Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Group backed by John Risley, Jim Balsillie to buy Canadarm maker MDA in $1-billion deal
Two of Canada’s wealthiest entrepreneurs are teaming up as part of an investor group to buy MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., Canada’s largest space technology developer and the maker of the Canadarm, for $1-billion.
John Risley’s Northern Private Capital said Monday that it is leading a group of equity investors that includes Jim Balsillie, the former chairman of BlackBerry Ltd., seeking to buy MDA from its U.S. parent, Maxar Technologies Inc. They plan to repatriate the company’s headquarters to Canada.
“I am so proud this iconic Canadian company will once again be owned and controlled in Canada,” said Mr. Risley, the Nova Scotia entrepreneur who co-founded seafood giant Clearwater Fine Foods.
The deal isn’t subject to shareholder approval and is expected to close in 2020 if regulators sign off.
U.S. attack on Iran-backed militia sparks vows for revenge in Iraq
The Iranian-backed Kataeb Hezbollah militia vowed Monday to retaliate for U.S. military strikes in Iraq and Syria that killed 25 of its fighters on Sunday.
The incident marks a new escalation in the proxy war between the U.S. and Iran playing out in the Middle East and raises concerns for American interests in the region.
For the first time since an agreement was struck to keep some U.S. troops in the country, the Iraqi government said it will reconsider its relationship with the U.S.-led coalition.
The U.S. military said its strikes were retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it blamed on the Kataeb Hezbollah militia.
Network of fake Facebook pages shows Russian campaign to gain influence in Africa
Two months after an illegal poll emerged on Facebook at a crucial moment in Mozambique’s recent election campaign, clues to explain the mystery have surfaced.
Facebook has uncovered a network of fake Mozambican pages with links to a Russian disinformation expert. And a Russian-funded scholar has confirmed his role in the illegal poll, which gave a valuable boost to the ruling Frelimo party in the days before the election.
Facebook said the fake pages were linked to Russian financier Yevgeny Prigozhin – a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin facing criminal charges in the United States for allegedly interfering in the 2016 election.
The Russian operation in Mozambique is part of a larger pattern of political and military activity across Africa. Facebook says similar fake pages in Libya and Sudan were traced back to Mr. Prigozhin.
The clues add up to a clear picture: Moscow is back in the African political game.
Ontario, Quebec brace for freezing rain and possible power outages
Hydro One says it’s gearing up to respond to what it expects will be “a significant ice storm” as Environment Canada issued freezing rain warnings for a region that extends from just north of the Greater Toronto Area up to North Bay, Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie, and all the way east to the Ottawa Valley.
Dozens of flights have been cancelled in Montreal, with up to 20 centimetres of snow expected in parts of the region.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Toy Story Canada: Hasbro Inc. announced Monday it had closed its US$3.8-billion purchase of Entertainment One Ltd., Canada’s largest publicly traded independent film and television company. In an interview with The Globe, the CEOs of the two companies sketched out their vision for the future.
Man accused in New York Hanukkah stabbings charged with federal hate crimes: Handwritten journals containing anti-Semitic references were found in the home of the man charged in the stabbing of five people celebrating Hanukkah at a rabbi’s house north of New York City, authorities said.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index and those tracking U.S. markets closed lower in Monday trading
At the Toronto Stock Exchange, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 69.65 points at 17,098.56.
Wall Street’s major stock indexes slipped from record highs on Monday as investors booked profits from gains made this month after the United States and China reached a trade deal.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed off by 183.12 points at 28,462.14. The S&P 500 index was down 18.73 points at 3,221.29, while the Nasdaq composite fell 60.62 points to 8,945.99.
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TALKING POINT
Globe editorial: It’s simplistic to think that a critical shift in our world happened suddenly, of course. But between the Brexit vote in 2016 and the nativist and isolationist rhetoric of Donald Trump, who beat the odds to be elected U.S. President the same year, the past 10 years have felt more like devolution than evolution.
FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Five topics that will obsess the fitness world in 2020
The essential steps on the road to fitness – getting out of your chair, moving your body with at least moderate vigour and repeating several times a week – will be the same in the new year as they were in the old one. But the trappings of how we tackle those steps will continue to evolve. From virtual workouts to AI coaching, these are the five topics that will obsess the fitness world in 2020.
A lens on 2019: The year’s best images, as seen by Globe photojournalists
Globe and Mail staff photographer Fred Lum and visual journalists Melissa Tait and Deborah Baic pick their favourite moments of the year and describe how they produced the images.
Today’s Evening Update is written by Dianne Nice. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.