In the News

Australia is planning an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and children after its Senate approved a motion to form a committee to investigate systemic causes of violence. One of the motion’s sponsors, Lidia Thorpe, an indigenous member of the Greens Party who has lost family members, told the Senate that there was never any justice for the victims “because they weren’t important enough for investigations to happen.”

Government privacy watchdogs in B.C., Alberta and Quebec have ordered New York-based Clearview AI to stop collecting, using or disclosing images of people without their consent and to delete images and biometric data already collected. This follows their finding last February that the company’s technology had violated provincial and federal laws with its mass surveillance of Canadians. While Clearview has not serviced law enforcement or other clients in Canada since mid-2020, suggestions it could return to the market have prompted the three provinces to tell the company Dec. 14 to keep out.

Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers say they are committed in principle to education and jobs for girls and women and want “mercy and compassion” from former foes. Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said Dec. 11 that his government wants good relations with all countries, has no issues with the U.S., and wants the West to released billions of dollars in frozen funds. He also said “sanctions against Afghanistan would . . . not have any benefit.”

A Belarusian opposition leader who rallied mass protests against his country’s autocratic president, Alexander Lukashenko, has been jailed for 18 years after a trial generally considered a politically-motivated sham. Sergei Tikhanovsky, who had planned to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election but was detained before the vote, was charged with, among other things, organising riots.

Although the B.C. government ended fuel rationing today, it has extended the state of emergency in the province’s southern regions for two more weeks due to lingering issues with widespread flooding.

Daimler AG and North American Mercedes-Benz subsidiaries have agreed to pay $243 million to settle a class-action lawsuit with the Canadian owners of 83,000 diesel vehicles sold between 2009 and 2016. The settlement, which must be approved by an Ontario court in February, includes repairs to make some models’ emissions legal, and cash payments for their owners as well as buy-back options.

Inger Stoejberg, Denmark’s immigration minister from 2015 to 2019, was sentenced today to 60 days in jail for ordering the separation of young asylum-seeking couples, ostensibly to address a perceived problem with child brides. Stoejberg professed surprise at the sentence but said she had no regrets.

Matthew Martin says he has never received so much as a parking ticket, yet his application to join the Saint John Board of Police Commissioners was rejected because he did not pass a “security clearance check.” As President of Black Lives Matter New Brunswick who has “never had any negative interaction with police”, he already sat on the chief’s advisory committee. While he was not given an explanation, Martin suspects that it was because some family members had criminal records.

The Canada Revenue Agency confirmed Dec. 11 that it has taken down its online services as a precaution against a “security vulnerability affecting organizations around the world” and that “services will be available as soon as possible.” There was no indication that systems had been compromised or that there had been unauthorized access to taxpayers’ information.

The U.S. has won the latest fight in a long-running legal battle to have Wikileaks founder Julian Assange extradited for trial under the Espionage Act for publishing classified material but the latest ruling is subject to further appeal. A British judge ruled last January that the Australian citizen should not be extradited due to concern about his potential treatment but two senior British judges overturned that decision Dec. 10.

Britain’s International Trade Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, has warned the U.S. that it risks retaliation if it does not lift tariffs on imports of British steel. “We had a very frank conversation,” she said after talks in Washington with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “I was very clear that the pressures we are under to use countervailing measures if we can't solve the problem are becoming more acute.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ramping up the rhetoric about growing tensions in and around Ukraine, as his country masses troops and authorities in Kyiv say Moscow could be planning an offensive at the end of January. Reaching out to Russian-speakers outside his country, many of whom live in the Donbas region of Ukraine where there has been conflict, he said Dec. 9 that “what is happening . . . certainly look like genocide.”

Only about 10 per cent of the 40,000 Afghan refugees the federal government promised to bring into the country have arrived and it could take up to two years to resettle everyone. “When you're trying to move 40,000 people out of the most challenging environments imaginable, one of the most dangerous places in the world today, it's not easy,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser said after seven weeks on the job. “What I'm really encouraged by is that we're starting to see a regular pace.”

Government forces in Myanmar are reported to have burned alive a number of villagers in apparent retribution for an IED attack on a military convoy. “This incident is quite brazen, and it happened in an area that was meant to be found, and seen, to scare people,” a Human Rights Watch researcher said, adding that it was similar to other recent attacks. “Our contacts are saying these were just boys and young people who were villagers who were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Wanping Zheng, an engineer at the Canadian Space Agency, has been charged with breach of trust for allegedly using his status to negotiate satellite station installation agreements with Iceland on behalf of a Chinese company. The RCMP began investigating in 2019 in response to information from the CSA’s security department.

Draft legislation which would scrap mandatory minimum jail or prison sentences for some crimes has been introduced by the federal government. Bill C-5 would permit judges to exercise discretion and include greater use of conditional sentences, including house arrest coupled with counselling or treatment, and police and prosecutors would be required to consider alternatives.

Former Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz formally succeeded Angela Merkel today as Germany’s Chancellor. Merkel, who had held the position for 16 years, advised her Social Democratic Party successor to approach the role “with joy.”

Matthew Philbert, 31, of Ottawa faces three cybercrime charges after being identified by Canadian and U.S. authorities as responsible for a series of cyberattacks, including at least one against an Alaskan government network. He was arrested by Ontario Provincial Police Nov. 30 after a 23-month international investigation.

Newly-confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David Cohen said Dec. 7 that he has “a high level of confidence” that Canada will “align” with the U.S. diplomatic and official boycott of next February’s Winter Olympics China. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in mid-November that his government was “looking for a way” for Canadian athletes to participate “continuing to demonstrate our real concerns with the way the Chinese government has behaved.”

The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe said today that while it is unclear whether the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is more transmissible or causes more severe illness than others, Delta surges in Europe and Central Asia are the orgnization’s current priority. “However we succeed against Delta today is a win over Omicron tomorrow before it eventually surges,” Hans Kluge said.

The U.S. decision to have its diplomats and officials boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in China as a protest against human rights abuses has prompted the country’s foreign ministry spokesman to threaten unspecified “resolute counter-measures.” Zhao Lijian accused the U.S. of “violating "political neutrality in sport” and said the planned boycott is “based on lies and rumours.”

The U.S. administration announced today that it would not send diplomatic or other official representatives to the 2022 Winter Olympics which are scheduled Feb. 4-20 in China. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said it was a “clear message” that China’s human rights record meant that there could not be “business as usual.”

The Trans Mountain pipeline shut down in B.C. in mid-November due to the potential of landslides caused by heavy rains was restarted Dec. 6 but the province said it was not ready to lift a fuel-rationing order. The line transports some 300,000 barrels daily from Alberta.

Myanmar opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to four years in prison, the first in a series of verdicts which eventually mean life in prison. Detained since a military coup in February which toppled her civilian government, she was convicted on charges of inciting dissent and breaking pandemic rules, as was former President and ally Win Myint. Suu Kyui became one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners when she was detained for 21 years by a pevious junta.

The World Health Organization's chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, said today that while the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is highly transmissible, a new vaccine may not be needed. “How worried should we be,” she rhetorized. “We need to be prepared and cautious, not panic, because we're in a different situation to a year ago. . . . The vaccines are still providing protection and we would hope that they would continue to provide protection.”

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, scheduled to unveil the government’s Fall economic and fiscal update Dec. 1, faces a struggle to get her draft legislation to extend pandemic support programs approved before Parliament’s year-end recess. Introduced last week, Bill C-2 includes more than $7 billion in benefits but the Conservatives and NDP say they would not fast-track it.

Although the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has not been allowed to inspect all areas of Syria, it has not uncovered any chemical weapons arsenals. Syria denies the accusation but Israeli intelligence alleges that Syria continues to keep a stockpile of different chemical weapons.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Dec. 1 that Russia faces “severe costs” if it invades neighbouring Ukraine and that NATO is ready to increase its presence. “We must prepare for all contingencies,” Blinken said after an alliance ministerial meeting in Riga ahead of a planned meeting in Sweden today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

A UN resolution urging maritime operators to use clear fuels in the Arctic is being widely hailed for its potential to reduce carbon black emissions in the region. The fine particulates from incomplete fossil fuel combustion land on snow and ice, increasing melt rates by reducing the surface’s albedo or reflectivity.

The UN says the global need for humanitarian aid is rocketing toward an all-time high in 2022 as COVID-19, climate change and regional conflicts exacerbate the prospect of widespread famine. Accordingly, its humanitarian relief arm appealed today for a record US$41 billion in funding to help people it says are most in need, up from $35 billion in 2021 and double what it sought four years ago.

An idled Newfoundland oil refinery has new owners who plan to produce renewable diesel fuel and sustainable aviation fuel. The provincial government confirmed an agreement to sell a majority stake in the Come-by-Chance refinery to a Texas-based equity firm. Newfoundland & Labrador Premier Andrew Furey called it “a positive step as the province itself looks to transition into a greener economy.”

Members of Parliament kicked off December with a rare display of unanimity in giving third reading to Bill C-4 only two days after the government introduced it in the House of Commons. Now referred to the Senate, it would amend the Criminal Code to ban widely-discredited “conversion therapy” which attempts to change individuals’ sexual orientation or gender identity.

The U.S. administration said Nov. 29 that there is no immediate plan to tighten the border with Canada as more cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant are confirmed. “The president's decisions related to travel restrictions will be based on the recommendations of his health and medical team,” White House Press Secretary Psaki said. “They have not advised that to this point . . . but we will continue to assess what steps we need to take to keep the American people safe.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today that the challenge posed by the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is a “race against time” as many countries “prepare for the worst.” She cited scientific advice that full vaccination and a booster is the most effective protection.