Pakistani girl accused of blasphemy now living in Canada - CBC.ca

A Christian girl who was falsely accused of blasphemy in Pakistan has fled to Canada, CBC News has learned.

Rimsha Masih, 14, was charged with blasphemy in 2012 for allegedly burning pages of the Qu'ran.

Muslim cleric Khalid Jadoon was arrested on suspicion of framing Rimsha Masih. (Faisal Mahmood/Reuters )

Although she was acquitted, supporters say her family decided to live in hiding after continued threats.

The family made the secret journey to Canada just weeks ago – arriving at an undisclosed location in Toronto, according to Peter Bhatti, who runs a Christian organization that is helping them settle in Canada.

Bhatti says that Masih, her parents and her brother and sister had to leave Pakistan in order to have safe, secure lives.

Their journey to Canada comes after Masih's case sparked an international outcry when she was arrested last August.

A neighbour claimed she had burned pages of the Qu'ran. Masih – said to have Down syndrome – spent 25 days in an adult prison before being freed on bail.

The incident fuelled new calls for reform of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which have often been used to target religious minorities and to settle personal scores.

Police believe Rimsha may have been framed by a cleric who desecrated the Qu'ran himself and then tried to make it look as if the girl did it.

Bhatti said the girl and her family have been granted special permission by the federal government to live in Canada and that they are all relieved and happy. He said the 14-year-old is thriving in her new home.

"She is doing wonderful. She is studying in school, every day, she going to school, she is learning, she is starting talking more," he told CBC's Laura Lynch.

Still, Bhatti refuses to say where she is, citing worries that she could still be a target for extremists.

Officials in Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's office have refused to comment on Masih's case, citing privacy concerns.

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Calgary family grateful to 'army of people' helping flood recovery - CTV News

Karolyn Coorsh, CTVNews.ca
Published Saturday, June 29, 2013 5:44PM EDT
Last Updated Saturday, June 29, 2013 9:39PM EDT

A Calgary area family say they are grateful to an "army" of volunteers -- many complete strangers -- who are helping them recover after floods caused severe damage to their home last week.

Chlan Grant and her family were among the thousands of Calgarians who were forced to leave their homes on June 20 as floodwaters in rivers rose to unprecedented levels, spilled over the banks and rushed into neighbourhoods.

When they were able to return to their home in the neighbourhood of East Elbow to survey the damage, Grant and her husband discovered that their basement was flooded. There was only an inch of water on the main floor, but it seeped into the drywall and caused major damage.

Since then, the family of six has been trying to salvage all that they can as they race to remove water before it causes further structural damage. But they're not doing it by themselves.

In an effort to help, family friends sent a mass email with Grant's address and a request for aid. People answered in droves.

"The volunteers have been extraordinary," Grant said in an interview with CTVNews.ca. "Teams of people coming over and saying 'what can we do to help?' … We had like an army of people pulling everything out of our basement."

Parents with their children, teenagers, and an elderly man heeded the call.

"As I looked up I saw little kids with a wagon (hauling out debris)," an emotional Grant said. "It was very touching."

When a friend brought over a front-end loader, a makeshift assembly line formed to help remove 20 disposal bins of debris from the home.

"We had five or six people that were working and then all of sudden, more people just started coming down the street – they just jumped in. They were complete strangers.

"It's been amazing," she added.

With their main floor uninhabitable and the power still shut off, Grant and her family still have a long recovery ahead of them. They are currently staying with friends.

Tens of thousands of Calgarians have been able to return home since being forced to leave during last week's floods.

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Thick smoke impedes efforts to battle forest fire in western Labrador - Globe and Mail

Thick smoke from a forest fire that continued to rage in western Labrador Saturday hampered efforts to fight the blaze that has forced the evacuation of this small mining community.

Air quality concerns due to the fire burning four kilometres away forced residents to leave their homes Friday night as the town declared a state of emergency.

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"For the first two hours this morning we couldn't actually put any crews on the ground or aerial support because there was so much local smoke," said Chuck Porter, a conservation officer with the Department of Natural Resources.

Although four waterbombers were on hand Saturday, poor visibility limited crews to using only one aircraft at a time, said an official with fire and emergency services.

Smoke also prevented the planes from loading with water from Wabush Lake, diverting them instead to the town reservoir. This led to town officials advising residents in the area to boil their water.

"The smoke has settled in the community and that's the reason why, the main reason why, we evacuated at this time," Kevin O'Brien, the minister responsible for the province's fire and emergency services, told The Canadian Press.

"It's a sizeable fire and it's been going for several days."

Approximately 1,400 displaced Wabush residents had registered with the Canadian Red Cross in nearby Labrador City by Saturday morning, most were being accommodated by friends and families in the area.

Of the town's nearly 1,800 residents, 79 chose to disregard the voluntary evacuation order and have stayed in their homes. Emergency personnel are in regular contact with them.

Fire and Emergency Services said the blaze hadn't advanced any closer to Wabush by Saturday afternoon, nor had it grown overnight, but it continued to burn.

"The challenge of the day is the wind," said Mr. O'Brien. "We have to reassess on a nearly minute-by-minute basis to make sure you're on the right flank of the fire."

Nearly 30 forest fire specialists were on hand to help fight the blaze.

"We have no rain to help us at all, so it's all by waterbomber and helicopter resources that we're trying to keep the fire in control," said O'Brien.

The fire interrupted Internet and long-distance phone service in the area, including 911 calls, after it broke a fiber-optic cable 20 kilometres outside Labrador City. Residents were provided with alternate phone numbers to report emergencies.

Isabelle Robinson, a spokesperson for Bell Canada, estimated 5,500 customers were affected, mostly in the Labrador City and Wabush area. Service was largely restored by Saturday evening.

The area did not face any imminent threat of losing power said Erin Squires, a spokesperson for Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

The fire, which has consumed about 60 square kilometres since last Sunday, also prompted the closure of the Trans-Labrador Highway. A nearly 250-kilometre-long section of road remained closed Saturday between Labrador West and Churchill Falls.

Though Wabush remained under a state of emergency, the provincial government issued a news release Saturday saying the evacuation was precautionary and there was no immediate fire hazard to homes or residents.

The town's displaced residents were said to be coping well. They were being offered food and shelter by the residents and business in Labrador City.

"There's good spirits and we're moving forward," said Mr. O'Brien.

"They understand that their safety comes first, they understand as well that we have all the specialists on the ground, so we'll attack this fire until we have it under control and put it out."

Crews continued construction work on a fire break that would afford the town of Wabush an added measure of protection.

Canada Day festivities planned for Monday in Labrador City have been postponed.

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As weddings continue in Calif., sponsors of gay marriage ban ask Supreme ... - Washington Post

SAN FRANCISCO — A wave of weddings were performed in San Francisco City Hall on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's historic decisions to restore same-sex marriages to California, as defeated backers of the state's gay marriage ban filed a last-ditch effort to halt the ceremonies.

Less than 24 hours after California started issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples, lawyers for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom filed an emergency petition to the high court Saturday asking it to halt the weddings on the grounds that its decision was not yet legally final. They claimed the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acted prematurely and unfairly on Friday when it allowed gay marriage to resume by lifting a hold that had been placed on same sex unions.

The motion was filed as dozens of couples in jeans, shorts, white dresses and the occasional military uniform filled City Hall to obtain marriage licenses. On Friday, 81 same sex couples received marriage licenses.

Although a few clerk's offices around the state stayed open late on Friday, San Francisco, which is holding its annual gay pride celebration this weekend, was the only jurisdiction to hold weekend hours so that same sex couples could take advantage of their newly restored right, Clerk Karen Hong said.

A sign posted on the door of the office where a long line of couples waited to fill out applications listed the price for a license, a ceremony or both above the words "Equality=Priceless."

"We really wanted to make this happen," Hong said, adding that her whole staff and a group of volunteers came into work without having to be asked. "It's spontaneous, which is great in its own way."

The timing couldn't have been better for California National Guard Capt. Michael Potoczniak, 38, and his partner of 10 years, Todd Saunders, 47, of El Cerrito.

Potoczniak, who joined the Guard after the military's ban on openly gay service was repealed almost two years ago, was scheduled to fly out Sunday night for a month of basic training in Texas.

"I woke up this morning, shook him awake and said, 'Let's go,'" said Potoczniak, who chose to get married in his Army uniform. "It's something that people need to see because everyone is so used to uniforms at military weddings."

Also waiting to wed Saturday were Scott Kehoe, 34, and his fiance, Aurelien Bricker, 24. After finding out on Facebook that the city was issuing same sex marriage licenses Friday, the San Francisco couple rushed out to Tiffany's to buy wedding rings.

"We were afraid of further legal challenges in the state," Kehoe said.

The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Proposition 8's backers lacked standing to defend the 2008 law because California's governor and attorney general have declined to defend the ban.

Then on Friday, the 9th Circuit appeared to have removed the last obstacle to making same sex matrimony legal again in California when it removed its hold on a lower court's 2010 order directing state officials to stop enforcing the ban.

Within hours, same sex couples were seeking marriage licenses. The two couples who sued to overturn Proposition 8 were wed in San Francisco and Los Angeles Friday.

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Mayor of Laval, Que., alleges extortion attempt - Toronto Star

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  Rob Ford presser on May 30

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  Councillor James Pasternak to Rob Ford: Stop waffling

MONTREAL—Reports that the interim mayor of Laval, Que., has filed a police complaint about an alleged attempt by a prostitute to extort money from him have added to the woes of a city that has already seen the previous mayor charged with gangsterism.

A spokesman for Alexandre Duplessis said the mayor felt he was the victim of an extortion attempt and reported the June 14 incident to police.

He did not, however, confirm two media reports that the complaint to police was triggered by a dispute with an escort over payment.

"The mayor's confirming that there's been an extortion attempt against him," said mayoral spokesman Pierre-Philippe Lortie. "He immediately called the authorities. As we speak, it's in their hands."

The Sûreté du Québec confirmed that they have launched an investigation into a complaint about extortion involving an escort, but that no charges have yet been laid in the case.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Christine Coulombe wouldn't disclose any details about the identity of the presumed victim in the matter.

"Regarding the individual, we never say who, nor the profession, nor their status," she said.

"A man used an escort service. There was a fight about the payment, then a complaint was filed about extortion. We're investigating."

Radio-Canada cited police sources saying that the dispute allegedly began when one of two women, an escort and her driver, recognized the mayor. It reported that he allegedly cancelled their appointment, triggering an argument about payment.

Montreal's La Presse reported that Duplessis was allegedly approached at least three more times for increasingly larger sums of money in the days after the meeting before seeking police intervention.

The incident reportedly occurred about two weeks after the Quebec government appointed a trustee to oversee and vet the decisions made by Duplessis and city councillor in Laval, which along with Montreal has been identified as ground zero for the province's corruption crisis.

Duplessis took over the post in November that had been vacated by ex-Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt who was under investigation for allegations of bid-rigging and political financing breaches.

In May, Vaillancourt and two other municipal bureaucrats were among 37 people was arrested as part of a lengthy investigation into wrongdoing in Laval. The former mayor was charged with gangsterism and alleged to have organized an intricate system of bribes that had engineering and construction firms paying him to secure public contracts.

The incident involving Duplessis also comes just a week after Montreal's interim mayor Michael Applebaum was arrested on corruption, fraud and breach of trust charges. Applebaum took over for ex-Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay last fall after mounting allegations that his Union Montreal party had broken political financing laws in Quebec. Tremblay was never accused of breaking the law himself.

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Clark vows to move to surplus as economy slows, debt grows - Globe and Mail

The B.C. government has vowed to hit its target of slaying the deficit this year even as the economy softens.

With a surprise and decisive election victory behind her, Premier Christy Clark presented her vision Thursday for leaner government, low personal taxes and job growth fuelled by natural resource development.

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Economic growth projections have been trimmed, to 1.4 per cent from 1.6, meaning $30-million in budget cuts are on the way over the next nine months. Even then, the surplus target of $153-million sits on a knife's edge.

Compared with the pre-election budget plan tabled in February, this week's version offers a decidedly less rosy picture of the province's fiscal state.

With Ms. Clark sitting with other guests in the House – she has yet to win a seat – Finance Minister Mike de Jong delivered the budget in an unconventional presentation that featured key data displayed on large flat screens temporarily mounted on the marble walls.

He warned the government will have to be vigilant to deliver a surplus in the face of sluggish job growth, slowing retail sales, and sputtering housing starts.

But the B.C. Liberal government, which owes its fourth consecutive majority win in May in part to a campaign that promised fiscal restraint, had to present a budget in the black.

"British Columbians had a choice," Mr. de Jong told the legislature. "They said 'yes' to balanced budgets. They said 'yes' to disciplined spending."

It is the debt picture that is most troubling for Ms. Clark's government. After a campaign in which she promised to slay the debt, the province's obligations are growing faster than the expansion of the economy.

Compared with the February blueprint, the new plan adds another $630-million to the debt over the next three years. Just one Crown corporation alone, BC Hydro, accounts for an additional $440-million in spending on capital projects for this fiscal year due to cost overruns and new developments.

"It's time this government began to fret our debt, both within the legislature and at the Crown corporations," said Jordan Bateman, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Mike Farnworth, the NDP finance critic, insisted the budget is not credibly balanced, resting as it does on substantial asset sales. And he said the declining employment growth forecasts are an embarrassment for a government that has made job creation its top priority.

"People are leaving B.C. for Alberta and other places with stronger economies," Mr. Farnworth told the House. "Repeating slogans over and over doesn't make it so … The government jobs plan is failing."

The February budget wasn't passed into law, because the legislature was dissolved for the May 14 election. The new budget is based on the same framework, and is key to setting the tone for government now that Ms. Clark has secured her first mandate from B.C. voters, after winning her party's leadership two years ago. The Premier lost her seat in the election, and is now running in a by-election in a safe Liberal seat in the Interior.

The bottom line of the fiscal plan – which mirrors Ms. Clark's campaign mantra – is to wipe out the deficit and wrestle down the ever-expanding costs for health-care spending. The plan is to take B.C. from a $1.1-billion deficit in the past fiscal year to a surplus. That requires a growing economy, spending restraint, higher taxes for business and high-income earners, and asset sales.

However the "debt-free B.C." plan can't be found in the budget – it is based on the creation of a liquefied natural gas sector that is still years away from reality.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. de Jong said he was troubled to learn of the cost overruns that have emerged on several BC Hydro projects – something the Crown corporation's board only learned a few weeks ago. But he could shed no light on how that will be managed. Nor could he say where additional savings in government will be found.

"No argument from me that what we are talking about is a balancing act that requires attention to detail," Mr. de Jong said. "Finding efficiencies in government is an ongoing process."

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Oil products removed from derailed tankers near Calgary - CBC.ca

Crews have successfully removed all of the oil products off six tanker cars that teetered on a broken rail bridge over the swollen Bow River in Calgary.

Ed Greenberg of Canadian Pacific Railway confirmed the product, used to dilute raw oilsands bitumen, did not leak into the river.

He says crews are now preparing to remove the derailed units by stabilizing them while locomotives positioned on each side of the damaged bridge will pull the cars safely to each side.

Greenberg says that should be completed by Friday morning.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi had earlier chastised Canadian Pacific for the derailment, which happened in the wee hours Thursday.

But later he said the rail company had apologized for the chaos, which added to tensions in the flood-ravaged city.

CP engineers at the scene said the bridge had actually been inspected 18 times since flooding began.

But company CEO Hunter Harrison says they did not send divers down to look because the water was moving so fast.

He says it would have been "jeopardizing commerce" to hold back the train.

The six cars were part of a train that derailed on southeast Calgary's Bonnybrook rail bridge around 3:45 a.m. MT. They were at risk of falling into the fast-moving Bow River, but officials tethered the cars together so they dangled over the water.

The bridge initially buckled and dropped about half a metre.

Heavy machinery was moved in around noon and crews set up pumps to extract material from the derailed cars.

Five of the rail cars contained petroleum diluent, which is used to thin petroleum products, including bitumen from Alberta oilsands, for transporting through a pipeline.

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South Africans Maintain Vigil for Critically Ill Nelson Mandela - Bloomberg

South Africans maintained a vigil for Nelson Mandela, the nation's first black president, who's in critical condition in a Pretoria hospital where he has spent the past three weeks after contracting a lung infection.

Several hundred people flocked to the hospital last night to wish Mandela well and deliver cards and flowers. Their ranks had thinned to about 100 this morning.

"We love Mandela," said Sylvia Sikhosana, 28, a pre-primary teacher, who came to the hospital with three colleagues and about 12 children from their school. "We really want him to get better."

Concern over Mandela's health heightened after President Jacob Zuma canceled a trip to a regional summit in Mozambique late on June 26. Mandela's condition improved overnight and was stable, though still critical, the presidency said yesterday.

Well-wishers have also gone to Mandela's homes in Johannesburg and the village of Qunu in the southeast of the country, while the ruling African National Congress has staged prayer meetings.

"Our thoughts and prayers right now are with the people of South Africa," U.S. President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to arrive in the country later today for an official visit, told reporters in Dakar, Senegal, yesterday. Mandela is "a hero for the world. His legacy is one that will linger on throughout the ages."

Mandela, who is due to turn 95 next month, served a single five-year term as president after his ANC won the country's first multiracial elections in 1994. He spent 27 years in jail for opposing white minority rule and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

"We love you Mandela," five-year-old Thando Kual said in an interview outside the hospital. "We want you to get well because we want to celebrate your birthday with you."

Doctors downgraded Mandela's condition to critical on June 23.

Mandela continues to open his eyes and respond to touch, his daughter Makaziwe told the state-owned SAfm radio station yesterday.

"I can reiterate that Tata is very critical," she said, using the Xhosa-language word for father. "Anything is imminent. It's only God who knows when the time to go is."

To contact the reporters on this story: Tshepiso Mokhema in Johannesburg at tmokhema@bloomberg.net; Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net

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Vatican official arrested in alleged plot to bring 20M euro into Italy on ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune

VATICAN CITY — A Vatican official already under investigation in a purported money-laundering plot involving the Vatican bank was arrested Friday in a separate operation: Prosecutors allege he tried to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into Italy from Switzerland aboard an Italian government plane, his lawyer said.

Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a recently suspended accountant in one of the Vatican's main financial departments, is accused of fraud, corruption and slander stemming from the plot, which never got off the ground, attorney Silverio Sica told The Associated Press.

He said Scarano was a middleman in the operation: Friends had asked him to intervene with a broker, Giovanni Carenzio, to return 20 million euros they had given him to invest. Sica said Scarano persuaded Carenzio to return the money, and an Italian secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito, went to Switzerland to bring the cash back aboard an Italian government aircraft. Such a move would presumably prevent any reporting of the money coming into Italy.

The operation failed because Carenzio reneged on the deal, Sica said.

Zito, nevertheless, demanded his 400,000 euro commission. Scarano paid him an initial 200,000 euros by check, which Zito deposited, Sica said. But in a bid to not have the second check deposited at the bank, Scarano filed a report for a missing 200,000 check, even though he knew Zito had it, Sica said.

Carenzio and Zito also were arrested Wednesday along with Scarano, Sica said.

It's not the only troubles facing Scarano.

Prosecutors in the southern city of Salerno have placed him under investigation for alleged money-laundering stemming from his account at the Vatican's bank, the Institute for Religious Works. Just this week, Pope Francis named a commission of inquiry into the bank to get to the bottom of the problems that have plagued it for decades and contributed to damaging the Vatican's reputation in global financial circles.

That investigation concerns transactions Scarano made in 2009 in which he took 560,000 euros ($729,000) in cash out of his personal IOR bank account and carried it out of the Vatican and into Italy to help pay off a mortgage on his Salerno home.

To deposit the money into an Italian bank account — and to prevent family members from finding out he had such a large chunk of cash — he asked 56 close friends to accept 10,000 euros apiece in cash in exchange for a check or money transfer in the same amount, Sica said earlier this week. Scarano was then able to deposit the amounts in his Italian account.

The original money came into Scarano's IOR account from donors who gave it to the prelate thinking they were funding a home for the terminally ill in Salerno, Sica said. He said the donors had "enormous" wealth and could offer such donations for his charitable efforts.

He said Scarano had given the names of the donors to prosecutors and insisted the origin of the money was clean, that the transactions didn't constitute money-laundering, and that he only took the money "temporarily" for his personal use.

The home for terminally ill hasn't been built, though the property has been identified, Sica said.

"He declares himself absolutely innocent," Sica said of the Salerno investigation.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told the AP earlier this week that the Vatican is taking the appropriate measures to deal with Scarano's case.

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