Trudeau in South Korea warns of growing authoritarianism : In The News for May 17

In his address, he says “antagonistic countries” are taking advantage of economic interdependence to their own geopolitical advantage.

Trudeau’s visit to South Korea follows on commitments from both countries to strengthen economic and military ties to counterbalance the influence of China.

Trudeau goes on to tell parliamentarians the “world is facing a moment of uncertainty” as countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, while economic anxiety and climate change add stress to people’s lives.

He argues Canada and South Korea can be partners in addressing climate change, which he says is also a way to safeguard against geopolitical instability and build more resilient economies.

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Also this …

Air quality statements continue to blanket much of British Columbia and the Prairie provinces as scores of wildfires rage.

As of Tuesday evening, more than 19,500 people in Alberta have been forced out of their homes with 91 active wildfires burning in the province, 27 of which are considered out of control.

Meanwhile, the northeast British Columbia city of Fort St. John, with a population of about 21,000, remains under an evacuation alert in response to a wildfire that’s more than 130 square kilometres in size.

The BC Wildfire Service says hotter conditions could arrive today, along with a potentially problematic wind shift.

In the Northwest Territories, the K’atl’odeeche First Nation and town of Hay River, about 120 kilometres from the Alberta boundary, remain under evacuation orders.

There were 27 active wildfires in Saskatchewan as of late Tuesday.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

Legislation banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will become law in North Carolina after the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday.

The House completed the second and final part of the override vote after a similar three-fifths majority _ the fraction necessary _ voted for the override earlier Tuesday in the Senate. The party-line outcomes represent a major victory for Republican legislative leaders who needed every GOP member on board to enact the law over Gov. Roy Cooper’s opposition.

Cooper vetoed the measure over the weekend after spending last week traveling around the state to persuade at least one Republican to side with him on the override, which would be enough to uphold his veto. But in the end, the four Republicans targeted by Cooper _ including one who recently switched from the Democratic Party _ voted to override.

Republicans pitched the measure as a middle-ground change to state law, which currently bans nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape or incest.

The votes came as abortion rights in the U.S. faced another tectonic shift with lawmakers in South Carolina and Nebraska also considering new abortion limits. North Carolina and South Carolina have been two of the few remaining Southern states with relatively easy access.

Such restrictions are possible because the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a nationwide right to abortion.

Under the bill up for a vote Tuesday in the South Carolina House, abortion access would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy _ before women often know they’re pregnant. The South Carolina state Senate previously rejected a proposal to nearly outlaw abortions.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

Singapore on Wednesday hanged another citizen for trafficking cannabis, the second in three weeks, as it clung firmly to the death penalty despite growing calls for the city-state to halt drug-related executions.

The 37-year-old man was executed after his last-ditch bid to reopen his case was dismissed by the court Tuesday without a hearing, said activist Kokila Annamalai of the Transformative Justice Collective, which advocates for abolishing the death penalty in Singapore.

The man, who was not named as his family has asked for privacy, had been imprisoned for seven years and convicted in 2019 for trafficking around 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of cannabis, she said. His bid to reopen his case was based on DNA evidence and fingerprints that tied him to a much smaller amount, which he admitted to possessing, but the court rejected it, she added. Under Singapore laws, trafficking more than 500 grams (1.1 pounds) of cannabis may result in the death penalty.

“If we don’t come together to stop it, we fear that this killing spree will continue in the weeks and months to come,” she said. Some 600 prisoners are on death row in the city-state, mostly for drug-related offenses, she added.

Singapore executed 11 people last year for drug offenses after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The hanging of one particular Malaysian believed to be mentally disabled sparked an international outcry and brought the country’s capital punishment under scrutiny for flouting human rights norms.

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On this day in 1999 …

David Milgaard accepted a $10 million compensation package from the Saskatchewan government for his wrongful conviction in the 1969 murder of a Saskatoon nursing aide. Milgaard, who spent more than two decades in prison, received the largest criminal compensation package in Canadian history.

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In entertainment …

“Canada’s Got Talent” is increasing its top prize to $1 million.

Citytv says its competition series will return for a third season with a bumped-up award from parent company Rogers, described as the biggest cash prize in Canadian television history.

In addition, CIBC will award $25,000 each to six Golden Buzzer acts, or entertainers deemed good enough to progress from auditions straight to the semifinal.

The news was revealed during Tuesday’s Season 2 finale, which awarded a grand purse of $150,000.

This year’s winner is the dance act Conversion from Trois-Rivieres, Que., who will also receive professional financial advice as well as the chance to perform at the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas as part of “America’s Got Talent Presents: SUPERSTARS Live.”

Applications for Season 3 are open on the Citytv website.

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Did you see this?

The greater Montreal area has witnessed a notable increase in arsons in recent months, with restaurants, cafes and vehicles the frequent targets.

Police and other law enforcement experts say most of the fires are likely tied to extortion attempts by organized crime.

“The first common denominator is there’s probably organized crime involved,” Andre Gelinas, a retired Montreal police sergeant-detective, said Monday in an interview.

Gelinas, a former intelligence officer, said some of the fires could be connected to turf wars _ notable examples in Montreal occurred among pizzerias and towing companies, he said. But what’s very likely is that most of the cases involve protection rackets, he added.

Criminals, he said, offer business owners “protection” in exchange for fixed monthly payments. Those who fail to pay are vandalized by the same criminals.

“What’s particular is organized crime is asking for money to protect the owners from the organized criminals.”

On Tuesday, Montreal police arson detectives were investigating after more than two dozen vehicles were set ablaze just after midnight in an industrial sector of a southwestern borough. Const. Veronique Dubuc said police did not rule out a link between the two separate cases, in which a total of 30 vehicles were torched in two lots not far from each other in the Lachine borough.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2023.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Trudeau in South Korea warns of growing authoritarianism : In The News for May 17

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