Australia and Canada warned Wednesday about fresh threats of terrorism and kidnapping in the southern Philippines, and Canberra barred its diplomats from traveling to three cities in the area.

Both urged their citizens not to travel to large parts of the Mindanao region, with the Australian government specifically barring its diplomats from the cities of Davao, Cotabato and Zamboanga.

Canadian police said Tuesday they had arrested two people "inspired by al-Qaida" who allegedly plotted to bomb the provincial legislature in western British Columbia.

John Stewart Nuttall and Amanda Marie Korody -- who were detained Monday, Canada Day -- allegedly planned to use pressure cooker devices on the building in Victoria, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

A Japanese pension fund is joining a Canadian partner and other firms in the $2.0 billion purchase of a U.S. power plant, a company involved in the deal said Tuesday.

The Pension Fund Association, a federation of employees' pension funds, and several other Japanese firms have tied up with Canada's OMERS to buy the Midland Cogeneration Venture in Midland, Michigan.

Canadian authorities in the western city of Medicine Hat on Sunday ordered the evacuation of buildings in low-lying areas after flooding killed three people and forced 100,000 to flee.

Some 10,000 residents have started leaving their homes in Medicine Hat, the sixth largest city in Alberta, with a population of 60,000, after the South Saskatchewan River overflowed its banks, swamping several square miles.

At least three people were killed by floodwaters that devastated much of southern Alberta, leading authorities to evacuate the western Canadian city of Calgary's entire downtown. Inside the city's hockey arena, the waters reached as high as the 10th row.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday called the level of flooding "stunning" and said officials don't know yet if it will get worse, but said the water has peaked and stabilized and noted that the weather has gotten better.

Canada's top diplomat accused newly-elected Iranian president Hassan Rowhani on Monday of being a "puppet" of the Islamic republic's religious leader.

The moderate cleric's victory raised hopes of eased ties with Western nations after years of tensions, but he used his first news conference to rule out a halt to Iran's controversial enrichment of uranium.

A Saudi court handed two Saudi women 10-month jail sentences on Saturday for seeking to help a Canadian woman who wanted to leave her Saudi husband with their children, human rights activists said.

The court also banned Fawzia al-Ayuni and Wajiha al-Huaider from leaving the kingdom for two years, rights activist Aql al-Bahli said.

Calling Iran's presidential election a "sham," Canada's top diplomat urged Iranians Thursday to "make their voices heard" by casting protest ballots, boycotting the vote or using satire to express criticism.

"Despite all the efforts of the regime to control the process and the outcome, the hopes and aspirations of the Iranian people are not bound by the artificial choice that the regime has forced on Iranians," Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said.

The government of Canada's mostly French-speaking Quebec province on Wednesday unveiled legislation allowing terminally ill patients to kill themselves with a doctor's help.

The bill, expected to be passed into law as early as September, would make Quebec the first province in Canada to effectively legalize assisted suicide and set the stage for a jurisdictional row with Ottawa.

Germany and Canada on Thursday called on the Syrian opposition to take part in a U.S.-Russian peace initiative after rebels said they would enter no talks until Hizbullah withdraws from the war.

"The best chance for a lasting solution to the conflict in Syria is a sustainable political process," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said during a visit to Canada.