Officials in Penticton, B.C., are appealing to Premier John Horgan in the latest twist in a bitter dispute over a temporary shelter in the Okanagan city. Penticton Mayor John Vassilaki has written an open letter to Horgan urging him to intervene on the city's behalf as it tries to close the 42-bed shelter in defiance of BC Housing's application to extend the temporary-use permit for another year. Vassilaki hopes Horgan will help resolve the disagreement with Attorney General David Eby, who's also the minister responsible for housing. Eby has said the province needs more time to find long-term

The California Highway Patrol says a Tesla driver was arrested after an officer saw him in the backseat as the car drove on a San Francisco Bay Area freeway. Authorities say 25-year-old Param Sharma was arrested for alleged reckless driving and disobeying an officer. The arrest followed 911 calls Monday reporting a person seated in the backseat of a Tesla Model 3 without no one in the driver's seat while the vehicle traveled Interstate 80 across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Sharma was released from jail Tuesday and told the KTVU television station that what he did was not dangerous a

Israeli fighter jets have dropped two bombs on a 14-story building in Gaza City and destroyed it. The building housed businesses as well as offices for Hamas' Al-Aqsa satellite TV channel. It was located in the old Roman neighborhood, on the busiest shopping street in Gaza. Hamas says it has fired 130 rockets toward Israel in response for the attack on Wednesday.Israeli TV channels broadcast the collapse of most of a massive high-rise building in central Gaza City targeted by airstrikes. The latest escalation in fighting between Israel and Hamas had commentators predicting Gaza militants would

The BC College of Pharmacists has fined a pharmacist and suspended him for a year for diverting and reselling prescription medication. The college says in a recent ruling that Ian Petterson worked at a hospital pharmacy and sold its supplies and medication to a community pharmacy, then pocketed the cash. A written disciplinary ruling says text messages and emails provided the evidence and that Petterson circumvented the hospital's policies and procedures aimed at preventing such theft and diversion. He has been fined 35,000 dollars and must retake a licensing exam, though even if he passes

Business leaders in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin have joined forces with their Canadian counterparts in the legal fight over the Line 5 pipeline. The U.S. and Canadian chambers of commerce are also included in a new legal brief filed with the U.S. District Court in Michigan.The filing comes after a similar brief was submitted yesterday by the federal Liberal government urging the court to keep the cross-border pipeline operating.The chambers spell out in detail a cascade of likely "severe, nationwide and international" consequences if the line running through Michigan is shut down.They argue

As India is witnessing an exponential surge in COVID-19 cases and burden on medical infrastructure, World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press conference on May 11 informed that WHO has launched an initiative 'Together for India' to raise funds in order to support the country in this fight against pandemic. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "Today WHO is launching an initiative 'Together for India' to support WHO's work in India, including the purchase of oxygen, personal protective equipments and medicines." Calling it a perilous situation on the

British Columbia recorded 515 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, continuing a downward trend of infections as the vaccination rate accelerates. Health officials say in a news release that 6,020 people have active infections, 426 of whom are hospitalized, including 141 in intensive care. Two more people have died, bringing the death toll to 1,624. More than 2.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, 110,516 of which are second doses. The government is also extending the provincial state of emergency through May 25, saying it would allow health and emergency management officials to

A coalition of 15 groups wants the City of Vancouver and the federal government to rethink plans for drug decriminalization. The coalition says users have been excluded from discussions with the federal health department about decriminalization, meaning current proposals, if adopted unchanged, could do more harm that good. In a letter to Health Minister Patty Hajdu, the coalition says police have too much input in developing what is being called the ``Vancouver model'' of decriminalization covering simple possession of small amounts of drugs. The Vancouver model suggests people should be allo

The White House says President Joe Biden is being briefed daily on developments in Jerusalem and Gaza, and has directed his team to engage intensively with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as leaders throughout the Middle East. Press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that Biden's team is communicating a clear and consistent message in support of de escalation. ``That is our primary focus,'' she said, adding that Biden supports Israel's ``legitimate right to defend itself and its people'' and at the same time condemns ongoing ``rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist grou