Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama say their “opinions do not coincide” on the bloody Syrian civil war but they’ve agreed to “push” the Assad regime and opposition forces back to the negotiation table for peace talks.

Putin and Obama emerged late Monday from a two-hour bilateral meeting at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland to announce they still don’t see eye-to-eye on the Syrian conflict, but they’re both committed to reducing escalating violence and use of chemical weapons.

“Of course, our opinions do not coincide, but all of us have the intention to stop the violence in Syria and to stop the growth of victims and to solve the situation peacefully, including by bringing the parties to the negotiating table in Geneva. We agreed to push the parties to the negotiating table,” Putin said through a translator following his bilateral meeting with Obama.

We agreed to push the parties to the negotiating table

The Russian leader has come under fire for supporting and arming Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper saying on Sunday that Putin was an outlier who was turning the G8 into the “G7 plus one” because he supported “thugs” in the Syrian regime.

The United States has already announced plans to ship small arms to the rebels, with Britain and France also considering providing military aid to the opposition — something Assad vows would be a big mistake.

Putin has also warned Western countries against their plans to arm opposition forces, but the Russian and American leaders found some common ground on the need for getting the Assad regime and opposition forces back to the table for Geneva peace talks that could restart possibly next month.

“We do have different perspectives on the problem, but we share an interest in reducing the violence, securing chemical weapons and ensuring they are neither used nor are they subject to proliferation, and that we want to try to resolve the issue through political means, if possible,” Obama said.

“And so we have instructed our teams to continue to work on the potential of a Geneva followup to the first meeting.”

The two leaders also released a joint statement saying they have agreed to hold a U.S.-Russia summit in Moscow on Sept. 3-4, 2013, to “discuss in greater detail the full range of bilateral and international issues.”

Both sides have reached an understanding on a “positive agenda for relations between our countries” that includes arms control, non-proliferation, international security, trade, responding to global threats, countering terrorism and militant extremism, says the statement.

The agreement by the two leaders to push for peace talks was a dramatic development in a day when Canadian officials were girding for difficult discussions with Putin who has warned Europe will “pay the price” if it arms Syrian rebels.

Canada and its allies around the G8 table had been hoping to engage Russia in a conversation that can get Assad’s regime back to the table for peace talks with opposition forces, as the death toll in the two-year-old conflict surpasses 93,000.

Harper maintains Canada is not, “at the present time,” planning to arm the Syrian opposition — but has not ruled it out — as the U.S., Britain and France all move toward supplying military aid to the rebels.

“If the Europeans deliver weapons, then Europe’s backyard will become terrorist, and Europe will pay the price for it,” Assad was quoted as saying in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

PETER MUHLY/AFP/Getty ImagesStephen Harper arrives at Belfast International airport, Northern Ireland, on Monday.

Putin had criticized Western leaders on Sunday for wanting to arm Syrian rebels who eat human organs, sparking further tension among G8 leaders on how to resolve the Syrian conflict.

The Canadian government, meanwhile, announced $115 million in new humanitarian and development assistance for Syria and neighbouring countries being flooded by refugees. Canada will provide $90 million to humanitarian organizations in Syria and countries hosting refugees to help with food, clean water, shelter and health care.

Another $25 million will go to Jordan and Lebanon to support government services and infrastructure strained from the influx of refugees.

“The brutal Assad regime continues to wreak havoc on innocent Syrian civilians. Canada will continue to work with our allies to help the Syrian people,” Harper said Monday in a statement. The prime minister did not take questions Monday from Canadian reporters with him on the trip.

The battle around the G8 table over Syria has been raising more questions about Russia’s future role in the group and whether the G8 is facing an existential crisis. Russia hosts both the G20 summit later this year and G8 talks in 2014.

AP Photo/Lefteris PitarakisAnti-hunger activists, wearing giant head masks depicting the G8 leaders, sail on a boat past the hotel where the G8 summit media centre is located in Enniskillen Monday.

“We’ve been pretty clear with Russia throughout: stop sending arms, stop backing the wrong side of history,” a senior Canadian government official told reporters during a briefing.

“It won’t be an easy discussion (with Putin),” said another official.

On Sunday, Harper attacked Putin for supporting the Assad regime, addressing in stark terms the divide between the G8 countries.

“I don’t think we should fool ourselves. This is G7 plus one. OK, let’s be blunt,” Harper said.

“We in the West have a very different perspective on this situation. Mr. Putin and his government are supporting the thugs of the Assad regime for their own reasons that I do not think are justifiable, and Mr. Putin knows my view on that. But we will not, unless there’s a big shift of position on his part, we’re not going to get a common position with him at the G8.”

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesAn Oxfam worker places roses amongst rows of gravestones symbolising the 93,00 people killed in Syria on June 17, 2013 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

But Harper faces his own challenges, specifically on trade, as the United States and European Union officially announced the start of negotiations on a free-trade deal, which could distract the EU from their prolonged talks on an overdue Canada-EU free-trade agreement.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, the summit host, is facing his own distractions, after the U.K. newspaper The Guardian reported that Britain spied on Group of 20 politicians and senior officials of other countries, including Russia and Turkey, during the 2009 G20 summit in London.

Harper’s officials offered “no comment” on the reports of the British spying.

Leaders spent the first day of the two-day G8 summit discussing the global economy during an afternoon session, followed by a working dinner on international security — specifically the escalating crisis in Syria.

On Tuesday, all leaders will discuss counter-terrorism initiatives, hold the traditional family photo and discuss new initiatives to combat international tax evasion, before wrapping up the summit in the afternoon.

Anthony Devlin/AFP/Getty ImagesBritish Prime Minister David Cameron, left, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin inside 10 Downing Street, central London, on June 16, 2013. Cameron held talks with Putin on Syria's civil war, a meeting which could set the tone for the G8 summit, with the West at odds with Moscow over the conflict.

Harper arrived Monday afternoon at the Lough Erne summit site — a short drive from the picturesque town of Enniskillen, which is hosting world media — and held bilateral meetings with Italy’s Enrico Letta, Japan’s Shinzo Abe and Germany’s Angela Merkel.

The Harper government has opposed arming Syrian rebels over fears the weapons could end up in the hands of what it calls “extremist elements” fighting within the opposition.

Obama has approved shipping small arms to Syrian rebels after American officials said they have conclusive evidence Assad’s government used chemical weapons against opposition forces.

I am as worried as anybody else about elements of the Syrian opposition who are extremists who support terrorism

France and Britain fought to dismantle a European Union arms embargo to open the possibility of shipping weapons to rebels to ratchet up the pressure on Assad.

On Monday, Cameron said he also has concerns about the extremist elements in the opposition.

“Let’s be clear — I am as worried as anybody else about elements of the Syrian opposition who are extremists who support terrorism, who are a great danger to our world. The question is what do we do about that. My argument is that we shouldn’t accept that the only alternative to Assad is terrorism and violence,” Cameron told British media.

“What we can try to do here at the G8, is have further pressure for the peace conference, for the transition that’s needed to bring this conflict to an end.”

Cameron is hosting the meeting of leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United States and United Kingdom.

Harper is also under enormous pressure to complete a Canada-EU free-trade agreement, especially now with the United States and European Union officially announcing Monday at the G8 summit they’re launching negotiations on their own trade accord, with talks expected to start in July.

Canada and the EU are in the final stages of negotiations, but seemingly remain deadlocked on a couple of key issues, including Canadian beef access into Europe, government procurement on urban transit in Canada, and financial services and investment protection.

Harper had initially promised negotiations would be completed by the end of 2012.

Trade observers believe it could be more difficult for Canada to complete the trade talks with the EU once it turns its attention to the U.S.

Harper will be at the G8 table with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who seems to have already turned his attention to trade talks with the United States.

Barroso, Cameron and Obama all trumpeted Monday the importance of a U.S.-EU trade deal for the global economy.

“We’re talking about what could be the biggest bilateral trade deal in history; a deal that will have a greater impact than all the other trade deals on the table put together,” Cameron said.

“Our partnership will be a true game-changer for the global economy,” Barroso said.

SAO PAULO — Protesters massed in at least seven Brazilian cities Monday for another round of demonstrations voicing disgruntlement about life in the country, raising questions about security during big events like the current Confederations Cup and a papal visit next month.

Authorities had hoped to avoid the sort of bloody confrontations that shocked Sao Paulo last week and the outpourings of dissent were mainly peaceful. But small bands of protesters broke glass trying to get into the main congressional building in Brasilia, and some demonstrators clashed with police in Rio de Janeiro.

The unrest initially was set off last week by anger over a 10-cent hike in public transport fares, but protesters have moved beyond that issue to tap into widespread frustration in Brazil over a heavy tax burden, politicians widely viewed as corrupt and woeful public education, health and transport systems.

Police commanders had said publicly that they would try to avoid violence Monday, but warned they could resort to force if protesters destroyed property.

AP Photo/Felipe DanaPolice officers retreat inside the building as protesters, throwing fire bombs and firecrackers, try to invade the sate assembly during a protest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, June 17, 2013.

Officers in Rio fired tear gas and rubber bullets when a group of protesters invaded the state legislative assembly and threw rocks and flares at police. Police in the capital of Brasilia, however, did not use force when about 200 demonstrators broke from a crowd of 3,000 and climbed up to the roof of the Congress building after shattering glass walls trying to get inside.

Tens of thousands of people turned out for a peaceful protest in Sao Paulo, where riot police had charged into another calm crowd on Thursday firing rubber bullets and tear gas and beating some demonstrators. Some protesters turned out in clown costumes complete with red rubber noses. Samba percussion circles, including one led by a drag queen with a blond wig and oversized dollar-sign earrings, pounded out competing rhythms.

AP Photo/Felipe DanaProtestors are reflected on the glass of a building, left, as they march in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, June 17, 2013.

Most of the thousands who protested in Rio did so peacefully, many of them dressed in white and brandishing placards and banners. Many people in the city left work early to avoid traffic jams downtown.

In Belo Horizonte, police estimated about 20,000 people joined a peaceful crowd protesting before a Confederations Cup match between Tahiti and Nigeria as police helicopters buzzed overhead and mounted officers patrolled the stadium area. Earlier in the day, demonstrators erected several barricades of burning tires on a nearby highway, disrupting traffic.

AP Photo/Felipe DanaA policeman lies injured on the ground after clashing with demonstrators during a protest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, June 17, 2013.

Protests also were reported in Curitiba, Belem and Salvador.

Marcos Lobo, a 45-year-old music producer who joined the protest in Sao Paulo, said the actions of police during earlier demonstrations persuaded him to come out Monday.

“I thought they (the protests) were infantile at first because of my preconceived notions,” Lobo said. “Then I saw the aggression.”

Another protester, Manoela Chiabai, said she wanted to express her dissatisfaction with the status quo.

“Everything in Brazil is a mess. There is no education, health care – no security. The government doesn’t care,” the 26-year-old photographer said. “We’re a rich country with a lot of potential but the money doesn’t go to those who need it most.”

In a brief statement, President Dilma Rousseff acknowledged the protests, saying: “Peaceful demonstrations are legitimate and part of democracy. It is natural for young people to demonstrate.”

AP Photo/Felipe DanaA police officer is dragged by colleagues after he clashed with protesters during a protest outside the state legislative assembly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, June 17, 2013.

Ariadne Natal, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo whose research focuses on violence, said protesters want to “take advantage of this moment when we have foreign visitors, when the world’s press is watching, to showcase their cause.”

“The problem we’ve seen is that the police action is trying to prevent these protests,” she said. “What we need to figure out is how the protests as well as the big events can be carried out democratically.”

Brazilians have long accepted malfeasance as a cost of doing business, whether in business or receiving public services. Brazilian government loses more than $47 billion each year to undeclared tax revenue, vanished public money and other widespread corruption, according to the Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo business group.

But in the last decade, about 40 million Brazilians have moved into the middle class and they have begun to demand more from government. Many are angry that billions of dollars in public funds are being spent to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics while few improvements are made elsewhere.

AP Photo/Felipe DanaA man throws a coconut to police during clashes between demonstrators and police outside the state legislative assembly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, June 17, 2013.

Protests are routine in Brazil, but few turn violent. Security experts say the demonstrations aren’t the main danger for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who will descend on Brazil from now through the Olympics in 2016.

However, Joe Biundini, whose FAM International Group provides security details to executives attending the Confederations Cup, said there is a danger of escalating violence from the protests if authorities don’t negotiate with demonstrators.

“If the government doesn’t sit down with them it could get worse in future matches,” Biundini said.

Associated Press writers Jenny Barchfield in Rio de Janeiro, Marco Sibaja in Brasilia and Rob Harris in Belo Horizonte contributed to this report.

UPTON, N.Y. — New York to Chicago, in five weeks?

Scientists on Long Island are preparing to move a 50-foot-wide electromagnet 5,100 kilometres over land and sea to its new home at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. The trip is expected to take more than a month.

“When we first started thinking about this, we all thought it wouldn’t be possible,” said Bill Morse, a physicist at Brookhaven National Lab on eastern Long Island. “But if you have a big problem, you find good people who can fix the problem. That’s physics.”

The electromagnet, which weighs at least 15 tons, was the largest in the world when it was built by scientists at Brookhaven in the 1990s, Morse said. Brookhaven scientists no longer have a need for the electromagnet, so it is being moved to the Fermi laboratory, where it will be used in a new experiment called Muon g-2.

AP / Brookhaven National Library A Dec. 22, 2005, photo provided by Brookhaven National Laboratory shows the 50-foot-wide electromagnet storage ring at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., on eastern Long Island. The ring, which will capture subatomic particles that live only 2.2 millionths of a second, will be transported in one piece, and moved flat, to its new home at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. The trip is expected to take more than a month.

The experiment will study the properties of muons, subatomic particles that live only 2.2 millionths of a second. The results of the experiment could create new discoveries in the realm of particle physics, said Chris Polly, manager of the Muon g-2 project at Fermilab.

The move is expected to cost about $3 million, but Polly estimated that constructing an entirely new electromagnet needed for the Muon g-2 experiment could cost as much as $30 million.

He noted the magnetic ring is constructed of aluminum and steel, with superconducting coils inside. It cannot be taken apart or twisted more than about 1/8th of an inch without irreparably damaging the coils, Polly said. A specially designed truck and barge will be used to transport the secured magnet from Long Island to Illinois.

Scientists will begin the move next Saturday, taking the magnet from its location on the 21-square kilometre Brookhaven campus to the front gate — a distance of about 2.9 km. The following day, they are expected to move the magnet south along the William Floyd Parkway for 9.6 km to Smith Point Park on the Atlantic Ocean. From there, it will be loaded onto a barge and will proceed down the East Coast, around the tip of Florida and up the Mississippi, Illinois and Des Plaines rivers.

In late July, the magnet will be placed back on a truck, where a two-day trip to the Fermilab will complete the journey. Polly said scientists are coordinating with law enforcement on “rolling roadblocks” for the magnet’s overland journey.

The magnet will remain inert, exhibiting no magnetic properties, until it is plugged in at Fermilab.

“We’re excited to get this move underway,” Polly said. “It’s not often our neighbours get a ringside seat for something this complex and interesting.”

A former head of Czech military intelligence has admitted following the wife of the country’s prime minister on the orders of a female aide at the centre of a sex and corruption scandal that threatens to bring down the government.

General Milan Kovanda told police that he organised the surveillance of Radka Necasova, the 47-year-old wife of Petr Necas, who quit as prime minister Monday, on behalf of Jana Nagyova.

Ms. Nagyova, the alleged lover of Mr. Necas and the prime minister’s chief of staff since 2006, was one of eight people arrested last week in a wide-ranging operation against abuse of office and corruption that sent shock waves through the Czech Republic’s political establishment. She has been indicted on bribery and complicity in the abuse of power.

Speaking through his lawyer, General Kovanda, who was also arrested, said he believed at the time the operation to follow the prime minister’s wife was in the interests of national security.

But his orders came from Ms. Nagyova, rather than his superiors in the defence ministry.

Portrayed as a femme fatale with men seemingly too eager to please her, Ms. Nagyova, 48, had apparently managed to build a mini fiefdom around her position at the heart of Mr Necas’s staff, with her power and influence extending far beyond the walls of her office. She reportedly controlled access to the prime minister, also 48, and anybody who wanted to speak to him had to speak to her first.

In an example of her influence, the Czech weekly Reflex cited an incident in February in which everyone was made to walk to a farming exhibition that Mr Necas was due to open because there was no room for her in a carriage. Police accuse Ms Nagyova of asking military spies to tail Mr Necas’s estranged wife. It is thought she cajoled friends in Czech military intelligence to find incriminating information on Mrs Necasova.

Eduard Bruna, Ms Nagyova’s lawyer, has denied this, saying his client was worried that the prime minister’s wife had fallen under the influence of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Necesova was collaborating with people from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and had begun to collect money for presents for some people,” said Mr Bruna.

“My client thought this merited an investigation and surveillance.

“What has bothered her most since she was arrested is the fact that police have heard her intimate phone calls.

“The detectives know that they [Mr Necas and Ms Nagyova] have an intimate relationship.”

Last week, Mr Necas announced that his 25-year-old marriage was over.

What has bothered her most since she was arrested is the fact that police have heard her intimate phone calls

Although Mr Necas is not under investigation, and appeared to be unaware that his wife was being watched, he decided his positions of both prime minister and leader of the Civic Democratic Party were untenable.

“I am fully aware of the problems of my personal life burdening the political scene and the Civic Democrats at present,” said Mr Necas. “I will step down as prime minister. I am aware of my political responsibility.”

The departure of Mr Necas, who had led the Czech Republic’s centre-Right coalition government since July 2010, prompted political jockeying among the coalition’s constituent parts to find a successor.

Martin Kuba, a Civic Democrat and trade and industry minister, has emerged as favourite to fill Mr Necas’s shoes but he faces strong opposition from junior members of the coalition.

The scandal has also prompted calls from the opposition Social Democrats for early elections. An EU member state of 10.5 million, the Czech Republic has been plagued by corruption since emerging as an independent state following its split with Slovakia in 1993. Last year, Transparency International, a corruption watchdog, ranked it as worse than Rwanda in terms of graft prevalence.

The Daily Telegraph

JERUSALEM — Entertainer Barbra Streisand waded into one of Israel’s touchiest issues Monday on the first major stop of her tour of the country — Jewish religious practices that separate men and women.

Speaking at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Monday, where she received an honorary doctorate, she took aim at cases of ultra-Orthodox Jews targeting women, even as she warmly praised the country.

“I realize it’s not easy to fully grasp the dynamics of what happens in a foreign land,” she said. But “it’s distressing to read about women in Israel being forced to sit in the back of the bus or when we hear about ’Women of the Wall’ having metal chairs thrown at them when they attempt to peacefully and legally pray.”

She was referring to isolated incidents in which ultra-Orthodox men tried to force women to sit separately at the rear of buses that go through their neighbourhoods, as well as more serious clashes in which ultra-Orthodox Jews tried to prevent women donning prayer shawls and carrying Torah scrolls from praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the holiest site where Jews can worship.

According to traditional Orthodox Jewish practice, only men wear prayer shawls and handle Torah scrolls, though that is slowly changing in some places. Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who cut themselves off from the rest of society but wield disproportionate power in government and religious affairs, fear that allowing women to make such inroads will erode their authority.

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni has introduced legislation making forced separation of men and women in public places like buses illegal. On the issue of women praying at the Western Wall, a court has upheld the right of women to wear prayer shawls, and a proposal has also been made to set aside a section of the Western Wall for mixed-gender prayers.

Streisand said she was pleased to hear that there were hopeful developments. “Repairs are being made, and that’s very good.”

Streisand visited the university in one of the first stops of her trip to Israel since 1984, receiving an honorary Ph.D. In her acceptance speech, she reaffirmed her support of Israel and the school.

Streisand spoke at length of her admiration for Israel and the Hebrew University, which opened a building named after her father in 1984 after she donated money for its construction.

I think he would be very proud to know that this esteemed institution is honouring his daughter

“I think he would be very proud to know that this esteemed institution is honouring his daughter,” she said.

She stressed the need for gender equality, praising the university for graduating a record number of female Ph.D. students this year, the first time that women made up a majority of the degree recipients.

University officials called the Jewish singer and actor “a close friend of Israel” and said that her honorary Ph.D. was “an opportunity to recognize her support, her friendship, her generosity.”

Streisand’s tour has attracted widespread attention from the public and the media. Her arrival at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday, with her dog in tow, received prominent media coverage. Streisand, 71, will attend the 90th birthday party of Israeli President Shimon Peres later in the week before appearing at her first ever concerts in Israel on Thursday and Saturday.

Keystone / Getty Images files Jimmy Hoffa, former head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, disappeared in 1975.

OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — U.S. agents revived the hunt for the remains of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa on Monday as they searched a field in suburban Detroit.

Robert Foley, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit division, said the agency and its partners executed a search warrant in Oakland Township, north of Detroit.

Officials are “here to execute a search warrant, based on information that we have involving the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa,” Foley said.

He said the warrant is sealed and that details about what was sought would not be released. Foley did not take questions from reporters.

Hoffa, Teamsters president from 1957-71, was an acquaintance of mobsters and an adversary of federal officials. The day in 1975 when he disappeared from a Detroit-area restaurant, he was supposed to meet with a New Jersey Teamsters boss and a Detroit Mafia captain.

Since then, multiple leads to his supposed remains have turned out to be red herrings.

Bill Pugliano/Getty ImagesFBI Special Agent Robert D. Foley III (C) speaks to the media while a digging machine (background) arrives at a field outside Detroit where the possible remains of former Teamsters' union president Jimmy Hoffa may be located June 17, 2013 in Oakland Township, Michigan. The agents were acting on a tip provided by Tony Zerilli, 85, a former mobster, who was released from prison in 2008. Hoffa, who had reported ties to organized crime, went missing in July of 1975.

KENT, Ohio — If you’re up to no good in this pocket of northeast Ohio, especially in a witless way, you’re risking not only jail time or a fine but a swifter repercussion with a much larger audience: You’re in for a social media scolding from police Chief David Oliver and some of his small department’s 51,000 Facebook fans.

And Oliver does not mince words.

In postings interspersed with community messages and rants, the Brimfield Township chief takes to task criminals and other ne’er-do-wells — his preferred term is “mopes,” appropriated from police TV shows and an old colleague who used it — for the stupid, the lazy and the outright unlawful. Even an ill-considered parking choice can spur a Facebook flogging.

“If you use a handicapped space and you jump out of the vehicle, all healthy-like, as if someone is dangling free cheeseburgers on a stick, expect people to stare at you and get angry,” Oliver wrote last year. “You are milking the system and it aggravates those of us who play by the rules. Ignoring us does not make you invisible. We see you, loser.”

His humour, sarcasm and blunt opinion fuelled a tenfold increase in the Facebook page’s likes in the past year, bringing the total to more than four times the 10,300 residents the department serves. It’s among the most-liked local law enforcement pages in the country, trailing only New York, Boston and Philadelphia police, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police Center for Social Media.

Not bad for a guy who initially hoped maybe 500 locals would pay attention when he noticed other businesses’ pages and decided to start his own three years ago.

FacebookThe police chief's humour, sarcasm and blunt opinion fueled a tenfold increase in the Facebook page’s likes in the past year, bringing the total to more than four times the 10,300 residents the department serves. It’s among the most-liked local law enforcement pages in the country

—-

Facebook posting, May 16, 2013: “I call criminals mopes. I do not comment on them being ugly, smelly or otherwise beauty impaired … even though some are. I do not comment on their education, social status, colour, sex, origin or who they marry. I care about crime and character. If you come to Brimfield and commit a crime we are all going to talk about it. The easiest way to not be called a criminal is to not be one. It is not calculus.”

The chief loves justice, Westerns and dogs. John Wayne and Abraham Lincoln peer out from frames on the grey walls of Oliver’s office, where the 45-year-old chats with anyone who stops by.

His Facebook messages extend that open-door policy online for conversations about road closures, charity events, lost pets and whatever else crosses his mind. Some are serious, such as salutes to slain officers and updates during school threat investigations. Others are light-hearted, like the attempt to find an escaped swine’s owner with an unusual APB — an “All-Pig Bulletin” — or his promise to “ticket” child bicyclists with coupons for free ice cream if they wear helmets.

And, of course, there’s crime. One posting berates a man accused of physically assaulting a woman and two children. In another, Oliver suggests that hiding near an occupied police K-9 vehicle wasn’t a shoplifting suspect’s smartest move.

Resident Mark Mosley, a daily reader, said he likes such “humorous arrest stories” best.

“It’s one of those things, like you can’t fix stupid,” Mosley said.

His officers and others say the online character of the chief, a big, beefy guy, matches real life.

“He is definitely a very large personality. It kind of goes with his size,” local fire Chief Robert Keller said.

What in hell are you thinking when you make the decision to cook meth with your child in the house?

Oliver’s 15-person department handles more than 13,000 calls for service annually and deals largely with arrests for driving violations, thefts and drug crimes by out-of-towners. Arrests in those crime categories dropped last year but are trending upward again, and Oliver says it would take more time to determine whether the Facebook messages are having an impact.

Occasionally, his rants cover topics far outside his jurisdiction, among them the Boston Marathon bombings and the high-profile rape case from Steubenville in eastern Ohio. He rarely mentions names but doesn’t shy from addressing specific suspects or brands of criminals.

—–

July 31, 2012: “Dear Father or Mother Meth Cooks,

“You have lost your mind. What in hell are you thinking when you make the decision to cook meth with your child in the house? You have violated the very basic principle of being a parent, which is the safety of your child. I am fed up with watching it and also with being concerned with the long-term effects of what you have exposed YOUR child to.”

—-

The word is out even among mopes, a few of whom have told Oliver they read his updates. During a March traffic stop with several drug-related arrests, one suspect overheard Oliver being called “Chief” and, after connecting the dots, requested not to be mentioned on the page, police said. Oliver didn’t oblige.

His postings, also republished to the department’s Twitter account, spur dozens or hundreds of comments from as far away as Australia or Germany. Some praise the department. Others say Oliver uses work time inappropriately for Facebook or criticize him for discussing suspects in a public forum. (His response: It’s public record.)

AP Photo / Tony DejakAn April 2, 2013 photo showing Brimfield Police Chief David Oliver posing by his police car in Kent, Ohio

Oliver welcomes the discussion and deletes comments only if they use profanity or refer to police in highly offensive language.

“He totally connects with our community, except the people that he arrests,” said Mike Kostensky, one of the trustees who picked Oliver as chief in 2004.

Departments like Brimfield that engage readers and reply tend to see more activity on their police pages compared with those that don’t, said Nancy Kolb, who runs the IACP Center for Social Media. The centre tracks the popularity of law enforcement on Facebook and Twitter.

Oliver says his updates provide accountability and transparency about police work. He’s also a believer that people can change.

He says that he had a “very thin” line between good and bad when he was younger and that he might have become a mope if not for grandparents who let him watch only “The Waltons,” ”Gunsmoke“ and ”The Andy Griffith Show“ on TV.

He said the latter was the biggest influence on his career because he admires the respectful, plain-spoken sheriff played by Griffith.

“I just always thought, you know, that’s a good way to handle things,” Oliver says.

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Jan. 28, 2013: “It is the opinion of this chief, located in a small corner of a great big world, that we need to, as a society, become a little more intolerant of people who commit crimes for a living. When we start yelling about it being unacceptable … people will take notice and the practice will shift; either by putting people in jail, funding drug treatment or behavioural changes by the criminals.”

—-

Oliver, a father of four who starts many days hugging and high-fiving elementary school students, turned his popularity into a sort of local brand, pitching mugs and T-shirts with “no mopes” logos and his other catchphrases — such as “anywhere but here” or, in reference to a jail breakfast, “enjoy the oatmeal” — to raise money for school security improvements. Purchases and donations have brought in more than $14,000, enough to install panic buttons connecting the five local schools to police. Cameras and intercoms are next.

“How could you not love that guy?” said Tammy Ralston, the graphic designer at Young’s Screenprinting and Embroidery in Cuyahoga Falls, which came up with the “mopes” gear and receives orders from across the country.

Oliver’s supporters include retiree Dennis Kerr of Sherwood, Ark., who bought a T-shirt for his wife while visiting family in nearby Stow.

“The guy really has a load of common sense, and I appreciated him, so we started following him,” Kerr said.

Kerr hopes to meet Oliver and said he considered planning his next Ohio visit to coincide with Brimfield’s parade. Oliver is turning the September event into a walk honouring military veterans and has invited all his Facebook fans.

Everyone, that is, except the mopes.

LONDON — A newspaper report that British eavesdropping agency GCHQ repeatedly hacked into foreign diplomats’ phones and emails has prompted an angry response from traditional rival Russia and provoked demands for an investigation from Turkey and South Africa.

Although spying on diplomats is as old as diplomacy itself, the Guardian’s report laid out in explicit detail steps taken by GCHQ to monitor foreign officials’ conversations in real time, saying that British spies had hacked emails, stolen passwords and gone so far as to set up a bugged Internet cafe in an effort to get an edge in high-stakes negotiations.

The Guardian cited more than half a dozen internal government documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden as the basis for its reporting on GCHQ’s intelligence operations, which it says involved, among other things, hacking into the South African foreign ministry’s computer network, targeting the Turkish delegation at the 2009 Group of 20 summit in London and using the vast spying base at northern England’s Menwith Hill to monitor the satellite communications of Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev.

Russians responded angrily.

“It’s a scandal! The U.S. and British special services tapped (then President Dmitry) Medvedev’s phone at the 2009 G-20 summit. The U.S. denies it, but we can’t trust them,” Alexei Pushkov, the Kremlin-connected chief of foreign affairs committee in the lower house of Russian parliament, wrote on his Twitter feed Monday.

Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the report alarming, saying in a statement that if the story was true “this will evidently constitute a scandal.”

“Such (an) act by an allied country would clearly be deemed unacceptable,” the statement went on. “British authorities are expected to present an official and satisfactory explanation on this issue.”

South African diplomats said in a statement that they were concerned by the report, demanding that London “investigate this matter fully.”

Experts say that while the expressions of shock may be spurious – it’s widely known that all nearly all countries spy on one another – Britain’s standing could nevertheless suffer real damage.

The report was awkwardly timed, coming as Britain opened the G-8 summit, a meeting of the world’s leading economies that include Russia, in Northern Ireland on Monday. The allegation that the United Kingdom previously used its position as host to spy on its allies and other attendees could make for awkward conversation as the delegates tackle the issues of Syria, taxes and free trade.

“The diplomatic fallout from this could be considerable,” according to British academic Richard J. Aldrich, whose book “GCHQ” charts the agency’s history.

Speaking at the G-8 summit, Prime Minister David Cameron declined to address the issue.

“We never comment on security or intelligence issues and I am not about to start now,” he said. “I don’t make comments on security or intelligence issues. That would be breaking something that no government has previously done.”

GCHQ also declined to comment on the report.

It wasn’t completely clear how Snowden would have had access to the British intelligence documents, although in one article the Guardian mentions that source material was drawn from a top-secret internal network shared by GCHQ and the NSA. Aldrich said he wouldn’t be surprised if the GCHQ material came from a shared network accessed by Snowden, explaining that the NSA and GCHQ collaborated so closely that in some areas the two agencies effectively operated as one.

One document cited by the Guardian - but not posted to its website – appeared to boast of GCHQ’s tapping into smartphones. The Guardian quoted the document as saying that “capabilities against BlackBerry provided advance copies of G-20 briefings to ministers.” It went on to say that “Diplomatic targets from all nations have an MO (a habit) of using smartphones,” adding that spies “exploited this use at the G-20 meetings last year.”

Another document cited – but also not posted – concerned GCHQ’s use of a customized Internet cafe which was “able to extract key logging info, providing creds (credentials) for delegates, meaning we have sustained intelligence options against them even after conference has finished.” No further details were given, but the reference to key logging suggested that computers at the cafe would have been pre-installed with malicious software designed to spy on key strokes, steal passwords and eavesdrop on emails.

Aldrich said that revelation stuck out as particularly ingenious.

“It’s a bit `Mission Impossible,’” he said.

INDIANAPOLIS — A woman who was sentenced to death at age 16 after she confessed to her part in the torture and murder of a 78-year-old bible studies teacher has been released from prison after spending a quarter century behind bars.

Paula Cooper, whose death sentence in 1986 enraged human rights activists and drew a plea for clemency from Pope John Paul II, left the state prison quietly in a state vehicle and wearing donated clothing, Department of Correction spokesman Doug Garrison said.

The prison, about 100 kilometres west of Indianapolis, gave the now-43-year-old woman $75 to help her make a fresh start.

When asked where Cooper was being taken, Garrison said, “We have something arranged but that’s not something I can talk about.”

Cooper was 15 years old when she used a butcher’s knife to cut Ruth Pelke 33 times during a robbery that ended in Pelke’s death. Her three companions received lighter sentences but Cooper confessed to the killing and in 1986, at age 16, she became the youngest person on death row in the country.

Shortly after, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that young people who were under 16 at the time they committed an offence could not be sentenced to death, saying it counted as cruel and unusual punishment and was thus unconstitutional. Indiana legislators then passed a state law raising the minimum age limit for execution from 10 years to 16, and in 1988, the state’s high court set Cooper’s death sentence aside and ordered her to serve 60 years in prison.

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute anyone who is younger than 18 years when they commit an offence.

Cooper’s sentence was reduced due to her behaviour in prison, where she earned a bachelor’s degree. She will remain on parole for a few years, Garrison said.

“We’re just wanting her to be successful, that’s all,” he said. “She needs to get back to living.”

Adem Altan / AFP / Getty Images Protesters take cover from water cannon during clashes with police at a demonstration in Ankara on June 16, 2013. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday told a crowd of more than 100,000 supporters it was his "duty" to order a crackdown on an Istanbul protest park, as police and anti-government demonstrators faced off in fresh clashes.

ISTANBUL — Riot police in Istanbul fired water cannon and tear gas Monday to disperse pockets of protesters on the sidelines of a demonstration called by labour groups who hope to capitalize on weeks of initially small-scale activism to register broader discontent.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said even the owners of luxury hotels near Taksim Square who had provided refuge to protesters fleeing the chaos of the police raid were linked to terrorism.

At least 400 people were arrested Sunday, according to the Istanbul Bar Association, with local news reports saying some journalists had been among them. One foreign photographer documenting the clashes Saturday night said a police officer had torn his gas mask off him while in a cloud of tear gas, and forced him to clear his memory card of photographs.

Some doctors and nurses who treated protesters were also detained by security forces, according to the legal offices of the Istanbul Chamber of Doctors. Lawyers have been held by the authorities in recent days.

“We know very well the ones that sheltered in their hotels those who cooperated with terror,” he said at the rally. “Will they not be held accountable? If we do not hold them accountable, then the nation will hold us accountable.”

The demonstrations were the latest challenge to the Islamic-rooted, conservative government of Erdogan, who has drawn scorn abroad for his tactics against peaceful activists in two weeks of protests and exposed fault lines in Turkey’s democracy.

Two major labour groups urged their members to hold the one-day strike and participate in demonstrations in response to a police crackdown against activists who led the protests that have centred on Istanbul’s Taksim Square and nearby Gezi Park in recent weeks.

Turkey’s interior minister warned Monday anyone joining unlawful demonstrations would “bear the legal consequences.”

Meanwhile, in a sign of tensions between rival groups, images from Dogan news agency showed crowds of government supporters facing down some protesters. Some chanted “the hands targeting the police should be broken.”

The government expressed increasing exasperation over more than two weeks of street demonstrations, including a sit-in in Gezi Park, overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations and — at times — clashes between stone-throwing youths and riot police.

Bulent Arinc, the deputy prime minister, floated the prospect authorities could still call in the military.

In a TV interview, he stopped short of saying troops would be mobilized or a state of emergency declared. But he said if the police operations were not enough to calm the situation, local governors “can benefit from Turkey’s military forces” under the law.

Burhan Ozbilici / AP Riot police stand by near a rally by labor unions in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, June 17, 2013. A day earlier, riot police cordoned off streets, set up roadblocks and fired tear gas and water cannons to prevent anti-government protesters from an effort to return to Taksim Square in Istanbul.

Monday’s demonstrations follow a weekend in which police purged activists from an 18-day sit-in at the park that has come to symbolize defiance against the government, while Mr. Ergodan’s conservative political base held huge rallies in both Istanbul and Ankara.

The labour-led demonstrations had a more structured feel compared to the counterculture-style sit-in at Gezi and the spontaneous protests of recent weeks. Middle-aged men banged drums and chanting women sat on the ground, hands clasped, as part of the demonstrations.

In Ankara, thousands of demonstrators waving union flags, jumping and whistling converged at central Kizilay Square in an uneasy face-off about 50 metres away from riot police and a line of trucks.

Turkey’s NTV television reported riot police warned the demonstrators to disperse, saying the rally was unlawful and authorities would take action if they did not. After about three hours, the protesters left peacefully.

TV images also showed hundreds marching in the Aegean Sea coastal city of Izmir.

Behind the strikes were the KESK confederation of public sector workers and DISK, a confederation of labour unions from industries including transport, construction, health care and media. Together, they say they represent 330,000 workers. Small unions that group professionals such as dentists, doctors and engineers also joined in.

The Associated Press, with files from The New York Times

Ozan Kose / AFP / Getty Images Anti-government protestors gather on June 17, 2013 on Istiklal street in Istanbul. Turkey warned on June 17 it may bring in the army to help quell nationwide anti-government protests as two major union federations went on strike over police violence against demonstrators.

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked classified documents about government surveillance programs, said he didn’t reveal any U.S. operations “against legitimate military targets.”

“I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous,” Snowden said during an Internet question-and-answer session today on the website of U.K.’s Guardian newspaper.

Snowden’s identity on the chat couldn’t be independently verified.

The Obama administration has confirmed the existence of two surveillance programs following Snowden’s disclosures — one designed to collect phone call records from millions of U.S. citizens and another that monitors the Internet activity of foreigners with links to terrorism.

“These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target,” Snowden said on the website. Snowden added that after his leak, the government “immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime.”

The disclosures by the 29-year-old former Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. employee to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers sparked a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, calls for the surveillance to be reined in and a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union accusing the government of violating citizens’ privacy.

Snowden, 29, fled to Hong Kong May 20 before revealing himself as the source of the leak. Several U.S. lawmakers have called the leaks treason and urged the Justice Department to seek Snowden’s extradition and charges against him.

Snowden on the website today called his decision to leave the U.S. “an incredible risk” and said he chose Hong Kong because it had “the cultural and legal framework to allow me to work without immediately being detained.”

Attorney General Eric Holder called the disclosures “extremely damaging” at a meeting with European Union officials in Ireland last week.

“I can assure you that we will hold accountable the person responsible for those extremely damaging leaks,” Holder said.

U.S. prosecutors are in the midst of putting together charges against Snowden, according to two officials briefed on the investigation.

Snowden’s Risk

Snowden risks being caught by participating in an online chat as U.S. authorities probably are monitoring the event, said Eric Fiterman, a former FBI agent who founded the Washington- based cybersecurity company Spotkick.

Snowden is likely trying to “drum up” public support because he realizes the U.S. government probably will charge him with breaking the law and seek to extradite him to the U.S., Fiterman said in an e-mail.

‘Celebrity Status’

“He’s very much out of his element and from the beginning it’s been clear he hadn’t thought through a game plan,” Fiterman said. “He may be very caught up with his celebrity status at the moment and is not thinking clearly about the implications.”

Snowden said more detail on the NSA’s access “is coming,” and questioned the restraints placed on the U.S. government in targeting domestic communications.

“Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant,” Snowden said. “They excuse this as ‘incidental’ collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications.”

Federal officials have pushed back on reports that analysts have the ability to tap into domestic communications without a warrant.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in a statement released last night, said the claim “that a single analyst can eavesdrop on domestic communications without proper legal authorization is incorrect.”

LUCKNOW, India — Torrential rain and floods washed away buildings and roads, killing at least 23 people in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, officials said Monday.

More than a dozen people died in the state’s Rudraprayag district alone, while another 50 people were missing, said Amit Negi, an official in Uttarakhand.

A landslide triggered by the monsoon rains buried a bus, killing three people in Almora district.

At least three other people were washed away when a three-story apartment building toppled into a river and was carried away by the swift-moving current, said Amit Chandola, a government spokesman.

More than 10,000 pilgrims stranded along a mountain pass leading to a Hindu religious site were being evacuated by helicopter after roads to the pilgrimage spot were blocked by landslides.

Army and paramilitary troops were leading efforts to rescue scores of people from the rooftops of their flooded homes. The state government was readying food parcels and drinking water pouches to be air dropped to villages cut off after roads were washed away.

The River Ganges and its tributaries are flowing above the danger mark in several areas in the Himalayan state.

“The situation is very grim. The meteorological office has predicted that the rain will continue for another three days at least,” said Chandola.

State authorities were preparing to evacuate people from the worst-hit districts to relief camps, he said.

A high alert and flood warnings have been issued across Udhampur district and in the Hindu holy city of Haridwar as rivers breached their banks,

Flooding is an annual occurrence in India, which depends on monsoon rains for agriculture. The heavy downpours often cause loss of life and property.

AP PhotoIndian people gather at the site of a road accident on the Hardiwar-Mana national highway, in northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, India, Monday, June 17, 2013. Torrential rain and floods washed away buildings and roads, killing at least 23 people in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, officials said Monday.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s official news agency says a criminal court has summoned outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over a lawsuit filed by the country’s parliament speaker and others.

Monday’s report by IRNA gave no further details, but Ahmadinejad and the speaker, Ali Larijani, have waged political feuds for years. In February, Ahmadinejad released a barely audible videotape that purported to show discussion over bribes that included Larijani’s brother.

A parliamentary committee also joined Larijani in the legal action.

IRNA, which comes under the president’s authority, noted there were several other subpoenas issued previously against Ahmadinejad. It described the latest as unconstitutional. The court set a November date for Ahmadinejad’s appearance.

He officially leaves office in August after the swearing-in of President-elect Hasan Rowhani, a relative moderate who won a landslide victory last week.

AP Photo/Vahid SalemiHasan Rowhani casts his ballot during presidential elections at a polling station in downtown Tehran Friday.

Meanwhile, Iranian president-elect Hasan Rowhani said he will make the country’s nuclear program more transparent as he seeks to ease tension with the U.S. and reduce “brutal” sanctions that have crippled the economy.

Rowhani, in the first news conference since his surprise first-round win this weekend, said he will pursue a policy of moderation to improve Iran’s relations with regional countries and beyond. He takes office in August.

“We will try to win back trust,” Rowhani said. “We can make it clear to the whole world that the measures and activities of the Islamic Republic Republic of Iran are totally within international regulations and mechanisms.”

Rowhani, 64, won more than 50% of the vote to succeed Ahmadinejad, whose anti-Israel rhetoric and questioning of the Holocaust made Iran a pariah and helped prompt more sanctions. While Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, 73, retains the power over national security, especially the nuclear program, past presidents have influenced the tone of foreign policy.

The election of Rowhani, a “more moderate Iranian president is positive, particularly in relation to the incumbent,” said Raza Agha, chief Middle East and Africa economist at VTB Capital in London.

“Whether actual change can emerge will depend on how Mr. Rowhani manages the powers that be,” Agha wrote in an emailed analysis. His work “will be made easier if the international community is more receptive.”

While Iran was open to mend relations with the U.S., Rowhani said a condition for direct talks is a pledge not to “interfere in Iran’s domestic affairs,” scrap “bullying policies” and acknowledge the nation’s rights.

AP Photo/Ebrahim NorooziA supporter of Iranian presidential candidate Hasan Rowhani holds up his poster at a celebration gathering in Tehran Saturday.

“It’s a very old wound so we need to think of somehow healing it,” he said of Iran’s relations with the U.S. government. “We don’t want to see further tension, so wisdom tells us that both nations need to think more about the future and try to find solutions to past issues.”

“If we see goodwill, we can also take some confidence building measures,” he said.

Israel and the U.S. say they think Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons capability. Both have threatened to attack Iran should other means fail to stop the Islamic republic from trying to obtain nuclear weapons. Iranian officials say the nuclear program is for energy and medical research.

Rowhani said talks were the only way to resolve the dispute and said negotiations with six world powers, which have failed to yield a concrete outcome, must become “more dynamic.”

“Sanctions and threats will not be solutions,” he said today. “The solution is only through talks and dialog and mutual confidence. This is possible.”

The sanctions have fuelled a currency devaluation and helped send the Iranian economy into recession. Gross domestic product is set to contract for a second year in 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Rowhani said “salvaging” the economy by boosting local production and “funnelling investment in the right direction” were at the top of his agenda. He is also seeking to curb unemployment that left a quarter of Iranians age 15 to 29 without jobs in the year ended March 20.

Files from Ladane Nasseri, Bloomberg

It might be one of Ireland’s most famous exports, but an Irish politician is far from toasting Stephen Harper after he became the latest in a slew of foreign leaders to tout her nation’s dark stout.

On Saturday, Ireland’s department of foreign affairs tweeted a photo of the prime minister, joined by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, clutching a pint of beer at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.

Sláinte! Canadian PM @pmharper & FinMin Jim Flaherty enjoy some Irish hospitality from our friends @GuinnessIreland http://t.co/rxDMkKE4hW—
IrishForeignMinistry (@dfatirl) June 15, 2013

“Sláinte! Canadian PM @pmharper & FinMin Jim Flaherty enjoy some Irish hospitality from our friend @guinnessireland,” the tweet reads.

Harper later posted a tweet with a photo of himself enjoying the black stuff from a glass.

Launched my own brew at the @homeofguinness. I'm told I'll see it back in Canada in 8 days. ow.ly/m4g4Z—
Stephen Harper (@pmharper) June 15, 2013

Regina Doherty, a Teachta Dála (similar to a Canadian Member of Parliament) tweeted back at the foreign affairs department, asking whether the display of alcohol consumption was something Ireland wants to celebrate.

“Is this REALY the image of Ireland we want to promote?? Young Irish women are dying from liver sclerosis for Gods sake — real shame,” wrote Doherty, a Fine Gael party member.

@dfatirl is this REALY the image of Ireland we want to promote?? Young Irish women are dying from liver sclerosis for Gods sake – real shame

— Regina Doherty (@ReginaDo) June 16, 2013

Harper is in Ireland attending the G8 summit.

In all fairness, the Irish Foreign Affairs tweeted photos of Harper doing activities that didn’t involve alcohol, like exploring a secret passageway in Farmleigh, the Irish state guest house, visiting a tall ships museum and meeting with the Irish president and prime minister.

Going through a secret passageway at Farmleigh. For you Clue fans it's in the study, with the candlestick. ow.ly/m5fil—
Stephen Harper (@pmharper) June 16, 2013

President Higgins extends a warm welcome to Canadian PM Stephen Harper @pmharper in Dublin ahead of G8 meeting #G8 http://t.co/aZDB0kHB2P—
IrishForeignMinistry (@dfatirl) June 17, 2013

Canadian PM @pmharper visited the #JeanieJohnston Tall Ship & Famine Museum in Dublin today jeaniejohnston.ie http://t.co/bfmQpsyp66—
IrishForeignMinistry (@dfatirl) June 16, 2013

And a clean wheels-up for @pmharper on his way to @BELFASTAIRPORT #Enniskillen #g8 (@usairforce C-17 in foreground) http://t.co/V67nGskt3d—
IrishForeignMinistry (@dfatirl) June 17, 2013

National Post

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who returned as a contributor to Fox News Monday, blasted U.S. President Barack Obama over the weekend, saying the U.S. should not intervene in Syria while he is president.

“Until we have a commander in chief who knows what he’s doing . . . let these radical Islamic countries who aren’t even respecting basic human rights, where both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line, ‘Allah Akbar,’ I say until we have someone who knows what they’re doing, I say let Allah sort it out,” Palin told a conservative crowd at a Faith and Freedom Coalition.

Obama decided to arm select elements of the Syrian rebels after the White House disclosed it had evidence President Bashar Assad’s government used chemical weapons in the conflict.

Many Republicans, including Palin’s 2008 running mate John McCain, had been encouraging the U.S. to intervene in the Syrian conflict.

Palin, who is rejoining Fox News Channel as an analyst less than half a year after they decided to part ways, also offered a warning to “the good old boys” in the GOP leadership who are calling for conservative activists to tone down aggressive rhetoric.

“You do not marginalize, you don’t discredit and dismiss, every day average hard-working Americans – those who are part of that grass-roots tea party movement,” she said.

“Just let them tell us to sit down and shut up,” Palin said later, “which I refuse to do.”

A man who reduced his wife to tears by accidentally selling her $23,000 wedding ring for $10 at a garage sale said his faith in humanity had been restored after it was returned.

Racquel Cloutier was distraught after her husband, Eric, told her he had sold the wooden watch box in which she had hidden the ring before going to hospital to have their fifth child. “I immediately started crying,” said Mrs. Cloutier, 31, of Laguna Niguel, California. “I just wanted the ring to be in a safe place and out of reach from my two-year-old twins.”

The couple appeared on local television last week to ask the buyer, a middle-aged woman who had seemed hesitant before buying the box, to return it.

A dozen kilometres away, in Mission Viejo, Alyssa and Andrew Lossau were frantically searching for a set of keys. They looked inside a box that Mrs. Lossau’s mother, Chaundel Holladay, had bought at a garage sale and given them as a gift.

Inside, they discovered the three-carat diamond ring. Mrs. Lossau found an email address for Mrs Cloutier and contacted her. “It is giving me faith in people again,” said Mr. Cloutier, 38. “By the grace of God it ended up with the most honest people,” said his wife.

The Cloutiers said they would make a donation to a charity of the Lossaus’ choice. “You just can’t ask for a better ending to a story,” said Mrs. Cloutier. “I don’t think I’ll be taking it off any time soon.”

The Daily Telegraph

British police are investigating newspaper photos that show art collector Charles Saatchi grasping the throat of his wife, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.

The pictures drew widespread condemnation after they were published by the Sunday People tabloid. The paper said the images were taken during an argument at a London restaurant on June 9.

London police said Monday they hadn’t received a criminal complaint about the incident, and “inquiries are in hand to establish the facts” in order to assess whether a formal investigation is warranted.

Saatchi told London’s Evening Standard newspaper that the photos misrepresented a “playful tiff.”

Saatchi, an Evening Standard columnist, said “the pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place.”

Nigella Lawson is one of Britain’s best-known cookbook writers.ABC/CRAIG SJODIN

“About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella’s neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasize my point,” he was quoted as saying. “There was no grip, it was a playful tiff.”

The 70-year-old Saatchi also told the paper the couple “had made up by the time we were home.

“The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled.”

Lawson’s spokesman, Mark Hutchinson, confirmed that she and her children had left the family home, but declined to comment further.

Saatchi and Lawson married in 2003 and live in London with Lawson’s son and daughter from her marriage to journalist John Diamond, who died of cancer in 2001, and Saatchi’s daughter from a previous marriage.

In Britain, a complaint from the victim isn’t necessary to file assault charges if there is enough evidence from witnesses.

Lawson, 53, gained fame with her 1998 bestseller “How To Eat” and is one of Britain’s best-known cookbook writers, as well as the host of foodie TV shows including “Nigella Bites” and ABC’s cooking program “The Taste.”

Saatchi, co-founder of the Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency, owns one of London’s biggest private art galleries. He was the main patron of the Young British Artists movement of the 1990s, which made household names of artists including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

BANGKOK — Thailand’s national Buddhism body said Monday it is monitoring monks nationwide for any inappropriate behavior following complaints ignited by a video showing Buddhist monks flying on a private jet.

The YouTube video emerging recently showed one of the monks was wearing stylish aviator sunglasses, carrying a luxury brand travel bag and sporting a pair of modern-looking wireless headphones. It attracted criticism from Buddhists nationwide.

Office of National Buddhism director-general Nopparat Benjawatananun said Monday that the agency saw the video early this year and had warned the monks from a monastery in Thailand’s northeast not to repeat the lavish behavior.

A country with the world’s largest Buddhist population, Thailand has attempted to help Buddha’s 2,600-year-old doctrine stand the test of time through a variety of means, including imposing a ban on the sale of alcohol on religious holidays. The efforts, however, are sometimes tainted by the Buddhist monks themselves.

Last year, about 300 out of 61,416 Buddhist monks and novices in Thailand were reprimanded – in several cases removed from the monkhood – because of their misconduct, ranging from alcohol consumption, having sex with women, to extortion. The Office also received complaints about monks driving cars, and scams and false claims of black magic uses by monks.

Nopparat said the Buddhist monks in the video were acting “inappropriately, not composed and not adhering to Buddha’s teachings of simplicity and self-restraint.”

Monruedee Bantoengsuk, an administrative officer at Khantitham Temple in Sisaket province, confirmed to The Associated Press that the monks on the private plane lived at the temple but refused to give details about the trip.

“We can explain this, but not now,” she said, saying that the abbot, who appeared in the video, is currently on a religious tour in France.

The images from the video contrasted with the abbot’s message on the temple’s homepage that read: “The true core of those who preach Buddha’s teachings is to not to own any objects at all.”

“When Lord Buddha was alive, there wasn’t anything like this. There were no cars, smart phones or cameras, so the rules were much simpler,” said Nopparat of the Office of National Buddhism. “While the monks need to keep themselves abreast of new knowledge, current events and technology, they are restrained to choose the appropriate tools.”

He said one way to prevent the monks from misbehaving is for followers not to spoil them with valuable objects or vices. “In many cases, it was the followers who gave the monks the luxury. Some bought them sports cars. This is by no means necessary.”

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — A man was recovering in a hospital Monday after surviving a plunge from the 15th floor of his New Zealand apartment building.

Police said the 20-year-old man discovered he was locked out of his 14th floor unit in the Volt Apartment building in downtown Auckland at about 2 a.m. Sunday.

He decided to try and scale down the outside of the building from an apartment directly above his. Police said he was trying to land on his balcony when he fell, landing on the roof of an adjacent building far below.

He was at first listed in critical condition but had improved Monday to a satisfactory condition.

The New Zealand Herald newspaper identified the man as Tom Stilwell, a Briton in the country on a working holiday. Friend Dave Thomas told the paper Stilwell had suffered neck and back fractures, a broken wrist, and suspected internal injuries.

Volt Apartment resident Geraldine Bautista told the paper that Stilwell knocked on her door on the 15th floor at about 2 a.m. She said he appeared to have been drinking but she wasn’t fearful of him.

“He just requested `Can you please let me jump off from the balcony? I will not bother you, just let me use your balcony,’” Bautista said.

She said she never thought he would follow through.

“In my mind I thought `OK, I’ll just let you see that it’s really impossible. I didn’t think he’d jump, because it’s really scary,” Bautista told the paper.

She said after she opened the door, he quickly walked through the apartment and climbed over the railing on the balcony. Bautista said she grabbed at his hand but he fell.

“It happened so fast. It happened within seconds. I couldn’t even scream for help. He was like a paper falling from here,” she said.

St. John Medical Director Dr. Tony Smith told the paper that surviving falls from such heights was “extraordinarily unusual” but that the roof of the low-rise building far below likely broke Stilwell’s fall enough to save his life.