A Nicola Valley man accused of setting fire to several Merritt-area churches in early 2019, including the historic Murray Church, has pleaded guilty. RCMP Sergeant Josh Roda says August Caprian got a two-year conditional sentence after pleading guilty to three counts of arson and one count of break and enter with intent. Built in 1876, the Murray Church was the oldest building in the Nicola Valley when it burned down January 2019, while two other churches were also damaged. The Murray Church was being rebuilt after a fundraising campaign.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging Canadians who still have not gotten a COVID-19 vaccine to roll up their sleeves, saying that the overwhelming majority of cases are in people who haven't received their two shots.Trudeau says only half of one per cent of cases being recorded are in fully vaccinated people. The prime minister says the vaccines are safe, they have passed Canada's world-class standard for medical approvals and they work.He also notes they are available as Canada now has enough vaccines delivered to fully immunize everyone who is eligible for a shot, working out to over 66

Thirty-four Australian firefighting personnel are set to arrive in B-C today, joining hundreds from Mexico, Quebec, Alberta, Parks Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces as they help battle some 250 wildfires burning across the province.The B-C government says the group from Australia will include one nine-person incident management team, various specialized leadership roles and technical specialists who will be deployed under the direction of the B-C Wildfire Service.It says out-of-province personnel are working under strict COVID-19 protocols.More than 35-hundred people in total are involved i

Amid the uproar by the Opposition, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday raised concerns about the continuous disruptions of the House. Addressing the House, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said, "I am concerned about the media reports that some sections of the House are determined not to allow the House to function for the remainder of the session. Parliament is meant for making laws and to discuss public issues.""Leaders of parties have voiced their concerns to me over the ongoing sorry state of affairs and for being deprived of raising issues of public concerns. I appeal to all of you

The virus strain behind the latest clusters of COVID-19 cases in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, has been identified as the highly infectious Delta variant, local authorities said Tuesday. The recent spike in infections in the city can be attributed to the special location of the outbreak and the highly contagious nature of the strain, said Ding Jie, vice director of the city's center for disease control and prevention, at a press conference. Nanjing, a mega-city with a population of more than 9.3 million, has seen daily increases of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since

Canadian swimmer Kylie Masse has won a silver medal in 100m backstroke event in swimming. Masse clocked 57.72 seconds in the event. Masse had won a bronze medal in the same event in Rio Olympics (2016). Australia's Kylee McKeown won the gold medal in the event. She established a new Olympic record while clocking 57.47 seconds. American Raegan Smith won the bronze medal with a timing of 58.05 seconds. Kylie Masse had won gold medals in the same event in 2017 and 2019 world championships.

Over a three-day period, B.C. is reporting 267 new cases of COVID-19, including one epi-linked case, for a total of 149,109 cases in the province:July 23-24: 94 new casesJuly 24-25: 79 new casesJuly 25-26: 94 new casesThere are currently 695 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 146,636 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 43 individuals are in hospital and 17 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.In the last 72 hours, one new death (Northern Health) has been reported, for an overall total of 1,768. Since December

One of the mantras Tokyo Olympic officials are pushing is ``Sport appeal, not sex appeal.'' Head of broadcasting Yiannis Exarchos says his team is trying to banish overly sexualized images of female athletes, so viewers won't see close-ups on parts of the body. German gymnasts protesting uniforms they believe exploit their sexuality are competing in Tokyo wearing unitards that cover their legs to the ankle. Earlier this month, Norwegian women refused to play in bikini bottoms at a European beach handball event and were fined for wearing shorts instead. Singer Pink is offering to pay their fin

Two mink have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans, on a farm under quarantine after it had mink test positive in May 2021.Five additional mink samples from the same farm have initially tested positive at the B.C. Animal Health Lab, with final results pending from The National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg.The two positive mink were identified through a co-ordinated wildlife surveillance project led by the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, in co-operation with the One Health Working Group. One of t