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Assad offers another amnesty
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has granted an amnesty to his opponents.
According to the BBC, this would apply to all those who committed a crime during the 10-month uprising.
Several thousands of people have been detained in the past year.
Countless others have been killed during the protests.
The official pardon is not the first Assad has granted.
This leaves some skeptical of the impact it will have on the current crisis.
Liberals vote yes to legalize marijuana
The Liberals have voted yes to the legalization of marijuana at the Liberal Party’s biennial convention on Sunday morning.
According to the Huffington Post, interim party leader Bob Rae acknowledged that the war on drugs was not working effectively.
He also said that the implications of the resolution had to be carefully studied.
Still, 77% of the delegates said they wanted a future Liberal party to legalize the drug.
A major issue regarding the legalization of marijuana is to see how it’s supply will be controlled.
Rae said he would look into it in the months and years to come and that he was confortable with the resolution.
This resolution implies legalizing, regulating and taxing the production, distribution and use of marijuana.
Illegal trafficking, importation and exportation of marijuana as well as impaired driving would still be severely punished.But those accused of simple possession of the drug in the past would receive amnesty.
The program would also invest in prevention and education programs in schools about the harms of marijuana.
It is still unsure whether the resolution will make it into the Liberal’s next election platform, but Young Liberals Leader Samuel Lavoie said he hoped it would not go unnoticed.
Cruise ship disaster
A luxury cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, hit an underwater rock and partly sunk last Friday night near the Tuscan shore, in Italy, according to the CBC.
Search and rescue teams have been deployed all weekend to find any remaining missing persons. So far five people have died and at least 15 are still missing.
Survivors lashed out at the captain and his crew to the media. They claimed the crew was incompetent and did not know how to properly evacuate the passengers.
Authorities arrested Capt. Francesco Schettino on Saturday. He is facing possible charges of manslaughter and abandoning his ship before all his passengers were evacuated.
Homeless shelters team up in response to cold
Shelters around the city are working together to battle the cold temperatures. CTV Montreal reports they are doing this by coordinating vacancies.
They are also offering a shuttle bus to take people to other shelters if one is full. The shelters have six hundred and forty beds combined.
Before this movement homeless people would be rejected if there was no room. Shelters are also opening earlier when temperatures drop below minus ten.
The Black Keys
I'll admit, it was difficult for me to begin writing this review. It's hard to take a stance on an album so incredibly mediocre. El Camino starts off promising, but quickly fades into forgettable background music. The first three tracks, “Lonely Boy,” “Dead and Gone,” and “Gold on the Ceiling,” are the most memorable tracks on the album. “Lonely Boy,” in particular, has a catchy guitar riff and background vocals that compliment the chorus and give the song depth.
That being said, from a technical aspect, the album is actually quite well put together. The vocals and instrumentals seem incredibly calculated and well-planned out, and I think that's exactly what gets me about it. It doesn't like it's as raw or was as fun to make as previous Black Keys albums, and therefore it isn't as fun to listen to. Dan Auerbach seems to have traded in the bluesy voice that drew me to albums like 2003's Thickfreakness, for a more calculated, restricted sound, and frankly, it's boring. I had it playing in my car for two days and barely paid attention to it whatsoever.
The track “Gold on the Ceiling” is probably the closest thing the album has to that raw, energetic sound. “Mind Eraser” also showcases Auerbach's vocals quite well, but the song itself is too repetitive and not nearly energetic enough to be memorable.
Essentially, El Camino isn't a bad album by any means. There are no tracks that are absolutely painful to listen to, and most of them are pretty catchy. It's just not something I was excited to listen to, and after I write this I would honestly be content to never listening to it again. It's almost like a romantic comedy for me; I'm not opposed to it, I don't cringe at the idea of it being played, but I would never chose it over something else.
My final words are this: listen to the album once, maybe twice. If you get through it all without forgetting you're listening to it, great, listen more if you want. If not, well, you and I have a lot in common. Let's hang out or something.
-Breanna Morrison
Prescription drugs can be fatal
A fatal crash has lead Montreal police to warn drivers that they can be charged even if they have consumed legal drugs.
This new law took action after a 19 year old woman was killed in a car accident in Riviere des Prairies.
A 28 year old male driver of the other car was arrested on Thursday for suspected drug use.
The police officers who inspected the situation have pointed out that prescription drugs such as aspiran can lead to impaired driving.
The Stingers return to Concordia and Start to Buzz Tonight
The Concordia Stingers men's and women's hockey teams begin the second half of the season tonight. Both teams hope to build on the respective experiences they had overseas during the winter holidays.
Mugesera delays deportation
Rwandan politician Léon Mugesera’s deportation is being delayed with the intervention of the Quebec Superior Court.
According to the Canadian Press, he was supposed to be sent back to the African nation on Thursday to face criminal charges.
Charges against him are related to the 1994 killing of more than 800,000 Rwandans.
His deportation has been delayed to allow the legal evaluation by the United Nations’ committee against torture of Mugesera’s claim that he would be tortured if returned to Rwanda.
Mugesera has been living in Quebec City for decades and was in the hospital for a second straight day because of an unspecified health issue.
If the deportation order is carried out as it was planned, Mugesera would be the first refugee claimant to be sent back to Rwanda to face charges related to the genocide.
January 12, 2012
Read by Katie McGroarty
Produced by Nikita Smith
Stories by Joel Balsam, Dominique Daoust, Sarah Moore, Sabrina Daniel, Luciana Gravotta
Strike two
Despite relentless dedication by the Quebec Liberal government, the Concordia Student Union has far from given up on the fight against tuition hikes. At Wednesday’s CSU council meeting, councilors voted in support of a winter semester mobilization plan meant to combat the proposed tuition hike of $325 per semester for students who are Quebec residents over the next five years.
On the agenda is a March 7 special general assembly to vote for a weeklong Concordia-wide strike.
The CSU has already booked three locations on campus to gather enough students for a significant mandate.
“If we are going to have a vote on a strike that affects the entire student body we need to have a significant amount of students in order for it to be successful,” said CSU VP External Chad Walcott.
The sites include H-110 on the Sir George Williams campus as well as The Hive and the G Lounge at the Loyola campus.
Walcott is the man leading the charge. He said that the government will have no choice to negotiate if students go on strike and if classes must be cancelled for a semester. “Governments can’t afford to do that,” he said.
If the strike mandate is approved by students it will take place from March 26 to 29. However, it won’t necessarily end there. It could be extended indefinitely if students vote to do so in a general assembly planned for March 29.
“A strike is pretty much the only card left that students have in their hand in Quebec,” said CSU President Lex Gill.
In anticipation of questions and criticism, the CSU has planned out an information campaign devoted to convincing students that a strike is necessary.
Information will come in the form of booklets, mass emails and flyers, but also in the form of direct action. One of these activities will be a “Library Sleep-in” planned to take place from February 1 to 8.
The campaign is set to put “symbolic pressure on the university, without preventing students from going to class.”
During the sleep-in, information sessions will be orchestrated to defend the strike mandate and to handle questions and criticism.
Councilor Emran Ghasemi brought up a major criticism during Wednesday’s council meeting when he asked whether international students risk deportation if there is a strike.
According to several councilors, the External Committee and Mob Squad who are at the forefront of activism against tuition hikes at Concordia have considered this and believe international students have nothing to fear.
CSU representative to Senate Kyle McLoughlin added that it is not only a student's right to strike, but their duty as a member of a union.
However, most Registered Educations Savings Plans (RESP) and government student loans are null and void if a student is not registered for full-time classes. This could create some complications.
The CSU also plans to join students across the province in a Quebec-wide protest on March 22.
The last protest on November 10, 2011 against tuition hikes gathered an estimated 20 000 to 30 000 demonstrators, but led to no new negotiations between students and the government.
Photo taken on November 10, 2011 by Joel Balsam.
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