Three possible cases of a new type of viral pneumonia have been investigated in Canada and ruled out as coronavirus, the country's chief public health officer said Monday.

REGINA - A judge has fined a union that represents more than 700 workers at a Saskatchewan oil refinery $100,000 for violating a court order that set limits on picketing during an ongoing contract dispute.

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Mounties say they spent less than $800,000 on a massive search last summer for two young men wanted for three killings in northern British Columbia.

Canadian public health agencies are ramping up preparations to deal with a new viral illness that has killed 17 people and infected more than 400 in China while spreading to other countries, including one case in the United States.

OTTAWA - NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he wants to take a "thoughtful approach" to ratifying Canada's new North American trade deal, calling for an exhaustive review of the agreement before deciding whether the NDP will support it — a move that could slow down the Liberals' plan to get it pa…

VANCOUVER - Lawyers representing the Canadian attorney general say the fraud case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is not complicated and a judge should commit the woman for extradition to the United States.

OTTAWA - The federal and Ontario governments have reached a deal on funding a new French-language university in Toronto.

GUELPH, Ont. - The Guelph Humane Society says it has taken in 80 cats that were found in a home in the southwestern Ontario city.

TORONTO - The CBC is making changes to the four-host format of its flagship newscast "The National" in response to feedback from viewers.

GREENBELT, Md. - A former Canadian army reservist and his two American cohorts, all of them tied to a white-supremacy group with growing notoriety in the United States, remained behind bars Wednesday over a thwarted plot to allegedly kill blacks and Jews, derail trains and trigger a race war…

TORONTO - German automotive giant Volkswagen was ordered Wednesday to pay a $196.5-million fine to the Canadian government after pleading guilty in an emissions-cheating scandal.

OTTAWA - The Conservative leadership race is underway and the deadline to register as a candidate and meet the first round of requirements is Feb. 27.

OTTAWA - Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin has ended its court challenge of the federal prosecution service's decision to deny it a special agreement to avoid criminal proceedings on corruption and fraud charges.

TORONTO - The federal government promised Wednesday to match all contributions to a fundraising campaign that aims to provide financial relief for the families of the 57 Canadians killed in a plane crash in Iran earlier this month.

VANCOUVER - Don Durban holds his palm up to a screen on a tall steel box akin to a vending machine crossed with an ATM that displays his first name and an identification number seconds before dispensing what he calls a life-saving plastic package.

VICTORIA - British Columbia's privacy commissioner says the media should practise self-regulation when it comes to respecting the privacy rights of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

ST-HENRI-DE-TAILLON, Que. - Quebec provincial police continued to search for five missing tourists from France Wednesday afternoon after a group of snowmobilers who were travelling off trail plunged into the water the previous evening near Lac-Saint-Jean.

VANCOUVER - A Vancouver actor says she was tricked into holding a protest sign outside the court where Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou's extradition hearing is underway.

OTTAWA - A longtime public servant whose decades-long career has spanned portfolios from defence to foreign affairs is being tapped to be Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's third national security adviser in as many years.

KELOWNA, B.C. - An employee who twice dumped thousands of litres of wine down a drain at a winery in Kelowna, B.C., cannot expect to return to his job under a labour arbitration ruling.

OTTAWA - The NDP's Canadian-heritage critic says he believes Prince Harry and his family should pay for their own security while they're in Canada.

A former provincial Liberal leader and member of the Alberta legislature says he won't pay his provincial taxes until oilpatch players pay theirs.

OTTAWA - Federal political parties left dozens of potential platform proposals on the cutting-room floor during the last election campaign, a new report from the parliamentary budget officer suggests.

TORONTO - A family doctor who sent a dying infant home with instructions to give him water and juice with vitamin C and who failed to report criminal driving convictions has been stripped of his medical licence.

OTTAWA - Canada's national annual inflation rate was 2.2 per cent in December, Statistics Canada says. The agency also released rates for major cities, but cautioned that figures may have fluctuated widely because they are based on small statistical samples (previous month in brackets):

OTTAWA - Canada's national annual inflation rate was 2.2 per cent in December, Statistics Canada says. Here's what happened in the provinces (previous month in brackets):

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of Jan. 22 ...

OTTAWA - The Canadian Armed Forces needs to nearly double the number of women it has been recruiting in recent years to reach its goal of having women represent one-quarter of all military personnel by 2026, according to an internal study from the Department of National Defence.

OTTAWA - The federal government invited a group of Indigenous elders to Ottawa last spring to seek their guidance on how to address barriers faced by Indigenous federal employees, but the well-intentioned gathering hit an unexpected snag.

BRANDON, Man. - One day after signalling a compromise on a carbon tax, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister pitched the idea to agriculture producers who have largely opposed a tax on carbon and who have faced big bills from the federal levy.

A team of Canadian scientists may have cracked one of the toughest problems in conservation by peering into the lives of long-ago seabirds through 1,700 years of droppings.

WEST KELOWNA, B.C. - A photo of a sailboat covered in icicles has been released by police in West Kelowna, B.C., in the hope of finding its owner.

A "Buy Canadian" advertising campaign focusing on local food and the national agricultural system will be rolling out in the coming months, the federal government said Tuesday.

MONTREAL - The Bloc Quebecois plans to stand in the way of a fast-track adoption of the new trade deal between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

REGINA - Leaders in Saskatchewan are urging both sides in a labour dispute at an oil refinery to resume talks following comments by Regina's police chief that the escalating fight is holding the city hostage.

OTTAWA - Former Quebec premier Jean Charest's decision to bow out of the Conservative leadership race is a turning point in a contest expected to heat up throughout the week as the party prepares for the return of the House of Commons.

BURNS LAKE, B.C. - A collective of First Nations who support the liquefied natural gas industry in British Columbia say human rights advocates failed to do their research when they called for a pipeline project to be halted.

OTTAWA - The proportion of Indigenous people in federal custody has hit a record high of more than 30 per cent due to disturbing and entrenched imbalances, Canada's prison ombudsman warned Tuesday.

WINNIPEG - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is hoping to apply the same spirit of solidarity that saw Canadians pull together during recent disasters to get things done in a minority Parliament.

CALGARY - Alberta's premier says Ottawa needs to do more to clamp down on opioid drug imports from places such as China.

BANFF, Alta. - Parks Canada has rejected a proposed gondola to take skiers and hikers from the Banff townsite to the summit at the Mount Norquay ski resort.

OTTAWA - Canada's prison service is working to better understand the needs of black offenders, a community that is second only to Indigenous people when it comes to overrepresentation in federal custody

QUEBEC - The Quebec government will comply with a court ruling striking down parts of its medical aid in dying legislation, the province's health and justice ministers announced Tuesday.

OTTAWA - Malaysia says it returned 11 shipping containers of plastic garbage to Canada after they arrived on its shores illegally last year.

OTTAWA - The Conservative leadership race is underway and the deadline to register as a candidate and meet the first round of requirements is Feb. 27.

MONTREAL - Former Quebec premier Jean Charest has announced that he will not seek the federal Conservative leadership.

VANCOUVER - A lawyer for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou says she should not be extradited to the United States to face fraud charges because her alleged misconduct doesn't amount to fraud in Canada.

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is insisting Iran respect the wishes of families when it comes to burying those who died when a passenger jet was shot down outside Tehran, noting doing so would also respect the principles of Islam.

MONTREAL - It was heralded in 2018 as a major historic find: a 15-metre segment of a wood palisade, built in 1693 by French troops and settlers to protect against attacks from British and Indigenous groups.

TORONTO - A police officer who fatally shot a distraught teenager on an empty Toronto streetcar more than six years ago has been granted full parole, with officials noting his progress reintegrating into society.