Britain is the first country to grant a conditional authorization to pharmaceutical giant Merck's coronavirus antiviral, the first pill shown to successfully treat COVID-19. It's intended to be taken at home twice a day for five days by people with mild to moderate COVID-19.An antiviral pill that reduces symptoms and speeds recovery could prove groundbreaking, easing caseloads on hospitals and helping to curb outbreaks in poorer countries with fragile health systems.The pill is also pending review by regulators in the United States and the European Union.

World leaders at the UN climate summit are promising to protect the world's forests, cut methane emissions and help South Africa wean itself off coal. Britain is hailing the commitment by over 100 countries, including Canada, to end deforestation in the coming decade as the first big achievement of the conference known as COP-26. Meanwhile, the U-S is launching a plan to reduce methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used his speech at the opening of an event on carbon pricing to urge the world to have 60 per c

More than five-million people around the world have now died of COVID-19.Experts say that grim number is likely an undercount, because of limited testing and people dying at home.It's a crisis that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones.The United States alone has recorded over 745-thousand lives lost, more than any other nation.Together, the U-S, the European Union, Britain and Brazil account for one-eighth of the world's population but nearly half of all reported deaths.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company is rebranding itself as Meta, an effort to encompass its virtual-reality vision for the future. Experts point out that it also appears to be an attempt to change the subject from the Facebook Papers, a document trove that has revealed how Facebook ignored or downplayed internal warnings of the negative and often harmful consequences its algorithms wreaked across the world. Zuckerberg insists that the metaverse, what you might think of as the internet rendered in three dimensions, represents the next technological horizon for humanity. And he th

Authorities say an American Airlines flight from New York to California was diverted to Denver after a passenger assaulted a flight attendant. Flight 976 was heading Wednesday evening from Kennedy International Airport to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana when it landed at Denver International Airport and taxied safely to the gate. The airline says the passenger was removed and the flight continued on to California. The flight attendant was reportedly taken to a hospital. The FBI is investigating, but no arrests have been made. The assault comes amid a surge this year in unruly airline passenge

Alec Baldwin has tweeted about firing a prop gun on the set of a Western and killing the cinematographer. The actor on Friday called the shooting a ``tragic accident.'' The director of the movie was wounded, and authorities are investigating. Halyna Hutchins was cinematographer on ``Rust.'' She was 42. The shooting happened in the desert on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico. A spokesperson for Baldwin says a prop gun with blanks misfired. A spokesman for the Santa Fe County sheriff says detectives are looking into what type of projectile was discharged and how. It was not clear if Baldwin

Authorities say remains found in a Florida wilderness park are those of Brian Laundrie, who was a person of interest in the death of girlfriend Gabby Petito. Petito was found slain at a Wyoming national park months while the pair was on a cross-country van trip chronicled on social media. The FBI's Denver office said in a news release that a comparison of dental records confirmed that the remains were Laundrie. The remains were discovered Wednesday in a swampy nature preserve near North Port, Florida, after a massive search. That search began shortly after Laundrie disappeared Sept. 14, two w

There could be a major breakthrough in the search for Brian Laundrie as the effort continues for clues in the slaying of his girlfriend. There are new developments in the search for a man whose girlfriend was found dead in Wyoming last month. Brian Laundrie is a person of interest in the death of Gabby Petito, and is wanted for misuse of a debit card. FBI agent Michael McPherson gave an update on the manhunt outside a wildlife park in North Port, Florida.Police say human remains have been found in water near a Florida park along with items thought to be linked to Laundrie, who was reported mi

Authorities say no one was seriously hurt when an airplane ran off a runway and burned near Houston. The Federal Aviation Administration says the McDonnell Douglas MD-87 was carrying 21 people when it rolled through a fence and caught fire while trying to take off from the Houston Executive Airport in Brookshire on Tuesday morning. The FAA says everyone made it off the plane safely. The only reported injury was a passenger with back pain. It wasn't immediately known who was on board the plane or where it was headed.