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Singapore has seized about 12 tons of pangolin scales belonging to around 2,000 of the endangered mammals and nearly 10 tons of elephant ivory. The National Parks Board, Singapore Customs and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said Tuesday it was the city-state's third major seizure of pangolin scales this year and its largest seizure of elephant ivory to date. Source

MONTREAL -- Civil liberties groups are seeking leave to appeal a recent Quebec Superior Court decision that found it wasn't necessary to temporarily suspend certain provisions of Quebec's secularism law while a full challenge is mounted. Source

A former violin teacher who measured his teenage students' bare breasts while fitting them for shoulder rests has been convicted on more than two dozen sexual and indecent assault charges after Ontario's top court found it was not necessary to prove he acted with a sexual purpose. Source

KABUL -- The Afghan government asked for clarification on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he could win the 18-year war in 10 days but that "Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth. Source

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Army secretary Mark Esper to be secretary of Defence, ending the longest period by far that the Pentagon has been without a permanent top official. The Senate backed Esper, a former soldier and lobbyist for weapons maker Raytheon Co. Source

EDMONTON -- Alberta storm chaser Chris Kiernan has hardly had a moment's rest since the start of the tornado season last month. "This season has been quite more active," said Kiernan, who is based out of Beaumont, Alta. Source

The French National Assembly today narrowly ratified the CETA trade agreement with Canada in a 266 to 213 vote. Lawmakers in France began their ratification of the comprehensive trade agreement between the European Union and Canada last week, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed European Council President Donald Tusk to Montreal. Source

CALGARY -- An association representing Alberta real-estate agents is providing its members with an emergency response app to help keep them safe when they're working alone. The move comes after a female agent was sexually assaulted by a man at an open house in Calgary last month. Source

Russia is determined to interfere in U.S. elections, despite sanctions and other efforts to deter Moscow, FBI director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday. "The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections," Wray said during the Senate's judiciary committee hearing. Source

A strain of malaria resistant to two key drugs has spread rapidly from Cambodia and has become dominant in Vietnam, Laos and northern Thailand, with a "terrifying prospect" that it could reach Africa, scientists warned on Monday, Using genomic surveillance to track the spread of drug-resistant malaria, the scientists found that the strain, known as KEL1/PLA1, had also evolved and picked up new genetic mutations that may make it yet more resistant. Source