National Business

VIENNA — Austria will allow skiing to start on Dec. 24, but will limit the capacity of ski lifts and keep restaurants, bars and hotels largely closed until early January, officials said Wednesday.

TORONTO — Canada's main stock index rose with help from energy sector while the loonie hit a two-year high. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 61.28 points to 17,358.21. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 59.

Discovery is joining the increasingly crowded streaming fray with its own reality-focused service Discovery Plus that will include shows from the Food Network, HGTV, TLC and its other networks. It launches Jan 4.

LONDON — Britain became the first country in the world to authorize a rigorously tested COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday and could be dispensing shots within days — a historic step toward eventually ending the outbreak that has killed more than 1.

A proposed class action suit has been launched against Dell Technologies on behalf of thousands of Canadians whose personal information was compromised in a data breach.

VAUGHAN, Ont. — CannTrust Holdings Inc. is staging a comeback more than a year after its licences were suspended for illegally growing thousands of kilograms of dried cannabis in unlicensed rooms. The Vaughan, Ont.

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Congress to approve COVID-19 relief funds without further delay, though Democrats continued to attack a decision by Mnuchin to allow five Fed lending prog

VANCOUVER — The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says November home sales were down from October — but still well above the same time last year, as the market catches up to the effects of COVID-19.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Australia's economy grew by 3.3% in the third quarter, rebounding from its first recession in nearly three decades as it recovered from pandemic-related shocks, according to figures released Wednesday.

TORONTO — Sun Life Financial Inc. says its president and chief executive will retire next year. The Toronto-based insurance company says Dean Connor, 64, will depart Sun Life on Aug. 6.