Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
When the Paris Agreement was signed by nearly 200 countries in 2015, part of the treaty was based on research that indicated exceeding a global average temperature rise of 1.5 C beyond preindustrial levels increases the risk of more severe climate-change impacts.
Now, that threshold is in clear sight.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service, a European Union body that tracks climate data, said today that 2023 was the hottest year on record, and that some time this month or next month, it’s likely that the previous 12-month period will have eclipsed the 1.5 C marker.
“Not only is 2023 the warmest year on record, it is also the first year with all days over 1 C warmer than the preindustrial period,” said Samantha Burgess of Copernicus, adding that temperatures in 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the past 100,000 years.
Closer to home, a shareholder advocacy group called Investors for Paris Compliance is accusing Canada’s five biggest banks of misleading investors and the public with their sustainability claims. The charity is calling on industry watchdogs to investigate.
Blinken urges Israel to engage with region on postwar plans that include path to Palestinian state
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, front left, meets with Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz, second from right, in Tel Aviv on Jan. 9, during his week-long trip aimed at calming tensions across the Middle East.EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Israel to work with moderate Palestinians and neighbouring countries on plans for postwar Gaza, saying they were willing to help rebuild and govern the territory but only if there is a “pathway to a Palestinian state.”
Speaking at a news conference after meeting with top Israeli leaders today, Blinken said Israel “must stop taking steps that undercut the Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively.”
Israel, he added, “must be a partner of the Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people” and live “side by side in peace with Israel.” Settler violence, settlement expansion, home demolitions and evictions “all make it harder, not easier, for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military says it has dismantled Hamas infrastructure in northern Gaza – where entire neighbourhoods have been demolished – but is still battling small groups of militants. The offensive’s focus has shifted to the southern city of Khan Younis and built-up refugee camps in central Gaza.
“The fighting will continue throughout 2024,” said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a military spokesman.
Sean Casey, World Health Organization emergency medical teams co-ordinator in Gaza, said the health system there was collapsing fast.
“What we continue to see is the health system suffering – health workers unable to go to their workplace to care for patients because they fear for their lives … [and] patients who fear and their families who fear going to the hospital because they may die on the way,” he said.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Artemis launch delayed: NASA says it is delaying the Artemis moon flyby mission that includes Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, initially scheduled for November of this year but now set for September, 2025.
At-home cervical cancer tests in B.C.: Premier David Eby says his government’s plan to phase out pap tests could make ending cervical cancer in B.C. a real possibility. The key? A Canadian first at-home testing strategy.
Ex-CEO of British Post Office apologizes: Paula Vennells, the former chief executive officer of Britain’s Post Office who oversaw the company’s wrongful prosecution of hundreds of branch managers, has apologized and returned her Commander of the Order of the British Empire award.
QB Rodgers denies suggesting Kimmel linked to Epstein: NFL player Aaron Rodgers denied today that he ever suggested talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel would be implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Kimmel said Monday night in his monologue that he’d accept an apology from the New York Jets quarterback, but that he doesn’t expect one.
MARKET WATCH
TSX, S&P 500 retreat as bond yields move higher ahead of U.S. inflation data, earnings
The S&P 500, Dow and TSX lost ground today as investors assess the timing and size of any Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in 2024.
Investors are bracing this week for more U.S. Treasury supply and inflation data through the consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI), with expectations of a springtime interest rate cut lowering.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 157.85 points, or 0.42%, to 37,525.16. The S&P 500 lost 7.04 points, or 0.15 %, at 4,756.50 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 13.94 points, or 0.09 %, at 14,857.71. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended down 103.93 points, or 0.5%, at 20,970.98, after posting on Monday its highest closing level since May 2022.
One Canadian dollar could be bought for 74.67 US cents.
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TALKING POINTS
Green Day is fair game, but when right-wing pundits attack Neil Young, they’ve gone too far
“To suggest that Young is some kind of corporate establishment shill is to profoundly misunderstand his music and actions. If Young is in lockstep with the Man, then Rage Against the Machine skips to God Bless America.” – Brad Wheeler
ER overcrowding won’t be solved by telling sick people to stay home
“The vast majority of people who go to emergency rooms feel their health problem is urgent. Stop blaming them for the failures of a health system that is supposed to serve them. The patient declares their own emergency. Not a health ministry bureaucrat, or a health minister.” – André Picard
The genocide case against Israel is an abuse of the postwar legal order
“Seventy-five years after the birth of the Genocide Convention and of the state of Israel, both of which rose from the ashes of Auschwitz, we find genocide and rape and torture in full and flagrant flight in too many parts of the world. Yet the country that finds itself as the designated avatar of genocide is Israel.” – Rosalie Abella
LIVING BETTER
Trying to improve the way you eat? Here are the best (and worst) diets
There’s no one-size-fits-all diet. Each person needs to factor in their personal health goals, lifestyle and cultural food preferences. There are, however, some common themes that can help guide your choice. The top-ranked diets are nutritionally complete and include a wide variety of foods, with a focus on those that are whole and minimally processed.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Bison bounce back in the American West, giving Indigenous nations hope for restorations of their own
Bison graze at the Kalispel Reservation in northeastern Washington state on Dec 7, 2023.Nathan VanderKlippe/The Globe and Mail
American bison were nearly extinct because of commercial hunting in the 1800s when hunters, U.S. troops and tourists shot them by the thousands to feed a growing commercial market that used bison parts in machinery, fertilizer and clothing.
Now, Indigenous tribes and the U.S. government are reintroducing herds like never before, with decades-old breeding efforts seeing enough success that they are now sending bison to repopulate additional areas.
Crucially, the revival of bison stocks aren’t just a benefit to wildlife. “Tribes have made very clear to us that they believe returning to their Indigenous diets is a really key component in restoring tribal health,” says Heather Dawn Thompson of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The changes in the U.S. have caught the attention of those in Canada who say there is much to learn.
Read the feature by Nathan VanderKlippe.
Evening Update is compiled and written weekdays by an editor in The Globe’s live news department. 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.
Mason Wright