'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
All over the world, it's been a tough year on wallets.
Supply-chain blockages and changing consumer demand have pushed up the cost of living in many of our biggest cities, according to new research published Wednesday, and inflation is the fastest recorded over the past five years.
One city has been experiencing more rapid change than most, jumping from fifth place to first in this year's Worldwide Cost of Living index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
The Israeli city of Tel Aviv topped the rankings for the first time, overtaking last year's leader Paris, which is now tied in second place with Singapore.
The EIU attributes Tel Aviv's sharp rise on the index to increases to grocery and transport prices and the strength of the Israeli shekel against the U.S. dollar.
The 2021 Worldwide Cost of Living index tracks the cost of living across 173 global cities -- 40 more than last year -- and compares the price of more than 200 everyday products and services.
Data for the survey, which has been carried out for more than three decades, is gathered by EIU's global team of researchers each March and September.
The index is benchmarked against prices in New York City, hence cities with currencies that are stronger against the U.S. dollar are likely to appear higher in the rankings.
Zurich and Hong Kong are at Nos. four and five respectively, having held the top spot last year alongside Paris. New York, Geneva, Copenhagen, Los Angeles and Osaka round up the rest of the top 10.
The upper rankings rankings continues to be dominated by European and developed Asian cities. The lowest-ranking cities are mainly in the Middle East, Africa and less wealthy parts of Asia.
The EIU reports that, on average, prices for the goods and services covered by the index have risen by 3.5% year on year in local-currency terms, compared with an increase of just 1.9% this time last year.
Those much-reported global supply-chain problems have contributed to price rises and the COVID-19 pandemic and social restrictions are still affecting production and trade around the world. With a new coronavirus variant currently causing widespread alarm, these issues won't be going away in a hurry.
Rising oil prices drove a 21% increase in the price of unleaded petrol, reports the EIU, but there were also big price hikes in the recreation, tobacco and personal care categories.
The highest-rising city in 2021 was the Iranian city of Tehran, which jumped 50 places from No.79 to No.29 as US sanctions resulted in shortages and higher prices.
The Syrian city of Damascus once again ranks as the cheapest city in the world, as its war-torn economy continues to struggle. Damascus and Tehran suffered from very high inflation in 2021, as did Caracas in Venezuela and Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Upasana Dutt, head of Worldwide Cost of Living at EIU, said in a statement: "Although most economies across the world are now recovering as Covid-19 vaccines are rolled out, many major cities are still seeing spikes in cases, leading to social restrictions. These have disrupted the supply of goods, leading to shortages and higher prices.
We can clearly see the impact in this year's index, with the rise in petrol prices particularly stark. But not all cities saw price increases. Many of the cities towards the bottom of our rankings saw prices stagnate or even fall, partly because their currencies weakened against the U.S. dollar.
Over the coming year, we expect to see the cost of living rise further in many cities as wages increase in many sectors. However, we are also expecting central banks to raise interest rates, cautiously, to stem inflation. So the price increases should start to moderate from this year's level."
1. Tel Aviv, Israel
2. (tie) Paris, France
2. (tie) Singapore
4. Zurich, Switzerland
5. Hong Kong
6. New York City, New York
7. Geneva, Switzerland
8. Copenhagen, Denmark
9. Los Angeles, California
10. Osaka, Japan
11. Oslo, Norway
12. Seoul, South Korea
13. Tokyo, Japan
14. (tie) Vienna, Austria
14. (tie) Sydney, Australia
16. Melbourne, Australia
17. (tie) Helsinki, Finland
17. (tie) London, UK
19. (tie) Dublin, Ireland
19. (tie) Frankfurt, Germany
19. (tie) Shanghai, China
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Dakota Joshua had a goal and two assists and the Vancouver Canucks scored three third-period goals to claw out a 5-4 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Wednesday.
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.