CANADA
#1 — CNews | Canada may use information obtained through torture
OTTAWA — The Canadian government doesn’t condone torture, but it may use information gleaned under dubious circumstances abroad if it could prevent a threat against national security.
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#2 — Globe | Fearing advocacy, Ottawa rejects HIV/AIDS funding proposals
Health Canada has turned down funding for an HIV/AIDS charity for fear it might result in advocacy – an indication of a growing tendency within the Conservative government to steer clear of groups pushing causes out of step with its policies.
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The fight to halt wind turbine development in Southwestern Ontario shifts to North Middlesex Tuesday with opponents pushing for a ban on wind farm development.
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#4 — NP | Errors, mislabelled samples pose ‘staggering’ cost to Canada’s blood banks
A pilot study at 11 Canadian hospitals uncovered thousands of “high-severity” errors in the blood-transfusion process with the potential to seriously harm patients and pose a “staggering” cost in terms of wasted blood, a federal report obtained by the National Post indicates.
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#5 — OC | Canadian miltary intends to spend $1 billion on armed drones
Senior Canadian defence leaders pitched the idea of spending up to $600 million for armed drones to take part in the Libyan war shortly before the conflict ended, according to documents obtained by the Citizen.
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WORLD
#6 — BBC | Philippine capital paralysed by floods
Flooding caused by torrential rain has paralysed parts of the Philippine capital, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes and closing schools, offices and the stock exchange.
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#7 — CNN | Military, music marked temple suspect’s path to Wisconsin
Oak Creek, Wisconsin (CNN) – Soldier. Singer. Skinhead.
Investigators spent Monday trying to figure out what led 40-year-old Wade Michael Page from repairing missiles for the Army to a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee, where he was killed by police at the end of a Sunday morning rampage.
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#8 — Fox | NASA releases video of Curiosity’s descent, rover returns images of Martian mountain
NASA has released a video of its Curiosity rover in the final few minutes of its descent to Mars, adding to the remarkable barrage of photos and videos that have been released less than 24 hours after the rover successfully landed on the red planet.
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On the same day NASA makes a historic encounter with Mars, one of Man’s earliest rockets is setting it’s own truly historic record.
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#10 — Telegraph | Scottish Parliament ‘has no legal right to independent referendum’
A House of Commons report provides further confirmation that the Scottish Parliament has no legal right to hold a binding independence referendum and calls on Holyrood and Westminster to reach agreement.
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Off topic but important, IMHO.
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/144877–groups-protest-muslim-prayers-at-toronto-public-school
Go and for no to muslim prayer in schools.
Re: Canada may use information obtained through torture: Bullsh*t …. as soon as you use the proceeds of torture you condone it.
Maybe inadmissible as evidence in some sort of trial but just ignoring the information and letting people die in large numbers, or even one person, just to be ” pure of heart ” would be insane.
Always a difficult dilemma doing true evil to prevent a greater evil using torture.
Much too often in countries that use torture, people are tortured just out of suspicion that they know something or guilty of something, or worse just for being considered defiant of an oppressive Government, but in the rare cases where we are sure that the person is the right person and the information is critical and immediately needed to save lives it becomes much more problematic: Imagine the case of someone who knows when and where a nuclear device is going to explode in the middle of a big city, which is the classic example used for going to extremes ! But then there is torture and then there is extremely unpleasant or better yet drugs or psychological pressure or trickery to obtain the information.
One can always wish for the most ethical solution, but it’s not always as easy as one would like.
“Bullsh*t …. as soon as you use the proceeds of torture you condone it.”
So if a foreign intelligence agency warned for example of a pending WMD attack in Canada, information obtained they admit via torture, we should ignor the intelligence and shoot the messenger? We should do nothing with the intelligence? Jeopardize thousands perhaps 100′s of thousands of lives. Is that what you are saying, sl? There’s a name for that train of thought, it’s called cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The government has said that it will use information gained through the use of torture beentheredonethat, by doing so it legitimizes the practice of obtaining information through torture.
As Jean points out, it poses a very tough moral question for Canada doesn’t it?
Re #3. Very interesting to see what’s happening in Middlesex. Will the McGuinty government actually allow the townsfolk to put a stop to the windfarm development?
He promised to be supportive during the election, afterall! (pause for ironic effect).
Or will the wind-industry carpetbaggers and government appartchicks find the lure of easy taxpayer money just too strong to resist!
This will determine the future of the (laughably titled) Green Energy Act – and, possibly, any future for the Liberal government. If Middlesex pulls out, I believe a majority of rural Ontario will pull out.