Ottawa CNN — Two children were killed and six were injured when a city bus crashed into a day care center in a Montreal suburb Wednesday morning, authorities said. The driver of the bus, whom police said is a city transport employee, was arrested. Prosecutors said 51-year-old Pierre Ny St-Amand now faces two counts of […]
Hong Kong CNN — China is planning to offer free fertility treatment to citizens under its national insurance scheme in a bid to reverse its plummeting birth rate. The National Healthcare Security Administration said on Friday it would extend its coverage to help shoulder the costs for families trying to conceive. It said the new […]
Hong Kong CNN — Even for a famously frugal nation, Chinese people saved a lot last year. Stuck at home due to Covid restrictions, they socked away a record $2.6 trillion. Now that life is returning to normal, hopes are high that consumers will spend with a vengeance, providing a much-needed boost to the world’s […]
Brisbane, Australia CNN — The world is producing a record amount of single-use plastic waste, mostly made from polymers created from fossil fuels, despite global efforts to reduce plastic pollution and carbon emissions, according to a new report released Monday. The second Plastic Waste Makers Index, compiled by the philanthropic Minderoo Foundation, found the world […]
New York CNN — Nearly three years after the pandemic began, American offices are finally more than halfway filled again as workers have gradually returned to the office. Office occupancy across 10 major US cities crossed 50.4% of pre-pandemic levels for the first time since early 2020, according to security swipe tracker Kastle Systems. That […]
CNN — As this year’s Lunar New Year celebrations draw to a close, it’s time to get ready for the grand finale, a.k.a. the Lantern Festival. Happening on the 15th day of the first lunar month (February 5 this year), the event, called Yuan Xiao Jie in Mandarin Chinese, is considered the perfect ending to […]
CNN — Members of Congress are urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pressure China to do more to curb the flow of fentanyl and synthetic opioids into the United States on his visit to the country which is expected to take place in the next few days. On Wednesday, a group of 14 Republican […]
Brisbane, Australia CNN — The discovery of a tiny lost radioactive capsule beside a remote highway in Western Australia raises many questions – not least how it escaped layers of radiation-proof packaging loaded onto a moving truck. It’s one of the many puzzling aspects of a case investigators will examine in the coming weeks as […]
Hong Kong CNN — Three years of strict pandemic controls in China and a real estate crash have drained local government coffers, leaving authorities across the country struggling with mountains of debt. The problem has gotten so extreme that some cities are now unable to provide basic services, and the risk of default is rising. […]
Johannesburg, South Africa CNN — Car crashes, opportunistic criminals, rotting food, decomposing bodies, bankrupt businesses, and water shortages. Welcome to life under South Africa’s power blackouts. Last week the grim extent of the outages was laid bare when South Africans were advised to bury dead loved ones within four days. In a public statement, the […]