In the News

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences suggests that “directed radio frequency energy” attacks by unknown assailants likely caused brain injuries to American diplomats posted in Cuba but it stops short of saying that Canadians also were affected by so-called “Havana Syndrome”. Both countries’ diplomats and some family members experienced causing headaches, dizziness and cognitive problems in 2016. Five Canadian diplomats have sued the federal government, alleging that it had played down the situation and failed to protect them.

Provincial governments are being urged to adopt widespread surveillance testing as part of their response to COVID-19. The advice comes in an independent review commissioned by Revera, which operates seniors’ residences and long-term care facilities across the country. The review was led by Dr. Bob Bell, a former Ontario deputy health minister, and involved international and national public health experts who also volunteered their time.

Is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s stated commitment to greater transparency not applicable to his government’s spending on its COVID-19 campaign? “The government has not been transparent about which of the big businesses, some of whom are extremely profitable during this pandemic, have actually been receiving these significant amounts of money,” says Peter Julian, the New Democratic Party’s finance critic in the House of Commons, commenting on a report that only a few departments have provided details.

A new cloud-based service designed to secure some of the U.S. government’s most sensitive workloads has been completed by Microsoft. A company executive calls Azure Government Top Secret a “natural extension” to the cloud-based services for the intelligence community.

Despite recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they stay home during last week’s U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, nearly as many Americans opted to travel as they have in the past despite the COVID-19 threat. The disclosure comes as hospitalizations and deaths continue to surge ahead of Christmas. A CDC official point that “if only a small percentage of those travelers were asymptomatically infected, this can translate into hundreds of thousands of additional infections moving from one community to another.”

Premier Brian Pallister of Manitoba says the federal government's proposal to reserve some portion of COVID-19 vaccine for the province’s large First Nations population would mean fewer doses for others. “They have to step up and protect our Indigenous communities first . . . but not punish everyone else,” he says. Arlen Dumas, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, says Pallister’s statements are potentially divisive.

The federal government is planning a dry run in every province next week of its proposed distribution of two COVID-19 vaccines as it prepares for actual distribution in “the coming weeks and months.” MGen Dany Fortin, tasked with overseeing logistics, says the aim of the “soft launch” is to ensure procedures are correct and that “people are comfortable with the very unique requirements of handling an ultra-low temperature vaccine.”

A “large-scale” COVID-19 immunization campaign has been ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Doctors and teachers are to be first in line when the program begins next week, using a domestic vaccine which received regulatory approval in October even though its efficacy and safety continue to be reviewed.

Europe’s biggest budget airline, Dublin-based Ryanair, which had 135 Boeing 737 Max jetliners on order before two crashes involving other airlines resulted in a global fleet grounding, has ordered 75 more at a deeply-discounted price. The aircraft is still awaiting recertification in Canada and elsewhere.

Having for months recommended a 14-day quarantine period following potential exposure to COVID-19, generally accepted as a global standard, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still sees it as the safest option. However, it now is proposing two alternatives: seven-day quarantine for asymptomatic individuals, followed by a negative test result, or 10 days without a test. The CDC medical officer overseeing the pandemic response acknowledges “a small residual risk that a person who is leaving quarantine early could transmit to someone else if they became infected.”

Statistics Canada says the economy grew by a record annualized 40.5 per cent in the third quarter as businesses came out of COVID-19 lockdowns. While it represented a sharp turnaround from a record drop in the previous quarter, real gross domestic product remains shy of where it was before the pandemic erupted in March.

The growing global presence of China and its military is a key element of NATO 2030, a report which includes 138 recommendations for a general policy overhaul within the alliance. It is seen as a riposte to French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement last year that NATO was suffering “brain death.”

Widespread protests in France have persuaded the government to rewrite proposed legislation which would have made it illegal to make or share images of police operations. Sparked by images of an assault on a black man, protesters said the proposed law would prevent exposure of police brutality.

Against a backdrop of political confusion, a respected international science publication has posted a detailed assessment of COVID-19 vaccine. Among other things, it points out that Canada has a list-topping pre-order totalling nearly nine doses per capita. “Canada has done exactly what we would expect a high-income country to do, and they’ve done the right thing by their country.” says a U.S. researcher.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team evidently has cybersecurity a priority if impending cabinet nominees are any indication. The named individuals would begin “working immediately to rebuild our institutions, renew and reimagine American leadership to keep Americans safe at home and abroad, and address the defining challenges of our time.”

An Ottawa-based military family has filed a complaint with the Ontario Landlord & Tenant Board, alleging that the Saudi Arabian embassy evicted them in bad faith. They say that Chargé d'affaires Sulaiman AlAqeel had said he planned to move into the property but that it was subsequently listed for sale.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney wants to rule out mandatory vaccinations in his province. He plans to have the Public Health Act amended so as to remove a section which authorizes the government to immunize persons during an emergency.

Responding to a U.S. plan to import of Canadian prescription drugs from Canada in a bid to reduce prices in the U.S., Canada has blocked bulk exports which would result in domestic shortages. “Companies will now also be required to provide information to assess existing or potential shortages, when requested, and within 24 hours if there is a serious or imminent health risk,” says Health Minister Patty Hajdu.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is blaming Israel for last week’s killing near Tehran of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. “Iran's enemies should know that the people of Iran and officials are braver than to leave this criminal act unanswered,” he says. “In due time, they will answer for this crime.”

In the runup to the release of the federal government’s fiscal update, Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre says rebuilding the economy in a post-pandemic environment will require a huge overhaul of the tax system and regulatory regime. “We don't need subsidized corporate welfare schemes that rely on endless bailouts from the taxpayer,” he says. “That will only indebt us further, and all the jobs they temporarily create will disappear when taxpayer money runs out.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his provincial counterparts held a virtual meeting Nov. 26 to discuss distribution of COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. The premiers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick say per capita distribution will be based on vulnerability. “We expect certain vaccines to become available in early 2021,” says Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada's deputy chief public health officer, meaning that six million Canadians could be vaccinated by March.

North Korean hackers are said to have tried to hack into companies developing coronavirus vaccines in South Korea, says a member of the latter’s parliament. Ha Tae-keung says his National Intelligence Service did not specify how many and which manufacturers were targeted. The disclosure came after Microsoft had reported that North Korean and Russian hackers had tried to break into the research and corporate networks in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the U.S.

An Iranian diplomat posted to Austria is on trial in Belgium, together with two Belgian nationals of Iranian origin, for their alleged involvement in a plot to bomb a rally of Iranian expatriates in in France. They were arrested after European intelligence agencies tracked the couple to a meeting in Luxembourg with the counsellor from the Iranian embassy in Vienna.

Subject to Health Canada approval, the government is eyeing January 2021 to begin working with the provinces and territories to distribute “the first millions” of COVID-19 vaccines. In announcing the timeline, Dominic LeBlance, Privy Council President and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc also disputed reports that Canada is at the back of the international distribution line.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marco Mendocino has confirmed that 1,300 professional athletes have received ministerial “national interest” exemptions from Canada’s COVID-19 border restrictions. He says they were exempt from the general 14-day quarantine period because their leagues had pandemic mitigation plans which had been approved by public health authorities.

Nearly 500 persons accused of participating in a 2016 attempted coup in Turkey, including 337 military officers, have been sentenced to life imprisonment. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government said the attempted overthrow directed from Akinci air base near Ankara resulted in 251 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries.

Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne says tough talk about China could undermine efforts to have two detained Canadians released. He told a parliamentary committee that MPs should keep Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in mind when they criticize China.

Heidi Illingworth, the federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, says a five-year-old statute which ostensibly gave victims new rights needs to be revisited. She has made 15 recommendations for improvement. “Strengthening victims' rights and providing them a guarantee of support and assistance would encourage more people to actually come forward and empower them to seek legal support and social supports,” she says.

An independent analysis of NATO says that while the alliance can expect to benefit from a new U.S. presidency, it must adapt a more comprehensive and resilient agenda to remain relevant globally. The analysis underscores the growing need to tackle “corrosive” cyber operations, disinformation campaigns and supply chain disruptions, among other things. In addition, “NATO’s core tasks of collective defense, crisis management and cooperative security must be expanded to include countering challenges that contribute to global instability.”

Even though it has never been a signatory to the 2002 Open Skies treaty through which 34 other countries agreed to let others conduct military overflights, China has criticized the U.S. withdrawal. “This move . . . undermines military mutual trust and transparency among relevant countries, is not conducive to maintaining security and stability in relevant regions and will also have a negative impact on the international arms control and disarmament process,” a foreign ministry spokesman says.

More than four decades after the U.S. and the Soviet Union brought back lunar material for analysis, China has launched its robotic Chang'e-5 spacecraft to the Moon on schedule. The goal is to return more and larger samples to Earth in mid-December.

A retired Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen Rick Hillier, will head a new Ontario government body tasked with distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Announcing the “monumental” undertaking, Premier Doug Ford cited “early signs of success” on vaccine development and said the first doses should be available in early 2021.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on trial for alleged corruption and influence-peddling. The charges arise from accusations that he tried to bribe a magistrate in an attempt to get information about an investigation into his political party’s finances.

A supposedly secure videoconference of European Union defence ministers recently had an unwelcome participant: a journalist in the Netherlands. Having managed to log in after Dutch Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld inadvertently posted some access details on Twitter, Daniel Verlaan apologized and logged out when challenged by Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has directed his cabinet to improve their security practices.