France reported its first case of monkeypox on Friday, country's Health Ministry confirmed the case after a PCR test was done on the patient a day before. Citing French news channel BFMTV, Xinhua reported that a patient is a 29-year-old man residing in the Ile-de-France region. As his condition is not considered serious and worrying, the man is isolating at his home, the report said. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to convene an emergency meeting of experts to discuss the latest outbreak of monkeypox in wake of rapidly rising cases, according to Russian media. Sinc

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he will remain in the job until a new United Conservative Party leader is chosen. This decision came just a day after he announced that he was stepping down for the good of his party. Earlier yesterday, some of Kenney's caucus critics called for him to step down immediately to help heal divisions wracking the party. Kenney announced his departure Wednesday night after receiving 51 per cent support in a mail-in ballot of party members. Opposition N-D-P Leader Rachel Notley says Kenney is now officially a caretaker leader, further delaying crucial work on issues

Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has been sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment in a 1988 road rage case, surrendered himself before Chief Judicial Magistrate in Punjab’s Patiala court on Friday (May 20).After surrendering, the former Punjab Congress chief reached Mata Kaushalya Hospital in Patiala for medical examination. After a medical check-up, the former cricketer-turned-politician was lodged in the Patiala Central Jail. Supreme Court had yesterday imposed one-year rigorous imprisonment on him in the three-decade-old road rage case.

The latest figures on COVID-19 show 540 people in British Columbia are currently hospitalized with the virus, 49 of them in critical care. The BC Centre for Disease Control says 59 people have died in the last week, for a total of 3,398 fatalities as of May 14. The centre says 1,645 new cases were reported as of that date and some of its numbers may change as data is updated. It says the Omicron variant is still the most prominent and that people can spread the virus to others even if they have been vaccinated and don't have symptoms. Breakthrough infections from new variants can occur in peo

Avian flu has been found in a commercial flock in the Fraser Valley, the same area where 80 per cent of British Columbia's poultry farms are located. B.C.'s Ministry of Agriculture says in a statement the infected farm has been placed under quarantine by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and producers within a 10-kilometre radius have been sent notices about the discovery.Previous outbreaks in the Fraser Valley have prompted culls of millions of birds, although poultry groups now say they have tight control measures to prevent the spread from one farm to the next.The inspection agency's webs

A coroner's jury is recommending that an independent group review the use-of-force policy that guides New Brunswick police. The three-woman, two-man jury was tasked with examining the death of Chantel Moore, a 26-year-old Indigenous woman shot dead by a police officer in northern New Brunswick in 2020 during a wellness check. The inquest has heard that Moore pointed a knife at an officer and advanced toward him before he shot her four times. Jurors are also recommending that police officers be tested on their comprehension of current police policies and that police build better relationships

European and American health authorities have identified a number of cases of monkeypox this week, a surprising outbreak of an illness that has previously been limited mostly to central and western Africa. Doctors are still unsure how exactly monkeypox is spreading. The disease is normally transmitted either from wild animals like rodents and primates or from very close contact with infected people. British officials say most recent cases have been men who have had sex with men, and who had no history of travel to Africa. That suggests the disease is already spreading in the country. Quebec's

The Liberal government has banned China's Huawei Technologies from Canada's long-awaited blueprint for next-generation mobile networks. The development of 5-G, or fifth-generation networks, will give people speedier online connections and provide vast data capacity to meet ravenous demand as innovations such as virtual reality, immersive gaming and autonomous vehicles emerge. Critics, including the opposition Conservatives, have long pressed the Liberals to deny Huawei a role in building the country's 5G infrastructure, saying it would allow Beijing to spy on Canadians more easily.

Quebec's Public health authorities are investigating a number of suspected cases of monkey pox in the Montreal area. Dr. Mylene Drouin says based on recent outbreaks in Europe and a case reported in the United States with travel ties to Montreal, there is a strong possibility the infections in the city involve the virus linked to monkey pox. Dr. Drouin says the disease is transmitted by prolonged close contact and there is no risk from everyday activities like taking public transit or shopping or dining out. Public health authorities are investigating 17 suspected cases of monkeypox in the M