As Afghan Security Forces Training Flounders, Pentagon Alters Progress Levels, Hearing Testimony Shows

WASHINGTON -- After more than a decade and nearly $50 billion spent on building the Afghan National Security Forces, the Pentagon is still struggling to adequately train them and has lowered the standards used to assess their progress, security experts told Congress Tuesday.

At a panel of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on Tuesday, Anthony H. Cordesman, a defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies research institution, described the effort to train the ANSF to take over for the U.S. and its allies at the end of 2014 as fundamentally broken.

NYPD Spying: How A 911 Caller Outed NYPD Surveillance Of Muslims In New Jersey

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- He saw something. He said something. And he inadvertently uncovered a secret spying operation that the New York Police Department was running outside its jurisdiction.

In June 2009, a building superintendent at an apartment complex near the Rutgers University campus opened the door to unit 1076 to conduct an inspection. Tenants had been notified of the inspection weeks ago and the notice was still stuck to the door.

He turned his key, walked in and immediately knew something was wrong. A colleague called 911.

CBC's The Current Takes On Vic Toews And Tories For Claim Their Tough On Crime Approach Working

The show opened with the following monologue in the program's signature voice:

    It's Wednesday, July 25th. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says the lowest crime rate in 40 years shows his government's tough-on-crime approach is working. Also working: The tough on jobs approach for high unemployment, the tough on economy approach for record home prices, the tough on environment approach for record temperatures and tough on all of you who didn't vote Tory. This is The Current.

Canada Oil And Gas Industry: Shrinking Profits May Be A Sign Of Things To Come

The talk coming out of Canada’s oil patch in recent months has been increasingly tinged with panic. Industry leaders are growing worried about the oil sands’ future prospects, and the earnings reports coming out this week are a good sign of why that may be.

Oil producer Cenovus on Wednesday reported a 40-per-cent decline in profit in the latest quarter, falling to $396 million from $655 million a year earlier.

Things were even worse for Calgary-based natural gas producer Encana, which recorded a whopping quarterly $1.48 billion loss. It had recorded a profit of $383 million in the same period a year earlier.

Drought imperils eastern Canada crops

Weeks of drought have turned much of Ontario’s prime agricultural land into a dust bowl. And it is corn farmers, especially in the southwest and eastern parts of the province, who have been the hardest hit.

“It is a bad year in eastern Canada and it is getting worse,” said Evan Fraser, a geography professor who studies global food security at the University of Guelph, west of Toronto. The far southwest part of Ontario is “looking grim,” Dr. Fraser said, and in other parts of the province “it’s a bit of a wait-and-see game.”

Political wrangling could bury oil pipeline for good

VICTORIA - For supporters of Alberta’s Enbridge pipeline project, the quest for political support here in B.C. started on a bad footing Monday and got worse as the day went on.

First out of the gate was John Cummins, leader of the B.C. Conservatives and the keenest supporter of the pipeline among the province’s main political parties.

But Cummins, already on the record as insisting that the line pass muster on the environmental front, announced a new condition for supporting Enbridge or any other proposal to pipe oil across B.C. for export to Asian markets.

Alberta Premier Alison Redford to attend London Olympics at cost of $84,000

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Alison Redford is heading to the London Olympics at a cost to taxpayers of $84,000.

Redford says during her five-day trip she will promote the province as a place to invest and do business.

The focus will be on selling Alberta’s energy, tourism and culture sectors on the world stage.

Redford says the Olympics are more than a sporting event and calls it a golden opportunity to meet important decision makers and business leaders.

The premier is to be the keynote speaker at a Canadian energy day hosted by the federal Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

The cost of the London trip also covers two cabinet ministers and three government staff.

Original Article
Source: national post
Author: CP

Don’t jump to conclusions on Nexen approval, Industry Minister warns

Canada’s Industry Minister isn’t dropping any hints about whether he will approve or reject a Chinese state-owned company’s multibillion-dollar bid for Calgary-based Nexen Inc.

And just like Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Christian Paradis is warning Canadians not to jump to any conclusions about which way it will go.

Lobby groups sponsor premiers' meeting in Halifax, send delegates

Lobby groups are sending delegates to the Council of the Federation meeting in Halifax this week in an effort to talk directly to Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders, with some groups paying thousands of dollars to sponsor the conference for access to social events.

The Council of the Federation—the official name for Canada's collective provincial and territorial leaders—is meeting Wednesday through Friday in Nova Scotia's capital.

The Canadian Electricity Association, which represents electricity generators, transmitters and distributors across the country, is a gold sponsor of the premiers' meeting. Jim Burpee, the group’s president, said in an interview that the opportunity to make contact with leaders at the conference is “quite critical.”

Police funding an easy sell after brazen shootings

In the deluge of questions posed to Toronto police at a recent town hall, one stood out for slicing to the core: a worried 10-year-old boy asking what he could do to stay safe at school.

The boy was one of 3,000 residents from the at-risk Rexdale and Jane and Finch neighbourhoods taking part in a virtual town hall held on June 26 by TAVIS, the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy.