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Senior UN officials seek Canadian cash to help stem gender-based violence abroad

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

OTTAWA — A United Nations initiative aimed at eliminating gender-based violence is asking Canada to put up cash to help stem a backsliding in women’s rights, even though the Liberals are cutting back on foreign aid.“Women’s rights and violence against women and girls is not a side issue,” said Nahla Valji, the UN’s senior gender adviser, a position Canada pushed to have created at the agency’s headquarters in New York.Valji, who grew up in Burnaby, B.C., is on Parliament Hill this week asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help stop an erosion of women’s rights globally.She’s following up on a letter from UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, who asked Trudeau to help fund what’s called the Spotlight Initiative.The project launched in 2017 with the European Union pledging 500 million euros, or roughly $740 million, for projects that work to curb gender-based violence and to give women a seat at the table in post-conflict ...

Interior communities brace for weekend rain as floods forecasted in Okanagan

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

People in the British Columbia community of Grand Forks are hustling to get ahead of a deluge of melting snow and heavy rainfall after learning a costly lesson about flooding five years ago.The community not far from the Canada-U. S. border is one of many under threat in B.C.’s southern and central Interior after a week of record temperatures and predicted rain combine for conditions ripe for flooding. Grand Forks Mayor Everett Baker says they’ve been shoring up the city’s defences since 2018 when 95 homes were lost to a flood and they want to avoid a similar situation this year.  Baker says they are keeping a close eye on the weather and focusing on areas of the downtown to protect businesses and infrastructure from the rising waters. He says the province has supplied the city with temporary dams and sandbags, which are being installed with the help of a crew from the B.C. Wildfire Service. Parts of the Village of Cache Creek and Okanagan Indian Band land are alre...

‘We are in a crisis’: Red Dress Day honoured as leaders say more work to be done

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

The head of the Native Women’s Association of Canada says it’s clear there’s an ongoing emergency nearly four years after the final report into missing and murdered Indigenous woman and girls was released. “We are in a crisis,” said Carol McBride. Red dresses are set to be on display across the country Friday to recognize the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People. It has become known as Red Dress Day and the empty garments serve as a symbol of lives that have been lost.Each year there are more events, rallies and art displays. Despite the increased awareness and an extensive national inquiry, McBride said the situation that Indigenous girls and women face has not substantially changed.“I’m a mother. I’m a sister. I’m an aunt,” she said. “And I’m just imagining some of our families and our women are suffering right now.”The inquiry’s final report was released in 2019 and included sweeping calls f...

Robot vs. human: Saskatoon brewer goes head to head with ChatGPT-designed beer

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

SASKATOON — It may have been the greatest battle between robots and humans to ever take place inside a Saskatchewan brewery. The grain mash was masterful and the fermentation feisty as a brewer went head to head in a taste-off with ChatGPT to find out who, or what, can make the best beer. The idea for the faceoff against the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot came out of a meeting between staff at 9 Mile Legacy Brewing, a Saskatoon nanobrewery known for making craft beer and pushing boundaries. Garrett Pederson, 9 Mile’s co-founder and head brewer, said they were playing around with the explosively popular chatbot earlier this year and thought it would be fun to test the technology’s usefulness when it comes to one of the oldest drinks humans have produced.“We will challenge it to make a recipe and I’ll essentially make a recipe and we will see where that goes,” Pederson said. Luke Clark, an assistant brewer, became Team Robot and was tasked with asking ChatGPT to come up...

Statistics Canada to release April jobs numbers this morning

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is set to release its April labour force survey this morning, providing updated numbers on employment levels in the country. RBC says it expects 12,000 jobs were added last month, the lowest number since September.  Employers have kept their hiring appetite in recent months, even as high interest rates make borrowing more expensive for people and businesses. The unemployment rate continued to sit at five per cent in March, hovering near record lows.However, job vacancies have been falling and the Bank of Canada’s recent business outlook survey shows employers reporting less intense labour shortages. The Bank of Canada’s aggressive rate hikes are expected to filter through to the labour market in the coming months, leading to a rise in unemployment. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2023.The Canadian Press

Leaders express disappointment with changes to Canadian North airline

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

YELLOWKNIFE — Northern leaders say they are disappointed with changes that allow Canadian North to increase prices and reduce flight service in remote communities, but the airline says it will be better able to meet demand. Ottawa announced late last month it had approved new terms and conditions for Canadian North’s merger with First Air. Those include permitting the airline to reduce community service to one flight per week and increase fares up to 25 per cent within a calendar year. “People across Nunavut and the Northwest Territories are rightfully concerned about the cost of travel in the North,” Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout said in a statement. “After speaking with the company and expressing my concerns, I’m hopeful that northerners won’t see an increase in their costs, but I will continue to keep a close eye to ensure prices and services are fair.” Canadian North serves 25 communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and northern Quebec, as well as ...

City of Austin approves aid for homes damaged in flood

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin City council Thursday approved a resolution from council member Chito Vela directing the Watershed Protection, Austin Resource Recovery, and the Parks and Recreation departments to quickly clear creek beds of vegetative debris. The resolution is in response to the more than 30 homes that were flooded in north Austin after the April 20 storm. Vegetative debris, such as dead trees, clogged a storm culvert in Little Walnut Creek, leading to heavy flooding in the area that damaged homes.  Related: Homeowners frustrated with city after flood waters damage properties Those homes are in Vela's district. He met with frustrated homeowners six days after the storm who said the flooding could have been prevented. Ryan Albright, a homeowner in the area who had two feet of water in his home, said he and his neighbors called 311 multiple times to warn of the debris in the creek bed and the potential of flooding. "We were informed that watershed relies ...

Daily horoscope for May 5, 2023

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

Moon Alert: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The Lunar Eclipse (Full Moon) occurs in Scorpio at 1:34 p.m. EDT today (10:34 a.m. PDT).Happy Birthday for Friday, May 5, 2023:You are an excellent communicator and conversationalist. You are a problem-solver. You are quick to see the heart of the matter. This year you will reap the benefits of your previous work. Expect to attain a leadership role, kudos, a promotion or be in the spotlight.ARIES(March 21-April 19) ★★★Do your best to avoid arguments about money, possessions and financial matters, including inheritances or how something is shared. People will get angry today in a split second. It’s a potentially explosive day. Don’t go looking for trouble, because it’s already looking for you. Tonight: Financial deals.TAURUS(April 20-May 20) ★★Today the Lunar Eclipse is occurring opposite your sign, with the Sun, retrograde Mercury and Uranus. This is an explosive, sensitive combination!...

Russia summons Polish diplomat over embassy school 'seizure'

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

Russia announced on Tuesday (2 May) that it had summoned Poland’s charge d’affaires to protest what it referred to as the “seizure” of its embassy building in Warsaw.Poland took control of the building Saturday. They claimed that Russia had illegally occupied Polish state property. Russia called it an "illegal seizing".In a Tuesday statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that "these steps taken by Warsaw won't go unanswered. We will respond in a timely manner."Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, the already hostile relations between Russia & Poland have gotten worse. Warsaw has become one of Kyiv’s most loyal allies.Last week, the Russian ambassador in Poland announced that Polish prosecutors seized significant sums of money from the frozen accounts of the Russian trade mission and embassy.

UK Conservatives suffer 'terrible' night of local election losses

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:58:36 GMT

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves his campaign headquarters after addressing his supporters, in London, Britain, 5 May, 20British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives were facing a bleak set of local election results today (5 May) with voters punishing his party after a year of political scandals, surging inflation and stagnant economic growth.While governing parties often struggle at mid-term elections, the council results in England will be the largest, and possibly last, test of voter sentiment before the next general election which is expected to be held next year.Counting has only taken place in about a quarter of the 8,000 council seats in local government authorities, which have responsibility for the day-to-day provision of public services such as bin collections and schools.The early results, which do not affect the government's majority in parliament, showed the Conservatives suffering a net loss of 218 seats while the main opposition Labour Party added 118...