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Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince sent a hit squad to Canada in order to kill a former high-ranking intelligence official who is living in exile in Toronto, according to allegations in court documents filed in Washington.
The allegations were made by Saad Aljabri, 61, a former senior intelligence official under deposed crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef. Aljabri alleges that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was targeting him because he possessed “damning information” and knowledge of some of Saudi Arabia’s most sensitive information including the foreign bank accounts and financial assets of senior Saudi Royal Family members.
The hit squad allegedly travelled to Canada in October, 2018 where they were intercepted at Ottawa’s Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. The incident would have occurred shortly after Saudi assassins killed Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post and an outspoken critic of Crown Prince bin Salman.
Aljabri is suing the Crown Prince and other Saudi officials for damages, saying he has “severe physical and mental pain and suffering” from their attempted murder of him. No amount is listed in the documents.
Sarah Aljabri, and her father Saad Aljabri, former Saudi security official who immigrated to Canada in 2017 with most members of his family. But in March the Saudi government arrested two of his adult children who were blocked from leaving the Kingdom. Now, the family fears they will held to force their father's return.Courtesy of family
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Trump announces 10-per-cent tariff on most Canadian aluminum, Canada promises countermeasures
President Donald Trump ignited a new continental tariff war yesterday when he reimposed a 10-per-cent tariff on most Canadian aluminum. The move sparked an immediate backlash in Canada, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to impose dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs.
Trump accused Canada of “taking advantage” of the United States, a statement that the Liberal government immediately opposed.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland described Mr. Trump’s move as “unwarranted and unacceptable.”
Toronto Public Health raises concerns about Ontario’s back-to-school plan
In the latest development in Ontario’s controversial back-to-school plan, Toronto Public Health has raised concerns about the province’s intention to keep normal class sizes in elementary schools.
According to an e-mail sent by associate medical officer of health Vinita Dubey to the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Public Health advised smaller class sizes to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19.
The provincial government has stood by its plan to maintain class sizes, despite growing opposition from parents and educators who are worried about the COVID-19 risk.
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DISPATCH FROM GLOBE CLIMATE
This week’s Globe Climate newsletter is spotlighting Bryant M. Serre, an early career academic working to bridge urban hydrology, land-use planning and sustainability policy.
“Our work will go on to help property owners in their selection and implementation of green infrastructure technologies, build climate literacy among urbanites, all the while working to topple excessive urban flooding and the environmental impacts of excess stormwater.” – Bryant M. Serre
Do you know an engaged young person pursuing change in the country? E-mail us at GlobeClimate@globeandmail.com to tell us about them and sign up for our Globe Climate newsletter to see more profiles of youths making waves.
Bryant M. SerreHandout
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Beirut residents vent fury at leaders: Protests erupted in Beirut during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, as residents blamed Lebanon’s political elite for corruption and mismanagement that resulted in Tuesday’s deadly explosion.
China sentences fourth Canadian to death on drug charges: Canadian Ye Jianhui has been sentenced to death for manufacturing and transporting illegal drugs. Ye’s sentencing came a day after fellow Canadian Xu Weihong was given the death penalty and less than two weeks before the next extradition hearing in Vancouver for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
COVID-19 exposes cracks in Canada’s disability aid: Canadians with disabilities are calling on the government to give them support equal to what Canadians on CERB receive, saying that the pandemic has shone a light on the unequal treatment provided to the country’s most marginalized groups.
No charges in death of Soleiman Faqiri: A second police force – the Ontario Provincial Police – has declined to lay charges against those accused of in the death of Soleiman Faqiri, a 30-year-old prisoner with mental-health issues. Faqiri’s 2016 jailhouse death prompted calls for prison reform across the country, after a confrontation with prison guards left him dead with at least 50 injuries over his body, according to a coroner’s report.
One year after the Manitoba manhunt: A new Globe and Mail documentary explores the grief and unanswered questions that still remain one year after a manhunt that captivated the country.
MORNING MARKETS
World stocks fall as U.S.-China tensions rise: World stocks ended four days of gains on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump cranked up simmering tensions with China by banning U.S. transactions with two popular Chinese apps, Tencent’s WeChat and ByteDance’s Tiktok. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.22 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.33 per cent and 0.64 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei ended down 0.39 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.6 per cent. New York futures were lower. The Canadian dollar was trading at 74.84 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Normal class sizes for returning elementary students smacks of wishful planning
Robyn Urback: “It may be true, sifting the various studies, reports, anecdotes and experiments, that young children really are less susceptible to COVID-19, and/or are poor vectors for transmission of the virus. But we don’t know that with anything close to the certainty required to ask parents to forget what they’ve been told about mitigating the spread of COVID-19, and to send their kids to crowded classrooms to risk potential exposure or bringing the virus back home.”
The big ‘ifs’ of mail-in voting could lead to a second term for Trump
Andrew Steele: “Hopefully, American voters will repudiate Donald Trump in a landslide victory that eliminates any uncertainty about the result. But if they do not, we may be reminded of Winston Churchill’s description of the days leading up to the First World War: ‘The terrible ‘ifs’ accumulate.‘ ”
America shouldn’t go it alone in containing China
Charles Burton: “American allies who now see China for the bully that it is may be motivated to confront it, but individually, they lack the wherewithal to stand up to China. A U.S.-led international effort would not only serve American interests vis-a-vis China, but also reinvigorate its relations with many key allies, including Canada.”
Beijing cancelled Hong Kong’s election because it was going to lose
The Editorial Board: “Donald Trump may not be able to postpone an election but the autocrats who run China can, at the stroke of a pen. Last week, Hong Kong’s Legislative Council elections, scheduled for September, were quarantined for at least a year, ostensibly because of COVID-19. Actual reason? Democrats were on the verge of taking control of Hong Kong’s legislature.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David ParkinsDavid Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Looking for this summer’s biggest movie? The Globe’s Barry Hertz has a recommendation for every type of film-lover
Seth Rogen’s An American Pickle is a sweet and sour ode to Judaism that even your bubbe will love. While Rogen’s An American Pickle is being marketed as a high-concept fish-out-of-brine story – what happens when a pickle factory worker is accidentally preserved for a century, waking up in modern-day Brooklyn? – it is more an opportunity for the star to wrestle with tricky and profound questions of faith, tradition, culture and family.
Amy Seimetz’s She Dies Tomorrow is the perfect movie to watch on the last day of your life. In its cautious rhythm, its economical storytelling and its deliberately over-the-top colour scheme – each character’s “infection,” so to speak, is back-lit by deeply saturated red and blues – She Dies Tomorrow unsettles without using any of cinema’s typical tools.
Thrilling South Korean zombie epic Peninsula is the perfect movie to welcome Canadians back to the multiplex. There is a healthy act of catharsis to be found in watching the film’s ordinary citizens fight back against a virus that has made their lives untenable – even if that fight involves shooting, chopping and slicing zombies into chunks and pieces, rather than, say, developing a vaccine.
MOMENT IN TIME: August 7, 1974
Philippe Petit, a French high-wire artist, walks across a tightrope suspended between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. New York, Aug. 7, 1974.Alan Welner/The Associated Press
Philippe Petit walks between World Trade Center towers
In 1973, the newly-built World Trade Center towers in New York were the tallest in the world. They held the title for less than a year, but news of their construction had already planted a dream in the mind of a French street performer named Philippe Petit. He spent six years meticulously planning a dangerous and illegal stunt – he wanted to cross the void between the 414-metre-tall towers on a tightrope. Mr. Petit enlisted a small team of co-conspirators to assist with the technical aspects of the endeavour. He travelled to New York and used disguises to enter and study the buildings. On this day in 1974, the then-25-year-old performer aced the stunt: he walked across a 40-metre cable, suspended 411 metres in the air between the towers. He did so a total of eight times before stepping down and being arrested by police, who eventually offered to drop all charges if he agreed to perform for children in Central Park. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey later gave Mr. Petit a lifetime pass to the World Trade Center’s observatory. He has since lived as a performer and artist in New York. Mugoli Samba
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