LA Sheriff's Deputies Arrested In Jail Probe

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal officials said 18 current and former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies saw themselves as being "above the law" when they engaged in crimes that included beating inmates and jail visitors, falsifying reports, and trying to obstruct an FBI probe of the nation's largest jail system.

The investigation into corruption and civil rights abuses led to the arrests Monday of 16 of the 18 defendants. At least two no longer work for the department.

Congress' NDAA Deal Could Make It Easier For Obama To Finally Close Guantanamo

WASHINGTON -- The Senate and House Armed Services committees have reached a deal that would, for the first time, loosen restrictions that impede the Pentagon's ability to transfer Guantanamo detainees to foreign countries, making it slightly easier for the Obama administration to pursue the president's longstanding goal of closing the detention facilities.

The compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 would expand the executive branch's ability to transfer Guantanamo prisoners to other countries, while maintaining the ban on bringing them to the United States. The proposed NDAA would allow detainees to be sent to Yemen, but would require the administration to report on the Yemen government's ability to detain, rehabilitate or prosecute them.

Cops Asked For Cell Phone Data More Than 1 Million Times Last Year

Where you've been, whom you've talked to and even what you've been saying -- police can get it all from your cell phone company, and frequently without a warrant. The big wireless carriers received more than 1.1 million requests from law enforcement for customer data in 2012, according to letters to Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) that his office released Monday.

Markey, who sits on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, asked the major wireless carriers to detail how often they turn over data and in what circumstances they require a warrant signed by a judge before they do so.

UK government issues warning over doing business with Israeli settlements

The UK government has issued an explicit warning to British businesses over the risks of involvement in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including potential damage to a company's reputation.

New guidance published by UK Trade & Investment, a government body that works with British businesses in international markets, says there are "clear risks related to economic and financial activities in the settlements, and we do not encourage or offer support to such activity".

TransCanada: Keystone XL's Southern Leg Now Pumping Oil

CALGARY - Oil has begun to flow on the southern leg of TransCanada Corp.'s (TSX:TRP) Keystone XL pipeline.

Spokesman Shawn Howard says the company began filling the US$2.3-billion line with oil Saturday morning in Cushing, Okla.

That crude will eventually make its way to Houston-area refineries.

Howard says over the coming weeks, TransCanada will inject about three million barrels of oil into the system.

TransCanada is still awaiting approval from the Obama administration to construct the US$5.4-billion northern portion of Keystone XL more than five years after it applied for a permit.

The company was able to move ahead with the Gulf Coast portion first because it doesn't cross the Canada-U.S. border.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.ca
Author:  CP  |  By The Canadian Press 

Canada's Top One Per Cent Holding Steady: StatsCan

Canada’s top one per cent of earners took home 10.6 per cent of all income in the country in 2011, while the top half of earners took home 83 per cent of all the money earned, new data from StatsCan shows.

The statistical agency’s report on high-income earners noted there was no change, nationally, in the concentration of income from the previous year. Alberta and Newfoundland were the only provinces where high-income earners increased their share of income. The share going to the top one per cent fell in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia, StatsCan said.

Lack Of Rural Broadband Access Creating Divide Among Canadians

A boat, nets, traps, hooks and lines: This is the gear the fishermen of Newfoundland’s sleepy hamlets have relied on for centuries. The last tool they thought they’d need to earn a living on the high seas was a high-speed internet connection.

These fishermen are some of the Canadians most affected by a push by the federal government to phase out in-person counters in favour of online applications for fishing licenses. The move has left them struggling to to adapt to the online world as the rhythm of the ancient trade is disrupted by technological shifts.

Tory MP wants to look into 'legal protection' of 'children before birth'

Just days after Stephen Woodworth launched his latest bid to reopen the abortion debate, a second Conservative backbencher has served notice that he, too, may soon put the question of what, if any, changes should be made to Canada's abortion laws to the parliamentary test.

The motions, which were added to the Order Paper by Saskatchewan MP Maurice Vellacott last Friday, incorporate slightly different wording, but share a common goal; namely, striking a special House committee to study the "legal protections" accorded to "children before birth," either by reviewing past court decisions for evidence of "any negative impact on women, men, children and Canadian society," or, alternately, looking at what changes might be required to bring the current regime in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

President of the OFL talks 'right to work' laws, union attacks and diversity

It’s the Friday afternoon on the last day of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) convention and Sid Ryan, President of the OFL, is tired. For a week he’s been leading the convention through its paces, which included a protest to raise the minimum wage and a whole host of eminent speakers, including Maude Barlow and the Official Opposition leader, Thomas Mulcair.

Most significantly, delegates voted to approve a new common front plan that will see the OFL expand its activism outside of its traditional labour scope.

Tar sands funding pollutes snow exhibit at Museum of Civilization, says Frosty the Snowperson

Snowpeople are now distancing themselves from controversial tar sands funding of the Museum of Civilization by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). Friday morning Frosty the Snowperson protested the funding arrangement with a sign saying "CAPP pollutes snow." Photos are available here.

The Council of Canadians, Ecology Ottawa, and the Polaris Institute organized the action to raise concerns about the $1-million contribution to the museum from CAPP, and were on site sharing leaflets with museum visitors. CAPP includes tar sands producers that pollute snow, air and waterways in Alberta, and the organizations argue that increased corporate sponsorship threatens to pollute precious cultural institutions like the Canadian Museum of Civilization.