NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 12-2007

BALI, Indonesia - Canada's environment minister has dismissed the notion of signing a climate-change treaty without the United States, saying it would handicap the Canadian economy without reversing greenhouse gases.

Canada's military should be given the job of delivering aid to Afghans in Kandahar province because Canadian efforts to promote development in the southern Afghan region are not working, the head of an international policy think tank said Saturday.

An important part of Canadian aviation history will briefly return to the spotlight Sunday as a Toronto auction house sells a collection of memorabilia related to the Avro Arrow jet.

The jury in Robert William Pickton's murder trial is to begin delivering its verdict in New Westminster, B.C., at 11:30 a.m. PT Sunday.

CHICAGO -- Conrad Black's lack of remorse, the amount of money he pocketed and the severity of his obstruction of justice conviction will likely lead a Chicago judge to sentence him to about seven years in jail.

It was quadruple gold for Canada in the pool on Saturday. Annamay Pierse, Brent Hayden, Joe Bartoch and Ryan Cochrane all won gold medals for Canada at the SwimCup 2007 swimming competition in the Netherlands.

Victoria Beckham's ample bosom has always been the subject of much debate. Now her breasts seem to be causing great interest backstage on the Spice Girls' current world comeback tour

Christmas carol singers in the Philippines' capital Manila have been banned from the city's busy streets and will be rounded up, officials say.

When Lester B. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize 50 years ago tomorrow, he got a nice medal, a nice cheque and Canada got an instant international reputation for, well, being nice.

The Conservative government is under fire over the shutdown of the Chalk River Atomic Energy Plant.

VANCOUVER -- The B.C. Environment Ministry will try to assess the environmental damage to an area surrounding a lake near Chilliwack that was hit by a massive landslide.

ARVADA, Colo. -- A gunman walked into a training centre dormitory for young Christian missionaries early Sunday and opened fire, killing two people and wounding two others.

A one-minute launch window for space shuttle Atlantis was closed Sunday after NASA technicians discovered a malfunctioning sensor.

Canadian forces clashed with the Taliban in Panjwaii district Saturday during a raid to disrupt bomb-making in the area.

Sidney Crosby may have been the talk of thousands of hockey fans during his first trip through Western Canada, but he'll gladly credit teammate Kris Letang for playing a key role in the Pittsburgh Penguins' sweep of the region.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan and British troops are advancing on a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan, although a militant commander said Sunday that more fighters were pouring into the area to fend off the pending offensive.

U.S. and European trade officials hoping to open a new front in the global warming battle have failed to win approval for a proposal to eliminate tariffs on environmentally friendly technologies.

The former employee blames the delay in getting a backup on a-decades-old dysfunctional relationship between AECL and its federal regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. He says the acrimony led to ineffective communication between the two side

TORONTO - Conrad Black will not back down, nor will he apologize. There are scant days left until the former newspaper magnate will hear how long he is to spend in jail for fraud and obstruction of justice

It might be tempting to pull up to the drive-thru window to fill up on food and coffee on frosty winter mornings, but some Canadian communities are arguing that traffic safety and concern for the environment should trump convenience

BALI, Indonesia -- Slimy, green and unsightly, seaweed and algae are among the humblest plants on earth. A group of scientists at a climate conference in Bali say they could also be a potent weapon against global warming, capable of sucking damaging carbo

MANAUS, Brazil -- In the 1980s, scientists sounded the alarm: The Amazon was burning and would be gone by the end of the century.

YELLOWKNIFE - Federal Liberal Stephane Dion says a move as simple as stationing a handful of search and rescue planes could help stake out sovereignty over Canada's North

ASPEN, Colo. - Britt Janyk of Whistler, B.C., skied into an exclusive group of Canadian women Saturday when she captured gold in a World Cup downhill. Janyk raced down the Ruthie's Run course in one minute 14.17 seconds for her first World Cup victor

More help is on the way for the struggling manufacturing and forestry sectors hit hard by Canada's high-flying loonie, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised Friday.

A 50-year-old man is facing numerous charges after two adults and three children were killed in a horrific collision in south Calgary

Marc Crawford won't talk about recent allegations that he played a critical role in the Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore incident, but his former employer offered a vigorous rebuke in a statement on Friday.

RICHMOND, B.C. - The head of the Vancouver Airport Authority says that while the facility processes millions of passengers every year, it's lost some of the human touch that could have helped Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski after he arrived in the cou

Sidney Crosby and Roberto Luongo will almost certainly be Canadian Olympic teammates in 2010, but tonight they're on opposite sides at GM Place, and Sid has to figure out what to do with Bobby Lou.

Environmental groups will take their campaign to preserve Canada's boreal forest to the United Nations climate change conference in Bali on Saturday, where they plan to unveil a series of maps depicting the northern forests as the world's largest terres

A mudslide in Chehalis Lake near Chilliwack - which buried an entire campground early this week in a tsunami-like wave - has environmental groups worried the murky, tree-filled water will dangerously stress the lake's fish.

One of Vancouver's most famous landmarks is in danger of toppling over.

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -- When some of the media crews arrived Friday to begin another day of waiting while a jury deliberated the fate of accused serial-killer Robert Pickton, they discovered a Christmas tree with lights, a fancy glass tree-topper -- and

OTTAWA -- Joe Clark was assaulted on a downtown Montreal street last month by a man who asked if he was the past prime minister before punching him in the face and leaving him with a bloody nose.

It may have sounded like a soaring fish tale, but rumours of a winged stowaway aboard a Canadian naval vessel turned out to be true.

Out of jail, at home in Ottawa, the German businessman revels in music and talks about his dealings with Brian Mulroney

In a first for a major North American professional sports league, the National Hockey League Players Association is teaming up with the David Suzuki Foundation to promote action on climate change. And players are taking the lead by buying carbon credits t

Canada continued to press some of its reluctant NATO allies yesterday to contribute more to front-line fighting in southern Afghanistan, but had to settle for a few more Polish helicopters.

AUSTRALIAN troops will remain in Afghanistan until at least 2010 - doubling the original two-year commitment - in a decision that has not been formally announced or debated.

OTTAWA - A bill to revamp the government's controversial system for deporting suspected terrorists took another step forward Friday with approval of Liberal-sponsored amendments intended to better protect the accused.

CALGARY -- Industry Minister Jim Prentice has set out a few new ground rules for foreign state-owned enterprises that want to do business in Canada, but stressed his government isn't trying to create hurdles for companies that want to come here.

A Metis community's claim that it was owed billions of dollars for the sale of a massive stretch of Manitoba land -- including most of the Winnipeg area -- was dismissed Friday.

U.S., British and Afghan soldiers are trying to push the Taliban out of a southern Afghan town.

Canada is taking heat from activists at the Bali climate change conference, who are accusing government negotiators of undermining the process.

A coalition of politicians and community leaders is calling for a moratorium on the use of Tasers by Montreal's police force, arguing the stun guns are too lethal.

With an eye on strengthening his electoral fortunes in Quebec in the next election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper portrayed his government on Friday as being open to the province's aspirations.

Ford Motor Company of Canada is being urged by MADD Canada to replace Kiefer Sutherland as the voice behind their advertisements now that the actor is in jail for a drunk driving conviction.

Although there are female lamas, - or living Buddhas - men are predominant and it is rare for reincarnated lamas not to share the sex of their predecessors.

Michelle Kelly's surgically repaired right shoulder seems to be holding up just fine. The Fort St. John-born, Grande Prairie-raised Kelly won her second straight World Cup skeleton race Thursday at Park City, Utah, leading a trio of Canadian women int

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Most of them would be in their 90s now, men who have kept their identities hidden for decades to escape punishment for their Nazi pasts.

AN odd new species of bacteria discovered in one of the most extreme environments on Earth could be a new tool in the fight against global warming.

KIMBE BAY, Papua New Guinea -- For time beyond memory on this remote bay of neon fish and underwater gardens, people have avoided the "masalai," taboo waters, where a monster octopus might lurk or spirits dwell in coral caves. Now it's science that wan

No substantial information has emerged to warrant the reopening of the Bertuzzi-Moore investigation, despite court documents alleging that former Canucks head coach Marc Crawford played a role in the sucker-punch attack during a March 2004 hockey game.

Canada's growing military export trade remains cloaked in secrecy, despite the Harper government's vow to disclose years-old information, and the New Democrats are now demanding to know why there's a holdup.

Recently, DeSmogBlog launched its 100 Year Letter Project, inviting contributors to compose letters to our great great grandchildren, reflecting on how global warming is likely to affect the world they will inherit from us...Personally, I can not imagine

A POSH food store in New York's Greenwich Village is embarrassed after offering hams for sale with the slogan "Delicious for Hanukkah"

Afghan insurgents knocked out one of Canada's new Leopard tanks, sparking questions in the military about whether the attack was simply a lucky strike or a signal that enemy forces intend on targeting the armoured vehicles by increasing the amount of exp

* Crews are still dousing hotspots this morning after a massive explosion and fire ripped through the historic downtown core of Barrie, Ont. overnight, destroying several buildings and forcing the evacuation of dozens of people.

Country's largest specialty outdoor-goods retailer cites concern over possible health risks

After a spill off the coast of South Korea, a band of oil about three miles long snaked toward the coast, which is dotted with wild life habitats and oyster and other fishing beds.

Eighteen years after 25-year-old Marc Lepine entered the Ecole polytechnique engineering school and murdered 14 women for the crime of being women, social awareness has improved...

Rumours are flying around the Web that the Super Size Me director has located and interviewed terrorist Osama bin Laden for his upcoming film, Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?

HONOLULU - Children carried gas masks to the playground, U.S. military officers commanded civilian courts under martial law and Hawaiian residents feared enemy troops would parachute into the mountains and then swarm the beaches.

OMAHA, Neb. - The young man who killed eight people and committed suicide in a shooting rampage at a department store spent four years in a series of treatment centres, group homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A Yemeni admitted he was a driver for Osama bin Laden and knew of the al-Qaida leader's role in the Sept. 11 attack, an FBI agent testified Thursday, countering defence assertions that the detainee was a minor employee w

BALI, Indonesia - The impact of climate change plus deforestation could wipe out or severely damage nearly 60 per cent of the Amazon forest by 2030, making it impossible to keep global temperatures from reaching catastrophic levels, an environmental group

MONTREAL - Amid a swirling bone-chilling wind Thursday, a white rose was gently placed on each of the stainless steel monuments dedicated to the 14 young women murdered at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique 18 years ago.

A lobster at a fish plant in Saint John is getting some extra attention for having a heavy case of the blues.

A Muslim female soccer team in Edmonton has had to postpone all their games until the Alberta Soccer Association makes a final decision on players wearing headscarves on the field.

THE federal cabinet has issued a rare, discretionary order granting Canadian citizenship to Joe Taylor, the son of a Canadian war veteran and symbol of a generation of "lost Canadians," who has fought a losing six-year court battle against Ottawa to reg

Half the polar bear population of Davis Strait has been bothered over the last three years, Inuit hunters say

In a May 2007 letter to former prime minister Brian Mulroney, Karlheinz Schreiber said he was ready to expose payments made to the ex-PM by the lobbying firm Government Consultants International and its founder, Frank Moores, both connected to the Airbus

Annamay Pierse didn't hear the start at the Swim Cup in Eindhoven, Netherlands Thursday, yet still managed to break a Canadian record in the 200-metre breaststroke.

The head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has blasted Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. for violating licence requirements at its Chalk River research reactor - a situation that has now led to an extended shut down and worldwide shortage in radioacti

The highway serving the Fraser Canyon community of Boston Bar reopened Wednesday, but hundreds remained snowbound without electricity.

VANCOUVER -- A jail guard was promised $50,000 to help a notorious gangster escape from a maximum-security jail last month, but never received a penny, CanWest News Service has learned

LOS ANGELES - Kanye West received a leading eight Grammy nominations Thursday, and the troubled singer Amy Winehouse got six. Other top nominees included the Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Paul McCartney, T-Pain and Timbaland. Canada's Feist also sco

After making a transatlantic voyage with smooth sailing and calm seas, HMCS Charlottetown and HMS Manchester detached from Carrier Strike Group 10 to go alongside in Gibraltar on November 16.

The world of simulation can extrapolate any capability - in any scenario - onto the computer screen. Anything, that is, except the intricate details only an expert with experience and skill can provide.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper faces a ticking clock as he ponders what to do with Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. Just four months from now, on April 2, our North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies meet in Bucharest. They will need to know whether

THE plains of solidified lava that give the moon its quirky human-like face as seen from earth were created more than four billion years ago, according to a paper appearing tomorrow in Nature, the British science weekly.

Free tickets to Grey Cup football and Vancouver Canucks hockey playoff games and a $12,000 trip to Taiwan were among the protocol gifts and goodies recently bagged by your hard-working MLAs.

Preliminary roster of 34 people could extend parliamentary hearings for months. The House of Commons ethics committee is proposing a long list of witnesses which feature Prime Minister Stephen Harper...

A Toronto councillor wants to bring in the army to curb the gun and gang violence plaguing his troubled north ward.

SPERWAN GHAR, Afghanistan - The vast fields of opium poppies in this lush farmland south of the Arghandab River give little credence to claims that progress is being made in eradicating the production of this potent narcotic

Dene leaders meeting this week in Yellowknife to discuss how to protect the territory's declining caribou herds made a variety of suggestions Wednesday.

19-year-old gunman leaves note before opening fire in Nebraska shopping centre, killing nine, including himself

The Canadian government is "shirking" its responsibility to the Afghan people by dismissing reports of the Taliban's growing strength in the war-torn country, the Senlis Council think-tank charged yesterday.

Ottawa is spending $250,000 developing a corporate brand to sex up the image of the federal public service.

TORONTO - Plans will be unveiled Friday to sink an old navy warship in the St. Lawrence River to create an artificial reef for diving enthusiasts.

JERUSALEM - Israeli archaeologists digging in an east Jerusalem parking lot have uncovered a 2,000-year-old mansion they believe likely belonged to Queen Helene of Adiabene, a minor but exceptional character in the city's history

AYIA NAPA, Cyprus -- An abattoir used by early Cypriots, a place where animals went to die, or a shelter that ultimately proved a death trap?

Karlheinz Schreiber said Thursday that a former close associate of Brian Mulroney asked him to transfer money from the Airbus sale into a Swiss bank account destined for the former prime minister.

The Supreme Court of Canada has paved the way for the extradition of a Canadian man to the U.S. where he is accused in a decades-old slaying of an aboriginal activist.

Brendan Morrison broke a deadlock 3:11 into the third period as the visiting Vancouver Canucks held on for a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks before a crowd of 12,444 at the United Center on Wednesday night.

An explosion ripped through a mine in northern China, killing at least 70 people on Thursday, while another 26 workers are still trapped, state media reported.

* Todd Bertuzzi might have been following the directives of former Vancouver Canucks head coach Marc Crawford when he broke the neck of Colorado Avalanche rookie Steve Moore in 2004, according to a report on CBC Wednesday night.

A man opened fire with a rifle at a busy Omaha department store Wednesday, killing eight people in an attack that made holiday shoppers run screaming through a mall and barricade themselves in dressing rooms.

* An elderly Calgary couple has died and nine other people -- eight emergency personnel and the couple's adult son -- were taken to hospital due to carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a car left running in the couple's garage

A security and development policy group wants to add another option to its Poppy for Medicine Proposal, a initiative announced earlier in 2007 intended to encourage Afghan farmers to use their fields to grow drugs other than opium.

Representatives of Quebec's northern Inuit signed an agreement in principle Wednesday with Quebec and the federal government to establish new powers of self-government.

From The TimesDecember 5, 2007 Leaked aid map of Afghanistan reveals expansion of no-go zonesNick Meo in Kabul Almost half of Afghanistan is now too dangerous for aid workers to operate in, a leaked UN map seen by The Times shows.

Just hours after alleging that a Tory MP had brought the honour of parliamentarians into question, a New Democrat MP is apologizing for her own political blunder.

OTTAWA - A Canadian officer in Afghanistan sent a personal thank you to the German government after he and his crew rumbling along in a tank borrowed from the NATO ally survived a powerful Taliban roadside bomb blast.

MOSCOW - Historians have announced a project to increase understanding of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's rule and to help Russians come to terms with one of the grimmest chapters of their past

OTTAWA - Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Wednesday the provinces should knock down trade barriers between them, which a Senate committee later heard is costing Canada's economy roughly $3 billion each year.