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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Manitoba RCMP find items linked to manhunt suspects on shoreline near burned-out vehicle
Police said Tuesday they found “several items” about nine kilometres away from where a burned-out vehicle was found two weeks ago near Gillam, Man. The items are “directly linked” to two B.C. men, Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod, who are targets of a cross-country manhunt and suspects in three deaths in northern British Columbia.
Police said the items were found Aug. 2, leading to a subsequent search by police divers that did not find any other relevant items.
Schmegelsky and McLeod are suspects in the deaths of American Chynna Deese, 24, and her 23-year-old Australian boyfriend Lucas Fowler. They have also been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Vancouver resident Leonard Dyck.
El Paso opens grief centre following mass shooting, one day before Trump set to visit
El Paso, Tex., officials opened a grief centre on Tuesday to help people cope with last weekend’s mass shooting at a Walmart, in which 22 people, nearly all with Latino last names, were killed and many others were wounded. U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the border city Wednesday, much to the chagrin of some Democrats and other residents who say his fiery rhetoric has fostered the kind of anti-immigrant hatred that may have motivated Saturday’s attack.
On the heels of Sunday’s shooting in Ohio, where nine people were killed, that state’s Republican governor urged the GOP-led legislature on Tuesday to pass laws requiring background checks for nearly all gun sales and allowing courts to restrict firearms access for people perceived as threats.
SNC-Lavalin shares fall to near 15-year low after warning from Caisse de dépôt
Shares of SNC-Lavalin plummeted to the lowest level in nearly 15 years Tuesday. This comes after its largest shareholder, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, said Monday that the beleaguered engineering company needs to shake up its culture to improve its project execution and reverse its stock-price slide.
The pension fund, which holds a 20 per cent stake in SNC-Lavalin, said it will remain “a long-term investor in SNC-Lavalin during this turbulent period.” Shares fell to a low of $16.10 around midday before closing at $16.36.
Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison dies at 88
U.S. President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to author Toni Morrison during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington on May 29, 2012.MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Toni Morrison’s family issued a statement saying she “passed away peacefully last night surrounded by family and friends” after a brief illness. Morrison was a pioneer and reigning giant of modern literature whose imaginative power in Beloved, Song of Solomon and other works transformed American letters by dramatizing the pursuit of freedom within the boundaries of race.
She was nearly 40 when her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published. By her early 60s, after just six novels, she had become the first black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in literature, praised in 1993 by the Swedish Academy for her “visionary force” and for her delving into “language itself, a language she wants to liberate” from categories of black and white. In 2012, Barack Obama awarded her a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In 2015, then-Globe Books editor Mark Medley spoke with Morrison about her book God Help the Child, and life.
Freeland, British counterpart Raab present united front on Canadians detained in China
During a joint news conference in Toronto Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the cases of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor remain a top priority. Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said his country is worried about the two detained Canadians and supported Canadian efforts on the matter.
Freeland and Raab said they also discussed shared concerns over Brexit. Raab said Britain will be working with Canada to create a “seamless” Brexit transition in coming weeks, reaffirming that the U.K. government will be leaving the European Union on Oct. 31 regardless of whether it comes to an agreement with the EU.
Raab writes in an opinion piece that after Brexit, Canada and Britain will become even closer friends: “If you read anything about Brexit being evidence of the U.K. turning inwards or walking away from our global role, please don’t buy it.”
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WHAT ELSE IS ON OUR RADAR
Hong Kong: China warned Tuesday that it will be “only a matter of time” before it punishes those behind two months of pro-democracy protests. The comments are further indication that Beijing will take a hard line against the demonstrators and has no plans to negotiate over their demands for political reforms.
Troops lock down Kashmir: Indian lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that strips statehood from the Indian-administered portion of Muslim-majority Kashmir amid an indefinite security lockdown in the disputed Himalayan territory, actions that neighbouring Pakistan warned could lead to war.
B.C. wildfire evacuation alert: The BC Wildfire Service says a fire in the southern Okanagan that broke out Aug. 4 has doubled in size over the past 24 hours to about 2.5 square kilometres. An evacuation alert covers 206 properties.
New boss for CI Financial: The Canadian fund company is hiring an outsider as its new chief operating officer. Kurt MacAlpine, a Canadian with experience in management consulting and exchange-traded funds, will take over on Sept. 1, succeeding CEO Peter Anderson, who announced his retirement in April.
Rogers Cup: Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams lost 6-4, 6-2 to Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro in the first round Tuesday. Canadians Bianca Andreescu and Eugenie Bouchard will face off in a first-round match Tuesday night.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index fell on Tuesday, hurt by a slide in energy and financial sectors amid heightened trade tensions between the United States and China. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 122.17 points, or 0.75 per cent, at 16,149.49.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 311.78 points, or 1.21 per cent, to 26,029.52, the S&P 500 gained 37.03 points, or 1.30 per cent, to 2,881.77 and the Nasdaq Composite added 107.23 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 7,833.27.
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TALKING POINTS
Hospital food should be healing, not horrifying
“Currently, as much as half of all food served in hospitals goes uneaten and into the garbage. When you consider that Canadian hospitals serve roughly 275,000 meals daily and spend in excess of $4-billion on food services annually, that level of waste is almost as stomach-turning as the food itself.” - André Picard
Trump’s crazy-like-a-fox tariffs have outwitted the Federal Reserve
“New York and Washington are full of commentators who went to Harvard, Yale and Princeton and consider themselves much smarter than Mr. Trump. They snicker when he calls himself a “stable genius.” But this President is crazy like a fox. His behaviour may seem just plain dumb, but it is, in fact, calculated to outsmart the Ivy League types.” - Niall Ferguson
LIVING BETTER
Many natural food remedies, such as eating chicken soup to cure a cold, have been around for generations. But have you ever wondered if there is any scientific evidence to back up these remedies and if they actually work? Leslie Beck examines the science behind five common “cure-alls,” including peppermint tea banishing bloating, prunes treating constipation and warm milk helping you falls asleep. As for chicken soup, there is no evidence it can treat a cold, but it could help lessen the sniffles.
LONG READ FOR A LONG COMMUTE
‘Is it really 50 years?’ David Milgaard on justice, faith and freedom
In May, 1969, Saskatoon police issued a warrant for David Milgaard and four days later he turned himself in. At 16, he was arrested for a murder he didn’t commit and would spend 23 years in prison as an innocent man. Today, 50 years later, his name and face are a part of Canadian history and culture. His story is one of Canada’s most egregious wrongful convictions and spawned investigations, documentaries, books, movies and even the hit song Wheat Kings, by the Tragically Hip.
Jana Pruden spoke to Milgaard about living in the shadow of a wrongful conviction and what it means to be free. The thing he wants you to know is that it could have been you. That it could be you.
Evening Update is written by Jordan Chittley. 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.