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StatCan to release gross domestic product figure for August, estimate for Q3 today

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is set to release its August gross domestic product report this morning. The federal agency’s release will include a preliminary estimate for economic growth in September as well as the third quarter. RBC says it expects the economy shrank in the third quarter, which would mark a second consecutive quarterly contraction.Higher interest rates are weighing on economic growth as people and businesses pull back on spending.The Bank of Canada’s most recent projections suggest the economy will remain weak for the rest of the year and into 2024. The central bank is hoping this weakness will translate into lower inflation as price growth remains above its two per cent target. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2023.The Canadian Press

WHO to allocate $1.8 million for Kazakhstan’s health care

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

The World Health Organization (WHO) will allocate $1.8 million for Kazakhstan’s healthcare development, as per a two-year cooperation agreement signed between the Kazakh Health Ministry and the WHO European Office at the 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe on Oct. 25 in Astana. According to Kazakh Health Minister Azhar Giniyat, the funds will be directed to provide expert, methodological and technical support to enhance the capacity of medical professionals, protect the health of mothers, newborns, children, and adolescents, combat cancer and non-communicable diseases, HIV, AIDS, and tuberculosis. The funding will also be used to train medical personnel and conduct public information campaigns, among other healthcare areas. Giniyat noted the importance of the recent Global Conference on Primary Health Care, which raised the need for increased investments in expanding essential primary healthcare services to ensure equitable access to medical care for citizens. WHO ...

Harriette Cole: All the doors were locked, but there she was in my kitchen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: I’ve been married for three years to a wonderful person I adore. However, we’ve been having a recurring issue that’s causing tension in our relationship. It’s my in-laws.Related ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: I’m jealous of my friend’s magic pixie dust Advice | Harriette Cole: Is he just using this as an excuse not to marry me? Advice | Harriette Cole: How can I change my dad’s mind about San Francisco? Advice | Harriette Cole: My co-worker’s habit annoys everyone, including our clients Advice | Harriette Cole: Should I tell this man why I won’t get serious about him? They are nice people, but they often overstep boundaries and make me feel uncomfortable.Last week, my mother-in-law walked into our house. I was taken aback because all the doors were locked; however, there she was in our kitchen with some cookies she had baked. I appre...

Miss Manners: You better believe the guests notice when the bride has a different meal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I work in the wedding industry, and I have been rather flummoxed by a recent trend: It seems to have become the fashion for the bride and groom to order themselves a special meal, of a higher caliber and price point than what their guests are having.Related ArticlesAdvice | Miss Manners: I used to be flattered by this response. Not anymore. Advice | Miss Manners: Our argument about her restaurant behavior ended our friendship Advice | Miss Manners: It’s absurd that I’m the go-between because my kids’ friends don’t have phones Advice | Miss Manners: I don’t find it adorable what she has trained her dog to do Advice | Miss Manners: We’re afraid they’ll try to raid the house after the funeral An example might be that all of the guests have a choice of roast chicken or a pork chop, but the groom has ordered himself a 20-ounce porterhouse.I realize ...

Alexei Navalny never wanted to be a dissident

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

The following article is adapted from The Dissident: Alexey Navalny, Profile of a Political Prisoner, to be released today by Twelve, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, today.In the West during the Soviet era, Russian dissidents developed a certain celebrity aura. Andrei Sakharov and Yelena Bonner, for instance, were seen as fearless fighters, standing up to an evil empire and enduring long and painful exiles, repressions and other punishments meted out by the Communist regime. The refusenik Natan Sharansky, who served eight years in prison for high treason and espionage before being released in a prisoner exchange, became a member of the Israeli parliament and deputy prime minister. President George W. Bush even awarded him the presidential medal of freedom.But inside Russia, even after the Soviet Union disintegrated, dissidents were never held in quite such high esteem. To many, they and their small acts of protest were virtually unknown. In 1968, eight Soviet citizens stood in Re...

Winston Churchill would have been embarrassed by his WhatsApps too, says UK minister

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

LONDON — He may have led Britain through the horrors of wartime, but there’s one thing Winston Churchill didn’t have to deal with: people reading his WhatsApps.Minister Ric Holden tried a novel line Tuesday morning as he tried to downplay the damning stream of revelations emerging from Boris Johnson’s former advisers at the U.K.’s coronavirus pandemic inquiry.A host of WhatsApp messages disclosed to the inquiry and read out this week have so far painted an unfavorable picture of the then-prime minister, described variously as unable to lead, prone to changing direction “every day” and at the helm of a “weak team.”But Holden, grilled Tuesday morning on the messages on Times Radio, dismissed them as “tittle tattle” — and invoked two former prime ministers in Johnson’s defense.“If there was conversations between people and they were recorded throughout history as they are on WhatsApp then would it be similarly emba...

Time to ‘fall back’: Here’s when Daylight Saving Time ends

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

It’s that time of year again — time to change the clocks for the end of Daylight Saving Time. Fortunately, this is the proverbial time to “fall back,” giving ourselves another hour of sleep.Clocks should go back an hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5. Cell phones and other smart devices update automatically, but analog and digital clocks not connected to the internet will have to be set back an hour manually.When did Daylight Saving Time start?Daylight Saving Time was established by Congress with the passage of the Uniform Time Act in 1966, according to the Baltimore Sun. The law standardized the length of daylight saving time from March to November in an effort to save energy.What states observe Daylight Saving Time?Most of the U.S. observes Daylight Saving Time, with the exception of Arizona and Hawaii — those states observe permanent standard time. Americans of all persuasions, however, revile the biannual practice of changing clocks, prompting several states to pass legislation tha...

China’s forces shadow a Philippine navy ship near disputed shoal, sparking new exchange of warnings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine navy patrol ship was shadowed by Chinese forces near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, sparking a fresh exchange of accusations and warnings between the Asian neighbors Tuesday.Chinese and Philippine security officials gave conflicting accounts of Monday’s encounter near Scarborough Shoal. China has surrounded the shoal with its navy and coast guard ships since a tense standoff with Philippine vessels more than a decade ago.A rich fishing atoll and a safe mooring area during storms, Scarborough off the northwestern Philippines coast is one of most fiercely contested territories in the South China Sea, where Chinese and Philippine forces have faced off in recent months.The frequent confrontations, which led to an Oct. 22 collision of Chinese and Philippine vessels near another disputed shoal, have prompted the United States to repeatedly renew a warning that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, ...

Paris police open fire on a woman who allegedly made threats in the latest security incident

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Paris police opened fire Tuesday on a woman who allegedly made threatening remarks on a train, the latest security incident in the country that has been on heightened anti-terror alert since a fatal stabbing at a school blamed on an Islamic extremist.Police said they had no immediate information on the woman’s condition. Police said officers opened fire after she didn’t respond to their warnings. Police responded after a train passenger phoned the emergency services and reported that a woman, who was wearing a face covering, was making threats. It wasn’t clear what threats she was making. A Metro and suburban train station that serves the Francois Mitterrand national library in eastern Paris has been evacuated, police said.The Associated Press

A gunman holed up at a Japanese post office may be linked to an earlier shooting in a hospital

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese police on Tuesday surrounded a post office where a man with a gun was holed up, and said the case may be linked to an earlier apparent shooting at a nearby hospital in which two people were wounded.Saitama Prefectural Police said two men — a doctor in his 40s and a patient in his 60s — were wounded after blasts resembling gunfire were heard at a general hospital in the city of Toda, just north of Tokyo. Police did not give details of how exactly the two people were injured. The two victims are both conscious and their wounds are not life-threatening, police said. Kyodo News agency said the two were believed to be inside a consultation room on the first floor when they were attacked. Saitama police are also investigating another case involving a man carrying a handgun holed up inside a post office in the city of Warabi, just north of Toda. They said the two cases are being investigated together because of a possibility that they involve a same suspect. Police sa...