Global National: Dec. 10

FIFA World Cup celebrations have been marred by tragedy. Grant Wahl, one of the top soccer writers from the U.S., collapsed while covering the Argentina and Netherlands game on Friday and later died in hospital. As the Maritimes are preparing to once again host the World Junior Hockey Championships, there’s a police investigation underway into the 2003 Canadian team with off-ice claims that a group of players sexually assaulted a woman who was unconscious. In Montreal, over 100 civil society organizations showed up to protest at the UN’s COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal. But that hasn’t stopped growing skepticism over whether world leaders are taking the issue seriously. France is making condoms free for young people in an effort to cut down on a growing problem of sexually transmitted infections — one that’s also growing in Canada. And finally, anti-semitic comments and acts have been on a sharp rise both in Canada and in the U.S. over the last several years, and it’s left communities wondering why not enough is being done to curb it.