Canada is emphasizing the need for economic and political reform in Lebanon over the long term as it looks at immediate ways to help the country following this week's deadly explosion in Beirut.Canada has so far promised $5 million in emergency aid and International Development Minister Karina Gould says the federal government is committed to helping Lebanon as it begins to recover from the blast.Yet Gould emphasized long-standing Canadian calls for economic and political change in the country to address many of the root problems that have left Lebanon one of the most indebted countries in th

International aid flights are arriving in Lebanon, as the government struggles to deal with the aftermath of the massive blast that killed at least 135 and sent thousands more to hospital. Investigators are looking into why nothing was done about 2,750 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate stored at the port for six years. Search and rescue teams, medical personnel, humanitarian support packages and equipment designed to find trapped victims are being sent from countries like Australia and Indonesia as well as Europe. Russia's Ministry for Emergencies says that its first plane carrying

A massive explosion has shaken Lebanon's capital Beirut, wounding a number people and causing widespread damage.The afternoon blast shook several parts of the capital and thick smoke billowed from the city centre.Residents reported windows being blown out and a false ceilings dropping.The explosion appeared to be centred around Beirut's port and caused wide scale destruction and shattered windows miles away.An Associated Press photographer near Beirut's port witnessed people wounded on the ground and widespread destruction in central Beirut.Some local TV stations reported the blast was at Beir

The COVID-19 death toll in the US has now hit 150,000. The total reported by Johns Hopkins University is the highest by far in the world. A number of states in the Sunbelt had seen surges in cases, with Florida reporting 216 today. South Carolina's death toll has more than doubled over the past month, surpassing 15-hundred earlier this week. More than 4.5 million people have been tested positive for COVID-19 in US so far.

A nurse in Binghamton, New York was one of the first to get a shot this morning as the world's biggest COVID-19 vaccine study got underway.The world's biggest COVID-19 vaccine test got underway Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers. Melissa Harting says she volunteered as a way to do her part to help out since she has other family members in front-line jobs that could expose them to the virus.The experimental vaccine is made by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., and it's one of several candidates in the final stretch of the global vaccine race.The needed proof: Wh

US President Donald Trump's coronavirus briefings are coming back starting tomorrow afternoon. That will be a first since late April, when ratings began to slide and Trump mused about the possibility of using disinfectants inside the body to kill the virus. He now says record numbers of people watched the briefings adding that, ``in the history of cable television, television, there's never been anything like it.'' The virus has killed at least 140,000 Americans and is surging again in much of the country.

There have been some minor side effects, but scientists at Oxford University say their experimental COVID-19 vaccine has produced good early results. The study conducted on about one-thousand people prompted a protective immune response in hundreds of people who got the shot. Dr. Adrian Hill says the vaccine does well at triggering both arms of the immune system. He says neutralizing antibodies are produced, molecules which are key to blocking infection and that the vaccine also causes a reaction in the body's T-cells which help to fight off the coronavirus.

After many Twitter accounts belonging to Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Gates among others were on Wednesday hacked to promote a bitcoin scam, the microblogging site said it is investigating the incident and taking steps to fix it.In a first response after the incident, Twitter Support tweeted: "We are aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. We are investigating and taking steps to fix it. We will update everyone shortly."A number of high profile Twitter accounts including that of US presidential hopeful Joe Biden, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates and

A man in suburban Detroit was given the wrong lottery ticket. But there was no mistake about the result: a $2 million winner.The Michigan Lottery said the man stopped at a gas station in Eastpointe, Michigan, to put air in a tire. He needed change for the air machine and also asked for a $10 Lucky 7's scratch-off ticket."The clerk handed me the $20 ticket by mistake. He offered to exchange it for me but something told me to keep it. I am sure glad I did!" the man said in a statement released Tuesday by the Lottery.The name of the 57 year old man wasn't released. He decided to take a lump sum o