Skip to main content

Featured

Monday’s CPI Could Decide Your Next Mortgage Payment

  Canada lost 68,000 jobs in September. Inflation is sitting at 3%. The Bank of Canada has to decide on October 28 which of those facts matters more, and on Monday morning one more number lands to help it choose. If you carry a variable-rate mortgage, a HELOC or a renewal this winter, that number has a price tag. Two reports pulling in opposite directions The jobs data came first. Statistics Canada reported on October 9 that employment fell by 68,000 in September, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.5% from 6.4%. It followed a drop of about 42,000 in August, which means more than half of the 181,000 jobs gained between April and July have now been wiped out. Ontario shed 20,000 positions on its own. Markets reacted within hours: the odds of a quarter-point Bank of Canada hike on October 28 dropped to roughly 25% from about 40%, according to LSEG data reported by Reuters. Inflation is telling the opposite story. The consumer price index rose 3.0% year over year in August, matching Ju...

article

Escalation in Gaza: Hospital in Flames Amidst Conflict

 

In a tragic turn of events, Israeli troops stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Friday, forcibly removing staff and patients before setting parts of the hospital on fire. The hospital, one of the last operating in the area, has been repeatedly targeted over the past three months as Israeli forces continue their offensive against Hamas fighters.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported that the troops forced medical personnel and patients to assemble in the hospital yard, where they were stripped of their clothes in the cold winter temperatures. Some patients were relocated to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which had already been knocked out of operation by an Israeli raid earlier in the week.

The ministry's account, which could not be independently confirmed, described fires being set in several parts of the hospital, including the lab and surgery department. An audio message from an unidentified staff member posted on social media highlighted the dire situation, with patients unhooked from oxygen and at risk of dying at any moment.

This incident is part of a broader offensive that has seen northern Gaza areas like Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahiya virtually sealed off, with large parts of these districts leveled. The ongoing conflict has raised fears of famine, with the U.N. reporting only four humanitarian deliveries to the area from December 1 to December 23.

The Israeli military has claimed that their operations target Hamas infrastructure and fighters, though they have provided no evidence to support their accusations that Hamas fighters were operating inside Kamal Adwan Hospital. Hospital officials have denied these claims.

The situation remains dire, with thousands of Palestinians forced out of their homes and the health sector in Gaza devastated by the nearly 15-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives. The international community continues to watch closely as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens.


:

Comments