Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war
Israeli strikes hit targets in Gaza, including in areas of the south, where Palestinian civilians were told to take refuge. Follow our live blog for the latest.
More humanitarian aid needed for Gaza
Some humanitarian aid began trickling into the besieged Gaza Strip but the White House says so far it has not been sufficient. John Kirby of the U.S. National Security Council said a third convoy was being processed at the Egyptian Rafah border to enter Gaza. Two other convoys, of 20 and 14 trucks, were let in over the weekend, but that number falls short from the 100 daily trucks that United Nations officials say are necessary to help the crisis. Meanwhile, Associated Press reports the U.S. advised Israeli officials that delaying a ground offensive would give Washington more time to work with regional mediators on securing the release of more hostages taken by Hamas, according to a U.S. official. Kirby would not confirm.
Hamas releases more hostages
The Red Cross confirmed today that Hamas had released two more female civilian hostages on humanitarian grounds after Egyptian-Qatari mediation efforts. They were identified by Israeli media as 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper of the Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz. Two other hostages were released last Friday. Around 222 people, including foreigners, were believed captured by Hamas.
Latest death toll
The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 5,087 people have been killed and 15,237 wounded in the territory. In the occupied West Bank, 96 Palestinians have been killed and 1,650 wounded in violence and Israeli raids since Oct. 7. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas rampage into southern Israel.
Violence in the West Bank
Mark MacKinnon reports on the bloodshed in Nour Shams in the West Bank – 14 dead Palestinians and many more injured, plus one dead Israeli sergeant and nine wounded soldiers – which has fed fears that the violence in and around Gaza could spread to the usually calmer West Bank.
What’s happening in Canada?
Meanwhile in Canada, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly called for a de-escalation of the violence between Israel and Hamas but did not specify whether Canada would call for a ceasefire in the region. Pressed on why Canada has not called for a ceasefire, while at a news conference in Abu Dhabi, Joly would only say that she is using her time in the Middle East to build up a dialogue with Israel and Arab countries to achieve peace and stability in the region.
In Ontario, MPP Sarah Jama, who voiced support for Palestinians, has been kicked out of the province’s New Democratic Party caucus, and Progressive Conservatives voted to censure her in the legislature for comments she made about the war. The NDP voted against the motion to censure here, calling it extreme and undemocratic. But shortly before the motion passed, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles announced that Jama had been removed from caucus, saying some of the MPP’s actions “have contributed to unsafe work environments for staff.”
- Opinion: In this moment of division, let’s unite to push for the release of the hostages in Gaza
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Chinese ‘Spamouflage’ disinformation campaign targeted Trudeau, Poilievre, other MPs, says Global Affairs
Members of Parliament, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, were the targets of a disinformation campaign known as “Spamouflage” and carried out by the Chinese government in August and September, Global Affairs Canada says.
“This campaign targeted dozens of MPs from across the political spectrum and spanning multiple geographic regions of Canada, including the Prime Minister, the leader of the Official Opposition, and several members of cabinet,” the department said in a statement.
The department’s Rapid Response Mechanism, which was set up to counter foreign state-sponsored disinformation, said the aim was to discourage MPs from criticizing China’s authoritarian Communist Party. “These spam comments claimed that a critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Canada had accused the various MPs of criminal and ethical violations,” Global Affairs said. “The Spamouflage campaign also included the use of likely ‘deepfake’ videos, which are digitally modified by artificial intelligence, targeting the individual.”
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Ontario reverses expansion of urban boundaries: The Progressive Conservative government is reversing its contentious move to force a long list of municipalities to extend their urban boundaries and earmark thousands of hectares of farmland for potential development.
Ukraine repelled Russian drone strike, but Odesa warehouse damaged: Ukraine shot down 14 attack drones and a cruise missile fired by Russia at its south and east overnight, but debris from a downed drone damaged a warehouse at the Black Sea port of Odesa, officials say.
Turkey submits Sweden NATO application for ratification: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan submitted a bill approving Sweden’s NATO membership bid to parliament for ratification, his office said, a move welcomed by Stockholm as it clears the way for it to join the Western defence alliance.
Fall update will include policies to boost housing supply: The federal government’s fall economic and fiscal update will include new measures to boost the supply of housing, federal ministers say.
Pandemic impact on teens: Teenagers experienced steep declines in their physical activity levels and high increases in their daily screen time as a result of the pandemic, according to a new report from Statistics Canada. And while boys have almost completely recovered, the problem persists for girls.
Crown drops bail violation charge against convoy organizer Tamara Lich: The bail violation was scheduled to be heard in court next week, but the Crown stayed the charge today in the hopes of using some of that time to deal with Lich’s main charges.
MARKET WATCH
Wall Street stocks closed mixed on Monday as benchmark U.S. Treasury yields backed down from 5% and investors shifted their focus to this week’s high profile earnings and closely watched economic data.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 190.87 points at 32,936.41. The S&P 500 index was down 7.12 points at 4,217.04, while the Nasdaq composite was up 34.52 points at 13,018.33.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 68.90 points at 19,046.74.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.03 cents US compared with 73.02 cents US on Friday.
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TALKING POINTS
A high school in Northern Ontario reveals the long shadow of residential schools
“The church’s influence might be gone, but Canada’s thumb on First Nations education has not disappeared.” – Tanya Talaga
Lessons from a city that solved the family doctor shortage
“With 6.5 million orphan patients nationwide, the lack of access to primary care is arguably the number-one problem in Canadian health care today. Cambridge offers up some lessons on how to fix it.” – André Picard
LIVING BETTER
Ultra-processed diet increases risk of depression, study suggests
Plenty of studies have suggested high intakes of ultra-processed foods are linked to greater risk of obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, asthma, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer and premature death.
A new study from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has found that consumption of these foods is also linked to a higher risk of depression. Those foods include chicken nuggets, snack bars, cake mixes, ice cream, ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, sliced breads, frozen waffles, pretzels, soft drinks, processed meats, instant noodles, frozen French fries, frozen pizza and many more. Read more.
TODAY’S LONG READ
How do you wrangle wild sheep off a Nova Scotia island? With strategy, strength and a bit of sneakiness
A group of volunteers help herd wild sheep into a pen on West Ironbound Island, on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023.Ingrid Bulmer/The Globe and Mail
For half a century, Jake Wentzel’s family has raised free-roaming sheep on a 49-hectare island due south of Lunenburg, N.S., a tradition Wentzel now teaches to his own children, who are 11 and 14.
In 1972, Wentzel’s grandparents, Ron and Mona Wentzel, brought the first sheep to the island, to keep the grass down during the summer while they spent time at their cabin. While it’s relatively rare to see now, farmers often grazed sheep during summer months on the hundreds of islands that pebble the sea here and elsewhere in Atlantic Canada. Wentzel is one of the last to do it in these parts, and the only person he knows who grazes sheep year-round offshore.
The annual September roundup is all about strategy. These sheep are essentially wild, which Wentzel says means no collies or shepherds are going to corral them into the loosely constructed paddock with ease. These sheep need to be duped. Lindsay Jones reports on how Wentzel tends to his free-roam sheep.
Evening Update is written by Prajakta Dhopade. 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.