WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East later this week on his fifth urgent diplomatic mission since I began in October, the White House and a State Department official said Wednesday.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby and the State Department official said Blinken would travel to the Mideast this weekend as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to prepare for post-conflict reconstruction and governance of Gaza, ramp up humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, release hostages held by Hamas and prevent the war

TORONTO — Canada’s banking regulator has released final guidelines on how it expects banks to protect themselves against foreign interference and other risks related to integrity and security.

The guidelines from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions come after the federal government expanded the regulator’s mandate last June to cover those areas, a move that has also led the regulator to increase its focus on money laundering prevention.

The formalized expectations cover everything from ensuring the “good character” of board members and senior leadership and conducting background checks on

WASHINGTON (AP) — Laser strikes aimed at aircraft including airline planes surged 41% last year to a record high, according to federal officials.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it received 13,304 reports from pilots about laser strikes last year, erasing a record set in 2021.

“Aiming a laser at an aircraft is a serious safety hazard that puts everyone on the plane and on the ground at risk,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker posted by the agency.

The FAA

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Hours before a 2021 mass school shooting in Michigan, the mother of a teenager who killed four students said she was worried that he was “going to do something dumb,” a man who had a close relationship with her testified Wednesday.

Brian Meloche said Jennifer Crumbley explained to him that she had to go to after a teacher discovered a violent drawing on Ethan Crumbley’s math assignment the morning of the tragedy.

“Something with Ethan. (She) was

In a series of reports over the past several months, CityNews has been telling you stories from multiple people across the GTA with similar complaints about hired home contractors.

“We feel ripped off,” said Zubair Khan, who CityNews interviewed earlier this month . He and several other customers paid a general contractor to renovate their homes.

“He didn’t do any work, never even started,” Khan said.

That contractor then closed up shop and stopped answering phone calls from Khan and several other customers.

“We

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man who was of illegal weapons has been sentenced to nearly seven years in federal prison.

River William Smith, 21, of the Minneapolis suburb of Savage, to one count of possession of a machine gun — specifically devices to convert guns to fully automatic fire. He was also accused of attempting to possess unregistered hand grenades. He paid an FBI informant $690 for four “auto sear” devices and three dummy grenades, prosecutors alleged.

Federal prosecutors say Smith idolized mass

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo authorities on Wednesday said they would impose the use of the country’s currency, the euro, and abolish the use of neighboring Serbia’s dinar in the north where most of the ethnic Serb minority lives.

Kosovo’s Central Bank Governor Ahmet Ismaili said starting Thursday, new rules on local transactions in euros would be applied in the northern municipalities, and all financial institutions there should register in the next month. Four banks and 15 financial institutions use Serbia’s dinar

OTTAWA — Detecting foreign meddling can be a significant challenge, whether it’s perpetrated by diplomats, through proxies acting on their behalf or anonymously via computer servers, former senior intelligence officials told a public inquiry Wednesday.

The officials were invited to provide advice to the federal commission of inquiry as it prepares for hearings, likely to take place in late March, on allegations of foreign interference in the last two general elections.

The inquiry will then turn to policy issues, examining the government’s ability to detect, deter and

A Niagara man is facing charges after a gunpoint home invasion in Etobicoke earlier this month.

Toronto police say officers were called to a home in the area of Kipling and Evans avenues on the morning of Jan. 14 for reports of a person with a gun.

Police allege a suspect knocked on the door of a home and when a resident answered, the suspect pulled out a gun and pointed at at their chest, forcing his way inside.

Once inside the home, the suspect started demanding cash.

Police say the