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WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND -- New Zealand's success in battling the coronavirus has unleashed an unanticipated problem: skyrocketing house prices.
When the pandemic first hit, most experts predicted house prices would fall. Instead, prices have risen by more than 19 per cent over the past year, putting them out of reach for many people wanting to buy their first home.
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The U.S. government dropped drunk driving and reckless driving charges against Bruce Springsteen on Wednesday stemming from an incident in November, admitting that the rocker's blood-alcohol level was so low that it didn't warrant the charges.
Springsteen pleaded guilty to a third charge, consuming alcohol in a closed area, Gateway National Recreation Area.
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A real-world test of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in more than half a million people confirms that it's very effective at preventing serious illness or death, even after one dose.
Wednesday's published results, from a mass vaccination campaign in Israel, give strong reassurance that the benefits seen in smaller, limited testing persisted when the vaccine was used much more widely in a general population with various ages and health conditions.
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U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday lifted a freeze on green cards issued by his predecessor during the pandemic that lawyers said was blocking most legal immigration to the United States.
Former president Donald Trump last spring halted the issuance of green cards until the end of 2020 in the name of protecting the coronavirus-wracked job market — a reason that Trump gave to achieve many of the cuts to legal immigration that had eluded him before the pandemic.
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The World Health Organization should be given the power and independence it needs to report the facts about global health threats without being influenced by its member states, says New Zealand's former prime minister Helen Clark.
"I think it's clear we need a stronger, more empowered WHO where they can feel emboldened to speak truth to power and do what needs to be done at the earliest possible opportunity," Clark told host Vassy Kapelos on CBC News Network's Power & Politics.
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