Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Russia’s second mass aerial attack on Ukraine this week killed at least two civilians and knocked out utilities in an apparent attempt to ensure the country and its military operations will be short of power as Christmas approaches. Officials feared a second attack wave as night set in.
In Kyiv, air-raid alerts and sirens went off shortly after 8 a.m. Not long after, explosions could be heard in the capital’s southwestern and eastern districts.
It was not immediately clear whether the sounds were from the few rockets that managed to get through Ukrainian air defences and hit the city or from incoming missiles being intercepted and destroyed in flight. One video posted by an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister purportedly showed a Russian drone falling out of the sky after being hit. The Associated Press reported that a member of Kyiv’s territorial defence unit shot down a cruise missile with a machine gun, a near-impossible task for any weapon other than air-defence missiles.
Read more:
Ukrainian State Emergency Service firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the building which was destroyed by a Russian attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Dec. 16, 2022.Evgeniy Maloletka/The Associated Press
NASA launches mission to measure Earth’s surface water – with help from Canada
A spacecraft aided by Canadian technology has begun its mission to answer one of the most basic but challenging questions in climate science: Where is all the water?
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission, or SWOT, was launched from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base early Friday morning aboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket. The Earth-orbiting satellite was developed by NASA in partnership with the French space agency, CNES, with additional involvement from Britain and Canada.
SWOT’s aim is to measure the surface heights of rivers, lakes and coastal waters with about 90 per cent coverage of the globe and track how they change over time. While the task may sound straightforward, the results promise to unlock a bounty of new information about the water cycle, its relationship to climate and the consequences for people around the world.
Read more:
An artist's rendering of a satellite from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission. A piece of Canadian radar technology that will play a key role in studying 90 per cent of Earth’s water.HO/The Canadian Press
Panama shopping First Quantum’s Cobre Panama mine to third parties, as its president orders shutdown
Panama is extending an olive branch to embattled First Quantum Minerals Ltd. that opens the door to solving a bitter tax dispute that has crushed the valuation of Canada’s biggest copper mine over the past 48 hours.
A source familiar with the situation said that Panamanian government representatives have told First Quantum it is open to reopening talks to solve the impasse. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source as the person was not authorized to speak publicly. The government of Panama did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After talks broke down on Thursday, the president of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, went on national television to announce that he was shutting down First Quantum’s massive Cobre Panama mine in the country.
A truck winds its way out of the Canadian First Quantum's Frontier mine in Fungurume, in southern Democratic Republic of Congo, May 25, 2010.Katrina Manson/Reuters
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Canadian union actors say they’ve been locked out of commercial work for months following labour dispute: A months-long labour dispute between the Canadian actors’ union and a not-for-profit association representing some of the country’s largest advertising agencies appears to have no end in sight, leaving tens of thousands of commercial actors struggling to make ends meet.
The story of sneaker culture: From niche obsession to multi-billion-dollar reselling industry: Salmaan Farooqui chronicles sneaker culture’s long road from niche 70s obsession to a multi-billion dollar reselling industry. Josh Greenblatt writes about Canada’s star sneaker resellers here.
Elon Musk’s Twitter suspension of journalists draws global backlash: Twitter’s unprecedented suspension of at least five journalists over claims they revealed the real-time location of owner Elon Musk drew swift backlash from government officials, advocacy groups and journalism organizations across the globe on Friday.
Semios founder steps down as CEO after turning Vancouver agtech into global player: The founder of Canada’s largest agriculture technology company, Vancouver’s SemiosBio Technologies Inc., is resigning as chief executive after deciding he prefers to govern companies, not run them.
MARKET WATCH
Investor hopes for a “Santa Claus rally” this December were dampened yet again Friday, as broad-based declines capped a week of losses on North American markets.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 157.35 points at 19,443.28.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 281.76 points at 32,920.46. The S&P 500 index was down 43.39 points at 3,852.36, while the Nasdaq composite was down 105.12 points at 10,705.41.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.06 cents US compared with 73.31 cents US on Thursday.
The February crude contract was down US$1.69 at US$74.46 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was down 37 cents at US$6.60 per mmBTU.
The February gold contract was up US$12.40 at US$1,800.20 an ounce and the March copper contract was down one-and-a-half cents at US$3.76 a pound.
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TALKING POINTS
If health care becomes the next federal election’s big issue, the Tories need to get in the ring
“The lesson politicians of all parties have absorbed is that, while it’s rare that an election is won on health care, it’s always possible to lose on it. The public is skeptical that any party has a magic-bullet solution to health care. But what they want to know from every party is that it will not at least make it worse.” – Andrew Coyne
Canada’s sanctions against Afghanistan do harm, little good
“It’s not enough to lift the threat of using anti-terrorism laws against humanitarians. Canada should co-operate with the like-minded donors who are investing in the future of Afghanistan, taking steps toward economic development – again, not because they approve of the Taliban’s brutal misrule, but as a hedge against famine, large-scale migration, and regional instability.” – Graeme Smith
National Gallery mess shows what happens when decolonization goes awry
“The saga unfolding at the NGC shows what happens when good intentions are undermined by a mixture of naiveté, overzealousness and political score-settling. And make no mistake, the decolonization exercise – aimed at correcting curatorial errors of the past by placing an obsessive emphasis on inclusiveness and Indigenous perspectives – is steeped in politics.” – Konrad Yakabuski
LIVING BETTER
How to survive travel through Canada’s airports this holiday
Every flier desires the same thing: to arrive and depart without delay. But come the holiday season, that might be wishful thinking at Canada’s five busiest airports. Here are some ways to make your time in the terminal as enjoyable and stress-free as possible.
TODAY’S LONG READ
The biggest, weirdest, wildest pop-culture moments of 2022 to relive, or forget
Illustration by Heidi Berton
If you haven’t been paying careful attention to pop culture this year, hey, we understand. But now is the perfect time for The Globe and Mail to help you catch up on the 2022 moments that left us feeling confused, entertained, disgusted, enthralled and, on occasion, joyful.
Evening Update is written by Emerald Bensadoun. 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.