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Hate mail from Nisar. (See posts below)

United States Army Major Nidal Hasan told a radical cleric considered by authorities to be an al-Qaeda recruiter, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, according to an American official with top secret access to 18 e-mails exchanged between Hasan and the cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, over a six month period between Dec. 2008 and June 2009.

Toronto has won a bid to host the 2015 Pan AM Games. Just before 5 p.m. the Pan American Sport Organization in Guadalajara, Mexico, announced that Hogtown had earned the rights to host the games and the Parapan American Games. "We are thrilled,” stated Toronto 2015 Bid Chair, the Hon. David Peterson in a quick press release from Mexico. “We will work hard to stage the best Pan and Parapan Am Games ever.” The Pan Am Games are among the premium amateur athletic competitions in the world and is expected to bring 10,000 participants and 250,000 visitors from the 42...

SNIPPET: "Search at Grundy County plant called part of ongoing probe" SNIPPET: "But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago. Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said."

"The powerful online voice of jihad Shadowy cleric revered by disenchanted Muslim youths throughout West cited in Toronto 18 case" CAPTION: "A Facebook page for Anwar al Awlaki has 4,800 fans. He has been cited as an inspiration for extremist plots." FACEBOOK SNIPPET: "In a snowy field near Barrie, a group of young Muslim men listened intently to the eloquent voice emanating from the laptop. Anwar al Awlaki preached in perfect Arabic and flawless English about the need to fight in the name of religion, because the "world is united in fighting Islam." The time for jihad is now, no...

BRAMPTON -- The two scrawny terrorists are unloading bags labeled ammonium nitrate from the back of a delivery truck when one of them looks up and recoils in shock, while his partner backs into a wall and raises his hands in surrender. A four-member police tactical team dressed all in black descends, laying them spread-eagled on the floor of the warehouse and cuffing their hands behind their backs before one of the officers raises his thumb to say mission accomplished. The dramatic arrests of Saad Khalid and Saad Gaya, members of the "Toronto 18" terrorist group that was planning to...

While doing some research on ecoterrorism, I came across TAO Communications. If you ever wanted a resource to find out where the anti-war anarchists are and what they are up to, this is the resource to use! I would advocate simply using this as your portal to adventure for FReeping and otherwise doing what it is you wish to do. If you use TAO Communications for your window on these folks, and leave it alone so that it won't try to keep you away, then you'll have a wonderful resource to use. The files for their signs are there, so ...

SNIPPET: “Mr. Amara’s paycheques were small. His day job was drudgery. But his schemes were big – very big.”

SNIPPET: "Saad Gaya, a 21-year old, admitted Monday that he was part of an al-Qaeda-inspired plot to build fertilizer-based truck bombs and explode them in downtown Toronto." SNIPPET: "With Mr. Gaya, Mr. Khalid, and Mr. Dirie having pleaded guilty in recent weeks, only seven adult accused are headed to trial at this point. More pleas are possible."

Jane Fonda expresses regret over film fest protest Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press Jane Fonda is expressing regret over endorsing a protest letter that targets an Israeli film spotlight at the Toronto International Film Festival. The celebrity activist appears to back away from the controversy in a column posted Monday on the Huffington Post website just as big-name performers including Jerry Seinfeld, Natalie Portman and Sacha Baron Cohen added their names to a growing list of the protest's critics. "I signed the letter without reading it carefully enough, without asking myself if some of the wording wouldn't exacerbate the situation...

The undead have officially taken over Yonge-Dundas Square, and they are restless. "Arrrggg, this song really suck, play something else," groaned one blood-drenched young man, as a low and ominous bass track looped on giant speakers at the square. He would only identify himself as "Ahhhh ... uuaaaaa ... arggg, rock on," before drooling a quantity of purple liquid onto his pants. The shuffling, bleeding, oozing, army are in the square to honour George A. Romero, who launches his new film Survival of the Dead tonight at TIFF. Romero took to the stage to thunderous groans shortly before 7 p.m....

TORONTO -- A first date with a playful, late-night search for ghosts inside a University of Toronto landmark ended in tragedy yesterday when a 29-year-old woman plunged to her death. Leah Kubik, just two weeks shy of her 30th birthday, was found without vital signs inside a courtyard just before 2 a.m. "They were believed to be exploring an old building because it's rumoured to be haunted," Toronto Police Const. Wendy Drummond told the Sun. The Gothic-style, 134-year-old Connaught medical research building was the site of a grisly murder in 2001 but paranormal experts stress it's not haunted, only rumoured...

Toronto's first Africentric school is set to open on Tuesday with 85 students. On Tuesday, when hundreds of thousands of Ontario students head back to school, a lot of attention will be focused on one particular school in Toronto's north end. It only has 85 students, but hopes are high for the Africentric Alternative School, which will open its doors near Keele Street and Sheppard Avenue West on Sept. 8 for the very first time. The Toronto District School Board voted narrowly to approve the controversial school in January 2008. It's an attempt by educators to combat the disproportionately high...

September 7, 2009 Mass murder at 30,000 feet: Islamic extremists guilty of airline bomb plot Philippe Naughton Three British Muslims were found guilty today of conspiracy to murder thousands of passengers and crew in an unprecedented airline bomb plot that could have proved as deadly as the 9/11 attacks. After a retrial at Woolwich Crown Court, jurors found the ringleader, Abdulla Ahmed, and two other men, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain, guilty of plotting to use liquid bombs to blow up airliners en route from Heathrow to the United States. Another defendant, Umar Islam, was found guilty of a more...

Jane Fonda, Danny Glover and Eve Ensler have joined the growing list of artists who are boycotting the Toronto film festival over a program honoring Tel Aviv's 100th anniversary, gossip blogger Perez Hilton reported on Friday. The three have added their names to a letter aimed at festival officials claiming that Tel Aviv was built on violence, ignoring the "suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants," Hilton reported. Several Israeli films are being screened at the festival's new City to City event, which this year celebrates Tel Aviv's centennial. Culture critic Naomi Klein and director John Greyson are among...

HOLLYWOOD studios love to use the Toronto Film Festival... In an online letter to event chiefs, an array of notables -- Jane Fonda, Naomi Klein, Danny Glover and David Byrne among them -- have protested the festival's choice to spotlight the city of Tel Aviv and 10 Israeli moviemakers.

MONTREAL – Three members of the Montreal family in which three sisters and their aunt were found dead in their car that that plunged into Kingston's Rideau Canal late last month were arrested today. As well, Kingston police have announced a press conference for 2 p.m. tomorrow where the police chief will be outlining all of the details of a major change in focus of the investigation. Up to now, the police were considering the deaths to be "suspicious." The three suspects were apprehended this morning while heading to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, possibly to flee the country,...

A popular alternative to hybrid buses and subways gets a boost Bombardier is well-known worldwide as a manufacturer of aircraft, snowmobiles, and personal watercraft. The company has annual sales of almost $20 billion USD, and is well diversified into multiple transportation markets. One of these markets is light rail vehicles, commonly known as streetcars.Many European cities have highly developed light rail/streetcar lines that both complement and supplement subway lines. New subway lines are extremely expensive and can cost over $1 billion per kilometer to build. They also require high urban densities and heavy passenger volumes to be effective.Light rail lines...

The smiling, ethnically diverse family featured on the cover of Toronto's latest edition of its summer Fun Guide was digitally altered to make the photo more "inclusive," which city officials say is in keeping with a policy to reflect diversity. A spokesman for the department that publishes the guide listing recreation activities confirmed the publication was doctored to insert the face of a different father. "He superimposed the African-Canadian person onto the family cluster in the original photo. It was two photographs and one head was superimposed over the original family photo," said John Gosgnach, communications director for the...

A Catholic Church in Toronto is hoping for a miracle — that the thief who stole a saint's relic will have a change of heart and return the holy object. The relic of St. Therese of Lisieux, patron saint of missions, is a small piece of her body — about the size of a quarter — which could have easily fit in the pocket of the thief. Jane Fleming, spokeswoman for St. Michael's Catholic Church, said the thief may have pretended to be praying at the saint's shrine while he or she removed the relic's Plexiglas cover and stole it...

A Catholic Church in Toronto is hoping for a miracle — that the thief who stole a saint's relic will have a change of heart and return the holy object. The relic of St. Therese of Lisieux, patron saint of missions, is a small piece of her body — about the size of a quarter — which could have easily fit in the pocket of the thief. Jane Fleming, spokeswoman for St. Michael's Catholic Church, said the thief may have pretended to be praying at the saint's shrine while he or she removed the relic's Plexiglas cover and stole it...

ATLANTA (AP) — Armed with a handheld video camera, a Georgia university student drove with a friend in April 2005 to Washington, D.C., and captured scenes of the Capitol, the Pentagon and other locations. Investigators say Syed Haris Ahmed, now 24, wasn't a tourist but a wannabe terrorist who wanted to send the videos of potential terror targets to an overseas contact. He was attending the Georgia Institute of Technology at the time. The charges, along with an allegation that Ahmed went to Pakistan and tried to join a terrorism group a few months later, are central to a federal...

Security was tight Friday as people filed into a downtown Toronto convention centre to hear what was billed as a "moderated conversation" between former American presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. As he took to the stage, Clinton said the event felt like a "21st-century colosseum" in that the audience might want to see him and his Republican counterpart "devour each other." He went on to thank Canada for sending troops to Afghanistan and sacrificing so many soldiers' lives to help bring peace to a troubled region.

Man receives 2½-year sentence for Toronto bomb plot involvement Credit for time served allows man to be freed A man belonging to the so-called Toronto 18 terror group was sentenced to 2½ years in prison Friday, becoming the first person convicted in a domestic terrorism trial in Canada. The judge in Brampton, Ont., who sentenced the 21-year-old man declared that, with credit for his time already spent in custody, the man had served his time and could be freed. The man was found guilty in September 2008 of participation in a terrorist group that was plotting to blow up buildings...

A young Mississauga man has pleaded guilty to intending to cause an explosion, the first time a member of the so-called Toronto 18 group has admitted the existence of a bomb plot. At a trial last year of a co-accused, prosecutors alleged some of the group's members were planning to bomb sites such as the Toronto Stock Exchange, RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, the Pickering nuclear power station and the Toronto offices of Canada's spy agency, located next to the CN Tower. In an unexpected move, Saad Khalid, 22, entered his plea on Monday but Justice Bruce Durno banned publication of...

A group of business people wants to bring a second team to the Greater Toronto Area, and the National Hockey League took the group seriously enough to grant it an audience. The unidentified group met with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly in downtown Toronto last week, according to sources. The group proposes to build an arena at the intersection of Highways 427 and 7 in Vaughan, Ont., on land north of Pearson International Airport that's owned by businessman Victor De Zen. .... It is known that Research In Motion founder Jim Balsillie has conducted market research toward bringing a franchise...

Pro-Palestinian activists who picketed a Toronto liquor store got more than they bargained for as customers swarmed the store and bought out the entire inventory of Israeli wine in 30 minutes. The Canadian version of "Freedom Riders" motorcycle club was also present. Video at link.

There have always been neighbours from hell, whose noisy parties, junk piles, ugly fences and yappy dogs make life miserable for everyone around them. And then there is Ralph Scala, the 36-year old Toronto man sentenced on 49 charges on Friday after waging a seven-year reign of terror, for no apparent reason, on his west-end Toronto neighbours. Mr. Scala, with the help of hired thugs, slashed tires, smashed windows, hurled insults and harassed more than two dozen peaceable people in his Junction neighbourhood, leaving a trail of fear, exasperation, repair bills and, in some cases, stress-related health problems, court heard....

February 13, 2009 "Die Jew -- get the hell off campus": "Anti-Israel activists" threaten, physically intimidate Jewish students on Toronto campus" "Cops quell anti-Israel attack at York U," by Ron Csillag for JTA, February 13, 2009 TORONTO (JTA) -- Toronto police quelled tensions between Jews and anti-Israel activists at the campus of one of Canada's largest universities for the second time in two weeks. Hillel@York, the on-campus club for Jewish students at Toronto's York University, said that anti-Israel activists "isolated and threatened Jewish students" during a Feb. 12 news conference on the fallout from a three-month-long strike that ended recently...

A Toronto mosque is offering a "12-step extremist detox program" for radical Muslims that its director says is the first of its kind in Canada. The Specialized De-radicalization Intervention program is intended to provide "treatment and counselling" to young Muslims sympathetic to the al-Qaeda ideology. The Muslim leaders behind the program say they want to help parents concerned about the radicalization of their children and also assist courts dealing with terrorism-related cases. "As Canadians of Muslim faith, it is our ardent desire to become leaders in the championing of anti-terror values," said a document outlining the program, which is based...

(YNET NEWS.com) January 16, 2009 "THE GUARDIANS OF ISRAEL NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP" SNIPPET: "Israel and the US succeeded in preventing a United Nations announcement condemning the Jewish state for its strike on a UN compound in Gaza Thursday. The condemnation was proposed by Britain among other countries." SNIPPET: "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized for the incident before UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, but stressed that IDF forces were attacked from the building before it was hit."

"HAMAS AND THEIR SYSTEMATIC VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAWS (NOT TO MENTION BASIC HUMAN DECENCY)" "Video follows"

The Globe and Mail is planning to reduce its work force by about 10 per cent through voluntary buyouts, and possible layoffs, publisher Phillip Crawley told staff Friday. The newspaper is looking to cut between 80 and 90 jobs, and will offer voluntary buyout packages over the next few weeks. Should that target not be reached, layoffs will be needed to reach that figure, Mr. Crawley said. Roughly 800 people work at The Globe and Mail, with editorial representing the largest department. The last time the newspaper offered voluntary buyouts, in 2004, about 30 employees took the packages. The last...

FARGO, N.D. – After two failed tries, an unmanned aircraft expected to be the first to patrol the northern U.S. border completed a flight from Arizona to North Dakota. U.S Customs and Border Protection officials said the Predator B drone touched down Saturday at the Grand Forks Air Force Base after a six-hour flight from Libby Army Airfield in Sierra Vista, Ariz.

The Greater Toronto Area needs a gazillion dollars to fund Metrolinx, a mega mega transportation system of light rail, commuter trains, subways, highways, roads, and bicycle paths designed to reach every ward in an 8,000 square kilometre operating region approaching six million people. It will cost more than governments can afford, say its government backers. The answer, the backers say, is a toll road system that extends across the GTA and finances the transit megaproject. I have a better idea. Install the GTA-wide toll road system and scrap Metrolinx. Once roads are tolled, the population growth that is now projected...

Thousands of voters in the Toronto federal riding of Eglinton-Lawrence have been told to show up at a polling station that doesn't exist. Resident Julia Sherman, who is deputy returning officer for the riding, said she and her two sons received voter notification cards from Elections Canada in the mail instructing them to vote at a polling station in a church that no longer exists. The card indicates the polling station will be set up at the St. James-Bond United Church on Avenue Road north of Eglinton Avenue W. But that church was demolished two years ago, and "right now...

BRAMPTON, Ont. - An Ontario judge has found a young extremist guilty of a designated terrorist offence in a key test of federal laws. While asked to pronounce on only one suspect, Mr. Justice John Sproat ruled that the evidence a wider terrorist group existed "is overwhelming." "I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that [the accused] by his participation and contribution intended to enhance the ability of the terrorist group to facilitate or carry out a terrorist activity.

A decision by Toronto's city council to ban an exhibit comparing anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with those of Adolf Hitler has drawn fire from Canadian Jewish groups. The traveling four-part exhibit, of which the Ahmadinejad presentation makes up one part, has been banned by an ad-hoc committee within the council for being too controversial and inflammatory. "The exhibit talks about the Holocaust cartoon contest and [Holocaust denial] conferences [Ahmadinejad] has held and his statements against the Jewish people," explained Avi Benlolo, president of the Toronto-based Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies. "If this...

Sunday, August 10, 2008 The explosion seen from the Keele Overpass Image: Michael Gil. A large explosion has been reported at a propane depot in northern Toronto on Keele Street, near the Highway 401, at approximately 3:48am EST. The cause is currently unknown. A person who was 10km from the explosion told Wikinews that "my house shook 10 km away. The sky was rumbling every few seconds." A user on YouTube named "wolfshades" said that "we don't know whether the explosion was chemical or by virtue of its proximity to the Toronto Airport if a plane had crashed." It is...

Police in Toronto, Canada concluded that the 16-year-old-Pakistani girl Aqsa Parvez, was murdered by her father... and her brother, for refusing to wear the hijab or veil as is the custom for women in traditional Muslim households. "Instead of getting angry at the father and brother who are accused of planning the murder by luring the runaway teenager back to her home, leaders of the conservative and orthodox Muslim community made excuses." we found few other Muslim leaders willing to slam the father, mother, sister and brother, who either joined hands in killing the young girl, or sat passively as...

Banning handguns is all the rage. Mayor David Miller's push for a national ban has been joined by other Canadian big-city mayors. Yet, dissatisfied with progress at the national level, Miller successfully asked city council this week to approve measures to further discourage gun ownership in Toronto, such as shutting down city-owned gun ranges. While it may seem obvious to many people that banning handguns will save lives and cut crime, the experience in the United States suggests differently. Two major U. S. cities -- Washington, D.C., and Chicago --have tried banning handguns. (The U. S. Supreme Court is soon...

TORONTO – “Nobody knows de trouble I see,” goes the Negro spiritual. It could have been playing as background music in Toronto, where the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) held its annual convention this week. Things are not terrible for the U.S. electric utility industry at the moment. But the industry's future is more uncertain than it has ever been. The challenge facing the industry is that we are using more electricity than ever before, with our bigger homes that have more appliances and gadgets. To meet future demand, according to Jeffrey Sterba, chief executive officer of Albuquerque-based PNM Resources, the...

The Hunt for American al Qaeda The United States is turning up the heat in the hunt for the California boy turned al Qaeda operative, Adam Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. If caught and convicted, Gadahn could face the death penalty. The State Department along with the Department of Diplomatic Security announced the beginning of a publicity campaign in Afghanistan urging locals to provide any information on Gadahn's whereabouts, with a reward if the information leads to his capture. Radio advertisements with information concerning the $1 million reward have...

Guns aren't welcome in Toronto May 30, 2008 04:30 AM Re:Targeting the good guys Letters, May 29 It is interesting to note that letters criticizing Toronto City Council for closing down city-run shooting ranges were sent from Mississauga, Halifax, Wellesley, Ont., Pickering and Peterborough. I supported shutting down the shooting ranges because I believe it is hypocritical for city council to call for a total ban on handguns, while supporting and in fact subsidizing gun culture at city-run facilities – especially when recreation programs to keep kids away from the draw of a street culture that too often includes weapons...

Tourism Boycott Urged Gun owners strike out at Miller ban Chris Wattie, National Post Published: Thursday, May 29, 2008 A group representing gun owners and sport shooters is calling for a tourism boycott of Toronto over a ban on gun clubs, ranges and firearm-related businesses proposed by Mayor David Miller. Tony Bernardo, the director of the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action, said his group and the Canadian Shooting Sports Association will urge Canadian gun owners and their far more numerous American cousins to avoid visiting Toronto this summer. "Do I think it's going too far? No, I don't," Mr. Bernardo...

Toronto's proposed new Africentric alternative school has cleared another hurdle, as parents at Sheppard Public School have voted to welcome it under their roof. And the chair of Sheppard's school council says she will consider sending her own children to the program, which would run as a school-within-a-school for junior kindergarten through Grade 5 in an unused wing of the roomy building near Sheppard Ave. W. and Keele St. "Why not? I think it's a wonderful idea to help kids know their roots," said Rachel Moore, the Guyana-born chair of the council that approved the proposal last night after a...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

Hatred at York University By Dan Rabkin FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, April 09, 2008 Nadav Eliyahu Samuels has not had a chance to read the 28th issue of the Excalibur, York University’s student newspaper. As of late, the 14-year old Canadian boy has not had the opportunity to do much of anything. With multiple bullet wounds scattered across his body and numerous broken bones, Nadav is fighting for his young life in the intensive care unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem. The time was 8:36pm and it was a regular Thursday evening for Nadav and his classmates at Mercaz...

Attacks on nuclear power stations, oil and gas terminals, Canary Wharf and Heathrow’s control tower were being considered by leaders of the plot to blow up seven transatlantic airliners in mid-flight, a court was told yesterday. Documents found on computer memory sticks at the home of an alleged terrorist ringleader contained a list of targets across Britain – including the gas pipeline between Britain and Belgium. The man, Assad Sarwar, was said to be in contact with terrorist leaders overseas and visited Pakistan a month before his arrest as preparations for the airline attacks were being finalised. Peter Wright, QC,...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...