Bell Canada and the Ontario government reportedly profited from an inmate calling system which charged “exorbitant” rates for calls made over eight years. Bell operated the Offender Telephone Management System from 2013 to 2021, offering local calling prices at $1 for local calls, but $1 per minute plus a $2.50 connection fee for long-distance. These rates were reportedly four times higher than other provinces, according to a lower court judge. The new system now includes long-distance rates of a few cents per minute, and a proposed class action lawsuit seeks $150m in damages and restitution.
Trudeau touches down in South Korea for talks on economic security, China interference
CBC
23-05-16 12:14
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and two of his cabinet ministers have arrived in South Korea to lay the groundwork for an economic security bilateral dialogue. Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly plan to enter high-level talks while there. The trip is viewed as an economic insurance policy where nations look after one another. Diversifying supply chains post-pandemic and resisting economic coercion are among the major topics that will be discussed during this year's meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) nations.
Sir Frederick Barclay's ex-wife has expressed astonishment at the amount spent on the retired businessman's lawyers. In May 2021, he had to pay Lady Hiroko lump sums totalling £100m following the breakdown of their 34-year marriage, but has yet to pay. Lady Hiroko has alleged that he is in contempt of court and he has failed to pay about £245,000 he owes his ex-wife for legal fees and maintenance. Barrister Stewart Leech has said over £1m has been spent on lawyers representing Sir Frederick. On Tuesday, Aidan and Howard Barclay will give evidence at the hearing.
Girlfriend of homicide victim testifies on the second day of murder trial
The Toronto Star
23-05-16 16:55
The girlfriend of a man killed in Manitoba, Canada, during an alleged botched robbery has given evidence during the trial against the accused. Cristin Wise told the court she was with victim Clifford Joseph on June 6, 2021, when he said he was going to a neighbour's home. Joseph then told her he was planning on taking a trailer winch from the property. According to prosecutors, Eric Wildman ran over and shot Joseph three times. His trial for first-degree murder continues. Wise had searched for Joseph after he failed to return home before later finding his truck abandoned on a nearby property.
Montreal Police is investigating more than two dozen vehicles set alight in an act of arson in a southwestern borough, adding to a spate of arson cases in the region targetting vehicles and businesses this year. Police have not ruled out whether there is a connection with today's incident and the other attacks. Montreal police chief Fady Dagher said police are investigating a string of arson attacks on Lebanese cafes, whose owners are being punished allegedly for refusing to submit to extortion attempts.
The US Justice Department has revealed alleged cases of stolen sensitive technology that was passed to foreign adversaries, such as Apple’s software code for self-driving cars and materials used in missiles, going to countries like China, Russia and Iran. Criminal cases now being brought to light date back several years but the work of a task force, created this year, is being highlighted to disrupt the transfer of goods to foreign countries.
The US Justice Department has charged a former Apple engineer with trying to steal the firm's autonomous driving technology and then moving to China. It was one of five cases announced on 21 November, designed to counter the illicit acquisition of US technology by countries that included China and Russia. The charges, the first announced by a special “strike force” established in February, come amid growing concern that foreign nations are gaining access to sensitive technology.
The Justice Minister in Canada, David Lametti, has introduced new legislation aimed at reforming the country's bail system. The update will create new reverse-onus bail conditions for people who are charged with serious violent offenses gone involving a weapon and were convicted within the last five years of a similar crime. The bill will also expand reverse-onus provisions for offenses involving intimate partner violence. The proposed changes to the Criminal Code come amid pressure to reduce the number of repeat violent offenders given bail in the country.
US Attorney for Massachusetts, Rachael Rollins, will resign by the end of the week following an ethics investigation by the US Justice Department's inspector general's office. The investigation was prompted by Rollins' appearance at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser and ultimately focused on issues including her travel and her use of her personal cellphone for official business. No public statement has been made about the results of the investigation.
The forensic pathologist in the trial of a man accused of murder in Vancouver has said that the victim was killed by strangulation, which had caused blood vessels to burst. Dr. Jason Morin, who conducted the autopsy of the girl, who was 13 years old at the time of her death in July 2017, also revealed to British Columbia Supreme Court that the girl sustained “blunt force” scalp and head injuries before she died. The presence of sperm was found within the victim's body and a lack of blood supply was identified by the autopsy.
US officials have offered a $10m bounty for the capture of Mikhail Matveev, a Russian hacker who is believed to be one of the leading members of the Hive, LockBit and Babuk ransomware gangs. Matveev—who has claimed to have removed his own finger after losing a bet—has also been accused of stealing the home addresses of Washington DC police officers earlier this year, along with claiming to have uncovered the true identities of hundreds of police informants. Also among US officials’ recent targets is Weibao Wang, a former Apple engineer who is alleged to have tried to steal trade secrets from the company.
The International Court of Justice will hear Ukraine’s claim on June 6 that Russia violated a UN treaty by supporting pro-Russian separatists who shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Last November, a Dutch court convicted two Russians and one Ukrainian national of murder in relation to the incident, sentencing them to life imprisonment. The court also found that Russia had “overall control” over Donetsk forces in the region from mid-May 2014. The new case is one of two brought by Ukraine against Russia at the ICJ. The other relates to Russia’s claim that it invaded Ukraine to prevent genocide.
Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko faces accusations from a woman who worked at a massage parlour of sexual assault and making threats on his witnesses' lives. Sonko and his supporters claim that the charges are part of a political conspiracy to target his candidacy in the next presidential election. The trial, which began Tuesday, has sparked protests pitting the opposition against President Macky Sall and law enforcement forces. In the past year, there have been several protests calling for Sall to resign due to alleged corruption. Sall has held the presidency for over ten years and is yet to announce whether he will seek re-election in a move that opponents argue would be unconstitutional. The situation is expected to remain tense for the foreseeable future.
A woman was shot and killed while driving in the Côte-des-Neiges borough of Montreal. The shooting took place in a parking lot, and police say the vehicle was in motion when the woman was shot and subsequently collided with a building. The victim's identity is currently unknown, and the suspect fled on foot. Witnesses are being interviewed, and the major crimes unit and forensic identification technicians are investigating.
He was accused of having a gun at school. Now, he's suing the TDSB and Toronto police
CBC
23-05-16 23:57
An 18-year-old student who was arrested at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, Toronto after a fight broke out on January 19th, is suing the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Police Services Board for negligence. Ahmaud Benjamin Cockburn claims he was not the perpetrator of the attack but was instead a victim, and is seeking $2m in damages. Cokburn is also suing six fellow students, and none of the allegations have yet been proven. The $2m lawsuit claims that he was involved in a fight between other students where racially charged insults were used, and when he moved to intervene another student called him the N-word. The plaintiff was then attacked by several other students and was left with a broken nose. When another student claimed that he had seen a gun, the school was put into lockdown and spent several hours in police custody, although no weapon was found. Cokburn has suffered ongoing PTSD since the incident and says he now feels unwelcome in his community. Meanwhile, the Toronto Police Services Board and TPS declined to comment, saying they could not do so with the case before the courts.
The Police Review Board in Nova Scotia has dismissed Kayla Borden's complaint of wrongful arrest and racial profiling. Borden, a Black woman, was pulled over by Halifax Regional Police officers in July 2020, handcuffed and told she was under arrest, after officers had been looking for a vehicle that had fled a traffic stop in Bedford. An internal investigation found no wrongdoing on the part of the officers, and an independent police board has now confirmed that officers acted appropriately, finding no evidence of racial bias or systemic racism. Borden's lawyer has said his client may proceed with a judicial review of the decision.
A Chinese native has been charged by the US Department of Justice with stealing trade secrets from Apple, including information on autonomous vehicle technology. Weibao Wang, a former software engineer accused of stealing thousands of documents, is one of five individuals to be pursued as part of a government task force created to combat the theft of critical technology by foreign countries. Wang, who told investigators he had no plans to travel to China, immediately flew to Guangzhou upon being questioned by law enforcement officers who discovered a large volume of Apple data at his California home in 2018.
Harry Blackburn, the former detective superintendent at the New South Wales (NSW) Police Force, has died at the age of 93. In 1989, Blackburn was charged with 25 serious criminal offences, including rape, robbery, and kidnapping that he was alleged to have committed between 1969 and 1985. The NSW Police said that Blackburn had hidden behind his badge for years and praised their fearless approach to pursuing corrupt personnel. However, once some diligent police reviewed the evidence, the charges were dropped and Blackburn sued the NSW government for wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, and defamation, winning substantial damages. A royal commission that followed the investigation into Blackburn and his charges indicated that the police had been overzealous in their investigation of him. Blackburn died aged 93 and is survived by his wife, three children, 10 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service is to be held in his honour on the Gold Coast.
Landlords have criticised new legislation proposed by the UK government, which is expected to trigger thousands of further sales of properties. The Renters' Reform Bill will scrap section 21 – an eviction clause – which allows landlords to remove tenants who damage property or refuse to pay rent. Scrapping section 21 will force landlords to rely on small claims courts to regain control of their assets, but extensive delays in such courts have led to criticism the legislation is failing to take the strain the current pandemic has put these courts under into consideration. Such concerns have triggered a backlash from Conservative MPs and some landlords.
Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has announced that he will be pursuing a "bigger victory" in 12 days' time when Turkish voters return to the polls. Supporters of Erdogan will stand alongside him, as he seeks a third term as president and a five-year extension of his twenty-year rule. On May 28th, Erdogan, a controversial politician, must face a second round against his opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Despite his victory on Sunday, when Erdogan emerged largely, but not totally, victorious, his party, Justice and Development, recorded the lowest level of support since it came to power in 2002.
