Premier says Mosque shooting shows Quebec has its ‘demons’
Premier says Mosque shooting shows Quebec has its ‘demons’
QUEBEC CITY (AP) — Quebec’s premier acknowledged Tuesday that his French-speaking province has its “demons” in terms of attitudes toward Muslims, but he said it is generally open and accepting despite this week’s deadly attack on a mosque and long-simmering debates about religious accommodation.
“Xenophobia, racism and exclusion are present here,” Premier Philippe Couillard said at a news conference. “We have to acknowledge that and work together.”
Couillard was grilled by reporters two days after a man entered a Quebec City mosque and shot six people to death and wounded 19. French Canadian university student Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the massacre.
Bissonnette was a fan of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and U.S. President Donald Trump. Those who monitor extremist groups in Quebec described him as someone who took extreme nationalist, pro-Le Pen positions at Laval University and on social media.
Most Canadians are proud of the country’s welcoming attitude toward immigrants and all religions, but Quebec has had a contentious debate over race and religious accommodation. The previous Parti Quebecois government called for a ban on ostentatious religious symbols such as the hijab in public institutions.
Reported treason arrests fuel Russian hacking intrigue
MOSCOW (AP) — In the days since it emerged that four men had been arrested on treason charges linked to cyber intelligence and Russia’s domestic security agency, conspiracy theories and speculation about the case have swept through Moscow.
Was it some fallout from the alleged Russian hacking of the U.S. presidential election? Were they part of a hunt for a possible mole who tipped off American intelligence agencies? Was it a power struggle within Russia’s security services?
Specifics of the case are murky, and no Russian government officials have commented publicly. Russian media have been filled with lurid, often contradictory, details that most assume are leaked by warring factions of intelligence officers.
Linking the arrests to the U.S. vote would mean joining the dots between a series of shadowy actors in the Russian internet world.
In one of the few formal acknowledgements of the case, Ivan Pavlov, a Russian defense lawyer specializing in treason cases, confirmed to The Associated Press that at least four arrests on linked treason charges had taken place. He declined to elaborate.
Speaker defends Trump ban as veep addresses GOP concerns
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan defended President Donald Trump’s divisive executive order on refugees and immigration Tuesday, while Vice President Mike Pence promised frustrated Republican senators better communication on major policy issues going forward.
“The president has a responsibility to the security of this country,” Ryan told reporters after renewing his support for the temporary entry ban during a closed-door meeting with GOP House members.
While calling initial confusion over the rollout “regrettable,” Ryan added: “What is happening is something that we support, which is, we need to pause. And we need to make sure the vetting standards are up to snuff so that we can guarantee the safety and security of our country. That is what this does.”
GOP congressional leadership was frozen out of the drafting of the measure, and Ryan acknowledged he didn’t find out the details until Friday as Trump was signing the order to shut off the Syrian refugee program indefinitely and halt the U.S. refugee program and all entries from seven Muslim-majority nations for 90 days.
The action triggered mass confusion and chaos worldwide, split families and set off protests at airports across the country.
Democrats force delays in votes on 3 Cabinet nominees
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats blocked committee votes on three of President Donald Trump’s highest-profile Cabinet picks Tuesday as spiraling partisan hostility over the fledgling administration’s refugee curbs and other initiatives seemed to seep into Congress’ work on nominations.
In an unusual step, Democrats boycotted planned Senate Finance Committee votes on Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to become health secretary and financier Steven Mnuchin to head the Treasury Department. They accused both men of lying about their financial backgrounds, and since committee rules require at least one Democrat to be present, Republicans could not hold roll calls.
“He didn’t tell the truth,” the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, said of reports that Price received preferential treatment in purchasing stock in a biotech company. “He misled the Congress and he misled the American people.”
The tactic infuriated Republicans, even though the GOP boycotted a committee vote on Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency in 2013 when Democrats ran the Senate.
“They ought to stop posturing and acting like idiots,” said committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “Are they that bitter about Donald Trump? The answer has to be yes.”
US misfires in online fight against Islamic State
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — On any given day at MacDill Air Force Base, web crawlers scour social media for potential recruits to the Islamic State. Then, in a high-stakes operation to counter the extremists’ propaganda, language specialists employ fictitious identities and try to sway the targets from joining IS ranks.
At least that’s how the multimillion-dollar initiative is being sold to the Defense Department.
A critical national security program known as “WebOps” is part of a vast psychological operation the Pentagon says is effectively countering an enemy that has used the internet as a devastating tool of propaganda. But an Associated Press investigation found the management behind WebOps is so beset with incompetence, cronyism and flawed data that multiple people with direct knowledge of the program say it’s having little impact.
Several current and former WebOps employees cited multiple examples of civilian Arabic specialists who have little experience in counter-propaganda, cannot speak Arabic fluently and have so little understanding of Islam they are no match for the Islamic State online recruiters.
It’s hard to establish rapport with a potential terror recruit when — as one former worker told the AP — translators repeatedly mix up the Arabic words for “salad” and “authority.” That’s led to open ridicule on social media about references to the “Palestinian salad.”