PRESS DIGEST - Canada - Oct 5

Oct 5 (Reuters) - The following are top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

- The Afghan National Army will be ready to fight the Taliban without the direct help of international forces by 2013, says General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the chief spokesman for the Afghan military.

The General's assessment comes as Canada and other NATO countries weigh the time, expense and lives they have given to the mission. Canada is scheduled to end combat operations in Afghanistan in 2011.

- David Dewees, the 32-year-old, disgraced by widely publicized child-exploitation charges laid against him last Thursday, ruthlessly took his own life on Saturday, robbing himself of a chance to have his day in court.

Last Thursday Mr. Dewees was formally charged with two counts each of invitation to sexual touching and luring.

- Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff reached out to Quebec caucus despite the conspicuous absence of former lieutenant, Denis Coderre.

Despite Mr.Coderre's conspicuous absence, federal Liberals presented a united front as the Quebec wing gathered for its biennial convention in the provincial capital.

Report on Business Section:

- The world's big banks are pushing back as the move by global finance officials for more stringent regulation gathers force.

Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) chief executive officer Josef Ackermann, who leads Germany's biggest lender and chairs the International Institute of Finance, suggested on the weekend that efforts by the Group of 20 nations to require financial institutions to hold more money in reserve risked choking economic growth.

- The blockbuster transactions that dominated Canada's oil patch this year are expected to trigger a cascade of other deals in the coming months, industry experts and bankers say.

Renewed interest in Canada's oil assets led the country to the top spot globally for oil and gas mergers and acquisitions in the third quarter. Asset sales from the both the new Suncor Energy Inc (SU.TO) and EnCana Corp (ECA.TO) will likely continue to fuel activity in the next several quarters.

- The credibility of the U.S. government's $700-billion financial rescue program was damaged by claims a year ago that all of the initial banks receiving support were healthy, a new report contends.

Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky generally found that the government had acted properly in October 2008 as it scrambled to implement the Troubled Asset Relief Program to avert the collapse of the U.S. financial system.

NATIONAL POST:

- The federal Justice Department is considering a new law to randomly force drivers to take roadside breath tests, regardless of whether police suspect they have been drinking, Canwest News Service has learned.

Random breath testing, if adopted, would replace Canada's 40-year-old legislation on impaired driving.

- Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to visit India next month, Canwest News Service has learned, and advisers and diplomats are hopeful he'll be able to tack on a visit to China at the same time, a trip that could pay dividends for Canada's standing on the world stage as it prepares to host key international summits in 2010.

- A Greenpeace protest against the oilsands ended outside Edmonton early Sunday morning when RCMP arrested nine remaining activists who had been camped out at a Shell Canada Ltd. site since early Saturday.

Financial Post section:

- Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has called on world leaders to continue reforms to the International Monetary Fund to better equip the organization to react to any future global economic crises.

- Paul Krugman, last year's recipient of the Nobel Prize for economics, says he is concerned the globe will take years to recover from the financial crisis because the precedent for recovery - exports - cannot work in favour of all.