World
Alberta drafts Capitol Hill operatives as it seeks support for Keystone XL, trade issues
News/Canada/Calgary: Alberta’s UCP government is hiring influential lobbyists and communications experts in Washington, D.C., as it seeks support on Capitol Hill for the Keystone XL pipeline and other trade interests south of the border.
Prince Harry reportedly heartbroken over rift with Royal Family
News/World: Britain's Prince Harry is heartbroken over his split with the Royal Family, but he and his wife, Meghan, are happy with their new lives in the United States, broadcaster and confidant to the couple Tom Bradby said in an interview to be aired on Saturday.
U.S. expected to execute 13th death row inmate during Trump's presidency on Friday night
News/World: The U.S. government intends to carry out the 13th and final execution under President Donald Trump's administration on Friday evening, just five days before president-elect Joe Biden takes office with a promise to try to end the death penalty.
PIA passenger aircraft 'held back' at Kuala Lumpur airport over lease dispute
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane with 170 passengers on board was held back in Malaysia over a lease dispute case between the cash-strapped national flag carrier and an Irish company pending in a UK court.
Dozens killed, some decapitated, in suspected rebel attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Forty-six people from the ethnic Pygmy group were killed -- some of them decapitated -- on Wednesday in a suspected militant attack in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, according to an NGO official based in the central African country.
Coronavirus | Global COVID-19 death toll tops 2 million amid vaccine rollout
International: “What was never on the horizon is that so many of the deaths would be in the richest countries in the world,” said Dr. Bharat Pankhania, an infectious diseases expert at Britain’s University of Exeter
Biden taps former FDA chief Kessler to lead vaccine science
President-elect Joe Biden has picked a former Food and Drug commissioner to lead vaccine science in his drive to put 100 million shots into the arms of Americans in his administration's first 100 days and stem the Covid-19 pandemic. Kessler will work out of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, assuming responsibility for the scientific side of Operation Warp Speed, an effort launched under the Trump administration to rapidly develop vaccines and treatments.
France takes hard line against Couche-Tard takeover of grocery giant Carrefour
News/Business: France on Thursday took a tough line against any takeover of retailer Carrefour by a foreign company, dealing a major blow to a near $20 billion bid approach by Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard.
COVID-19: UK to shut all travel corridors from Monday
Europe|: LONDON: Britain is tightening border controls to prevent new strains of COVID-19 coming into the country, suspending all the 'travel corridor' arrangements that had meant arrivals from some countries did not need to quarantine. The change comes into force at 0400 GMT on Monday and means all passengers must have a recent negative coronavirus test and transfer immediately into isolation upon arrival. The isolation period lasts for 10 days, unless the passenger tests negative after five days. Read more COVID-19: UK to shut all travel corridors from Monday Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the announcement during a news conference when he praised the country's vaccination programme, but he also warned: "What we don't want to see is all that hard work undone by the arrival of a new variant that is vaccine busting." On Thursday, Britain banned arrivals from South America, Portugal and some other countries over fears about a strain of the virus detected in Brazil. Britain has already felt the effects of mutations in the virus first hand. A strain first discovered in England has proved to be more transmissible and a major factor behind a spike in cases across the country.