The COVID-19 death toll in the US has now hit 150,000. The total reported by Johns Hopkins University is the highest by far in the world. A number of states in the Sunbelt had seen surges in cases, with Florida reporting 216 today. South Carolina's death toll has more than doubled over the past month, surpassing 15-hundred earlier this week. More than 4.5 million people have been tested positive for COVID-19 in US so far.

The RCMP is investigating the assault of a woman of colour and her two teenage children reported to have occurred in Chilliwack last weekend.Corporal Mike Rail says a group of South Asian men allegedly directed a number of racial slurs toward the family during a fight at the Entrance Bay area at Cultus Lake.Rail says the two teenage children were treated in hospital for injuries and later released. He says Entrance Bay was crowded at the time of the incident on Saturday and police are asking anyone with information to contact them.

The Transportation Safety Board says a fire that broke out in the engine room of a container ship off Haida Gwaii was caused by poor maintenance. Five of the 22 crew members onboard the MOL Prestige were seriously hurt in the fire on Jan. 31, 2018. The board's report says the fire started when cold fuel oil was added into a high temperature tank caused oil to spew from the top and catch fire. It found equipment in the engine room hadn't been maintained as required and even though engine crew had identified hazards, they went unaddressed. The safety board says several other safety issues were

An outbreak of COVID-19 at the newborn intensive care nursery of a Vancouver hospital has been declared over. A statement from Providence Health Care, which manages St. Paul's Hospital, says Vancouver Coastal Health declared the outbreak over yesterday, 12 days after it was announced. The statement says all cases were promptly isolated, potential contacts were traced and the nursery was stringently disinfected. Parents visiting the nursery must still wear masks and sign a log book, but Providence Health says the ward has fully re-opened and the nearby maternity ward was never affected.

Most students from kindergarten to Grade 12 are to return to British Columbia schools full time in September.Education Minister Rob Fleming says enhanced safety measures and additional resources to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will allow the province to move its education restart plan ahead.Fleming says the classroom is an essential part of a child's social, academic and mental development, and that's why the province is working hard to ensure children can spend the school year with their teachers and classmates.He says on the advice of the provincial health officer, students will be organiz

Mara Soriano says her knees buckled as a two Good Samaritans handed her a bag containing a brown teddy bear in a red-and-white dress and white jacket.For the past four days Soriano has walked up and down Vancouver alleyways, looked under dumpsters, put up posters and responded to every email and tweet that she thought could lead her back to a teddy bear that carried her late mother's voice.Last night she sobbed with joy when she was reunited with the bear.The bear was stolen while she was moving to a new apartment on Friday, and Soriano put out a call for it on social media that soon went vir

MPs on the House of Commons ethics committee will meet this afternoon to push forward their own parliamentary probe of the federal government's aborted deal with WE Charity to run a student-volunteer program.The committee is seeking documents on the speaking fees the charity paid to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's immediate family, which amount to some $300,000 plus expenses.Opposition MPs, who outnumber Liberals, have also used their numbers to ask Trudeau to testify before the ethics committee as part of its work.Trudeau is set to testify tomorrow at the House of Commons finance committee a

Community sport organizations in British Columbia will share $1.5 million in provincial government funding to help them survive the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lisa Beare, B.C.'s minister of tourism, arts and culture, says the funding will help many of the province's 4,100 local sports organizations facing financial hardship without their registration fees, event revenues and sponsorships. Beare says the pandemic has been difficult for community swimming, gymnastics, baseball and other local sports that rely largely on volunteer support but also have fixed costs. A Victoria-area baseb

There are 114,994 confirmed cases in Canada. Quebec: 58,897 confirmed (including 5,670 deaths, 50,886 resolved) Ontario: 38,910 confirmed (including 2,768 deaths, 34,567 resolved) Alberta: 10,470 confirmed (including 187 deaths, 8,886 resolved) British Columbia: 3,523 confirmed (including 194 deaths, 3,076resolved) Saskatchewan: 1,218 confirmed (including 17 deaths, 907 resolved) Nova Scotia: 1,067 confirmed (including 63 deaths, 1,004 resolved) Manitoba: 391 confirmed (including 8 deaths, 319 resolved), 14 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 266 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 259 resolved