There is silence out of Beijing on what happened to Canadian Michael Kovrig when he was put on trial on spying charges. The day ended with no announcement about the status of the proceedings, which are being held behind closed doors. Canadian Embassy officials were barred from the courthouse, as they were on Friday for the trial of Michael Spavor. Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau says the government is deeply troubled by the total lack of transparency. He also thanked diplomats from 26 countries who turned up at the courthouse to show their solidarity with Canada. Marc Garneau on Twitter

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has identified the victims of a double homicide on Friday in Richmond, B.C. The homicide team says 25-year-old Chaten Dhindsa and 23-year-old Joban Dhindsa were brothers and were known to police.The team says Richmond RCMP responded at 4:45 a.m. Friday to assist with a structure fire, but once the blaze was extinguished, two bodies were found inside the home.Police say the injuries sustained by the two men were consistent with a homicide and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team assumed conduct of the file.Det. Lara Jansen says this is believed

British Columbia officials say the province will use "every last drop" of available vaccine in its parallel COVID-19 vaccination programs. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has allowed health authorities to target outbreaks and help front-line workers, as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are used for B.C.'s age-based vaccine rollout. B.C. reported 737 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 90,786. The province also reported two new COVID-19-related deaths, for a t

Police say cryptocurrency scams cost victims in the Vancouver-area about $2 million in just one week and investigators believe the frauds are becoming more common. Vancouver police Const. Tania Visintin says she knows of at least four active cases where large amounts of money have been lost. She says a single victim was defrauded of more than $500,000 in a separate case last year when suspects pretending to be Service Canada representatives convinced them their Social Insurance Number had been compromised. Visintin says police believe the number of scams is growing and the total is under-repor

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced China's "lack of transparency" Friday following a brief trial for Michael Spavor, one of two Canadians detained by Beijing for more than two years. Canada said its consular officials were refused permission to attend the proceedings against Spavor, an entrepreneur with North Korea-related business, who is accused by China of stealing state secrets. Jim Nickel, the Canadian Embassy's deputy chief of mission, said he was told by Spavor's lawyer that the hearing ended at noon Friday after two hours. No verdict was announced. Nickel declined to give other d

A Chinese court says it will pronounce its sentence on detained Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor at a later date.Spavor's trial on charges of spying and illegally sending state secrets abroad lasted just two hours today and was conducted behind closed doors.Canadian consular officials were refused permission to attend. Ten diplomats from eight countries, including the US, Britain and Australia, stood on the street opposite the courthouse in Dandong, China.Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig is due to go on trial on Monday.The detention of the ``two Michaels'' is seen as retribution for

BC is reporting 622 new cases of COVID-19, pushing the total over 90-thousand since the pandemic began, and eight more people have died. A joint statement from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix says more than 4,900 infections are active, including 286 people who are hospitalized. BC has confirmed 136 new variant cases for a total of 1,132, the vast majority of which are the variant first found in the United Kingdom. The province says 143 cases of those variants of concern remain active. The latest numbers come after the province announced more than 300,

Barring any issues, Major-General Dany Fortin says enough doses of COVID-19 should arrive in the country so that every adult could get a first shot before Canada Day. But due to the threat of vaccine production issues, the government's official line is that Canadians will be fully vaccinated by the end of September. And the calculations rely on the provinces continuing to delay second doses up to four months to get first doses to more people sooner. Health Canada anticipates a total of 36.5-million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of Ind

Transportation Safety Board chair Kathy Fox says Iran's civil aviation agency failed to answer key questions in its final report on the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet in January 2020. Kathy Fox says the final report on what happened to Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 fails to explain why the aircraft was shot down. Iran is blaming human error for the Revolutionary Guard firing two surface-to-air missiles at the jet shortly after it took off from Tehran. The TSB has questions about the missile operator's training, experience or proficiency. The final report from Iran's civil av