Author: Todd Cox

The Canadian economy grew by 0.1 per cent in February, Statistics Canada said Friday. In its latest report on economic growth, the federal agency’s preliminary estimate suggested real gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 2.5 per cent in the first quarter. The February figure came in lower than was expected by Statistics Canada as wholesale and retail trade as well as manufacturing all contracted. Boosting real GDP in February was growth in the public sector, professional, scientific and technical services, construction and finance and insurance. Statistics Canada revised up its January figure for real GDP to 0.6…

Almaty will host the second European Union – Central Asia Economic Forum on May 18-19 to discuss ways forward on policy, programs and investment needed to develop a more integrated and interconnected regional market engagement, according to the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan. Photo credit: asiatv.kg. The forum will focus on three key priority areas – a green and digital transition, a better business environment, and trade and connectivity. The participants will also discuss measures to strengthen sustainable connectivity and promote regulatory approximation in the economic area between the EU and Central Asian countries. The forum will provide recommendations for engagement…

20-year-old Banin Arjmand wins prestigious Loran Award Banin Arjmand never shies away from a challenge. The 20-year-old refugee made a treacherous journey out of Afghanistan with her parents and classmates after the Taliban seized control in August 2021. Now living in Saskatoon, she’s finishing her high school diploma at Nutana Collegiate and working part-time at Fuddruckers to help support herself and her parents, who aren’t working. Looking to her future, she didn’t think she could afford university tuition. So when a teacher suggested that she apply for the prestigious Loran Award, a scholarship valued at more than $100,000 over four years, she figured…

An explosion at a historic chocolate factory in southeastern Pennsylvania left two people dead, five missing and eight injured Friday afternoon. West Reading Borough Police Department Chief Wayne Holben confirmed two fatalities and five missing after an explosion at the R.M. Palmer Co. chocolate factory in West Reading shortly before 5 p.m. Officials said Saturday morning that one person was pulled from the rubble alive, Fox 29 reported. Tower Health spokeswoman Jessica Bezler told The Associated Press in an email that eight others were taken to Reading Hospital with injuries Friday evening. Bezler said two people were admitted in fair condition and five…

More than half of Canadians say it’s time to abolish the “spanking” law, which allows school teachers, parents or any parental figure of a student or child to use physical force to discipline them. The online survey, conducted by B.C.-based polling company Research Co., said 51 per cent of Canadians say section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada should be abolished. This marked a shifting outlook from Canadians, as only 34 per cent agreed to ban the law in 2018. “Every school teacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by…

The population census as we know it, which is carried out every 10 years, is going down in history. With the new regulation of the European Union on European statistics on population and housing, the traditional population census will be succeeded by administrative registers that will annually collect and daily update a range of data such as education and voting rights to housing and migration censuses. This will increase the coherence, consistency and comparability of statistical data on the population, including demographic and migration data, as well as data on families, households and housing conditions. Dubravka Rogić-Hadžalić, Head of Demographic and Social…

Sarajevo The search and rescue teams returning to their countries were greeted with tears and applause by their family members in the area in front of the Vijecnica Library in Sarajevo. Afterwards, the team went to the Azici region of Sarajevo, where they were congratulated by the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fadil Novalic, and the Turkish Ambassador to Sarajevo, Sadık Babür Girgin. Novalic said, “We sent you off (to Turkey) more than ten days ago. Both you and we knew it was a difficult road. Neither you nor we could have guessed how difficult the…

When you come from Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, the scene changes abruptly between Mitrovica, a municipality in the north of the country inhabited mainly by Albanians, and Mitrovica, a city in the northern part where most of the Serbs live. In the south, the blue flags of Kosovo mix with the Albanian ones. To the north, Serbian flags fly on the main street. After the Kosovo war (1998-1999), the declaration of the country’s independence (17/2/2008) and the tensions in the north (2011), Mitrovica and Mitrovica became two different communities in 2013. Serbs and Albanians are separated by the Ibar River. The main bridge,…

In their book, Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, Hal Brands and Michael Beckley argue that China is passing its economic peak. It is this factor that may be more dangerous than a rising China, and that conflict may happen sooner than most believe. According to conventional wisdom, China is a dynamic rising power, set to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy and leading power. Harvard professor Graham Allison argues that in these circumstances, when one great power threatens to displace another, war is almost always the result. This is known as the Thucydides Trap. But could this widely believed analysis…

Politicians from both sides of the divide have told Q+A they have seen families begging for food and Australians “counting coins” to buy a loaf of bread as the cost of living crisis deepens and interest rates continue to rise. And while she defended the government response, Minister for Early Childhood Education and Youth Anne Aly admitted that nothing the government or politicians say is going to make life better for Australians struggling with the rising cost of living. The blunt comments from Dr Aly came after she said she had seen a man in her West Australian electorate struggling with the cost of a loaf of bread, while a Q+A audience…