Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Ukraine to rebuild war-damaged homes with money seized from Russian-controlled banks
Ukraine is set to begin using the 17 billion Ukrainian hryvnia (US$460-million) it seized last year from Kremlin-controlled banks to rebuild homes wrecked during Russia’s invasion.
Though it won’t be enough to cover the damage done since the start of the war, that money will soon be used to repair shattered homes. Ukraine is hoping allies such as Canada will contribute other Russian assets seized under the economic sanctions imposed since the onset of the war.
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RCMP not investigating 2021 election-meddling allegations, deputy minister says
Canada’s deputy minister of public safety says the RCMP isn’t probing any allegations of political interference concerning the last federal election.
Shawn Tupper made the comments during an appearance before the procedure and House affairs committee, which is looking into accusations of China’s meddling in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
- Andrew Coyne: CSIS is worried about China interfering in our elections, even if the government isn’t
Human error responsible for deadly train crash, Greek PM says
Rescuers searched for survivors in the burned-out wreckage of two trains that crashed into each other in northern Greece, killing at least 43 people in the country’s worst-ever rail crash.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said it appears the collision of the passenger train and a freight train was “mainly due to a tragic human error.” He pledged a full, independent investigation.
TD Bank’s $13.4-billion U.S. acquisition dealt heavy blow
Toronto-Dominion Bank saw its prospects of closing a major acquisition in the U.S. take a hit Wednesday, after its merger partner, First Horizon, disclosed that the two banks are struggling to receive regulatory blessings in a timely manner.
In an annual filing, the Memphis-based bank disclosed that TD recently told its management team that it does not expect to get the required regulatory approvals before their merger agreement expires on May 27. Merger deadlines are often extended, but what makes Wednesday’s filing unusual is that First Horizon and TD did not seemed fussed about approvals only three weeks ago.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Canada Soccer names interim president: Five-time Olympian Charmaine Crooks has been named to lead the embattled national sports organization in the interim, as it seeks to broker labour peace with its men’s and women’s teams.
Chinese President Xi welcomes Belarusian leader Lukashenko: Beijing played host to Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, while leaving unanswered Ukraine’s entreaties for a meeting to discuss a path to ending Russia’s war. The two men vowed to support each other’s “core interests” and to “safeguard the sovereignty and political security of the two countries.”
Nigeria’s ruling party candidate declared winner: Election officials said Bola Tinubu has won the presidency, keeping the ruling party in power and raising the spectre of protests by opposition supporters who are calling for the vote to be voided.
Stephen Harper blocked U.S. move to repatriate Omar Khadr, book says: Quebec legal scholar Frédéric Bérard said the former Guantanamo Bay detainee’s lawyer had assurances from the highest levels of the U.S. government that it was Canadian reluctance preventing the transfer.
Alberta’s top court increases prison time for Edmonton club promoter: Matthew McKnight will now serve 11 years for sexually assaulting several women. He was sentenced to eight years after his conviction in 2020.
MARKET WATCH
Two of three major Wall Street stock indexes declined on Wednesday, while Treasury yields marched higher, as new inflation indicators from China, Germany and the U.S. hardened expectations that high interest rates would be in force longer than expected. The TSX ended with a slight gain.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually flat, closing up just 0.02 per cent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.47 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.66 per cent.
The S&P/TSX composite index rose 38.59 points to close at 20,259.78.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.46 cents US compared with 73.48 cents US on Tuesday.
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TALKING POINTS
Buying carbon offsets is a waste of time that we don’t have
“They help well-meaning actors feel better about a dangerous status quo, while less well-meaning actors greenwash their continued contributions to the climate crisis. Even Pope Francis has condemned offsets as “a ploy which permits maintaining the excessive consumption of some countries and sectors.” Individual consumptive choices cannot take the place of politics. Decarbonizing the economy cannot be achieved through the market alone – an energy transformation must come from governments.” - Jessica F. Green
B.C. needs to do more homework on its work-from-home plan
“The promise to expand options has locked the province into a policy while it is still developing its Future of the Workplace Strategy. That strategy will eventually track data around program and service delivery to measure how B.C.’s public servants are performing.” - Editorial
LIVING BETTER
Fancy ice cubes are TikTok’s coolest new craze
Interest in fancy ice cubes - a trend that caught on at cocktail bars 15 years ago - has started to filter into our at-home habits, becoming another way to elevate everyday routines. Just ask Junie Kim, who became an accidental ice cube influencer, thanks to a video that racked up 14 million views in just one day. “I think the reason my TikTok went viral is because people use ice every day and never think much of it, but the video shows them how easy it is to spice up such a simple part of their lives in both an aesthetic and practical manner,” Kim says.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Some police forces in Canada are beginning to consider attacks on homeless people as hate crimes
Police experts across the country say they are open to investigating attacks on homeless people as a new class of hate crimes, but Calgary is one of the only big-city forces to bring charges against suspects for specifically targeting this vulnerable population.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
As Asher Atter prepared for a pre-dawn walk through Calgary a few days before Christmas in 2021, he told a friend he wanted to “fight a downtown addict.”
Mr. Atter and his friend made their way east along a light-rail line that, by day, funnels commuters into the nerve centre of Canada’s oil and gas industry. But at that moment – five hours before the sun rose on Dec. 21 – the only people using the transit system in the city’s cleared-out core were those trying to survive outside in -17 degree weather.
Within 15 minutes, Mr. Atter, who was 21 at the time, was using an abandoned fire extinguisher to spray a heavily intoxicated homeless man in the face at a rail station, according to an agreed statement of facts read in court. He chased the man down and stabbed him in the back with a knife, slicing a portion of his liver. Read the full story by Mike Hager.
Evening Update is written by Beatrice Paez. 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.