HARD NUMBERS: Ottawa seeks deep graveyard for nuclear material, Canada makes meager emissions progress, US Senate rejects IVF protections, Pennsylvania Poles have a moment, Did Diddy do it?

General view at the Pickering Nuclear Power Generating Station near Toronto, Ontario, Canada April 17, 2019.
General view at the Pickering Nuclear Power Generating Station near Toronto, Ontario, Canada April 17, 2019.
REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

26 billion: As Canada, like many other nations, rekindles its interest in nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels, a big question looms: Where to bury the waste? The federal government is taking offers from several municipalities for a CA$26 billion project to bury the used nuclear material 500 meters below the Earth’s surface. Ottawa will pick the “winner” by the end of this year.

1: Canada’s carbon emissions in 2023 fell by just 1%, according to new data which also showed that emissions from the oil and gas industry specifically have ticked up due to a recent production boom. Canada has pledged by 2030 to reduce total emissions by 40-45% compared to 2005 levels – currently, they are down just 8%.

9: A US bill that would expand federal protections and support for fertility treatments fell nine votes short of passing this week after most Republicans voted against it. Many conservatives oppose fertility treatments such as IVF because they believe that the embryos used – and often discarded – in the process are children, a position taken by the Alabama Supreme Court earlier this year. It was a rare instance of the GOP bucking the views of party boss Donald Trump, who has expressed support for IVF treatments.

700,000: The roughly 700,000 Polish-Americans who live in Pennsylvania have emerged as a key focus for both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as the two candidates jockey for advantage in the key swing state. Poles in the Keystone State account for 5% of registered voters. Harris appealed to them directly during last week’s debate, arguing that stopping Russia in Ukraine is necessary to prevent Vladimir Putin from invading Poland next. Trump is now courting this bloc himself – arranging an appearance in Pennsylvania next week with former Polish President Andrzej Duda.

3: Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combswas arrested this week on three felony charges alleging that he illegally trafficked, drugged, and coerced people into participating in wild sex parties known as “freak offs” for years. Combs, the billionaire best known for producing hip-hop legend Biggie Smalls, has pleaded not guilty but faces the prospect of life in prison in a trial that will likely be a lightning rod for debate about race, class, and sexual assault in the music industry.

More from GZERO Media

U.S. President Donald Trump poses with Vice President Mike Pence, first lady Melania Trump and Conan, the U.S. military dog that participated in and was injured in the U.S. raid in Syria that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, while standing with the dog's military handler on the colonnade of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, U.S., November 25, 2019.
REUTERS/Tom Brenner

While the second season will not officially launch until Jan. 20, 2025, the Donald Trump show has already come to town.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) nominates former President Donald Trump for Speaker of the House as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) watch inside the House Chamber on the third day of the 118th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 5, 2023.
REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
Ukrainian Armed Forces are deployed in the middle of the conflict with Russia on December 16, 2024. Ukraine claims that Russia has begun sending North Korean soldiers en masse to assaults in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces repel daily Russian attacks and control important areas.
Handout / Latin America News Agency via Reuters Connect

South Korean military officials said Monday that they had detected North Korean preparations to deploy more troops and weapons to Russia, and elaborated that at least 100 of Pyongyang’s soldiers had been killed and 1,000 more wounded so far, while Ukrainians claim 200 have died and nearly 3,000 had been wounded.

US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at an event for young leaders at Prince George’s County Community College in Largo, Maryland on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.
Photo by Annabelle Gordon/Pool/Sipa USA

For the Democrats, 2024 was the year of the ostrich, or the koala, according to lapsed-Democratic voters asked to describe the party as an animal in post-election research.

Romanian far-right presidential election candidate Calin Georgescu delivers a press statement at the Bucharest Court of Appeal, in Bucharest, Romania, December 19, 2024.
Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu secured a parliamentary vote of confidence on Monday, cementing a new coalition government amid the country’s worst political crisis in decades.