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The Syria attacks: What happened, what’s to come and what it means

The U.S., France and Britain carried out strikes on Friday against three chemical facilities in Syria in response to an alleged chlorine attack that killed scores earlier this month. Now, the U.S. says it is also going to level sanctions against companies connected with Syria’s chemical-weapons program. Washington is also set to call on the UN to investigate the use of poison gas by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. For its part, the Syrian army announced it has retaken East Ghouta, the area where the chemical attack took place.

Donald Trump took to Twitter to declare “mission accomplished,” following the strikes. But as Globe correspondent Mark MacKinnon reports from Beirut, the only winner appears to be al-Assad: “Beyond the military gains, many in the Middle East see al-Assad as having been politically strengthened by his showdown with the United States. The widely reviled leader … was allowed to briefly play the underdog who defied the superpower, and largely got away with it.”

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Justin Trudeau is pledging financial backing and legislation to ensure Trans Mountain is built

“The Trans Mountain expansion is a vital strategic interest to Canada − it will be built,” the Prime Minister said yesterday after meeting with B.C. Premier John Horgan and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. Nevertheless, Horgan said his government will push forward with a court reference aimed at providing his government with more authority to regulate the flow of bitumen through B.C. Trudeau said he’s told Finance Minister Bill Morneau to begin talks with Kinder Morgan, which has set a make-or-break deadline of May 31 for proceeding with Trans Mountain (Alberta will also be part of those negotiations).

Meanwhile, pipeline protesters who were arrested for civil contempt – including Green Party Leader Elizabeth May – will find out today if they’re going to face criminal prosecution.

Beyond Brexit, AggregateIQ worked on smaller elections in Canada

The Victoria-based consultancy firm, which has been under fire over its role in the 2016 Brexit vote, as well as campaigns in Nigeria and Trinidad, also worked on bids in Canada including a mayoral run in Newfoundland. Andy Wells, who ran for mayor of St. John’s in 2017, hired AIQ after hearing about the firm’s Brexit work. “They didn’t turn out to be very useful,” he said, adding that AIQ only used publicly available voter information. AIQ also worked with a trio of BC Liberal candidates and the BC Green Party during the 2016 provincial election.

NHL playoffs: Jets crushed by Wild in Game 3; Leafs look to right ship

Winnipeg couldn’t translate its success on home ice to victory on the road, as the Jets fell 6-2 to the Minnesota Wild. That slims the Jets’ series lead to 2-1, with Game 4 set for tomorrow.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to turn their fortunes around tonight (7 p.m. ET) when they welcome the Boston Bruins to the Air Canada Centre. The Leafs are down 2-0 in the series after suffering defeats by scores of 5-1 and 7-3 in games 1 and 2, respectively.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

James Comey says it’s ‘possible’ the Russians have compromising info on Trump

“It always struck me and still strikes me as unlikely, and I woulda been able to say with high confidence about any other president I dealt with, but I can’t. It’s possible,” the former FBI director said in an ABC News interview that aired last night. He also said there is “some evidence” Trump may have been trying to obstruct justice when he asked Comey, in February of last year, to drop the FBI’s probe of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn. In a series of tweets before the interview aired, Trump called Comey a “slimeball” who “will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!”

MORNING MARKETS

Markets mixed

Oil prices fell sharply and government bond yields rose on Monday on expectations that the weekend’s missile attacks on Syria would not mark the start of greater Western involvement in the conflict. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.3 per cent, though Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.6 per cent, and the Shanghai composite shed 1.5 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.3 per cent by about 5:45 a.m. ET., while Germany’s DAX up 0.2 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 up marginally. New York futures were up. The Canadian dollar was just shy of 79.5 US cents, heading into the Bank of Canada’s Wednesday’s rate decision. Oil fell nearly 2 per cent after U.S. drilling activity rose.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Calgarians, not city council, should decide future of 2026 Olympic bid through plebiscite

“I moved to Calgary to pursue greatness and to see what I could become. To me, that’s the spirit of this city – big thinkers, entrepreneurs, problem solvers. That’s the spirit of the Olympic movement – people striving to become great. I’m sure that culture existed in Calgary before the city hosted the Winter Olympics in 1988, but I’ve seen and experienced the impact those Games have had on how we think about ourselves. It’s why I’m asking Calgary city council to continue the conversation about making a bid to bring the Winter Olympics back here in 2026. Council is considering holding a vote Monday that would stop the forward momentum to obtaining an accurate assessment of what the Olympics will cost.” – Denny Morrison, Olympic and World Cup champion

We know the problem with Facebook. Now we have to fix it

“The current scandal notwithstanding, we have known for a very long time about Facebook’s troubling practices around data security and user privacy. [CEO Mark] Zuckerberg himself has a lengthy history of apologizing for the misuse of data, all the way back to his first public expression of contrition after he accessed the personal data of his fellow Harvard students without consent – in 2003, a year before Facebook launched. There is no history, however, of holding him and others like him to account. No major economic sector has regulatory terms as lax as those enjoyed by internet-related companies. That is the fault not of the people who have sought tougher rules, but of the governments who acquiesced to lobbyists for a business that has come to be known by the troubling name of ‘surveillance capitalism.’” – Globe editorial

Quebec mosque killer epitomizes Islamophobia in its deadliest form

“On Friday, the court heard several hours of video evidence showing Alexandre Bissonnette eventually opening up to a police officer about why he committed the deadly attack. “I was watching TV and I learned that the Canadian government was going to take more refugees, you know, who couldn’t go to the United States, and they were coming here,” Bissonnette explained. “I saw that and I, like, lost my mind. It was then that I decided it was time to go.” Citing violent attacks in Europe, he said he wanted to protect people, especially his own parents, from being killed. These are classic — and devastating — examples of both Islamophobia and terrorism. Bissonnette’s anti-immigrant views are clearly political and his conflation of Muslims and terrorism is based on irrational fear and hatred. The puzzling fact that he wasn’t charged with terrorism doesn’t negate the need to better understand how he could justify his actions.” – Amira Elghawaby, writer and human-rights advocate

LIVING BETTER

Seven steps toward making a healthy meal plan

First, schedule it in: Set a consistent day and time to plan out your weekly meals. Then, create a blueprint that’s based on meal categories (for example: plant-based Mondays, chicken Tuesdays). And make sure to plan for leftovers: Turning your extra roasted chicken into salads or wraps can save a ton of time. Go here for the rest of the steps.

MOMENT IN TIME

First use of the battered woman defence in Canada

April 16, 1911: “I just killed a pig,” confessed Angelina Napolitano after she murdered her abusive husband in 1911. It was Easter Sunday. Angelina was six months pregnant when her husband began pressuring her to earn money through prostitution. If she didn’t return with money by the time he woke up, he said he would kill her. Angelina had suffered physical abuse for years but that afternoon while he slept, Angelina took an axe and slaughtered him. She was charged with murder and sentenced to hang, but her lawyer argued that Pietro Napolitano’s abuse had forced her to kill. The trial spurred an emotional debate about domestic violence across the globe. A doctor in Ohio even offered to be hanged in her place, saying, “It would only be fair to Mrs. Napolitano for a man to give his life for her, inasmuch as her life is in peril on account of a man’s persecution of her, and because men condemned her.” Angelina’s sentence was eventually reduced to life imprisonment, and she became the first in Canada to use the battered woman defence on a murder charge. A made-for-TV movie, starring Lina Giornofelice as Angelina was released in 2005. – Noella Ovid

Morning Update is written by Arik Ligeti.

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