There are 235 Canadians on the passenger manifest for a cruise ship that is being held off the coast of California for coronavirus testing. Global Affairs Canada says there are no confirmed cases of the new coronavirus on the ship. But the federal department says previous passengers of the Grand Princess cruise ship have tested positive for COVID-19, which is the respiratory disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus that first appeared in China last year. The federal department says it is in contact with the cruise line and local authorities and is monitoring developments closely. Any Can

Canadian military personnel in Iraq are on high alert following reports the novel coronavirus is spreading within the country. Chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance says troops have been ordered to protect themselves, including through proper hygiene and keeping their distance from Iraqi forces who may be infected with the virus, which can cause a respiratory illness known as COVID-19. Two people are believed to have died from the disease in Iraq, one in Baghdad and the other in the northern Kurdistan region where Canadian special forces have been operating for several years. The rep

Canadian country music star Brett Kissel says a tornado narrowly missed his condo in Nashville early this morning. He says much of the surrounding area in his neighbourhood is in ruins. Kissel, who is from Flat Lake, Alberta, says the twister got so close to his building that cars in its parking lot had smashed windows. Tornadoes killed at least 22 people across Tennessee and shredded at least 140 buildings.

The death toll from the coronavirus in the U.S. has climbed to nine, with tensions rising over how to contain the outbreak. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are expressing doubts about the government's ability to ramp up testing fast enough to deal with the crisis. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has announced the biggest interest-rate cut in over a decade to try to fend off damage to the economy. And health officials are trying to ease shortages of face masks by giving the OK to medical workers to use industrial-grade ones.

The death toll from tornadoes that ripped across Tennessee has climbed to at least 22. The storms struck early Tuesday as families slept. The twisters shredded more than 140 buildings and buried people in piles of rubble and wrecked basements. Authorities say many of the victims were hit before they could even get out of bed. Daybreak revealed landscapes littered with blown-down walls and roofs, snapped power lines and huge broken trees. Schools, courts, transit lines and the state capitol were closed. More than a dozen polling stations were also damaged, forcing Super Tuesday voters to wait

Health officials in Washington state say a second person had died from the coronavirus.Researchers said earlier the illness may have been circulating for weeks undetected in the greater Seattle area.The victims are two men, one in his 70s and another in his 50s.Both had underlying health conditions, and both were being treated at a hospital in Kirkland, Washington, east of Seattle.Washington state now has 12 confirmed cases.

Former U-S vice-president Joe Biden has won South Carolina's Democratic primary. It was his first victory in three tries at the Democratic nomination, and it came during the fourth Democratic primary contest of the 2020 election season.Biden's win could work to blunt front-runner Bernie Sanders' momentum heading into Super Tuesday, when 14 states and American Samoa weigh in on the race.Bernie Sanders has won second place in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary, a respectable showing in a state dominated by Joe Biden.

Four new cases of the virus were reported in Canada today. The infections- three in the Greater Toronto Area and one near Vancouver- bring the total number of confirmed or presumed cases to 20. The United States also reported the country's first death from COVID-19. Washington state authorities say the man who died was in his 50s and had underlying health conditions. The governor has declared a state of emergency. In Ontario, York Region health authorities say in one case the patient was not wearing a mask when she flew to Pearson Airport from Iran, with transfers in Qatar and Copenhagen. They

Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday at his sexual assault trial, sealing his dizzying fall from powerful Hollywood studio boss to archvillain of the #MeToo movement. The verdict followed weeks of often harrowing and excruciatingly graphic testimony from a string of accusers who told of rapes, forced oral sex, groping, masturbation, lewd propositions and that's Hollywood excuses from Weinstein about how the casting couch works. The conviction was seen as a long-overdue reckoning for Weinstein after years of whispers about his behaviour turned into a torrent of accusations in 2017 that destro