Pfizer Canada says it will be asking Health Canada to amend the authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine to extend to children between 12 and 15 years old. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has already been approved for people as young as 16. The initial clinical trials didn't include younger adolescents, but a follow-up trial in 2,260 kids 12 to 15 in the U.S. has been running since the fall. The company released preliminary data from that trial Wednesday, saying none of the kids who got the vaccine developed a COVID-19 infection, compared to 18 infections among the kids who were given a placebo. Ex

The governments of Canada and Ontario say they will help fund construction of a new influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in Toronto.Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says the federal government will spend $415 million in the partnership with Sanofi Pasteur Ltd.Champagne says the pandemic has taught all countries that they need to have domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity.Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will contribute $55 million to the project.Sanofi will provide more than $455 million as well as create and maintain 1,225 jobs in Canada.The company will als

A Delhi Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing on the bail application filed by the January 26 violence accused Punjabi actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu after the jurisdictional issue arose. Sidhu, accused of allegedly inciting violence near the Red Fort on the occasion of Republic Day, has moved his bail petition in a Delhi Court on Tuesday.Additional Sessions Judge Deepak Dabas transferred the matter back to District and Sessions Judge (Headquarters) to decide who will hear the matter. Court noted that all the related matters have been heard by another judge.Meanwhile, the Investigation Of

British Columbia is bumping up its age-based vaccination plan by offering Oxford-AstraZeneca shots to Lower Mainland residents between the ages of 55 and 65. The move comes a day after provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced a pause on use of the same vaccine for anyone under 55 on the advice of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization amid concerns about rare blood clots. Dr. Henry says in a news release that officials know from the millions of doses used worldwide that the vaccine is highly effective and the benefits to those over age 55 far outweigh the very real risks

A lawyer for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou says the case before a British Columbia Supreme Court judge is "unprecedented" in that the extradition request from the United States violates international law. Gib van Ert says Canadian courts have stayed extradition proceedings because of international law breaches in the past, but in those cases the conduct around the requests was unlawful. He says the case against Meng is unique in that the request itself is unlawful, as American authorities are seeking the Chinese national on fraud charges that her lawyers argue have no connection to the United

The sister of a British Columbia woman who took on a stabbing suspect with an umbrella says her sibling always does what she believes is right. Sheloah Klausen, a school teacher in North Vancouver, was at the Lynn Valley public library on Saturday to attend a book fair with her daughter. Leah Michayluk says when her sister saw a man stab a woman in the library, she ordered her 10-year-old daughter to hide and grabbed a nearby umbrella to intervene. Klausen has injuries to her neck, head and hands, and Michayluk says a bystander who pressed napkins to the cut artery in her sister's neck likely

Fire crews have responded to separate fires at three buildings operated by the Freemason society in Metro Vancouver. North Vancouver RCMP say in a statement a fire broke out just before 7 a.m. at the Lynn Valley Lodge Masonic hall. A second fire was reported just minutes later four kilometres to the west at the North Vancouver Masonic Centre. That blaze has severely damaged the low-rise structure and RCMP say they are trying to determine if the two fires are related or were deliberately set. A third fire, at a Masonic hall in southeast Vancouver, was reported about 15 minutes after the first b

The New York City Police Department says an Asian American woman has been attacked by a man who repeatedly kicked her in front of witnesses who seemingly stood by. Police say the 65 year old woman was walking along 43rd street on Monday afternoon when a man came up to her and kicked her in the stomach, knocking her to the ground. Police say the man then stomped on the woman's face several times while shouting anti-Asian insults at her. Surveillance footage shows the man casually walking away after the assault while onlookers watched. The woman was hospitalized with serious injuries. The NYPD'

Canada is staying in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant for another year. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced this afternoon that Canada will keep up to 850 troops in Iraq and the surrounding region until next March. The extension comes only one day before the mission, which began in October 2014, was set to end. It also coincides with growing concerns about Iran's influence in Iraq, with Tehran backing numerous Shia militia groups. Those groups, which have largely displaced ISIL as the main threat in Iraq, have stepped up attacks on Western forces in recent month