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It has been 500 days since Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were first detained in China. Mr. Kovrig and fellow Canadian Mr. Spavor remain cut off from family and friends as the result of their lengthy imprisonment. The former diplomat’s colleagues at the International Crisis Group say they currently lack basic information about his condition because China closed its prisons to outside visitors in mid-January amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Read more about the two Canadians.
- China lashes out at Canada for expressing concern over Hong Kong arrests
- Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador mum on Fan Wei, Canadian sentenced to death in China
- China disputes explanation for cargo jets returning empty to Canada
- Opinion: Beijing’s coronavirus bungling makes Canada’s choice on Huawei even easier
People hold signs calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig during a court appearance by Huawei's Financial Chief Meng Wanzhou, outside of British Columbia Supreme Court building in Vancouver, May 8, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey WassonLindsey Wasson/Reuters
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Nova Scotia shooting: The RCMP are defending a decision not to send out a public alert until late in a gunman’s 12-hour rampage through rural Nova Scotia, in what has become the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history. Provincial RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather said police were in the process of crafting an alert for the province’s emergency notification system when the killer – who The Globe and Mail has learned had drawn up a list of names of people to target – was gunned down Sunday.
- Opinion: Will the rampage in Nova Scotia prove to be a pivotal moment in Canadian gun control?
Care worker and first responder, Alicia Cunningham, looks at a makeshift memorial for RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson, who was shot dead during Sunday's killing spree that worked it's way across several Nova Scotian communities, in Shubenacadie, near Enfield, Nova Scotia, Canada April 22, 2020.TIM KROCHAK/Reuters
Long-term care: Ontario is following Quebec in calling for military assistance in long-term care facilities. The first request for Ontario, and the third for Quebec come as both provinces report staggering mortality rates for COVID-19 in long-term care facilities.
- Opinion: Long-term care in Quebec is a real-life horror story
Education: One of the few elementary schools across the country that has opened its doors for the children of essential service workers could potentially serve as a model for the rest of Canada to follow. Although the opening is limited to a few classrooms, teachers have managed to be creative to keep the classes safe.
Ottawa has also revealed a $9-billion package of emergency measures for postsecondary students, including expanded summer job grants, community volunteers and a new $1,250-a-month benefit for students who can’t find work.
Hugh MacKinnon, who is teaching children of first responders at Simon Cunningham Elementary School, is photographed outside the school in Surrey, British Columbia, Monday, April 20, 2020. Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and MailRafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail
Economy: Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the province has successfully flattened the curve of COVID-19 infections and will outline a plan on Thursday to gradually reopen some sectors. Several provinces have started talking about when they will be able to reopen areas of their economies and what that might look like, though few have laid out specific dates.
- Canada’s inflation rate plunges to lowest in almost five years in March
World news: The world will be watching as Germany slowly emerges from several weeks of coronavirus lockdown. Leaders are every day revising rules about what can and can’t open, but wearing a mask or facial covering will be mandatory in all of Germany’s 16 states as of next week. In Italy, the shattered economy is set to start opening up on May 4 after almost two full months of tight lockdown. Citizens don’t yet know which sectors will get the green light first, under what conditions or where.
- Analysis: How an alcohol ban was deployed to fight the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa
- Clinical trials to begin this week as Oxford researchers race to develop COVID-19 vaccine
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Alberta’s Heritage fund hit hard by AIMCo’s bad bet in March, April: The estimated $4-billion in recent weeks is in addition to other losses on its stocks, bonds and real estate. The money manager oversees 31 provincial pension plans and endowments and has a portfolio of $119-billion.
Vancouver sees surge in hate crimes against East Asian people: On Wednesday, the police released surveillance video of a March 13 attack and said that five of the 11 hate crimes reported in the city last month targeted East Asian people.
Canadian company SaNOtize Research aims to limit COVID-19 spread with nasal spray: Laboratory tests conducted last week at the Institute for Antiviral Research at Utah State University show the solution is effective against the virus that causes COVID-19.
MORNING MARKETS
World stocks pause before key EU meeting on coronavirus aid
Caution gripped markets on Thursday, with stocks falling before a key Euro group meeting to discuss joint stimulus measures, offsetting optimism from a fresh round of U.S. coronavirus aid and a recovery in oil prices. In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was flat around 6 a.m. France’s CAC 40 gained 0.38 per cent while Germany’s DAX slid 0.13 per cent. In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 1.52 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.35 per cent. New York futures were little changed. The Canadian dollar was trading at 70.76 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Allan Gotlieb: A revered outsider in Washington’s inner circle
David Shribman: “The tragedy is that in the age of the coronavirus, he will have no public funeral. It would have been one of the great ones. Everyone would have come.”
Refusing to name the Nova Scotia mass shooter avoids one problem – but creates another
Robyn Urback: “There is no perfect solution. But perhaps we should pay heed to the example set by Ruslan Tsarni and minimize these small men as much as editorial guidelines will allow.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
By Brian GableBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
What to drink this week
Wine critic Christopher Waters recommended an assortment of bottles, with a range of prices, that fit the pizza, pasta, burger wine bill this week. These are also usually the styles of wine on offer from restaurants selling wine. If the price is decent, it’s a great way to support businesses that are struggling to cope.
Stephen Beaumont also has a run down on how classic, old-school beers are making a comeback. Think: pale ales built on caramel maltiness; bright India pale ales replete with bracing bitterness; nutty brown ales; dry and roasty stouts; lagers evocative of a Czech beer hall or Munich biergarten. Take a step back in time, with a drink in hand.
MOMENT IN TIME: April 23, 1984
This highly magnified transmission electron micrographic (TEM) image from 1983 reveals the presence of mature forms of the "human immunodeficiency virus" (HIV). Credit: Centers For Disease ControlCenter For Disease Control
Scientists discover AIDS virus
By the spring of 1981, the gay communities in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York knew something was seriously wrong. A sickness that weakened people’s immune systems – leaving them open to a series of atypical diseases – was running rampant. Then the disease spread into the general population – no longer a “gay plague.” Scientists named it acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. On this date in Washington, then-U.S. health secretary Margaret Heckler announced a monumental breakthrough. “The probable cause of AIDS has been found: a variant of a known human cancer virus,” Heckler said. In addition, she proclaimed that the United States had discovered a blood test to detect it, “the triumph of science over a dreaded disease.” (Human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, was officially named a few years later). While then-president Ronald Reagan didn’t publicly utter the word “AIDS” until 1987, the discovery revealed the source of what would become one of the worst plagues in history. The blood test helped scientists explain how the virus that caused AIDS was spread. Today, HIV can successfully be treated and prevented. However, without proper treatment HIV is still deadly, with more than 32 million people killed worldwide. - Philip King
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