Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Police are now treating the March fire that killed seven people in Montreal as a criminal investigation after finding evidence of arson in the rubble of the building.
Inspectors say the fire appears to have spread with the help of an accelerant and added that “the accidental cause has now been ruled out.”
The blaze consumed several Airbnb units and prompted new legislation regulating short-term rentals in Quebec, as well as scrutiny of the property owner’s fire safety record.
Trump’s federal election trial date set for March 4, 2024
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has set a March 4, 2024 trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case charging the former president with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The decision denies a defence request to push the trial back until April 2026, about a year-and-a-half after the 2024 election, but also sets it later than the January date proposed by special counsel Jack Smith’s team. The March date would come right in the middle of the Republican presidential nominating calendar and the day before Super Tuesday, a crucial voting day when the largest number of delegates are up for grabs.
The federal election subversion prosecution is one of four criminal cases against Trump.
- Timeline: When is Donald Trump due in court next? Dates to watch in his criminal cases and GOP campaign
A stolen Nisga’a memorial pole starts its journey home from Scotland’s national museum
A totem pole stolen nearly a century ago is beginning its journey home from the National Museum of Scotland to Nisga’a territory in northwestern British Columbia today.
It is the first time the Scottish institution has returned an artifact – and one of the rare cases of a museum doing so in the United Kingdom.
The pole dates back to the 1860s and depicts a great bounty, local stories and important figures. It was commissioned to honour a warrior, Ts’wawit, who was next in line to be chief when he died in battle with a neighbouring First Nation. The pole was sold to the museum in 1929 by ethnographer Marius Barbeau while the village’s inhabitants were away.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
John Herdman steps down as Canada head coach: John Herdman has stepped down as head coach of Canada’s national men’s soccer team and taken over as coach of Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC.
Embattled Spanish soccer chief’s mother goes on hunger strike: The mother of Spanish soccer chief Luis Rubiales started a hunger strike inside a church on Monday to protest against what she called her son’s “inhumane treatment” after he grabbed and kissed player Jenni Hermoso at the World Cup awards ceremony. Rubiales was suspended on Saturday by FIFA.
Inquest into death of Ontario teen at school for blind opens: A coroner’s inquest has begun looking into the death of Samuel Brown, a teen who died five years ago while attending the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind in Brantford, Ont. Brown was born with a genetic condition that left him blind, deaf and non-verbal.
Job-hooping rate slows, indicating softening labour market: Canadian workers are changing jobs less frequently, with the seasonally adjusted job-changing rate in July at the lowest number recorded since September, 2020. The downward trend, paired with an uptick in the unemployment rate and declining job vacancies, suggests the labour market is weakening.
Foxconn founder enters Taiwan presidential race: Billionaire Terry Gou, the founder of an Apple supplier company, has officially entered the crowded race to become Taiwan’s president. Gou ran twice to become the candidate of Taiwan’s main opposition party and has recently been fueling speculation he would run as an independent.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s resource-heavy main stock index ended Monday’s trading session at a two-week high, led by gains in the materials and energy sectors in quiet end-of-summer trading.
Wall Street’s major indexes also closed higher as traders awaited a slew of economic data from Canada and the U.S. this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 213.08 points to 34,559.98, the S&P 500 27.60 points to 4,433.31, and the Nasdaq Composite 114.48 points to end at 13,705.13
The S&P/TSX Composite index climbed 189.39 points to 20,025.14. The Canadian dollar traded at 73.55 U.S. cents.
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TALKING POINTS
How we can tackle the silent suffering of Canadians with traumatic brain injury
“The ask is simple and straightforward: Classify traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a chronic condition. But behind the request for a new designation lies an important call to action: Canada needs to dramatically improve its approach to TBI, an often-debilitating condition, by addressing a host of issues ranging from data collection to rehabilitation.” – André Picard
Canada is burning, so why is our national pension fund still heavily into fossil fuels?
“The economic impacts of climate disruption are already significant, and will only get worse. That’s why it’s so problematic for CPPIB to continue investing Canada’s retirement fund in the high-risk fossil fuels driving the climate crisis.” – Patrick DeRochie
The first step to slow rampant cybercrime is to talk about it
“As cyber threats escalate, companies and institutions need to be more pro-active about defending themselves and much more open about disclosing the threats they face so we can all fight back more effectively.” – Editorial Board
LIVING BETTER
Two more reasons to adopt a Mediterranean diet and lifestyle
Research has previously associated the Mediterranean diet with a lower risk of many diseases. But new studies are adding to that list of benefits. One suggests following the diet while pregnant benefits fetal neurodevelopment. Another associates following a full “Mediterranean lifestyle”– including diet, daily physical activity, adequate rest and socialization – with a lower overall risk of premature death.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Meet the deceptively pretty creeping bellflower, and the gardeners on a mission to kill it
Creeping Bellflower, an invasive species, growing along Rogers Rd. in these pictures, are photographed on Aug 24, 2023.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
It started as a few heart-shaped leaves, as it always does. Then they began to multiply. It was only when a few stems appeared, each studded with pretty drooping purple flowers, that Susan Forint decided to investigate. She took a photo of the plant in her mother’s Toronto garden, which is home to hundred-year-old peonies and other historical perennials, and did a reverse image search online.
“Ignorance was bliss,” said Ms. Forint.
The intruder was creeping bellflower, an invasive weed that’s known to overtake unsuspecting gardens and front lawns, choking out any other plants in the vicinity. They can be pulled out with only a pinch,cbut beneath the surface is a robust and resilient root system. Even the tiniest root fragment can sprout a new plant, giving it the nickname “the zombie weed.” It’s immune to most herbicides, can grow in any light conditions and survive long periods of drought.
“It’s one of my most-hated plants,” says Jonathan Bennett, an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan who researches ecology and the management of invasive species. (Dr. Bennett has a personal beef with the creeping bellflower too: It’s currently littering his lawn.) “It’s near impossible to keep out of gardens.” Read the full story by Samantha Edwards
Evening Update is written by Hope Mahood. 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.