Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
FBI arrests U.S. Air National Guardsman suspected of leaking classified documents
The FBI has arrested Jack Teixeira, named as the Air National Guardsman who is the main person of interest in relation to the leaking of confidential U.S. military documents containing details about the war in Ukraine.
Investigators believe 21-year-old Teixeira of Massachusetts led an online group where the documents were posted.
Heavily armed men arrived at Teixeira’s residence and took a man wearing a T-shirt and shorts into custody outside the property. Attorney-General Merrick Garland said Teixeira has been arrested “in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defence information.”
Meanwhile, a new batch of secret documents details how the Russian government is feuding internally over the count of the dead and wounded in the Ukraine war.
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Teck rejects latest Glencore proposal, tweaks plan for coal spinout
Teck Resources rejected Glencore’s latest proposal as value destructive as it attempts to fend off the Swiss company’s hostile takeover offer. It’s also tweaking the structure of its own planned metallurgical coal spinoff.
Last week, Glencore proposed buying Teck in a deal worth US$21.3-billion at a 22-per-cent premium to Teck’s market value. It then sweetened the offer by adding US$8-billion in cash in lieu of stock.
- Candace MacGibbon: However Glencore’s bid for Teck ends, more consolidation to come for Canadian mining
Haitians deported from Dominican Republic see danger and despair on both sides of the border
Various crises in Haiti have led to a mass exodus of migrants who sometimes travel thousands of kilometres by foot or boat to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. In response, the United States has tightened its border restrictions, while Canada has begun deporting migrants entering through Roxham Road in Quebec. Meanwhile, both countries are considering sending a security force to Haiti to intervene.
But nowhere is the tension around migration higher than in the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean’s largest economy and a big draw for Haiti’s migrants. The Dominican president has ordered the mass deportation of about 200,000 Haitian migrants in the past year and has also started building a border wall. Some caught in the deportation sweep say that Dominican police and soldiers are demanding bribes in exchange for letting migrants go.
As unemployment, gang crime, food, fuel and medicine shortages plague Haiti, many don’t see alternatives to trying to reach the Dominican Republic despite the risks that await them. Would-be migrants tell The Globe’s Adrian Morrow about dawn raids, extortions, mass deportations and other hardships faced in Haiti.
A caged bus arrives at the border crossing in Dajabon, Dominican Republic, with people being deported to neighbouring Haiti.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Tiff Macklem says inflation is falling quickly: Inflation should fall quickly in the coming months, but getting it back to 2 per cent could be a long slog, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said today, suggesting that interest rates may need to remain elevated for some time.
Protests in France: In a 12th day of protests since January, activists invaded the Paris headquarters of luxury brand LVMH, saying France should halt its plans to force people to work longer for their pension, and instead tax the rich more. Striking workers also disrupted garbage collection and blocked river traffic.
Reproductive rights in U.S.: Abortion pill mifepristone can still be used for now, a federal appeals court ruled.
Federal workers’ strike explained: More than 150,000 federal government workers may go on strike this week. Here’s what that could mean for the average Canadian.
Canadian television’s most influential: In advance of the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards here are the 25 power players and change makers in this country’s television industry.
MARKET WATCH
U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on Thursday as economic data showed cooling inflation and a loosening labour market, fuelling optimism that the Federal Reserve could be nearing the end of its aggressive interest rate hike cycle.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 383.19 points at 34,029.69. The S&P 500 index was up 54.27 points at 4,146.22, while the Nasdaq composite was up 236.93 points at 12,166.27.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 110.17 points at 20,564.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.86 cents US compared with 74.37 cents US on Wednesday.
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TALKING POINTS
The unseen victims of homeless encampments
“Rarely does the homelessness pandemic focus on the unseen victims of this problem: innocent folks who have had their lives and livelihoods upended by a horribly sad situation with which cities around the world are struggling.” – Gary Mason
‘These stories are based on unnamed sources,’ and other Liberal deflections
“There is no exemption in the conflict-of-interest rules for people of good character. The rule is not: Avoid conflicts of interest, unless you are a very good man. The rule is: Avoid conflicts of interest.” – Andrew Coyne
LIVING BETTER
Why is your cat mad? Maybe it’s because you’re not listening
Do you know what your cat really wants? There’s an abundance of research on dog communication and body language but not quite as much for our feline friends – though that has slowly been changing. FluentPets is a company that creates customizable buttons that your pet can press with their paws to communicate with you. Preliminary findings of research funded by the creator of the products suggest cats can communicate just as well as dogs, with several subjects able to use more than 40 different speech buttons. If you don’t want to spend up to $300 for electronic buttons to start a dialogue with your cat, pay attention to the direction of its ears, body, movement of its tail and its proximity to you to get a better idea of what it’s trying to say. Here are tips to decode your cat’s cues.
TODAY’S LONG READ
We can build better, fairer algorithms in a world of angry bias – so why aren’t we?
Illustration by María Hergueta
“Tech companies have long guarded their algorithms as propriety information, even as concerns have grown about all that secret code sorting our personal data and surveilling our behaviour, dosing us with addictive content on social media,” writes Erin Anderssen. “If what draws our attention is ranting and raving, well, the algorithm takes no sides. When those same computer codes make a mess – misidentifying Black politicians as criminals, favouring men when it comes to who sees higher-salary job offers, swamping teenagers with diet and lifestyle content that is mentally unhealthy – an ‘oops, sorry’ tour of money-flush tech execs usually comes around to sweep it up.”
“But is that good enough? In the midst of the current alarm about artificial intelligence’s proliferation, some computer scientists, most of them toiling away at universities, have found that computer code can do better.”
Evening Update is written by Prajakta Dhopade. 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.