OTTAWA- Despite creating job opportunities unemployment rate in Canada remains unchanged. Canada added 56,000 full-time jobs in February. However, the unemployment rate remains at 5.8 percent, the government statistical agency said Friday.

Coming on the heels of a jobs surge at the start of the year, economists had forecast a slight drop in the unemployment rate.

But only Ontario — the most populous region and an economic hub — saw an uptick in jobs in the month, according to Statistics Canada.

The Western prairie province of Manitoba shed 3,300 net jobs, while others saw no real change. “Is the Canadian economy a dead parrot, or like the one in the Monty Python skit, maybe it’s just resting, since today’s jobs data seem to suggest that there’s a lot of life left in it,” CIBC Capital Markets chief economist, Avery Shenfeld mused in a research note.

Following a string of interest rate hikes over the past year from a near record low, and then a pause, Shenfeld said the latest job numbers and other recent economic data could put pressure on the Bank of Canada to resume raising rates — eventually.

“While there’s nothing in this that spells a rate hike any time soon, the market might rethink the idea that the next move is sure to be a cut,” he said.

According to Statistics Canada, more people were employed in professional, scientific and technical services; public administration; natural resources; and agriculture in February. At the same time, there were fewer workers in hotel and food services, as well as transportation and warehousing.

(Agencies)

WASHINGTON: Trump administration on Thursday issued a long-awaited proposal to extend mandatory overtime pay to a million more workers.

Under the existing law, salaried workers are automatically entitled to overtime pay only if they earn less than $23,660 a year, a figure set in 2004.

The proposal released on Thursday would raise the threshold to $35, 308.

The Labor Department in 2016 doubled the salary threshold to about $47,000, extending mandatory overtime pay to about 4 million U.S. workers.

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said in a statement that Thursday’s proposal would “bring common sense, consistency, and higher wages to working Americans.”

A higher salary threshold could lead to more lawsuits, since many more workers would be covered by the federal law mandating overtime pay. Trade groups have also said a higher overtime threshold could push employers to cut some workers’ hours.

The Obama administration rule would have automatically raised the salary threshold every three years.

LONDON: Nearly a third of Britain’s billionaires have either moved or are relocating to tax havens, where some have broken UK law by bankrolling political parties, a major investigation said on Thursday.

The Times newspaper published a series of reports detailing allegations of Britain’s ultra-rich hiding billions of pounds from the UK Treasury in taxes over the past decade.

The report came out days after the government drew public fury for delaying a vote on proposed legislation aimed at ending secret company ownership in offshore territories.

“We must stop tax evasion so that the wealthiest pay their fair share,” Margaret Hodge, a leading lawmaker from the main opposition Labor Party who co-sponsored the tax haven measure, tweeted in response to The Times reports.
“Public registers and more transparency are the next big step for fairer tax.”

Prime Minister Theresa May’s government did not immediately respond to the investigation.

Knights and dames

The Times said that 28 out of the 93 British billionaires it found through public records “have moved to tax havens or are in the process of relocating”.

It said almost half of the 28 have left in the past decade. The Times said those in the process of moving included Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man and a major Brexit supporter. His chemicals firm is valued at £35 billion ($46 billion).

The Sunday Times reported last month that Ratcliffe’s move to Monaco, where it said 10 British billionaires and 408 UK business owners live, could cost the Treasury up to £4 billion.

Asked about his rumored move last October, Ratcliffe told Britain’s Press Association news agency that he was staying in Britain.

The Times said big business owners were trying to avoid paying Britain’s relatively high 38.1 percent income tax on dividends — the cash payments made by corporations to their shareholders.

It is effectively a profit tax, since business owners hold a large portion of their company’s shares.

Tax-evading 

Companies registered in offshore tax shelters such as the Channel Islands or countries like Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates pay little to no tax.

The Times said the exodus was spurred by a hike in income tax rates for top earners to 50 percent in 2010, which was reduced to 45 percent in 2013.

New rules from 2013 making a switch in tax residency easier also contributed, The Times said. But some of its most damning allegations concerned political contributions.

The Times said successive UK governments have failed to properly enact a 2009 law banning large donations from anyone residing abroad for tax purposes.

It said tax-evading business owners and their companies have made political contributions worth £5.5 million over the past decade.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives accepted £1 million from these entities in the months leading up to the 2017 snap general election, The Times said.

It added that several of these billionaires have also received honorary titles such as baron, knight and dame.

(Agencies)

US senator, Martha McSally today revealed that a superior officer raped her while serving in the Air Force.

Senator Martha, 52, the first female US fighter pilot to fly in combat, made the revelation while speaking at a hearing on sex assaults in the military, media reports said.

Martha, a Republican from Arizona, however said she did not report the case as she was confused and felt ashamed.

According to a report, almost 6,800 sexual assaults were reported across the US military in 2017, which is a 10 percent rise from the previous year.

Speaking during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee, she said she is a military sexual assault survivor adding that she didn’t trust the system at the time. (Agencies)

WASHINGTON: Iranian hackers have hit more than 200 companies over the past two years, targeting thousands of people. Hackers have stolen corporate secrets and wiped data from computers.

According to Microsoft, hackers have affected oil-and-gas companies and makers of heavy machinery in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Germany, the United Kingdom, India and the US, incurring a loss of millions of dollars.

Holmium, the Iranian hacker group, that usually attacks big companies, have been targeting more than 2,200 people with phishing emails that can install malicious codes.

Satellite images of North Korea shows it is restoring a rocket launch site, which it had pledged to dismantle.

The Tongchang-ri rocket launch site has been used for satellite launches and engine testing, according to reports.

The satellite showed the images two days after the Hanoi summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.

Even though the work to dismantle the site began last year, it stopped as the US-North Korea talks stalled, agency reports said.

The US, meanwhile, has warned North Korea of more sanctions if Pyongyang did not take steps to denuclearize. (Agencies)

LONDON: In just three years of establishing her company, Kylie Jenner has been named as the youngest self-made billionaire of all-time. The 21-year-old Jener has made it onto the annual Forbes list of billionaires.
She has a net worth of $1bn (£759m).  The company did an estimated $360m (£273m) in sales, according to Forbes.  Jenner debuted her brand Kylie Cosmetics online in 2015 with $29 (£22) lip kits containing lipstick and lip liner. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was 23 when he made onto the billionaire’s list.

KABUL: At least 16 people were killed when suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a construction company in Jalalabad of Afghanistan, officials said.

Two suicide bombers set off their explosives outside the office of the company while gunmen opened fire, international news agencies said on Wednesday.

Those killed include several of its guards, five attackers, two bombers and three gunmen, according to officials. No group has claimed responsibility.

According to officials, critically injured four employees of the company have been taken to hospital. (Agencies)

BRUSSELS: The European Union said it will start screening foreign direct investment (FDI) into the 28-nation bloc from April.

The decision has been taken as a move to ‘safeguard Europe’s security, public order, and strategic interests’, according to the European Commission.

European ministers on Tuesday approved the process, which was first proposed by the Commission two years back in 2017, agency reports said.

The screening is aimed at giving EU countries a tool to intervene in cases of FDI in strategic assets, according to reports. (Agencies)

NEW YORK: Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate in 2016, has ruled out a second US presidential run next year.

She said, “I’m not running for the second time. But I will keep on working, speaking, and standing up for what I believe.

In an interview with New York’s News 12 TV channel, she said she would not contest the 2020 presidential election, media reports said.

In 2016, Clinton was expected to become the first female president of the United States of America.

The interview is the first time Mrs Clinton has definitively rebutted speculation that she might take on Mr Trump again in 2020. (Agencies)