Disease X, a hypothetical illness with the potential for 20 times more fatalities than the COVID-19 pandemic, will be the focal point of a panel discussion in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, where international leaders will gather to deliberate on the potential looming threat. The World Economic Forum is slated to hold a meeting called Preparing … Read more
Tobacco use is on the decline in Canada and globally, the World Health Organization said in a new report Tuesday. An estimated 1.25 billion people aged 15 and older — or one in five people on the planet — used tobacco in 2022. This was down from 1.36 billion people or one in three in … Read more
Palestinian-Canadians and permanent residents are in a race against time to submit applications for Ottawa’s new program offering three-year visas for extended family members to take refuge in Canada. Those who have completed the process are anxiously waiting to hear whether their relatives have been approved, with no guarantee whether they’ll be accepted or how … Read more
Descrease article font size Increase article font size North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday called for a constitutional amendment to change the status of South Korea as a separate state and warned that while his country doesn’t seek war, it didn’t intend to avoid it, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday. Kim said … Read more
Swiss President Viola Amherd said Monday, during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Bern, that her country has offered to organize a peace summit that aims to help bring an end to Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia. “I confirmed to him that Switzerland is ready to organize a conference,” Amherd said during a … Read more
A pair of “alien mummies” that turned up in a Peruvian airport last year and caused quite a stir worldwide, are far from extraterrestrial, experts have confirmed. “They are not extraterrestrials, they are not intraterrestrials, they are not a new species, they are not hybrids, they are none of those things that this group of … Read more
The Earth is heating up, as is conflict in the Middle East. The world economy and Ukraine’s defense against Russia are sputtering along. Artificial intelligence could upend all our lives. The to-do list of global priorities has grown for this year’s edition of the World Economic Forum gabfest of business, political and other elites in … Read more
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II signed her historic abdication on Sunday, a step that made her son Frederik X immediately become king. Margrethe, 83, is the first Danish monarch to voluntarily relinquish the throne in nearly 900 years. Many thousands of people gathered outside the palace where the royal succession was taking place, the mood jubilant as the … Read more
The risk of further escalation after the United States and Britain launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Iran-backed rebel group’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea may be limited, a former U.S. diplomat says. Frank Lowenstein, who served as the U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace during the … Read more
Ruling-party candidate Lai Ching-te emerged victorious in Taiwan’s presidential election on Saturday and his opponents conceded, a result that will determine the trajectory of the self-ruled democracy’s relations with China over the next four years. China had called the poll a choice between war and peace. Beijing strongly opposes Lai, the current vice president who abandoned his medical career … Read more
