By Canadian Press

In The News for today: Gaza bombardment overnight hits close to hospital

Nov 9, 2023 | 2:18 AM

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to
bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…

Israel and Hamas conflict continues

The general director of Gaza City’s main hospital says scores of wounded people are being treated at the Al-Shifa Hospital following overnight Israeli strikes and shelling.

Dr. Mohammad Abu Selmia told the Associated Press by phone that at least one shell landed very close to the hospital at around dawn Thursday, resulting in only a few people sustaining minor injuries. He said it would’ve been a “catastrophe” had the shell landed any closer, adding that conditions at the hospital are “disastrous in every sense of the word.”

Abu Selmia said the hospital is in short supply of medicine and other medical equipment, while doctors and nurses are exhausted and “unable to do much for the patients.”

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Meantime, negotiations are underway to reach a three-day humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about a dozen hostages held by Hamas. That’s according to two officials from Egypt, one from the United Nations and a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic efforts.

Supports for Gaza evacuees to be based on need

Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the immigration status and supports available for evacuees who escape from Gaza Strip will have to be determined based on individual circumstances once people make their way to Canada.

The federal government has been working to secure the safe passage of more than 400 people with connections to Canada as part of ongoing negotiations between Israel and Egypt that are being mediated by Qatar.

The slow trickle of people allowed through the highly controlled Rafah border crossing has so far included 75 people on Canada’s list of anticipated evacuees, and they are only allowed to remain in Egypt for 72 hours.

The list includes Canadian citizens and permanent residents, as well as eligible family members who don’t have immigration status in Canada.

Handful of N.L. doctors dealing with MAID requests

The same handful of doctors and nurse practitioners who helped introduce medically assisted death to Newfoundland and Labrador are handling the majority of a steadily increasing number of requests for the service — and they say they can no longer do it alone.

Applications for medically assisted death in the province are increasing year over year, outpacing the number of health-care workers available to assess those requests, said Dr. Aaron McKim, a family physician and the provincial health authority’s chief of medical assistance in dying, or MAID.

McKim said this small core group of health-care workers has done the majority of MAID assessments and procedures in the region since the program began.

The work can be emotionally taxing and some in that group were aiding “a dozen or two” assisted deaths each year, he added.

The situation became serious enough that in April, he told his colleagues in a briefing note that there were six people waiting to be assessed for MAID and that at least one patient had waited about five months for an evaluation.

Polar bears’ past and future

New research suggests that ancient polar bear populations shrank as sea ice dwindled, adding weight to concerns about the predator’s future as climate change melts the Arctic. 

Twenty colleagues from 11 institutions brought together three strands of inquiry to reach their conclusions — genetic analysis of old bear skulls from a Danish archive, habitat modelling based on long-ago climate and study of distinctive elements in those bones that reveal diet.  

The polar bear genome has been completely mapped, allowing scientists to measure the genetic diversity of any one group of bears. More diversity suggests more bears.

The scientists then reconstructed what sea ice conditions around Greenland were like, using data from ancient ice cores and other sources to estimate temperature ranges. That gave them an idea of bear habitat quality, since bears use sea ice as platforms from which to hunt seals. 

When they put the genetic diversity data alongside the habitat reconstructions, a definite pattern emerged. Bear numbers went up when temperatures declined and dropped when things got warmer. 

Taylor Swift tickets for Vancouver shows on sale

The wait to buy tickets for Taylor Swift’s 2024 concert dates in Vancouver is finally over, with online sales scheduled to start this morning. 

But only the lucky fans who won a lottery to receive presale codes yesterday will get a chance to purchase up to four tickets for the shows at BC Place on Dec. 6, 7 and 8 next year.

Ticketmaster’s website says the start of sales for the three dates will be staggered today at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Pacific time, but access is only being granted via a link and code that has been sent to presale lottery winners.

Some Swifties tried to “manifest” victory in the presale code lottery by reciting mantras to their idol and burning candles, in what has become a social media phenomenon among fans.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2023

The Canadian Press