Monday, 31 October 2022

What Bank of Canada's latest interest rate hike could mean


Global News on Youtube shows that the Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 3.75 per cent on Wednesday, as the inflation battle continues and Canadians continue to feel more strapped financially. Anne Gaviola reports on what the latest interest rate could mean for your wallet as the institution continues to try and cool the economy and bring inflation down.

And Ross Lord explains how some homeowners are now debating whether to lock in their mortgage rates before they climb even higher.

High food prices in the United Kingdom are being blamed for the country's inflation rate rising to 10.1 per cent in September. Crystal Goomansingh looks at the toll the soaring cost of living is taking on Britons.

Two women who left Canada to join ISIS fighters have now returned home with their children, after spending years in a detention camp in Syria. Mercedes Stephenson explains the charges the women are now facing, and the building pressure on Ottawa to do more to secure the release of Canadians in detention camps.

Plus, an Ontario woman who says she was wrongfully charged with murder plans to sue the OPP for the accusation that she says destroyed her life. Caryn Lieberman reports.

Dozens dead after pedestrian bridge collapses in western India


CBC News: The National shows the story.

At least 81 people are dead in western India after a century-old footbridge packed with sightseers collapsed, sending them into the river below.

Seoul crowd surge kills at least 146, officials say


CBC News shows the story.

At least 146 people were killed and 150 more were injured after a stampede broke out during Halloween festivities in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood.

Sunday, 2 October 2022

Thoughts on WHO


The so-called World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main important objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health". Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it certainly has six regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.

The WHO was established on 7 April 1948.

The WHO's mandate seeks and includes: working worldwide to promote health, keeping the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.

The WHO has played a leading role in several public health achievements, most notably the eradication of smallpox, the near-eradication of polio, and the development of an Ebola vaccine. Its current priorities include communicable diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS, Ebola, COVID-19, malaria and tuberculosis; non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and cancer; healthy diet, nutrition, and food security; occupational health; and substance abuse.

Its so-called World Health Assembly, the agency's decision-making body, elects and advises an executive board made up of 34 health specialists. It selects the director-general, sets goals and priorities, and approves the budget and activities. The current director-general is indeed Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia.

Cashless Society Fears


In a so-called cashless society, financial transactions are not conducted with physical banknotes or coins, but instead with digital information (usually an electronic representation of money). Cashless societies have existed from the time when human society came into existence, based on barter and other methods of exchange, and cashless transactions have also become possible in modern times using credit cards, debit cards, mobile payments, and digital currencies such as cryptocurrency bitcoin.

Such a concept has been discussed widely. The world is indeed experiencing a rapid and increasing use of digital methods of recording, managing, and exchanging money in commerce, investment and daily life in many parts of the world, and transactions which would historically have been undertaken with cash are often now really undertaken electronically. Some countries in the world now set limits on transactions and transaction values for which non-electronic payment may be indeed legally used.

Industrial Revolution Explanation


The so-called "Industrial Revolution" was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820-1840. This important transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, the increasing use of steam power and water power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the mechanized factory system. Output certainly greatly increased, and a result was an unprecedented rise in population and in the rate of population growth.

Textiles were really the dominant industry of the Industrial Revolution in terms of employment, value of output and capital invested. The textile industry was also the first to use modern production methods.

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, and many of the technological and architectural innovations were of British origin. By the mid-18th century, Britain was the world's leading commercial nation, controlling a global trading empire with colonies in North America and the Caribbean. Britain had major military and political hegemony on the Indian subcontinent; particularly with the proto-industrialised Mughal Bengal, through the activities of the East India Company. The development of trade and the rise of business were really among the major causes of the Industrial Revolution.

German blog writer speaks


The country of Germany (German: Deutschland), officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is an important country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of 357,022 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi), with a large population of almost 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and largest city by population is Berlin and its financial centre is city of Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.

The Ruhr, also referred to as the so-called "Ruhr area", sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km² and a population of over 5 million, it is certainly the largest urban area in Germany.

"Polycentric" means having more than one center (as of development or control).

Germany consists of 16 federal states, which you can see listed below. Bayern (Bavaria), Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) and Baden-Württemberg are the largest federal states and Bremen is really the smallest federal state.

Here is a list of states in Germany:

Berlin
Bayern (Bavaria)
Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony)
Baden-Württemberg
Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Sachsen (Saxony)
Thüringen (Thuringia)
Hessen
Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt)
Brandenburg
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Hamburg
Schleswig-Holstein
Saarland
Bremen