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Canadian Unemployment Rate Hits Six-month High Amid US-imposed Tariffs

Statistics Canada showed an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, with most cuts in the manufacturing sector. Canada’s unemployment jumped to its highest level since November as United States President Donald Trump’s imposed tariffs affect the export-dependent economy. Statistics Canada showed a 0.2 percent increase for the month of April, bringing the country’s unemployment rate to 6.9 percent, according to its report released on Friday. The 6.9 figure matched November unemployment, which was an eight-year high outside of the pandemic era. The agency pointed to the effect tariffs imposed by the US had on the country’s manufacturing sector, which lost 31,000 jobs on a monthly basis. The wholesale, retail and trade sector saw 27,000 jobs cut. Employment in the public sector increased by 23,000 or up 0.5 percent in April, following three months of little change, especially due to increased temporary hiring for the federal election that took place on April 28. The average hourly wage growth of permanent employees, a metric closely watched by the Canadian central bank to gauge inflationary trends, was at 3.5 percent in April, unchanged since March. Overall, the employment number was largely flat with minimal gains of net 7,400 jobs in April, it said – slightly higher than analyst expectations at 6.8 percent. This was in contrast to a loss of 32,600 jobs the prior month. The employment rate, or the proportion of the working-age population that is employed, was at 60.8 percent in April, following a decline of 0.2 percentage points in March. This was a six-month low, the statistics agency said. The employment rate had been depressed for most of 2023 and 2024 as population growth outpaced employment gains. However, since February, population growth has not been very high but employment gains have slowed. “People who were unemployed continued to face more difficulties finding work in April than a year earlier,” StatsCan said, adding that among those who were unemployed in March, 61 percent remained unemployed in April – almost four percentage points higher than the same period last year. Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium in March and automobiles in April, along with import duties on a broad range of products with various reductions and exemptions, have affected businesses and households. The Bank of Canada has warned that growth would take a major hit in the coming months as exports fall, prices increase, hiring drops and layoffs accelerate. It has said it will act decisively if the economy needs urgent support. “Overall, we are seeing a job market that was weak heading into the trade war, now looking like it could soon buckle. Today’s report supports the case for a Bank of Canada cut in June,” Ali Jaffery, senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets, told the Reuters news agency. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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After Minerals Deal, Trump Approves Arms To Ukraine, Plays Down Peace Plan

Trump has approved a $310m sale of F-16 parts and support, and told Russia and Ukraine to sort out their own ceasefire. The Donald Trump administration last week approved its first sale of weapons to Ukraine after signing a memorandum of intent to exploit Ukrainian mineral wealth, suggesting that US foreign and defence policy under its current president will be driven by economic policy. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on May 2 that the Trump administration had approved the sale of parts, maintenance and training for F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine worth $310m. Defence newspaper The War Zone had previously said decommissioned F-16s were being shipped from a US Air Force graveyard in Arizona to Ukraine for spare parts, and published photos of partially dismantled F-16 fuselages being loaded onto a Ukrainian Antonov-124 transport plane at Tucson International Airport on May 1. The US sale announcement did not include operational F-16 aircraft or missiles, but European allies of Ukraine have reportedly promised a total of 85 working F-16s. This sale represented the first military aid from the Trump administration to Ukraine, and the first aid Ukraine would be paying for. The previous administration of President Joe Biden provided $130bn in financial and military grants to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first publicly offered to buy US weapons systems on April 15, specifically asking for Patriot air defence systems. The US sale followed the April 30 signing of a memorandum by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko to jointly exploit new mineral deposits in Ukraine, including metals, oil and gas. “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” said Bessent. The memorandum said half of the proceeds from royalties and licensing fees payable to the government of Ukraine will be put into an investment fund for reconstruction purposes. It did not stipulate whether US investors would similarly invest any proportion of their proceeds, or if the US government would facilitate investment. Nor did the memorandum specify a timeframe for investment. Svyrydenko said the US government would contribute to the reconstruction fund, without specifying how much. Zelenskyy called it “now truly an equal partnership” in his Mayday evening address and said it would allow the US and Ukraine “to make money in partnership”. “This partnership sends a strong message to Russia – the United States has skin in the game and is committed to Ukraine’s long-term success,” said a White House statement. A day after signing the minerals deal, the Trump administration began to distance itself from the prospect of peace in Ukraine, despite Trump’s promise to deliver it quickly after his inauguration. The administration delivered a ceasefire offer to Russia and Ukraine on April 17, calling it “final”. “It’s going to be up to them to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict,” US Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on May 1. “We’re not going to fly around the world organising mediation meetings. Now it’s up to the two sides,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce. US Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio told Fox News on the same day, “We’ve got so many, I would argue even more important, issues going on around the world,” referencing “what’s happening in China” and “Iran’s nuclear ambition”. Whereas Ukraine has agreed to a US 30-day ceasefire proposal, Russia has not, proposing instead a three-day ceasefire to protect 29 international leaders attending a May 9 victory parade in Moscow to mark the end of the Second World War. Zelenskyy has dismissed that request. On May 9, he called on Putin again to “a 30-day silence. But it must be real. No missile or drone strikes, no hundreds of assaults on the front… The Russians… must prove their willingness to end the war.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova responded by saying Zelenskyy “unambiguously threatened world leaders”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the point of the three-day truce was “to test Kyiv’s readiness to find ways for a long-term sustainable peace”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Brazil’s O Globo newspaper, “The ball is not in our court. [Kyiv] has not shown readiness for negotiations so far.” Russia has prosecuted its war against Ukraine to the fullest, launching 1,300 assaults since the beginning of May. Russia suffered 35,000 casualties in April, and just less than 126,000 in the first four months of 2025, said Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence – the equivalent of three rifle divisions. During that time, Russia occupied 1,627 sq km (628 square miles), a figure that included the recapture of its own Kursk region in March, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Al Jazeera is unable to independently verify casualty tolls. However, the ISW said Russian gains had “slowed as Russian forces come up against more well-defended Ukrainian positions in and around larger towns such as Kupiansk, Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk over the last four months”. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii said the main threats were in “primarily Sumy and Kursk, Pokrovsky, Novopavlovsk”. Russia has been intensifying its use of controlled air bombs (CABs) this year, said Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force, dropping 5,000 in April versus 4,800 in March, 3,370 in February and 1,830 in January. Ukraine considers these 1.5-tonne bombs one of its biggest difficulties on the front lines. Neutralising Russia’s ability to launch them from planes deep inside Russia was its main reason for requesting long-range strike capability from the former administration of President Joe Biden. Russia also stepped up long-range strikes against Ukraine’s cities. Overnight on May 1, Russia fired five Iskander ballistic missiles and 170 drones and decoys. Two more Iskanders and 183 drones were launched on May 2. The northern city of Kharkiv, just 30km (19 miles) from the Russian border, was particularly hard-hit, with 10 fires recorded in various districts of the city, said the State Emergency Service. Some 44 people were injured. Russia struck Kharkiv again days later, engulfing its commercial market in flames. Russia launched 165 drones on May 3 and 116 drones along with 2 Iskander missiles the following day. On Wednesday, a ballistic missile and drones struck Kyiv, killing a mother and son. “The Russians are asking for silence on May 9, but they themselves strike Ukraine every day,” wrote Zelenskyy on Telegram. The ISW said “the Kremlin is attempting to prolong negotiations to extract additional concessions from the United States and Ukraine.” Ukraine held its front line against an escalating Russian onslaught and struck targeted blows against Russia’s military machine. Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told The War Zone that Ukrainian Magura-7 unmanned surface drones had successfully downed two Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter jets using AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles originally designed for air-to-air use. The pilot of the first Russian Su-30 was rescued by a civilian ship near the port of Novorossiysk in the Black Sea. The second Su-30 fell over Crimea. The crew did not survive, said Budanov. The downing of a Sukhoi by a surface drone was unprecedented, he added. Ukrainian military intelligence pioneered the use of surface kamikaze drones to strike Russian Black Sea Fleet ships, and on December 31 used them to launch rockets, downing two Russian helicopters. It was the first time surface drones had been used against air targets – another Ukrainian innovation. Since late 2022, Ukraine has also pioneered the use of light, first-person-view drones to perform targeted munitions drops on enemy armour and personnel. “Over the past two months – March and April – our drones have hit and destroyed over 160 thousand enemy targets,” wrote Syrskii on Telegram. In April, drones destroyed more than 83,000 targets, 8 percent more than in March, he claimed, lauding the “effectiveness of Ukrainian unmanned systems”. In addition, he said deep-strike weapons had hit 62 targets on Russian territory in April. In the past week, Ukrainian drones torched the Fiber Optic Systems plant in Saransk, Republic of Mordovia, for the second time in a month, Russia’s only plant manufacturing fibre-optic cable used in unmanned aerial vehicles. They seemed to have also struck the nearby Saranskkabel machine-building plant. Ukraine also struck the Instrument-Making Design Bureau in Tula, which produces antitank systems and small arms, as well as the Scientific-Production Association (SPLAV), which produces multiple-launch rocket systems. Further, Ukraine claimed to have struck airbases in the Moscow and Kaluga regions, housing cruise missiles, Tupolev-22M3 strategic bombers and Su-27 and MiG-29 fighter jets. “You are writing the history of the modern Ukrainian statehood,” Syrskii wrote on Telegram on Tuesday. “You are the modern history of Ukraine.” Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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Leone! Vatican Crowds Hail Leo XIV As New Pope Of The Catholic Church

Experts say Pope Leo is likely to carry forward the legacy of his predecessor Francis, while forging his own path. Vatican City – It felt like the square could talk in one voice: “Leone! Leone! Leone!” Thousands of people in St Peter’s Square chanted in chorus the name adopted by Robert Prevost as he ascended to the papacy on Thursday: Leo XIV. Just an hour and a half earlier, white smoke had billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, announcing that a conclave of cardinals had elected a new leader for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Now, it was time to meet Pope Leo himself. A solemn silence fell across the square. The faithful waited to hear the pope’s first message, which would set the tone for his papacy. “Peace be upon you,” said Leo XIV, appearing on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica. He proceeded to repeat a blessing uttered by his late predecessor, Pope Francis, just weeks earlier: “God loves us, God loves everyone, and evil will not prevail. We are in the hands of God.” It was a closely watched moment, with red-hatted cardinals poking out of nearby windows to catch their first glimpse at the newly minted pontiff. Pope Leo XIV was elected on the second day of the conclave, and his opening remarks as leader signalled continuity with Francis, who died on April 21 at age 88. But experts say he is likely to strike a middle path, between furthering Francis’s inclusive agenda and embracing Vatican tradition. “Peace” was one of the most used words in his brief speech — a choice meant to echo the words that Jesus pronounced after Easter, as Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni explained during a news briefing. Leo XIV called on Catholics to seek “a disarmed peace and a disarming peace” through “dialogue” and “building bridges”, in a brief speech heavy with themes of unity. “Bravo! That is what we need!” one audience member in the square shouted as the new pope spoke. Another, 29-year-old Kasper Mihalak from Denmark, was squeezed in the middle of the crowd hoping to catch a glimpse of the first North American pope. “I am really excited. Cardinal Prevost, now Leo XIV — it’s gonna be amazing! He said a lot about peace during his speech. I think the world now really needs it,” Mihalak said. Rosaria Venuto could hardly hold back her tears. Early in the morning, she picked up her two children and drove four hours from Ascoli Satriano, a small town in the southern Italian province of Apulia, to be in St Peter’s Square. “I am deeply moved to have the chance to be here and live through this joy and be a small part of this historical event,” she said. Born in Chicago, a midwestern city in the United States, Leo XIV spent more than two decades in Peru, where he acquired dual citizenship. There, he worked in some of Peru’s poorest areas, and he eventually became the bishop of Chiclayo, in the country’s agricultural north. Then, in 2023, Pope Francis appointed him to lead a powerful office that manages bishops across the world. Phil Pullella, a Vatican expert who has covered the papacy for more than four decades, said that background offers a degree of continuity with Francis, who hailed from Argentina and advocated against poverty. “He knows about poverty in Latin America,” Pullella said of Leo XIV. “So, he’s not the same thing as if they had elected some cardinal of New York, for example.” That continuity was likely appreciated by conservative camps at the Vatican, as well as liberal-leaning ones, Pullella added. “He comes from the wealthy world, but he witnessed firsthand the problems of the Global South in a poor country,” he said. Still, Pullella noted that the way Leo XIV dressed showed that “he is going to be his own man”. Instead of the simple white cassock that Pope Francis wore in 2013 when he was elected, Leo XIII added a traditional red cape over his vest, symbolising the spiritual and temporal powers of his office. “In a sense, he is going back a little bit to that kind of tradition,” Pullella said. “He would not have been elected had he not had the votes of the conservative bloc.” Leo XIV’s election came as a surprise to many. Many observers were betting on a new pope by nightfall, but few expected only three rounds of voting. The crowd was stunned when white smoke started to pour out of the tiny chimney by early evening, at around 6:09pm local time (16:00 GMT). That was the signal that — of the 133 cardinals under the age of 80 who were eligible to vote — a candidate had received the two-thirds majority needed to become pope. This year’s conclave had the distinction of being the most international in the Vatican’s history: The participating cardinals hailed from more than 70 countries, representing divergent views for the Catholic Church’s future. The diversity was part of the legacy of Pope Francis, who appointed cardinals from underrepresented countries like Laos and Haiti to broaden the church’s global appeal. Francis spent 12 years as head of the Catholic Church, shaking up the establishment by adopting a distinct style and tone, focused on austerity and advocacy for marginalised populations. The late pope’s efforts caused excitement among reformers but also dismay among conservatives, who accused him of diluting the Church’s teachings. Experts say that led to a deep polarisation within the church, with some members criticising Francis for decentralising the church’s authority. Those experts point out that Leo XIV’s experience in the Roman Curia — the church’s government — was likely a selling point among conservative conclave voters looking for stability in the years ahead. While Pope Leo XIV’s first moves are yet to be revealed, his choice of name is noteworthy. Bruni, the Vatican spokesperson, noted that “Leo” is a direct reference to Pope Leo XIII, who adopted a new social doctrine in the late 19th century. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical — or papal letter — known as the Rerum Novarum. It called on Catholics to address the “wretchedness” facing the working class, amid the upheavals of industrialisation and political changes like the unification of Italy. That encyclical marked a radical new approach to workers, and it triggered the creation of Catholic newspapers, social cooperatives and banks — a social movement that is still alive today. Bruni said the current Pope Leo hoped to draw a parallel to that time, with its technological revolutions. “It is not a casual reference to the men and women of their work at a time of artificial intelligence,” Bruni explained. Robert Orsi, a professor of religious studies at Northwestern University, said the name choice could also signify other historical parallels. Leo XIII “strongly put down a movement called Americanism,” said Orsi. “This movement was a kind of nationalist impulse within Catholicism, with national churches claiming to have their own identities, their own particular ways of doing things,” he explained. “And I think by choosing the name Leo XIV, this pope was, without a doubt, signalling a return to a global Catholicism.” Pullella also believes it is noteworthy that, while Leo XIV mentioned his parishioners in Peru, he avoided highlighting his ties with the US. “I think it’s very significant that he did not give a shout-out to the United States. He didn’t say, ‘I’m from America.’ He didn’t speak in English,” Pullella said. That sent a message that “basically he’s not owned by the United States”, Pullella added. Leo XIV has previously been critical of the administration of US President Donald Trump over issues like nationalism and migration, just as the late Pope Francis was. Still, Orsi predicted the Vatican under the new Pope Leo would be “subtle and wise” in how he deals with Trump in the years to come. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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Moscow And Kyiv Trade Accusations As Russia Holds Victory Day Spectacle

Putin welcomes allies at parade planned to push patriotism and project strength as fighting against Ukraine persists. Russia and Ukraine have accused one another of violating a three-day ceasefire as Moscow marked Victory Day by welcoming allies to a grand military parade. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin marked the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany on Friday alongside China’s Xi Jinping, in an event clearly intended to bolster support for his three-year offensive against Ukraine, which he had unilaterally paused for 72 hours to mark the occasion. “Russia has been and will remain an indestructible barrier against Nazism, Russophobia and anti-Semitism,” said Putin, seeking to draw parallels between World War II – or the Great Patriotic War as it is named in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union – and the Ukraine war. Russia maintains that its February 2022 invasion of its neighbour is a battle against a “Nazi” regime in Kyiv. Ukraine has dismissed that claim as “incomprehensible”. More than 20 foreign dignitaries, including Xi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, watched the 11,000-strong parade on Red Square. The show of force was billed by Moscow as proof that the country has not been isolated by the war. Throughout his quarter-century in power, Putin has tapped into the nation’s trauma over Soviet losses during the Great Patriotic War, which Russia dates as running from 1941-45. With the two-year period of 1939-41, during which the Soviets maintained a non-aggression pact, with the Nazis sidelined, Victory Day has been elevated to become the country’s most important public holiday and a prime lever used to whip up patriotism. Putin appeared to seek to transfer that mood to his war in Ukraine. “The whole country, society and people support the participants of the special military operation,” he said in his address to the parade, which reportedly included 1,500 soldiers who had fought in Ukraine. Kyiv argued the parade has “nothing to do with the victory over Nazism” and that those marching on Red Square in a “parade of cynicism” were “quite likely” implicit in crimes against Ukrainians. Amid the pomp and circumstance, security in Moscow has been tight, with authorities jamming mobile internet connections, citing the threat of Ukrainian attacks. However, Putin’s unilaterally declared May 8-10 ceasefire teetered on the brink of collapse even as the parade opened on Friday morning, with both Kyiv and Moscow accusing one another of attacks. Ukraine had dismissed Putin’s three-day pause as political theatrics, designed to avert the impatience of the United States – which has been trying to broker a ceasefire – and refused to commit to it, and had spent Tuesday and Wednesday using drones to target Moscow, shutting down its airports for significant periods. Authorities in Russia’s western Belgorod border region said a Ukrainian drone attack hit the city council building on Friday, adding that no one was injured. The Russian Ministry of Defence said Ukrainian troops had made attempts to breach the border in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, and claimed Ukraine had violated the ceasefire 5,026 times. Ukraine claimed that just hours after the truce entered into effect, Russia had already broken it, with Moscow’s forces launching guided bombs against the northern Sumy region. Kyiv reported further attacks on Friday in the southern city of Kherson and the central Dnipropetrovsk region, with two people wounded. In a symbolic show of support for Kyiv to coincide with Friday’s parade, Ukraine’s Western allies backed a special tribunal to prosecute Putin and other senior Russian officials for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Foreign ministers from almost 20 European nations met in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv to sign the “Lviv statement”, a document paving the way for the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, which could start operating next year. “We stand for a just and lasting peace, for a secure Europe, and for accountability and justice,” said United Kingdom Foreign Minister David Lammy in a statement. The same day, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said a group of 10 northern European nations and the UK had agreed to support a US proposal for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. That tallies with Ukraine’s response to Putin’s Victory Day ceasefire, which was to question why it would only run for three days and to call for a full 30-day truce. The Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) coalition – which comprises Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK – met in Oslo on Friday. Store said the group had contact the night before with US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the proposal and that a “concerted approach” was now being taken. Trump, who has presented himself as the main mediator in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, had initially appeared to tilt towards Moscow after entering office in January, offering support to Russia’s demands. However, as Moscow has dragged its feet on agreeing to a ceasefire, the US president has demonstrated growing impatience with Putin, telling him last month to “stop shooting” and sign a peace deal. On Thursday, Trump reiterated his call for a “30-day unconditional ceasefire,” saying on his Truth Social network that if the truce was not respected, “the US and its partners will impose further sanctions.” A minerals deal between Kyiv and Washington, ratified by Ukraine’s parliament unanimously on Wednesday, appears to have helped improve relations. Trump has approved military shipments to the country once more, while the rhetoric from US officials towards Moscow has shown signs of growing frustration. Still, in the background, Washington has continued to work on a diplomatic reset with Moscow. On Friday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Interfax as saying Russia and the US planned another round of talks aimed at getting their respective diplomatic missions fully operational. Follow Al Jazeera English:...