The head of the World Health Organization says it's important to step up genomic sequencing to detect a COVID-19 variant worldwide that has cropped up in parts of Canada. New variants discovered this month appear to be more infectious and have triggered sweeping travel restrictions. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the new variants are cause for concern. He says variants will only be found if countries are testing effectively. Canadian health officials report a more contagious new strain of the novel coronavirus virus was found in three parts of the country. The variant first seen i

The man who planted a bomb in Nashville on Christmas told a neighbour days earlier that, "Nashville and the world is never going to forget me." Now that investigators have identified Anthony Quinn Warner they are trying to learn his motive. David Rausch of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says hundreds of tips have been submitted to law enforcement agencies in the past few days. Warner died in his own blast. The explosion injured three people and severely damaged dozens of downtown buildings.

Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was detained in May for her live stream reporting from Wuhan over COVID-19, has been sentenced to four years of imprisonment on Monday, Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported.She has been convicted of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" for her reporting in the chaotic initial stages of the outbreak. Dozens of her supporters and diplomats gathered outside Shanghai Pudong New District People's Court on Monday morning before the trial began, according to HKFP. The police, however, pushed journalists and observers away from the entrance. The New York Times re

A huge study of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine candidate is getting underway in the US today. This is the fifth drug to reach final-stage testing south of the border. About 30,000 volunteers are needed to prove if this vaccine, which is a different kind than its Pfizer and Moderna competitors, really works and is safe. "If you want to have enough vaccine to vaccinate all the people in the U.S. who you'd like to vaccinate, up to 85% or more of the population, you're going to need more than two companies,'' Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press.The N

California eclipsed two-million COVID-19 cases today as the US heads into a holiday season of travel and family gatherings that threaten to fuel the pandemic. It took 292 days for California to get to one-million confirmed infections. The next million were reported over a period of 44 days. Despite warnings from public health experts to stay home, more than 1.19 million travellers passed through US airport security checkpoints yesterday. COVID-19 has killed more than 327,000 Americans, at a rate of 3,000 per day for the past two weeks.

The apparent drowning death of a prominent Pakistani dissident in Toronto is provoking suspicion. Police said they had found 37 year old Karima Mehrab dead yesterday. Mehrab, widely known as Karima Baloch, had been reported missing a day earlier. A close friend and fellow activist tells The Canadian Press that Mehrab had recently received death threats. Her body was pulled from waters near downtown Toronto. Police in Toronto say they are not treating the apparent drowning death of a prominent Pakistani dissident as suspicious. But Lateef Johar, a friend of Karima Mehrab, says the family fears

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says British and French officials are working "to unblock the flow of trade as fast as possible" after France barred U.K. trucks over concerns about a new variant of the coronavirus. There are kilometres-long lineups of trucks waiting to get out of Britain near the Port of Dover. France has banned trucks from entering for 48 hours while a new strain of COVID-19 that is spreading in southeast England is assessed.Dozens of countries have barred flights from the U.K. because of the new variant, which scientists believe is more easily transmitted. Southern England, wh

More than 300 schoolboys kidnapped last week in an attack on their school in northwest Nigeria have arrived in the capital of Katsina state to celebrate their release. The boys were abducted one week ago from the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara in Katsina state village. Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadist rebels claimed responsibility for the abduction, saying they attacked the school because it believes Western education is un-Islamic, factional leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video earlier this week. More than 800 students were at the school at the time of the attack. Hun

A North Carolina police officer and an armed suspect have been killed outside a fast food restaurant after a shootout that also left another officer wounded. The shooting happened late Wednesday night in Concord, which is just northeast of Charlotte. Authorities identified the slain officer as Officer Jason Shuping, who joined the force last year. Police Chief Gary J. Gacek says two officers encountered a carjacking suspect at a Sonic Drive-in and were shot. He says another two officers then arrived and fatally shot the suspect. The fatal shooting marks the second time since last week that a