By MarketsFarm

WINNIPEG, Dec. 29 (MarketsFarm) – The following is a glance at the news moving markets in Canada and globally.

India and Pakistan have reported cases of the new, more contagious COVID-19 variant. Several cases have been detected in travellers from the United Kingdom, with three reported in Pakistan an six in India. Epidemiologists have said the U.K. government needs to bring in tighter lockdown restrictions in order to quell the spread of the new variant. “We are entering a very dangerous new phase of the pandemic, and we’re going to need decisive early national action to prevent a catastrophe in January and February,” said Andrew Hayward, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London, on Tuesday.

The Russian government has given opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny the ultimatum to return to Russia immediately or be jailed. Navalny was flown to Germany after collapsing on a plane due to an attempt at murder via poison. The Russian government has said there’s no evidence he was poisoned. The Federal Prison Service (FSIN) has accused Navalny of violating the terms of a suspended prison sentence, as he is still serving a conviction from 2014, and of evading the supervision of Russia’s criminal inspection authority.

An earthquake in Croatia has killed at least one person and injured several. The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries including Serbia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, as well as southern Austria. “The centre of Petrinja as it used to be no longer exists,” a state broadcaster reported. “One girl died and there are injuries and people inside collapsed buildings.”