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Trump, first lady test positive for COVID-19
Trump’s positive test comes just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks came down with the virus after travelling with the president several times this week.
- Trump is 74 years old, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more than 200,000 people nationwide.
- Trump announced late yesterday that he and first lady Melania Trump were beginning a “quarantine process” after Hicks came down with the virus, though it wasn’t clear what that entailed.
- The diagnosis marks a major blow for a president who has been trying desperately to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is behind them even as cases continue to rise with less than four months before Election Day.
Armenia and Azerbaijan
In an exclusive interview with The Globe and Mail, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his country is on a “civilizational front line” – and that countries such as Canada that are allied to Turkey, via NATO, need to decide which side they are on. Armenia and Azerbaijan are on the brink of all-out war, but it is Turkey the Prime Minister sees as his country’s real enemy in the conflict.
- Background: He said Turkey had encouraged what looks to be a full-scale attempt by Azerbaijan to recapture mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian region of Azerbaijan that has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces since a bloody war in the early 1990s.
Canada’s involvement
The federal government issued export permits this May for made-in-Canada target acquisition gear to be shipped to Turkey, a country that Ottawa had banned nearly a year ago from receiving new military goods. The same equipment is now at the centre of allegations that Azerbaijan is using Turkish-made drones to attack Armenia.
- Earlier this week: The federal government announced it was investigating allegations that Canadian-made imaging and targeting systems were being used in drones operated on behalf of the Azerbaijan military to attack Armenia
Servicemen carry the coffin of Colonel Lieutenant Makhman Ganbarov, who was killed during the fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, during a funeral in the city of Barda, Azerbaijan October 1, 2020.AZIZ KARIMOV/Reuters
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Protecting female Indigenous victims should take priority in sentencing, court rules
The Quebec Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 ruling, threw out a sentence of two years less a day in a horrific case of spousal sexual assault that occurred two years ago in a northern Inuit community on Hudson Bay. Instead, it ordered 44 months in federal penitentiary, which it said it viewed as a better way to protect the victim and would act as a deterrent to any further violence by the offender or others.
The ruling appears to be the first time a Canadian appeal court has cited changes to federal sentencing law that took effect last September that make deterrence the primary consideration in cases involving vulnerable Indigenous women and girls as victims.
- Opinion: How many more Joyce Echaquans must die before François Legault recognizes Quebec’s systemic racism?
The ‘Atlantic bubble’ has largely succeeded in keeping out COVID-19. But can it last?
As other parts of the country struggle with a second wave of COVID-19 that could be more punishing than the first, the four eastern provinces have managed to keep the pandemic at bay. The region has reported just a handful of infections in the past month, all of them tied to people travelling outside Atlantic Canada.
The success can be summed up to a mixture of good fortune, public co-operation and some of the toughest public-health rules in Canada, but heavy-handed restrictions have not been without sacrifices.
Physically-distanced ferry passengers wear masks on the open-air deck during an evening crossing of Halifax Harbour in Halifax on Monday, September 28, 2020Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
More coronavirus reading
- Ontario rejigs testing rules for schools, daycares
- Halloween a go despite COVID-19, says Alberta’s chief medical officer
- Travel experts warn out-of-country medical insurance may be insufficient for COVID-related illnesses
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Second Mi’kmaq lobster fishery launched in Nova Scotia: But instead of causing a tense confrontation with commercial fishermen, which was the case when the Sipekne’katik First Nation launched its fleet in Saulnierville, N.S., last month, this was a peaceful event.
Bearded RCMP officers cleared to return to front-line policing: WSO president Tejinder Singh Sidhu said Thursday his organization is pleased bearded Sikh RCMP officers will be able to return to operational duties, just like Sikh officers in every other police force across Canada.
Trudeau announces new plan for Canada Infrastructure Bank: The $10-billion plan features a strong green focus in areas like retrofits and electric buses, as well as pledges to expand rural broadband and agricultural irrigation in Western Canada.
- Analysis: Trudeau’s gamble: Is the revamped Infrastructure Bank ready to help carry his climate agenda?
MORNING MARKETS
Risk aversion sets in after Trump tests positive for coronavirus: A wave of risk aversion swept markets on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he and his wife had tested positive for COVID-19 and will isolate, weeks ahead of the elections. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.72 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 slid 0.81 per cent and 0.53 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.67 per cent. Markets in China and Hong Kong were closed for public holidays. New York futures were weaker. The Canadian dollar was trading at 75.07 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Trump’s debate conduct was mortifying. But his message was terrifying
Andrew Coyne: “Mr. Trump is as much the consequence as the cause of a society that, in large numbers, has lost its ability to think.”
Dear Americans: Move here if you want, but we’re racist too
Elizabeth Renzetti: “Maybe we can learn from each other. In the meantime, we should probably each stay in our own houses, and work on putting them in order.”
U.S. ELECTION COVERAGE
The Globe and Mail U.S. Election DialoguesMatt Ledger/The Globe and Mail
As the United States' closest trading partner, Canada has a large stake in the results of the U.S. election on Nov. 3. That’s why over the next month, The Globe and Mail is holding a series of conversations featuring some of the most informed and interesting people in the United States, including Gary Cohn and Bob Woodward.
Our first conversation features Globe international affairs columnist Doug Saunders in dialogue with legendary presidential biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin. They talk about what previous American elections can teach us about the current one.
Watch the webcast or listen to the podcasts at tgam.ca/dialogues
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian GableBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
The etiquette of hosting holiday gatherings in a pandemic
Billy Newton-Davis, who was honoured CANFAR Can You Do Lunch? event spoke via a video broadcasts and also performed behind a plexi screen.GEORGE PIMENTEL/Supplied
Six months into life with COVID-19, charities are starting to resume much-needed fundraising events, leading the way by putting in place policies that allow for both fun and safety. And with holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas on the horizon, home hosts might be able to pick up a tip or two for their own (safe) get-togethers.
Also: Wedding and event planner Grace Arhin offers tips on how to navigate gatherings. Some of her ideas include handing out meaningful masks that are decorated for the occasion or packing individual meals before guests arrive.
MOMENT IN TIME: Oct. 2, 1971
Soul Train begins syndicated run
Don Cornelius dances down the Soul Train Line with Jean Terrell and Lynda Laurence of the Supremes on Soul Train episode 62, aired 5/26/1973.Soul Train via Getty Images
One of the longest-running syndicated programs in U.S. television history, Soul Train tracked the evolution of soul music over 35 years and introduced the vibrancy of Black culture to the masses. The brainchild of a savvy Chicago radio announcer named Don Cornelius, it was set up as a colourful dance show and as a platform to showcase Black music acts, which included Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Jackson 5, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle and Marvin Gaye. A few years into its run, Cornelius invited a select few white performers, such as Elton John and David Bowie (who reportedly was so nervous he forgot the words to his song and had to be rerecorded multiple times). After more than 1,100 episodes, Soul Train went off the air in March, 2006, with Cornelius signing off with his signature phrase: “… And as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul.” The music impresario died six years later of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Gayle MacDonald
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