IN THE NEWS

The Manitoba Court of Appeal has ruled a judge gave an excessively light sentence (5 months, 25 days) to a 23-year-old Somalian refugee who pleaded guilty to ramming a police vehicle and uttering death threats to the officers who arrested him. The new ruling raised his total sentence to 13 months and 10 days. A sentence of six months or longer strips criminals of their right to appeal deportation.

Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair is slamming a Conservative MP for hosting a “Guns and Guinness” fundraiser last weekend.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police need more money to help cover a historic class-action lawsuit after more women than expected came forward with stories of harassment and sexual abuse. The Mounties expected 1,000 claims — so far, they've got 3,131.

With a federal election less than a year away, Canada’s defence minister is warning voters they will be targeted by online cyber-attacks and fake news as Russia steps up its efforts to undermine western democracies.

Leonardo DRS has appointed John Baylouny as executive vice president and chief operating officer – a position that oversees the execution of program operations across all eight of the company’s business sectors.

A man who sought refugee protection in Canada but was detained and eventually deported after authorities learned he had a criminal record, now wants to change the laws of Canada. Currently, migrants who do not hold Canadian citizenship can only challenge detention through an immigration tribunal or a judicial review. His lawyers want to give migrants being held in detention the ability to challenge their imprisonment in front of a judge.

Applications for a competition to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology that will enable an autonomous drone to win a race against a pilot-operated drone opened today. Applications are being accepted until 28 Feb 2019, and teams will be competing for more than U$2 million in prizes from the Lockheed Martin competition.

Nova Scotia's police chiefs are shining a spotlight on drink tampering, after several high-profile cases of suspected druggings in downtown Halifax. At a meeting this fall, members of the Nova Scotia Chiefs of Police Association agreed to make the issue a priority, focusing on community education and prevention.

At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Canadians paused at memorials and cenotaphs across the country and around the world to silently remember those who gave their lives in conflict and to mark 100 years since the end of the First World War.

Experts are warning Canada that working with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is a grave “mistake” after an explosive Australian report last week alleged the company had hacked a foreign network and shared the information with Beijing.

The Government wants to collect your individual banking transactions and sensitive personal identification information such as your bill payments, cash withdrawals and account balances, but the plan has been put on hold.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) will be launching an online consultation portal to seek industry views on how it conducts its assessment of export permits. The focus will inform the assessment of risks and implications of proposed exports with respect to human rights, Canada’s foreign and defence policy and national security considerations.

A shooting erupted at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California. Eyewitnesses say the shooter, a former marine, opened fire in a packed bar during college night. Responding first to the call was sheriff's deputy Sgt. Ron Helus who was one of those gunned down and killed.

Next year’s federal election in Canada has made security a top priority, as the country looks to modernize its electoral system and safeguard critical infrastructure to mitigate the threat of cyber-attacks and misinformation.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi said he remains convinced the federal government would be on the hook for potential security-related cost overruns of a Calgary 2026 Winter Olympics, amid confusion after Ottawa signalled it would be somebody else’s responsibility.

Weeks into national cannabis legalization, a top RCMP officer says the tests being used to detect whether someone is driving high are "not there yet," though they're the best they've got.

Defence Minister Sajjan today announced that the Royal Canadian Navy will receive a sixth Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship from Irving Shipyards. The Government of Canada is acquiring the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) to bolster the Royal Canadian Navy’s capabilities while equipping its women and men with versatile and reliable vessels to complete their vital missions, he said.

The federal government now says it is not ruling out barring Huawei from supplying equipment for Canada’s next generation 5G mobile networks, backing away from previous assurances that Canadian security agencies were capable of containing any cyberespionage threat from the Chinese telecommunications giant.

The Homeland Security and Defense Departments don’t expect a significant cyber attack on next week’s elections. But both agencies are eager to avoid a repeat of 2016, so just in case, military Cyber Protection Teams are on standby and able to respond “within hours,” a senior Pentagon official told reporters.

China Telecom, a state-owned telecommunications firm, has systematically diverted internet traffic in Canada and the United States by shunting it through its own network in an effort to commit espionage and steal intellectual property, two cybersecurity researchers say.

Canadian academics have collaborated on dozens of projects with Chinese military researchers – some of whom appear to have obscured their defence ties – raising concerns that Canada is inadvertently helping China modernize its armed forces.

The synagogue massacre on Saturday – one of the worst attacks against the Jewish community in the United States in decades – hit at the heart of one of the country’s most vital Jewish neighbourhoods. And it shook a nation in the home-stretch of an exhausting and bitter political season that has seen rising vitriol and occasional threats of violence.

Groups representing survivors and families of victims of Quebec mass shootings are questioning the Liberal government's commitment to eliminating handguns and assault weapons on the eve of a federal consultation in Montreal.

Thirty Canadian military members and their families were forced to evacuate their Florida homes and are now living in a hotel after a hurricane ripped through the U.S. air force base where they are stationed.

China has inaugurated a new alliance to promote collaboration across its military research, development, and manufacturing enterprises. The National Defence Science and Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance was launched in mid-October and recently publicized by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.

Defence Minister Sajjan says the federal Liberal government is taking a wait-and-see approach following the suspected murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Turkey.

Germany is freezing arms exports to Saudi Arabia as Riyadh faces a growing chorus of international condemnation over the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its Istanbul consulate and near-universal disbelief over the kingdom’s shifting explanations for his death.

Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan, a former detective with the Vancouver police, sat down with Postmedia News to discuss how legalization will affect the Canadian Armed Forces and the broader impacts it will have on Canadian society.

The three top officials in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province were killed when their own guards opened fire on them at a security conference Thursday, the deputy provincial governor said, and a Taliban spokesman said the target was Washington’s top general in Afghanistan, Scott Miller, who escaped without injury, according to NATO.

The goal of intelligence-driven defence is a positive feedback loop. Lockheed uses the "cyber kill chain" framework for its intelligence gathering. “Kill chain” is military jargon for all the steps you need to take to perform a mission, from gathering reconnaissance to launching a weapon to assessing the damage.

A senior U.S. border patrol official is warning travellers that cannabis remains an illegal narcotic in the U.S. despite Canada's legalization – and even if you've been granted amnesty for a previous pot-related criminal conviction, you could still be denied entry to the United States.

Parks Canada confirmed this week that marijuana can be consumed at its campsites – part of a policy of offering visitors a "consistent and predictable" experience at national parks across the country.

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) announced Friday what they are calling two substantive reviews of government national security and intelligence activities. The findings will be published in NSICOP’s first annual report.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, two influential member of the U.S. Senate select intelligence committee warn that inadequate safety measures put Canadian national security and "Five Eyes" joint intelligence co-operation at risk.