Top officer says #Canada’s laws are ‘inadequate’ to fight cross-border crime. Thomas Carrique, president of the Association of Chiefs of Police, said police would have been in a better place to “disrupt” transnational crime, if the federal government had listened to his group in 2001, when it last proposed legislative changes.

“Across Canada, police are confronting the domestic fallout of international disorder, but we are being asked to do so using tools, and authorities built for a different era, guided by outdated and inadequate legislation that was never designed to address today’s criminal landscape,” he said on Tuesday.

Carrique said “geopolitical instability and social unrest” around the world are driving what he called “a new wave of public safety threats” as Canadian police confront transnational organized crime, extremism, drug trafficking and exploitation through the internet.

“Whether it’s human smuggling as well as illicit exportation and importation of drugs, precursors, and firearms, organized crime groups are taking advantage of systematic blind spots, outdated statues, and digital platforms to victimize Canadians,” he said.

While geopolitics and social unrest might be beyond the control of Canadians and their government, their level of preparation and response is not, he said.

The current Strong Borders Act legislation proposed by the federal governments gives police many -- but not all necessary -- tools to confront globalized crime, he said.

The government said the bill would help authorities combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of fentanyl, crack down on money laundering and bolster police response to criminal networks.

Carrique, who’s the commissioner of Ontario Provincial Police, made the comments during a news conference in Victoria, where the association is holding its annual conference.

He said the federal government’s legislation aligns closely with several resolutions the group has passed during the conference this week.

Carrique said there are a “number of loopholes” that must be closed to reflect the realities of 21st century crime, such as the inability of police to get a search warrant for any Canada Post package under 500 grams.

“So, a judge cannot even issue a search warrant for a package of that size that may contain enough fentanyl to kill a number of people.”

Carrique also repeated calls for bail reform.

“The federal government has promised a crime bill this fall, introducing tougher bail sentencing provisions,” he said. “This will be critical.”

Victoria Police Chief Del Manak agreed on the need for tougher release conditions.

Manak said police made 16 arrests during a two-day-long project to disrupt disorder in the city’s downtown core.

“But what was telling was the number of rearrests that we made,” he said.

An individual arrested in one block was re-arrested the next day not far from his first arrest following his release on conditions, Manak added.

“What we’re really asking for here is the criminal justice system to be strengthened,” Manak said. “There must be consequences, and a deterrence for those that are carrying out criminal activity every single day,” Manak said.

Carrique acknowledged 2024 statistics that show crime rates trending down. The Crime Severity Index, for example, dropped by 4.1 per cent in 2024.

“We attribute that to some amazing work being done by police officers across the country, as well as other social services,” Carrique said.

“But we need to balance that against the perception of crime, and it doesn’t do us any good as police leaders in building trust, and confidence, or legitimacy, when we simply cite statistics to say, ‘property crimes are down five per cent, or the homicide rate dropped 10 per cent,’ because there are still people being victimized,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2025.

#Indian police arrest fake police running ‘crime bureau’ . The “International Police and Crime Investigation Bureau”, run from an office decorated with “police-like colours and logos”, was located in New Delhi satellite city Noida, police said in a statement late Sunday.

The accused forged documents and certificates and ran a website where they sought “donations” from victims, police said.

They also claimed they had an “affiliation with Interpol” and other international crime units.

“The perpetrators presented themselves as public servants,” the police said.

Police recovered several mobile phones, chequebooks, stamp seals and identity cards.

The arrests come just weeks after a man was arrested for allegedly running a fake embassy from a rented house near New Delhi and duping job seekers of money with promises of employment abroad.

The accused was operating an illegal “West Arctic embassy” and claimed to be the ambassador of fictional nations including “West Arctica, Saborga, Poulvia, Lodonia.”

#Scientists find 74-million-year-old mammal fossil in Chile. Scientists have discovered the fossil of a tiny mouse-sized mammal that lived in the time of the dinosaurs in Chilean Patagonia.

“Yeutherium pressor” weighed between 30 and 40 grams (about one ounce) and lived in the Upper Cretaceous period, about 74 million years ago.

It is the smallest mammal ever found in this region of South America, dating back to the era when it was part of a continental land mass known as Gondwana.

The fossil consists of “a small piece of jaw with a molar and the crown and roots of two other molars,” said Hans Puschel, who led the team of scientists from the University of Chile and Chile’s Millennium Nucleus research centre on early mammals.

The discovery was published this month in the British scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Researchers found the fossil in the Rio de las Las Chinas Valley in Chile’s Magallanes region, about 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) south of Santiago.

Despites its similarity to a small rodent, “Yeutherium pressor” was a mammal that must have laid eggs, like the platypus, or carried its young in a pouch like kangaroos or opossums.

The shape of its teeth suggests that it probably had a diet of relatively hard vegetables.

Just like the dinosaurs with whom it co-existed, the tiny mammal abruptly went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago.

#Trump’s new congressional map in Texas still stymied as Gavin Newsom urges president to give up

Israel targets and kills Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif as toll worsens on Gaza journalists.

#JERUSALEM — Israel’s military targeted an Al Jazeera correspondent with an airstrike Sunday, killing him, another network journalist and at least six other people, all of whom were sheltering outside Gaza City’s largest hospital complex.

Officials at Shifa Hospital said those killed included Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh. The strike also killed four other journalists and two other people, hospital administrative director Rami Mohanna told The Associated Press. The strike also damaged the entrance to the hospital complex’s emergency building.

Both Israel and hospital officials in Gaza City confirmed the deaths, which press advocates described as retribution against those documenting the war in Gaza. Israel’s military later Sunday described al-Sharif as the leader of a Hamas cell — an allegation that Al Jazeera and al-Sharif had previously dismissed as baseless.

The incident marked the first time during the war that Israel’s military has swiftly claimed responsibility after a journalist was killed in a strike.

It came less than a year after Israeli army officials first accused al-Sharif and other Al Jazeera journalists of being members of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In a July 24 video, Israel’s army spokesperson Avichay Adraee attacked Al Jazeera and accused al-Sharif of being part of Hamas’ military wing.
Al Jazeera calls strike ‘assassination’

Al Jazeera called the strike “targeted assassination” and accused Israeli officials of incitement, connecting al-Sharif’s death to the allegations that both the network and correspondent had denied.

“Anas and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people,” the Qatari network said in a statement.

Apart from rare invitations to observe Israeli military operations, international media have been barred from entering Gaza for the duration of the war. Al Jazeera is among the few outlets still fielding a big team of reporters inside the besieged strip, chronicling daily life amid airstrikes, hunger and the rubble of destroyed neighborhoods.

The network has suffered heavy losses during the war, including 27-year-old correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi, killed last summer, and freelancer Hossam Shabat, killed in an Israeli airstrike in March.

Like al-Sharif, Shabat was among the six that Israel accused of being members of militant groups last October.
Funeral-goers call to protect journalists

Hundreds of people, including many journalists, gathered Monday to mourn al-Sharif, Qureiqa and their colleagues. The bodies lay wrapped in white sheets at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital complex. Ahed Ferwana of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said reporters were being deliberately targeted and urged the international community to act.

Al-Sharif reported a nearby bombardment minutes before his death. In a social media post that Al Jazeera said was written to be posted in case of his death, he bemoaned the devastation and destruction that war had wrought and bid farewell to his wife, son and daughter.

“I never hesitated for a single day to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification,” the 28-year-old wrote.

The journalists are the latest to be killed in what observers have called the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern times. The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Sunday that at least 186 have been killed in Gaza, and Brown University’s Watson Institute in April said the war was “quite simply, the worst ever conflict for reporters.”

Al-Sharif began reporting for Al Jazeera a few days after war broke out. He was known for reporting on Israel’s bombardment in northern Gaza, and later for the starvation gripping much of the territory’s population. Qureiqa, a 33-year-old Gaza City native, is survived by two children.

Both journalists were separated from their families for months earlier in the war. When they managed to reunite during the ceasefire earlier this year, their children appeared unable to recognize them, according to video footage they posted at the time.

In a July broadcast al-Sharif cried on air as woman behind him collapsed from hunger.

“I am taking about slow death of those people,” he said at the time.

Al Jazeera is blocked in Israel and soldiers raided its offices in the occupied West Bank last year, ordering them closed.

Al-Sharif’s death comes weeks after a UN expert and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel had targeted him with a smear campaign.

Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, on July 31 said that the killings were “part of a deliberate strategy of Israel to suppress the truth, obstruct the documentation of international crimes and bury any possibility of future accountability.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Sunday that it was appalled by the strike.

“Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,” Sara Qudah, the group’s regional director, said in a statement.

Magdy reported from Cairo.

Sam Metz And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

Ukrainian drone strike kills 1 in as fighting rages ahead of a planned Trump-Putin summit. Nizhny Novgorod Gov. Gleb Nikitin said in an online statement that drones targeted two “industrial zones” that caused unspecified damage along with the three casualties.

A Ukrainian official said at least four drones launched by the country’s security services, or SBU, struck a plant in the city of Arzamas that produced components for the Khinzal 32 and Khinzal 101 missiles.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operations, said the Plandin plant produces gyroscopic devices, control systems and on-board computers for the missiles and is an “absolutely legitimate target” because it is part of the Russian military-industrial complex that works for the war against Ukraine.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed a total of 39 Ukrainian drones overnight and Monday morning over several Russian regions as well as over the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.

The summit, which U.S. President Donald Trump will host in Alaska later this week, sees Putin unwavering on his maximalist demands to keep all the Ukrainian territory his forces now occupy but also to prevent Kyiv from joining NATO with the long-term aim to keep the country under Moscow’s sphere of influence.

Putin believes he enjoys the advantage on the ground as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russian advances along the 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) front.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists he will never consent to any Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory nor give up his country’s bid for NATO membership. European leaders have rallied behind Ukraine, saying peace in the war-torn nation can’t be resolved without Kyiv.

Meanwhile on the front lines, few Ukrainian soldiers believe there’s an end in sight to the war, other than a brief respite before Moscow resumes its attacks with even greater might.

The Associated Press

Here’s why #Canada produces so many super-star #athletes:

When other countries think of Canadian superstar athletes, hockey is usually what comes to mind. Names like Gretzky, McDavid; Crosby. But the recent rush of Canadians dominating in sports outside of Canada’s comfort zone is fostering a new reputation for the country, with its own household names: Mboko, McIntosh; Gilgeous-Alexander.

Burlington, Ont.’s Victoria Mboko stunned the tennis world this week after going into the National Bank Open as a wild card and ultimately taking home the top prize. She beat four former Grand Slam champions en route to hoisting the tournament’s trophy, including Naomi Osaka, in the finals.

Meanwhile, Toronto’s Summer McIntosh won four golds and a bronze at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore that same week, becoming only the second woman in the competition’s history to win five individual medals.

Both Canadian triumphs came with days of a hometown rally held for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Hamilton, where the basketball star was presented the key to the city after leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to their first NBA Championship. He was named this year’s MVP, both in the regular season and the finals.

“The secret that they need for success is actually not that much of a secret; it’s resourcing, it’s support, it’s opportunities,” said Joe Baker, a sports scientist at the University of Toronto, to CTV News via Zoom on Saturday.

“Those are the kinds of things the national strategy has provided to those athletes.”

Baker says the shift began when Canada launched the ‘Own the Podium’ program ahead of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The strategy led to a new generation of athletes with the resources and support to train.

“We are seeing the fruits of the efforts and finances and resources put into the system a decade, or even two decades ago, so we have to appreciate the timespan we’re talking about here,” added Baker.

He also adds there’s a compounding effect: when young Canadians see a few athletes achieving great heights in sports, it leads to more exposure and confidence, inspiring them to chase those accomplishments as well.

Summer McIntosh is a great example, he says.

“The number of young people who are watching her at the moment and thinking ‘you know what? I see myself in her; I could do that,’” Baker said. “That spark of motivation that wasn’t there before -- how many futures are we igniting in this moment in time? For me, that’s the really exciting question.”

Baker pointed to tennis as one sport where Canada has already seen a snowball effect. Canadian athletes like Milos Ranoic and Eugenie Bouchard have inspired a new generation of Canadians: one that includes breakout champion Victoria Mboko.
Federal funding unchanged since 2005: report

Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic committees have maintained the same claim for federal funding since 2005, according to a Deloitte study, though they have been calling on the federal government for a $144 million annual increase in the 2025 budget.

The Canadian government says the Sport Support Program provides about $178.8 million to Canadian sports organizations annually, while the Athlete Assistance Program, which provides funding directly to athletes, totals roughly $33 million among approximately 1,900 recipients every year.

The 2023-2024 funding numbers show that Swimming Canada received the most that year, with $7,077,135, followed by Athletics Canada ($6,972,469) and the Canadian Amateur Rowing Association ($6,128,485). Canada Basketball was fourth, receiving $5,995,867 that year.

Deloitte’s forecast showed that the NSOs could run an aggregate deficit of $329-million over the next five years.

#Trump moves Obama, Bush portraits to hidden stairwell

Two #Japanese boxers die from brain injuries in separate bouts. Shigetoshi Kotari, 28, collapsed shortly after completing a 12-round draw against Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation junior lightweight champion Yamato Hata on Aug. 2.

He underwent emergency brain surgery for a subdural hematoma — a condition where blood collects between the brain and skull— but died on Friday.

“Rest in peace, Shigetoshi Kotari,” the World Boxing Organization wrote on social media. “The boxing world mourns the tragic passing of Japanese fighter Shigetoshi Kotari, who succumbed to injuries sustained during his August 2nd title fight.

“A warrior in the ring. A fighter in spirit. Gone too soon. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, team, and the entire Japanese boxing community.”

On Saturday, fellow 28-year-old Hiromasa Urakawa died after suffering the same injury during a knockout loss to Yoji Saito. He had undergone a craniotomy in an attempt to save his life.

“This heartbreaking news comes just days after the passing of Shigetoshi Kotari, who died from injuries suffered in his fight on the same card,” the WBO said in another social media post on Saturday. ”We extend our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and the Japanese boxing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

In response, the Japanese Boxing Commission has announced all OPBF title bouts will now be reduced from 12 rounds to 10.

Earlier this year, Irish boxer John Cooney died a week after being taken into intensive care following his Celtic super-featherweight title defeat to Nathan Howells in Belfast.

The Associated Press

#Israel faces growing condemnation over military expansion in #Gaza. Ceasefire efforts appeared to be reviving with Israel’s announcement. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to meet with Qatar’s prime minister in Spain on Saturday to discuss a new proposal to end the war, according to two officials familiar with the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak with the media.

Mediators Egypt and Qatar are preparing a new ceasefire framework that would include the release of all hostages — dead and alive — in one go in return for the war’s end and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, two Arab officials have told The Associated Press.

Health officials said that 20 Palestinians seeking aid were shot dead Saturday and 11 adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours, as the criticism of Israel came with pleas to allow far more food to reach people in the besieged enclave.
‘Shut the country down’

Hostages’ families pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government amid new fears for the 50 remaining hostages, with 20 of them thought to be alive and struggling.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held in Gaza, called on Israelis including the powerful Histadrut labor union to “help us save the hostages, the soldiers and the state of Israel” and appeared to call for a general strike: “Shut the country down.”

A joint statement by nine countries including Germany, Britain, France and Canada said that they “strongly reject” Israel’s decision for the large-scale military operation, saying it will worsen the “catastrophic humanitarian situation,” endanger hostages and further risk mass displacement. They said any attempts at annexation or settlement in Gaza violate international law.

A separate statement by more than 20 countries including ceasefire mediators Egypt and Qatar along with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates called Israel’s decision a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation.” Meanwhile, Russia said Israel’s plan will aggravate the “already extremely dramatic situation” in Gaza.

The U.N. Security Council planned an emergency meeting Sunday.
Killed while seeking aid

Officials at Nasser and Awda hospitals said that Israeli forces killed at least 11 people seeking aid in southern and central Gaza. Some had been waiting for aid trucks, while others had approached aid distribution points.

Israel’s military denied opening fire and said that it was unaware of the incidents. The military secures routes leading to distribution sites run by the Israeli-backed and U.S.-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Two witnesses told the AP that Israeli troops fired toward crowds approaching a GHF distribution site on foot in the Netzarim corridor, a military zone that bisects Gaza. One witness, Ramadan Gaber, said that snipers and tanks fired on aid-seekers, forcing them to retreat.

In the north, Israeli fire killed at least nine and wounded over 200 as people sought aid entering Gaza through the Zikim crossing, said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service in the area. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

In Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, some aid-seekers cheered the latest airdrops of aid. Hundreds of people rushed to grab what they could. Aid organizations have called airdrops expensive, insufficient and potentially dangerous for people on the ground.

Israel’s military said that at least 106 packages of aid were airdropped Saturday as Italy and Greece joined the effort for the first time. Footage from Italy’s defense ministry showed packages parachuted over Gaza’s dry and devastated landscape.

Barefoot children collected rice, pasta and lentils that spilled from packages onto the ground.

“This way is not for humans, it is for animals,” said one man, Mahmoud Hawila, who said he was stabbed while trying to secure an airdropped package.

Israel alleges, without giving evidence, that Hamas systematically diverts aid from the existing U.N.-led system, which denies it. That system has called for more of the trucks waiting outside Gaza to be allowed not just into the territory, but safely to destinations inside it for distribution.

With temperatures reaching above 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) in Gaza, families fanned themselves with pieces of cardboard or metal trays and slept on the ground outside their tents, while some women collected water well before dawn.

“My children cry day and night. My son scratches his body because of the heat,” said Nida Abu Hamad, whose displaced family shelters in Gaza City.
More deaths from hunger

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the new adult deaths from malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours brought the total to 114 since it began counting such deaths in June. It said that 98 children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with militants killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251.

Israel is “forcing Palestinians into a state of near-starvation to the point that they abandon their land voluntarily,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a news conference in Egypt.

The toll from hunger isn’t included in the ministry’s death toll of 61,300 Palestinians in the war. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, doesn’t distinguish between fighters or civilians, but says around half of the dead have been women and children. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties.

Israel disputes the ministry’s figures, but hasn’t provided its own.

Wafaa Shurafa, Sam Metz And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

Metz reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Matthew Lee in Washington, contributed to this report.