Canada Censors War Crimes

The Globe and Mail - What Ottawa doesn't want you to know

The Harper government knew from its own officials that prisoners held by Afghan security forces faced the possibility of torture, abuse and extrajudicial killing, The Globe and Mail has learned.

But the government has eradicated every single reference to torture and abuse in prison from a heavily blacked-out version of a report prepared by Canadian diplomats in Kabul and released under an access to information request.

Initially, the government denied the existence of the report, responding in writing that "no such report on human-rights performance in other countries exists." After complaints to the Access to Information Commissioner, it released a heavily edited version this week.

Among the sentences blacked out by the Foreign Affairs Department in the report's summary is "Extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial are all too common," according to full passages of the report obtained independently by The Globe.

Although the findings aren't surprising — they echo other, and widely publicized, reports by Louise Arbour, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, the U.S. State Department, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, and various international human-rights groups — the report by Canada's own diplomats seems to undermine the government's claims that it was unaware of the fate likely faced by detainees handed over by Canadian troops to Afghan security forces.

Diana Inquest Coroner Steps Down

BBC - Diana inquest coroner steps down

Lady Butler-Sloss said she lacked the experience required to deal with an inquest with a jury.

Lord Justice Scott Baker will take over as coroner for the inquests, which are expected to take place in October.

My previous posts on the Diana inquest:

Spy Banned From Diana Inquest

Diana Inquest Will Be Heard By Jury

Princess Diana Inquest (link to article no longer works)

Charges in Litvinenko Murder

Daily Mail - Poison: KGB men to face Litvinenko murder charges

Scotland Yard detectives are to issue arrest warrants against three former KGB officers suspected of poisoning ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Police have told sources close to Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina that they intend to lay charges of murder and poisoning against the men, who met the victim three weeks before his death in London.

Warrants are expected to be issued against Andrei Lugovoy, Dmitri Kovtun and Vyacheslav Sokolenko within the next few weeks.

I have some old posts about Litvinenko on my old blog. They can be seen here.

Yahoo Accused of Collaboration in Arrest of Rights Activists

AsiaNews.it - Human rights activists denounce Yahoo! for collaboration in the arrest of Chinese dissidents

A group which campaigns for human rights in China has reported Yahoo! and its Chinese affiliates to American authorities, alleging they help communist authorities to uncover and arrest journalists and rights activists who use the Web to publish pro-democracy articles. Now they are asking for damages and the companies commitment to actively secure the release of any detainees they helped arrest.

Yahoo rivals Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. also have been accused of helping the Chinese government crush dissent in return for access to booming Internet markets. Google has offered a censored version of its popular search engine, while Microsoft shut down, at Beijing's request, a popular Chinese blog that touches on “sensitive” topics such as press freedoms.

Censorship in Russia

MosNews - Russian Journalists Report Media Restrictions

Russia’s biggest private radio networks journalist said they had been told to keep Kremlin critics off the air by new managers brought in from state-run television, Reuters news agency reported April 19.

Managers at the Russian News Service, which provides news to Russia’s most listened-to radio station and its sister stations, denied they were imposing censorship. But staff members said their new bosses had blocked live reports from anti-Kremlin protests over the weekend and blacklisted the chess champion and opposition activist Garry Kasparov from being mentioned.

New managers at the service were also urging journalists to give more airtime to representatives of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, staff said.

Criminalization of Holocaust Denial

The Financial Times - EU aims to criminalise Holocaust denial

Laws that make denying or trivialising the Holocaust a criminal offence punishable by jail sentences will be introduced across the European Union, according to a proposal expecting to win backing from ministers Thursday.

Offenders will face up to three years in jail under the proposed legislation, which will also apply to inciting violence against ethnic, religious or national groups.

Diplomats in Brussels voiced confidence on Tuesday that the controversial plan, which has been the subject of heated debate for six years, will be endorsed by member states. However, the Baltic countries and Poland are still holding out for an inclusion of “Stalinist crimes” alongside the Holocaust in the text – a move that is being resisted by the majority of other EU countries.

The latest draft, seen by the Financial Times, will make it mandatory for all Union member states to punish public incitement “to violence or hatred directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin”.

They will also have to criminalise “publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes” when such statements incite hatred or violence against minorities.

Here is a related post from January.

Britain’s Biggest Journalists’ Union Calls for Boycott of Israeli Goods

International Herald Tribune - British journalists call for boycott of Israeli goods

Britain's biggest journalists' union, The National Union of Journalists, has criticized Israel's "military adventures" and has voted narrowly in favor of a boycott of Israeli goods. The vote followed calls by some British academics last year to ostracize their Israeli counterparts.

At the annual delegates meeting of the journalists' union last Friday, a vote calling for "a boycott of Israeli goods similar to those boycotts in the struggles against apartheid in South Africa" was approved 66 to 54.

The delegates also urged Britain and the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel.

Monsanto has Problem with “Hormone Free” Milk Labels

Chicago Tribune - Monsanto having a cow in milk label dispute

WASHINGTON -- Agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. is challenging a growing trend among dairies to label their milk "hormone free," saying those claims mislead consumers into believing that the cow growth hormone Monsanto makes is unsafe.

In an action that could send ripples through the food industry, St. Louis-based Monsanto is moving aggressively against a group of dairies to halt the use of "hormone free." It said that such labels suggest that there is something unhealthy about its synthetic hormone drug.

It looks like they don’t want people labelling hormone free milk as “hormone free”.

Here is an older post about rBGH milk.

Sold Rainforest Details

The Guardian - Vast forests with trees each worth £4,000 sold for a few bags of sugar

Lamoko, 150 miles down the Maringa river, sits on the edge of a massive stretch of virgin rainforest in central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). On February 8 2005, representatives of a major timber firm arrived to negotiate a contract with the traditional landowners.

Few in the village realised that the talks would transform all their lives, but in just a few hours, the chief, who had received no legal advice and did not realise that just one tree might be worth more than £4,000 in Europe, had signed away his community's rights in the forest for 25 years.

In return for his signed permission to log thousands of hectares for exotic woods such as Afromosia (African teak) and sapele, the company promised to build Lamoko and other communities in the area three simple village schools and pharmacies. In addition, the firm said it would give the chief 20 sacks of sugar, 200 bags of salt, some machetes and a few hoes. In all, it was estimated that the gifts would cost the company £10,000

The Lamoko agreement is just one of many contracts, or concessions, that European companies have signed with tribal chiefs in the DRC as the country begins to recover from a decade of civil wars and dictatorship.

But according to a Greenpeace report released today, Lamoko did better than many communities. Some contracts seen by the Guardian show only promises of sugar, salt and tools worth about $100 (£55) in return for permission to log. Others have reported that pledges made three years ago have still not been fulfilled. The report, which took two years to compile, claims that industrial logging backed by the World Bank is now out of control. "Younger people feel that elders have failed to look after the long-term interests of the community," it says.

Here is an older post.

New Russian Revolution

The Guardian - 'I am plotting a new Russian revolution'

The Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has told the Guardian he is plotting the violent overthrow of President Putin from his base in Britain after forging close contacts with members of Russia's ruling elite.

In comments which appear calculated to enrage the Kremlin, and which will further inflame relations between London and Moscow, the multimillionaire claimed he was already bankrolling people close to the president who are conspiring to mount a palace coup.

"We need to use force to change this regime," he said. "It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There can be no change without force, pressure." Asked if he was effectively fomenting a revolution, he said: "You are absolutely correct."

Although Mr Berezovsky, with an estimated fortune of £850m, may have the means to finance such a plot, and although he enjoyed enormous political influence in Russia before being forced into exile, he said he could not provide details to back up his claims because the information was too sensitive.

Australia Censors Books and Films

BBC - Australia censors terrorism books

Books and films deemed to glorify terrorism will be removed from shelves and barred from entering the country.

Present laws restrict the publication or dissemination of materials which promote, incite or instruct people to carry out terrorist acts.

The amended law would mark a significant extension of censorship powers, outlawing books and films deemed to speak out in favour of terrorist violence.

Selling Off the Rainforest

The Guardian - Selling off the rainforest - a modern-day scandal

Vast tracts of the world's second-largest rainforest have been obtained by a small group of European and American industrial logging companies in return for minimal taxes and gifts of salt, sugar and tools, a two-year investigation will disclose today.

More than 150 contracts covering an area of rainforest nearly the size of the United Kingdom have been signed with 20 companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past three years. Many are believed to have been illegally allocated in 2002 by a transition government emerging from a decade of civil wars and are in defiance of a World Bank moratorium.

Plane Hijacked in Turkey

AP - Hijacker tries to divert plane to Iran

Turkish police detained a man who stormed the cockpit of a passenger plane on Tuesday and threatened to blow it up unless the flight was diverted to Iran, officials said.

At Least 5 More Years in Iraq for British Soldiers

Telegraph - Five more years in Iraq, say defence papers

A confidential planning document drawn up by defence chiefs called the Operational Tour Plot, parts of which have been disclosed to this newspaper, reveals that troops will be serving on operations in the Gulf until at least 2012.

Patients Given Drugs to Meet Quotas

Daily Mail - 'Prostate patients' given drugs just to meet targets

Thousands of men with prostate cancer are being given unnecessary and potentially harmful drug treatment to clear hospital waiting lists, according to a leading cancer specialist.

Oncologist Chris Hamilton claims the "crazy" system of Government targets means prostate patients often head the queue for radiotherapy treatment - even when they don't need it - ahead of other cancer patients.

But hospitals face penalties if cancer patients are not given treatment within four weeks, he said.

German Lawsuit Filled Against Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Tenet, Sanchez, and Many Others

Spiegel Online - Rumsfeld Lawsuit Embarrasses German Authorities

A 384-page document is currently sitting in the offices of Germany's federal prosecutor in Karlsruhe -- and causing headaches for the authorities there. They never asked for it, but now they have to deal with it. The only question is how.

The reason the authorities would be quite happy if the lengthy document would simply go away is because it is a lawsuit against 14 powerful men and one woman. Donald Rumsfeld, the former United States Secretary of Defense, is one of them. Others include Alberto Gonzales, the current Attorney General of the United States, CIA director George Tenet, and Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, the US general who served as the commander of coalition forces in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. According to the document, these members of the US elite violated both international law and the United Nations Convention Against Torture in Abu Ghraib prison and the Guantánamo Bay detention camp.

Iran: British Captives Freed

AP - Iran says 15 British captives free

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a surprise move that defused escalating tension in the Middle East, announced the release of 15 captive British sailors and marines Wednesday in what he called an Easter gift to the British people.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said the Britons had been released, added that he bore "no ill will" toward the Iranian people following the 13-day standoff.

The breakthrough eased tensions that have been increasing steadily, raising fears of military conflict in the volatile region and prompting a spike in oil prices. It suggested that Iran's hard-line leadership had decided Tehran had demonstrated its strength in the standoff but did not want to push the crisis too far.

Despite the announcement, however, the crew members had not arrived at the British Embassy as of 9 p.m local time in Tehran.

Iran: U.S. Violated Airspace

AFP - Iran accuses US jet fighters of violating airspace

US warplanes have violated Iranian airspace in the southwestern oil province of Khuzestan, the Arabic language channel of Iranian state television quoted a local military chief as saying on Sunday.

However, a US military spokesman said he had checked into reports of an airspace violation and denied that any took place.

"Two US aircraft trespassed into Iranian airspace northwest of (the port city of) Abadan before flying southwest into Iraq," a Revolutionary Guards commander in Abadan identified only as Colonel Aqili was quoted as saying by the Al-Alam channel's website.

New Century Financial Has Filed For Bankruptcy

BBC - Top US lender in Chapter 11 move

New Century Financial, one of the largest sub-prime lenders in the US, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

New Century sought protection from creditors after it was forced by its backers to repurchase billions of dollars worth of bad loans.

The company said it would immediately cut 3,200 jobs, more than half of its workforce, as a result of the move.