IN THE NEWS

The Royal Canadian Navy sets a benchmark of five minutes to recover someone who has gone overboard. Five minutes can seem like a lifetime in freezing Arctic water.

Dozens of returned fighters will walk free in Canadian society, and chances of their rehabilitation are, according to the minister responsible, "pretty remote".

American legal activist Erin Brockovich has arrived in Australia to support a class action lawsuit against the Department of Defence over widespread contamination with PFAS, a firefighting foam, saying there are "eerie" similarities to the 1993 U.S. case that made her famous.

Even though the federal government has approved a roadside testing device for marijuana impairment for police, there are questions about its reliability and accuracy. Cannabis use becomes legal in Canada on October 17.

Polar bears killed an Inuit hunter and injured several others last week on White Island in the Canadian arctic. Canadian Forces and RCMP members mounted a search after a hunting party from Naujaat failed to communicate with the community.

The grounding of the cruise ship Akademik Ioffe on Friday in Nunavut has raised questions about the safety of passengers and the protection of the sensitive arctic environment. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is conducting an investigation.

The cenotaph constructed in Kandahar to commemorate fallen Canadian soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan has been rebuilt at the new National Defence headquarters in west end Ottawa, but it is behind security barriers. Visiting the site could be a problem for people without approved access.

Australia has joined the United States in banning Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei from its 5G mobile network for national-security reasons. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not said whether Canada will take similar action.

A Canadian national has been sentenced in the United States to three-and-a-half years in prison for conspiracy to export military goods to Iran.

The Canadian peacekeeping force commander in Mali is worried about apparent delays in approving medical evacuations. Since becoming fully operational last week, Canada's helicopter contingent has not done any medical evacuations, and Col. Chris McKenna says he has heard of hours-long delays in approving the flights.

Canada continues to criticize Saudi Arabia for violations of human rights. That country retaliated with political and economic actions last month after similar Canadian criticism.

In February an uninflated 80 pound life raft broke loose from a Canadian Forces Griffon helicopter training in Florida and crashed through the roof of a Miami home. Investigators still have not determined how the belt securing the raft came undone.

The Government of Australia has officially launched the nation’s new Cyber Security Centre in Canberra, which aims to boost the nation’s defensive and offensive cyber capabilities.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is assembling a committee to study gun violence. The association's new president, Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer said his members believe there has been an increase in illegal firearm use over the past year.

A hefty unpaid bill from the RCMP is highlighting once again the dysfunction inside a troubled security force created in 2015 to protect Parliament Hill and its politicians from armed attackers.

Shannon Stubbs, a Conservative MP from Alberta faces criticism after saying it’s an “utter embarrassment for Canada" that a lawyer who represented Omar Khadr has been appointed as a federal judge. Academics and opposition politicians point out that the Canadian system guarantees the accused legal representation.

Italian authorities are looking into what caused a major highway bridge to collapse Tuesday in Genoa, killing at least 26 people. A large section of the Morandi Bridge fell during a violent storm, apparently without warning, sending some cars plunging 45 meters.

The government may be taking a closer look at private financial transactions than Canadians know. The law covering money laundering and terrorist financing is now under review, while US news reports suggest Canada has a low conviction rate for such crimes..

Two people were injured when a car drove into security barriers outside the British parliament on Tuesday and the driver was arrested, emergency services said, with counter-terrorism police leading the investigation into the incident.

The U.K. Ministry of Defence and the new not-for-profit TechVets, which specializes in helping veterans get jobs in the cyber security and technology sector, have joined forces to help more veterans become cyber warriors.

The Canada Revenue Agency has taken away the Ottawa Islamic Centre and Assalam Mosque's charitable status after audits showed that, “Many of the views expressed by the organization’s speakers are misogynistic, homophobic, racist and/or promote violence.” Mosque officials have denied promoting intolerance.

The strategic context in which the CAF operates has shifted dramatically over the last decade or more – driven by an evolving balance of power, the changing nature of conflict, and the rapid evolution of technology. These new challenges demand a new response in the way the CAF operates and is funded.

Canadian laws on money laundering are so weak that Australian officials call one illegal technique "the Vancouver method". A growing number of officials and academics in Canada and the United States are calling for stricter Canadian regulation.

The contemporary battlefield of cyberspace merited not one single mention in President Donald Trump's remarks alongside Putin in Finland recently. Unless you count the infamous Democratic National Committee server, that is, which he referenced nine times. While Trump obsesses about politics, the U.S. is exposed to great danger.

A Canadian board of inquiry into possible misconduct during combat operations in Afghanistan in 2008 has still not released its report. A member of the JTF2 special forces unit alleges another member shot and killed an Afghan attempting to surrender. A 2011 statement said there had been no criminal acts but that other issues were still being addressed.

In a loophole created by a loophole, people who have entered Canada illegally but are legally allowed to remain to pursue refugee claims, can themselves be used as an exception for broadly defined 'relatives' who arrive at ports of entry from the US to claim refugee status.

The fourth of six Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications satellites has been shipped to Cape Canaveral in preparation for an October liftoff aboard an Atlas V rocket.

There's a turf war going on at Canada's major airports over handguns – but no gangs are involved. Instead, border officers have been butting heads with Transport Canada officials in a four-year-old dispute about who can bear arms in an airport.

As controversy swirls in the U.S. over downloadable blueprints for a 3D-printed gun, Canada's public safety minister says the technology is a "critical issue" that's causing concern for law enforcement around the world.

Some former military members object to issuing special 'veteran' license plates to retired RCMP members. The B.C. Veterans Commemorative Association has told the British Columbia government that the RCMP should not receive  the special plates.

A newspaper report says Canada, along with other western countries is increasingly worried about the security risks of equipment from Chinese telecom supplier Huawei. Governments have barred the company from procurement competitions due to fears about network integrity.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency share responsibility for the integrity of the border, but there seems to be a continuing power struggle over who is in charge of organized crime investigations. Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair has assumed a new federal cabinet role as minister for border security.

Ayanle Hassan Ali, the man who tried to kill three soldiers at the Canadian Forces recruiting centre in North York in 2016 has been cleared to leave his hospital's secure unit without direct supervision. The crown is appealing his acquittal on terrorism charges.

A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says that while the investigation into the mass shooting in Toronto is still early, there's no evidence supporting a connection to ISIS.