A Canadian policeman appeared in court Tuesday to face a second-degree murder charge in the fatal police shooting of a knife-wielding teenager on a Toronto streetcar last month.

Constable James Forcillo was taken into custody after a brief session, while his lawyer Peter Brauti said he hoped for a bail hearing later in the day.

Two Canadians have been arrested in Egypt amid spiraling bloodshed in the Mideast nation, a Canadian official said Monday.

"The Government of Canada is very concerned that two Canadian citizens have been arrested in Egypt," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lynne Yelich said in a statement.

The final death toll of a train derailment that flattened part of a Quebec town two weeks ago will likely stand at 47, Canadian police said Friday.

No new remains have been discovered in the rubble since Thursday when the number of confirmed dead was 42, officials said.

Canada announced funding Thursday to help more women get elected in Middle East and North African nations undertaking democratic reforms.

Two projects being awarded a total of Can$971,200 (US$932,285) include training in campaign management, and coaching candidates on how to get their message across to the electorate.

Canada's prime minister appointed eight new ministers in a cabinet shuffle Monday, hoping to reanimate a Conservative government sagging in polls after seven years in power.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will remain at their posts, steering Canada's export-driven economy through global headwinds and shifting its foreign policy toward rising nations in Asia and South America.

A Mauritanian court on Sunday freed a Canadian jailed for attempting to join an al-Qaida training camp in neighboring Mali, a judicial source said.

Aaron Yoon was serving two years in Nouakchott after being convicted in July last year when he was 24, but his sentence was reduced in an appeal brought by the prosecution who were asking for the term to be extended to 10 years, the source said.

Canadians on Saturday paid their respects to victims of a deadly rail disaster that devastated the lakeside village of Lac-Megantic exactly one week ago.

The tragedy took place when a runaway train carrying huge amounts of oil flew off a curb, setting off a massive inferno that devastated much of the Quebec town and killed up to 50 people.

The death toll from the massive explosion caused by a runaway oil tanker train that derailed and flattened part of a small Canadian town has risen to 13, a coroner said Monday, and dozens more remain missing.

Confirmation of eight further deaths in Lac-Megantic, in Quebec province, came as environmental officials warned that around 100,000 liters of oil spilled in the disaster was headed for the Saint Lawrence seaway.

Officials in Canada said Sunday they have located five bodies so far in their grim search for victims from the catastrophic derailment of an oil laden cargo train, and expect to find many more.

Ongoing fires meant police were still unable to conduct a full search of the charred wreckage at the disaster scene in the Quebec village of Lac-Megantic, where a runaway oil tanker train derailed and exploded.

Some residents warily eyed the driverless "ghost train" as it rushed through the Quebec countryside. The train derailed, crashed into this small town, engulfing the downtown area in flames. Now scores of people -- perhaps as many as 80 -- are missing.

Rescuers cautiously entered the charred debris Sunday, more than 24 hours after the spectacular crash that saw flames shoot into the sky and burn into the night.