Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories: It’s been a long, hot, summer – and a record season for political upheaval, too.
Today, President Trump is visiting Kenosha, Wisconsin, where a week of violent riots was sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who remains in hospital and is said to be paralyzed.
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he stands with Kenosha police and business people while examining property damage to a business while visiting the city in the aftermath of recent protests against police brutality and racial injustice and ensuing violence after the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., September 1, 2020.LEAH MILLIS/Reuters
The protests in Kenosha, which the President has blamed on Democrats, have been exceptionally violent, attracting right-wing militias bent on fighting the protesters and resulting in the deaths of two demonstrators.
Capping off a summer of massive protests in support of racial justice across the United States, the President’s visit reflects efforts by his administration to position Trump as an enforcer of law and order, and his opponent, Joe Biden, as an enabler of chaos.
With November fast approaching, the Globe’s American politics contributor David Shribman notes that “not in more than a half-century has an American election been conducted against the backdrop of such domestic upheaval, violence, high drama and contentious campaign rhetoric.”
Protesting Europe’s last dictatorship
In Belarus, similarly consequential protests are gathering momentum, as citizens continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the leadership of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for over 25 years.
MINSK, BELARUS - Anti-government protesters walk past riot police holding a sign with a picture of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya as an ace card.Misha Friedman/Getty Images
Hundreds of protesters have been jailed, and the press accreditations of multiple journalists have been revoked in the past three weeks. The protests were sparked by the re-election of President Lukashenko in an election protesters have alleged to be rigged in his favour.
Hovering above the turmoil is the possibility that President Lukashenko will ask Russia to intervene to quell dissent.
This is the daily Evening Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was sent to you as a forward, you can sign up for Evening Update and more than 20 more Globe newsletters here. If you like what you see, please share it with your friends.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Banned book: The Globe’s Nathan Vanderklippe reports that as the government of China prepares to declare ’victory’ over poverty, the publication of economist Thomas Piketty’s latest book, Capital and Ideology, has been blocked by authorities over demands that the publisher erase the book’s references to China, said Mr. Piketty. He has refused.
Back to school confusion: The president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association says Ontario classrooms will have no choice but to collapse and combine some classrooms, given smaller class sizes resulting from students who have opted into online schooling.
Rideau Hall investigation: The federal government has hired an independent firm, Quintet Consulting Corporation, to conduct an investigation into allegations of workplace harassment in the office of the Governor General, Julie Payette.
Daylight hit: Calgary police say the double homicide of two men last Friday was connected to organized crime. The police say the shooting, which took place during the day in a residential neighbourhood, was targeted.
Emergency benefits rolled back: Canada’s banking regulator is pulling back two measures introduced during the peak of the pandemic that made it easier for banks to let their customers defer mortgage and loan payments. More than 760,000 Canadians – holding about 16 per cent of the number of mortgages in bank portfolios – had deferred or skipped a mortgage payment by June 30.
MARKET WATCH
On Tuesday, The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 130.55 points, or 0.79%, at 16,644.99. The tech sector led advancers, with Shopify hitting a new record market cap of $178.7-billion. Gold and cannabis stocks, by contrast, largely lost ground Tuesday in Toronto.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 215.61 points, or 0.76%, to close at 28,645.66, the S&P 500 gained 26.34 points, or 0.75%, to 3,526.65 and the Nasdaq Composite added 164.21 points, or 1.39%, to 11,939.67.
The S&P ended the session more than 4% above its pre-crisis record, reached in February, while the Nasdaq finished 21.7% above its February peak in its 42nd closing high for 2020. The blue-chip Dow, meanwhile, was still 3% under its record.
Looking for investing ideas? Check out The Globe’s weekly digest of the latest insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and what investors need to know for the week ahead. This week’s edition includes dividend share shopping, GICs in demand and rethinking bank stocks.
TALKING POINTS
The temptation of Erin O’Toole
Andrew Coyne: “The more praiseworthy planks in his leadership platform – opening up Canada’s protected air and telecoms sectors, desubsidizing the media – show a willingness to take some risks, beyond the status quo. The more disgraceful parts – abolishing the carbon tax, preserving supply management, pandering broadly to Quebec nationalists – suggest he is not wholly the prisoner of principle.”
To deface a monument is to engage critically with history
Taylor Noakes: “If it rubs you the wrong way to know that people might compare aspects of such tyrants to Sir John A. Macdonald, whose statue was pulled down in Montreal by protesters this weekend, you’re likely not Indigenous. We tend to have a remarkable ability in this country to identify brutality abroad, but also to ignore it here at home in our own history.”
Donald Trump is the law-and-order candidate? Yeah, right
The Globe Editorial Board: “The Democrats have to deliver a simple message of unity: They are against the killing of George Floyd and against setting a neighbourhood on fire in protest. Both are forms of lawlessness; both hurt people and destroy lives; both can and will be dealt with by the law.”
LIVING BETTER
It’s widely accepted that as we age, we lose muscle mass. But did you know the process begins at age 30? In order to keep our muscles growing and functioning well into our senior years, protein intake is necessary – but it needs to be spaced out throughout the day. The Globe’s nutrition columnist Leslie Beck explains how to time your protein intake, and why the usual guidance may not apply once you hit 65.
TODAY’S LONG READ
COVID-19 has disrupted life for billions around the world – and, in the process, highlighted global disparities in wealth, health systems and food security.
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - JULY 27: A couple walk past installed hand sinks amid the coronavirus pandemic in Corabastos on July 27, 2020 in Bogota, Colombia. Corabastos is one of Latin America's largest food distribution centers in Kennedy, a neighborhood that has seen high contagion levels of COVID-19. While some areas of the city will remain open with restrictions, others will be on strict lockdown. The city was divided in areas, which will be closed in determined dates, to reduce the circulation of people and hospital occupation. Government also announced economic aid to those in need. (Photo by Guillermo Legaria/Getty Images)GUILLERMO LEGARIA/Getty Images
In Latin America, the pandemic was late to arrive, but has enormously impacted the continent.
According to the Globe’s recent deep dive into the spread of the disease in Latin America, “Late last week, the region had recorded more than 6.9 million cases – more than one-quarter of all cases worldwide, even though it represents 8.5 per cent of the global population. Authorities say more than 266,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the region”.
The economic pressure created by the pandemic threatens to unravel decades of gains in development the continent has made in indicators related to health, poverty and education.
Evening Update is written by Claire Porter Robbins. 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.