QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan security forces killed seven militants in a shootout in the country’s volatile southwest near the border with Afghanistan, the military said Monday.

The military said the intelligence-based operation was conducted in Zhob district in southwestern Baluchistan province. In a brief statement, it said security forces also recovered munitions after the shootout.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, where Baloch nationalists, Islamic militants and the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for attacks on security forces in recent years.

Gas

LONDON (AP) — Two motorists were killed, tens of thousands of people were left without electricity and hundreds of trains were canceled Monday after the latest winter storm lashed Britain and Ireland with heavy rain and wind gusts that topped 100 mph (160 kph).

The storm littered roads and railways with downed trees that created deadly hazards and blocked travel, disrupting morning commutes. On Sunday night, an 84-year-old male passenger in a car in Scotland and a van driver in his 6

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…

MPs who visited West Bank urge action against “constant humiliation” of Palestinians

Ps returning from a visit to the West Bank argue Canada needs to do more to prevent escalating tensions between Palestinians and Israelis, as they recount distressing scenes from the occupied territories.

“We can’t imagine what the people of Palestine are going through,” said Liberal MP Shafqat Ali. “What we witnessed with

CALGARY — Nearly a century after the mass agricultural disaster known as the Dirty ’30s, drought conditions on the Prairies are once again raising the risk that farmers’ valuable topsoil will go blowing in the wind.

Across southern Alberta, severe erosion events have been increasing in frequency and severity in recent years. In Lethbridge County, dry and windy conditions have been known to stir up dust clouds, obscuring the vision of drivers on local roads and filling irrigation canals to the brim with dirt.

The drifting soil also reduces

MELFORT, Sask. — The man who went on a stabbing rampage on a Saskatchewan First Nation wasn’t on the radar of the province’s specialized enforcement team ahead of the massacre.

Myles Sanderson was unlawfully at large when he killed 11 people and wounded 17 on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby community of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon, on Sept. 4, 2022.

He died in police custody a few days later.

A warrant for Sanderson had been issued a few

Montreal police say a year-over-year drop in the number of homicides in the city is a sign that violence-prevention and crime-fighting strategies are paying off.

But those strategies, which include a greater police presence in certain neighbourhoods, and the monitoring of people showing high-risk behaviour, have critics complaining that police are focusing more on repression than prevention.

Last year, there were 33 homicides reported on the Island of Montreal — including the deaths of seven people in a burning building in the historic

New visas for international students will be slashed by more than one-third this year as the federal government tries to slow a rapid increase in temporary residents that has put immense pressure on Canada’s housing system.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced the temporary cap on new student visas at a cabinet retreat in Montreal on Monday. Affordability and housing are top items on the agenda, with a growing focus on the role record immigration has been playing in both.

Miller said the two-year cap will give federal and provincial governments

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A pro-Palestinian protester threw papers onto an Australian Open court and briefly disrupted a match between Alexander Zverev and Cameron Norrie on Monday before being stopped by other spectators.

Olympic champion Zverev said he didn’t feel unsafe but questioned why it took several minutes for security to react, leaving it to tennis fans to intervene.

“When something like this happens, it shouldn’t be another fan dragging the other person out,” he said, noting that security at Melbourne Park was

JERUSALEM (AP) — Dozens of family members of hostages held by Hamas stormed a committee meeting in Israel’s parliament Monday, demanding a deal to win their loved ones’ release, as European foreign ministers joined growing international calls for Israel to negotiate on the creation of a Palestinian state .

The developments showed the increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has dug in on both fronts. He has insisted to the Israeli public that pursuing the devastating offensive in Gaza is the only way to bring the hostages home