Canada

It can often seem as if phone and online scammers are beyond accountability. Often operating from abroad, where illegal activity is either tolerated or ignored, the organized criminal groups behind the scams that annoy and frustrate so many of us, have reaped billions in stolen gains from some of society's most vulnerable.

But there is a small army of good guys fighting back.

Three of the world's most popular "scambusters" — who have a combined following of more than 10 million across their social media platforms — joined forces with CBC's Marketplace to create a fraud-fighting centre, using their unique skills to infiltrate criminal networks overseas, reroute 62 active scam call centres back to their operation and intercept fraudulent calls to stop scammers from accessing money from Canadian victims.

As for why Marketplace is involved in this:

Marketplace has helped bring some of those scams to light, through travels to Mumbai, exposing where many of the overseas criminal operations are based. The team has also taken hidden cameras inside tech support scam centre operations to reveal what's happening and the victims scammers usually target. In 2022, the team exposed some of the Canadians with alleged financial connections to the overseas criminal operations running scam call centres.

So I'm looking forward to this crossover episode 😄

The episode should be available on this playlist within a day or so, considering the last one was uploaded 6 days ago: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeyJPHbRnGaZmzkCwy3-8ykUZm_8B9kKM

CBC Gem is also free with ads, relatively cheap without, if you want to support the CBC that way

It can often seem as if phone and online scammers are beyond accountability. Often operating from abroad, where illegal activity is either tolerated or ignored, the organized criminal groups behind the scams that annoy and frustrate so many of us, have reaped billions in stolen gains from some of society's most vulnerable.

But there is a small army of good guys fighting back.

Three of the world's most popular "scambusters" — who have a combined following of more than 10 million across their social media platforms — joined forces with CBC's Marketplace to create a fraud-fighting centre, using their unique skills to infiltrate criminal networks overseas, reroute 62 active scam call centres back to their operation and intercept fraudulent calls to stop scammers from accessing money from Canadian victims.

As for why Marketplace is involved in this:

Marketplace has helped bring some of those scams to light, through travels to Mumbai, exposing where many of the overseas criminal operations are based. The team has also taken hidden cameras inside tech support scam centre operations to reveal what's happening and the victims scammers usually target. In 2022, the team exposed some of the Canadians with alleged financial connections to the overseas criminal operations running scam call centres.

So I'm looking forward to this crossover episode 😄

The episode is available here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeyJPHbRnGaZmzkCwy3-8ykUZm_8B9kKM

CBC Gem is also free with ads, relatively cheap without, if you want to support the CBC that way

For the first time in its history, Canada has unveiled a comprehensive Africa strategy, marking a significant milestone in the Canadian approach to engaging with the African continent.

Launched on March 6 by Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, the parliamentary secretary to the foreign affairs minister, the strategy represents a crucial step towards a more coherent and intentional relationship with Africa.

Authors:

• David J Hornsby | Professor of International Affairs and the Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Academic), Carleton University
• David Black | Professor of International Relations and Development, Dalhousie University
• Edward Akuffo | Associate Professor and Department Head, Political Science, University of The Fraser Valley
• Thomas Kwasi Tieku | Professor of Politics and International Relations, King's University College, Western University

A new report is alleging Ontario police have been secretly using the controversial Israeli spyware tool Paragon Solutions. Senior researcher at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab Kate Robertson explains.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/amZJ4 ]

The Chinese government promised a 100 per cent levy on Canadian canola oil and meal, plus a 25 per cent duty on seafood and pork. Those tariffs on Canadian goods imported to China kick in on Thursday.

As the tariffs take effect, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe called on the federal government to remove its levies on electric vehicles amid fears that his province could face job losses and face the brunt of the blowback.

Moe pointedly called it “a Western Canadian expense at the benefit of a non-existent EV auto industry in Eastern Canada.”

Faced with calls to rethink the tariffs, Ford’s office said the premier continues to back the tax on Chinese-made vehicles.

An entire country of petty, idiot children.

Norman Paterson School of International Affairs Professor Philippe Lagassé told CBC the US could "probably" prevent upgrades or new parts for Canada's offensive fighter jets, but the "entire armed forces has this problem."

Former F-35 test pilot and retired lieutenant-colonel Billie Flynn echoed Lagassé.

"There is nothing unique about the vulnerability of the F-35", Flynn noted. "Remember that every missile that we own and fire on the CF-18s and all our frigates, all our offensive weapons are American and necessarily the United States government has control over what's loaded into the latest version."

Canada's military is desperate to avoid this discussion. According to retired Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, "senior officers are likely terrified by the perceived abandonment of their USAF [United States Air Force] relationships" that's been caused by questioning the F-35 purchase. The RCAF leadership is facing a "crisis of identity", adds Norman, since they have "a cultural bias towards the USAF".

Canada’s largest Muslim organisation is outraged over a bill introduced by the Quebec government that would ban headscarves for school support staff and students.

“In Quebec, we made the decision that state and the religion are separate,” said Education Minister Bernard Drainville, CBC News reported. “And today, we say the public schools are separate from religion.”

But the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), who are challenging in the Supreme Court the original bill that forbids religious symbols being worn by teachers, say the new bill is another infringement on their rights and unfairly targets hijab-wearing Muslims.

“This renewed attack on the fundamental rights of our community is just one of several recent actions taken by this historically unpopular government to bolster their poll numbers by attacking the rights of Muslim Canadians,” the NCCM said in a social media post.

Link is Cleveland cliffs closing 2 iron mines. Demand from Canada is a factor.

Nucor, US Steel, and Cleveland Cliffs have all forecasted bigger losses for next quarter despite the extortion pricing that tariffs give them. Narrative is that steel using US manufacturing will not take off as promised.

Canadian policy needs to make sure that damage is maximized.