An Air Canada flight from Toronto was forced to circle the Tel Aviv airport before landing Friday after rockets were fired over the Israeli capital, an airline spokeswoman said.

"Eight kilometers away from landing at the Tel Aviv airport this morning, the pilots of Flight AC84 were ordered into a standard holding pattern by Israeli air traffic control," Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur said.

Four hundred and eighty academics, lawyers, community activists and others criticized Canada's government for taking a decisively pro-Israel position amid the current conflict in the Gaza Strip, saying it "discredits Canada."

In an open letter published in the daily Globe and Mail, they said they "are profoundly perturbed by the unbalanced and partisan position adopted by the Canadian government and federal political parties regarding the current violence in Gaza."

A Canadian warship with a crew of 250 headed Thursday to the Mediterranean where it will join a NATO fleet providing increased security in Eastern Europe amid tensions with Russia over Ukraine.

HMCS Toronto, which is equipped with torpedoes, anti-air and anti-ship missiles as well as a Sea King helicopter, will replace HMCS Regina, which has been part of the NATO operation since May.

Criminal charges were filed Wednesday against six people in what authorities said was a global cyber-crime ring that created fraudulent e-tickets for major concerts and sporting events.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced terrorism charges Wednesday against a 25-year-old Canadian for allegedly traveling to Syria to fight alongside Islamist fighters.

The charges against Hasibullah Yusufzai, 25, are the first ever laid against a Canadian under a new law passed last year that criminalized travel abroad for the purpose of terrorist activities.

Canada's prime minister announced Monday further economic sanctions against Russian entities and individuals, saying the downing of flight MH17 was a "direct product of Russia's military aggression and illegal occupation" of Ukraine.

"The outrageous and criminal act of shooting down a civilian airliner last week is a direct product of Russia's military aggression and illegal occupation of Ukraine, and demonstrates the need for the international community to continue applying pressure on the Putin regime," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.

The Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has added 14 individuals to a list of people facing economic sanctions and travel bans related to the Ukranian crisis.

"Russia's illegal occupation of the Crimean peninsula and provocative military activity remains a serious concern to Canada and the international community," Harper said in a statement Friday.

Tropical Storm Arthur rapidly lost strength Saturday as it headed off the far north-eastern U.S. coast towards Canada, causing little damage in its wake.

Arthur, downgraded from a category one hurricane at 0900 GMT, lashed New England and the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Halifax as it marched in a north-easterly direction off the coast of Massachusetts.

Dozens of foreign diplomats have requested asylum in Canada, the daily French-language newspaper La Presse reported Friday, citing secret government documents.

They include 38 Afghanistan envoys and their families, from 2009 to 2014, as well as 16 diplomats from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Greece, Honduras, and even an American embassy staffer.

Three "extremely dangerous" prisoners who escaped in a helicopter from a jail in Canada's Quebec province earlier this month were arrested early Sunday in Montreal, police said.

The fugitives -- Yves Denis, 35, Denis Lefebvre, 53, and Serge Pomerleau, 49 -- are accused of being the leaders of a drug trafficking network linked to the Hells Angels.