Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war under a deal sponsored by the United Arab Emirates. Ukrainian authorities say that 230 Ukrainian prisoners of war returned home. Russia's Defense Ministry says that 248 Russian servicemen have been freed from Ukrainian captivity. The ministry says that the deal was made possible thanks to mediatory efforts by the United Arab Emirates. The massive prisoner exchange follows other such deals earlier in the war, which is nearing the two-year mark.

TransLink says its new R-6 Scott Road RapidBus is now cruising the streets on what it calls the busiest bus corridor south of theFraser. TransLink says the R-6 is geared toward Surry and Delta residents and Kwantlen University students, who can expect to shave a few minutes off their trips between Scott Road station and the Newton bus exchange.The transit operator says the R-6 can carry more riders than past services as Surrey and Delta lead the way in growing ridership numbers in the region.TransLink says ridership on Surrey and Delta buses is now 16 per cent higher than in 2019, and the new

The City of Edmonton says it has closed anotherhomeless encampment that it considers high-risk. It says the latest camp closure happened Saturday in the vicinity of the Herb Jamieson Centre, a homeless shelter just north of Edmonton's downtown core. The city says 20 structures and 19 occupants were removed, and there were no arrests. Another encampment six blocks east was closed by the city on Friday. Earlier this month, the city and a human rights group reached an agreement for eight camps that are considered a public safety risk to be taken down. The agreement came when the Coalition for

A union representing more than 180 transit workers in B.C. has issued a 72-hour strike notice.CUPE Local 4500 represents workers employed by the Coast Mountain Bus Company, which runs transit operations for all of Metro Vancouver. The notice is effective at 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The union says it is still available to negotiate a collective agreement that avoids service disruptions.It says job action could begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday with an overtime ban that would affect all operations in the Coast Mountain system. The union says the last collective agreement expired at the end of 2

The federal government says a maximum of 1,000 Palestinian relatives of Canadian citizens will be able to apply to escape the Gaza Strip with Canada's help. The special extended family program for people in Gaza is set to launch next week, after Palestinian Canadians pleaded for months to get help from the government to rescue their loved ones as the Israel-Hamas war continues. The policy details released last week says the program will stop taking applications either after it receives 1,000 requests, or after a year has elapsed. The program would offer Palestinians visas allowing them to take

United Arab Emirates - Iran says explosions at an event honoring a prominent Iranian general slain in a U.S. airstrike in 2020 have killed at least 103 people and wounded 141 others. Iranian state media call them a ``terroristic'' attack. No group has immediately claimed responsibility. The blasts on Wednesday struck an event marking the the fourth anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force. who died in Iraq in January 2020. The explosions occurred near his grave site in Kerman, about 820 kilometers (510 miles) southeast of the

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says only four of Canada's 100 highest-paid CEOs are women. Those CEOs broke records with their compensation in 2022, making 14.9-million-dollars, up from an average of 14.3-million in 2021. That's 246 times more than the average Canadian worker. Restaurant Brands International executive chairman J. Patrick Doyle topped the list, followed by Dye & Durham CEO Matthew Proud. The head of Restaurant Brands International was the highest-paid Canadian CEO in 2022, according to the latest findings by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Topping

Canada won't be coming home from the World Junior Hockey Championship in Sweden with a medal.Czechia scored with 11.7 seconds left in third period to post a 3-2 win and knock the Canadians out of the tournament. The quarterfinal game was a rematch of last year's gold-medal game in Halifax, which Canada took 3-2 in overtime.

Almost half of the thousands of international students accepted by Canadian learning institutions have faced rejection from visa authorities in recent years. This has been revealed in a report which says that between January 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023, the Department of Immigration approved only 54.3 percent of the 866,206 study permits approved by learning institutions, i.e. 470,427 applicants. Immigration officials say applications are considered on a case-by-case basis based on the information provided by the applicant for a study permit. Some applicants do not meet the financial requiremen