Polling is being held for 57 constituencies spread across seven states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. A voter turnout of 26.3 per cent was recorded till 11 am on Saturday in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha polls the Election Commission (EC) said. Nearly 31.92 per cent voter turnout was recorded in Himachal Pradesh and Odisha recorded only 22.64 per cent voting till 11 am. Uttar Pradesh logged a polling percentage of 28.02, West Bengal 28.1, Bihar 24.25 and Punjab recorded a voter turnout of 23.91 per cent in the first four hours of polling while Chandigarh registered a

Today, voting is taking place in 13 seats of Punjab under Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Voting starts from 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. A total of 328 candidates are in the fray for the 13 Lok Sabha seats of Punjab. A total of 253 candidates contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 278 in 2019. 466 candidates had filed 598 nomination papers in the state. After scrutiny of papers and return of letters, the total number of candidates remained 328, including 302 male and 26 female candidates.

Serial killer Robert Pickton has died after he was assaulted in prison earlier this month, Quebec provincial police and Correctional Service Canada say. The correctional service says Pickton, an inmate at Port-Cartier Institution in Quebec, died on Friday at the age of 74. It says in a statement that Pickton's next of kin have been notified as well as victims who had registered to be told. It says an investigation is underway into the May 19 assault that involved another inmate. Quebec provincial police spokesman Frédéric Deshaies says Pickton died "in the last few hours." He says police co

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he supports France's decision to invite Russian officials to a D-Day commemoration, despite the invasion of Ukraine. Trudeau says Canada is in "extreme disagreement" with Russia and that Moscow must be held accountable for violating fundamental rules about respecting sovereign borders. But he says it's still important to recognize all countries involved in liberating France from the Nazis in the Second World War. Mission Libération, the French government committee organizing the 80th anniversary commemorations for D-Day, told European media last week they ha

A report from the BC Coroners Service says 126 children and youth younger than 19 died from toxic drugs between 2019 and 2023. That makes unregulated drug toxicity the leading cause of unnatural death for the age group over those five years. The report says fentanyl or related drugs were detected in 83 per cent of the deaths, either alone or in combination with other substances. It says about two-thirds of those who died were receiving services offered through the Ministry of Children and Family Development, or had previously received them. About 60 per cent of those who died were aged 17 or 1

The Nature Conservancy of Canada says a new conservation area north of Cranbrook, B.C., will protect important bird habitat and preserve grasslands in the province's southeast. The conservancy says money from the federal government and private donors went to buying up 271 hectares of land in the Skookumchuk Prairie in the province's southeast corner. Richard Klafki, a B.C. program director with the Nature Conservancy, says the land which also includes wetlands and forests is a "key biodiversity area," and came up for sale when the former owner, a local rancher, decided to downsize. Klafki says

Mounties say two people have died following a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. A statement from the RCMP says police were able to access the remote crash site south of Squamish, on the west side of Howe Sound, by air on Saturday and confirm the two occupants of the plane did not survive. The plane crash was reported Friday evening after an automatic crash notification from a smartphone. The police statement says investigators are working with the Transportation Safety Board and the BC Coroners Service to determine the cause of the crash. The statement thanks Squamish Search and Rescue, Blackcom

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has written a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging him to meet the NATO spending target Canada agreed to a decade ago. All NATO allies pledged to spend at least two per cent of GDP on defence, but Canada is spending well below that at around 1.33 per cent. In a letter dated today, 23 senators say Canada is a valued ally and note its contributions, including leading a multinational battle group in Latvia. But they say the alliance is facing a severe threat landscape and they are calling on all NATO countries to uphold their commitment. Under its ne

Immigration Minister Marc Miller is expected to table legislation today that would extend citizenship to some children born outside of the country. In 2009, the Conservative government changed the law so that Canadian parents who were born abroad could not pass down their citizenship unless their child was born in Canada. Amendments to the Citizenship Act in 1977 and 2009 also stripped thousands of people who were born abroad of their Canadian citizenship. Those who've not had access to citizenship rights as a result of the amendments are known as "Lost Canadians." Last year, the Ontario Super