Evening Update: UN publishes latest climate change report; Xi begins state visit to Moscow

Good evening, Let’s start with today’s top stories:

A new UN report on climate change says nations can take urgent action together to prevent parts of the planet from becoming uninhabitable.

Experts say many of the possible steps that can help achieve this goal are well known. But above all, climate must be mainstreamed into policymaking at all levels to help reverse the damaging course the planet is currently on.

This assessment by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is not surprising. But in the final summary of an eight-year process to determine the current state and future evolution of Earth’s climate, it has never been so well documented.

Science reporter Ivan Semeniuk and environmental reporter Wendy Stueck summarize the report’s highlights for you.

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Analysis: Xi-Putin camaraderie raises concerns about peace efforts

Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to Moscow today. He is the first foreign leader to shake hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin on alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The arrest warrant is unlikely to be publicly mentioned during the visit.

In addition to the warm words exchanged at a brief pre-dinner meeting at the Kremlin, Beijing’s economic support has already provided a lifeline to the Russian economy. Putin said he looks forward to discussing Xi’s proposal to end what both leaders dubbed the “Ukraine crisis.”

Xi is expected to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his meetings in Moscow. Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly says China’s attempts to broker peace in Ukraine would likely only help Russia rearm and prolong the conflict.

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Investigation: Nursing home had power outage for more than 13 hours, this is just the beginning of the story

The Blackadar Continuing Care Center home in Hamilton has experienced three power outages lasting from five to 13 hours in the past 2½ years alone. Under Ontario rules, the latter lasts 10½ hours longer than the facility’s residents should have been in the dark.

The government presented long-term care legislation in October 2021. But despite tightened laws introduced in the wake of the pandemic, homes continue to face few consequences for violating the rules.

But lack of access to backup power isn’t the only problem here. Blackadar has repeatedly violated the province’s long-term care laws with impunity, a Globe investigation has found. The Globe noted that other problems include the dilapidated condition of the building itself, chronic staff shortages and a lack of proper care for residents with skin tears or wounds.

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The world’s central banks are urging calm after the Credit Suisse bailout

The Bank of Canada, the US Federal Reserve and four other central banks on Sunday stepped up efforts to keep the US dollar flowing through the financial system by strengthening their so-called swap lines. The goal is “to ease tensions in global financing markets, thereby helping to mitigate the impact of such tensions on the supply of credit to households and businesses,” they said.

What are alternate lines? These allow central banks to trade their own currency with each other, giving non-US financial institutions access to US dollars in the event of a sudden liquidity crisis.

What now? Central banks also say to prepare for more market turmoil following UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse over the weekend.

What’s next? Along with financial stability concerns, this is a crucial week for monetary policy. The US Federal Reserve and Bank of England are expected to announce interest rate decisions on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Also read: As lenders keep getting bailed out, an identity question arises: what is a bank?

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Federal budget: The federal government will invest “aggressively” in clean technologies, Treasury Secretary Chrystia Freeland said Monday during a pre-budget event.

Child soldier efforts face headwinds in Congo: One of Canada’s signature foreign policy initiatives against child soldiers faces new challenges after UN investigators found evidence Rwanda-backed rebels are recruiting child soldiers.

Cybersecurity of Crown Corporations: Ottawa has made little progress on recommendations to strengthen the cybersecurity of Canada’s Crown Corporations after lawmakers recognized the risk of unintentionally acting as a gateway to the federal government.

Crime: A student has been arrested after three people were stabbed to death at a Halifax-area high school Monday morning, police say.

Tech layoffs: Amazon announced it would cut an additional 9,000 jobs, bringing the number of jobs the company has cut in recent months to 27,000. The layoffs also affect Amazon’s streaming unit Twitch.

Listen to The Decibel: David Mulroney, a former Canadian Ambassador to China, speaks on the show about how a foreign agent registry could slow China’s meddling campaign in Canada.

MARKET OBSERVATION

Stocks rise as fears of bank contagion ease, Fed eyed

US and Canadian stocks closed higher on Monday after a deal to bail out Credit Suisse and the central bank’s efforts to boost confidence in the financial system eased investor concerns, while participants also weighed the likelihood of a pause in Federal rate hikes Reserve weighed this week. The Canadian dollar also rose to a six-day high against its broadly weaker US counterpart.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 382.6 points to 32,244.58, the S&P 500 rose 34.93 points to 3,951.57 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 45.03 points to 11,675.54. Canada’s main stock index was helped by gains in commodity and financials stocks. The S&P/TSX composite index rose 131.71 points to 19,519.43. The financials sector, which makes up almost 30% of the TSX, gained 0.5%.

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CONVERSATION TOPICS

Opposition to David Johnston’s appointment shows how much politics has changed

“By appointing a reporter to review the files and make recommendations, Mr. Trudeau is delaying the inevitable. It’s a damn shame that the reputation of a man as honorable as David Johnston should be called into question by the Prime Minister’s efforts to evade responsibility.” – John Ibbitson

The rise of classrooms represents the failure of inclusion in schools

“The success of inclusion rests on an army of human supports — educational assistants, special education teachers, ESL, and child and youth workers — who have been felled through a combination of attrition and underfunding.” – Naomi Buck

What a judge’s leave of absence reveals about politics and the Supreme Court

“Perhaps unintentionally, but nonetheless revealing, the ensuing debate demonstrated that judges have politics and, more importantly, they rely on it to animate their decisions and arguments. Otherwise, why should it matter who sits and who doesn’t?” Allan C Hutchinson

LIVE BETTER

Think beyond breakfast

There’s no reason to skip oatmeal for breakfast, as it’s a filling morning meal, even as the weather warms up.

Its versatility means you can enjoy it hot or cold, sweet or savory. Oats, quinoa, teff, millet, buckwheat groats, sorghum, corn and other whole grains provide important nutrients such as B vitamins, vitamin E, magnesium, iron and zinc. Wheat cream, although fortified with iron, is a grain made from refined, not whole, wheat.

Leslie Beck has other ideas to share such as B. Tips to improve taste, nutrition and differences between all types of oats.

READ LONG TODAY

It’s the end of the bay as we know it

Richard Baker is the 39th governor of the Hudson’s Bay Co. For Report on Business Magazine, Jason Kirby writes that he clearly enjoys the title, not to mention the history that comes with owning North America’s oldest corporation.

But if you’ve recently set foot in a Bay Store, “strength” probably isn’t a word that springs to mind. That year, the company laid off about 250 corporate employees from its Canadian retail stores, followed by the closure of two more of its 84 Bay stores.

The Hudson’s Bay that most Canadians think of is now a fading part of HBC — but the entrepreneurial spirit is still in the DNA of the iconic department store. For Baker, he works to take Hudson’s Bay Co. back to a more ambitious time decades ago.

Evening Update was written by Sierra Bein. If you would like to receive this newsletter by email every weekday evening, go Here Sign in. If you have feedback, send us one note.