Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Fighting raged on in Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant as Russian forces attempted to complete the capture of the Ukrainian port city.
Around 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are apparently holed up in the tunnels beneath the plant, and a few hundred civilians are estimated to be trapped there. Ukrainian officials say Russian troops have stormed the tunnels, which the Kremlin denied.
Many suspect that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to present a battlefield victory – or declare an escalation of the war – come Victory Day on Monday. (It marks the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany and is a large patriotic holiday in the country.)
Mariupol’s fall would be a major success for Russia. This vital port in Ukraine would allow Russia to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula it seized in 2014 and would free up troops to fight elsewhere in the Donbas, the eastern region that the Kremlin says is now its chief objective.
Meanwhile, 10 weeks into the war, Ukraine says it has recaptured some areas of the south and fought off attacks in the east.
Read more:
- U.S. intelligence helping Ukraine kill Russian generals, report says
- Israel says Putin apologized for foreign minister’s Hitler remarks
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For the first time, Indigenous women make up half the female population in Canada’s federal prisons
Half of the women in Canada’s federal penitentiaries are Indigenous women, reports The Globe’s Patrick White. As of last week, federal prisons held 298 non-Indigenous women and 298 Indigenous women, the first time the ratio has reached 50/50. Meanwhile, one out of 20 women in Canada are Indigenous.
The federal government has pledged to tackle the issue of Indigenous overrepresentation in Canada’s prisons numerous times. In 2001, the Jean Chrétien government vowed to eliminate the disparity within a generation; in 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau included the issue in mandate letters for the Minister of Justice and Minister of Public Safety.
Regardless, Indigenous incarceration rates in Canada have been on the rise for decades. In 1999, Indigenous men and women together made up 12 per cent of the country’s federal inmates. Now, they make up 32 per cent. Ivan Zinger, Canada’s prison ombudsman said “it’s just shocking and shameful for a country that has so many resources.” Despite issuing recommendations meant to curb the rise, getting the government to act has proven challenging, he said.
Nearly 15 million people died in first two years of COVID-19 pandemic, new WHO study finds
A new and more detailed estimate of deaths as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has found that closer to 15 million people perished over the course of two years. That’s nearly triple the official count of 5.4 million, suggesting that the world has massively underestimated the toll of the pandemic.
Official statistics have underreported deaths cased by the virus and has also missed millions of indirect deaths, such as those who died because they were turned away from hospitals because of overcapacity caused by COVID-19.
About 84 per cent of the pandemic deaths were in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas, according to the new estimate. About 85 per cent were in middle-income or low-income countries. Read the full story by The Globe’s Geoffrey York.
Read more:
A worker wearing a protective suit swabs a woman's throat for a COVID-19 test in Beijing, Thursday, May 5, 2022.Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press
Stocks tumble on fear Fed may need bigger rate hike to tame inflation
Markets tumbled on Thursday as investors worried the Fed rate hike may not be enough to tame inflation, which could lead the central bank to take even more drastic action in the future.
Wall Street’s main indexes as well as the TSX fell sharply in a broad selloff across sectors, though the TSX losses relatively were less severe. Canada’s tech sector was hit hard as Shopify’s shares dropped 12 per cent after the company’s disappointing quarterly earnings results.
On Wednesday, the U.S. central bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point, while Jerome Powell explicitly ruled out a hike of 75 basis points. Traders, however, raised their bets on such a hike coming at the June Fed meeting.
Worries about Fed policy moves, mixed earnings from big growth companies, the conflict in Ukraine and pandemic lockdowns in China have weighed on Wall Street recently.
Read more:
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
How Utah’s “trigger law” would alter abortion access in the state if Roe v. Wade falls: For the Utah legislators and advocates who have spent decades working to ban abortion, the prospect that the Roe v. Wade decision will soon be overturned in the U.S. has produced a rush of joy – and a new determination for additional measures to constrain medical abortions and simplify adoption.
Read more:
Nova Scotia scraps non-resident property tax: Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says the government is not moving forward with a non-resident property tax because doing so would hurt the province’s reputation.
RCMP officers who fired at N.S. firehall during mass shooting stand by actions: Two RCMP officers who mistakenly fired at a man standing outside a rural Nova Scotia firehall as they searched for a rampaging gunman say they still believe they reacted properly.
Conservative leadership debate tonight: Five out of the six candidates vying for Tory leadership will appear on stage tonight for a debate hosted by the Canada Strong and Free Network as part of an annual conference taking place in Ottawa.
Canadians tracked via phones during pandemic: A report sent to the House of Commons ethics committee shows that Canadians’ movements, including trips to the liquor store and pharmacy, were closely tracked via their mobile phones without their knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic.
MARKET WATCH
U.S. stocks closed Thursday sharply lower as investor sentiment cratered in the face of concerns that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike would not be enough to tame surging inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,063.09 points or 3.12 per cent to 32 997.97, the S&P 500 lost 153.30 points or 3.56 per cent to 4,146.87. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 647.17 points, or 4.99 per cent to 12,317.69.
The TSX plunged 488.78 points or 2.31 per cent to 20,696.17.
The Canadian dollar traded for 77.99 cents U.S. compared with 78.06 cents U.S. on Wednesday.
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TALKING POINTS
Women’s rights are under attack. But that was already the case for Indigenous women in the U.S. and Canada
“Inequitable access to health care and two-tier delivery are hallmarks of Canada’s health care system.” – Tanya Talaga
The Bank of Canada has a credibility problem, and it’s not all Pierre Poilievre’s fault
“Contrary to the assertions of Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre, the central bank’s government bond buying did not technically constitute “printing money.” But nor did QE amount to a simple accounting entry, as some of the bank’s apologists claim.” – Konrad Yakabuski
Buck-a-ride is good politics – and terrible policy. But still better than what Doug Ford is pitching
“Thing is, it’s a flawed policy. And its flaw – money sent to the wrong destination, for political reasons – is what increasingly afflicts public transit in Ontario. When provincial politicians are driving the bus, the terminus is always Queen’s Park.” – The Editorial Board
Hong Kong has not had a chance to assess its lone candidate for its highest office
“John Lee has his work cut out for him. Now that he has won Beijing’s support, he needs to woo the Hong Kong public. If he produces satisfactory solutions to Hong Kong’s many social problems, it should lead to enhanced popular support.” – Frank Ching
LIVING BETTER
The 2022 edition of the annual Horizons Retirement Survey by Vancouver-based RGF Integrated Wealth Management only 49 per cent of people were very confident their marriage would adapt to the life changes that come with retirement, 45 per cent were somewhat confident and 6 per cent were not confident at all. Rob Carrick has advice for those looking ahead to retirement: Work on your marriage to avoid the financial calamity of ‘grey divorce.’
TODAY’S LONG READ
Inside the CinemaCon bubble, where movie theatres are back and streaming is dead
Chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners John Fithian speaks during the CinemaCon at Caesars Palace on April 26, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Greg Doherty/Getty Images
Movie theatres are back! At least, they are according to the executives of big-name cinema operators such as AMC, Cineworld and Canada’s Cineplex, who gathered at Caesar’s Palace last week in Vegas for CinemaCon. The four-day film industry conference hosted by the National Association of Theatre Owners (yes, their acronym is NATO) was held in its full glory after two years of relatively subdued events thanks to the pandemic. Barry Hertz, The Globe’s deputy arts editor and film editor attended the conference, during which the future for the movie theatre industry was presented to be “marquee-light bright.” That’s an optimistic viewpoint after a tough couple of years where viewers turned to streaming services in droves and as Gower Street Analytics projects that in 2022, the cinema industry will come up US$9.3-billion short compared to 2019.
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.