In the News

Iran says it is receptive to proposals to resurrect its 2015 nuclear accord but it has coupled that stance with a call for the International Atomic Energy Agency “not to yield to Israel’s pressure” on the issue, going so far as to unveil a drone it says can strike Israel. The mixed message prompted one of the deal’s brokers, Germany, to express regret today that Tehran is not responding to Europe’s call in a truly positive manner. Britain and France are similarly skeptical.

The day after Queen Elizbeth II’s death at 96, Prince Charles echoed his mother’s commitment to life-long service as monarch and head of the Commonwealth. “I too now solemnly pledge myself throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation,” said the 73-year-old heir to the throne, who will reign as King Charles III.

Two female RCMP officers working undercover were key to the arrests of four Alberta men now facing charges of plotting to murder members of the national police force during last winter’s blockade of a border crossing in southern Alberta. Details of the operation have been disclosed in search warrant applications which were unsealed by a provincial court September 7.

What started as speculation in international defence and security circles — the notion that Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland could succeed Jens Stoltenberg as Director-general of NATO — seems to have taken on some traction. However, when asked about the prospect September 7, she replied only that she already has “two busy jobs.” Stoltenberg’s term, which began in 2014, was recently extended to 2023.

Results of a two-day opinion poll completed September 7 indicate that 58 per cent of Americans, including one in four Republicans, believe that former president Donald Trump's movement, Make America Great Again, is undermining democracy. Considered accurate to within four points, he poll of 1,003 adults also found that 60 per cent of Republicans don’t think MAGA represents the majority of their party.

Queen Elizbeth II, the United Kingdom’s longest-serving monarch and head of the Commonwealth, died “peacefully” today at the age of 96, surrounded by family at her Scottish estate. Her 70-year reign spanned 15 British prime ministers, the last of whom, Liz Truss, she had formally appointed two days earlier amidst doctors’ concerns about the sovreign’s declining health.

Increasing online harassment and hate messaging has left the federal government with no option but some sort of legislative or regulatory controls on Internet service providers, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Sept. 7. “There's a consensus on the fact that we have to do something,” he said. “Whoever says ‘oh no, no, you shouldn't do anything on this’ has to justify why status quo is OK.”

As the manhunt continued today for a Saskatchewan man accused of stabbing 10 persons to death and wounding 18 others, questions are being asked about the National Parole Board’s approval of Myles Sanderson’s release because he did not “present an undue risk to society” despite a lengthy record of criminal violence. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino said September 5 that while the board “will be undertaking an investigation of the decision,” the review “does not end at that point.”

A First Nation in northern Alberta is suing the provincial government for what it says is the cumulative negative impact of the sale of Crown land and industrial and agricultural development. “Alberta has engaged in a pattern of conduct that has significantly diminished the . . . right to hunt, fish and trap as part of their way of life,” the plaintiff says in its statement of claim. “Habitats have been fragmented, lands and waters have been degraded, substances have been introduced that cause legitimate fears of contamination, and pollution and lands have been put to uses that are incompatible with . . . treaty rights.”

A political about-face in Montana, bordering on Canada’s three westernmost provinces, is a case study in how to deal with coronavirus waves which remain problematic. A new Republican governor lost no time in undoing his Democratic predecessor’s policies by ramrodding an extreme antivaccination law with little, if any, input from state health officials – with disastrous consequences.

Citing the global impacts of ongoing pandemic concerns, Russia’s war on Ukraine and uncertain commodity prices, the Bank of Canada today increased its overnight interest rate by 75 basis points, to 3.25 per cent from the 2.5 per cent that had prevailed since March. The next rate announcement is scheduled for October 26.

The National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre in China is accusing the U.S. National Security Agency of breaking into computers at Northwestern Polytechnical University, an institution in Xi’an funded by the Ministry of Industry & Information Technology and believed to do military-related research. The newly-reported hacking occurred in June

The Washington-based e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs agreed today to pay nearly US$440 million to settle a two-year investigation by 33 states into the marketing of its high-nicotine vaping products. The states and Puerto Rico had launched a 2020 inquiry into the company’s earlier promotions and it still faces hundreds of lawsuits on behalf of teens and others who claim addiction to its products.

Ten defendants involved in last winter’s “Freedom Convoy” protests in Ottawa have asked a court to order to release of $450,000 in donations so they can pay for lawyers to represent them in a public inquiry into the government’s unprecedented invocation of the Emergencies Act to shut down the disruption. The money from crowdfunding was placed in escrow pending a proposed class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of local residents and businesses.

Canada’s embassy in Beijing says Chinese censors have deleted screenshots it posted on two social media platforms about a UN report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang province. The posts were translations of Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly's comment that the findings in the report reflected “credible accounts of grave human rights violations.”

Cyberattacks on Italian energy operators and infrastructure are increasing, says the country’s National Cyber Security Agency. Following two breaches over the last week, it urges the sector to “raise the levels of protection of digital infrastructure of energy operators” and says it is “constantly updating them in line with the most recent threat information” as attackers use new coding software.

The German manufacturer of a turbine is questioning Russia’s explanation of Gazprom’s decision to shut down one of its main natural gas lines to Europe on the weekend, stocking fears of winter shortages. European governments had expected the Nord Stream 1 to resume flows after what was to be a brief maintenance pause but Gazprom said an oil leak in a Seimens turbine cancelled that plan. Siemens says the leak would not normally affect turbine operation and, besides, other units could keep the pipeline running.

Former British foreign secretary Liz Trust has been elected by the Conservative Party as Boris Johnson’s successor, The former Liberal Democrat, who opposed Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, is promising to return to fundamental Conservative values such as reducing taxes and smaller government.

The RCMP feared that serving Mounties sympathetic to the convoy protest in Ottawa earlier this year might leak operational plans to protesters, says an internal threat advisory obtained by CBC News. "Those who […] are sympathetic to the movement […] may be in a position to share law enforcement or military information to the convoy protests."

As China doubles down on its zero-Covid policy ahead of a key Communist Party meeting, the city of Chengdu imposed a sweeping lockdown of its 21 million inhabitants September 1. The action follows confirmation of more than 700 coronavirus cases the previous week and mass testing will run until at least September 4.

The families of 11 Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics in Munich are receiving a total of €28 million from Germany, including payments already made. Having acknowledged that its response to the attack was inadequate, Germany initially offered €10 million ahead of the September 5 commemoration of the 50th anniversary.

Vicky Bowman, Britain’s ambassador to Myanmar from 2002 to 2006, was sentenced by the country’s military government to a year in jail today along with her Burmese husband, a former political prisoner. They were charged with breaching immigration laws but since such offences are rarely prosecuted, wider political issues are suspect.

Ian Scott, chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, was scheduled to leave the post today after four years. However, his tenure has been extended for four months until the federal government recruits a replacement who would manage the regulator’s additional legislated Internet responsibilities.

A convoy of UN inspectors managed today to reach Europe's largest nuclear power station, in southern Ukraine, despite the presence of Russian forces embedded in and around the Zaporizhzhia plant. Some of the International Atomic Energy Agency team left after only a few hours but Ukraine's nuclear power operator expects five others to remain for two more days.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said August 31 that the government will look into allegations by a British author in a new book that a Canadian Security and Intelligence Service contractor helped to traffic three British teenage girls to Islamic State extremists seven years ago. “The fight against terrorism requires our intelligence services to continue to be flexible and to be creative,” the PM said. “But every step of the way they are bound by strict rules . . . and we expect that those rules be followed.”

A man who accused a B.C. business of fraud has been ordered by the province’s Supreme Court to pay $90,000 in damages for defamation. Longhouse Specialty Forest Products had sued Tyler Ginther for $675,000 based on reviews he posted on two social media sites in 2017 and 2018 and the presiding judge ruled August 31 that the posts were untrue and malicious.

Nvidia and AMD, two major California-based computer chip manufacturers, have been ordered by U.S. authorities to stop selling China certain new high-performance chips which could have “military” applications.

A U.S. surtax on luxury items, imposed in 1991 and abandoned several years later, hasn’t stopped Canada from imposing its own version effective today despite warnings that it will hurt manufacturers and that forecast revenues won’t live up to expectations. Even so, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, citing rising health care costs, said it is “entirely reasonable” to expect people who can afford high-end purchases “to help everybody else.”

European Union foreign ministers have agreed to suspend a visa agreement with Russia which will make entry more difficult for Russian visitors. Ukraine and some other states had called for a blanket ban but that was opposed several others. More than a million Russians have travelled to the EU since their president ordered the invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agree that health must be delivered “differently” as most jurisdictions deal with staffing issues. Ford also reiterated August 30 that his other counterparts want more federal money for the programs they are mandated to deliver “and we're gonna make sure that we sit down and really work out a deal.”

Government’s mandate letters to cabinet ministers are routinely made public across Canada and in other countries, but Ontario Premier Doug Ford continues to keep them secret despite a recent directive from his own privacy commissioner. The government now is appealing to Ontario Divisional Court and questions are being asked how much the fight is costing taxpayers.

The Canadian Coast Guard commissioned a new station at the remote northern tip of Vancouver Island August 30 to facilitate more efficient responses to marine rescues or environmental emergencies in the ecologically-vulnerable area. The 16,000-square-foot CCG Hardy Bay Base include a drive-on floating dock as well as maintenance and office facilities.

Union Bay, a small community on the east coast of Vancouver Island, has become the centre of a dispute between local residents and a company which dismantles ships. The residents say that Deep Water Recovery, headquartered in Vancouver, is ignoring a provincial cease-and-desist order due to concerns about potential pollution.

The United Nations today issued an urgent appeal for US$160 million to help Pakistan cope with “epochal” floods that have affected 22 million people, killed more than 1,100, and destroyed homes, businesses, crops and infrastructure. “The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said