Author: Todd Cox

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…

The recently concluded Initiative on Critical Emerging Technologies (iCET) between the United States (US) and India holds promise for one reason—the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC). If the US is going to balance effectively against the PRC, it will need India’s pool of strength in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to take on the PRC. However, New Delhi will also need the US’s technological expertise that the iCET promises in areas that were hitherto not part of any specific technology cooperation agreements between the US and India. iCET pledges cooperation in multiple areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), High-Performance Computing (HPC),…

SEPANG – Monthly passenger movements reached a record high in December 2022 for Malaysia Airports’ (the Group) operations in Malaysia with 6.8 million passengers. The year-end holiday season had contributed to the significant 31% increase from the preceding month and enabled the Group to reach 50% of 2019 levels for Malaysia operations. From the 6.8 million, 2.9 million were international passengers, the highest recorded to-date since border reopening in April; and 3.9 million were domestic passengers, a 33% increase from November 2022. Among the five international airports, Langkawi International Airport and Kota Kinabalu International Airport recorded the highest passenger increase…

A new survey shows Canadians have favourable and positive opinions of the U.K., Italy, Japan and France, “all things considered.” about these countries. The poll, conducted by Research Co., finds the U.K. came at the top of the list with 74 per cent of Canadians expressing a positive opinion, up one percentage point compared to a similar survey conducted in May 2022. The percentage of people who expressed a favourable opinion of Italy was 71 per cent (down 2 points) according to the new survey. Following Italy, Japan and France seem to have the most positive reputation among Canadians, with…

The White House has said that there are no visitor logs available for President Joe Biden’s private home. Republicans have demanded to see the logs to his Delaware home after classified files were discovered there. On Monday, the White House counsel’s office said that it is not standard practice to keep tabs of who visits the private homes of presidents. At least 20 documents have been found at Mr Biden’s home and at an office he used in Washington. The documents date from his time as vice-president under the Obama administration. Some of them were marked “Top Secret” – the…

TOKYOJapan’s exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food products totaled 1,243.3 billion yen ($9.3 billion) for the 11 months through November, hitting an annual record with one month left, the farm ministry said Friday. The result comes as the restaurant industry has been recovering in the United States, Europe and China following a sharp drop in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ministry said. The weak yen against other major currencies also helped lift Japanese exports. The exports of those products hit a record high for the 10th consecutive year. In 2021, the 12-month total was 1,238.2…

There’s no place like home for the holidays, but in large swaths of Canada and the U.S., getting there could be tricky amid a spate of weather warnings. A storm and extreme cold in Western Canada has grounded hundreds of flights in Vancouver, Victoria and Calgary, and Environment Canada is saying to avoid any travel, if possible, in large portions of Ontario and Quebec as a winter storm approaches. The Environment Canada warning map is lit up like a Christmas tree, full of reds and yellows. In the United States, the same weather systems are expected to cause power outages and travel chaos. All told, millions…