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These are the top stories:
Ottawa says it will not be making a decision on Huawei before fall federal election
The decision on whether or not to ban China’s flagship technology company from Canada’s next-generation 5G wireless networks will likely come after the election as the fate of two Canadians arrested by Beijing remains uncertain.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Canada needs more information from the United States about the nature of the perceived security threat the company poses. The United States and Australia have banned Huawei from their 5G networks.
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Executive turmoil at Canada Infrastructure Bank as head of investments leaves after 10 months
Nicholas Hann resigned after less than a year on the job amid a growing industry frustration with the Crown corporation’s pace of reviewing and approving projects. Hann was responsible for the bank’s investment strategy, and had been hired in October, 2018.
Canada Infrastructure Bank launched in late 2017 with $35-billion in funding from the federal government and a mandate to centralize advice and investment in Canadian projects that generate revenue and are in the public interest. The chair of the bank’s board said then that projects would likely start to be approved by late 2018, but by the end of the year had only made one announcement. Three more projects were announced thus far in 2019, but altogether still only amounted to $3-billion in funding.
RCMP press on as hunt for B.C. fugitives enters second week
Since Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky left Port Alberni two-and-a-half weeks ago, they’ve travelled at least 6,000 kilometres through the mountains and forests of Northern British Columbia – where they are suspected of killing three people – and then on the run through Alberta and Saskatchewan to the wilderness of northeastern Manitoba. There, their trail has run cold.
To catch the suspects, the RCMP have marshalled intensive resources across four provinces and beyond, bringing in teams of officers and using helicopters, drones, door-to door-canvassing, checkstops and assistance from the military to search the difficult northern terrain. But the teens still have not been found.
Sheila Deese, mother of American Chynna Deese, who was found dead alongside her boyfriend of gunshot wounds, spoke to The Globe about her daughter’s “beautiful soul” and her hope that the two teens suspects get caught immediately.
If you need to get caught up, we’ve laid out everything we know so far about the suspects, the victims and the manhunt.
Slick science: How researchers are preparing for Canada’s next major oil spill
Controlled leaks of oil in the Ontario wilderness are teaching scientists how big petrochemical disasters behave and how to clean up after them. The insights are needed now more than ever, with over 3.4 million barrels of oil – and growing – flowing through Canadian pipelines every day.
Madeline Stanley and her team are examining the effects of oil spills on freshwater environments at the Experimental Lakes Area in Northwestern Ontario, one of the few places on Earth where aquatic ecosystems can be deliberately polluted for scientific study. By pouring just one litre of oil into a cordoned-off section of lake, Stanley’s team can study the residual material left behind after a cleanup, which has the potential to affect entire ecosystems.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Court hearings begin in high-stakes divorce case: Billionaire ruler of Dubai Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his sixth wife, Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, are locked in a matrimonial dispute in a London courtroom. The battle could tear apart not just a family, but geopolitical relations, too.
Children of Wettlaufer’s nursing-home murder victims speak out: The Long-Term Care Homes Public Inquiry aims to figure out how former Ontario nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer killed eight seniors between 2007 and 2016. The children of the victims hope it brings real change to a “totally broken” system.
Hong Kong protesters renew clashes with police: After hearing that some of their own would face charges for rioting – 44 people were arrested after a Sunday night demonstration – several hundred protesters mobilized in front of a police station.
Liberals quash probe into government’s calls to ex-ambassadors: The governing Liberals used their majority power to stifle an opposition effort to hold parliamentary hearings into why Canada’s Foreign Ministry called two former diplomats to caution them against contradictory public messaging on China, and why they were told this was at the behest of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Federal government loads up on advertising before deadline: As the result of a newly imposed spending moratorium on public-awareness campaigns in the months leading up to the election, Ottawa had until June 30 to get any ad buys out of the way and spent $17.7-million.
Tanzanian police arrest prominent investigative journalist: Erick Kabendera was detained Tuesday as Tanzanian authorities say they are investigating his citizenship. It’s another case triggering concern over news media freedom under President John Magufuli’s rule.
MORNING MARKETS
Fresh trade war fears weighed on global stocks on Wednesday ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting with the dollar holding firm and Britain’s pound subdued amid rising fears of no-deal Brexit.
Combative warnings from U.S. President Donald Trump cast a shadow over Sino-U.S. trade talks which concluded in Shanghai on Wednesday. Beijing attributed the lack of progress to Washington’s flip-flopping.
At about 6:15 a.m. ET, Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 0.86 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 1.31 per cent and the Shanghai Composite down 0.67 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.48 per cent and the Paris CAC was near flat. Germany’s DAX was 0.22 per cent higher. New York futures were up. The Canadian dollar was at 76.06 U.S. cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
The Kremlin lashes out against the people, but Russians are no longer afraid to fight back
Amy Knight: “The Kremlin’s heavy-handed response to Russia’s mounting public opposition seems more and more bungling and out-of-touch with reality, or, as democratic oppositionist Alexei Navalny would say, just plain stupid.”
Trump is in full bigot mode. What is his end game?
Lawrence Martin: “There is more to Mr. Trump’s new turn than it being consistent with his nature. He has concluded that pitting whites against blacks and other people of colour is critical to his re-election.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Ever yearned to know the packing secrets of travel experts as you tried to shove just one more bathing suit in your overcrowded bag, two hours before your flight?
Rick Steves, the popular travel-show host and author, spends a third of his life on the road, travelling, writing and filming. He shared the things he can’t leave behind on a trip, noise-reduction headphones, a mechanical pencil and sleeping pills among them.
Where do all these things go? Steves pledges, “I’m still a backpacker. It’s so much easier.”
MOMENT IN TIME
July 31, 1954
Sixty-five years ago, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni gazed down on the expanse of the Karakoram mountain range from the summit of the second-highest mountain in the world, becoming the first men to stand atop it. A monumental feat: K2 is only a few hundred metres shorter than Everest, but steeper and more dangerous. For every four people who attempt to climb it, one dies. But the Italians’ ascent was controversial. Two members of their team, Amir Mehdi and the young Walter Bonatti, who would go on to become the finest alpinist of his era, transported oxygen to the site where Lacedelli and Compagnoni were supposed to be camped. But they weren’t there. To keep Bonatti and Mehdi from joining them on the summit, the men camped higher up the mountain than planned, out of reach of their teammates. Abandoned high on the mountain, the pair was forced to bivouac as temperatures dropped to minus 50 C and Mehdi lost his toes to frostbite. Lacedelli and Compagnoni reached the summit, but later the truth came out – they had risked their team members’ lives for glory. Matthew Lapierre
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Samantha McCabe