Nature deal reached at COP15 summit in Montreal : In The News for Dec. 20

“This is a historic moment,” Huang said through a translator in Montreal, where the nature talks were held due to challenges from China’s COVID-19 restrictions.

Canada’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault called it “a bold step forward in protecting nature, protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink”.

“We’ve been working on these things for months and you really hope you’re going to pull it off,” he said. “It’s complicated. The file is complex, the politics. There are so many things that could go wrong and so many things that pose a challenge and to manage to land it… was a really amazing moment.”

The UN warned in 2019 that one million species are threatened with extinction this century and much of land and sea has been altered by human activity.

The result is a threat to human health and safety, including pollution, unsafe water, food insecurity and the growing risk of spreading animal-borne viruses. It also exacerbates climate change because fewer trees and wetlands absorb carbon dioxide and fewer natural defenses remain in place against extreme weather.

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That too …

A 73-year-old man suspected of shooting dead five people in a condo north of Toronto had a long history of threatening members of the building’s board of directors, believing they conspired to “systematically murder” him , as court documents and online posts show.

York Regional Police said Francesco Villi killed three condominium board members and two others in a high-rise building in Vaughan, Ontario, on Sunday night, while a sixth shooting victim – the wife of a board member – remained hospitalized with serious injuries.

Villi shot the victims in three different units of the building before an officer shot and killed him, police said.

Court records relating to a man of the same name who lived in the building where the shooting took place indicate a long dispute with the housing authority.

Villi lived on the first floor of the building, in unit 104, court records show.

He was due to return to court on Monday as the board tried to get a judge to order him to stop threatening his members and building staff and stop posting about them on social media for violating an earlier order not to contact the board to publish, to condemn.

The condominium wanted Villi gone – it asked for a penalty from the court to force him to sell and vacate his unit within 90 days, according to a fact filed in court by the condominium company last month.

Villi never made it to court.

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What we are seeing in the US…

At the U.S.-Mexico border, tension over the future of restrictions on asylum seekers rose Tuesday as the Supreme Court temporarily blocked an order from a lower court to stop turning migrants back based on rules in place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Conservative-leaning states were given a reprieve — though it might be brief — as they pushed to cap the number of asylum seekers, arguing that a surge in numbers would strain public services like law enforcement and health care, and warning of an “unprecedented disaster.” “. on the southern border in a recent written complaint to the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts granted a stay pending further orders and asked President Joe Biden’s administration to respond by 5 p.m. Tuesday – just hours before the restrictions are due to expire on Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for enforcing border security, upheld Roberts’ order and also said the agency will “continue preparations to manage the border in a safe, orderly and humane manner if the public health regulation titles.” 42 is repealed. ”

Migrants have been denied the right to seek asylum under US and international law 2.5 million times since March 2020 under a public health regulation called Title 42 to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The decision on what comes next is at hand as pressure mounts in communities on both sides of the southwestern US border.

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What we are observing in the rest of the world…

The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers and advanced stealth jets near the Korean peninsula for joint exercises with South Korean warplanes on Tuesday, as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister ridiculed doubts about her country’s military and threatened a full-scale intercontinental flight to test ballistics rockets.

The deployment of the US B-52 bombers and F-22 stealth fighter jets is part of an agreement to protect South Korea by any means available, including nuclear weapons, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.

The drills, which included F-35 and F-15 fighter jets from South Korea, took place in the waters southwest of Jeju Island, the ministry said. The US F-22 jets were deployed to South Korea for the first time in four years and will remain there throughout the week to train with South Korean forces, sources said.

The exercises were held after North Korea claimed it had launched missiles to test its first spy satellite under development and had in recent days tested a solid-fuel engine for a more mobile ICBM.

North Korea has already conducted a record number of missile tests as a warning of earlier US-South Korea military drills, which it considers an invasion rehearsal. There are concerns it may respond to recent Allied air training with a new round of missile tests.

Earlier Tuesday, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, used a slew of derisive terms — like “malicious slur,” “garbage,” and “dog barking” — as she dismissed outside assessments that cast doubt on his spy satellite’s development. range missiles.

North Korea said its rocket launches on Sunday were tests of its first military reconnaissance satellite, and released two low-resolution photos of South Korean cities from space.

Some civilian experts in South Korea and elsewhere said the photos are too crude for surveillance purposes and the launches are likely a cover for North Korea’s missile technology. South Korea’s military claimed North Korea fired two medium-range ballistic missiles.

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On this day in 1973…

Ottawa announced plans to set up a Human Rights and Interests Commission to protect people from discrimination. (It was established in 1977 with the creation of the Canadian Human Rights Act.)

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While entertaining…

A respected Toronto recording studio associated with a number of prominent Canadian musicians was damaged in a fire over the weekend.

Firefighters were called to Number 9 Audio Group, based in a renovated Victorian home in downtown Toronto, on Saturday night following reports of the fire.

Owner George Rondina says the fire damaged much of the studio’s high-end vintage gear, though it appears to have spared its nine-foot grand piano.

He says the cause of the fire is still unclear.

Rondina’s company has been in business for more than 40 years, moving to various locations around the city before settling in the Gerrard Street home in 2004.

Over the years the company’s recording facilities have welcomed Barenaked Ladies, who recorded part of their well-known 1991 independent release The Yellow Tape at the studio’s former Jarvis Street location.

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Did you see that?

The federal government plans to target a Russian oligarch with a law to confiscate and diversion of assets from sanctioned individuals, Secretary of State Melanie Joly said.

Canada will seek to seize and forfeit $26 million, or about CA$36 million, from Granite Capital Holdings Ltd., a company owned by Roman Abramovich, its office said Monday.

Abramovich is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the former owner of Chelsea Football Club in England. He is co-owner of Evraz, a multinational steelmaker with a major plant in Regina and a plant in Calgary.

Joly’s office said it will “now consider a court motion” to seize those assets and redirect them to Ukraine’s reconstruction — the first time the law has been applied in this way. Parliament granted these powers in June.

Joly told reporters in Montreal that the RCMP is independently investigating individuals sanctioned by Ottawa who own assets in Canada.

She didn’t say when she would file a court application, but her office said she hopes to do so this month. She said the idea was to go after sanctioned individuals with assets in Canada.

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This report from The Canadian Press was first published on December 20, 2022.

The Canadian Press