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RCMP Open Investigation into Chinese Police Stations in Canada, Trudeau Backpedaling
The RCMP in Canada has told a press briefing they are investigating reports of undeclared Chinese police stations in the province of Quebec. They stated they are investigating 2 Montreal locations believed to be operating on behalf of the Communist Party of China.
Human rights organizations have accused China of using the stations to threaten and monitor Chinese nationals in other countries. China has denied operating the stations, referring to them as “service centers” for its nationals living abroad.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Thursday that they are a “very serious concern” for his government.
“We’re in the process of ensuring that the RCMP follows up on this and that our intelligence systems take this seriously,” he said.
According to the Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders, which monitors disappearances in China, the stations are among at least 100 in 53 countries worldwide, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
In a report last year, the non-profit said the stations are part of efforts by China’s regime to “harass, threaten, intimidate and force targets to return to China for persecution”.
According to the report, Chinese public security bureaus established “overseas police service stations” across the globe, including two in London and one in Glasgow. It established stations in Toronto, Vancouver, and New York.
The RCMP confirmed in November that they were looking into reports of such service stations operating in the Greater Toronto Area.
The federal force asked Chinese Canadians who may have been targeted by “alleged Chinese police stations” to come forward on Thursday.
“These activities, as well as any other form of intimidation, harassment, or targeting of diaspora communities or individuals in Canada,” RCMP Sgt Charles Poirier said on Thursday.
Federal authorities have previously expressed concern about reports of such stations operating in Canada and the United States.
Attempts by the Communist Party of China to establish a police presence on US soil, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray, “violates the sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes,” he told a US Senate hearing in November.
According to Safeguard Defenders, an alleged Chinese police station has been set up on Broadway in New York City.
According to Chinese embassies in the United States and Canada, the locations are alleged overseas service stations established during the pandemic to assist nationals abroad with driver’s license renewal and other similar matters.
However, Jing-Jie Chen, a Safeguard Defenders researcher, told the BBC that he was skeptical of the Communist Party of China’s explanation.
“If you truly want to support your nationals abroad, you can do so through official channels; you don’t have to do it undercover,” he explained.
The RCMP investigation comes in the wake of allegations that China attempted to meddle in Canada’s two most recent federal elections, reports that have strained relations between the two countries.
Early Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s main line of defense against accusations that he ignored specific CSIS warnings about Chinese government funding of Canadian political candidates began to fray.
It started with the leak of another secret document: an unredacted committee report never publicly released that, according to Global News, explicitly advised Trudeau’s office of covert funding of candidates ahead of the 2019 federal election.
It went on from there, with Trudeau deflecting questions about what he knew and when by referring to the committee whose report had just been leaked.
And it concluded with an Opposition grilling in the Commons that was a more effective and less inflammatory prosecution of the Liberal case by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
On Wednesday, Trudeau reiterated that the national security and intelligence committee of parliamentarians (NSICOP), whose members have top-secret security clearance, is the best place to weigh highly sensitive CSIS information on foreign interference.
Despite the latest allegations, the committee was a key component of Trudeau’s announcement of new measures to reassure Canadians that their elections were free and fair.
He had asked NSICOP on Monday to look into foreign interference in the previous two campaigns after his government had been hammered in the House of Commons for days.
That committee of MPs and senators is sworn to protect official secrets and has experience and expertise in the field. It investigated foreign interference and submitted a report to the prime minister’s office in August 2019, just two weeks before a federal election was called.
However, the fact that a version of its classified work was leaked to Global News (essentially re-capping the charge that the Chinese government directed attempts to influence nomination campaigns) raises serious concerns, regardless of where the leak originated.
It calls into question Trudeau’s claim that the appropriate body can be trusted to conduct the study that the prime minister claims will restore trust in the electoral system and its safeguards, as well as whether the Trudeau government should immediately appoint a commission of inquiry.
“The entire system is built on trust,” said Stephanie Carvin, a former CSIS analyst and current professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. “And if that trust is broken,” she says, “people may not want to pass on information from a sensitive source,” or information transfer may be “slowed down.”
“And I don’t think that works for the prime minister,” she added.
It’s unclear whether the unredacted report Global News claimed to have seen came from a parliamentarian, a member of the committee’s secretariat, CSIS, or another agency with access to shared intelligence. It’s unclear whether this was the committee’s final or draft report.
The committee’s MPs and senators have access to secret materials only in a secure environment. They cannot take copies or bring cell phones, tablets, or anything else into the building.
Any unredacted report produced by the committee is sent to the PMO, which forwards it to the national security agencies — CSIS or the foreign electronic intelligence agency, CSE — to screen out information detrimental to national security, harming international relations and defense, or violating solicitor-client privilege, as required by law.
Neither CSIS nor the RCMP responded to questions from the Toronto Star about whether the latest leak is being investigated or whether it undermines their confidence in NSICOP.
The committee’s secretariat said it “is aware of media describing access to a classified version of one of the Committee’s reviews, and cannot confirm or deny the accuracy of that reporting. We are unable to make any further comments at this time.”
House leader Mark Holland, the Liberal cabinet minister in charge of the committee, did not respond to questions sent to his spokesman.
The most recent allegation that Trudeau was aware of Chinese funding and interference as early as 2019 sparked a new round of outrage in the Commons, which Trudeau struggled to refute.
Poilievre dropped the nasty partisan rhetoric from the day before, accusing Trudeau of working against Canadian interests and “covering up” support from Communist rulers in Beijing.
Instead, Poilievre attacked Trudeau like former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair during the Senate expenses scandal, asking basic questions, following non-answers with more “yes or no” questions, and summarizing Trudeau’s precarious position for MPs.
Trudeau refused to say whether anyone in his party, governing caucus or cabinet had received money from a Chinese ruling party-directed influence network.
He only reiterated what he said last fall: “I have no information on federal candidates receiving money from China.”
Poilievre drove home the point that the prime minister “used the tiny technical term ‘candidate,’ which only applies to a limited scenario 30 days before an election. He refuses to answer whether his party or any other received funds directed by Beijing’s communist dictatorship.”
Trudeau stated that Canadians could put their trust in a soon-to-be-named outside expert who would advise on whether or not an inquiry is required.
“To be honest, I know that no matter what I say, Canadians continue to have questions about what we did and didn’t do, which is why an independent special rapporteur will be able to look at the entire landscape and dig deeper into everything anyone knew at any point,” Trudeau told reporters.
According to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, the latest allegations are “eroding public trust” in Canadian institutions.
“Right now, the prime minister seems like he’s hiding something, and he could just answer those questions by launching a public inquiry. It’s independent, open, and will address Canadians’ concerns,” Singh explained.
However, Singh refuses to make foreign interference a deal-breaker for his party’s support of Trudeau’s minority government, even though he raised the issue with the prime minister in a recent meeting.
Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May believes a public inquiry is required immediately and that Trudeau’s other plan to appoint a “special rapporteur” to study whether an inquiry is required will fail. “That’s not a hunting dog.”
Trudeau is now facing criticism from his caucus over how the government handles the situation.
“In my opinion, this is far larger” than allegations of election interference, said Scarborough-Guildwood MP John McKay, who chairs the Commons national defense committee.
“The Chinese government is an existential threat to the country on multiple levels, and we must confront that.”
McKay stated that it is “not for me to say” whether his government is doing enough or whether a public inquiry into election meddling by China through its consulate offices in Canada is necessary.
“It’s bigger than the election,” McKay explained. “It’s in universities. It can be found at police stations. It can be found at the Confucius Institutes. It is concerned with resource exploitation, etc., etc. I believe it is much larger than that.”
(VOR News) – A number of financial firms and industry associations have taken legal action against the Federal Reserve of the United States in reaction to the annual stress tests that are administered to banks.
In addition to the American Bankers Association, the Ohio Bankers League, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Bank Policy Institute, which is a group that represents large financial institutions such as JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs, is joining the other organizations in filing the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs have said that the purpose of the action is to “resolve longstanding legal violations by subjecting the stress test process to public input as required by federal law.”
The Federal Reserve litigation aims to achieve this goal.
Despite the fact that the organizations have said that they do not have a negative stance on stress testing, they are of the opinion that the method that is now being utilized is insufficient and “produces vacillating and unexplained requirements and restrictions on bank capital.”
It is standard procedure for the Federal Reserve to carry out a stress test on an annual basis. This test ensures that financial institutions have adequate reserves to cover the risk of bad loans and establishes the maximum amount of share repurchases and dividends that can be distributed.
After the market closed on Monday, the Federal Reserve issued a statement indicating that it is considering adjustments to the stress tests applied to banks.
Additionally, the Federal Reserve will seek public feedback on “significant changes to improve the transparency of its bank stress tests and to reduce the volatility of resulting capital buffer requirements.”
This information was included in the announcement. As a result of “the evolving legal landscape,” the Federal Reserve claimed that it had made the choice to modify the tests. This statement was made in reference to the changes that have taken place in administrative laws over the course of the past several years.
There were no particular modifications that were described in this paper that were provided to the framework of the yearly stress testing before it was implemented. There is a likelihood that the revisions will be regarded as a win by the major banks; yet, it is possible that those modifications will be too little, too late.
Furthermore, it is possible that the revisions will not go far enough to satisfy the concerns of the banks regarding onerous capital requirements. This is a possibility.
The Federal Reserve says the changes will not materially affect capital requirements.
It was stated in a statement that was issued by Greg Baer, the Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of the Philippines, that “The Board’s announcement today is a first step towards transparency and accountability.”
Baer expressed his support for the Federal Reserve’s action. The statement issued by Baer, on the other hand, was a veiled allusion to additional actions. He stated, “We are reviewing it closely and considering additional options to ensure timely reforms that are both good law and good policy.”
The British Bankers Association (BPI) and the American Bankers Association (ABA) are two examples of organizations that have voiced their concerns in the past about the stress test procedure.
The aforementioned organizations have argued that the process is not transparent and has resulted in increasing capital rules, which have a detrimental effect on the lending practices of banks and the expansion of the economy.
The groups claimed in July that the Federal Reserve had broken the Administrative Procedure Act by not asking for public comment on its stress scenarios and by maintaining strict confidentiality about supervising models. Both of these acts were claimed to have happened.
SOURCE: CNBC
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American Airlines Has Canceled All Domestic Flights Due to a Technical Issue.
Joe Biden Commutes Sentences For 37 Of The 40 Federal Death Row Prisoners.
(VOR News) – Due to technical difficulties, American Airlines (AA) was forced to cancel all of its flights departing from the United States on Tuesday morning.
This decision was reached as a result of information that was provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
American Airlines’ findings were based on FAA data.
The airline is currently dealing with a lot of problems as a consequence of a considerable number of customers claiming that their planes have returned to gates after being stopped on runways at a number of different airports.
A decision has been reached by American Airlines to cancel each and every flight that was planned to fly in the United States prior to the implementation of cancellation.
The following is a comment that American Airlines provided in a post that was published on X, which was formerly known as Twitter. Take the following example:
“Our team is working to resolve a technical issue.” Despite the fact that they have not been able to provide an estimated time for the problem to be resolved, the organization has emphasized that they are making every effort to restart operations as quickly as possible.
There have been a number of aircraft throughout the United States that have been grounded as a result of the grounding. Travelers have taken to social media to vent their frustration with the delays and the lack of definite dates for their flights. A great number of flights have been canceled as a direct consequence of the grounding.
In spite of the fact that its technical staff is currently working to solve the system issues, American Airlines continues to handle customer complaints on social media channels.
During the time that they are striving to restart regular operations, the airline is advising passengers who have been affected to return to the airport. Regarding the nature of the technology challenges and the extent of those concerns, there is still a large amount of uncertainty.
There are thousands of customers on American Airlines’ domestic network who are experiencing major implications as a result of this circumstance that is becoming progressively dire.
During the time that they are working to fix the broad system breakdown, the airline is successfully leveraging social media to maintain communication with customer service representatives. As a consequence of this, the airline is able to maintain communication with its passengers.
American Airlines lists other similar examples:
There was a technical problem that happened on Monday at Alaska Airlines (AS), and it had an effect on the entire system. The disruption was directly responsible for the downtime of the company’s website, and as a consequence of the outage, the operations of the aircraft were adjusted.
In an effort to enhance their capacity to retain control over the flow of aircraft, the airline temporarily suspended flights at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for a period of forty minutes. They adopted this course of action in order to enhance their ability to maintain control.
Due to a technical fault, consumers were unable to book tickets through the contact centers, mobile app, or website of the airline. As a consequence of this, the airline encountered considerable delays in providing satisfactory service to its passengers.
Southwest Airlines (WN) was forced to cancel every flight that was set to depart from various locations across the country earlier this year as a result of a different occurrence that occurred the previous year.
In response to Southwest’s request, the Federal Aviation Administration issued the order to terminate the flight’s operations on the ground. It was necessary to take this action in order to address the difficulties that were brought about by the existing technical impediments.
Southwest Airlines has had more than 1,500 American Airlines flight delays as of late morning Eastern Time, as indicated by the data that was given by Flight Aware. In the United States, this single factor was responsible for more than half of all the delays that were experienced by airplanes.
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SOURCE: AI
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Joe Biden Commutes Sentences For 37 Of The 40 Federal Death Row Prisoners.
The IRS Will Give a Million People Up To $1,400. Their Identity—And Why Now?
(VOR News) – Joe Biden commuted 37 of 40 federal death row inmates to life without parole. Trump reinstated federal executions after 17 years, according to supporters.
Biden: “Let there be no doubt: I denounce these murderers, mourn their victims, and empathize with all the families who have endured profound and irreparable loss.”
My morals and experiences as a public defender, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, vice president, and president led me to abolish the federal death penalty. I will not allow another administration to violate my ethics.
The president commuted record-high death sentences. Former New Orleans police officer Len Davis was pardoned for running a cocaine protection racket and murdering Kim Groves after she filed a brutality complaint.
In 2022, three killers freed Davis after 28 years in prison.
Groves’ son, Corey, hailed Joe Biden’s commutation of Davis’ death sentence in a brief interview on Monday, saying he wanted the former police officer to serve decades.
“I desire Len to awaken on his 95th birthday still confronted with concrete and barbed wire,” said Groves, who received $1.5 million from the New Orleans city government and family in 2018 for his mother’s death. The president’s actions are worse than death, so I don’t care.
Holder altered his death sentence by murdering a security guard during a dual-participant bank heist. Prosecutors assert that Holder may not have discharged the lethal shot.
Daryl Lawrence was hanged for murdering Bryan Hurst, a Columbus cop. Former officer Donnie Oliverio remarked, “The President acted in accordance with our beliefs and values.” “Executing the individual who murdered my police partner and closest friend would not have afforded me any solace.”
All federal death row inmates save Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who bombed the Boston Marathon in 2013, Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, and Robert Bowers, who slaughtered 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, are eligible for clem
Death Penalty Information Center executive director Robin Maher told The Guardian that 38% of the 40 federal execution detainees are Black. About 25% of the offenders were under 21.
Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the non-profit Equal Justice Initiative, said: “Today signifies a crucial juncture in abolishing America’s tragic and flawed application of the death penalty.
Joe Biden claims the death penalty doesn’t improve public safety.
Son of Martin Luther King Jr.: “This is a historic day.” Reflecting the death penalty’s racially biased origins and unfairness, Joe Biden commuted these sentences, unlike any other president.
Biden has trouble with this. He supported a 1994 criminal measure introducing 60 death penalty charges as a senator. He said, “I am the individual who incorporated these capital punishments into this legislation.” The death penalty led to enormous incarceration, especially of Black men.
Presidential candidate Joe Biden promised to end federal capital punishment in 2020. He criticized unfair convictions and court racism.
The Biden administration stopped federal executions properly. The president has been requesting to commute federal death sentences in recent weeks. Corrections officials, CEOs, Black clergy, Catholics, civil and human rights advocates, prosecutors, former judges, and victim families wrote to him. Pope Francis publicly pushed President Joe Biden to pardon US death suspects.
Joe Biden’s decision will prevent future administrations from executing people.
Trump executed more federal convicts than the previous ten. The Republican administration executed Daniel Lewis Lee after 17 years and six others from July 16–September 24, 2020.
Two Democrats who supported bicameral federal death penalty ban legislation praised Monday’s announcement.
Senate Judiciary Committee head and majority whip Dick Durbin said, “I have consistently supported the elimination of the federal death penalty and commend President Joe Biden for this act of justice and mercy, as well as for his leadership.”
Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley termed Joe Biden decision a “historic and groundbreaking act of compassion that will save lives, rectify profound racial disparities in our criminal justice system, and convey a potent message regarding redemption, decency, and humanity
The White House claims Biden has granted more commutations than his first-term predecessors. He set a record by pardoning 1,500 inmates and promising community safety for one day this month.
The first president to pardon marijuana users and LGBTQ+ service troops for sexual orientation-related offenses was Joe Biden.
The president pardoned his son Hunter for federal weapons and tax charges that might have led him to prison earlier this month, triggering a political storm. Biden denied pardon twice before leaving office on January 20.
SOURCE: TG
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