VOCR Gazette 070113 -CANADA DAY!

Monday July 1st 2012

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CANADA DAY SPECIAL

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Canada Celebrates!

Canada Day occurs on July 1st, the anniversary of Canada's confederation. Canadians commemorate the day with parades, fireworks, cookouts, and concerts. The popularity of the holiday has been on the incline since the late 1960's and has since become a nationwide celebration.

What-Why Canada Day?

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International News

Brotherhood HQ in Cairo stormed

Anti-government protesters in Egypt have stormed the national headquarters of President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in the capital, Cairo.

People ransacked the building in the Moqattam area and set parts on fire.
Officials say eight people have been killed in clashes outside since Sunday, while eight others have died elsewhere.
Meanwhile, four ministers are reported to have resigned, a day after millions took to the streets across the country to demand the president leave power.
The al-Watan website said the ministers of tourism, environment, communication and legal affairs had acted "in solidarity with the people's demand to overthrow the regime".
Earlier, the opposition movement behind the protests, Tamarod (Rebel), gave Mr Morsi until Tuesday afternoon to step down and call fresh presidential elections, or else face a campaign of civil disobedience.
Protesters across Egypt accuse the president of failing to tackle economic and security problems since being elected a year ago. His supporters insist he needs more time.
Related stories: Turmoil grips Egypt as four ministers quit Morsi government

Afghanistan Casualties: Insurgents Kill Nearly 300 Afghan Security Forces In Span Of A Month 

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Insurgents killed nearly 300 Afghan local and national police in the span of a month, the Interior Ministry said Monday, as casualties continue to mount among local forces now that NATO-led coalition troops have handed over responsibility for combat operations.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told reporters at a regular news conference that 299 police had been killed between May 10 to June 13, and another 618 were wounded.
In the same time span, Sediqqi said 753 militants had been killed in joint operations with the military and others and more than 300 arrested; 180 civilians were also killed.
Sediqqi did not provide any comparison figures from previous months, but according to an Associated Press count, the violence this year is similar to its worst levels in nearly 12 years of war.
As Afghan forces have become more involved in security operations they have seen a sharp rise in deaths, while casualties among the U.S.-led military coalition have fallen as the international forces pull back to let the Afghans take the lead. The NATO coalition in June formally handed over all security operations across the country to Afghan forces.
According to an AP count, 807 Afghan security force members – including soldiers and police – and 365 civilians have been killed so far this year through the end of May. A total of 63 coalition troops were also killed in that span.
Last year through the end of May, Afghan security forces lost 365 soldiers and police and 338 civilians were killed. Coalition forces lost 177 troops during that time.
Sediqqi said the biggest danger facing the security forces were roadside bombs.
"That's where we have lots of fatalities," he said.

Car bomb kills 15 as British PM visits Pakistan

A car bomb aimed at a Pakistani security force convoy killed 15 people and wounded 25 others Sunday on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar, an official said.

The attack happened not far from the semi-autonomous tribal belt where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked groups have bases, as British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the capital Islamabad.
"Now 15 people have died," said Jamil Shah, spokesman for the government-run Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.
At least three children were among the dead, and two children and a woman were among more than 20 injured, he added.
Javed Khan, a local administration official, told reporters that one policeman was also among the dead in the attack at Badaber, a flashpoint for violence south of Peshawar.
"This is a very sad incident. There have been targeted operations in that area in the last few days and we have arrested many terrorists from that area," Khan said.
Shops and cars were damaged in the attack, an AFP reporter said. Pieces of human flesh, broken glass, lost shoes and vegetables from nearby carts were flung across the scene, and the seats of damaged cars were stained with blood.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone from the paramilitary Frontier Corps, the target of the attack, had been killed.

Syrian forces pound rebel-held areas of Homs 

Syrian forces have launched a major offensive against rebel-held parts of the city of Homs.

Aircraft, tanks and mortar units attacked several areas, activists say. Unverified footage showed clouds of smoke from explosions across the city.
Syrian state TV said the army had achieved a "great success" in Homs after "killing many terrorists".
The attack follows gains in Homs province by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in recent weeks.
They captured the strategically important town of Qusair, between Homs and the Lebanese border, in early June.
Rebel stronghold Rebels say communication lines in Homs were cut on Saturday morning, before the bombardment began.
The city has been a rebel stronghold since the uprising against President Assad began more than two years ago.
An activist in Homs told the Associated Press news agency that the assault was "the worst campaign against the city since the revolution began".
In the Khalidiya and nearby Old City districts of Homs, shelling had been continuous since 10:00 (07:00 GMT), activist Tariq Bardakhan told the agency on Saturday afternoon.

Thousands Fill Taksim Demanding Justice For Dead Protester

ISTANBUL -- Thousands of protesters returned to Istanbul's Taksim Square on Saturday, demanding justice for a demonstrator slain by police fire during demonstrations that have swept Turkey this month. Police later forced the protesters out of the square, pushing them back using their shields.
In the capital, Ankara, police fired tear gas and pressurized water to break up a similar protest by a group of about 200 people, the Dogan news agency reported.
Turkey has been hit by a wave of protests this month that were ignited by a brutal police crackdown on a peaceful environmental sit-in at a park near Taksim. The demonstrations soon turned into a wide outpouring of discontent with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. Four people – three demonstrators and one police officer – have been killed and thousands injured.
The demonstrations have largely subsided in recent days, but thousands converged back on the square on Saturday, angry over a court decision this week that released a police officer from custody pending his trial for the killing of a protester in Ankara.
The protesters also denounced the killing of a Kurdish demonstrator by paramilitary police in a mainly Kurdish town on Friday.
Police allowed protesters to chant slogans for some two hours before issuing a warning for them to disperse. They then moved in, pushing the crowd away from the square. They arrested several people in the process, including some foreign nationals, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Earlier Saturday, hundreds in southeast Turkey attended the funeral of the Kurdish youth, who was shot while protesting the construction of a military post. Eight other people were injured in the same protest when security forces fired on them in the mainly Kurdish town of Lice.

Saudi Arabia jails seven for inciting protests on Facebook

Saudi Arabia has sentenced seven activists from its restive Eastern province to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years for posting messages on Facebook calling for anti-government protests, according to Human Rights Watch.
The New York-based rights group urged the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and other European officials who were meeting with Gulf counterparts in Manama on Sunday to condemn the convictions.
Eastern province has seen occasional protests by minority Shia Muslims over the past two years against alleged discrimination and negligence, which the Riyadh government denies.
A Saudi-based human rights campaigner said the activists were all Shias from al-Ahsa governorate who had set up Facebook pages to urge people to stage demonstrations. "The sectarian situation in the region made the sentences tough and unreasonable," he said.
Human Rights Watch said the seven men were detained in September 2011 and spent a year and a half in prison before being tried by a special tribunal set up in 2008 to handle terrorism-related cases.
The court did not charge the men with directly participating in the protests, HRW said, but with inciting "protests, illegal gathering, and breaking allegiance with the king".
Saudi Arabia moved swiftly in early 2011 to quell protests by minority Shias over the deployment of Saudi forces to nearby Bahrain to help crush anti-government demonstrations there. A majority of Bahraini citizens are Shia.

Chinese media blames Syrian rebels for Xinjiang violence

Report: Members of "East Turkestan" are participating with rebel forces in the Syrian Civil War, spelling trouble for China.

BEIJING - Chinese state media blamed Syrian government and opposition forces on Monday, in unusually specific finger pointing, for training Muslim extremists responsible for the deadliest unrest in four years in China's far-western region of Xinjiang.
China has traditionally blamed violence in Xinjiang, home to the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighur people, on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent state of "East Turkestan".
This appears to mark the first time Beijing has blamed Syria and fits a common narrative of the government portraying Xinjiang's violence as coming from abroad, such as Pakistan, and not due to homegrown anger.
Many Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang resent what they call Chinese government restrictions on their culture, language and religion. Beijing accuses extremists of separatism.

UN nuclear chief warns of "dirty bomb" threat

U.S. says al Qaeda tried for years to get nuclear material

VIENNA - More action is needed to stop militants aquiring plutonium or highly-enriched uranium that could be used for atomic bombs, nuclear experts and government officials said on Monday.
Speaking at a meeting in Vienna, Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned against a "false sense of security" over the danger of nuclear terrorism.
Amano, holding up a small lead container said to have been was used try to traffic highly enriched uranium in the former Soviet Republic of Moldova two years ago, said it showed a "worrying level of knowledge on the part of the smugglers".
"This case ended well," he said. "Unfortunately, we cannot be sure if such cases are just the tip of the iceberg."
Analysts say radical groups could theoretically build a crude but deadly nuclear bomb if they have the money, technical knowledge and the amount of fissile material needed.
Many states have taken steps to prevent malicious acts such as nuclear theft and sabotage, Amano told the delegates.
"Partly as a result of these efforts, there has not been a terrorist attack involving nuclear or other radioactive material," Amano said. "But this must not lull us into a false sense of security."

US official condemns Hezbollah's actions in Syria

A senior U.S. official has condemned Hezbollah for its involvement in the Syrian civil war and says the Lebanese militant group's actions place the future of Lebanon at risk.

Deputy Secretary of State William Burns says Hezbollah has decided to put its own interests above those of the Lebanese people.
Burns spoke at a news conference in Beirut Monday at the end of a two-day visit to Lebanon during which he met with Lebanese officials.
Fighters from the powerful Shiite Muslim Lebanese party have joined Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces in their battle to crush the anti-Assad rebellion, which is dominated by Sunnis. The group's open participation in the war has helped fan sectarian hatreds in Lebanon and across the region.

Spying row threatens EU-US talks

French President Francois Hollande has said allegations that the US bugged European embassies could threaten a huge planned trade deal.

Negotiations over the EU-US pact, the biggest bilateral deal ever negotiated, are due to start on 8 July.
Mr Hollande said there could be no negotiations without guarantees that spying would stop "immediately".
US Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier that activities to protect national security were "not unusual".
He told journalists that he did not know the truth of the allegations, but that he had been asked about them by the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and would report back to her.
The allegations, published at the weekend by Der Spiegel in Germany and the Guardian in Britain, have angered many in Europe.
The European Commission called it "disturbing news if proven true" and said it expected "clarity and transparency" about the issue from Washington.



Croatians cheer country's historic EU entry
 ZAGREB: Tens of thousands of Croatians cheered the country's entry into the European Union at midnight Sunday (2200 GMT), almost two decades after the former Yugoslav republic's bloody independence war ended.

"Welcome to the European Union!" European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said in Croatian to 20,000 people gathered in the Zagreb square hosting the main celebration.

Moments later, the EU anthem, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" struck up and fireworks lit up the sky above the capital, marking Croatia's entry into the bloc as its 28th member.

Countdown celebrations for the historic moment were held in cities throughout the country of 4.2 million as crowds cheered and waved EU and Croatia's flags in joy.

More than 100 European dignitaries attended the event at the Zagreb main square, where three stages were decked out in the EU's trademark blue for performances by some 700 singers, musicians and dancers.

"Today is a great and joyful day for our homeland ..." President Ivo Josipovic told the crowd.

"This the day when we open a new chapter in the thick book of our history."

In a symbolic gesture, on the stroke of midnight Croatia removed the "Customs" sign at a border crossing with Slovenia, the first former Yugoslav republic to have joined the bloc.

At the same time, the "EU" sign went up at the land border with Serbia, another ex-Yugoslav republic, which on Friday got a green light from Brussels to open membership talks by January 2014.  

 

Obama announces $7-billion U.S. investment in electric power in Africa

In the grandest Africa plan of his presidency, U.S. President Barack Obama aims to use billions of dollars in corporate and government money to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, creating “light where currently there is darkness.”
Mr. Obama announced the plan on Sunday after a solemn visit to the former prison on Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was jailed for 18 years. He said he was “deeply humbled” to see Mr. Mandela’s tiny prison cell and the limestone quarry where he toiled.

Student loan rates double after Congress fails on fix

Interest rates on federally subsidized Stafford student loans doubled overnight, soaring from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent after Congress failed to reach a deal. 
Though lawmakers potentially could still pass a bill to undo the damage, Congress' Joint Economic Committee has estimated the increase -- unless and until it is reversed -- will cost the average college student an additional $2,600.

New Australia PM Kevin Rudd unveils cabinet line-up

Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has unveiled his cabinet, five days after ousting Julia Gillard as Labor Party leader.

The cabinet contains a record number of women and many Rudd backers, who replace Gillard loyalists who stepped down after the leadership change.
The foreign affairs, defence and home affairs ministers remained unchanged.
The new cabinet was sworn in on Monday and was to hold its first meeting shortly afterwards.
Kevin Rudd ousted Ms Gillard amid poll figures showing she was on course for a crushing defeat in a general election that is currently set for 14 September.
A poll on Sunday showed the return of Mr Rudd - who Ms Gillard ousted as prime minister just over three years ago - had, as expected, given Labor a boost.
The Galaxy Research poll found support for Labor - if the two main parties were compared - had jumped by four percentage points to 49%, with the Liberals on 51%.
Mr Rudd was significantly ahead of opposition leader Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister, the poll showed, with 51% to Mr Abbott's 34%.

House committee says Lois Lerner waived Fifth Amendment right

Republican lawmakers on Friday passed a resolution declaring that an Internal Revenue Service official waived her Fifth Amendment right last month when she proclaimed her innocence at a congressional hearing, but legal experts said the vote is all but meaningless.

The House Oversight Committee called Lois Lerner to testify May 14 about the agency’s inappropriate scrutiny of groups seeking tax-exempt status.


Before invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, Lerner told the committee: “I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee.”
Lerner’s attorney has said she is part of a Justice Department criminal investigation. The IRS has placed her on administrative leave.
“With the advice of counsel sitting right behind her, she testified to nine different factual assertions,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said Friday. “The case law is clear. That is not the way the Fifth Amendment works.”

Obama Regime Spends $53M On Voter ID Cards In Kenya While Calling Voter ID Laws In U.S. Racist

As President Obama and his family continue their tour of Africa, the White House put out a Fact Sheet entitled “U.S. Support for Strengthening Democratic Institutions, Rule of Law, and Human Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa.” One of the first items highlighted by the White House is a $53 million program in Kenya that helps young people ”obtain National identification cards, a prerequisite to voter registration.”

Civil society and independent media play a critical role in any vibrant democracy. Across sub-Saharan Africa, the United States supports efforts to ensure civil society organizations and independent media can organize, advocate, and raise awareness with governments and the private sector to improve political processes, transparency, and government performance. Examples include:

• In Kenya, the $53 million Yes Youth Can program empowers nearly one million Kenyan youth to use their voices for advocacy in national and local policy-making, while also creating economic opportunities. In advance of Kenya’s March 2013 general elections, Yes Youth Can’s “My ID My Life” campaign helped 500,000 youth obtain National identification cards, a prerequisite to voter registration, and carried out a successful nationwide campaign with Kenyan civic organizations to elicit peace pledges from all presidential aspirants. [emphasis added]

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Obama, George W. Bush To Meet In Tanzania

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — The White House says President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush will meet while both leaders are in Tanzania.
Obama and Bush will join together Tuesday in Dar es Salaam (dahr ehs sah-LAHM') for a wreath-laying ceremony at the site of the 1998 bombing at the U.S. Embassy that killed 11 people. The embassy has since been relocated.
Obama arrived in Tanzania on Monday on the final leg of his three-country tour of Africa. His Republican predecessor coincidentally also plans to be there for a conference on African women organized by the George W. Bush Institute.
First lady Michelle Obama and former first lady Laura Bush also plan to team up at the conference Tuesday for a joint discussion on promoting women's education, health and economic empowerment.
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