Skip to main content

Featured

BoC Opens the Door to Rate Hikes: What It Means for Your Mortgage

  Published September 4, 2026 The Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25% on September 2 — the seventh straight hold — but Governor Tiff Macklem didn't sound like a central banker done for the year. He told reporters the Bank is "prepared to raise interest rates, and if it takes more than one increase, we're prepared to do that," if inflation stays too high. That's a real shift in tone, and it lands right as a wave of Canadians hit their mortgage renewal date. Here's what changed, who's forecasting what, and what it actually means for your payment. Why the Bank Suddenly Sounds Hawkish Canada's annual inflation rate has climbed to around 3% — a full point above the Bank's 2% target — and the Bank is pointing squarely at energy prices. Oil has stayed elevated because of the Iran conflict and disruption near the Strait of Hormuz, pushing gas prices up and dragging headline CPI with it. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, is still s...
Post a Comment
Read more

article

Labels

Tunnel Standoff Threatens Fragile Gaza Ceasefire

           Palestinian Hamas militants attend an anti-Israel rally in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip

Efforts to solidify a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are facing a serious obstacle: hundreds of Hamas fighters remain trapped in underground tunnels, refusing to surrender. Mediators have been pressing both sides to move forward with the second phase of the truce, but the stalemate over the fighters has become a central sticking point.

The ceasefire, which began last month after two years of devastating conflict, has so far held tenuously. Israel has returned the bodies of several Palestinians, while Hamas has handed over remains of Israeli hostages, signaling incremental progress. Yet the tunnel issue in Rafah threatens to unravel these gains. Hamas appears willing to negotiate safe passage for its fighters in exchange for preserving the truce, but Israel is demanding stricter terms, including possible detention of senior Hamas leaders.

Diplomats warn that unless the standoff is resolved, the fragile truce could collapse. The tunnels, long a hallmark of Hamas’s military strategy, now represent both a tactical liability and a political bargaining chip. For Israel, eliminating them is essential to security; for Hamas, they are a last line of defense. The outcome of this dispute will likely determine whether the ceasefire evolves into a lasting peace or falls apart under pressure.

As negotiations continue, the world watches anxiously, aware that the fate of trapped fighters in Gaza’s tunnels could decide the future of the region’s most fragile peace effort in years.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment