Author: Darren Leonard

The White House issued an urgent warning to Congress on Monday, predicting that Ukraine will soon lose ground in its war against Russia without another infusion of financial aid from the US. “I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from US military stocks,” Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in her letter to congressional leaders. “There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of…

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Two deer struggling in the waters of southeast Alaska’s famed Inside Passage finally made it to land, thanks to two Alaska Wildlife Troopers who gave the deer a lift in their boat. Sgt. Mark Finses and trooper Kyle Feuge were returning from a patrol in nearby Ernest Sound to Ketchikan on Oct. 10 when they spotted the deer, agency spokesperson Justin Freeman said in an email to The Associated Press. The deer were about four miles from any island in the channel, which is favored by large cruise ships taking tourists in summer months to locations such as Ketchikan and…

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We’ve known for more than a century that women outlive men. But new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and UC San Francisco shows that, at least in the United States, the gap has been widening for more than a decade. The trend is being driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid overdose epidemic, among other factors. In a research paper, to be published online on November 13 in JAMA Internal Medicine, the authors found the difference between how long American men and women live increased to 5.8 years in 2021, the largest it’s been since 1996. This is…

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The holiday shopping season is just around the corner but there are signs that the economy is in a downturn. Consumers are reducing their spending and major corporations are making cuts. Canadian Tire Corporation has announced its cutting three per cent of its workforce, citing tougher economic times. “You are going to start seeing more consumer-facing companies laying off staff whether they’re retail or even some brands that sell to retail because consumers are at a very difficult time right now,” said Bruce Winder, a retail analyst. Customers are stretched thin and shopping for only the essentials ahead of the…

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government unveiled details of its plan to cut $500 million from government spending Thursday — and not all departments are going to be feeling the same impacts. While some agencies like the Canadian Space Agency and the Invest in Canada Hub will see more than one per cent of their spending frozen and returned to government coffers, 61 departments and agencies don’t appear on the list of government bodies taking cuts. The government said the cost-cutting initiative excluded agents of Parliament and small organizations with budgets under $25 million a year. But many of those not…

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TORONTO — The Ontario government will soon introduce legislation that, if passed, would make it the first province in Canada to help even more internationally-trained immigrants work in the fields they’ve studied in by banning the use of Canadian work experience as a requirement in job postings or application forms. This change would help more qualified candidates progress in the interview process and follows historic legislation to prohibit regulated professions from requiring discriminatory Canadian work experience requirements in licensing for more than 30 occupations, which comes into effect December 2023. “For far too long, too many people arriving in Canada…

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s non-binding motion calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to extend the carbon tax pause on home heating oil to all forms of home heating failed to pass Monday. The Bloc Quebecois and Green MPs sided with the Liberal caucus in voting to defeat the Conservative proposal, which had the atypical backing of the NDP. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s non-binding motion calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to extend the carbon tax pause on home heating oil to all forms of home heating failed to pass Monday. The Bloc Quebecois and Green MPs sided with the Liberal…

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“Dancing with the Stars” will dedicate an entire night to Taylor Swift. The ABC celebrity dance competition will feature a special “A Celebration of Taylor Swift” on Nov. 21. The episode will see the six remaining couples dance to songs from the pop superstar’s catalog, while “DWTS” choreographer Mandy Moore will serve as guest judge. Moore also choreographed Swift’s Eras Tour. The dance styles and songs the couples will perform will be revealed at a later date. The “Mirrorball” singer has appeared on the show before, celebrating the release of her 2010 album “Speak Now” on the show with a…

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Earth’s boreal forests circle our planet’s far northern reaches, just south of the Arctic’s treeless tundra. If the planet wears an Arctic ice cap, then the boreal forests are a loose-knit headband wrapped around its ears, covering large portions of Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and Siberia. The boreal region’s soils have long buffered the planet against warming by storing huge quantities of carbon and keeping it out of the atmosphere. Its remoteness has historically protected its forests and wetlands from extensive human impact. These two traits rank boreal forests among the most important ecosystems on Earth. In addition, numerous species of…

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Wildlife officials successfully rescued a humpback whale after it was discovered entangled in a web of crabbing gear and at risk of dying, the National Park Service said. A pair of residents first spotted the whale on Oct. 10 off the coast of Gustavus, Alaska. Surrounded by Glacier Bay National Park, Gustavus is bordered by the so-called “Icy Strait,” a popular ocean feeding ground for humpback whales in the spring, summer and fall. But this particular whale wasn’t feeding. It was seen “trailing two buoys, making unusual sounds and having trouble moving freely,” according to an account of the rescue…

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