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DEVELOPING Jasper updates: Wildfire reaches townsite
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park has reached the townsite.
Pope Francis, who has been suffering from influenza, made a brief trip to a Roman hospital for medical checks on Wednesday but was able to return to the Vatican, his office said in a statement.
The pope, who is 87, had checks at the Tiber Island hospital after his weekly general audience, the statement said, without providing further details.
Two medical sources told Reuters he had a CT scan.
Francis underwent the same procedure at the same hospital in November, following another bout of influenza. The scan allows doctors to see detailed internal images of a patient's body.
Televised images on Wednesday showed a Vatican-registered white Fiat - a model Francis uses regularly - leaving the medical facility in the center of Rome at around midday (1100 GMT).
The pontiff earlier skipped a reading at his Wednesday weekly audience, delegating the task to an aide and telling the faithful he was still not well.
"Dear brothers and sisters, I still have a bit of a cold," Francis said at the audience on Wednesday, announcing that someone else would read his catechesis on envy and vainglory, two of the seven deadly sins.
The reading was about one page long.
The pope spoke at the end of his audience, sounding hoarse and coughing a bit, to greet some of the faithful and issue calls for peace, as is customary.
Francis, who has had a number of health issues recently, had canceled appointments on Saturday and on Monday due to what the Vatican called a mild flu. On Sunday, he addressed crowds in St Peter's Square as normal, to deliver his Angelus message.
The pope was forced to cancel a planned trip to a COP28 climate meeting in Dubai at the start of December because of the effects of influenza and lung inflammation.
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In January, he was unable to complete a speech owing to "a touch of bronchitis." Later in the month he said he was doing better despite "some aches and pains."
As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed.
The pope also has difficulty walking, and regularly uses a wheelchair or a cane. On Wednesday, he arrived at his indoor audience in a wheelchair.
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park has reached the townsite.
Alberta has called in the Canadian Armed Forces to help assist with the worsening wildfire situation in the province.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
An analyst and an assistant coach with Canada Soccer are being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and 'sent home immediately,' according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
Two people are dead and two others suffered serious injuries following a shooting that police have described as a 'gun battle' outside a plaza in Scarborough, Ont. early Wednesday morning.
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.
A well-known childhood prank known as 'nicky nicky nine doors,' or 'ding dong ditch,' has escalated into a more serious game that could lead to charges for some Surrey, B.C. teens.
It's been more than a month since their good friend was seriously hurt in an accident and two teens from Riverview, N.B., are still having a hard time dealing with it.
Halifax bridges have collected thousands of coins from around the world.