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Donald Trump will announce whether he’ll withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal today

The U.S. President has repeatedly threatened to cancel the agreement, which was signed by six major powers along with Iran in 2015. Under the terms of the deal, Iran limited its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions. But Trump has criticized it for failing to address Iran’s ballistic missile program, the terms of inspector visits and “sunset” clauses that see some terms expire. During his recent visit to the U.S., French President Emmanuel Macron urged Trump to consider a broader agreement (France is a signatory on the deal).

Between Iran and North Korea, this is crunch time for the global nuclear order, writes former UN assistant secretary-general Ramesh Thakur: “With Trump surrounded by hawkish advisers – like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton – the odds are good that efforts to denuclearize will suffer setbacks before the month is out. For this reason, the international community must uphold existing treaty obligations, starting with the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”

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Veterans are taking Ottawa to court over caps on marijuana coverage

New Brunswick veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are preparing a lawsuit arguing their rights were violated when Veterans Affairs reduced the daily medical cannabis allowance from 10 grams to three last year. A lawyer representing the veterans says they want to be compensated for enough cannabis so they don’t have to resort to prescription drugs to treat symptoms of PTSD and other conditions. Some veterans who were forced to reduce their daily dosage told The Globe that they tried to take their own lives to avoid a recurrence of their PTSD.

The key takeaways from the first debate ahead of the Ontario election

There weren’t many new promises, but there were plenty of heated moments. Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford reiterated his promise of tax and spending cuts, while saying there would be no layoffs. Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne said the cuts would lead to thousands of layoffs for teachers and nurses. “I love the nurses, I love the teachers, I’m going to support them,” Ford said. “And you’re going to cut their jobs,” Wynne added. As the two traded barbs, the NDP’s Andrea Horwath said: “You don’t have to choose between bad and worse.”

Here’s Adam Radwanski’s take on the debate: “Horwath’s aim, in the election that officially begins on Wednesday, is to present herself as a ray of sunshine opposite two darker options. In that moment and others, she executed it well enough to suggest that – as per a pair of polls released earlier in the day showing the NDP pulling ahead of or even with the Liberals for second place behind the Tories – she may be able to turn this campaign on its head.” (for subscribers)

A federal report found no hard evidence of Saudi human-rights violations with Canadian arms

One unnamed military source told federal investigators that the Saudi kingdom used “proportionate, necessary and timely” force when they engaged in combat with local residents. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland ordered the investigation in July of 2017 after The Globe reported on videos and photos which appeared to show Saudi forces using Canadian-made armoured vehicles against the population in a minority Shia Muslim region. Freeland announced the results of the probe in February but the report was only made public yesterday. Ottawa has vowed to put in place a “substantial risk” clause to apply tougher scrutiny to future arms exports.

Playoffs: Raptors swept out of playoffs; Jets drop Game 6

The Toronto Raptors’ season has come to an end after falling 128-93 last night. It’s the second straight year they’ve been swept out of the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Here’s Cathal Kelly’s take: “Toronto could go 82-0 next year and it will start the playoffs believing it is doomed. More importantly, so will its opponents. As long as that’s the case, the Raptors will be the worst good team in the NBA.”

The Winnipeg Jets lost for the eries-to-game-7/">second straight time on home ice, falling 4-0 to the Nashville Predators. The series now shifts to Music City for the seventh and deciding game.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says he smoked marijuana in the past

But Scheer remains opposed to the Liberal government’s legislation to legalize marijuana. During an appearance on a popular Quebec television show, Scheer was asked: “Have you ever smoked?” To which he replied: “I hope my father is not watching this show. … When I was young, yes.” A Tory spokesperson confirmed that Scheer smoked on more than one occasion during a brief period while in university. But the Tory Leader is still against the federal pot bill because it’s “bad legislation,” said Jake Enwright, Scheer’s director of media relations.

MORNING MARKETS

Stocks mixed

Oil prices eased on Tuesday from 3-1/2-year highs on worries the United States may be set to pull out of a key nuclear accord with Iran, while robust tech sector gains in Asia helped support world stocks. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 1.4 per cent, and the Shanghai composite 0.8 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1 per cent by about 5:45 a.m. ET, while Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were down by between 0.5 and 0.6 per cent. New York futures were down. The Canadian dollar is down to about 77 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Jason Kenney got his party. Now he has the hangover

“As a political show of force, the founding convention of Alberta’s United Conservative Party in Red Deer this past weekend was a triumph. But below the surface sheen of solidarity in pursuit of a shared goal – recapturing government – there were troubling undercurrents. Among them was the passage of a resolution to “reinstate parental opt-in consent” for teens who want to join extracurricular clubs like, say, a school’s gay-straight alliance. In effect, it calls on teachers to out children to their parents. … The grassroots of political parties often pass resolutions that are anathema to the party elite, and Kenney wouldn’t be the first leader to tell his membership he won’t put their more extreme ideas into his election platform. He did, however, run for the party’s leadership on a promise to never impose policy from the top down – a promise he reneged on over the weekend.” – Globe editorial

What about bad men and sex robots?

“After Alek Minassian allegedly used a van to kill 10 people, and all in the name of retributive misogyny, I saw many online wonder if ‘incels’ like Minassian – i.e., men who are ‘involuntarily celibate’ and who channel their anger about it toward women, had a right to sex. Inspired by those debates and others that consider the ‘right to sex,’ New York Times columnist Ross Douthat penned an op-ed that asked: should sex robots or sex workers (a.k.a. real, live women) be dispatched to please incels? To Mr. Douthat, who weirdly seems to find the very idea he’s presenting repulsive, the reality of that happening, though ‘creepy or misogynistic,’ is ‘pretty much inevitable.’ His conclusion stands out as the most defeated acceptance of misogynistic violence and abuse since the #MeToo reaction cycle started. It is shocking the rhetorical messes we’ll get in to defend the spectrum of male desire – healthy, perverse and despicable.” – Flannery Dean, freelance writer

LIVING BETTER

The other reason to go to Iceland: It’s wonderfully weird

Iceland may only have a population of 330,000, but last year it saw more than 2.2-million tourists arrive on its doorstep. It’s now easier than ever to get to there, thanks to three different airlines offering direct flights from Toronto and Montreal. But beyond the stunning views, there are other noteworthy reasons to visit: Fans of fantasy and science-fiction can take in sights captured in everything from Jules Verne’s novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth to the various spots on display in Game of Thrones. The island nation also has a thriving food scene and one of the world’s most amusing museums.

MOMENT IN TIME

First U.S. person convicted of causing death by drug tampering is eligible for parole

May 8, 1988: Bruce Nickell was initially thought to have died of natural causes. But when a woman named Susan Snow, who also lived in Seattle, died the same month from taking Excedrin capsules laced with cyanide, investigators grew suspicious. Nickell had also taken the headache-pain reliever before being rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The sensational case caused several drug companies to offer a US$300,000 reward to find whoever had poisoned the pills. Stella Nickell, Bruce’s wife, swore she was innocent, but the FBI discovered she had recently taken out two insurance policies on his life, including one that would pay out US$100,000 if he died accidentally. In court, Stella Nickell’s 28-year-old daughter testified that her mother had discussed killing Bruce Nickell. A jury was convinced she had tampered with pills and put them back on store shelves, killing her husband and Snow. In May, 1988, Nickell became the first person to be convicted of causing death by drug tampering in the United States. She was sentenced to 90 years in prison under a federal law that was created after seven people died in 1982 in the Chicago area from taking Tylenol laced with cyanide, a crime that remains unsolved. She is eligible for parole this year. – Dave McGinn

Morning Update is written by Arik Ligeti.

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