Beyond Local

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Thursday, including the first person from the Arab world going up for an extended monthslong stay.

GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) — A senior Russian diplomat warned Thursday that increasing Western support for Ukraine could trigger an open conflict between nuclear powers.

CALGARY — Alberta's NDP Opposition leader says the United Conservative Party's latest budget is meant to buy votes ahead of a provincial election scheduled for May.

EDMONTON — Alberta’s government house leader is accusing federal officials of trespassing on private property, but the provincial Justice Department said there’s no evidence of that occurring.

INVERMERE, B.C. — The number of people killed in British Columbia avalanches this season has grown to 12 after three foreign nationals were swept away by a slide near Invermere on Wednesday.

VICTORIA — No charges will be laid from a money laundering investigation into millions of dollars that moved through British Columbia casinos and Chinese bank accounts in what the province's attorney general called a "frustrating" end to the multi-year police probe.

MONTREAL — Pedro Fonseca, a 43-year-old asylum seeker from Colombia, says if he doesn't start receiving social assistance from the Quebec government soon, he'll likely become homeless.

OTTAWA — The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation says it is returning $200,000 it received seven years ago after a media report alleged a potential connection to Beijing.

OTTAWA — Canada's last two elections were not compromised by foreign actors, the director of Canada's spy agency told a committee of MPs Thursday.

EDMONTON — A test of the Alberta Emergency Alert system had some Albertans wondering if there was an actual emergency.