Haryana till January 31 The Supreme Court allowed Director General of Police Punjab, Suresh Arora and BS Sandhu, Haryana to continue offices till January 31. Both DGPs were due to retire in September but governments of Punjab and Haryana given them three-month extension to their respective police duties till December 31. A Bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi passed the interim order on applications filed by the two states seeking modification of the SC order making it must for states and UTs to take the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) assistance in shortlisting names of senior IPS officers for selection of DGP. Punjab and Haryana have enacted their own laws for appointment of DGPs. While giving one-month extension to the two DGPs, the top court posted the matter for hearing on January 8.
The top court had in 2006 issued a series of directions, including a fixed tenure of two years for police chiefs, setting up of a state security commission to insulate police force from political influence and separating law and order duty from investigation. On July 3 this year, it further directed all states and UTs not to appoint any police officer as acting DGP and issued certain other directions on police reforms to check favouritism and nepotism in appointments after it was pointed out that many states were appointing acting DGPs and then making them permanent just before their superannuation to extend them the benefit of an additional two-year tenure. According to the July order, the states were required to send a list of senior police officers to the UPSC at least three months prior to the retirement of the incumbent. The UPSC would form a panel and inform the state concern.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
Namma Metro spends Rs 50 lakh per month to pick & drop ‘babus’ (bosses) workers union alleges Rs 40 crore scam The Bangalore Metro Rail Employees Union has alleged that Rs 40 core of Namma Metro is getting lost due to discrepancies in management, financial irregularities and special treatment to contract employees, Economic Times has reported. A cause of huge inconvenience for the riders, the union had struck work for seven hours last year in protest. “Namma Metro need not wait for ridership to touch five lakh a day to break even. It can report a profit if the management takes the initiative to fix a few anomalies,” said Surya Narayana Murthy, vice-president of the union and former employee of Namma Metro. Further, he suspects a scam in payment of monthly bills for private cab companies which pick and drop officials for on-site inspection. “For years, the BMRCL has been spending
Rs 50 lakh a month towards payment to the cab agencies. How could the monthly bill be so huge when there are only 50-odd siteofficials?” questioned the vice president. Murthy cites data from documents obtained through RTI, which show the can rental costs at a monthly-average of around Rs 50 lakh. Namma metro has 1,230 regular employees working as loco pilots, station managers and more while other works such as construction and housekeeping are outsourced. ‘Why does Namma Metro hire 769 contract employees?’, questioned Murthy. BMRCL has hired 500 contract employees without requirement likely with irregularities in requirement process, alleged Murthy. Also, promotion of employees are also not structured, with some employees are promoted with an exorbitant hike in pay.
India expected to retain top spot in remittances with $80 billion in 2018: World Bank India is expected to receive a total remittance of $80 billion in 2018, said the latest edition of the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief, released on Saturday. “Among major remittance recipients, India retains its top spot, with remittances expected to total $80 billion this year, followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico and the Philippines ($34 billion each), and Egypt ($26 billion),” the brief said. “As global growth is projected to moderate, future remittances to low and middle-income
countries are expected to grow moderately by 4 per cent to reach $549 billion in 2019. Global remittances are expected to grow 3.7 per cent to $715 billion in 2019.” According to the brief, remittance flows rose in all regions and was driven by a stronger economy and employment situation in the US and a rebound in outward flows from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Russian Federation.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya to be extradited to India, UK court rules The ‘King of Good Times’ Vijay Mallya will be extradited to India to face the charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crore. The Fate of the fugitive tycoon, who has been wanted in India since 2016 was decided by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday. Chief Magistrate Judge Emma Arbuthnot has found prima facie a case against Vijay Mallya for fraud, conspiracy and money
laundering and referred the matter of his extradition to the Secretary of State of UK, Sajid Javid for passing an order on the verdict. The decision has come as a major boost Indian investigating agencies, Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate that have been probing Mallya’s case. While Vijay Mallya still seems to have hope in getting out of the situation, Indian authorities are eagerly awaiting his return to India.
Uday Kotak now says demonetisation was poorly executed The outcome of the controversial demonetisation drive would have been “significantly better” if “simple things” like introducing Rs 2,000 currency notes were avoided, banker Uday Kotak has said. The executive vice-chairman and managing director of the fourth largest private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank has also said small businesses are in a difficult situation at present and has welcomed the government focus to revive the sector. “I think we would
have had significantly better outcomes, if we had just thought about simple things. If you are taking out Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, why would you introduce Rs 2,000 notes? “ Kotak asked while speaking at former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian’s book launch here over the weekend. Kotak said as part of the “execution” strategy, it was essential to ensure larger quantum of notes of the right denomination were made available.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
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Saturday, December 15, 2018 Nepal bans use of India’s Rs 2,000, Rs 500, Rs 200 notes
US blacklists 10 countries, including China & Pakistan for religious freedom violations US on Tuesday said it has added 10 countries, including China and Pakistan, to its blacklist of nations that violate religious freedom. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the countries include Iran, North Korea, Eritrea, Mynamar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, China & Pakistan were designated as “Countries for Particular Concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. “In far too many places across the globe, individuals continue to face harassment, arrests, or even death for simply living their lives in accordance with their beliefs,” Pompeo said in a statement. “The United States will not stand by as spectators in the face of such oppression. Protecting and promoting international
The Nepal government has declared the use of Indian currency notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 200 denominations illegal in the country. The decision, which will affect middle and low-income Indian tourists, was taken at the last Cabinet meeting, Minister of Information Gokul Baskota announced Thursday. When the Indian government introduced the new denominations in the months following demonetisation in 2016, the Nepal government did not make any announcement on the status of the new
religious freedom is a top foreign policy priority of the Trump Administration.” In January 2018, US placed Pakistan on special watchlist for “severe violations of religious freedom”. On Tuesday, Pakistan was put on the blacklist. The US has removed Uzbekistan from the list, but placed it on the watchlist. Comoros & Russia have also been added to the special watch list. Among militant organisations, the Islamic State group, the Taliban, al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Shabab, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, the Houthis and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province have been designated as “Entities of Particular Concern”.
Sri Lanka Parliament rejects Rajapaksa as new PM Sri Lankan lawmakers passed a noconfidence motion against the country’s new Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, declaring his appointment “void and invalid” amid raucous scenes in the country’s Parliament. Supporters of Rajapaksa refused to recognize the vote as legitimate, plunging the country deeper into crisis, as fears grow that the political dispute could spill into wider instability. The move follows the shock decision last month by President Maithripala Sirisena to sack Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister, and replace him with controversial former
Bangladesh arrests extremists over plot to kill movie maker Two alleged Islamist extremists accused of plotting to kill a prominent Bangladesh actor and filmmaker have been arrested, police said Tuesday. Dhaka Metropolitan Police said the pair belonged to homegrown militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team, blamed for a series of murders of secular activists, writers and homosexuals since 2013. “Primary interrogations revealed the arrested persons are active Ansarullah Bangla Team members who plotted to kill film maker Khijir Hayat Khan,” police said in a statement. One of the accused, a 20-year-old, was accused of staking out Khan’s home as they plotted the murder. Police said they targeted the high-profile celebrity because he co-wrote the screenplay “Mr Bangladesh”, a film about thwarting terrorists that hit cinemas last month.Ansarullah Bangla Team is a banned etremist outfit which first grabbed headlines
strongman President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The announcement triggered protests and violence leaving one person dead. Wickremesinghe denounced Sirisena’s attempt to remove him from office and refused to leave the official prime minister’s residence, claiming the president does not have the power to take such action. Sirisena had attempted to prevent a vote of no-confidence by dissolving Parliament until December 7, however, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court overturned the president’s controversial decision and ordered an interim order, paving the way for fresh elections.
Pakistan rejects US accusations over religious freedom violation
in February 2013, when its members killed an atheist activist. It is also known as Ansar al-Islam and has alleged ties with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-continent (AQIS). The latter has claimed some of the murders allegedly carried out by Ansarullah. Police have arrested dozens of its members, including its spiritual leadership, in a crackdown on local extremists after an attack on a Dhaka cafe in 2016 left 22 people dead, including 18 foreigners.
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currency notes. The new denominations were being used freely in Nepal over the last two years, but the latest decision will affect Nepalese labourers working in India, and a large number of middle and low-income Indian tourists who frequent Nepal every year. The decision comes as the Nepal government is making preparations to celebrate 2020 as the ‘Visit Nepal Year’. Estimates indicate that at least 2 million people will visit Nepal in 2020, the bulk of them from India.
Pakistan y rejects US’ decision to place it on its annual list of nations that infringe on religious freedom, calling the move “unilateral and politically motivated”. “Pakistan rejects the US State Department’s unilateral and politically motivated pronouncement released in the context of its annual religious freedom report,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. Yesterday, the Trump administration
designated Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia and seven others as countries of particular concern for having engaged in or tolerated “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.” “Besides the clear biases reflected from these designations, there are serious questions on the credentials and impartiality of the self-proclaimed jury involved in this unwarranted exercise,” Pakistan’s statement added.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018 A day after Pakistan Prime Imran Minister Imran Khan claimed that he has asked his government to ascertain the status of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case in his country’s interest to resolve the matter, India’s former intelligence chief AS Dulat said that the head of state deserves a chance and time. “Imran is our best bet after (former president) General Pervez Musharraf. He may be a puppet in the hands of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI or the Army, but we need to give him time and a chance to prove
intelligence agencies of both countries,” he said. Panellist Lt Gen Sanjiv Langer (retd) drew attention towards neighbouring China. “We should take a look in detail at China. It is a different paradigm,” he said. KC Verma, a former R&AW director, moderated the session and said, “The Pakistan head of state does not know what the ISI is up to but the R&AW does not want that latitude. It belongs to the Indian government. An intelligence agency is an instrument of the state to be used for state purpose.”
Khan our best bet after Musharraf, says former RAW chief on India-Pakistan ties his intentions,” said former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Dulat, at a session on the wisdom of spies during the Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh on Saturday. Lt Gen Kamal Davar (retd), the first director general of the Defence Intelligence Agency, agreed with Dulat on Imran, saying: “We feel he is a puppet but he is a selfrespecting man. Don’t push him into a corner. He can change things in the subcontinent.” “Musharraf was the villain of Kargil, but
there has not been a more reasonable leader in Pakistan in 30 years. It’s sad that once he disappeared a lot less was done (for IndiaPakistan ties),” said Dulat, who has coauthored a book, The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace, with former ISI chief Asad Durrani. “Talks are the only way forward for both nuclear-armed nations. I would even suggest an institutional arrangement between the
Bangladesh high court delivers split verdict on allowing Khaleda Zia to contest polls
Malaysia could benefit from trade war — World Bank economist Malaysia is in a relatively good position amid an increasingly challenging economic outlook with heightened trade tensions and a higher capital outflow back to the US, said the World Bank Group’s lead economist for macroeconomics, trade and investment Richard Record. “While it does benefit from export growth, Malaysia’s basket is diversified across markets and products in terms of manufacturers, non-manufacturers, commodities and non-commodities. It’s important to balance between export growth as well as domestic growth and domestic drivers for demand and investment. That’s possibly the best policy,” Record told The Edge Financial Daily.While a trade truce has been reached between the world’s two largest economies, the World Bank is concerned that the trade war might spill over to a slowdown in global investment and global demand. However, it believes Malaysia could benefit from the diversion of trade and investment from the escalating tension. “The broader impact of the trade tension seems to have been limited, with early evidence suggesting that export-oriented economies such as Malaysia are gaining US import market share through a division of trade. However, we
are concerned that other countries, including Malaysia, would be exposed if the tensions do escalate and spill over to cause a slowdown in global investment flows,” said Record. His comment was reflective of a survey done by the American Chamber of Commerce in south China on 219 companies of which more than 60% of the surveyed companies had business operations in both the US and China. The survey, which was conducted between Sept 21 and Oct 10 after the implementation of tariffs on US$200 billion (RM834 billion) of Chinese goods, showed that Southeast Asia is the first choice for most of the respondents planning relocation amid rising cost of producing goods in China due to additional tariffs. UOB Global Economics & Markets Research’s report shows that Asean’s manufacturing sector will be the biggest beneficiary, having received the largest share of China’s outward direct investment in the last two years. “By industry, the Economist Intelligence Unit sees Malaysia and Vietnam as the key beneficiaries of the information and communications technology product segment as the presence of major electronics companies will allow for easier redeployment of production and investment
Bangladesh High Court on delivered a split verdict over whether imprisoned former prime minister and main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s chief, Khaleda Zia, should be allowed to contest the upcoming general election. One of the judges of the two-member High Court bench favoured Ms Zia’s candidacy while the other ruled that she was disqualified from the polls for being a convicted prisoner serving a 10-year jail term in two graft cases, court officials and lawyers said. “As the two judges could not reach a consensus, in line with the practice, they referred the matter to the chief justice who will now send the case to another bench for hearing the case,” an official said. The ruling came after 73-yearold Ms Zia challenged an earlier decision of the Election Commission to scrap her candidacy as the ex-premier filed nomination papers for contesting polls from three constituencies. Senior judge of the bench Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed in his ruling asked the Election
Commission to accept her nomination, and sought its explanation on why its decision to scrap her candidacy should not be declared illegal. However, the other judge, Justice Iqbal Kabir, blocked the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader from contesting the polls. She had on December 9 challenged the commission’s order disqualifying her from contesting the polls, while the High Court had earlier ruled that those jailed for more than two years with their appeals pending in court cannot contest polls. She has been in prison since February this year when a lower court sentenced her to a fiveyear term in the first of two corruption cases, while a special court in Dhaka has ordered her appearance in a third graft case. Meanwhile, formal campaigning for the December 30 polls started on Tuesday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina began the campaign for her party, Bangladesh Awami League, from the southwestern sub-district of Tungipara.
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FIJI
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Court allows elections petition to be advertised in two newspapers High Court Judges Justice Anjala Wati and Justice Kamal Kumar have given time to the counsel for SODELPA Leader Sitiveni Rabuka and National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad, to now advertise the election petition in the two newspapers that was to be served to the FijiFirst parliamentarians and Faiyaz Koya. This decision has been made after an application for substitutive serving of the elections petition by lawyer, Filimoni Vosarogo yesterday. Justice Wati and Justice Kumar have said in their ruling that there is no evidence that the respondents had evaded but the court has to look at the larger
interest of justice and they have noted the concerns of the petitioners. The judges say that they grant the application for the petition to be advertised in the two newspapers today. Justice Kamal Kumar said that because of time constraints, they may sit in the weekends too. He says they may have the hearing next Saturday, and told the counsels to forget about their holidays. Devanesh Sharma who is in court on the instructions of FijiFirst General Secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, says one of respondents is out of the country which is the Prime Minister.
Dangerous driver to appear in court for death of Canadian woman 22-year-old man accused of causing the death of a Canadian woman following a motor vehicle accident last Sunday has been charged. The accused has been charged with one count of dangerous driving occasioning death and three counts of dangerous driving
occasioning grievous bodily harm. He will be produced at the Ba Magistrates Court. Meanwhile, the two passengers remain admitted at the Lautoka Hospital’s Trauma Ward.
CEO under investigation THE chief executive officer of the Nausori Town Council, Akhtar Ali, is under investigation. This was confirmed to this newspaper by the permanent secretary of Ministry of Local Government Joshua Wycliffe. Mr Wycliffe said Mr Ali was being investigated for “professional misconduct”.
“This matter is under investigation for professional misconduct and we are unable to comment at this stage.” Mr Ali was sent on leave in October pending the outcome of the investigations.
Serial rapist jailed for more than 11 years High Court Judge Justice Chamath Morais has sentenced a man who was labeled a serial rapist to 11 years, 9 months and 15 days imprisonment. The man has a non-parole period of 7 years, 9 months and 15 days. Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Shyamala Alagendra had called the man who was convicted of rape, sexual assault and attempted rape a serial rapist and paedophile. While sentencing the man, Justice Morais said that the man had breached the trust of the victims who were under the age of 13. He said that this event also had a lasting psychological and emotional impact on all
three victims. The man has been convicted of three counts of rape, four counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted rape. He raped and sexually assaulted a boy and two girls between January 2014 and December 2015. The victims were 11, 15 and 13 years old at the time of the incidents. The man was the uncle of the 15-year-old girl and was the neighbor of the 11-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl. In the eight separate counts, the man raped the victims, showed them his private parts, forced them to touch his private parts and also did sexual acts in front of them.
Bainimarama launches Fiji’s first National Adaptation Plan Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama today launched Fiji’s first National Adaptation Plan offering a blueprint for the country’s adaptation measures. Launched at the in Katowice, Poland, the venue of COP24, the comprehensive document emphases a whole-of-economy approach. According to Mr Bainimarama, this aligns with Fiji’s National Climate Change Policy and other key strategies such as the National Disaster Risk Reduction Policy, the Climate Vulnerability Assessment and Green Growth Framework. “Nothing is more important to us as climatevulnerable nations than to have the means to adequately adapt to the frightening new era that is upon us – the extreme weather events, rising seas and changes to agriculture caused by climate change,” he said. Bainimarama said this involved a continuous and progressive process to ensure a systematic and strategic approach to adaptation in all government decision-making. “We are placing a particular emphasis on agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, health and a range of adaptation action in all of our communities, from our cities to small rural and maritime communities,” he said. “These range from building sea walls
and relocating communities threatened by rising seas to strengthening our infrastructure through improved building codes to withstand the extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent and intense.” Dr. Adrian Fenton and the National Adaptation Plan Global Network providing technical and financial support the development of the document. The governments of the United States and Canada also assisted with the project. While hard copies of the National Adaptation Plan was made available at the event, members of the public can access it on the Ministry of Economy website www.economy.gov.fj. “What you will find there is a Above all, it places our adaptation strategy at the core of Fiji’s five and 20 year National Development Plan,” Mr Bainimarama said. “So it is a holistic approach to reducing risk and stresses the critical importance of our response to the climate threat being as efficient as it can possibly be.” He said the Fijian Adaptation Plan stressed the importance of improving efficiency across the whole of government to provide better coordination and increase our ability to mobilise our resources.
Two men found guilty of rape Two men charged with one count of rape were found guilty and convicted by the High Court of Lautoka on Monday. The two men appeared before Justice Sunil Sharma after a week-long trial. On April 3, 2015, in the Western Division, the duo had carnal knowledge with the complainant without her consent. The complainant had told the court that on the day of the incident, she was drinking alcohol with the two men and another man in the early hours of the morning at the back of a dairy shop in a village. The complainant knew both the accused men and after their drinking ended at around 9am, the complainant had went to the nearby sugarcane field and blacked out. When she regained consciousness, both the men were into the
process of raping her. Justice Sharma rejected the defence of both the accused persons as unbelievable and unreliable. “The defence put forward by both the accused persons has not been able to create a reasonable doubt in the prosecution case. “I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that both the accused persons on April 3, 2015, had raped the victim without her consent. I also accept that both the accused persons knew or believed that the victim was not consenting or did not care if she was not consenting at the time.” He overturned the unanimous opinion of the three assessors of a not guilty opinion and convicted the two accused men accordingly.
PAKISTAN
Saturday, December 15, 2018 When Canadian columnist Anthony Furey received an email said to be from Twitter’s legal team telling him he may have broken a slew of Pakistani laws, his first instinct was to dismiss it as spam. But after Googling the relevant sections of Pakistan’s penal code, the Toronto Sun op-ed editor was startled to learn he stood
Twitter warns global users their tweets violate Pakistani law accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammad - a crime punishable by death in the Islamic republic - and Twitter later confirmed the correspondence was genuine. His perceived offense was to post cartoons of the prophet several years ago. Furey and
Pakistan receives another $1 billion from Saudi Arabia support package In another boost to dwindling dollar reserves Pakistan receives another $1 billion from Saudi Arabia. This is Saudi Arabia’s third and final $1 billion tranche next month to help ease Pakistan’s financial crunch, Abid Qamar, a
spokesman for the State Bank of Pakistan said. Pakistan is looking to bridge a gap of at least $12 billion caused by its latest balanceof-payments crisis and is currently negotiating its 13th bailout since the late 1980s with the International Monetary Fund.
Pakistan allows 139 Indian pilgrims to visit Shiva temples in Katas Raj Government of Pakistan issed visas to 139 pilgrims from India to visit Shiva temples in Katas Raj, north of Punjab, Pakistan. High Commission in Delhi said it has issued visas to 139 Indian pilgrims to visit Katas Raj, Lord Shiva’s Temples. The Katas Raj houses the Satgraha or Seven Temples of Lord Shiva is more than 1500-year-old historic site. Bilateral protocol on visits to the religious places, Sikh and Hindu pilgrims from India visit Pakistan every year. “Another group of Indian pilgrims, have been issued visas by the Pakistan High Commission to visit Katas Raj Temples from December 9-15,”
Pakistan High Commission said. Recently Government of Pakistan granted visas to more than 3,800 Sikh pilgrims to visit Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur Sahib, where the pilgrims attended opening ceremony of Kartarpur border on November 28 in Narowal, district Sialkot. Katas Raj is one of the holiest places for the Hindu community in Pakistan. The temples form a complex surrounding a pond named Katas, which is regarded as sacred by the devotees. Pakistan’s High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood said the issuance of visas for another group of pilgrims from India was consistent with Government’s of Pakistan’s policy of promoting
visits to religious shrines.
“US shouldn’t give Pakistan a dollar till it acts on terror” says Nikki Haley Pakistan continues to harbour terrorists that turn around and kill American soldiers, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said, asserting that Washington should not blindly give Islamabad even a dollar until it steps up efforts to combat terrorism. Haley, the first Indian-American ever appointed to a Cabinet position in any US presidential administration, said the US did not need to give money to countries that wish harm to America, go behind its back and try and “stop us from doing things”. “...I think there should be a strategic view on
which countries we partner with, which ones we count on to work with us on certain things, and move forward accordingly. I think we just blindly allow money to keep going without thinking that this is real leverage. We have to use it,” Haley told US magazine ‘The Atlantic’. “The one example I’ll give you is, look at Pakistan. Giving them over a billion dollars, and they continue to harbour terrorists that turn around and kill our soldiers -that’s never okay. We shouldn’t even give them a dollar until they correct it. Use the billion dollars.
two prominent critics of extremism in Islam say they are “shocked” to have received notices by the social media giant this past week over alleged violations of Islamabad’s laws, despite having no apparent connection to the South Asian country. They say the notices amount
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to an effort to stifle their voices - a charge Twitter denies, arguing the notices came about as a result of “valid requests from an authorized entity,” understood to mean Pakistan, helped users “to take measures to protect their interests,” and the process is not unique to any one country.
Former PM Nawaz Sharif faces another joint investigation Supreme Court constituted a Joint Investigation Team to probe former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ’s role in the illegal allotment of land in Pakpattan. The order was passed by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar while hearing the case in Islamabad. Joint Investigation Team (J.I.T.) will be headed by Khalid Daad Luck, Chief of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) and will comprise representatives from secret agenices. The court directed J.I.T. head to finalize and submit the terms of reference of the team by 27th of this month. In November, the chief justice hinted at forming a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the matter, to
which the PML-N founder said his experience with the J.I.T. was not very pleasant and requested the CJP to consider investigations from someone else. At this, the courtroom burst into laughter. The chief justice remarked that a leader like Nawaz Sharif who was the prime minister thrice should have been above such controversies. The bench also offered the ex-PM to investigate the issue on his own. Nawaz Sharif is facing a charge that being the chief minister of Punjab in 1986, he ordered withdrawal of a notification of Dec 17, 1969 and allegedly allotted huge lands of the Auqaf department around Pakpattan area of Punjab, Pakistan in violation of the orders of Lahore high court order.
India’s role crucial for Afghan peace process: Foreign Minister India has stakes in Afghanistan and its cooperation is necessary for the peace process in the war-torn country. Speaking in the National Assembly, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan alone could not bring peace in Afghanistan as it was a “shared responsibility” of regional countries. “Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that peace could not be established in Afghanistan through military power. Today the US, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Taliban also wanted a solution through dialogue,” The Express Tribune quoted Mr Qureshi as saying.
“Some meetings have taken place [among key stakeholders] for establishment of peace in Afghanistan. India also has stakes in Afghanistan and its cooperation will also be needed,” Mr Qureshi said. The US has indicated that it plans to give a role to India in Afghanistan, whereas Pakistan’s stance over the years was quite clear that India had no role to play in Afghanistan. He said US president Donald Trump in a letter to Prime Minister Khan had asked Pakistan to help and facilitate the peace process in Afghanistan which Mr Qureshi said Pakistan was already doing.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018 Indian man faces 11 yrs jail for ‘brazen’ sexual assault on US flight Federal prosecutors in Detroit are seeking 130 months imprisonment for an Indian national, who is in US on H-1B visa, for committing one of the “most brazen airplane sexual assaults”. Prabhu Ramamoorthy, who was arrested following the alleged incident in flight from Las Vegas to Detroit in January, is slated to be produced before a Detroit court on Thursday, 13 December. A federal jury has
already convicted him of sexual assault. While seated next to his wife, Ramamoorthy allegedly took advantage of a 22-year-old woman traveling alone, federal prosecutors said in a sentencing memo ahead of his appearance before the court. “As she slept on a late-night flight, he untied her shirt, unzipped her pants, and shoved his fingers inside of her with such force that it woke her up,” the prosecutors said.
NRI Garima Arora is first Indian woman to win a Michelin star
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In 14 November, 32-year-old Garima Arora’s Bangkok restaurant Gaa was awarded a Michelin star, making her the first Indian woman to win the honour. While the Michelin star is a global standard of culinary excellence, in this instance, the honour represents something bigger—a transcending of gender and race barriers. On 20 November, chef Amninder Sandhu was introduced as the sole Indian contestant on the newest international cooking show on Netflix, The Final Table. The show brings together 24 chefs from around the world to compete in a global cooking competition judged by nine of the biggest culinary stars, including Vineet Bhatia from India, Yoshihiro Narisawa from Japan and Grant Achatz from the US, all of whom run Michelin-starred restaurants. Sandhu, who runs Arth, India’s
only gas-free fine-dining restaurant, was also awarded the National Tourism Award for Best Lady Chef in India in 2015-16. These are big achievements in their own right. But more importantly, these women are an inspiration for female chefs at home and across the world. Food and female empowerment have shared a complicated relationship since the emergence of second-wave feminism, never quite managing to overcome the oppression of the domestic kitchen or the male-dominated world of professional restaurants. Indian society’s age-old paradigm of a woman’s domestic role and a man’s breadwinning responsibilities has perpetuated this divide. Women are already underrepresented across sectors in this country.
Indian-origin American lawmaker reminds Google CEO that they both are from Tamil Nadu For Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, it was an occasion to celebrate as Indian-American Sunder Pichai, CEO of Google, appeared before a Congressional committee for a grilling by lawmakers on the search engine’s data privacy. The two, now holding reputable positions in different spheres of lives -- one in politics and the other in the corporate world -- were born in the state - Tamil Nadu. Ms Jayapal, the first ever Indian-American Congresswoman highlighted this point during the Congressional hearing. “Let me just take a point of personal privilege to say that I was born in the same state as you
in India and I am excited to see you leading a company and continuing to show that immigrants to this country contribute great value, in spite of some of the rhetoric we hear. Thank you Mr Pichai,” she told the Google CEO. Sundar Pichai, 46, was born in Chennai. A graduate from the IIT Kharagpur, he joined Google in 2004 and in 2015, was appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. Ms Jayapal, 53, too was born in Chennai and came to the US as a student. Both passed through a similar immigration pathway, involving H-1B visa and Green Card, before becoming US citizens.
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She was a successful recruitment consultant and loved long weekends of trips to the zoo and cocktails with friends. But a few months later, she was diagnosed with leukaemia, and now urgently needs to find a stem cell donor. Donor matches are never easy to find, and it’s even harder if you’re Asian. So rather than sit back and wait, Meena began her own search. “I just wanted to feel that if my children ask in the future, they can say, ‘Mummy did everything that she could’ve done. She really tried everything,’” she says. When Meena was diagnosed, she was happy in her home in St Albans, Hertfordshire. But she had to move to Leicester for treatment and leave her two five-year-olds behind with their dad. She video calls them as much as possible. “Not even a year ago, everything was turned upside down,” she says.
“In all honesty, I didn’t even know that adults got leukaemia. I’m the first person in my entire family to have got cancer.” Faced with an uncertain future, Meena decided to devote her time to persuading as many people as possible to sign up to the stem cell register. Supported by blood cancer charity DKMS, she began touring the country, urging people to join up. A good match is most likely to be found in people with similar heritages, so Meena is focusing on Indian donors. With her family in tow, she has set up donor drives in shopping centres, mosques, and temples. “Last month I had to speak to 1,600 people at a classical concert. People were just crying in the audience,” she says. “I think when they listen to somebody’s story that is an actual patient, that is going through the process, that is a mother, that has twins, that is only 41.
30-year jail for NRI husband murdering wife and partner with boyfriend Mitesh Patel strangled his wife Jessica with a plastic bag after subduing her with an insulin injection, the jury heard. He is a pharmacist who murdered his wife in a premeditated attack so that he could start a new life with his boyfriend in Australia has been jailed for a minimum of 30 years. Mitesh Patel, 37, strangled his wife, Jessica, with a plastic bag after spending five years planning her murder so he could use her frozen embryos to have a family with his lover in Sydney.Jessica Patel, 34, had been aware for six years that her husband was in love with
another man and having casual sex with men he met on the dating app Grindr.Patel, showed no emotion as Mr Justice James Goss told him: “You are a selfish man, business-driven, wanting a very successful life and wishing to retire at 40.“You were also wanting to commit to a life with another man on your own terms and you well knew that insurance policies would realise £2m on Jessica’s death.”He said that a 30-year minimum term was reserved for only cases where the seriousness of the offence is “particularly severe”. He added
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