Canadian serial killer pleads guilty to eight murders

In this courtroom sketch from left to right, defense lawyer James Miglin, Justice John McMahon, court registrar, Bruce McArthur, Crown Attorney Michael Cantlon, Detective Hank Idsinga, and friends and family of victims, back right, appear in court in Toronto on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. (AP)
Updated 30 January 2019
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Canadian serial killer pleads guilty to eight murders

  • A psychiatric assessment after his first run-in with the law in 2001 said he likely harbored “underlying resentments” but concluded that he was not dangerous

OTTAWA: A Canadian landscaper on Tuesday pleaded guilty to the murders of eight men with links to Toronto’s gay community and the mutilation of their bodies, most of them chopped up and hidden inside planters.
The plea entered by Bruce McArthur, 67, was a surprise — he had been scheduled to stand trial next year.
He now faces the likelihood of life in prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled to start on February 4, when family and friends of the victims will have an opportunity to describe how the killings affected their lives.
The case shocked all of Canada, and especially the gay community. It sparked a massive investigation in Toronto, the country’s largest city, at dozens of properties where McArthur had worked.
“Bruce McArthur has pled guilty,” Homicide Detective David Dickinson told reporters outside the courtroom. “It’s the right outcome.”
“Unfortunately, we can never bring these men back. But I’m hoping we can start bringing closure to the families and the communities,” he said, describing the “long and traumatic process” to bring McArthur to justice.
McArthur was arrested in January 2018.
Body parts of seven of the victims were found hidden inside large planters that McArthur stored at a client’s home in midtown Toronto.
The remains of an eighth victim were later discovered in a ravine behind the property.
The victims in the case were McArthur’s former lover, two Afghan immigrants, two refugees from Sri Lanka and another from Iran, a Turkish national, and a homeless sex worker.
All went missing from 2010 to 2017.
Karen Fraser — the owner of the home where McArthur stored his planters, and who had casually met two of the victims — said she is “haunted” by the case.
“Terrible things were done,” she said. “To me, he’s evil.”

Prosecutor Michael Cantlon described to the court how McArthur had “staged” the corpses of his victims and photographed them, according to local reports. He also kept mementos such as jewelry and a notebook.
The murders were “sexual in nature,” according to an agreed statement of facts.
The court document said police uncovered a duffle bag containing duct tape, a surgical glove, rope, zip ties, a bungee cord, and syringes — evidence pointing to some of the victims being tied up, confined and sexually assaulted prior to their deaths.
Authorities also located a calendar belonging to McArthur’s boyfriend which had the entry “Bruce” on the day in June 2017 that he went missing, as well as video surveillance footage of the victim getting into McArthur’s van, where a murder weapon was also found.
Few other details of the crimes were revealed in court documents.
“We will never get all the answers... unless (McArthur) decides to give us that information,” commented Haran Vijayanath of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention.
In a statement, Toronto mayor John Tory called McArthur “a monster who preyed on the city.”

McArthur first came under suspicion in September 2017 in connection with the disappearance of his lover Andrew Kinsman, but police at first rejected suggestions that a serial killer was prowling Toronto’s Gay Village neighborhood.
Last January, police made a quick decision to enter McArthur’s apartment and arrest him when they saw a young man enter his home. They found the man tied up on a bed, but unharmed.
McArthur had not acknowledged his sexual orientation until he was in his 40s. He suddenly left his wife and two children and moved to Toronto in 1997, where he became well known within the gay community.
A psychiatric assessment after his first run-in with the law in 2001 said he likely harbored “underlying resentments” but concluded that he was not dangerous.
McArthur was convicted of beating a male prostitute with a metal pipe but did not serve prison time. He was later granted a pardon, wiping the conviction from the official record until Canadian media went to court to have the documents unsealed.
Detective Sergeant Hank Idsinga, the lead investigator, has said the forensic probe into the killings was Toronto’s largest ever — excavations or searches were carried out at more than 75 properties in the Toronto area.
Police also looked at 15 cold cases dating back to 1975 for possible links to the accused, but Idsinga has said he does not believe more victims will be uncovered.
Many, including investigators, expressed relief that the case would not go to trial, sparing family and friends of the victims from having to hear the gruesome details of McArthur’s crimes.
The investigation, however, will continue into the foreseeable future, said Dickinson.


Reform UK chief slams MP’s calls for burqa ban as ‘dumb’

Updated 5 sec ago
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Reform UK chief slams MP’s calls for burqa ban as ‘dumb’

  • Question prompts public criticism from party’s chairman

LONDON: A row has erupted within the right-wing British party Reform UK after its newest member of Parliament, Sarah Pochin, used her maiden question during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday to call for a nationwide ban on the burqa, it was reported on Thursday.

The question prompted public criticism from Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s chairman, who rebuked the move, calling it a “dumb” question.

Pochin, who recently won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer whether the UK would follow European nations such as France, Belgium, and Denmark in banning the burqa “in the interests of public safety.”

Her remarks were met with audible disapproval from some MPs, with cries of “shame” heard in the chamber of the House of Commons.

Lee Anderson, Reform UK’s chief whip, expressed support for Pochin’s suggestion, saying: “Ban the burqa? Yes we should. No one should be allowed to hide their identity in public.”

However, Yusuf was less than supportive, writing on X: “Nothing to do with me. Had no idea about the question, nor that it wasn’t policy. I do think it’s dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do.”

A Reform spokesperson later clarified that Yusuf had not been criticizing Pochin personally, but highlighting the inconsistency of raising a proposal not endorsed by the party.

The spokesperson reiterated that a burqa ban was not official Reform UK policy but acknowledged it was an issue that “deserves national debate.”

Nigel Farage, Reform UK’s leader, speaking on GB News, was more cautious and distanced himself from an outright endorsement, but suggested public discomfort around face coverings warranted discussion.

He said: “I don’t think face coverings in public places make sense, and I think we do deserve a debate about that, of which I see the burqa as being a part.”

Pochin, a former Conservative councillor, later suggested her question had been sourced from public suggestions submitted online. “Thank you to everyone who sent in questions for the prime minister,” she posted.

The incident has reignited concerns about internal divisions within Reform UK. It comes just months after former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe was expelled from the party following a falling out with both Yusuf and Farage.

Lowe, who has expressed hardline views on immigration and has backed calls to ban the burqa, now sits as an independent.

Reform has also been plagued by tension at the grassroots level. Following the recent local elections, Donna Edmunds, a Shropshire councillor, resigned from the party in protest, describing Farage as a “terrible leader” and warning that he “must never be prime minister.”

Amid the latest fallout, a Labour spokesperson said: “Nigel Farage could fit all of his MPs in the back of a cab, yet he can’t stop them fighting among themselves.”

Reform UK and Sarah Pochin were approached by the BBC, The Guardian, and The Independent for further comment.


Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention

Updated 54 min 44 sec ago
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Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention

  • Unveiling its road map to protect Europe’s seas, the European Ocean Pact, Brussels announced a summit on the state of the Baltic Sea in late September
  • The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world’s largest dead marine zones, mainly due to excess nutrient runoff into the sea from human activities on land

HELSINKI: Decades of pollution and climate change have caused fish to disappear from the Baltic Sea at an alarming rate, with the European Union on Thursday vowing to make the sea an “urgent priority.”

Unveiling its road map to protect Europe’s seas, the European Ocean Pact, Brussels announced a summit on the state of the Baltic Sea in late September.

The semi-enclosed sea is surrounded by industrial and agricultural nations Germany, Poland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the three Baltic states.

Connected to the Atlantic only by the narrow waters of the Danish straits, the Baltic is known for its shallow, low-salinity waters, which are highly sensitive to the climate and environmental changes that have accumulated over the years.

“Today, the once massive Baltic cod stocks have collapsed, herring stocks in several sub-basins are balancing on critical levels, sprat recruitment is at a record low and wild salmon stocks are in decline,” Swedish European MP Isabella Lovin, rapporteur for the EU Committee of Fishing, warned in a report, calling the situation “critical.”

The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world’s largest dead marine zones, mainly due to excess nutrient runoff into the sea from human activities on land — a challenge the sea has long grappled with.

The runoff has primarily been phosphorus and nitrogen from waste water and fertilizers used in agriculture, as well as other activities such as forestry.

It causes vast algae blooms in summer, a process known as eutrophication that removes oxygen from the water, leaving behind dead seabeds and marine habitats and threatening species living in the Baltic.

Today, agriculture is the biggest source of nutrient pollution.

Marine biodiversity in the relatively small sea has also deteriorated due to pollution from hazardous substances, land use, extraction of resources and climate change, according to the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM).

“The state of the Baltic Sea is not good,” Maria Laamanen, a senior adviser at the Finnish environment ministry, told AFP.

Climate change poses “a massive additional challenge” for the marine environment, she said.

Of the world’s coastal seas, the Baltic Sea is warming the fastest.

A 2024 study said sea surface and sea floor temperatures have increased by 1.8 and 1.3 degrees Celsius respectively in the Finnish archipelago in the northern Baltic Sea, in the period from 1927 to 2020.

The consequences of rising temperatures already affect species, while increased rainfall has led to more runoff from land to sea.

Better waste water treatment and gypsum treatment of agricultural soil, as well as an expansion of protected marine areas in Finland, have had a positive effect on the maritime environment, according to Laamanen, who said environmental engagement had grown in recent years.

“The situation would be much worse without the measures already implemented,” she said.

In her report, Lovin called for an ambitious reform of fisheries, with stronger attention paid to environmental and climate change impacts.

The report also questioned whether the Baltic could continue to sustain industrial-scale trawling, and suggested giving “priority access to low-impact fisheries and fishing for human consumption.”

The head of the Finnish Fishermen’s Association (SAKL) Kim Jordas said eutrophication was to blame for the declining fish stocks in the Baltic Sea, not overfishing.

“Looking at cod for example, it is entirely due to the state of the Baltic Sea and the poor oxygen situation,” Jordas told AFP.

In Finland, the number of commercial fishermen has been declining, with a total of around 400 active today.


Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats

Updated 05 June 2025
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Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats

  • UNAMA confirmed that UN staff had been threatened
  • “Several United Nations female national staff members in the Afghan capital Kabul have been subjected to threats,” it said

KABUL: Afghan women working for the United Nations in Kabul have been threatened by unidentified men because of their jobs, the organization and several women told AFP on Thursday.

Multiple women working for various UN agencies told AFP on condition of anonymity they had been threatened on the street and over the phone by men warning them to “stay home.”

UN staffer Huda — not her real name — said that for weeks she has been bombarded with messages abusing her for “working with foreigners.”

“The messages keep coming and they are always harassing us... saying, ‘Don’t let me see you again, or else’,” the young woman told AFP.

She said her office had advised her to work from home until further notice.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed that UN staff had been threatened.

“Several United Nations female national staff members in the Afghan capital Kabul have been subjected to threats by unidentified individuals related to their work with the UN,” it said in a statement.

Considering the threats “extremely serious,” the UN has taken “interim” measures “to ensure the safety and security of staff members,” it added.

The Taliban government, accused by the UN of imposing a “gender apartheid” against women since returning to power in 2021, has denied any involvement.

Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said such threats were a “crime” and that police would take action.

UNAMA said the authorities had opened an investigation.

Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban authorities have severely restricted Afghan women from working and it is the only country in the world where women are banned from education beyond primary school.

The government in 2022 banned women from working for domestic and international NGOs, which was extended to include the UN’s offices in the country the following year.

The policy has some exceptions including for women working in health care and education, and has not been consistently enforced.

The UN has previously called the policy “deeply discriminatory.”

Selsela, in her 30s, said while returning from the office last week she was approached by unknown men who told her she should be “ashamed” and that she must “stay home.”

“They said, ‘We told you nicely this time, but next time you’ll have another thing coming’,” she told AFP.

“I was very scared,” she said, explaining how she struggles to work efficiently from home in a country where electricity and Internet are unreliable.

“The situation for women is getting worse every day.”

Another woman, Rahila, said she and two other women colleagues were stopped by men while traveling home in a UN vehicle and told not to go to the office anymore.

“They said, ‘Don’t you know that you are not allowed?’,” Rahila said, adding that she has also received threatening messages from unknown numbers.

“I am very worried, I need my job and my salary,” she said.

Three-quarters of Afghanistan’s population of some 45 million people struggle to meet their daily needs, according to the UN, with the country facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.


New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo

Updated 05 June 2025
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New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo

  • Ban hits nationals of 12 countries, including Iran, Libya, Sudan and Yemen
  • 25,000 Afghans approved for relocation to the US are stranded in Pakistan

KABUL: A new US travel ban, which lists Afghans among nationals of 12 affected countries, has put on hold the lives of thousands of refugees who fled Afghanistan after the withdrawal of American-led troops in 2021.

US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday banning nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the country — part of a broader immigration crackdown launched by his administration earlier this year at the start of his second term.

The move has placed in a state of indefinite waiting some 25,000 Afghans who have been approved for relocation to the US and are awaiting departure in Pakistan.

One of them, Mohammad Iqbal, a 35-year-old former government employee, told Arab News that his refugee resettlement application has been active for the past two years. Having completed two interviews with the UN refugee agency and the necessary medical check-ups, he was waiting for his final visa appointment.

He is not allowed to work in Pakistan, and he also cannot go back to Afghanistan — both for safety reasons and since that would halt the refugee process.

“I am running out of money and there is no work for Afghans here in Pakistan. We are also facing an increasing risk of deportation. My passport will expire if I don’t make it to the US in a few months. It will be very difficult to go back to Afghanistan. I won’t be safe there,” Iqbal said.

“I have done my master’s degree abroad and worked in some highly technical positions before 2021 ... The current decision by the US president is very unfair and is against the promises made to us by the US government.”

Besides those in Pakistan, thousands more Afghans are in the same situation stranded in Qatar and in the UAE, and another few hundred have been kept waiting at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo — the largest US military base in the Balkans.

The US travel ban will be in effect from June 9, according to a presidential proclamation released by the White House, which said that it was needed to protect the US from “from terrorist attacks and other national security or public-safety threats.”

Justifying the decision on Afghanistan, Trump cited its lack of a “competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents” and screening and vetting capabilities. Another reason was that the Taliban, “a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group,” controls Afghanistan.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, when its Western-backed administration collapsed as American-led international forces withdrew after two decades of occupation that started with the US invasion of the country in 2001.

The troop withdrawal was followed by an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Afghans — many of whom had worked as translators or local staff for foreign governments, organizations or for the previous administration, and feared potential retribution by the Taliban.

“The US played a direct role in creating this situation. As a result of the 20-year US occupation, Afghan society was divided into hostile groups that turned against each other,” said Nasir Ahmad Nawidy, political science professor at Salam University in Kabul.

“Because of the improper policy of the US — without an agreement and peace being reached — the country collapsed, and the systems and order were destroyed. As a result, many people who were prominent figures or experts in the previous regime, or other people who had held important positions in this country, were forced to leave Afghanistan.”

He was still hopeful that the US justice system would challenge Trump’s decision.

“The US has a commitment to these people,” he said. “They have been promised it, and their visas are in process. Ignoring these commitments and halting or delaying ongoing processes is against all humanitarian laws.”


German foreign minister tells Israeli counterpart to allow more aid into Gaza

Updated 05 June 2025
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German foreign minister tells Israeli counterpart to allow more aid into Gaza

  • Germany would continue to deliver weapons to Israel

BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul criticized Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip at a press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar in Berlin on Thursday, again calling for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave.

Wadephul also decried the Israeli government’s announcement that it would allow 22 more settlements in the West Bank.

Germany would continue to deliver weapons to Israel, he added, saying the country needed to defend itself.