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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a suprise visit to Kherson on Monday to laud soldiers and take selfies with them in the recently liberated southern city.
Kherson’s main square was the sight of celebrations for a third straight day as Ukrainians marked the end of Russian rule.
Ukrainian symbols and infrastructure returned to Kherson with impressive speed on the weekend – just six weeks after Mr. Putin claimed to have annexed the entire region – even as regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych warned residents on Sunday not to gather in the city centre because “the enemy has placed mines almost everywhere.” He ordered a 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew as the Ukrainian military continued to hunt for pockets of resistance in and around the city.
Russian troops left behind a city – which had a prewar population of almost 300,000 – that on Sunday was still without electricity, heat, water or communications. As the Kyivstar mobile phone company raced to restore mobile phone service, a crowd gathered in a park on the edge of the river where they could still get a signal using their Russian SIM cards.
A mother and the child hug a Ukrainian soldier in the central square of the city of Kherson, Ukraine, Nov 13, 2022.Anton Skyba/For The Globe and Mail
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Seasonal viruses overwhelm ERs at children’s hospitals
Last year, B.C. Children’s Hospital reported nearly three times the usual number of RSV infections in kids under 3. By many accounts, this year is shaping up to be worse. The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario has been running over capacity for weeks and was forced to open a second pediatric intensive care unit. On Friday, McMaster Children’s Hospital said it’s running at 140-per-cent occupancy, with emergency waiting times as long as 13 hours. On Saturday, MCH started transferring 16- and 17-year-old patients to two regular hospitals in the region to alleviate strain.
And at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, surgeries were being limited to prioritize urgent procedures, as its ICU operated at above 127-per-cent capacity for several days this week – with more than half of those patients on a ventilator. Carly Weeks looks at why hospitals across the country are being inundated right now to help people make sense of the current situation.
The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto is shown on April 5, 2018.Doug Ives/The Canadian Press
Democrats retain control of U.S. Senate, allowing Biden to push ahead with agenda
The Democrats have held on to the U.S. Senate, continuing the party’s surprising showing in midterm elections and making it easier to push forward President Joe Biden’s policy agenda.
Victories in Nevada and Arizona, confirmed over the weekend after several days of vote counting, brought the party to the 50-seat threshold needed to hold the upper chamber, with the help of Vice-President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote. Control of the House of Representatives, meanwhile, remains uncertain, with several tight races in California still too close to call nearly a week after the Nov. 8 vote.
Holding the Senate allows Mr. Biden to keep making appointments, including of federal court judges, which the upper chamber must approve. It will also make it easier for him to pass budget legislation, and try to advance promised laws protecting abortion rights and expanding the country’s social safety net, though even a slim Republican majority in the House could torpedo these moves.
The U.S. Capitol at sunrise, the morning after Election Day, in Washington, Nov. 9, 2022.T.J. KIRKPATRICK/The New York Times News Service
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Also on our radar
MPs expect more transparency from Hockey Canada after review finds evidence of misleading statements: Federal MPs say they expect more transparency from Hockey Canada at hearings this week after a review by former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell revealed that the organization has made inaccurate and misleading statements to the public in recent months.
Private mortgage lenders raise qualification standards, reducing options for weakest borrowers: Private mortgage lenders are having a harder time accessing capital and are making it more difficult for borrowers to get a loan, choking off a major source of funds for those unable to qualify at a Canadian bank.
Tim Hortons takes step back into hockey-related marketing after Hockey Canada scandal: For brands that walked away from Hockey Canada, marketing has been taking on a new tone. On Monday, Tim Hortons will launch a campaign, “let’s up our game,” which highlights a push for more diversity in the sport.
Nickel is the key to an electric-vehicle transition. Is mining it making Canadians sick?: Concerns about contaminated air causes tension in a small town at the heart of Canada’s push to be a leader in a green economy.
At a night honouring Borje Salming, the Leafs great gets his own Lou Gehrig moment: What is the great image of the past 20 years of Leafs’ history? Cathal Kelly isn’t sure what it was last week, but he knows what it is now. It’s Salming, 71, in the advanced stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, still more dapper than any contemporary, being escorted by former Leafs captains onto the ice at Scotiabank Arena.
Morning markets
Fed comments temper investor enthusiasm: World share markets continued last week’s rally in more modest fashion on Monday after a top U.S. central banker warned investors against getting carried away over one inflation number, while Chinese stocks gained on aid for the country’s property sector. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.47 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.30 per cent and 0.27 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei lost 1.06 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.7 per cent. New York futures were modestly lower. The Canadian dollar was down at 75.19 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
How China could play the climate disaster loss and damage game to its geopolitical advantage
“[Beijing’s chief climate envoy Xie Zhenhua] seemed to be hinting that China would repair climate-related damages in developing countries as a goodwill gesture. But we all know that goodwill gestures can pay dividends. They can buy economic and political influence: In exchange for installing flood-control systems or building dams, a waterlogged country could feel obliged to reward China down the road.” – Eric Reguly
Have Canadian policymakers made Shopify an untouchable golden boy?
“Shopify is beloved in Canada for wonderful reasons. But if there’s anything we have learned about the recent tech-lash that saw the industry’s stock plunge, it’s that high valuations often mask a lot of problems. It may be that Shopify’s weakened stock price will make the company more vulnerable to the kind of critical examination that other technology giants rightfully receive.” – Vass Bednar
The Russian divide: the fault lines between those who stayed and those who left
“The choice between staying and leaving invariably provokes a great deal of self-righteousness on all sides. Those who are safely outside the country, shielded from the brutality of war and dictatorship, often insist that those who stay must demonstrate their opposition to the government. At a conference in Riga, the former world chess champion and political activist Garry Kasparov declared that Russians who want to be ‘on the right side of history should pack their bags and leave the country.’ Those who don’t, he said, ‘are part of the war machine.’” – Ian Buruma
Today’s editorial cartoon
David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
Living better
Alone in Lofoten: A solo trip that satisfies the soul
Lofoten Islands, a 1,200-square-kilometre archipelago of glacial fjords, sharp peaks, and secluded beaches nestled in the Norwegian Sea.Christina Palassio/Supplied
Christine Palassio is a profligate solo traveller. Multiweek bike excursions, city hops, road trips and group tours – she’s done them solo and loved them all. Part of it is logistical: she tends toward active trips that require an adventure mindset and a couple weeks’ vacation time, which can be harder to co-ordinate a group around.
When she travels with family and friends, their trips are shaped by the experiences and companionship they share. She loves stepping outside of herself and seeing a place through someone else’s eyes. And she loves the shared jokes, meals and memories. Her solo trips, on the other hand, are about experiencing as much as possible, and opening herself up to state of discovery and calm that’s harder to access with others around, and that leaves her more open to the place she’s in. In a unique and spectacular place like Lofoten, that feels like a particular gift, and she feels grateful to be there on her own. Follow Palassio along on her latest trip through Lofoten.
Moment in time: King Tut’s treasures come to Canada
Gallery visitors gaze with rapt attention at the Gold Mask of Tutankhamun (Gold inlaid with opaque polychrome glass, lapis lazuli, green feldspar, carnelian, calcite and obsidian) at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Oct. 31, 1979.Edward Regan/The Globe and Mail
For more than 100 years, photographers and photo editors working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. This month, we’re looking at the 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb.
When archaeologist Howard Carter accessed King Tutankhamun’s mummy, he found the wrapped body wore a stunning funeral mask. It wasn’t easy to remove; the 3,000-year-old, 10-kilogram golden mask was stuck onto the face with resin, and eventually Carter had to dissect the mummy to help pry it from its eternal resting place. Indecorous, perhaps, but ultimately the mask became the most iconic item in Egyptian antiquity. Above, Globe photographer Edward Regan captures a visitor’s awe at Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario where the mask, along with gold statues, jewellery and 50 other items, were exhibited in 1979. Almost 750,000 visitors gasped at the beauty of the pharaoh’s treasures. Thirty years later, the AGO held another Tut exhibit, and more than 400,000 people saw a hundred items from the boy king’s era, including his bed and small canopic jars that once held his internal organs. Egypt no longer lets the delicate mask leave the country. Philip King.
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