There is silence out of Beijing on what happened to Canadian Michael Kovrig when he was put on trial on spying charges. The day ended with no announcement about the status of the proceedings, which are being held behind closed doors. Canadian Embassy officials were barred from the courthouse, as they were on Friday for the trial of Michael Spavor. Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau says the government is deeply troubled by the total lack of transparency. He also thanked diplomats from 26 countries who turned up at the courthouse to show their solidarity with Canada. Marc Garneau on Twitter

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is putting the finishing touches on an agreement that will see the US send 1.5 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Canada. The White House has confirmed the U-S will "loan" COVID-19 vaccine doses to Canada and Mexico. Counselor to the President and Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients says the vaccines will be the ones developed by AstraZeneca, which has not been approved for use in the US. Procurement Minister Anita Anand says the doses are expected to arrive by the end of the month. Trudeau also announced the Canadi

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced China's "lack of transparency" Friday following a brief trial for Michael Spavor, one of two Canadians detained by Beijing for more than two years. Canada said its consular officials were refused permission to attend the proceedings against Spavor, an entrepreneur with North Korea-related business, who is accused by China of stealing state secrets. Jim Nickel, the Canadian Embassy's deputy chief of mission, said he was told by Spavor's lawyer that the hearing ended at noon Friday after two hours. No verdict was announced. Nickel declined to give other d

A Chinese court says it will pronounce its sentence on detained Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor at a later date.Spavor's trial on charges of spying and illegally sending state secrets abroad lasted just two hours today and was conducted behind closed doors.Canadian consular officials were refused permission to attend. Ten diplomats from eight countries, including the US, Britain and Australia, stood on the street opposite the courthouse in Dandong, China.Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig is due to go on trial on Monday.The detention of the ``two Michaels'' is seen as retribution for

Barring any issues, Major-General Dany Fortin says enough doses of COVID-19 should arrive in the country so that every adult could get a first shot before Canada Day. But due to the threat of vaccine production issues, the government's official line is that Canadians will be fully vaccinated by the end of September. And the calculations rely on the provinces continuing to delay second doses up to four months to get first doses to more people sooner. Health Canada anticipates a total of 36.5-million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of Ind

Transportation Safety Board chair Kathy Fox says Iran's civil aviation agency failed to answer key questions in its final report on the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet in January 2020. Kathy Fox says the final report on what happened to Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 fails to explain why the aircraft was shot down. Iran is blaming human error for the Revolutionary Guard firing two surface-to-air missiles at the jet shortly after it took off from Tehran. The TSB has questions about the missile operator's training, experience or proficiency. The final report from Iran's civil av

The federal government has rejected Iran's explanation of human error for the shooting down of an airliner from Ukraine in January of 2020. Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired two missiles at Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 shortly after it took off from Tehran. All 176 people on board were killed, including 55 Canadian citizens and dozens more with ties to the country. Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra largely dismiss the 145-page document, which was posted to the website of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization today. They say the report makes no

Health Canada's updated vaccine delivery website says Canada will get more than 2.5 times the number of doses of Pfizer-BioNTech in the next eight weeks, than were delivered in the last 14 weeks. The site, updated today, confirms more than 8.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine are to be shipped to Canada between March 22 and May 16. That includes almost 1.2 million doses in each of the next two weeks, and just over one million doses a week, for the next six weeks after that. Moderna has not confirmed shipments past the end of March, and there is no date yet for the first shipments expected

The Transportation Safety Board has received the final report into the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet over Tehran, and will discuss it at a news conference tomorrow. Ukraine International Airlines Flight 7-52 crashed after it was shot down by Iran's Revolutionary Guard in January, 2020. All 176 people aboard were killed, including 55 Canadian citizens, 30 permanent residents and dozens of others bound for Canada. Transportation Safety Board of Canada on Twitter: #MEDIA: TSB will hold a news conference to provide its comments on the final safety investigation report into the downing of U