Karen Vasquez, 44, walked out of jail in Cuba on Sunday, part of a deal brokered by the Vatican under which the Biden administration would loosen sanctions on the communist-run island, while Havana would release more than 500 people from its jails who are considered political prisoners by Washington.

Canada's inflation rate fell to 1.8 per cent in December, with the federal government's GST holiday contributing to a price decline across several categories, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

Canada's annual inflation rate dropped to 1.8% in December, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday, slightly lower than expected and a tick below the prior month's 1.9%.

Canadian inflation fell 0.1 percentage points to 1.8 percent in December as a brief sales tax holiday on selected consumer goods kicked off, the government statistical agency said Tuesday. Canadians paid less in the month as a result of the Goods and Services Tax break for alcohol,

Despite the decline, Tuesday’s Statistics Canada data reveals B.C. has the highest rate of inflation among all provinces. The national rate hit 1.8 per cent in December, as Canadians more broadly saw consumer prices drop 0.4 per cent.

For the first time since 2019, Canadian inflation stayed within the central bank’s target range for a full year, a mark of achievement for policymakers ahead of a potential tariff war that threatens to derail their progress.

Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to 1.8 per cent in December, according to Statistics Canada, after rising 1.9 per cent in November. Economists polled by Reuters had expected inflation to remain unchanged at 1.