Ottawa

Canada will halt all arms shipments to Israel, a government official told AFP on Tuesday, a decision that has drawn the ire of Israel as it faces growing international scrutiny over its war in the Gaza Strip.

The besieged Palestinian territory is facing a mounting humanitarian crisis, and months of war have pushed hundreds of thousands of Gazans to the brink of famine.

Canada is working to airdrop humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, a cabinet minister said Wednesday.

The confirmation that an active effort is underway comes after Canadian International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said Ottawa was exploring new options to deliver aid.

Several key donor countries have said they will halt funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees following Israel's allegations that staff members took part in Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.

The UNRWA has fired several people and promised a thorough investigation into the claims, which were not specified, while Israel has vowed to stop the agency's work in Gaza after the war.

The foreign ministers of seven prominent regional countries, including Turkish top diplomat Hakan Fidan, will visit the United States and Canada to urge them for an immediate ceasefire and uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza amid the intensified Israeli offensive against Hamas that has already killed more than 16,000 civilians in the enclave.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank "serves China's interest" and Beijing wields "undue" influence over what is supposed to be a multilateral organisation, a former executive told AFP yesterday after resigning.

In the wake of his resignation, Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Ottawa would "immediately halt all government-led activity at the Bank".

Tens of millions of North Americans are at risk of poor air quality from raging wildfires in Canada.

Authorities in New York are starting to distribute free masks today. In a phone conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden offered additional help to deal with forest fires.

A ban on the purchase of residential property by foreigners in Canada came into force on January 1, aiming to provide more housing to local residents facing a housing crisis.

Several exceptions in the law allow individuals such as refugees and non-citizen permanent residents to buy homes.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Explosions and casualties in Southern Ukraine

Germany said on July 8 it hopes to convince Canada to deliver a turbine needed to maintain the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, with Russia waiting on the machine's arrival before increasing supplies.

A major outage affecting mobile and internet networks at Canada's top telecoms provider was improving late on July 8, the company said, after disrupting banking, calling, cashless payments and even policing.