European drug regulator backs mixing COVID-19 vaccines

European drug regulator backs mixing COVID-19 vaccines

The Quebec-based company expects its final application will be handed to Health Canada within days.

The election of our discontent

There’s an undercurrent of unhappiness running through the Winnipeg electorate as the municipal election day approaches.

One-half of Winnipeggers believe the city is heading in the wrong direction, according to a new Abacus Data poll, with nearly one-third unsure if Winnipeg is regressing or progressing.

Only 21 per cent of residents believe the city is on the right track, the Free Press-commissioned poll found.

That discontentment extends to how the city spends its tax dollars, with four in 10 Winnipeggers believing they receive poor value for what they pay in property taxes.

Ducks Unlimited makes province’s largest-ever conservation-land purchase

A Manitoba landscape that helped save the Giant Canada goose from extinction has now been permanently protected in the province’s largest conservation land purchase in history.

Ducks Unlimited Canada announced Tuesday in a virtual press conference that it has acquired a conservation easement for East Meadows Ranch, a more than 8,000-acre property near Lundar in Manitoba’s Interlake region, about 80 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, that includes wetlands, native prairie and bur oak savannah.

Ducks Unlimited called the property, now known as the Kennedy Field Station at East Meadows, one of Manitoba’s most ecologically diverse landscapes and said protecting it will contribute to the long-term health of Manitoba’s wildlife, biodiversity and natural heritage.

“The sheer size of the property is not that common in private ownership here in Manitoba, and to have that in a complete connected tract is just something that we’re not likely to see again or come available anytime soon,” said Mark Francis, Ducks Unlimited Canada’s manager of provincial operations.

Uncanny acting and bittersweet script a fitting tribute to Laurel and Hardy

Laurel and Hardy, arguably one of the greatest comedy teams ever to grace the Vaudeville stage and screen, enjoyed a long and fruitful partnership. In fact, it lasted so long, it might as well have been a marriage.

That is the dramatic gist of this film by Jon S. Baird (Filth), who examines the duo in their career twilight, touring the music halls and theatres of England, circa 1953.

The Lancashire-born Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) has the advantage of being on home turf. Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) is hobbled by health issues. While their routines are very much rooted in the English music hall tradition, they are past their prime. Feature films are the medium of choice for comedy duos. Laurel, who has a plaintive moment staring at a freshly installed billboard for the latest Abbott and Costello movie, is trying to cut a deal for a new film based on the legend of Robin Hood. It becomes increasingly obvious that the English producer he’s trying to contact is avoiding him.

Hardy is under different stresses, including failing health and an unhealthy penchant for the vices of drinking and gambling.

All-Japan committee meets to promote Sapporo Olympic bid

TOKYO (AP) — Yasuhiro Yamashita, the head of the Japanese Olympic Committee, acknowledged the biggest stumbling block to holding the Olympics is the billions in costs.

However, in another breath on Tuesday at a so-called “All Japan” meeting to promote Sapporo's bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics, he said that if the northern Japanese city lands the Games, little new construction will be needed — a major expense for every Olympics.

“From both inside and outside our country, there are many views about hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Yamashista said, among politicians and business leaders online — and in Sapporo — talking up the bid. “I realize there are also concerns about the huge costs involved.”

The official cost for last year's delayed Tokyo Olympics was $13.6 billion, although government audits suggest it may have been much more. At least 60% was public money.