NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 08-2009

Fear of Taliban attacks and voter apathy appear to have led to a low turnout in Afghanistan's presidential election, officials said as the country's polls closed.

Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi has been released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds and boarded a plane to return to his native Libya.

EDMONTON -- Wannabe famous director-turned-accused killer Mark Twitchell has finally made the big time -- his bizarre case is slated for an upcoming segment of ABC-TV's current affairs show 20/20.

TORONTO -- There is no end to the controversy that continues to swirl around the circus that is the family life of poor Baby Kaylee.

Polls are open across Afghanistan and millions of voters are expected to choose a new president, as NATO tries to prevent insurgent attacks from disrupting the election.

DEASE LAKE, B.C. - Former hockey coach Ernie (Punch) McLean is missing in a remote region of northern British Columbia.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper travels to the western Arctic on Thursday, Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland says he hopes Harper will commit to further developing the North's economic and social potential.

Canada's future is tied to its ability to defend its land and waters, including the Arctic, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday aboard a navy ship in Frobisher Bay near Iqaluit.

On the eve of the Afghan presidential election, militants unleashed a deadly wave of violence, killing election workers and leaving six U.S. soldiers dead.

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep earned Canada's first medal, a silver, at the world track and field championships in Berlin on Wednesday.

Buffalo's district attorney announced Wednesday that Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane has been indicted on misdemeanour assault and theft charges.

Hockey Night in Canada makes its debut on the first day of the NHL season with an Original Six matchup between the Montreal Canadiens in Toronto to face the Maple Leafs (CBC, CBCSports.ca 7 p.m. ET) followed by the Calgary Flames hosting the Vancouver Can

A British rower who left St. John's in an attempt to cross the Atlantic solo has been rescued from the path of Hurricane Bill.

The new Medium Support Vehicle System (MSVS) Militarized Commercial-off-the-Shelf (MilCOTS), made by Navistar, is designed to replace the aging Medium Support Vehicle Wheeled (MLVW), which has been the backbone of Combat Service Support functions since 19

A fundamental building block of biology has been discovered in wisps of stardust from the tail of a comet, offering fresh evidence that life on Earth could have begun from matter that arrived on our planet from space.

DND insists project isn't on the shelf $3B project unveiled 3 years ago, but hasn't been opened to bidders

Hurricane Bill strengthened to a dangerous Category 4 storm in the Atlantic Ocean early Wednesday morning as forecasters predicted it would likely gather even more force.

The Haida Nation has put up $800 million to buy up to a 40-per-cent stake in an energy company that plans to place wind turbines off the northern coast of British Columbia.

The five surviving members of Britain's Monty Python comedy troupe reunite for a 40th anniversary gala in New York, where they will accept a British award and help launch a documentary.

Buffalo's district attorney says he expects a grand jury to announce charges Wednesday against Patrick Kane, the Chicago Blackhawks star accused of assaulting a cab driver.

An Edmonton police constable who Tasered a passed-out teen in 2002 and avoided punishment from the police chief of the day--his father --will likely now have to face a disciplinary hearing.

KINDERSLEY, Sask. -- A Saskatchewan hotel clerk has fallen prey to a telephone scam in which he gave hotel guests' credit-card numbers to a con artist posing as a member of the hotel's technical support staff.

VANCOUVER -- Former gang members in British Columbia who want to leave their lifestyle behind and get rid of their gang-affiliated tattoos can get some help from the RCMP in paying for the laser procedure.

HALIFAX -- The Canadian officer who will oversee the first flights of Canada's new fleet of navy helicopters next year says the choppers currently can't pass an endurance test that requires them to fly for nearly three hours in extreme conditions.

The question of whether the Afghan elections will be plagued by violence and insecurity was again raised Wednesday, when authorities dealt with attacks on police officers, electoral infrastructure and a Kabul bank, only hours before the vote.

A Whitehorse cab driver who is charged with sexual assault was back in business on Tuesday after a Yukon judge stayed charges that he had violated a related court order.

Soaring summer temperatures have caused working conditions at the Alzheimer's unit at St. Joseph's Hospital in Saint John to become "unreasonable and inhumane

Police now believe criminal activity was not involved in the death of a moose calf in western Newfoundland last week.

Ottawa's underground Cold War museum will be able to accommodate hundreds more visitors at once following an upgrade set to begin this fall.

Police in California are looking for a former Calgary realtor after the body of a model he reportedly married was found in a suitcase left in a Dumpster.

Canada's annual inflation rate fell further into negative territory in July, plunging to minus 0.9 per cent from minus 0.3 per cent in June, new figures from Statistics Canada showed on Wednesday.

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. -- He was a railway worker who dared to jump off a moving train and was sliced in two.

Archie is hearing wedding bells after 68 years, and some fans are second-guessing his choice in bride.

James Cameron's Avatar is already busting websites and it is not even going to hit theatres until December.

North York woman shocked when office told her document would cause no problem

Animal cruelty investigators aren't sure if a shockingly neglected dog found in Clarington, east of Oshawa, will survive and are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of its owner.

The controversial 1 Bloor hotel and condominium project - which was supposed to be the tallest residential tower in Toronto - has been sold.

Air Force participation in Operation Nanook 09, an Arctic sovereignty exercise announced last week by the Minister of National Defence, Peter McKay, is underway in the Baffin Island region.

The Netherlands is bracing for the worst if the world is without its two top sources of medical isotopes next year, a scenario that became more likely last week after Canada's nuclear agency said it will take longer than planned to repair a leaky reactor

The Canadian military is planning a construction program worth several hundred million dollars at its base in Petawawa as part of its expansion of the country's special forces.

CALGARY - Leave it to the most controversial jersey in Canadian hockey history to yet again stir the pot. Call it the sweater that keeps on giving.

PHILADELPHIA - For more than two centuries, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has endured - as has the speculation about what led to his sudden death at age 35 on Dec. 5, 1791.

Millions of Afghans have not been deterred from registering to vote despite a hike in the number of insurgent attacks in days leading up to the Afghanistan election, an ISAF spokesman said on Tuesday.

Board up the windows of that abandoned hospital if you must, but if the dead ever come back to life as zombies and begin infecting the population, a group of Canadian researchers don't hold out much hope for our survival.

RCMP are investigating a violent confrontation between sports fishermen and some native fishermen on the Fraser River east of Vancouver over the weekend

WINNIPEG - A cold summer in many areas of the country may have meant fewer barbecues and camping trips this year, but lower temperatures have been a boon for the beleaguered Hudson Bay polar bears.

A man was charged after he allegedly accepted a package with more than 70 kilograms of dried opium poppy at his grocery store in southeast Edmonton last week, police said Tuesday.

A window washer is dead after falling 20 storeys from a building in downtown Montreal on Tuesday afternoon.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had fighting words on Tuesday for critics of Canada's seal hunt, accusing European countries and others of unfairly discriminating against the industry.

Police in B.C. have arrested a woman they were seeking in connection with the death of an autistic boy whose body was found inside her home.

Brett Favre's latest retirement lasted all of three weeks.

The Canadian Olympic men's hockey team wants no part of any Dany Heatley distraction.

Misspelled city name translates as 'people with unwiped bums'

Patrick Roy's son says his father's celebrity led police to target him unfairly.

When it comes to a comparison of pedestrian bridges, it's like measuring the difference between a Lamborghini Murcielago and a Honda Civic. Both get the job done -- in this case, ferrying foot traffic across the Bow River -- but the gulf between flash and

Billboard ads in British Columbia for Coors Light beer are being taken down after complaints from Toronto residents offended by the message.

Canada's North is getting an economic shot in the arm with a new development agency and $50 million in federal seed money to help unleash "the North's true potential." Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement here this morning, vowing that t

CALGARY - A second pedestrian bridge across the Bow River should cost only slightly more than the $24.5-million city hall will spend on the Peace Bridge, even though the St. Patrick's Island Bridge will be 50 per cent longer and have more landings, the ci

CALGARY - An Elbow Park home, which was owned by former Calgary Flames goaltender Mike Vernon, has sold for $10.3 million --setting the benchmark for the highest MLS residential sale price in Calgary.

PETERBOROUGH -- The 12-year-old girl who was abducted and sexually assaulted last summer was so drunk she couldn't stand when Stanley Tippett came across her, court heard today.

Fortune magazine has named Canadian technology icon Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry, the world's fastest-growing company.

LONDON -- As getaways go, this one wasn't pretty. Nor was it successful.

TORONTO -- A 27-year-old man is still clinging to life in hospital after plunging from the top of an escalator.

WINNIPEG -- A Winnipeg mother is suing the St. James-Assiniboia School Division, claiming staff at her son's junior high school failed to protect him from a bully who seriously injured the boy

RONDEAU, Ont. -- An out-of-town visitor recently discovered no motorized vehicles allowed also means no exceptions.

TORONTO -- A manager of a Milton Home Depot accused of discriminating against a Sikh security guard after he refused to take off his turban for a hard hat says that the guard may have mistakenly heard he'd be "fired" instead of "fined."

TORONTO -- "We were just filming Canada's countryside and then there were guns everywhere" -- Kurdish entertainment legend Sivan Perwer.

MOSCOW - The owner of Russia's largest hydroelectric plant says there is little chance that any of the 64 workers missing after an accident could be found alive

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea prepared Tuesday to launch its first rocket, just four months after rival North Korea defiantly launched its own and quickly was slapped with UN sanctions.

A violent attack in Kabul, Afghanistan left at least seven people dead on Tuesday, just days before Afghans go to the polls to choose a new president.

Eight men have been arrested in connection with the hijacking of a Russian-manned freighter that was forced to sail from Scandinavia to West Africa, Russia's defence minister said Tuesday.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic season was continuing to build strength Tuesday and is expected to reach Bermuda as a powerful storm by the end of the week.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will hold a cabinet meeting in Iqaluit on Tuesday as part of a trip meant to demonstrate Canada's Arctic sovereignty.

New jersey incorporates artwork with eagle, thunderbird and a hockey player

Nearly nine out of 10 Canadian banknotes examined by a team of U.S. researchers contained trace amounts of cocaine.

'Colder than people from Toronto' slogan gets frosty reception

New Brunswick woman recants story of gunman forcing drive to Toronto

LONDON - The deputy commander of a U.S. Air Force base in England was baffled by what he'd seen: bright, pulsing lights in the night sky.

WASHINGTON -- Federal safety officials investigating a midair collision over the Hudson River changed their account of the accident on a key point Monday, saying an air tour helicopter struck by a small plane was not initially visible on radar to an air t

KABUL - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan said Tuesday it will halt offensive operations during this week's presidential election, and the country's fragile security was underscored when two mortar rounds struck near the presidential palace in Kabul.

Kim Dae-jung, who as a longtime opposition leader survived assassination attempts and a death sentence to become president of South Korea, and whose unflagging efforts to reconcile with communist North Korea earned him the Nobel Peace Prize, died Tuesday,

Canada is launching a series of military exercises in the Arctic far-north region of the country

Nearly a year after $15.3 million in gold vanished from the Royal Canadian Mint and two months after the Harper government ordered it to call in police, the Mounties have yet to launch a criminal probe.

ADELAIDE, Australia -- Climate change is the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef, officials said Monday on the heels of a report that also found some of Australia's other unique flora and fauna are being negatively affected by the changing environmen

The U.S. National Hurricane Centre upgraded a storm churning in the Atlantic Ocean to a hurricane early Monday morning as the first named storm to hit land this year came ashore in Florida.

A Russian-manned freighter that went missing last month in the Atlantic Ocean has been located and its crew has been taken aboard a Russian naval vessel, media reports quoted the country's defence minister as saying Monday.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out for the opening of the $2-billion Canada Line in Vancouver and Richmond on Monday afternoon.

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper should look beyond the military in the quest for Arctic sovereignty, critics reminded him Monday as his aircraft was due to touch down in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Thousands of Afghans defied Taliban threats and attended political campaign rallies in Kandahar on the weekend, vowing to go to the polls this week to elect their president and provincial councils

Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in Iqaluit on Monday afternoon as part of an Arctic trip that will include observing an anti-submarine warfare exercise.

The British Columbia government is getting rid of a Crown corporation in charge of promoting tourism in the province and will hand its duties over to a provincial ministry.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay officially launched Canada's first army reserve company to be based in the Northwest Territories on Monday, making it the only active reserve unit north of 60.

The genesis of Team Canada's Olympic hockey jersey began with the acquaintance of some Nike designers and celebrated First Nations artist, Debra Sparrow.

Say it aint so Chuck :(

MONTREAL -- Revellers at Montreal's gay pride parade had one more reason to celebrate on Sunday: Quebec's wide-ranging action plan against homophobia, years in the making, is expected to be tabled this fall.

A late-weekend fire at a trucking warehouse in Fort St. John, B.C., sent fireballs high into the air and prompted the evacuation of a nearby trailer park.

The economic crisis may be adversely affecting Canadians' health, according to a new survey, which found that many are cancelling dentist appointments and skipping meals due to financial concerns.

A New Brunswick woman who alleged she was abducted outside a Woodstock, N.B., campground and forced to drive to Toronto has recanted her story, according to the RCMP.

There is a tragic twist to the story of a woman who drowned in central Newfoundland while attempting to rescue a child.

Hundreds of Via Rail passengers fled a train in Ottawa's southwest outskirts after it caught fire Sunday night.

LONDON -- Elgin OPP spent most of a weekend -- and tens of thousands of dollars -- searching for what they thought was a downed aircraft, but turned out to be a metre-high paper lantern commonly set aloft for good luck.

TORONTO -- As many as four children a week are showing up without parents or loved ones at Niagara Falls border crossings to file refugee claims to stay in Canada, U.S. immigration workers say.

WINNIPEG -- A high-speed chase through the streets of north Winnipeg yesterday evening ended when a police cruiser apparently rammed the vehicle being pursued.

TORONTO -- Church St. got a lot kinkier yesterday.

One bear has been caught but officers are now searching for another bruin that has preyed on the farm where Deborrah Killam and her husband Jeff Trithart have raised 23 miniature donkeys for therapeutic purposes for special needs people and residents of n

I found this an interesting read on how things work in the USA...

The 1000 Islands Music Festival was baited with enough star power to attract the biggest crowd this summer. Unfortunately, partygoers didn't bite.

Owners of pint-sized Smart cars aren't laughing about reports that vandals may be targeting the tiny vehicles in a 21st-century take on tipping cows over.

Security remained high in Afghanistan Sunday, with reports that voters' lives were being threatened if they take part in elections on Thursday for both president and provincial councils.

OTTAWA -- Time is up for Facebook to find a way to live up to Canada's privacy law after this country's privacy watchdog gave the social-networking website one month to close its "serious privacy gaps."

Fire evacuees in Lillooet, B.C., returning to their homes after the Mount McLean wildfire are being told it could be up to two years before its safe to drink their water again.

An earthquake struck off Japan's southern coast and rattled Taiwan on Monday, prompting Japan's Meteorological Agency to issue a tsunami warning.

Three separate storms gathering over the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea are expected to hit the U.S. coast early this week, including Tropical Storm Claudette, which should make landfall overnight in the Florida Panhandle.

Weston Dressler's 13-yard touchdown run with six minutes left put Saskatchewan ahead for good as the Roughriders beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-23 on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium.

Y.E. Yang has captured the 91st PGA Championship by defeating Tiger Woods by three strokes for the first Major title of his career.

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea followed recent conciliatory gestures toward the U.S. and South Korea with a return to threats Sunday, warning them of "merciless retaliation" over sanctions imposed on its government, and nuclear attacks in response to a