With an aim to expedite work on all ongoing projects in the state along with initiating and completing the other ones for giving a major boost to the infrastructural development, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday chaired a review meeting of the department his official residence. The state chief asked the officials to accord top priority to all approved and sanctioned works for their timely completion. He directed the Public Works Department (PWD) officials to ensure proper checks at every stage of the project to ensure good quality of the works. Chief Minister directed the office

Alberta's police watchdog has been called in after a suspect was shot by officers in northeast Calgary Sunday night. Police were called to a home on Coventry Hills Way N.E. near Harvest Hills Blvd. N. at about 9:45 p.m. for reports of an unknown man with a weapon trying to get into the building. When they arrived, police say they attempted to de-escalate the situation, but failed, resulting in two officers discharging their service weapons. The suspect was immediately provided medical care at the scene and taken to hospital in non-life-threatening condition. No officers were injured during the

Ripudaman Singh Malik's son says he doesn't believe his father's murder in Surrey yesterday has anything to do with the acquittal in the Air Indian bombing trial 17 years ago. Jaspreet Singh Malik says he is ``very much convinced'' his dad's murder and results of the trial are unrelated, and he trusts the RCMP to solve this crime. A BC Supreme Court found Malik and a co-accused not guilty in the two bombings of Air India jets in June 1985 that killed 331 people. Police say the people inside a Honda CRV who shot Malik had been waiting for two about half hours for him to show up in the parking l

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's day of whistle stops in the Ottawa area ended early today as anti-Liberal protesters gathered outside a brewery before he arrived. Trudeau was on his way to the Brasserie Etienne Brule Brewery in Embrun, Ontario, about 30 minutes east of Ottawa, when the event was called off. About a dozen protesters gathered across the street from the brewery, including one who was carrying a flag emblazoned with a profanity directed at Trudeau, and another who was recording the establishment on their phone. Earlier in the year, a ``Freedom Convoy'' base camp was set up in Emb

A vacuum truck is in operation at the site of a search for a person under the rubble where a rooftop parking lot fell into an office building in east Vancouver. Assistant deputy fire chief Trevor Connelly says the situation is very unstable and crews are carefully combing through the piles of dirt, concrete and other debris to find the person. He says they believe the person is amid the rubble based on eyewitness reports and the location of their cellphone. The roof collapsed yesterday during construction on the parkade and eight people were pulled from the building last night, including two

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the government has signed a four-year deal with GlaxoSmithKline to produce and deliver influenza vaccines. The deal includes an option to procure 80-million doses of influenza vaccine if a pandemic occurs and a minimum of 4 million doses annually to be used in publicly-funded vaccination programs. Influenza pandemics hit every 11 to 40 years and the most recent one happened 13 years ago when the H-1-N-1 pandemic hit. He’s also encouraging Canadians to get their first and second COVID-19 boosters. Duclos says if there’s one lesson to be learned from th

A wildfire blazing just west of Lytton, B.C., has now scorched five square kilometres of trees and bush, more than doubling in size in less than 12 hours. BC Wildfire Service spokeswoman Taylor Colman says the out-of-control fire is burning vigorously and is being fuelled by gusty winds just under two kilometres northwest of Lytton. Several evacuation orders and alerts have been issued by the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and the Lytton First Nation for properties on the west side of the Fraser River, across the water from Lytton. The regional district is still working to confirm reports

WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said that the region has been on alert for monkeypox and that nations have been taking steps to diagnose it quickly and prevent its spread. "The region has been on alert for monkeypox. Countries have been taking measures to rapidly detect and take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of monkeypox," she said. "Monkeypox requires collective attention and coordinated action to stop its further spread. In addition to using public health measures and ensuring health tools are available to at-risk populations and shared fairly, i

With the ban on select single-use plastic items from this month, India has set a global example in the fight against plastic pollution. Single-use plastics are typically items that are discarded after being used only once and do not go through the recycling process. Heavy usage of plastics across the world has caused quite a lot of menace, governments and various global regulatory bodies are trying hard to arrest it. The ban on the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single-use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, has come int