COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan authorities have arrested tens of thousands of people in a monthlong crackdown on drugs, and vowed to continue despite U.N. criticism of possible human rights violations during the “heavy-handed” operation.

Since the operation began in December, heavily armed police and military personnel with sniffer dogs have made regular nighttimes raids on homes and search buses, seizing narcotics and arresting suspects who include drug users, local dealers and distributors, and people with records of drug-related arrests

JERUSALEM (AP) — A member of Israel’s War Cabinet confirmed that early in the war against Hamas in Gaza, an Israeli preemptive strike against Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia was called off at the last minute.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief, said he was among those arguing against such a strike in what he described as a stormy Oct. 11 Cabinet meeting that left him hoarse from shouting.

Such a preemptive attack would have been a “strategic mistake” and would likely have triggered a regional war

A Ukrainian drone struck an oil storage depot in western Russia on Friday, causing a massive blaze, officials said, as Kyiv’s forces apparently extended their attacks on Russian soil ahead of .

Four oil reservoirs with a total capacity of 6,000 cubic meters (1.6 million gallons) were set on fire when the drone reached Klintsy, a city of some 70,000 people located about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the Ukrainian border, according to the local governor

TOKYO (AP) — Japan landed a spacecraft on the moon Saturday, an attempt at the world’s first The milestone puts Japan in a club previously occupied by only the United States, the Soviet Union, India and China.

A raft of countries and companies are also plotting moon missions. Success means international scientific and diplomatic accolades and potential domestic political gains. Failure means a very expensive, and public, embarrassment.

Here’s a look at high-profile recent and upcoming attempts, and what they might mean

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

Snow-battered B.C. expected to see freezing rain

Heavy snow earlier in the week is expected to turn into freezing rain today in parts of Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon.

Environment Canada says the freezing rain could last into the afternoon and potentially later in some areas.

Between 10 and 20 centimetres of snow is forecast on Vancouver Island, with a “

Internal documents from Alberta’s energy regulator suggest the province’s environmental liability for hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells could be nearly triple the figure the agency announced earlier this week.

In a report released Wednesday, the Alberta Energy Regulator said the cost of cleaning up the province’s 466,000 wells would be $33.3 billion. That figure is derived partly from estimates of what it would cost to remediate individual wells in different areas of the province, contained in a

HALIFAX — For Sean MacDonald, the push to restart a criminal investigation into police destruction of evidence in the Glen Assoun wrongful conviction case matters both for personal reasons and for the precedent it could set.

The defence lawyer, who teamed with Phil Campbell in the long battle to prove Assoun’s innocence, said the ordeal took a huge health toll on the Nova Scotia man, whom he first met in 2006 as he languished in prison for the 1995 murder of Brenda Way.

“Glen suffered

OTTAWA — A group representing key Canadian businesses wants legislative changes that would allow Canada’s spy agency to share threat intelligence with companies to help them take timely protective measures.

The Business Council of Canada is also urging the federal government to borrow a U.S. idea and create a new body that would ensure the intelligence is securely and broadly shared across the Canadian economy.

Business council president and CEO Goldy Hyder argues for the new approach in a submission to a federal consultation on possible changes to the legislation governing the Canadian

Freezing rain fell on British Columbia’s Fraser Valley Friday, shuttering schools for a third day and hampering travel after heavy snow rolled through the region earlier in the week.

Metro Vancouver schools, with the exception of Langley, reopened on Friday after two days off prompted by a storm Wednesday that dumped up to 38 centimetres of snow in southwestern B.C.

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation put up travel advisories through its DriveBC information system on Friday for a number of major arteries, including Highway 1 from