Bits and Bites from around the world > Canadian woman possibly killed by pack of dingoes on Australian island; Shark attack on 12 y/o boy off Sydney beach

 

Canadian woman found dead on Australian island surrounded by wild dogs

By Rachel Goodman  Global News

Posted January 19, 2026 12:04 pm

 Updated January 19, 2026 3:50 pm

 2 min read

A 19-year-old Canadian woman found dead on a popular Australian tourist island off the coast of Queensland on Monday was discovered surrounded by a pack of dingoes, say local police.

The woman was found on K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island) at about 6.35 a.m. local time. Police were called to the beach, north of the Maheno Shipwreck, to reports of an unresponsive woman, Queensland authorities said in a statement.

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Aerial view of the S.S. Maheno Shipwreck along 75-mile beach on the sand island of Kgari, Queensland, Australia. Getty Images

Initial information indicated that the woman may have gone swimming around 5 a.m., the statement said.

The woman, who has not been named, had been working for six weeks at a hostel on the island, police Insp. Paul Algie told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and had informed colleagues that she was going for a swim about 75 minutes before her body was discovered.

Her next known sighting was between 6 a.m and 6:15 a.m. on the beach, when two male witnesses saw a large pack of dingoes.

Algie told ABC that the dingoes were seen near the woman’s body. He later added that the wild dogs had been in contact with the woman’s body.

“I can confirm that the woman’s body had been touched and interfered with by the dingoes, but we are not speculating yet as to whether that was anything to do with her cause of death,” Algie stated.

1:35

4.7M teen social media accounts removed since Australia instituted ban

The woman’s body has since been taken to mainland Australia, and her family is being contacted, the Australian outlet said.

Police took statements from people who knew the woman’s movements to try to establish what occurred between 5 a.m. and 6:15 a.m., Algie told reporters, according to the Guardian.

“There was an hour, to an hour and 15 minutes, that police are currently piecing together as a part of their investigations,” he said.

“It was obviously a very traumatic and horrific scene for them to uncover.”

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K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island, is 123 kilometres long and is the largest sand island in the world. Getty Images

The police officer said authorities were awaiting a postmortem, scheduled for Wednesday, before providing further information.

“At this stage, it’s too early to speculate on the cause of death — we simply can’t confirm whether this young lady drowned, or died as a result of being attacked by dingoes,” he said.

Dingoes are native to K’gari and are protected there. The island is a wilderness area, and dingoes are culturally significant to local First Nations people and the wider community.

Global Affairs Canada confirmed that a Canadian citizen died in Australia, but did not provide any further details for privacy reasons.

12-year-old boy in critical condition following shark attack off Sydney

By Darryl Coote

   

Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A 12-year-old boy was in critical condition following a shark attack off Sydney's coast, authorities said.

Emergency services were called to Hermitage Foreshore Walk near Shark Beach at about 4:20 p.m. local time Sunday in response to reports that a boy had been bitten by a shark, the New South Wales Police Force said in a statement.

The boy was rescued from the ocean by Marine Area Command and Eastern Suburbs Police. Two medical tourniquets were used on the boy as they applied first aid for what police called serious leg injuries before he was transported to Children's Hospital in Randwick in critical condition.

"The injuries are consistent with what is believed to have been a large shark," police said.

Related

• Minnesota woman loses arm, life in U.S. Virgin Islands shark attack
• Body of California shark attack victim recovered
• Oregon beachgoer comes to the rescue of beached shark

In an update Monday, Superintendent Joseph McNulty, commander of the NSW Police Marine Area Command, told reporters that the boy was "fighting for his life."

"It was a horrendous scene at the time when police attended," he said.

"We believe it was something like a bull shark that attacked the lower limbs of that boy yesterday."

According to McNulty, the boy and his friends were leaping off a 20-foot rock into the water, which was made brackish by recent heavy rain, when the shark attacked.

"We believe the combination of the brackish water, the fresh water, the actions of the splashing may have made that perfect storm environment for that shark attack," he said.

According to Taronga Conservation Society Australia, the Oceanic nation sees an average of 20 so shark incidents resulting in people injured a year.

Corruption is Everywhere > Even Among Canadian Olympic Equestrians

 

Canadian Olympian Eric Lamaze owes nearly $800K following latest court ruling

By Nathaniel Dove  Global News

Posted August 16, 2024 5:04 pm

 Updated August 18, 2024 9:28 am

 13 min read

A breach of contract lawsuit against one of Canada’s most prominent Olympians finally ended last week with an Ontario judge ruling Eric Lamaze owed the plaintiffs more than $786,000.

The case lasted 15 years and Lamaze had argued he couldn’t take part because he had terminal cancer – but another judge in the same case ruled the evidence Lamaze submitted to prove he was receiving treatment wasn’t “credible or reliable.”

“I’ve carried the weight of this on my shoulders,” Karina Frederiks, the daughter of the plaintiffs, said while growing emotional, minutes after the Aug. 8 ruling.

Her family’s stable, Iron Horse Farm, sued Lamaze in 2010, initially claiming he sold them three horses for show jumping who couldn’t perform as promised before narrowing the case down to two horses in question.

Lamaze denied any wrongdoing in his defence statement.

An Ontario judge ruled in the stable’s favour, noting Lamaze failed to appear in final proceedings.

The lawsuit was one of many involving the Olympic equestrian gold medallist. Lamaze has been sued nearly 20 times in Canada and the U.S. since 2009 over claims ranging from fraud and breach of contract to hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent. Nine suits were successful, three were dismissed because court staff couldn’t find him and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued two liens against him.

Court records do not show whether he was ever charged with contempt.

Despite facing so many lawsuits – and despite testing positive for cocaine at several Olympics and having multiple judges issuing arrest warrants for Lamaze for contempt of court when he repeatedly failed to respond to court summons – Equestrian Canada named him in 2022 to a leadership role where he coached Canadian athletes on the world stage.

His appointment raises questions about the national sports organization’s scrutiny of their candidates.

Equestrian Canada said it “received multiple assurances from Mr. Lamaze and his legal counsel that he was fully eligible to be contracted and act in the role.” 

And, of course, someone using cocaine would never lie!

Global News sent Lamaze a list of detailed questions about the allegations and rulings against him. He declined an interview. In his emailed response said he had no comment except to say: “your reporting on some of you law suits (sic) your (sic) mentioned are not accurate.” He did not explain any inaccuracies.

He previously told the Toronto Star he did have cancer and that he made a mistake by presenting a forged medical document.

“Eric Lamaze made history”

A competitive show jumper, Lamaze began riding for the Canadian national team within one year of his 1992 world stage debut, according to his International Olympic Committee biography.

He was selected to represent Canada at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games but tested positive for cocaine and was banned for four years.

Lamaze’s Olympic biography states his personal circumstances, including growing up with a mother who dealt drugs, were “sufficient to have his ban lifted.”

He made Canada’s Olympic squad again in 2000 but tested positive for cocaine – twice, again dodging a lifetime ban.

Then, at the 2008 Games, Lamaze “made history by becoming the first equestrian athlete to win an individual Olympic gold medal for Canada…” according to his Equestrian Canada biography. He also won the team silver medal.

He became Canada’s “most decorated Olympian equestrian” at the 2016 Games when he won two bronze medals, according to his Canadian Olympic Committee biography.

At the height of his career he was “undoubtedly the highest profile and the most successful, the most renowned Canadian equestrian athlete, not just in Canada but across the world,” according to Akaash Maharaj, Equestrian Canada’s CEO from 2008 until 2012, when it was called Equine Canada.

Maharaj knew Lamaze professionally while he served as the executive of Canada’s horse sport governing body, he said.

Lamaze had a “ruthless determination” to always improve his riding and was “willing to attack jumps with complete abandon,” Maharaj said.

But Maharaj said Lamaze was also known for his humility, noting the rider came from a “highly impoverished background” and rose through talent and determination to the top of a sport known for being the reserve of the rich.

“The crowd would roar with support after (Lamaze competed), and Eric’s characteristic gesture was to drop his reins and to point both his fingers downwards at his horse,” Maharaj said.

“He was saying to the audience, ‘your praise and your adulation belongs not to me, but to my horse,’” Maharaj added.

Lamaze went on to win many other medals at different equestrian events, every grand prix event in the world and was ranked No. 1 in the world several times.

He, and his renowned stallion Hickstead, were inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and awarded the Order of Sport, Canada’s highest sporting honour, in 2020.

His Equestrian Canada and Canadian Olympic biographies do not mention his positive drug tests or suspensions.

What court documents say

Karina Frederiks said she met Lamaze in 2002 or 2003, when she was 15 or 16 years old.

She read about Lamaze in equestrian magazines and thought buying a horse from him was “the road to success” because she dreamed of riding for Canada.

Her family bought “overqualified” horses from Lamaze, she said, to boost her show jumping career.

It’s an extremely expensive pursuit. A competitive show jumping horse costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. She said she and her family were new to the sport and relied on Lamaze’s expert knowledge.

Please continue reading at the following link:

But the horses Lamaze sold her family “never really worked out

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Is This the Beginning of No-Go Zones in Australia?

Australian police restrict a Canadian journalist from a Sydney street

where a Muslim mosque exists

I am not familiar with Southern's work. I don't know how far to the right she leans, but she definitely leans right.

Nevertheless, she asks good questions that need to be asked and she is horrified by the absurdity of political correctness that is the cause of cultural suicide in the west. That means she is closer to the truth than a lot of western politicians.

Jordan Peterson is Completely Misrepresented by Left-Leaning Journalists

Well written and very intelligent article. Below you will find a video of Peterson's explanation of Peter Pan that is absolutely brilliant and gives us a glimpse of why this man has become so astonishingly popular.

What the left gets wrong about Jordan Peterson

J Oliver Conroy

One might think that by now progressives would figure out that

vilifying Peterson almost always redounds to his advantage.

One would be wrong.

‘Immersing oneself in the Peterson fandom sphere is a perspective-changing experience.’ Illustration: Rob Dobi for the Guardian

Perhaps you’ve heard of Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist, self-help guru, and social media star who is also, if some media accounts are to be believed, a dangerous stalking horse for far-right ideas?

“In reality, Peterson’s ideas are a mixed bag,” the journalist Cathy Young wrote in a balanced recent Los Angeles Times piece. “He says some sensible and insightful things, and he says some things that rightly draw criticism. But you wouldn’t know this from reading Peterson’s critics, who generally cast him as a far-right boogeyman riding the wave of a misogynistic backlash.”

The current media narrative about Peterson is often lazy, as Young notes. But worse, this narrative doesn’t take account of, let alone try to explain, the appeal Peterson’s message holds for his millions of fans – most of whom are more interested in his affirmative spiritual message than his pugilistic views on gender and political correctness.

True, Peterson’s own followers sometimes feed the perception he is leading a reactionary counterrevolution. They upload YouTube clips highlighting Peterson’s apparent triumphs over leftist foes – “Jordan Peterson Leaves Feminist Speechless”, “Jordan Peterson on Homosexuals Raising Children”, “Transgender Professor INSULTS Jordan Peterson, Gets OWNED”.

But these (fan-edited) videos give the false impression that most of Peterson’s fans are attracted to his attacks on political correctness. They’re not. If anything, Peterson’s penchant for polarizing political claims distracts from his core message. In his lectures – freewheeling mixtures of self-help counsel, pop philosophy and Jungian theory – Peterson emphasizes self-worth, responsibility, and a Christian-ish notion of man as fallen but redeemable.

Cathy Newman’s combative interview with Jordan Peterson has been watched millions of times on YouTube. Photograph: Channel 4 grab

In fact, immersing oneself in the Peterson fandom sphere is a perspective-changing experience. For every rant about “social justice warriors”, there are a dozen completely apolitical posts: geeky discussions of Peterson’s lectures about mythology, personal testimonies to the effectiveness of his self-help advice.

Peterson’s advice appears to have helped thousands of people. (Peterson has estimated he’s received more than 35,000 letters of appreciation.) Fans say his message – which starts with seemingly banal directives to “clean your room” and “stand up straight with your shoulders back” – has motivated them in battles against addiction to drugs, alcohol, video games, or pornography; helped them form positive relationships, or exit toxic ones; become better spouses or parents; take charge of their physical health; and rekindle relationships with estranged family members.

In their messages of appreciation, Jordan Peterson’s fans sometimes border on religious testimony.

In a post on Quora, a commenter describes a harrowing period in which his six-year-old almost died of auto-immune disease. During “those dark days”, Peterson’s lectures were “something to anchor me” when “my emotions were in turmoil”, the person writes. “The man is a gift from God. He will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the great thinkers and possibly a person that changed our culture in a significant way.”

It seems questionable that Peterson will go down in history as a great thinker. And, as with all gurus, he ought to be treated with instinctive skepticism. But that skepticism should extend to how he has been presented by the media.

 Anyone who investigates Peterson’s work knows that his

harshest rebukes aren’t addressed to women, but men

One might think that by now progressives would figure out that vilifying Peterson almost always redounds to his advantage. One would be wrong. By repeatedly trying to put words in Peterson’s mouth during a 29-minute interview this January, Cathy Newman, a British journalist, came across as misreading his ideas.

During a recent panel debate in Toronto, on political correctness, the preacher and academic Michael Eric Dyson’s ad-hominem attacks against Peterson, whom he called a “mean mad white man”, only turned audience sentiment against Dyson.

None of this is to say Peterson’s more inflammatory statements shouldn’t be contested or scrutinized.

In a recent New York Times profile, Peterson appeared to suggest that “incels” – aggrieved young men who describe themselves as “involuntarily celibate” – should be assigned mates to prevent them from taking out their rage on society.

“He was angry at God because women were rejecting him,” Peterson was quoted as saying of the 25-year-old man who went on a killing spree in Toronto in April. “The cure for that is enforced monogamy. That’s actually why monogamy emerges.”

‘None of this is to say Peterson’s statements shouldn’t be contested.’

Photograph: Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star via Getty Images

The article continues: “Peterson does not pause when he says this. Enforced monogamy is, to him, simply a rational solution. Otherwise women will all only go for the most high-status men, he explains, and that couldn’t make either gender happy in the end.”

Besides failing to clearly condemn incels, Peterson’s quote made it seem as if he believes women should be required to sacrifice themselves against their will to fix male violence. He doesn’t. He’s said that by “enforced monogamy” he merely meant encouraging monogamy through social norms. Peterson, of course, is a public figure commanding a vast following, and he should expect to be held accountable for what he says. It is impossible to defend his wild regressive flourishes – like his suggestion, in a recent Financial Times profile, that women would be happier under traditional gender roles.

But anyone who makes even a cursory investigation of Peterson’s work knows that his harshest rebukes aren’t addressed to women, but men, whom he urges to reject self-pity and embrace self-improvement. These aren’t messages tailored to resentful, women-hating “incels” and men’s rights activists; they’re the opposite.

Despite the notion, popular on the left, that Peterson functions as a pipeline to the “alt-right”, it seems as likely, as Peterson himself has claimed, that he saves more directionless young men from far-right radicalization than the other way around. And, if nothing else, the Peterson phenomenon may leave at least one lasting achievement: it has gotten men to open up about mental health.

Although Peterson’s fans are probably more diverse in their ethnicities, genders, and walks of life than described, critics nonetheless like to highlight his following among young white males. It only requires a little empathy to see why such men – grappling with addiction, unemployment, depression, and a feeling of uselessness and failure – desperately crave the paternal encouragement and affirmation Peterson provides.

I had heard that Peterson’s online fandom was a swamp of reactionism, but it turned out to be less striking for its politics than its relative lack thereof. 

One of the recurring themes of Peterson’s lectures is that life is painful; only by accepting that pain – “shouldering the heaviest burden you can bear” – can one begin to transcend it. It is a seemingly simple message that turns out to have enormous emotional resonance. (Quotations have been lightly edited for clarity.)

In a Reddit thread called “I think Dr Peterson saved my life”, a 24-year-old Polish man describes how Peterson’s lectures pulled him out of self-imposed isolation and the brink of suicide:

I hope that thanks to [Peterson’s advice], in a year or two I will be a different person, both mentally and physically. Someone who is finally happy, who finally lives and not just barely exists. […] So … thank you, Dr Peterson. Perhaps you have saved another soul.

In another Reddit thread, called “There are people who are 20+ years [old] that have never had a friend”, commenters discuss loneliness. One commenter describes growing up in an impoverished and abusive household:

I didn’t have friends until I was about 17. […] I was the smelly kid at school because I couldn’t shower, had no way to wash my clothes, and I wore the same clothes every day every year for a really long time. […] I’ve been working on social skills for years and years. Finally I “broke through” with the help of Jordan Peterson.

When news consumers get around to reading or watching Peterson’s work for themselves, they often find his ideas far less radical than characterized – and feel betrayed by the media and cultural elite’s representation of Peterson.

The notion that there is nothing redeemable in Peterson’s message – and the accompanying assumption that any fan of his is beneath contempt – is not only wrong, but represents a rather bleak, zero-sum vision of politics.

The left’s most profound message used to be that all human beings deserve dignity and worth, and those who need help should receive it, regardless of their race or gender or class or other characteristic.

If that axiom still holds true – these days I’m not always sure – then it applies to many of Peterson’s fans.

J Oliver Conroy is a writer and journalist based in New York

Report: North Korea Continues to Punish Religious Practice

By Yonhap News Agency   

Tourists use binoculars to see North Korea from the Goseong Unification Observatory in the the demilitarized zone in Gangwon-do, South Korea. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

SEOUL, South Korea, (UPI) -- The North Korean government continued to punish those engaging in religious practices last year, with executions, torture and other abuse, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report Tuesday.

In the 2016 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, the department reconfirmed human rights abuses the North has long been accused of, including its denial of the right to religious freedom.

"The government continued to deal harshly with those who engaged in almost any religious practices through executions, torture, beatings, and arrests," the report said. "An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, some imprisoned for religious reasons, were believed to be held in the political prison camp system in remote areas under horrific conditions."

Last year's report pointedly said the exercise of religious freedom continued to be nearly "nonexistent" in North Korea. But that word was dropped this year.

The report comes as tensions run high between Washington and Pyongyang over the communist regime's missile and nuclear programs.

North Korea releases Canadian pastor held since 2015:

state news agency

CTVNews.ca Staff 

Aug 9, 2017

After languishing for more than two years in a North Korean prison, a Canadian pastor was released Wednesday, according to the country’s state news agency.

Hyeon Soo Lim, 62, a pastor with the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Mississauga, Ont., had travelled to North Korea more than a hundred times, leading humanitarian programs and even opening an orphanage. But during his last trip in 2015, he was detained and charged with attempting to overthrow North Korea’s regime using religion.

In what is believed to be a coerced statement, Lim soon admitted to the crimes after being sentenced to hard labour for life.

In this file image made from July 30, 2015, video, Canadian Hyeon Soo Lim speaks in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo)

“There were rumours that he was affiliated with the uncle that Kim Jong Un had executed a few years back, and that was partly the reason for his incarceration," Jack Kim, a senior advisor with HanVoice, a Canada-based human rights organization that assists North Korean refugees, recently told CTV News.

Then, two years and dozens of delicate diplomatic communications later, a Canadian delegation led by Daniel Jean, a national security advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, travelled to Pyongyang this week to discuss Lim’s case in person.

"Pastor Lim’s health and well-being remain of utmost importance to the Government of Canada, and we are working to ensure that he receives any required medical attention," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

That delegation was pivotal towards securing Lim’s release, Ontario MPP Raymond Cho said.

“It is important that Kim Jong Un got the representatives from Canada, so we saved his face,” Cho, who is Korean-Canadian, told CTV News. “It is a very good gesture.”

Since being imprisoned, Lim’s health was reportedly failing. He suffers from high blood pressure and allegedly lost nearly 40 kilograms while incarcerated.

According to North Korea’s news agency, Lim was released on “sick bail.”

Muslim Gang in Philippines Beheads Canadian Hostage

Family devastated after John Ridsdel

killed by captors in Philippines

Abu Sayyaf militants had issued deadline for ransoms

on former Calgarian and 3 other hostages

CBC News 

John Ridsdel, a former Calgarian, was one of four people abducted in the Philippines last year. Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed reports that Ridsdel had been killed. (@JBR10000/Twitter)

Family of John Ridsdel say they are devastated by his death at the hands of kidnappers in the Philippines. 

They say his life was "cut tragically short by this senseless act of violence despite us doing everything within our power to bring him home."

Ridsdel was one of four hostages, including fellow Canadian Robert Hall, held by the Abu Sayyaf militants since last September. 

The 68-year-old was described as semi-retired and was the former chief operating officer of mining company TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of Canada's TVI Pacific, where he was a consultant, a company officer said.

The kidnappers had issued a ransom deadline that lapsed Monday morning. Evidence of a beheading was found along a street in Jolo town in Sulu province, according to Jolo police Chief Supt. Junpikar Sitin.

Mourning a 'great guy'

In a statement from the family, Ridsdel was described as "a kind and gregarious person who touched everyone he knew with his enthusiasm and generosity. He loved life and lived it to the fullest with his family and friends at the centre.

"He was loved by all his friends and adored by his daughters, sister and extended family. He will be sorely missed for all our days to come."

Don Kossick — a colleague from his time as a journalist with CBC in Regina, Sask. — said he "really liked" Ridsdel.

"He was really a warm, generous person," Kossick said in Saskatoon, Sask. "When I saw his name come up with that first kidnap he was a part of, I thought, 'My God. What a situation he's caught up in.' "

Upon learning of the beheading of his friend, he said "my heart just crashed."

"He was a great guy," Sandy Hunter told CBC News. He was the best man at Ridsdel's wedding, and the two were former colleagues at CBC Calgary and Petro-Canada.

Hunter said he is grateful for the time they spent together dating back to the 1970s.

The two lost touch in recent years, Hunter said, partly because he became uncomfortable with Ridsdel's increased work in problematic areas.

Reaction from the PM

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spoke out against the killing while at a federal cabinet retreat in Alberta.

"I am outraged by the news that a Canadian citizen, John Ridsdel ... has been killed at the hands of his captors."

"This was an act of cold-blooded murder, and responsibility rests squarely with the terrorist group who took him hostage."

Trudeau condemned the "heinous" act and said the Canadian government will work with the Philippine government to bring those responsible to justice. He also offered deepest condolences to Ridsdel's friends and family.

Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose tweeted that she was shocked and saddened when she learned he was killed.

In a statement, Ambrose said, "Incidents like this should remind all of us that the threat of terrorism remains very real. We must stand with our allies in solidarity against terrorism, which remains the greatest challenge that the world faces today."

Former Liberal MP and longtime friend Bob Rae was among the first to respond to the killing.

Rae has been in regular contact with Ridsdel's family.

"It's hard. It's just very hard. I've been involved behind the scenes for the last six months trying to find a solution and it's been very painful," said Rae.

Seeking resolution

Officials in the Philippines had said earlier that government forces were moving to rescue the two Canadians and a Norwegian after their Muslim militant captors threatened to behead one of them if a huge ransom was not paid.

"Whether things could have been done differently, it's too soon for that to be said. Certainly the family did everything they could to try to reach a solution," said Rae.

His friendship with Ridsdel dates back to university in the 1960s. Rae said his friend had always been adventurous.


Canadians Robert Hall, left, and John Ridsdel, middle, and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad appeared in a YouTube video appealing to the Philippines government to stop military operations. (Site Intelligence Group/YouTube)

There's no immediate word about the other three being held hostage.

The kidnappers reportedly demanded 300 million pesos ($6.5 million) for each of the foreigners, who were seized along with a Filipino woman by gunmen in September last year from a marina on southern Samal Island. The hostages were believed to have been taken to Jolo Island in Sulu, a jungle-covered province where the militants are believed to be holding several hostages.

Police identified the foreigners as Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad, who was the resort's marina manager, Ridsdel and Hall, as well as a Filipino woman.

Officials said the president ordered the military and police to launch the rescue in the south of the country.

Jolo Mayor Hussin Amin condemned the beheading, blaming Abu Sayyaf militants who have been implicated in past kidnappings, beheadings and bombings.

"This is such a barbaric act by these people, and one would be tempted to think that they should also meet the same fate," Amin said by telephone.

Abu Sayyaf known for extortion, kidnappings

University of Calgary terrorism expert Michael Zekulin said it's not clear how the killing of Ridsdel will affect the other hostages.

"It positions them in terms of the next negotiation perhaps, where people take them seriously and maybe it will lead to a more successful negotiation the next time," said Zekulin.

Abu Sayyaf emerged in the early 1990s as an offshoot of a separatist rebellion by minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's south.

The group — which Canada and other Western countries consider a terrorist organization — has relied on extortion and huge ransoms earned from kidnappings of mostly Western tourists and missionaries.


Philippine officials said the hostages were taken at gunpoint during a late-night raid in September 2015 at the Oceanview resort on Samal island, in the southern Philippines. (Mapbox/Canadian Press)

Prairie upbringing

Ridsdel grew up in Yorkton, SK and is being remembered as a brilliant, compassionate man with a talent for friendship.

"He could bridge many communities, many people, many situations and circumstances and environments in a very gentle way," said Gerald Thurston, a lifelong friend who grew up with Ridsdel in Yorkton, Sask.

Thurston said Ridsdel is survived by two adult daughters from a former marriage. 

The Complex Mess in the Middle East

Erdogan uses ISIS to suppress Kurds, West stays silent – Turkish MP

Buildings which were damaged during the security operations and clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants, are pictured in Sur district of Diyarbakir, Turkey February 11, 2016 © Sertac Kayar 

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been using ISIS to advance his Middle East policy and suppress the Kurds, and Ankara’s elite maintains vibrant economic ties with the terror group and harbors its militants, a Turkish MP has told Russian media.

“Erdogan uses ISIS [Islamic State/IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL] against the Kurds. He can’t send the Turkish Army directly to Syrian Kurdistan, but he can use ISIS as an instrument against the Kurds. He has a greater Ottoman Empire in his mind, that’s his dream, while ISIS is one of the instruments [to achieve it],” Selma Irmak, a Turkish MP from the Peace and Democracy Party told RIA Novosti on Monday.

There are many signs that the Turkish leadership is aiding Islamic State and benefiting from it, Irmak argued.

“Wounded militants are given medical treatment in Turkey. For ISIS, Turkey is a very important supply channel. They are allowed to pass through the Turkish border, being given IDs [and other documents],” she added.

“ISIS has training camps in Turkey,” Irmak stressed, citing other examples of Turkey providing IS with certain capabilities, including the fact that all militants go back and forth into Syria through Turkish territory.

Both the Turkish elite and the terrorist group enjoy economic ties as well," Irmak argued.

“ISIS’ oil is sold via Turkey. All of ISIS’ external [trade] operations are being carried out via Turkey and involve not only oil.” Part of the terrorist group’s criminal business trafficking hostages as well as female slaves of Yazidi and Assyrian minorities, while “the government is, of course, well aware of it,” she added.

More proof could be the absence of any violence between the Turkish military and Islamic State militants.

“ISIS never attacked Turkish positions and claimed no responsibility for terror attacks in Turkey’s cities. There were three large terror attacks [in 2015] in Diyarbakir, Suruc and Ankara. Each attack caused harm to the Kurds and opposition activists supporting them,” the MP noted.

Turkey only intervened when the Kurds retook territory from the IS-held Kurdish city of Tell Abyad in northern Syria.

“Turkish warplanes formally bombarded the ISIS-held territory and conducted two airstrikes to show it fights the Islamic State. And in the meantime, Turkey made 65 airstrikes on Qandil [the PKK stronghold in mountainous northern Iraq].”

According to Irmak, Ankara feels free to take on the Kurds because the West is unwilling to harm its interests in the region and beyond.

“Unfortunately, the international community is indifferent towards these events. Turkey has taken Europe prisoner by using Middle Eastern refugees as an instrument of blackmail. The US keeps silent too, having common interests with Turkey. For instance, the US wants to keep using the Incirlik airbase […] and the Turkish Army is emboldened by such impunity.”

The Canadian angle
Another problem with Turkey's determination to eliminate the Kurds is that the Canadian Government has decided to triple the number of trainers and support personnel working with the Kurds. What happens when a few of them are blown-up by Turkish bombs?

Chechen leader: Saudi-led coalition protects ISIS from full destruction

Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov © Michael Klimentyev / Sputnik

Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia’s Chechen Republic, has said that the latest actions by pro-Western military forces in Syria show that in reality they do not intend to fully destroy ISIS and return power to the legitimate government of the country.

Kadyrov issued the comment Monday, soon after news agencies reported about planned military exercises by the Saudi-led anti-terrorist coalition, which includes over 20 Muslim nations. “We cannot exclude the possibility that by these exercises they are preparing themselves for active operations in Syria,” the Chechen leader said in an Instagram post.

“But the [real] goals and tasks of this coalition lie on the surface. They want to prevent the full defeat of the ‘Iblis State’ and the restoration of peace in the region,” Kadyrov said. He used the expression “Iblis State,” or “Devil State,” referring to the Islamic State terrorist group, also known as ISIL and ISIS. Such a replacement has been proposed and promoted by Russian imams, who noted that using the word “Islamic” to describe terrorists was insulting to their faith.

“The plans of the authors of Middle Eastern wars and overthrows do not include the full liquidation of IS and the strengthening of Bashar Assad’s power,” Kadyrov wrote. “But they will have to put up with the fact that the rules of the game are now dictated not by the West and not by the United States.”

He also warned that the simultaneous use of many military contingents and air forces from various nations in one region would inevitably lead to various incidents that could provoke larger conflicts. “Instead of a real struggle against international terrorism we will have some settling of accounts between various members of this so-called coalition,” Kadyrov wrote. “This is an open threat to peace in the region and the world as a whole.”

In November 2015, Kadyrov addressed all Muslims in the world with a call to unite and destroy IS, adding that no one has the right to remain neutral after the atrocities committed by the extremists. In the same address, he reiterated his point that the current Middle East crisis was masterminded by the West. “Special services from the US and other Western states have cheaply bought the leaders of terrorist groups and ordered them to constantly shed Muslim blood, destroy stable countries and blacken the reputation of Islam,” he wrote.

Of course, Kadyrov, being a Muslim would blame the west for the atrocities of Islam even though such atrocities have been committed in over 600 wars in the 1400 years of Islam's sorry existence.
But he is right in at least two areas: "pro-Western military forces in Syria show that in reality they do not intend to fully destroy ISIS and return power to the legitimate government of the country." If the west wanted ISIS gone it would have been gone a long time ago.

The other area he is right about is that special forces, and/or special interests from the west are most likely complicit in the mess over there. 

In 2014, Kadyrov vowed to destroy IS after the group threatened to attack Russia. He also said that he had repeatedly asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to send Chechen infantry and himself to Syria to take part in the anti-terrorist operation in Syria, or any other part of the world.

‘Dogs of war’: Profiteering military contractors must be regulated, warns charity

© Stringer / Reuters

Private firms based in Britain (and the US, for that matter) are reaping huge profits by exploiting conflict and instability around the world in the absence of proper regulation, a British charity has warned.

The remarks were made by War on Want, following the charity’s release of a report examining the devastating impact of private military and security companies (PMSCs) around the globe.

Writing on War on Want's website, the charity's communications chief, Ross Hemingway, called for an “end to the privatization of war.”

“For too long this murky world of ‘guns for hire’ has been allowed to grow unchecked, and in letting the industry regulate itself the UK government has failed,” he said.

“Binding regulation is long overdue. The Swiss government has already banned all PMSCs based in Switzerland from operating in conflict; it is time the UK followed suit.”

Profiting from instability and turmoil 
Hemmingway’s analysis drew from research that scrutinizes the legacy of PMSCs operating in Britain and beyond.

PMSCs first appeared in their current form 15 years ago, after Washington and Westminster declared a “war on terror” and subsequently invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Although they initially were contracted for security-based services, they are often hired today to provide combat roles in wars in Africa and the Middle East.

Although they profit directly from war and conflict and have been accused of multiple human rights abuses in conflict situations around the world, Hemingway notes that they are currently unregulated. He said that British firms G4S, Aegis Defence Services, Control Risks and Olive Group currently regulate themselves.

Hemmingway argued that this trend is unsurprising, given the revolving door that exists between PMSCs and the military, intelligence and corporate sectors.

He said the biggest market for British PMSCs is in Iraq, where the provision of private security is common. One such firm is G4S, which the charity accuses of profiting from turmoil in Iraq and the oppression of Palestinians.

Violating international law
PMSCs are also increasingly exploiting legal loopholes concerning the use of arms on ships in international waters, according to Hemmingway.

Although Iraq and Afghanistan are longstanding markets for British-based PMSCs, instability in resource-rich parts of northern and western Africa has also been capitalized on by these firms, he says.

Despite the fact that private armed forces on ships can violate domestic and international law, G4S says the securitization of trading ships in the Indian Ocean is a large-scale “commercial opportunity.”

Firms that make use of such floated armories can operate freely, without the threat of investigation, according to War on Want. In August 2013, the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills issued 50 licenses for floating armories operating in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. War on Want’s research reveals that Royal Dutch Shell, BP, ExxonMobil and other energy giants also pay PMSCs to secure their operations.

Speaking earlier this month, War on Want’s executive director John Hilary said private military contractors “ran amok in Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving a trail of human rights abuses in their wake.”

“Now we are seeing the alarming rise of mercenaries fighting on the front line in conflict zones across the world," he said. 

"It is the return of the ‘Dogs of War’.”