In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.
What we are watching in Canada ...
While the head of the World Health Organization says the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is "in sight," some Canadian experts warn it would be premature to declare the global health crisis over.
Their comments come after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Wednesday that the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 worldwide in the last week reached the lowest point since the pandemic's onset.
He also urged governments to stay vigilant so we don't backslide at a pivotal moment.
Dr. Fahad Razak, who headed up the recently disbanded group of scientists advising Ontario's government on COVID-19, says coronavirus variants have traditionally cropped up during the fall and winter, leading to a surge in cases and deaths.
He says it stands to reason that could happen again this year.
Colin Furness, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana school of public health, says the pandemic is still wreaking havoc, leading to excess death and a labour shortage that's further stunting the already strained health-care system.
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Also this ...
Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault was forced to defend recent controversial comments on immigration as well as his handling of COVID-19 during a leaders debate, as his four opponents tried to wrest support from the popular premier.
And on a night where Legault's rivals attempted to position themselves as an alternative to the poll-leading CAQ, the first of two leaders' debates produced its own controversial comments.
At one point, Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, during an exchange on academic freedom, said no words should be banned from the classroom — including the N-word.
The PQ leader dared Nadeau-Dubois to say the word publicly, referring to a famous book whose title includes the N-word.
Nadeau-Dubois then stated the book's title, saying he had no problem using the word.
Earlier in the contest on the TVA network, moderator Pierre Bruneau asked Legault whether there is more violence in Montreal than in other parts of the province because the region receives more immigrants.
"That's not what I said," Legault responded, referring to comments during the campaign when he said Quebecers "don't like violence," in response to a question on the challenge of integrating newcomers.
"What I said is that all the countries in the world have to ensure that new arrivals are integrated into the values of where they will live — look at what's happening in Sweden," Legault said about the European country that is dealing with a crime wave linked to immigration.
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What we are watching in the U.S. ...
Republican governors are escalating their practice of sending migrants without advance warning to Democratic strongholds, including a wealthy summer enclave in Massachusetts and the Washington, D.C., home of Vice President Kamala Harris.
They are taunting leaders of immigrant-friendly “sanctuary” cities and highlighting their opposition to Biden administration border policies.
The governors of Texas and Arizona have sent thousands of migrants on buses to New York, Chicago and Washington in recent months.
But the latest surprise moves — which included two flights to Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday paid for by Florida’s governor — were derided by critics as inhumane political theatre.
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What we are watching in the rest of the world ...
Ukrainian authorities have found a mass burial site near a recaptured northeastern city previously occupied by Russian forces.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the discovery late Thursday in his nightly address to the nation.
The grave was found close to Izium in the Kharkiv region. Associated Press journalists saw the site in a forest.
Amid the trees were hundreds of graves with simple wooden crosses, most of them marked only with numbers.
A larger grave bore a marker saying it contained the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers. Investigators with metal detectors were scanning the site for hidden explosives.
Zelenskyy said more information would be made public Friday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he spoke with Zelenskyy on Thursday about Canada’s continued assistance to Ukraine.
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On this day in 1987, at a conference in Montreal sponsored by the UN Environmental Program, 24 countries and the European Community signed an agreement to protect Earth's fragile ozone shield. The Montreal Protocol is to date the only UN treaty that has been ratified by every UN member state.
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In entertainment ...
Roger Federer is leaving tennis after more than two decades as a pro player with a style that rarely betrayed the effort behind his mastery.
He won 20 Grand Slam titles and once reached 10 consecutive major finals and built enduring rivalries with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Federer helped bring his sport around the world and played against and beat top players from various generations.
He was not afraid to reinvent himself and tinker with his racket or his style.
His departure comes shortly after Serena Williams played what is expected to be the last tournament of her illustrious career.
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Did you see this?
A Halifax scientist is the lead author of a new study that says variations in Sperm whales' Morse-code-like clicks are evidence of "non-human culture."
The study says those clicks, known as "codas", provide a way for whale groups to mark cultural identity when clans overlap, in a similar way to human ethnic groups.
The study published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences involved a team of 27 scientists from Halifax and Nijmegen in the Netherlands.
After pooling acoustic data from 23 locations and extracting over 23,000 codas, the team identified seven sperm whale vocal clans across the Pacific, each having a unique dialect.
Taylor Hersh, the paper's lead author and PhD graduate from Dalhousie University's biology department, said the work was the culmination of decades of research efforts by people working throughout the Pacific Ocean.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2022.
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