Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Jordan fears Iran is trying to create a new front against Israel
Mark MacKinnon takes us into Jordan, a country that has a peace treaty with Israel and hosts U.S. military bases, where rumbling anger at the government might just be precisely what Iran was trying to provoke by firing missiles and drones toward Israel via Jordanian skies. Had Iran sent them over Syria, an Iranian ally, they likely would not have been intercepted. Some see the decision to violate Jordan’s airspace as signifying the deliberate opening of yet another proxy conflict in the region – this time aimed at destabilizing Jordan.
Meanwhile, Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel, hoping to broker a ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza. It also warned that a possible Israeli offensive focused on Gaza’s city of Rafah, which lies near the border with Egypt, could have catastrophic consequences for regional stability.
- Nathan VanderKlippe: Canadian activist Vivian Silver dedicated her life to peace. Her son has inherited her legacy
- Konrad Yakabuski: The report on UNRWA’s neutrality ignores the Hamas elephant in the room
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B.C. backs off drug decriminalization pilot project following outcry
B.C. is rolling back its drug decriminalization pilot project following criticism from many politicians and an outcry from health care workers who are put at risk by patients using drugs in hospitals.
All illicit drug use is now banned – except inside people’s homes, drug-checking sites or supervised consumption sites. NDP Premier David Eby announced the policy shift this afternoon.
So you bought a pipeline. Now what?
In 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau bought the Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion. The project cost was expected to be less than $10-billion and the government hoped for a quick flip to a private buyer. And many, on both sides of the issue, wondered if the pipeline would actually be built.
The Trans Mountain expansion became a victim of timing. There was mounting environmental and Indigenous opposition to new oil pipelines and Canadian courts took a tough stand on companies, regulators and governments to ensure First Nations rights were respected and protected. Construction timelines slipped. Inflation for materials and labour surged.
Six years on, there’s been no flip, and costs have mounted to $34-billion. But it did get built. The expansion is days away from official operations, and there’s demand for the oil it will transport.
- Kelly Cryderman: The Trans Mountain expansion is cause for celebration: Canada got a big project done
Trump’s lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution’s lead witness in hush-money trial
Returning to the witness stand for a fourth day, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker was grilled by Donald Trump’s defence team about his memory and past statements as they tried to poke holes in potentially crucial testimony for prosecutors in the hush-money case. They are trying to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and the tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican’s 2016 presidential campaign.
- Read also: Trump allies reportedly drafting plans to erode Fed’s independence if former president re-elected
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
As some U.S. universities negotiate with pro-Palestinian protesters, others quickly call the police
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University dug in their heels at their encampment for the 10th day as administrators and police at Columbia and at campuses from California to Massachusetts wrestled with how to address the continuing protests.
Orca calf stranded in B.C. lagoon finds her way out
Following a month-long rescue effort off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Brave Little Hunter, an orphan whale calf, has managed to escape the lagoon where she has been trapped on her own.
The two-year-old Bigg’s killer whale had been unwilling to pass the narrow channel that would allow her back into open water since March 23. The Ehattesaht First Nation led the rescue effort.
King Charles to resume some public duties
Buckingham Palace has announced that King Charles is feeling well enough to resume some public duties, starting with a visit next week to a cancer treatment centre in London. The King was diagnosed with cancer in February and has been receiving treatment since.
Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako are scheduled for a week-long state visit to Britain in late June. King Charles and Queen Camilla will host a state dinner at Buckingham Palace.
MARKET WATCH
Gains in base metal stocks helped lift Canada’s main stock index on Friday while U.S. markets also rose, led by tech stocks as the Nasdaq gained two per cent.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 83.86 points at 21,969.24. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 153.86 points at 38,239.66. The S&P 500 index was up 51.54 points at 5,099.96, while the Nasdaq composite was up 316.14 points at 15,927.90.
The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.16 cents (U.S.), up from 73.05 cents on Thursday.
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TALKING POINTS
Truth be told, our politics is going downhill
Editorial: “There’s a reason Parliament bans words such as ‘lie’ and ‘liar’: They coarsen and corrode discourse, and turn political debate into trash talk. That’s true inside a legislature, and beyond its confines.”
Tax capital gains like other income, yes – but tax all kinds of income less
Andrew Coyne: “The public has been treated to a lot of tone-deaf caterwauling about the terrible hardship this will impose on people with second homes, or on professionals who shelter their income in private corporations.”
LIVING BETTER
Gothic Canadian drama The King Tide will wash over you with the power of a great novel
Johanna Schneller has been haunted by The King Tide since screening it last September at the Toronto International Film Festival, pulled in by the rugged Newfoundland landscapes, vibrant cinematography and hypnotic score, all doing their bit to tell a gothic tale of a baby with mysterious powers washed ashore in a remote island fishing village.
Tim Hortons is staging a musical. What is its name?
Did you follow arts and culture news this week? Are you up to speed on the latest books, plays and movies? Take our quiz to test yourself.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Discovering South Africa’s treasures beyond Cape Town
It’s been 30 years since South Africa’s first democratic election after its liberation from apartheid, and the country is increasingly recognizing the importance of tourism. Cape Town remains the hub. But Geoffrey York, The Globe’s Johannesburg-based Africa bureau chief, takes us beyond Cape Town’s limits, for a glimpse of the true South Africa. He brings us to the De Hoop Nature Reserve, two hours southeast of Cape Town, for land-based whale watching and exceptional birdwatching.
Evening Update is written and compiled by Andrew Saikali. 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.