A judge in Russia convicted American basketball star Brittney Griner of drug possession and smuggling. She was sentenced to nine years in prison in a politically charged case that could lead to a high-stakes prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow. Griner showed little emotion to the sentence but her lawyers said later she was "very upset, very stressed. U.S. President Joe Biden denounced as ``unacceptable'' the verdict and sentence, which came amid soaring tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine. Griner had told the court she had no intention to break the law by bringing va

With the ongoing erosion of B.C.’s health care system and the continued lack of urgent action from the NDP government to address the now system-wide crisis, the BC Liberals are asking the question, where is NDP Health ​Minister Adrian Dix and the NDP’s long-promised health care human resources plan? "For months we have watched the crisis in B.C.’s health care system grow and tragically, some British Columbians have lost their lives as a result of the dysfunction in the system. This has become a province-wide crisis that continues to get worse by the day, and yet Minister Adrian Dix ref

Former Supreme Court of Canada judge Thomas Cromwell is leading an independent review of Hockey Canada's governance that begins immediately. There have been calls for a change of leadership at Hockey Canada for the way it handled recent sexual assault allegations against players. Members of the 2003 and 2018 world junior team have been accused of separate incidents of group sexual assault. It was also revealed that the organization maintained a fund for uninsured payments, including settlements of sexual assault complaints, that was funded by player fees. The independent review is expected to

Defence Minister Anita Anand says Ottawa and an Ontario company have agreed to deliver armoured vehicles to Ukrainian forces to help their fight against Russian troops. Anand also says Canada is sending up to 225 Canadian Armed Forces members to Britain for an initial period of four months to teach Ukrainian soldiers the basics of soldiering. Her announcement today comes nearly six months after Canada suspended its previous training mission in Ukraine just weeks before Russia invaded its neighbour back in February. Since the invasion, Ukraine says roughly 10-thousand of its soldiers have been

The U.S. will declare a public health emergency to bolster the federal response to the outbreak of monkeypox that already has infected more than 6,600 Americans, two people familiar with the matter said. The announcement will free up federal funding and resources to fight the virus, which may cause fever, body aches, chills, fatigue and pimple-like bumps on many parts of the body. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. The declaration comes as the the Biden administration has faced criticism over the pace of vaccine availability for monkeypox. Clinics in maj

Indian men's hockey team confirmed a spot in the Semi-Finals of the Commonwealth Games 2022 with a 4-1 win over Wales in Birmingham on Thursday. Harmanpreet Singh (18', 19', 41') scored a hat-trick in the match, while Gurjant Singh (49') also added a goal as the duo helped their team pull off a solid win in a gritty contest. Gareth Furlong (55') scored a consolation goal for Wales in the match. India will next play in the Semifinal match on August 6.

Emergency crews were called to Range Road 24 on Township Road 524 in Parkland County at about 4:20 a-m for a report of a two-vehicle crash. Mounties say a collision analyst is on scene, and traffic will be delayed until the investigation is complete. No information about other injuries or people involved in the crash has been released. RCMP is currently on scene investigating and traffic in the area will be affected.

As the tensions escalated in the Taiwan strait in the wake of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the Taiwanese Defence Ministry said that 22 Chinese military aircraft entered the island's air defence zone on Thursday. This is the third such incident since Pelosi's trip to Taipei. "22 PLA aircraft (J-11*8, SU-30*12 and J-16*2) entered the surrounding area of R.O.C. on August 4, 2022," Taiwan Defence Ministry said in a statement. Taiwan today strongly condemned China's "North Korea" style missile firing into waters near the self-governed island after China's People's Liberation Ar

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday announced a cash prize of Rs 40 lakhs for weightlifter Gurdeep Singh, who won a Bronze medal in the Men's 109 kg plus category final. On Wednesday, Singh bagged the bronze medal in the men's 109-plus kg final at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 with a combined weight of 390kg. "Congratulations to Gurdeep Singh of village near Khanna for winning bronze medal in weightlifting 109kg weight category during Commonwealth Games...A prize money of Rs40 lakhs will be given to Gurdeep by Punjab Govt. Congratulations too... All the best for the future..