China: coronavirus deaths rise to 563

A 56-year-old man has been critically injured in an overnight shooting in Maple Ridge, B.C. Police say the shooting happened around 10 p.m. Tuesday at a home in the 11400 block of 236 Street. Officers responding to reports of gunshots found the wounded man inside a vehicle outside the residence. The Maple Ridge RCMP Serious Crime Unit has taken over the investigation. Police say no motive has been established and no suspect information has been released. Investigators are asking anyone who witnessed the shooting or has dashcam footage from the area around the time of the incident to come forwa

Peel Regional Police in Ontario have arrested a Punjabi man and a woman in connection with an alleged extortion scheme in Brampton involving an online dating platform. Police identified the accused as 35-year-old Harwinder Singh and 23-year-old Ria. Both have been charged with extortion, robbery and forcible confinement related to an e-transfer. Singh is also facing an additional charge of uttering threats. According to Peel police, in July, a victim was contacted through a messaging app by a fake profile using the name “Manisha Sharma.” The two later arranged to meet at a basement apartme

Farmer organizations protesting at the Punjab-Haryana border on Wednesday announced the temporary suspension of their agitation. The decision came after Haryana authorities proposed a meeting with Union Minister Manohar Lal on September 4 to discuss the farmers’ demands. The protesting farmers had been sitting at the Khanauri–Data Singh Wala border point. On August 16, Haryana Police stopped a group of 51 farmers from proceeding towards Delhi. The farmers were undertaking a 228-kilometre-long “Kisan Bachao Padyatra” (Save Farmers March) to oppose the proposed India-U.S. trade agreement

Alberta’s Minister of Technology and Innovation, Nate Glubish, is holding a town hall meeting in Lacombe this evening to hear residents’ views and concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) data centres. Plans to establish large-scale data centres in the area have faced opposition from some local residents and environmental advocates. Critics are particularly concerned about the large amounts of water the facilities could consume, their potential impact on the environment, and the heavy electricity demand that could put additional pressure on Alberta’s power grid and potentially increas

The B.C. government’s decision under Premier David Eby to suddenly shut down its online directory of government employees to the general public has sparked a political controversy in the province. Opposition parties have accused the government of hiding information from the public and undermining transparency. The government, however, says the decision was made to protect employees’ safety, privacy and cybersecurity. Through the directory, members of the public could previously find out which employees worked in different government departments, their positions and how to contact them. Lan