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These are the top stories:
C-section rates surged at Moncton Hospital under scrutiny
Rates of emergency cesarean-sections rose more than 30 per cent in recent years at a New Brunswick hospital that is under scrutiny after the firing of a nurse who allegedly misused labour-inducing drugs during at least two deliveries. It’s not known if the spike is related in any way to the nurse’s conduct.
The Moncton Hospital dismissed labour and delivery nurse Nicole Ruest and her nursing licence was suspended in April after the hospital said an internal investigation determined a nurse had administered unauthorized oxytocin to two women.
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World Press Freedom Day
Today is World Press Freedom Day, as declared by the United Nations 26 years ago. As The Globe’s editor-in-chief David Walmsley writes, “Press freedom is often taken for granted in countries where it exists, and is often not considered a priority in countries where it has never existed.”
For full coverage, visit tgam.ca/PressFreedom. Here is a sample of what our coverage includes:
Mexico’s new President lashes out at journalists, increasing climate of fear for media
Juan Pardinas is one of the most powerful and respected journalists in Mexico, but that’s not enough to insulate him from death threats. Mr. Pardinas, the editor-in-chief of Mexico City newspaper Reforma, is the new face of journalism under siege in the country after he angered President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Stephanie Nolen reports from Mexico, the second-most dangerous country for journalists.
Capturing the truth
For nearly four decades, Lu Guang trained his camera on the soot and sorrows of modern China, a country that has jailed at least 47 journalists. It is a view that its censors commonly excise from the state press. But, as Nathan VanderKlippe reports, six months ago, Mr. Lu vanished in China’s western Xinjiang. Authorities conducting a years-long anti-radicalization campaign have transformed the region, which contains a sixth of China’s landmass, into a militarized zone with frequent check stops and a pervasive security presence.
The silencing of journalists is an attempt to silence us all
“You don’t have to like journalists, or respect them, or have warm feelings about them. Those of us who chronicle and analyze the ugly events of the day, and who sometimes dig up stories that people in authority don’t want told, are rarely going to be popular or beloved figures. But you ought to be concerned about what is being done to journalists, more than ever, by people in power, and by the violent figures who hear their messages.” - Doug Saunders
Why I fight for local news
“To reinvigorate freedom of the press, we all have our role to play. We can’t expect government to voluntarily open itself to public accountability and transparency. I’ll keep working to inform and to assist the public in fulfilling the duties of citizenry in our democracy, and I hope you will join in the mission of improving democracy by financially supporting journalism that makes a difference in your own communities.”- Joey Coleman
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
House fire kills five in First Nation community: An early-morning house fire has killed five people, including four children, on a northern Ontario First Nation and thrown a spotlight on the vulnerability of remote reserves that often suffer from inadequate housing and scarce firefighting resources.
Kenney warns of constitutional crisis: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is threatening to sue the federal government to block Bill C-69, which would overhaul the environmental assessment of major resource projects. Mr. Kenney, who met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday afternoon, said section 92A of the Constitution gives clear ownership and jurisdiction to provinces to regulate non-renewable resources
Canada’s garbage returning from Philippines: A spokesman for Global Affairs Canada said that Canada made a formal offer earlier this week to have more than six dozen containers of Canadian household trash returned to the Port of Vancouver. The containers arrived in a port near Manila in 2013 and 2014 improperly labelled as plastics for recycling, and have sat in limbo ever since while the two countries disagreed about how they should be disposed of.
World shares claw higher before U.S. jobs data, oil sinks again
World stocks were battling to avoid their first weekly fall in six weeks on Friday, as investors waited to see whether key U.S. jobs data later would give the Federal Reserve another reason to dismiss rate cut calls. Some Asian exchanges were closed, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.3 and 0.6 per cent by about 5 a.m. ET. New York futures were also up. The Canadian dollar was below 74.5 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
The case of Caster Semenya: How do you compete against testosterone?
“The judges were forced to penalize Ms. Semenya, who never did anything wrong. But the women who complain are broadly right. The testosterone advantage is insurmountable – and it should not be considered bigoted to say so. The future of women’s sport is on the line.” - Margaret Wente
AI must get smart about the public good
“There’s very little discussion – at least not yet – about what role the public good should play in the development of these technologies. Expediency and profit are the only goalposts.” - Elizabeth Renzetti
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Editorial Cartoon by Brian Gable for Freedom Press DayThe Globe and Mail
Editorial cartoons remind us that humour and satire are important components in promoting a sense of a shared public space. Brian Gable writes about why humour – and cartoons – play an important role in the fight for press freedom.
LIVING BETTER
Start your weekend planning early with The Globe and Mail’s guide to films arriving this weekend from would-be blockbusters to under-the-radar indies. The rom-com Long Shot starring Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron opens this weekend and as Barry Hertz writes, it knows it’s ridiculous, and that’s why it works so well. Or there is The Intruder starring Dennis Quaid. Carly Lewis writes it is a different, more poisonous sort of Parent Trap.
MOMENT IN TIME
Irish partition
Brooke/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
May 3, 1921: It was at the time a seemingly pragmatic action by the British government. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 came into effect on May 3, 1921, and partitioned Ireland into two self-governing areas of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. But it created a festering sore that still infects British politics and bedevils the current Brexit negotiations. For a start, Southern Ireland never really came into existence. The Irish War of Independence continued through 1921 and when it ended with a truce, the Irish Free State, independent of the U.K., was created. There followed a civil war on the issue of partition. That duly ended with supporters of partition victorious. Yet, it was always going to be a temporary solution as far as the Free State was concerned – this division of the island to house those in the North who wanted to keep the union with Britain. It was a crudely done division aimed at separating communities along religious lines and it ignored natural routes and hinterlands for trade. By the late 1960s, Northern Ireland would explode into sectarian violence and partition was at the heart of it for the Catholic nationalist side. Today, the British government is grappling with how the partition of Ireland affects its future outside the European Union. - John Doyle
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