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Ottawa / AFP The Canadian economy lost 2,300 jobs in February, with fresh losses in the oil-producing provinces raising unemployment to 7.3 percent, the highest level seen in three years, official data showed Friday. The results fell short of analysts’ expectations of 10,000 new jobs and unemployment holding steady at 7.2 percent. Although there was a slight increase in the ...

RIO DE JANEIRO / Bloomberg Brazil’s real advanced for the third week, the longest rally since November, amid growing speculation that a change in government would boost local assets. The currency gained 1.1 percent to 3.5856 per dollar, the strongest level on a closing basis since Aug. 28, bringing its weekly advance to 4.7 percent. It’s up 12 percent this ...

BLOOMBERG U.S. gas drillers battered by the lowest prices in 17 years have found another release valve for their output: Canada. Over the past five years, the shale boom that unlocked vast supplies of natural gas across North America has tripled pipeline shipments from the U.S. to Mexico, and spurred the first seaborne exports from the lower 48 states. Now, ...

BEIRUT / AP After five years of bloodshed — after a quarter of a million deaths, and the flight of millions of refugees — Syria has arrived at a critical juncture: A diplomatic framework is in place to end the carnage, a two-week-old partial ceasefire is holding, and peace talks are set to resume in coming days. “The indicators from ...

Athens / AFP Greece aims to deal swiftly with the migrant overflow at the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greek-Macedonian border where some 12,000 people are camping in miserable conditions waiting to cross. “I hope the situation at Idomeni is resolved within a week without recourse to force,” Mega television on Saturday quoted Dimitris Vitsas, the minister charged with coordinating ...

London / AFP Britain said on Saturday it was sending more troops to Iraq to bolster its mission training up the armed forces taking on the IS extremist group. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said a further 30 troops would be deployed to provide training in logistics and bridge-building, as well as specialist medical staff. The move would take the total ...

France / AFP French police arrested 14 people on Saturday after a far-right group took to the streets for an anti-immigrant rally in the port town of Calais, where thousands of migrants are living in improvised camps. The roughly 80 activists blocked off two bridges close to the city centre and burned tyres, waved banners and set off smoke bombs, ...

Damascus / AFP President Bashar Al Assad’s ouster remains a “red line” for the Syrian government, the war-wracked country’s foreign minister said on Saturday ahead of fragile peace talks in Geneva. Walid Muallem also told a news conference in Damascus that the government delegation to the talks due to start on Monday will wait no more than 24 hours for ...

Seoul/ AP North Korea said on Saturday its military is ready to pre-emptively attack and “liberate” the South if it sees signs that American and South Korean troops involved in annual joint military drills are attempting to invade the North. The declaration from General Staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army on state media is the latest outburst over the ...

Frequently predicted but never reached, “peak oil” — maximum possible production — has been postponed yet again, this time because of fracking. “Peak Sanders” was prematurely announced because of persistent underestimations of how underwhelming Hillary Clinton is as a candidate. The Vermont senator’s peak might not arrive soon because his fundraising prowess will allow him to continue campaigning to outlaw ...