Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
A regional chief from Manitoba is the new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Cindy Woodhouse’s win follows six rounds of voting that unfolded until almost midnight on Wednesday.
She received the most support after each round of voting but did not meet the 60-per-cent threshold required to win. David Pratt, the first vice-chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, announced this morning that he would concede to Woodhouse. Otherwise, additional rounds of voting would have ensued in order to reach the 60-per-cent figure.
The AFN is an advocacy organization that pushes for legislative reforms and budgetary spending for 634 First Nations across Canada.
Israeli tank fire killed Reuters journalist, investigation finds
An Israeli tank crew killed a Reuters journalist and wounded six reporters in Lebanon on Oct. 13 by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming crossborder shelling, a Reuters investigation has found. The two strikes killed Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, 37, and severely wounded Agence France-Presse photographer Christina Assi, 28, just more than a kilometre from the Israeli border near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Chaab. Amnesty International said the attack must be investigated as a war crime.
Also today:
- Israel battled Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip’s biggest cities leaving hundreds more Palestinians dead as almost 2 million displaced Gazans struggle to find safe refuge amid critical shortages of food and shelter.
- Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is condemning sexual violence committed by Hamas during its attack on Israel, after weeks of pressure to speak out.
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli ground offensive on the Gaza Strip set up a tent camp in the Muwasi area Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023.Fatima Shbair/The Associated Press
Canada proposes minimum 20-23% emissions cut from oil and gas sector, industry to pay for additional offsets
The federal government is proposing a minimum emissions cap on the oil and gas sector as well as a legal upper limit that the industry can meet by paying for offsets if it can’t cut the additional emissions directly.
Operators that don’t meet the targets will face consequences depending on the severity of the infraction. Non-compliance will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, ranging anywhere from a warning letter or a directive to take corrective action, up to legal action and financial penalties.
In a policy framework released Thursday morning, Ottawa said it wants to see Canada’s biggest polluting sector cut emissions by 20 to 23 per cent below 2019 levels by 2030. The final number will be determined in draft regulations to be released next year.
In London, Ont., two caring addiction doctors sit on either side of the safe-supply divide
Andrea Sereda and Sharon Koivu have a lot in common. Both are addiction doctors in London, Ont. Both are devoted to their patients. Both have seen many of those patients die despite their best efforts, cut down by an overdose epidemic that is killing about 20 people a day across the country.
Now they find themselves on opposite sides of a bitter debate that has split the addiction-medicine community in the midst of Canada’s worst-ever drug crisis. At issue is something with an innocuous-sounding name: safe supply.
LEFT Andrea Sereda and Sharon Koivu. Both are addiction doctors in London, Ontario.The Globe and Mail
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Bank of Canada: Home construction in Canada has not kept pace with increased immigration, adding to shelter price inflation, deputy governor Toni Gravelle said in a speech that also reiterated the bank wants to see more downward momentum in inflation before taking interest-rate hikes off the table.
Canada’s Food Price Report: Food prices will continue to rise in 2024, with the average family of four expected to pay $700 more for groceries over the next year
Outlaw Ocean Project: In written submissions to the government, two human-rights groups say sanctions would send a message to both the Chinese seafood companies and Canadian importers.
Listen to The Decibel: Globe’s international correspondent, Mark MacKinnon, brings us the story of how a Ukrainian teen fought to get her brother back from Russia.
Undocumented migrants: Ottawa is coming under renewed pressure to create a promised program to allow undocumented workers to apply.
Tax matters: Proposed alternative minimum tax changes may spur on planning before year-end.
The final four holiday treats are facing off. It’s Sugar cookies vs. classic New York cheesecake and shortbread cookies vs. Christmas fruitcake. More than 34,000 votes have been cast so far, vote for your favourite to send it to the final round here.
MARKET WATCH
Nasdaq sharply higher as Alphabet and AMD fuel AI surge
The Nasdaq ended sharply higher on Thursday after Alphabet and Advanced Micro Devices sparked a megacap rally on fresh optimism about artificial intelligence.
The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.37% to 14,339.99 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.18% to 36,117.57 points. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 4.3 points at 20,278.51. It follows three straight days of declines after the index posted on Friday its highest closing level in two and a half months.
The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday.
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TALKING POINTS
As Venezuela takes aim at Guyana, the world must defend the norms that protect it
“When we have the courage to do so, we need our diplomats to stand up for the norms on which international security depends, including the ones that protect Guyana. We cannot accept a potential invasion, nor can we accept the likes of Ms. Rodriguez insisting that the rules don’t exist. That affects us all.” - Ben Rowswell
With Islamophobic incidents on the rise, Muslim Canadians are worried
“Perhaps this will open a window for Muslims, Jews, Arabs, Palestinians and Israelis to recognize their common humanity, thus forging bonds of mutual respect here. Finding meaning in adversity is the foundation of resilience, which all communities will need going forward.” -Sheema Khan
LIVING BETTER
To help you navigate the mountains of content online, The Globe pulled together our best bets for weekend streaming. Here’s what to watch.
- Naga (Netflix): Playing like a cross between Martin Scorsese’s After Hours and the Safdie brothers’ Good Time, the new Riyadh-set thriller marks the startling debut of Saudi Arabian filmmaker Meshal Aljaser.
- Joy Ride (Crave): Like any of the better R-rated comedies of the past few decades, Joy Ride operates with as lewd a mind as it does a big, bursting heart.
- Frances Ha (MUBI): What better way to cap off the Year of Greta Gerwig than taking a closer look at her pre-Barbie career?
- The Holdovers (on-demand, including Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play): Well, here’s what just might be a new holiday classic, right at your fingertips.
- Whistler Film Festival online: From now through Dec. 17, an avalanche worth of WFF titles will be available on-demand through the festival’s digital portal, which can be accessed by viewers across the country.
Also read: TIFF cuts 12 full-time staffers in wake of strike-affected film festival
TODAY’S LONG READ
Illustration by Seth
We asked you about your bookshelves. Here’s what you told us
Dawn Promislow’s bookshelf essay last weekend sparked a flurry of letters from readers, who were eager to share the ‘rules’ that governed their own bookshelves. Some of you organize them by topic, then alphabetically. Or mystery and non-mystery. Or just placing them “willy-nilly.” We heard about book reorganization as a COVID project. Turns out, almost anything goes – except for one thing: organizing books by colour.
Here’s what you told us about organization, book hierarchy and the joys of a home filled with books.
Evening Update is written by Sierra Bein. 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.