Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
The latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war
Palestinian authorities are calling for a ceasefire to evacuate three dozen newborns and other patients trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital as Israeli forces battled Hamas militants in the streets just outside and seized more ground across northern Gaza.
For days, the Israeli army has encircled Shifa Hospital, the facility it says Hamas hides in, and beneath, to use civilians as shields for its main command base.
Hospital staff and Hamas deny the claim. Meanwhile, hundreds of patients, staff and displaced people were trapped inside, with supplies dwindling and no electricity to run incubators and other life-saving equipment.
Last night, Canadian-Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, who had been missing since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, was confirmed dead. Toronto’s Israeli Consul-General said on social media that Silver had been killed by the militant Islamist group in Kibbutz Be’eri. Earlier, it was thought she had been taken hostage into Gaza.
And Toronto police have charged three people accused of interrupting last night’s Scotiabank Giller Prize ceremony with an anti-Israel protest. They allegedly used forged documents to gain access to the event and also face obstructing property changes.
Read more:
- Tens of thousands of supporters of Israel rally in Washington, crying ‘never again’
- Canadian lawyers, inspired by University of Ottawa students, call for unity amid professional conflict over Middle East
In photos: Families and supporters of hostages taken by Hamas begin a march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
Opinion: Who we are, and must be, as Canadians – Globe editorial
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Arrest made in death of former NHL player
A man has been arrested in the death of Nottingham Panthers hockey player Adam Johnson who died last month after his neck was cut by an opposing player during a game in Sheffield, England.
Police say they arrested a man, who they did not identify, on suspicion of manslaughter and that he remains in custody.
The incident occurred during a Panthers’ game against the Sheffield Steelers on Oct. 28. Steelers’ defenceman Matt Petgrave collided with Johnson as he stickhandled the puck up the ice. As Petgrave fell, his left leg rose and his skate blade cut Johnson’s throat.
The tragedy has shaken the hockey community and prompted calls for neck guards to be mandatory at all levels of the game.
Deal struck for Teck’s coal business
Vancouver’s Teck Resources has agreed to sell its coal business to Swiss commodities trading giant Glencore and two Asian steel makers. The US$8.9-billion pact requires federal approval, and will be closely scrutinized by Ottawa before it can proceed.
Teck had been considering offers for its core metallurgical coal business since the spring, when a plan to spin it off was cancelled at the last minute because of insufficient shareholder support.
The miner had repeatedly rejected Glencore’s earlier attempts to buy the whole company, including its copper and zinc mines, in what would have been a US$23.1-billion cash and stock deal.
Opinion: Glencore might just be forced to phase out the coal operations it’s buying from Teck - Eugene Ellmen
Quick action needed on Bill C-11, minister says
Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge says there is no time for delay in enacting the Online Streaming Act, saying that Canada’s broadcasting system, and the people working in it, need help right away.
The federal government published its final policy direction to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the regulator in charge of implementing the act.
The Online Streaming Act modernizes Canada’s broadcasting laws and would make foreign-owned platforms such as Spotify, Netflix and YouTube promote Canadian films, music and programs, and financially support their creation, including in French.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Sex offender arrested: Police say Randall Hopley is in custody after being picked up in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside this morning, ending a 10-day search after the high-risk sex offender walked away from a halfway house.
Coin flip: The Royal Canadian Mint will soon begin producing coins bearing the face of King Charles in a design by Canadian portrait artist Steven Rosati.
A likeness of King Charles is shown on a loonie in a handout photo.HO/The Canadian Press
MARKET WATCH
North American stock markets soared as cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation data boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve was done raising interest rates and was on the path to cutting them next year. Canada’s main stock index gained 1.6 per cent in a broad-based rally led by financials, base metals and utilities.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 314.58 points to 20,023.73. The dollar traded at 73.04 U.S. cents.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 489.83 points or 1.43 per cent to 34,827.7, the S&P 500 rose 84.15 points or 1.91 per cent to 4,495.7 and the Nasdaq Composite charged 326..64 points or 2.4 per cent higher to end at 14,094.38.
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TALKING POINTS
Is Danielle Smith’s overhaul of Alberta health care restructuring or revenge?
“One of the principal reasons Canada’s health system is crumbling is that it is micromanaged by politicians whose visions don’t extend beyond their noses. The partisanship and second-guessing are poisonous.” – André Picard
Things are broken. But the fix isn’t less government. It’s better government
“Canada has lots of Important Stuff That Isn’t Working. The trouble is government. Not its existence – its competence. Peace and order don’t just happen. Good government is their necessary precondition. And it’s in short supply.” – Tony Keller
LIVING BETTER
Anti-smoking advocates are calling for restrictions on the sale of a flavoured nicotine that they warn is being marketed and sold directly to children and teens. Imperial Tobacco Canada last month announced the launch of Zonnic, a pouch containing up to four milligrams of nicotine and designed to be placed under a user’s lip. While marketed as a “nicotine replacement therapy” for adults, Zonnic is available at convenience stores and gas stations for anyone to purchase.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Northern cod numbers may have moved out of critical zone, federal scientist says
“There were no codfish in northern Labrador for about 60 years, but this summer the cod were all along the Labrador coast from Blanc Sablon in the south to north of Nain,” says captain Alex Saunders, 81.Jen Thornhill Verma/The Globe and Mail
Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans determines cod-fishing limits based on its Harvest Decision Rule, a calculation weighing stock status (critical, cautious, healthy or uncertain) against expected mortality (because of fishing or natural causes).
This year’s amount, set at 12,999 tonnes, was informed by DFO’s science assessment model showing northern cod – a population of the species Atlantic cod that inhabits an area of the northwest Atlantic Ocean roughly twice the size of Newfoundland and Labrador – has hovered in the critical zone for more than 30 years.
But with recent changes to the northern cod assessment model, DFO research scientist Paul Regular says northern cod likely graduated out of that critical state. Read the full story by Jenn Thornhill Verma.
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