The British Columbia Coroners Service says at least 192 people died in July in the province due to unregulated drug toxicity, down 15 per cent from the same month last year. The service says in a release that 1,365 people have died of drug toxicity this year up to the end of July, a rate of death that is also down. The annualized death rate is 41 per 100,000 residents, compared to 46.6 in 2023 and 43.9 in 2021. Chief coroner Dr. Jatinder Baidwan says the current rate equates to about 6.2 people dying every day in the province from the drug toxicity crisis. Coroners service data show the greate

Economists say the Bank of Canada is still on track to cut interest rates next week, despite economic growth coming in stronger than expected in the second quarter. Statistics Canada said on Friday the economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.1 per cent in the second quarter – beating the Bank of Canada’s forecast. But real gross domestic product continued to shrink on a per-person basis, marking the fifth consecutive decline. Economists typically look at GDP per capita to assess the standard of living. Overall economic growth also halted toward the end of the quarter as real gross domestic

NHL playerJohnny Gaudreauand his younger brother were killed Thursday night when they were hit by a suspected drunken driver while riding bicycles in their home state of New Jersey, police said. Gaudreau, 31, and brother, Matthew, 29, are Carneys Point, New Jersey, natives and were in the area for their sister Katie's wedding scheduled for Friday in Philadelphia, at which they were to be groomsmen. New Jersey State police said Friday the Gaudreau brothers were cycling on a road when a man driving in the same direction attempted to pass two other vehicles and struck them from behind, causing fa

Gurpreet Singh, one of the two key witnesses in Sidhu Moosewala's murder case, has identified six accused including four shooters in the court of Mansa. This witness was riding in the Thar at the time of the murder of Moosewala. On May 29, 2022, six shooters shot dead Moosewala, who was on his way to Jawaharke from Musa village with two of his friends. On this occasion, Gurvinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh were in the Thar along with Moosewala and they were also shot in this incident.

Kangana Ranaut's film Emergency is being strongly opposed by Sikh organizations in Punjab. Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh while talking to reporters today said that Kangana Ranaut's film is an attempt to defame the image of Sikhs. He said that if anything happens in Punjab due to this film, the filmmakers, actors and the government will be responsible. Meanwhile, regarding the controversial statement made by Simranjit Singh Maan about Kangana, Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said that he does not agree with such a statement but he believes that Kangana Ranaut is a person to spread hatred among t

Universities Canada says enrolment by students from outside Canada has fallen below the cap the federal government set on international student visas this year. The immigration minister announced a cap in January as a way to quell the rapid increase in the number of international students, citing pressure on housing, health care and other services. The new policy limits the number of student visa applications the government would accept into processing, and it's expected that will result in a 35 per cent drop in the number of students in 2024 compared to last year. Universities Canada presiden

A strike is set to halt HandyDART transit services in Metro Vancouver next week, after the workers' union issued a strike notice. The Amalgamated Transit Union and the company contracted to provide HandyDART in the region both say they are preparing for the workers to go on strike next Tuesday. Transdev Canada says it has received the intention to strike from the union and is "disappointed" staff this week rejected its "last offer," which was made after nine months at the bargaining table. Union local president Joe McCann says workers are preparing picket lines and a potential rally. The compa

An earthquake early detection system has been activated in British Columbia to provide the public and infrastructure managers with up to 10 seconds of warning ahead of a potentially harmful tremor. Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says when a strong earthquake is detected, alerts will be transmitted automatically to British Columbians via cellphones, radio and televisions. He says the system, jointly announced by the federal and B.C. government, will also allow critical infrastructure to take immediate action, such as halting traffic from driving onto bridges or

Punjab Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira has written a letter to Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhawan and demanded to stop people from outside the state from buying agricultural land and making votes. He said in the letter that an important bill should be brought in this regard in the session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha starting on September 2. Khaira said that there is a similar law in Himachal, Gujarat, Rajasthan and now Uttarakhand, according to which an outsider cannot buy agricultural land or become a voter in the state. He said that if this law is not implemented, then Punj