Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced regulatory approval for a second coronavirus vaccine after early-stage studies. The peptide-based, two-shot vaccine was developed by the Vector Institute in Siberia and tested among 100 volunteers in early-stage human trials. An advanced study involving tens of thousands of volunteers that is necessary to establish safety and effectiveness of the vaccine were scheduled to start in November or December. It remained unclear whether the vaccine would be offered for a wider use while the trials still ongoing. Russia licensed another vaccine on Aug. 1

WestJet's CEO says the lack of travel demand combined with domestic quarantines means the airline can no longer maintain its full Canadian network. In a video post, Ed Sims says WestJet is, ``out of runway,'' and is suspending operations to four cities in Atlantic Canada and slashing service to others in the region.WestJet says it will indefinitely halt routes to Fredericton and Moncton, New Brunswick, Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Charlottetown, while dramatically paring down service to Halifax and St. John's, Newfoundland. PEI Premier Dennis King is expressing ``deep disappointment'' that WestJe

Statistics Canada says vehicular traffic coming into Canada from the U.S. remains low as travel restrictions remain in place. The agency says the number of U.S. travellers who crossed into Canada by car in September is down 94 per cent, to a total of 64,700 trips, compared to the same time last year. Last month, it said U.S. residents made 72, 800 trips across the border.Statistics Canada also says the number of Canadians returning to the country in September was down 93 per cent, to 151,900, compared to the 2.2 million recorded in September 2019. Restrictions on non-essential travel due to CO

New Democrat Leader John Horgan was in New Westminster this morning, attacking the former Liberal government's record on care for seniors and repeating the N-D-P pledge to improve conditions he says left care homes vulnerable when the pandemic hit. Horgan says New Democrats will to hire seven-thousand new health care workers and end practices by care home operators that affect wages and force staff to work at multiple facilities to make ends meet. NDP Leader John Horgan is trying to clarify an answer he gave on white privilege during Tuesday night's leaders debate in the B.C. election. In a st

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc says there is no magic legislative bullet to control objectionable content on social media.LeBlanc told a virtual conference on democracy today if there were a simple answer, many other western democracies would have already passed such laws. He says the internet and social-media platforms must be a home for free speech, a critical element of any democracy. However, LeBlanc adds, they should not be forums for hate speech, racism and disinformation. But he says citizens do not want governments to regulate content on the internet. LeBlanc prefe

The party leaders in British Columbia's provincial election return to the campaign trail today after going head-to-head Tuesday night in a televised debate.The debate featured the three party leaders keeping their distance because of the COVID-19 pandemic.They also dispensed with the usual handshakes in a largely civil debate, with some of the most pointed disagreements emerging on the best approach for economic recovery after the pandemic and energy policy.The post-pandemic recovery featured heavily in Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson's attacks on Horgan as he accused the New Democrats of bri

BC has recorded 549 more cases of COVID-19 over a four-day period and five additional deaths. The province's death toll has climbed to 250. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says while the numbers are higher than they'd like to see, there was also a backlog of about 6,000 tests now completed from last week that increased the count. Dr. Henry says four more long-term care centres also have outbreaks in the province. Almost 9,000 of those initially diagnosed with the virus are considered recovered.

BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson says he was embarrassed and appalled by comments a party candidate made about the NDP's Bowinn Ma. But Wilkinson says he did not feel he needed to say anything to Jane Thornthwaite during an online roast about remarks that have been widely condemned as sexist. He was peppered with questions today about why he laughed at the comments that Ma says sexualized her relationship with retiring M-L-A Ralph Sultan. Wilkinson says that there's no place for those kind of sexist remarks in society and he apologized to Ma.

The country's chief public health officer says a delay in Johnson & Johnson's clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine may signal a delay in getting a vaccine to the general public. She says everyone wants to see a vaccine ready as quickly as possible, but health and safety should never be compromised. Johnson & Johnson paused a clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine after finding an unexplained illness, which is normal in large-scale studies. These Phase 3 clinical trials involving human volunteers are supposed to wrap by November and December.