More than 200,000 Egyptian protesters packed Tahrir Square for a massive evening rally organized by opponents of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, demanding that he rescind decrees granting him near-absolute powers. Last year’s uprising that drove Hosni Mubarak from office; the same chants were used again against Egypt’s first freely elected leader. “The people want to bring down the regime,” as the fanatical religious Muslim Brotherhood were much more organized and prepared to take power from the unorganized, inexperienced and brave people of Eygpt.

Weak global demand is keeping Canada’s economy in the slow lane. Canada’s economy to grow by only 1.5 per cent in the last three months of the year. For 2013 as a whole, the OECD expects Canada’s economy to expand by 1.8 per cent and increase to 2.4 per cent in 2014. This is what the Bank of Canada and the Department of Finance are projecting. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he expected two per cent growth next year. The OECD also cites poor productivity and Canada’s housing market for having the potential to knock the economy to its knees, which could throw a wrench in Ottawa’s plans to get back to balanced budgets. “Continuing high household debt levels could lead to a sharp deceleration in household spending, while a sudden weakening of the housing market could have sizable negative spillover effects,” the OECD says. Should the risks materialize, or Canada be hit from an outside shock, policy-makers should respond by increasing government spending if necessary, it said. As things stand, the organization said the Bank of Canada may need to start raising interest rates from near record lows by the latter half of 2013.

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