Beyond Local

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions of people worldwide.

CALGARY — Alberta's NDP is promising to hire thousands of teachers and support workers in the public education system if the party wins the provincial election set for May 29.

OTTAWA — The federal minister responsible for Crown-Indigenous relations says a study has been completed into whether it's possible for a Winnipeg-area landfill to be searched for the remains of two Indigenous women.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday morning that no decision had been made yet on whether to expel a Chinese diplomat who allegedly targeted a member of Parliament and his family.

LONDON — Canadians were joining the crush of jubilant royal fans who were converging on London on Friday, ahead of the first coronation to take place in the United Kingdom in 70 years.

More than 13,000 people were ordered to leave their homes as 78 wildfires burned across Alberta on Friday.

MONTREAL — A Canadian senator is denouncing the stigmatization of two Montreal-area community organizations that have been accused by the RCMP of hosting secret Chinese government police stations. Independent Sen. Yuen Pau Woo told reporters today that the RCMP must come forward with evidence against these two groups.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group were convicted Thursday of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election.

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the appeal of a Quebec man seeking compensation over imprisonment for murders he says he did not commit.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Taiwan's chief trade representative says his country's semiconductor makers will expand production in the U.S. as much as they can afford to do so, but he insists Taiwan remains an ideal place for that production and other U.S. trade, business and investment, despite tensions with China.