The latest:  A small number of MPs will be back in Ottawa today, a day after provincial governments in Ontario and Quebec issued orders calling for the closure of non-essential businesses in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The MPs are returning to vote on measures to spend billions on aid for families…

When the COVID-19 outbreak first appeared in Iran on Feb. 19, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proclaimed it a hoax, a conspiracy from the country’s enemies. There were reports the regime tried to cover up the number of fatalities, until cellphone videos appeared that showed bodies being hurriedly buried in a graveyard in the northern city…

“The greatness of the American character is shining forth,” U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence pronounced at one of the daily coronavirus press briefings last week.  It was more wish than fact, and it was soon tested when U.S. President Donald Trump aimed a sneering personal harangue at a reporter who’d asked whether it was wise to encourage…

The latest: As COVID-19 cases mount around the world, the committees responsible for Canada’s involvement in Olympic and Paralympic sport have decided they won’t be sending athletes to Tokyo if the 2020 Summer Olympics go ahead as planned.  “This is not solely about athlete health — it’s about public health,” a joint statement released by the committees on Sunday…

Top Trump administration officials and congressional leaders struggled Monday to finalize a nearly $2 trillion US economic rescue package as the coronavirus crisis deepened, even as President Donald Trump seemed to suggest he had qualms about extending the current 15-day suggested shutdown. “I didn’t expect to be starting off my week with such a dire…

As the fight continues to slow the spread of COVID-19, Canada’s foreign signals intelligence agency is waging war against another type of virus: disinformation.  The Communications Security Establishment says it’s already taken down a number of fraudulent sites that have spoofed the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada Revenue, and most recently, Canada Border Services…