Canada

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou will appear in a Canadian court on Monday as her U.S. extradition case enters its last phase of arguments leading to a final hearing in May.

Meng, 49, was arrested in December 2018 at Vancouver International Airport on a U.S. warrant for allegedly misleading HBSC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran and causing the bank to violate U.S. sanctions.

She has since been fighting the case from under house arrest in Vancouver and has said she is innocent.

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - The Canadian judge in Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s U.S. extradition case rejected her request to admit as evidence Huawei employee statements that contradict a U.S. claim she misled bankers about the company’s business in Iran, a ruling said on Friday.

But the judge provisionally allowed parts of an expert’s report that Meng’s team requested be permitted into evidence, subject to further submissions about its relevance, the ruling showed.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada’s exports to the United States, its largest trading partner, rose sharply in January, leading to a surprise trade surplus, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

Canada’s trade surplus with the rest of the world was C$1.41 billion ($1.11 billion) in January, the largest since July 2014. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a deficit of C$1.40 billion.

“In a sea of really bad news this is an island paradise. Everything is up,” said Peter Hall, chief economist at Export Development Canada.

TORONTO (AP) — Canada is getting a fourth vaccine to prevent COVID-19 as the country’s health regulator has cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two, officials said Friday.

Health experts are eager for a one-and-done option to help speed vaccination. Canada has also approved vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca and Health Canada is the first major regulator to approve four different vaccines, said Dr. Supriya Sharma, Health Canada’s chief medical adviser.

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian regulators on Friday authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for all adults.

It is the third COVID-19 vaccine given the green light by Canada, following those from Pfizer and Moderna.

“This is very encouraging news. It means more people vaccinated, and sooner,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, adding that the nation of 38 million people will now get 6.5 million vaccines in total before the end of March, 500,000 more now with the new approval.

TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s main opposition party called Thursday for the House of Commons to formally declare that China is committing genocide against more than 1 million Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region.

Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole said a signal must be sent to the Chinese regime.

“On a matter like genocide, Canada needs to send a clear and unequivocal signal that we will stand up for human rights and the dignity of human rights, even if it means sacrificing some economic opportunity,” O’Toole said. “Our values are not for sale.”

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign started on the same day in December as the United States, but it now lags dozens of countries, including its southern neighbor, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is feeling the pressure.

Canada’s lack of domestic vaccine production is at the root of the problem, forcing the country to depend on foreign companies with production abroad.

OTTAWA, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) – COVID-19 second wave, in Canada’s epidemiological curve, has been trending downward for weeks, with the seven-day national average dropping from about 8,000 daily cases in early Jan to 3,000 over Valentine’s Day weekend.

“Overall, disease activity and severe outcomes are continuing to decline nationally and there are now less than 35,700 active cases across the country,” according to the Public Health Agency of Canada yesterday.

Toronto, Feb 13 (AP-PTI) Air travellers to Canada will quarantine in a hotel starting on February 22 as they await the result of a coronavirus test, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said.

Trudeau previously announced stricter restrictions would be imposed on nonessential air travellers in response to new, likely more contagious variants.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada said on Thursday that Hong Kong graduates of Canadian universities could apply for a new category of three-year work permit next week and expressed fresh concern about China’s clampdown on the former British territory.

The announcement marks the latest step in Canada’s campaign to help Hong Kong after China imposed a new national security law in late June 2020, aimed at anything Beijing regards as subversion, secession or terrorism. About 300,000 Canadian passport holders live in the city.