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THE ONLY BI-LINGUAL AND BI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
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| Volume 10 Issue 252 Rabi'al Awwal 11, 1431 AH / February 26, 2010 |
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| :: International News |
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| Plane crash purposely hit US tax office in Texas |
A software engineer furious with the Internal Revenue Service launched a suicide attack by crashing his small plane into an office building containing nearly 200 IRS employees. At least one person in the building was missing. The FBI tentatively identified the pilot as Joseph A. Stack, 53. Law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still going on, said that before taking off, Stack apparently set fire to his house and posted a long anti-government screed on the Web. It was dated Thursday and signed „Joe Stack (1956-2010).‰ In it, the author cited run-ins he had with the IRS and ranted about the tax agency, government bailouts and corporate America‚s „thugs and plunderers.‰ „I have had all I can stand,‰ he wrote, adding: „I choose not to keep looking over my shoulder at Œbig brother‚ while he strips my carcass.
 The pilot took off in a four-seat, single engineer Piper PA-28 from an airport in Georgetown, about 30 miles from Austin, without filing a flight plan. He flew low over the Austin skyline before plowing into the side of the hulking, seven-story, black-glass building just before 10 a.m. with a thunderous explosion that instantly stirred memories of Sept. 11. Flames shot from the building, windows exploded, a huge pillar of black smoke rose over the city, and terrified workers rushed to get out. The Pentagon scrambled two F-16 fighter jets from Houston to patrol the skies over the burning building before it became clear that it was the act of a lone pilot, and President Barack Obama was briefed. Stack was presumed dead. Emergency crews had found a body in the building Thursday night, but Police Chief Art Acevedo declined to say whether it was the pilot. At least 13 people were injured, with two reported in critical condition. About 190 IRS employees work in the building. Gerry Cullen was eating breakfast at a restaurant across the street when the plane struck the building and „vanished in a fireball.‰ In the long, rambling, self-described „rant‰ that Stack apparently posted on the Internet, he began: „If you‚re reading this, you‚re no doubt asking yourself, ŒWhy did this have to happen?‚‰ He recounted his financial reverses, his difficulty finding work in Austin, and at least two clashes with the IRS, one of them after he filed no return because, he said, he had no income, the other after he failed to report his wife Sheryl‚s income. He railed against politicians, the Catholic Church, the „unthinkable atrocities‰ committed by big business, and the government bailouts that followed. He said he slowly came to the conclusion that „violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.‰ „I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let‚s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well,‰ he wrote. According to California state records, Stack had a troubled business history, twice starting software companies in California that ultimately were suspended by the state‚s tax board, one in 2000, the other in 2004. Also, his first wife filed for bankruptcy in 1999, listing a debt to the IRS of nearly $126,000.
The blaze at Stack‚s home, a red-brick house on a tree-lined street in a middle-class neighborhood six miles from the crash site, caved in the roof and blew out the windows. Elbert Hutchins, who lives one house away, said the house caught fire about 9:15 a.m. He said a woman and her daughter drove up to the house before firefighters arrived. „They both were very, very distraught,‰ said Hutchins, a retiree who said he didn‚t know the family well. „‚That‚s our house!‚ they cried. ŒThat‚s our house!‚‰ Red Cross spokeswoman Marty McKellips said the agency was treating two people who live in the house and that the family had no comment Thursday. McKellips said the family would „give information and answer questions‰ on Friday. Thursday was not the first time a tax protester went after an Austin IRS building. In 1995, Charles Ray Polk plotted to bomb the IRS Austin Service Center. He was released from prison in October of last year. The tax protest movement has a long history in the U.S. and was a strong component of anti-government sentiments that surged during the 1990s. Anti-tax protesters typically believe that they do not have to pay income taxes. Some have been convicted in recent years for targeting IRS officials for harassment and even murder
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Flaherty tightens mortgage taps |
Federal finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced new rules aimed at preventing homebuyers from getting into financial difficulty when mortgage rates rise. After consulting with major Canadian lenders, Flaherty outlined the latest weapons at Ottawa's disposal aimed at removing some of the speculative froth in the housing market. "There is no evidence of a housing bubble, but we're taking prudent steps today to prevent one," he said at a news conference in Ottawa. "If some lenders aren't willing to act themselves, we will act." Broadly speaking, the plan unveiled has three components. First, Ottawa will require that all borrowers meet the standards for a five-year fixed-rate mortgage, even if they choose a variable mortgage with a lower rate or a shorter term. "This will guard against higher rates in the future," Flaherty said. Second, the rules would lower the maximum Canadians can withdraw when refinancing their mortgages to 90 per cent of the value of their home, from 95 per cent. And finally, Ottawa will now require a minimum 20 per cent down payment to qualify for CMHC insurance for non-owner-occupied properties purchased as an investment. The last rule is aimed at reining in would-be real estate speculators who own multiple properties beyond their primary residence. "We want to discourage the tendency some people have to use a home as an ATM, or buy three or four condos on speculation," Flaherty said. There had been speculation the Department of Finance might implement legislation raising the minimum down payment from five to 10 per cent of a home's value, or reduce the maximum amortization period from 35 years to 30 years. Those measures were not part of Flaherty's announcement, but all options are still on the table should circumstances change, Flaherty said. The adjustments to the mortgage insurance guarantee framework, to be implemented as of April 19, 2010, are not likely to revolutionize the industry. Indeed, current policies at some large Canadian lenders are similar to the first peg of Flaherty's plan. After the announcement, the Bank of Montreal noted that it already requires its high-ratio borrowers to be able to qualify using the five-year rate. And all banks currently test all mortgage Though she stopped short of calling Canadian real estate in bubble territory already, she said the April 19 date for implementation is actually likely to cause more short-term stimulation of the market, as people scramble to get in under the deadline. In terms of the impact on real estate buyers, the policy change will have an effect on a large portion of new buyers, TD Bank deputy chief economist Craig Alexander said in a report. "Perhaps a quarter of all new mortgage originations might be influenced," he said. The requirement that all buyers are held to the five-year fixed-rate standards will be particularly important, Alexander said. Based on the average home price of $337,000, a buyer with only five per cent down would require roughly $9,200 more in annual income to qualify under the new rules, he estimated. For its part, the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals says it supports the amendments, calling them preventative measures against possible future risk.
Source: CBC.ca
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Israel acts on West Bank wall order |
Israel has begun rerouting a section of its controversial separation barrier near the West Bank village of Bilin following a two-and-a-half-year-old court ruling. But activists and Bilin residents continued to hold protests against the barrier, despite the concession, which returns only about a third of the area claimed by the Palestinians. "It's a small victory," Mohammad Khatip, an anti-wall activist, told Al Jazeera. "We win a round of the game but we didn't win the game yet so we will continue in our struggle ... to dismantle this wall and this settlement," he said, referring to the Jewish settlement of Modiin Ilit which lies on the other side of the barrier. He said that the partial re-routing had effectively frozen the settlement's expansion. "This [is] the visible success, more than to change the route of the wall - if the route stays as it is now, this means another 1,500 apartments will be built ... but with the new route this means that plan will [be] cancelled." Israel began rerouting the Bilin section of the barrier, two and a half years after Israel's supreme court ruled that the barrier must be moved. Workers laid down tracks for the new route and, once the new section is built, the part of the barrier currently standing around Bilin will reportedly be removed. That will return about 700,000 square metres to the Palestinian side of the wall. Israeli defence officials confirmed preliminary work was being done but did not provide details. Israel began building the separation barrier in 2002 after a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis. The separation barrier cuts into the West Bank, away from the so-called Green Line which marks the ceasefire line agreed at the end of the 1948-49 war that followed the creation of Israel. Activists say that in total 84 per cent of the barrier will be in the West Bank, often separating Palestinians from their farmland. Sherine Tadros, Al Jazeera's correspondent, reporting from Bilin, said: "For Palestinians, it's simply a land grab - a way to demarcate Israel from the West Bank and take more Palestinian land and pre-empt a final settlement." In late 2007, Israel's supreme court ordered the government to modify the barrier's route through Bilin, dismissing its argument that the current route was necessary to protect residents of Jewish settlements. The judges ordered the government to come up with a new route in a "reasonable period of time". Protesters have gathered every Friday in the village for the past five years to protest against the barrier, often leading to clashes with Israeli security forces. Soldiers have fired tear gas, stun grenades and live rounds to disperse the demonstrations, saying that the protests are illegal. Hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and foreign demonstrators have been injured in the clashes over the years and one Palestinian protester was killed.
Source: Al-Jazeera
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| :: Other Features |
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Pakistani Olympics Team visits Pakistan House
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