B.C. is reporting 605 new cases of COVID-19, including 18 epi-linked cases, for a total of 195,186 cases in the province.There are 5,172 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 187,564 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 374 people are in hospital and 153 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. In the past 24 hours, four new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,033.The new deaths include:Northern Health: threeIsland Health: one There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Tofino General Ho

A man armed with a bow and arrows killed five people and wounded others near the Norwegian capital of Oslo. That's according to police in the town of Kongsberg who arrested the assailant on Wednesday evening. The police chief says there was ``a confrontation'' between officers and the suspect, but he did not elaborate. Two other people were wounded and hospitalized in intensive care, including an officer who was off duty and inside the shop where the attack took place. Police were alerted to the attack around 6:30 p.m. and arrested the suspect about 20 minutes later. The community is 66 kilom

The British Columbia government says a $132 million program that adds staff, beds and services across the province seeks to help people who require substance-use treatment and recovery care. Sheila Malcolmson, the province's minister of mental health and addictions, says the program will include 65 new or improved services, about 130 more staff and 195 new substance-use treatment beds. She says some of the new initiatives include a sobering centre in Prince George, an addiction medicine treatment team at Burnaby Hospital and withdrawal services at several locations in B.C.'s Interior. Dr. Pat

The BC Federation of Labour is launching a campaign aimed at encouraging the province to include 10 days of employer-paid sick leave when it announces details of BC's new permanent sick leave program in the next several weeks. Federation president Laird Cronk says 10 days of sick leave is needed to ensure workers don't have to choose between going to work sick or paying their bills. The campaign includes an open, multilingual letter calling on the Minister of Labour, key cabinet ministers and local politicians to back the government's 10 day option. Rallies are also planned in Victoria, Burna

We should find out tomorrow if the Transportation Safety Board has any evidence that a passing freight train could have sparked the wildfire that destroyed Lytton. The board has called a news conference for tomorrow morning, one hour after it posts the results of its investigation on its website. Two people died in the June 30th blaze that tore through the Fraser Canyon village, destroying most of it and causing an estimated 77 million dollars in insured damage. Safety board investigators were sent to the village after the RCMP and wildfire service shared information about a possible cause of

The RCMP arrested a woman after she tried to rob a passenger and threatened to stab a BC Ferries staff member at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal in North Saanich on Saturday. Police say the victim refused to give the woman their phone and BC Ferries workers intervened, resulting in the woman threatening to stab the staff before she fled the terminal. While officers were responding, they say they received another call that the woman was attempting to break into a nearby residence, and they soon found and arrested her. RCMP say the woman, who is from Victoria, now faces multiple charges including

Hundreds of people in Spain's Canary Islands are fearing for their homes and property after a new lava stream from an erupting volcano threatened to engulf another neighborhood on the island of La Palma. Island authorities ordered the evacuation of around 800 people from a coastal town after the lava took a new course on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. It was the first mass exit since 6,000 people were told to leave after the Cumbre Vieja volcano first erupted on Sept. 19. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez traveled to La Palma on Wednesday. He says that scientists say the volcano's activity

A trio of BC ski resorts will be requiring staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to be eligible to work. Grouse Mountain, Whistler Blackcomb and Big White Ski Resort have all brought in vaccine mandates for their employees. Michael Ballingall, from Big White, which was the site of a large outbreak earlier in the pandemic, says no one is really pushing back against their mandate. He says he's hoping for a more financially successful ski season this year, adding the Lower Mainland is the resort's biggest market in the world.

Hollywood's Captain Kirk, 90-year-old William Shatner, has blasted into space and safely returned to Earth in a convergence of science fiction and science reality. He set out Wednesday morning for the final frontier aboard a ship built by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company. The ``Star Trek'' hero becomes the oldest person to ride a rocket. The fully automatic spacecraft reached an altitude of 66.5 miles over the West Texas desert. The up-and-down flight lasted about 10 minutes, with Shatner and his three fellow passengers parachuting back to Earth in the capsule.