A dance studio east of Vancouver is the site of the latest significant outbreak of COVID-19 in British Columbia. Fraser Health says Capella Dance Academy in Chilliwack closed voluntarily last Wednesday after 26 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The academy offers a variety of classes for toddlers to teenagers and has about one dozen instructors but the health authority hasn't said how many of the illnesses are among students or staff. It says all those identified as cases and close contacts have been instructed to self-isolate and health officials are also working with area sc

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says October home sales were up 29 per cent compared to a year ago, making it the second-best October on record. The board says its agents sold 3,687 homes last month, up from2,858 sold in October 2019. Home sales were also up 1.2 per cent from September amid a surge in sales of detached homes. The benchmark price for Vancouver homes hit $1,045,100 in October, up six per cent from last October and 0.4 per cent from September. The housing market has been catching up after COVID-19 lockdowns earlier this year stymied the spring selling season. Board cha

Victoria's mayor says the vandalism of a mural on systemic racism has led to difficult conversations. Lisa Helps says she was disappointed by the vandalism, adding that the new language on the mural fits with the city's public art policy and is a reflection of the artists' experience of the past few weeks and months. The ``More Justice, More Peace'' mural was vandalized with spray paint on Saturday morning. The mural in the city's Bastion Square was criticized by the police chief in August, because it included the acronym ACAB, which is commonly held to mean ``All Cops Are Bastards'' or ``All

BC is reporting a record 1,120 new cases of COVID-19 over the three-day weekend reporting period. Health officials are also reporting six deaths linked to the pandemic, bringing the total to 269 fatalities. The province now has two-thousand-945 active cases, including 90 people who are being treated in hospital. Health officials say the numbers are concerning but the vast majority of people are following safety precautions, despite images of crowds in Vancouver on Halloween night.

Police say there is no risk to the public after three people were found dead and a fourth was found shot in a rural area on Vancouver Island. Police say a person riding an off-road motorcycle found the first body yesterday afternoon near Qualicum Beach. They say two other bodies were found nearby in a burned-out travel trailer and that a wounded man found in another trailer is in stable condition in hospital. Corporal Jesse Foreman says the investigation is in its early stages but police believe all four were well known to each other.

Vancouver police say a large and ``hostile'' crowd gathered downtown on Halloween night despite COVID-19 restrictions, but officers didn't issue tickets because of safety concerns. Police say in a news release officers were called to the Granville entertainment district Saturday night when a growing crowd of people weren't paying attention to physical distancing rules. It says officers stopped a Range Rover for a traffic violation and those inside ``swarmed'' the police. When the crowd grew to about 30 people, the officers called for backup. Police say one man was arrested for jumping on the

Police say they are investigating a pair of ``very suspicious'' fires that engulfed two churches in southwestern Ontario early Sunday. Emergency services say they responded to the first fire at the South Caradoc United Church in Strathroy-Caradoc, Ont., just past midnight. Police say that a few hours later, emergency services were called to St. Andrew's Anglican church seven kilometres away from the first fire. Ontario Provincial Police and the Strathroy-Caradoc Police Service say they are collaborating on the two investigations. Police say no injuries were reported in the fires.

Strong winds tore branches from trees and likely played a part in several outages this morning that cut power to nearly 2,500 customers in the Peace River region of northeastern BC. The region is one of several in the province affected by weather warnings today, including blizzard and winter storm warnings along most of both sides of the BC-Yukon boundary as up to 35 centimetres of snow and powerful winds make travel treacherous there. Rain warnings are up for western Vancouver Island and inland sections of the north coast as meteorologists predict up to 150 millimetres could deluge parts of

A brazen attack by Islamic State militants who stormed the Kabul University has left at least 22 dead and 22 wounded in the Afghan capital. The assault sparked a hours-long gunbattle on the school's campus on Monday. The Interior Ministry says all three attackers were ultimately killed in the ensuing firefight at the country's largest school. The Taliban promptly issued a statement denying they were behind the assault. The attack came as the insurgents are continuing peace talks with the U.S.-backed government in Qatar, with the aim to help the U.S. finally withdraw from Afghanistan. Later in