Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwat Mann on Tuesday met Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to discuss the issue of contaminated waters in the state. Mann in a tweet had earlier informed that he will be meeting the minister in Delhi and will discuss in detail purifying the polluted waters of Punjab. Both sides discussed the issue of pollution due to Buddha Nala, a seasonal water stream, which passes through Ludhiana and addressed the problem of contaminated water entering canals off-taking from Harike Barrage. A discussion on the implementation of the project of rejuvenation of polluted riv

Russia will opt out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country's newly appointed space chief said Tuesday. Yuri Borisov, who was appointed earlier this month to lead the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos, said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia will fulfill its obligations to other partners at the International Space Station before it leaves the project. “The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made,” Borisov said. Borisov's statement reaffirmed previous declarations by R

Pope Francis blessed a statue of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Indigenous person to be canonized as a saint, when he visited an inner-city Catholic church in Edmonton yesterday. He held the hands of elders while at Church of Sacred Heart, touching some on the head, as he was wheeled out. Earlier in the day, Francis visited Maskwacis (MASS'-kwah-cheez), south of Edmonton, and said he was sorry the church took part in the cultural destruction and forced assimilation of Indigenous people. The Pope is scheduled to lead mass at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton today, and is expected to travel later

Pope Francis gave an address about reconciliation at Edmonton's Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples and received several gifts. Francis said he is happy to visit an Edmonton church that welcomes Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. He issued an apology earlier in the day in Maskwacis, Alberta, for the church's role in residential schools in Canada. Francis said in his apology that memories of the children who never returned from residential schools has left him with a sense of sorrow, indignation and shame.

Two men in the 20s have been charged with first-degree murder in a double homicide in Whistler, B.C. Police say the BC Prosecution Service has approved the charges against 24-year-old Gursimran Sahota and 20-year-old Tanvir Khakh, both from Surrey. RCMP say the suspects were arrested on the Sea-to-Sky highway shortly after the shooting on Sunday, which took place in the Whistler Blackcomb resort's village near Sundial Hotel. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said in an earlier statement that a burning vehicle discovered on a Whistler street was believed to be associated with the shoo

A former Kelowna social worker accused of stealing money from children in provincial care has been sentenced to five years in prison. BC Supreme Court Justice Steven Wilson handed down the sentence more than a year after Robert Riley Saunders pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000 and also imposed shorter and concurrent terms for breach of trust and forgery. Saunders misappropriated an estimated $460,000 dollars from the Ministry of Children and Family Development by opening joint accounts with 24 youths in his care, many of them Indigenous, and then taking their benefits. The provincial governm

A series of deadly shootings in Langley, B.C., started about six hours before RCMP issued a cellphone alert warning the public. RCMP Sgt. David Lee says the alert, which was issued around 6:20 a.m., was done ``at the appropriate time'' when police were able to tie the events together. Two men were found dead, a woman was critically hurt and another man was shot in the leg at separate scenes around the Metro Vancouver community. The first shooting took place around midnight, while the suspect was confronted and killed by police at about 5:45 a.m., near where the final victim was wounded. Lee s

MASKWACIS — Pope Francis says he is in Canada to express his sorrow and ask for forgiveness for residential schools. The Pope is giving an address before residential school survivors and elders in Maskwacis, Alta., where the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School was one of the largest institutions in the country. Francis says he feels sorrow, indignation and shame. He says the memory of children who attended the schools is painful and every child should be treated with love, honour and respect. An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools in Canada

A downtown Calgary landmark has been severely damaged by vandalism. Councillor Terry Wong says 40 glass side panels on the Peace Bridge over the Bow River were shattered over the weekend. The tubular bridge was designed and manufactured in Spain and shipped to Calgary, where it opened in 2012. Witnesses and video footage show a man in his 40s smashing the panels using a hammer, rebar and bricks.