Police say a parolee who was convicted of killing his mother nearly two decades ago has been arrested on charges including felony assault as a hate crime for a brutal attack on an Asian American woman near New York City's Times Square. Police said Brandon Elliot is the man seen on video kicking and stomping the woman on Monday. It's not clear whether he has a lawyer who can speak on his behalf. The New York Times reports that victim's daughter has identified her as Vilma Kari, a 65 year old woman who immigrated from the Philippines. NYPD on Twitter: At today’s press conference @NYPDShea sha

British Columbia has set a new record for daily COVID-19 cases and breached the 100,000 mark for total infections both on the same day. Health officials say in a statement that one thousand and 13 cases were confirmed, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 100,048. There are 7,405 active cases, while 304 of those are in hospital, including 80 in intensive care. Three more people have died, bringing the death toll to 1,458. Officials say a delay in sequencing analysis means new cases involving variants of concern identified in the last 24 hours are unavailable. More than 756,000 vacci

A lawyer for Meng Wanzhou says payments between a Huawei subsidiary and an HSBC client that were cleared in American dollars do not give the United States jurisdiction to charge the executive. American authorities are seeking the extradition of the Huawei chief financial officer on fraud charges linked to a 2013 meeting in which they allege she lied to the bank about a subsidiary of her company. The subsidiary, Skycom, was doing business in Iran, which authorities allege put HSBC at risk of violating American sanctions, and they also point to payments that were cleared through the United Stat

British Columbia's provincial health officer and Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg are receiving honorary degrees from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Bonnie Henry and Thunberg are among 18 people being honoured this spring as part of a tradition that recognizes individuals for their substantial contributions to society. UBC president Santa Ono says Henry has served as a leading voice on public health during the pandemic while 18-year-old Thunberg has been an inspiration on climate change issues. Henry has participated in international initiatives such as a polio eradicatio

A daycare operator and entrepreneur is the second person to join the race for the leadership of British Columbia's Liberal party. Vancouver resident Gavin Dew says he will "invite and inspire" younger and diverse voters in a bid to renew and modernize the party. He is seeking the job alongside Ellis Ross, a former Haisla Nation chief councillor and elected member for Skeena. A statement announcing Dew's candidacy says the father of two will focus his campaign on supporting and empowering people and families to ensure a better life for future B.C. generations. Dew is described as a "longtime B

Residents of the Lower Mainland in B.C. between the ages of 55 and 65 can now schedule an appointment to receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, but making a booking might be challenging. A statement issued by the Ministry of Health said appointments opened today, but London Drugs posted a message Tuesday saying all bookings at its three designated sites had been filled. The tweet from London Drugs said the response to the wider vaccination program has been "overwhelming." The province decided to bump up its age-based immunization plan for AstraZeneca shots after concerns about rare blood clot

A woman entered Indonesia's National Police Headquarters and fired a gun at several officers before being shot dead by police, in what officials said was the latest militant attack in the world's most populous Muslim nation. There were no reports of injuries among the police. Authorities had earlier imposed a counterterrorism crackdown following a suicide bombing at a Roman Catholic cathedral during Palm Sunday Mass which wounded at least 20 people. Televised video showed an unidentified woman wearing a long black robe and a blue veil walking Wednesday toward the police chief's office buildin

Pfizer Canada says it will be asking Health Canada to amend the authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine to extend to children between 12 and 15 years old. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has already been approved for people as young as 16. The initial clinical trials didn't include younger adolescents, but a follow-up trial in 2,260 kids 12 to 15 in the U.S. has been running since the fall. The company released preliminary data from that trial Wednesday, saying none of the kids who got the vaccine developed a COVID-19 infection, compared to 18 infections among the kids who were given a placebo. Ex

The governments of Canada and Ontario say they will help fund construction of a new influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in Toronto.Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says the federal government will spend $415 million in the partnership with Sanofi Pasteur Ltd.Champagne says the pandemic has taught all countries that they need to have domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity.Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will contribute $55 million to the project.Sanofi will provide more than $455 million as well as create and maintain 1,225 jobs in Canada.The company will als