Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor set to go on trial in China

After more than two years in prison, Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are to be tried in China for espionage over the coming week.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/michael-spavor-kovrig-china-court-hearings-1.5953964?cmp=rss

White House says it's 'carefully' considering vaccine requests from Canada and Mexico

A White House spokesperson says the United States is carefully considering requests to eventually ship that country's excess supplies of COVID-19 vaccines across the border to its neighbours in Canada and Mexico. But she cautions that nothing is confirmed at this point. 

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-vaccines-canada-psaki-1.5953764?cmp=rss

Suspect in Atlanta-area massage parlour shootings that left 8 dead charged with murder

A white gunman accused of killing eight people, most of them women of Asian descent, at three Atlanta-area massage parlours has been charged with eight counts of murder Wednesday in an attack that sent terror through the Asian American community that's increasingly been targeted during the coronavirus pandemic.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/suspect-atlanta-massage-parlour-shootings-1.5953125?cmp=rss

Trans woman of colour tops Sports Illustrated swim issue

Sports Illustrated magazine plans to break new ground and feature its first trans woman of colour in the 2021 Swimsuit issue.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/sports-illustrated-trans-1.5953163?cmp=rss

Flight PS752 shot down after being 'misidentified' as 'hostile target,' Iran's final report says

Iran's civil aviation authority says an error by the Iranian military was the cause of Ukrainian Airlines Flight PS752's destruction in January 2020.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/final-report-flight-ps752-1.5953340?cmp=rss

Endangered birds are losing their songs, and can't find mates

Research suggests that critically endangered regent honeyeaters are losing their song language, impacting their ability to find mates. Once their population reaches a very small size, this could accelerate the decline of the species.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/endangered-birds-lose-songs-1.5952982?cmp=rss

EU proposes coronavirus passes to allow free travel by summer

With tourism-reliant countries anxiously awaiting the return of a steady influx of travel-related income amid the coronavirus pandemic, the European Union's executive body presented a proposal Wednesday that would allow European citizens and residents — vaccinated or not — to travel freely across the 27-nation region.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/eu-proposes-coronavirus-passes-travel-1.5952994?cmp=rss

Uber to give U.K. drivers minimum wage, pension, holiday pay — but it's only a partial victory

Uber is giving its U.K. drivers minimum wage, pensions and holiday pay, following a recent court ruling that said they should be classified as workers and entitled to such benefits.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/uber-drivers-minimum-wage-1.5952940?cmp=rss

Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Wednesday

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he would get the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 shot very soon, voicing his confidence in a vaccine that has been suspended in some other European countries after reports of blood clots.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-covid19-canada-world-march17-2021-1.5952875?cmp=rss

The golden silence over NORAD renewal and the voices who want to shatter it

Canada will soon embark on negotiations with the U.S. to renew North American defence arrangements. It is the policy issue which the Liberal government has, for years, avoided talking about, mostly because of the bruising ballistic missile defence debate of the early 2000s.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/norad-renewal-debate-1.5952710?cmp=rss

American who freed Canadian girl calls on world to repatriate children stranded in Syrian camps

The former U.S. diplomat who freed a 4-year-old Canadian girl from a detention camp in northeastern Syria Friday is calling on Canada and other countries to repatriate all of the children stranded there.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/former-us-diplomat-wants-children-freed-syria-detention-camps-1.5951716?cmp=rss

Japan court rules same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional

A Japanese court ruled Wednesday the government's ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional, recognizing the rights of same-sex couples for the first time in the only Group of Seven country that doesn't acknowledge their legal partnership.

source https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/japan-same-sex-unconstitutional-1.5952860?cmp=rss