A timeline has finally been announced for the removal of a huge barge that wedged itself onto a beach in Vancouver's English Bay last November. A statement from the City of Vancouver says a local pile driving firm will set up fences and barricades around the barge this week.Temporary piles will then be drilled into the Sunset Beach shoreline to secure the barge and, once that work is complete, deconstruction will begin.The city estimates removal of sections of the barge's walls and hull should take 12 to 15 weeks.The statement says industry experts, partners and First Nation groups have been c

A group that has disrupted rush hour traffic around Vancouver and Victoria in a bid to halt logging of old-growth timber now plans to branch out to something less confrontational. A statement from Save Old Growth says it will ``de-escalate disruptive actions'' that have blocked key highways and bridges. The group says, starting today, it will switch to other tactics including public outreach and events. However, the group says it will continue to demand the provincial government take ``urgent steps to permanently protect BC's remaining old growth forests.''

BC Attorney General David Eby says federal, provincial and territorial governments have agreed to a proposed 150 million dollar settlement with Purdue Pharma Canada. Eby says it's the largest settlement of a governmental health care cost claim in Canadian history. The province launched a class-action lawsuit in 2018 against more than 40 drug companies, with the aim of recovering health-care costs related to the sale and marketing of opioid-based pain medication. Eby says the money will support provincial programs to fight the opioid epidemic that governments believe Purdue contributed to thro

An RCMP officer who was among 22 people killed in the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting was remembered today during a regimental service in Halifax that recalled her brave actions. People lined a street leading to the service for Const. Heidi Stevenson, watching as Mounties and municipal police marched, bagpipers and drummers played, and a hearse brought the officer's urn to the ceremony at the Cole Harbour hockey arena.COVID-19 restrictions had delayed the official ceremony, though a family funeral took place five days after Stevenson was killed.RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told today's servic

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau nabbed Rakesh Kumar, Class-4 employee of Civil Hospital, Pathankot Ms. Bableen Kaur, Drug Inspector informed the officials on Wednesday. The due was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs. 30000. "The accused Rakesh Kumar has been arrested on the complaint of Pathankot-based man, who had approached the VB informing that he had applied online for a grant of license to open a medical store at Mamoon. The complainant was later called by Ms. Bableen Kaur, Drug Inspector, who told him to contact Rakesh Kumar, a Class-IV employee in the Civil Hospital, Pathanko

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray resigned minutes after the Supreme Court ruled that he must prove tomorrow that his government still has a majority. Thackeray announced his resignation during a Facebook session he was addressing. The Supreme Court refused to stay an order by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari calling for a special session of state assembly tomorrow (Jun 30) for Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP government to take a floor test. "I am resigning as the Chief Minister," Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray announces. I had come (to power) in an unexpected

Alberta is back in the black in a big way turbocharged by high-flying oil prices. Finance Minister Jason Nixon says the final number on the 2021-22 fiscal year, which ended on March 31, is a $3.9-billion surplus. It's the first time in seven years the provincial budget will not sport red ink on the bottom line. It represents a head-spinning turnaround from the $18.2-billion deficit predicted when the budget was introduced during the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2021. Alberta's bread-and-butter oil and natural gas industries have soared in recent months, as global economies rampe

The UK government has partnered with leading businesses in India to offer 75 fully-funded scholarships for Indian students to study in the UK from September, the British High Commission (BHC) said. The BHC, in a statement, said that this is the highest number of fully-funded scholarships given for the one-year master's programme to date. Companies like HSBC, Pearson India, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Sons and Duolingo are supporting this special initiative to celebrate India's 75th year of independence, the high commission said. The programmes on offer include Chevening scholarships for a one-yea

Tailor Kanhaiya Lal, who was beheaded in Udaipur in Rajasthan by two men for allegedly posting content in support of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma, has created a public outcry. Reacting to the horrific and brutal killing of her husband, his wife Yashoda demanded that the culprits should be hanged to death. Kanhaiya Lal, whose gruesome murder shocked the nation, was cremated on Wednesday in Rajasthan's Udaipur in the presence of a large number of people who raised slogans demanding capital punishment for the accused. "For the last 10-15 days he was getting life threats. They said that they