An Ontario family was planning a religious trip to Saudi Arabia that included 10 people, but when they were checking in for their flights, the family discovered some of their tickets were fake.

With the U.S. election widely predicted to be a close race, some believe American voters in Canada and overseas will be crucial in helping elect the new president about a month from now.

An increasing number of Ontario school boards are reporting deficits and are using or even depleting their reserves, according to internal Ministry of Education briefing documents.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has reiterated that the integrity of the Singapore system and the tone of our society depend critically on the senior political leadership remaining clean, incorruptible and unflinching in acting against corruption whenever it is discovered. «We will do what is right by Singapore and Singaporeans, regardless of the political costs or the personal pain we feel when a colleague and friend has been jailed,» he said on Thursday (Oct 3) evening. PM Wong's statement came after S Iswaran, a former cabinet minister, was sentenced to one year's imprisonment earlier in the day. He had been found guilty of four charges of obtaining gifts as a public servant under Section 165 of the Penal Code, and one charge of obstructing justice. PM Wong expressed his disappointment and sadness that Iswaran's political career ended this way. He noted Iswaran's contributions as a Member of Parliament for over 25 years and his stints as minister for transport, trade and industry, and communications and information.

After many years of French language domination, former colonies in Africa are returning to their cultural roots Read Full Article at RT.com

RT’s Saskia Taylor takes a look at the shady activities of a Western-funded NGO accused of false-flag operations in Syria Read Full Article at RT.com

The former Ukrainian stronghold of Ugledar is fully under Russian control, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has announced Read Full Article at RT.com

Bank of England’s governor has warned that a broader Middle East conflict may disrupt oil supply and send energy prices soaring, 1970s-style Read Full Article at RT.com

As Nasser Yassin emphasized, «food and goods, as well as power stations received from Russian friends will help people in dire circumstances, and maybe some refugee families will be able to return to their homes»

The top Russian diplomat emphasized that Moscow and Beijing have managed to build an exemplary model for interstate collaboration of truly comprehensive strategic nature whilst showing wisdom and restraint

The parties also emphasized the need to intensify joint efforts to counter «the use of non-systemic opposition and international terrorist organizations by foreign intelligence services to destabilize the socio-political situation in Russia and Azerbaijan»

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on October 2 barred UN Secretary-General Antony Guterres from entering the Jewish state and declared him persona non grata for his lack of condemnation of Iran's attack on Israel

The spacecraft will be able to provide services in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, CEO of the Russian Satellite Communications Company Alexey Volin said

The People's National Party (PNP) says it strongly supports the candidacy of attorney-at-law Isat Buchanan for the East Portland constituency in the upcoming general elections. The PNP says criticisms from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) reveal...

The Search for Nicola Bulley explores the inside story of how the 45-year-old disappeared in January 2023 - sparking an online frenzy by amateur social media sleuths.

Sadiq Khan 's 'Night Czar' Amy Lamé, who was earning £132,846-a-year, was criticised for her globe-trotting adventures while London became ranked as the UK's worst city for a night out.

Moscow is planning to allocate nearly $18 million for Russian language promotion abroad in 2025  Read Full Article at RT.com

Niger’s government has ordered the French TV network Canal Plus to stop airing The Bachelor because it devalues African women Read Full Article at RT.com

Weather-wise, there is nothing to prevent the development of an airport in Hvassahraun. Also, the airport area is mostly outside the defined volcano systems and the probability of eruptions in the area is negligible, in addition to the fact that the area is not exposed to the lava flow of small eruptions that occur in the nearest volcano. Also, transportation is not considered to have a major long-term impact on domestic flights.

Electricity came back on at 14.05 yesterday after a major disruption in Landsnet's transmission system.

Austria’s Freedom Party is the latest to secure the most popular votes in a European election only to be sidelined by EU elites Read Full Article at RT.com

Georgia’s ban on ‘LGBT propaganda’ is about to come into force, after Speaker Shalva Papuashvili signed it into law on Thursday Read Full Article at RT.com

Elon Musk has accused the US Democratic Party of trying to censor citizens under the guise of fighting hate speech Read Full Article at RT.com

Washington has complicated India’s trade with its key partners, including Russia, New Delhi’s top diplomat has said   Read Full Article at RT.com

A delegation from Seychelles will participate in the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity from October 21 to November 1, 2024, an event marking a crucial moment for global environmental policy. As part of the delegation, there will be a senior project coordinator from the Biodiversity Conservation and Management Division, Indira Gamatis. She told SNA that preparation has already begun for the past several months with Seychelles weighing in on several points. These are the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) that provides the Conference of the Parties (COP) and its other subsidiary bodies with timely advice relating to the implementation of the Convention. She said Seychelles will focus on several agendas namely invasive alien species, nature-based solutions, conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity specifically island biodiversity as well as priority actions for coral reefs. “An agenda item that is very important to us, is the Biodiversity and Climate Change agenda item. To look much more at the synergies between biodiversity and climate change, which is very important for us in Seychelles considering our small island and of course all of the impacts climate change has on Seychelles and biodiversity. Similarly, it is also looking at how biodiversity can also aid in combatting the effects of climate change,” she added. In a recent virtual press conference, the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia and COP16 President-designate, Susana Muhamad, highlighted the conference's ambitious goals, including elevating the profile of biodiversity within the climate crisis and materialising the principle of whole-of-government and whole-of-society mobilisation. According to Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, a record-breaking 14,000 delegates are expected to attend. The conference will focus on key themes including peace with nature and the synergies between climate change and biodiversity loss. One of the most anticipated outcomes is the potential operationalisation of the multilateral mechanism for sharing benefits from digital sequencing information (DSI) on genetic resources. This complex issue involves how industries and companies that use DSI, often from resources in the Global South, can fairly compensate for its use. Resource mobilisation is another important topic that will be covered at the conference. The main topic of discussion will be how to get more funding for biodiversity protection and how to access it; new funding methods may be developed as well. The private sector's role in biodiversity conservation will be a key focus, with dedicated forums and discussions on how businesses can implement the Kunming-Montreal Agreement framework. Japanese companies, in particular, are expected to bring innovative approaches to the table.

President Emmanuel Macron this week hosts dozens of leaders of French-speaking countries for a summit he hopes will help boost French influence in a world beset by crises, in particular Africa. The leaders will gather Friday and Saturday for the «Francophonie» summit, the first time the event has been held in France for 33 years. Macron is also holding bilateral talks with several top guests on Thursday. France's sway in Africa has been badly eroded by successive coups in Mali in 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger in 2023 which saw Paris-friendly governments replaced by juntas who cosied up to Russia. Meanwhile the crisis besetting Lebanon, a former French colony targeted by daily Israeli bombardment and now a ground incursion as Israel attacks the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, has again shown up France's lack of influence in the Middle East. Centrist Macron is hosting the showpiece event at a time when his own domestic standing has been chipped by the outcome of this summer's legislative elections which forced him to nominate rightwinger Michel Barnier as head of a minority government in a potentially testy «cohabitation.» One of Macron's key guests at the summit will be Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who is himself facing a political crisis after seeing off two no confidence votes in as many weeks. Macron kicked off a day of bilateral talks with a meeting at the Elysee palace in Paris with Georgia's President Salome Zurabishvili, herself a former French diplomat and dogged opponent of a new law in her country seen as anti-LGBT. The summit will use different venues on each day, with leaders gathering on Friday at a chateau in Villers-Cotterets northeast of Paris where Macron last year inaugurated a centre for the French language. On Saturday, proceedings will move to Paris. Louise Mushikiwabo, secretary general of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) that groups 88 member states, acknowledged that the body had a «modest» influence. - 'Space for dialogue' - The OIF is not able to «resolve the complicated crises of the world, but can make things move forward,» she told AFP in an interview. While key African leaders such as Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi will be present, those of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have not been invited. One prominent guest will be Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby, an ally of France and regular visitor to Paris, whose Sahel nation still hosts French troops even after their departure from Mali, Burkina and Niger. Guinea has been invited despite its junta under General Mamady Doumbouya taking power in a 2021 coup. A delegation from Lebanon is coming but not its prime minister. Macron told l'Union newspaper he sees the Francophonie as «a space for mediation», «a space for dialogue to resolve political differences», citing a territorial dispute between the DRC and Rwanda on which he hopes to make progress at the summit. The OIF, whose missions are to «promote the French language», «peace, democracy and human rights», «support education» and «develop economic cooperation», estimates the number of French speakers at 321 million across five continents, making it the 5th most spoken language in the world. © Agence France-Presse

The Senegalese town of Kayar sits on the doorstep of the vast Atlantic Ocean, but it is a farm located further inland that provides part of its fish production. The farm's pioneering founder, Khadidiatou Sar Seck, began the project around 15 years ago in the West African country, where fishing is a key part of the national identity. Fish accounts for over 70 percent of household protein intake, and the fishing industry provides around 600,000 direct and indirect jobs in a population of 18 million people. But a resource that once seemed inexhaustible is becoming increasingly scarce due to overfishing, illegal catches and global warming. The volume of catches by traditional wooden fishing canoes plunged by 58 percent between 2012 and 2019, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). For Senegalese faced with a high cost of living and widespread unemployment, prices are rising and an essential foodstuff is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Hardly a day goes by without reports of a migrant boat leaving, being intercepted or capsizing on the perilous route between Senegal and Spain's Canary Islands. Many who board the boats are fishermen or those living along the Atlantic coast, which is heavily reliant on the industry. Like its predecessors, the new government has vowed to promote fish farming and attract industry investment. - Untapped potential - «Our objective is for aquaculture to make a major contribution to the country's marine production and to help achieve food sovereignty,» fisheries minister Fatou Diouf said at a conference on sustainable aquaculture in the capital Dakar in September. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has made food sovereignty a policy priority since coming to power in March. Despite its immense potential, Africa accounts for only around 1.9 percent of global aquaculture production, according to a 2024 report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Asia accounts for 91.4 percent. Aquaculture has long been practised in Senegal but has always struggled to take off. The country created a dedicated agency in 2006 but the practice still supplies barely one percent of the country's overall aquatic produce. For Seck, standing next to pools teeming with catfish and tilapia, the difficulty is that Senegalese people do not know the product, and finding quality varieties is difficult. Feed for farmed fish has to be imported and is expensive, access to land is challenging and marketing is complicated, she added. Seck sells her products directly to individuals, wholesalers and fishmongers. But the director of the national aquaculture agency, Samba Ka, has big ambitions for the industry. «Anything is possible if investment and partners follow suit,» he said. «We need everyone to get involved, to organise fairs and culinary workshops, to invite chefs, so that people know that this is something that can be eaten and that is good for health and nutrition.» - 'No more fish' – The national agency hopes to produce 65,000 tonnes of farmed fish in 2032 and create around 50,000 jobs. In a vast hangar around 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Dakar, Demba Diop specialises in the production of young fish destined for farming. He had to «start from scratch» using his own funds to set up the farm, as banks knew little about the business, he said. Other barriers include the cost of feed and the availability of good quality young fish, both of which have to be imported from Europe. At Dakar's bustling Soumbedioune market, fishermen hauling their colourful wooden vessels onto shore had mixed reactions to the prospects for aquaculture. «We have enough fish in our seas, but unfortunately it's the foreign trawlers that deprive us of it,» said Olivier Gomes, 36, who ruled out turning to fish farming. Gomes said that he feared price competition from farmed fish. He was considering heading to Europe to make more money. But Alioune Badara, a 54-year-old former fisherman who lived in Europe for a few years before returning to Senegal, said he was tempted by the change. «Today, there are no more fish in the sea. If someone can help me financially with fish farming, I'm very interested,» he said. © Agence France-Presse

The second Seychelles executive leadership programme for 29 of the country's top government officials was launched on Thursday as part of a drive to modernise its civil service, in a ceremony held at the Savoy Resort and Spa. President Wavel Ramkalawan said his hope for this cohort is the same as for the last group, which to “ensure that we continue to build our people and ensure that we have Seychellois in all those positions guiding our nation, helping our people to not only discover their own talents, but also serving the people”. The programme is the result of Seychelles and the UAE signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to modernise and transform the island nation's public service, which took place in Dubai on March 29, 2022, on the sidelines of the World Government Summit. Since then, 27 chief executives and senior officials from Seychelles have graduated from the programme. Abdulla Nasser Lootah, the UAE's Deputy Minister for Cabinet Affairs for Competitiveness and Knowledge Exchange, said «This is a remarkable day for us as we launch the second cohort of the Seychelles executive leadership programme. This is a five-month programme with six modules...And we see that there will be greater programmes in the future; some of the programmes will be general in nature, and some of them will be focused on certain domains.» These include the finance, health and education sectors as well as logistics, urban planning, among others. Meanwhile the Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade, Naadir Hassan, told the press that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - sponsored programme, focuses on elements of digital solutions, foresight thinking and other new approaches to ensure that "the leaders in the different organisations in Seychelles have the right skill sets for them to be able to lead these organisations to ensure that they achieve their mandate.” Hassan also said, “This is especially important for us as the modernisation of the public service is one of the main pillars of the National Development strategy, where we are looking at developing leaders in the civil service.” He also explained that this would include the right attributes of strategic thinking to lead the country into the future. The participants of the executive leadership programme have already completed two modules of their training. They will also have the chance to work on a project, aimed at further modernising their respective organisations, as well as spend five weeks in the UAE.

Blades, 54, is offering fans the chance to 'experience the ultimate weekend vibes' playing live DJ sets from his spare bedroom, MailOnline can reveal.

Malawi is endowed with the only fresh water lake in Southern Africa. This land locked Southern African State is also with game reserves and unique mountains.  “There is potential in the north for tourism. There are a lot of places which many haven’t discovered, which Rayoni tourism Centre will explore and bring out. There are […] The post Rayoni to transform tourism in Northern Malawi  appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.

When opening the 3rd Research Dissemination Conference for Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) yesterday, Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda described the university’s work as not just academic but deeply intertwined with Malawi’s national health policies and guidelines. She expounded that Research Dissemination Conference — that is continuing today and ends tomorrow — is a highly […] The post KUHeS services are not just academic, says Health Minister  appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.

The Malawi Government has been urged to expedite the enactment of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill currently published in the Government Gazette in 2016. Reverend Martin Kalimbe, Board member of Centre for Solutions Journalism (CSJ) said this in a statement issued as the nation joins the world in commemorating the International Safe Abortion Day under […] The post Delay in enacting the Termination of Pregnancy bill worried CSOs appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.

The Small Scale Crossborder Association has suspended the protests against Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on the Excise tax stamp regime to pave way for negotiations with authorities from MRA, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Trade. Secretary General for the Association, Frank Zizwani Mhango said the suspension follows the agreement the Association had with officials […] The post Small Scale Cross border traders suspends demos to pave way for negotiations with authorities appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.

After a break from sailing on the waters of Lake Malawi when boarders were closed in 2019 due to Covid-19, a passenger ship from Mozambique called MV Chambo is back to aid Malawians with water transportation. Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Watson Maingo, confirmed the development to the local […] The post Good news! MV Chambo back on Lake Malawi waters appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.

They have criticised the highways agency, claiming matrix signs to warn other drivers came on too late. One local tyre company said 58 vehicles had been damaged on the stretch of road in Surrey.