Morning Update: Window of opportunity to airlift people from Kabul to Canada closing

Good morning,

As the Taliban reportedly do house-to-house searches in Kabul for Afghans who had co-operated with Western military forces, a senior Canadian government official has told The Globe and Mail that it is doubtful that many Afghans who worked as support staff for Canada’s military or diplomats will be airlifted out of Kabul before the final U.S. withdrawal at the end of the month.

Canada has been unable to get military aircraft into Kabul to evacuate the expats, former Afghan support staff and their families since the capital fell to Taliban forces last weekend. About 6,000 such people remain stuck in the country.

Asylum seekers who fled to Canada before their other family members in hopes of reuniting later are also feeling time slip away. A woman who arrived in Toronto as a refugee in 2019 has been racked with fear – especially for her now 14-year-old daughter still in Afghanistan. The paperwork to reunite her family has been completed and approved in principle by federal immigration officials, but delays in processing meant their flight out of Kabul never materialized.

Read more: Taliban’s potential president: ex-prisoner and long-time insurgent who spoke to Trump

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Canada’s inflation rate jumps 3.7% in July, Conservatives, NDP point finger at Trudeau

Canadian inflation surged in July at the fastest pace in a decade, driven by a mix of rising housing costs and supply chain disruptions that have made affordability an issue in the first week of the federal election campaign. The latest report from Statistics Canada released yesterday shows costs related to cars, furniture and gasoline all spiked compared with last year, but it was hikes in the cost of shelter that contributed the most to the overall 3.7-per-cent consumer price index increase.

Before the latest report, we knew affordability would be top of voter’s minds when they head to the polls next month. According to an online poll conducted last month by Abacus Data on behalf of the Broadbent Institute, respondents ranked cost of living, health care and housing affordability as the top three issues that will drive their voting decisions.

The Globe’s Mark Rendell writes about the increase and how it’s playing out on the federal campaign trail.

More federal election 2021 reporting from The Globe:

• O’Toole says unvaccinated CPC candidates will be tested daily for COVID-19, while Ford threatens to boot two MPPs
• Opinion: Early campaign days throw party leaders curveballs
• Elections Canada planning for up to five million mail-in ballots
• Explainer: Election issues to watch ahead of Sept. 20 vote

The fourth wave is here – what does this mean for kids heading back to school?

Children and teenagers account for about one in five COVID-19 cases across Canada since the start of the pandemic, and some experts anticipate that figure could rise during the fourth wave as millions of unvaccinated children return to school.

Wency Leung answers your questions about COVID-19 and kids, from how the Delta variant affects children, to when Canada can expect vaccines to be available for children under 12 and what families can do to keep their children safe.

Catch up on more COVID-19-related news:

• British study warns people who are fully vaccinated still have high potential of spreading COVID-19 Delta variant
• Trudeau says people who are not fully vaccinated won’t be able to travel on domestic planes or trains

Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop

ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Laser fusion experiment nears crucial break-even point in energy generation: Scientists working with the world’s most powerful laser say an event that lasted only one 10-billionth of a second brought them closer to the holy grail of nuclear research: raising the temperature and pressure of matter so high that it starts producing more energy than it takes to put it in that state.

Stunning upset in Nova Scotia election may provide a lesson for federal parties: Until this week, Canada’s pandemic-era provincial elections saw voters sticking with the governing party when they went to the polls. But a surprise upset in Nova Scotia led Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservatives to the province’s first majority government since 1991.

Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin charged with one count of sexual assault: At a police station in Gatineau, the former head of Canada’s vaccine task force was charged with one count of sexual assault, a development that brings the issue of sexual misconduct in the military to the fore of the election campaign.

Meng Wanzhou’s extradition case: Everything you need to know as hearing ends with reserved decision

MORNING MARKETS

World stocks tumble: Stocks stumbled, global bond yields fell and the U.S. dollar hit a nine-month peak on Thursday as a double-whammy of Fed taper fears and COVID-19 worries haunted equity markets and spurred a new rush into safe haven assets. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 2.06 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were down 1.8 per cent and 2.61 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei lost 1.1 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.13 per cent. New York futures were down. The Canadian dollar was trading at 78.44 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

What Canada and the U.S. can learn from the Afghan debacle

“The sight, however, of the most powerful military in the world succumbing like kittens to ragtag jihadis has the look of a historic shaming.” - Lawrence Martin

From Churchill 1945 to Nova Scotia 2021, elections are about what comes next

“Why didn’t the prime minister who won the war win the postwar election? For voters, it was a decision of head over heart, focusing on the challenges of tomorrow rather than the triumphs of yesterday.” - The Globe Editorial Board

Canada needs a new engagement strategy that opposes China’s thuggery

“It is important to distinguish between Chinese leaders and Chinese citizens: Chinese immigrants have made a great contribution to Canada’s development and the government should declare that Canada remains open to Chinese nationals, including students, and will provide support to all Chinese nationals seeking asylum from state persecution, including those from Hong Kong.” - Guy Saint-Jacques

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

In photos: Nations Skate Youth rolls into Sumac First Nation to empower Indigenous kids through skateboarding

The non-profit group Nations Skate Youth has held skateboarding workshops in nearly 20 First Nations communities, partnering with footwear company Vans and skateboarding retailers across Canada to provide kids with shoes and skateboards.

Photographer Jill Schweber visited one of Nations Skate Youth’s recent workshops at Sumas First Nation in Abbotsford, B.C. to capture a group of community kids learning to ride a board for the first time.

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MOMENT IN TIME: AUG. 19, 1960

Sputnik 5 launched with animals, the first to survive orbital space flight

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The Soviet Union and the United States began launching rockets with animals aboard in the late 1940s, hoping to test the effects of rocket launches and outer space on living beings in preparation for future human travel. Between 1948 and 1951, the U.S. sent up several doomed flights with monkeys and mice, with one monkey surviving a 133-kilometre trip into space in 1949 only to die on impact after returning to Earth. In 1957, aboard Sputnik 2, Laika the dog perished during an orbital flight – the mission was not intended to return the animal safely, sparking an ethical debate about the use of animals in scientific testing. On Aug. 19, 1960, Russia launched Sputnik 5, which included in its hermetically sealed payload two dogs (Strelka, pictured at left, and Belka), one rabbit, 40 mice, two rats and 15 containers holding fruit flies and plants. After 17 orbits of the Earth, Sputnik 5 returned with Belka and Strelka very much alive, becoming the first animals to survive an orbital space flight. Not long after, then-Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev gave a puppy from one of Sputnik 5′s dogs to Caroline Kennedy, daughter of then-U.S. president John F. Kennedy. - Rob Gilroy

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