NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 08-2008

Rock and mineral enthusiasts are combing excavations sites for the Red River Floodway expansion to locate rare selenite crystals that can be worth hundreds of dollars.

The Conservative government has quietly scuttled the navy's $2.9 billion project to replace its aging supply ships, saying bids from the shipbuilding industry were "significantly" higher than the money set aside for the program

Immigration officials have asked American busker Terry Lavelle to leave the country. Mr. Lavelle started playing his music here about three years ago, accompanied by his best friend Pixie. The tiny chihuahua and her owner have been embraced by this commun

A U.S. army deserter who fled to Canada rather than fight in Iraq was sentenced to 15 months in prison Friday, his lawyer said.

A man who died in a Vancouver Island hospital in late July had the same strain of listeria that is being blamed for three deaths in Ontario and has led to a Canada-wide recall of some packaged meat products, B.C. health officials said Friday.

The world's largest glass bottle maker says it will soon close its B.C. facility, making it the company's third plant closure in Canada this year.

Canada's "aggressive" war in Afghanistan is all about "teaching lessons with weapons" and will leave nothing behind "except the blood we've lost there," the journalist son of late prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau said Thursday

DHARAMSHALA, India - The Dalai Lama will lead a global fast after the Beijing Olympics end next week to highlight the "Tibetan cause," the Tibetan government-in-exile said Friday.

In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and a 28-square-kilometre chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists said Thursday.

REGINA -- An American man has won the right to keep his family's century-old farm in southeastern Saskatchewan, but still worries about what will happen to the homestead in the future if legislation isn't changed.

A possible cause is starting to surface after the massive explosion at a propane facility in Toronto two weeks ago.

A Winnipeg mother took matters into her own hands Wednesday night, after her 10-year-old girl was attacked at a park near their North End neighbourhood home.

Thomas Hall won a bronze medal in the C-1 1000 on Friday, moving from fourth to third in the final 200 metres.

Canadian Adam van Koeverden finished eighth out of nine paddlers in the K-1 1000, a race in which he was expected to win a medal.

OTTAWA - A spate of deadly Taliban attacks in Afghanistan - including one Wednesday that killed three Canadian soldiers - show the insurgency's militants are getting bolder and better, according to security experts who say their tactics are not so much ch

OTTAWA - Fish lovers and sushi connoisseurs beware: Fillets marketed as Mediterranean red mullet could really be spotted goatfish, and a white tuna wrap may just be Mozambique tilapia

Canada's latest bid to assert sovereignty in the Arctic - a sea floor mapping mission in the Beaufort Sea - got under way Thursday amid unprecedented activity in the melting polar ocean

MADRID - A firefighter who helped rescue the only three children to survive Wednesday's Spanish airliner crash in which 153 people perished was on Thursday hailed as a hero.

His pulse was weak, his head ached and his joints felt downright strange.

SYDNEY - A lost baby whale which captured hearts around the world as it tried to suckle from an Australian yacht it thought was its mother was killed Friday to end its suffering, wildlife rangers said.

Canada's military must learn to anticipate crises before they happen to operate effectively in the Arctic, says the new chief of defence staff.

The International Olympic Committee is investigating whether the Chinese women's gymnastics team, which has won numerous medals, has underage athletes on it, saying "more information has come to light."

Reuters - The first half of 2008 was the coolest for at least five years, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Wednesday. The whole year will almost certainly be cooler than recent years, alth

Fires brought down a 47-storey office building at the edge of the World Trade Centre on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S federal investigators concluded Thursday, refuting conspiracy theories of explosives being responsible for the collapse.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Kurdish separatist rebels claimed responsibility Thursday for sabotaging a critical Turkish pipeline, helping push global oil prices back above $120 per barrel.

European finance ministers were scrambling today to allay fears that a US recession could spread to Europe after a disastrous two days of global markets plunging.

KIEV - Ukraine fears it could be the next target of Russia's campaign to reassert influence over countries it long dominated in the Soviet Union

Russian forces blocked the only land entrance to Georgia's main port city on Thursday, a day before Moscow had vowed to complete its withdrawal of troops from the neighbouring country

All unionized construction workers in B.C. who have had workplace accidents or near misses will now face mandatory drug and alcohol testing under a groundbreaking industry-wide policy

Four additional deaths linked to listeriosis, a food-borne bacterial infection, are under investigation in Ontario, CBC News learned Thursday.

Three Canadian soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device while on patrol in Afghanistan's Zhari district, Canadian military officials have confirmed.

An Ottawa woman will once again be allowed to ride the city's public buses with the animal she relies on to stave off her panic attacks.

A problem at Petro-Canada's refinery near Edmonton has led to gas shortages or pumps running dry at as many as 90 Petro-Canada and independent stations in B.C. and Alberta, CBC News has learned.

Ron MacLean is leaving his post as the main anchor for CBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics following the death of his mother from pancreatic cancer on Wednesday night.

BEIJING - Emilie Heymans has won the silver medal in women's 10-metre platform diving at the Beijing Olympics.

HONG KONG - Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., captured the show jumping title Thursday at the Beijing Games, giving Canada its first-ever individual equestrian gold.

The Canadian Forces 40-year-old Twin Otter planes will keep flying in the Arctic until at least 2015 and could continue operating beyond that date if the military still does not have a replacement aircraft.

Homes are being evacuated because of flooding in along State Highway 66 between Yukon and El Reno in Canadian County.

OSLO, Norway - Russia has informed Norway that it plans to cut all military ties with NATO, Norway's Defence Ministry said Wednesday

OTTAWA - Canada's stores of fresh water are not as plentiful as once thought, and water shortages threaten to pinch the economy and pit provinces against each other, says a newly released document

RCMP have found the remaining two of a dozen pieces of Haida artist Bill Reid's work that were stolen about three months ago from the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

TORONTO - A nationwide outbreak of listeriosis has killed one person and sickened at least 16 others, officials confirmed Wednesday as one of Canada's largest meat packers temporarily shut down a Toronto plant and recalled nearly two dozen packaged, ready

BEIJING - Two Chinese women in their 70s who applied to hold a protest during the Olympic Games were ordered to spend a year in a labour camp, a relative said Wednesday, as more foreign activists were detained.

Approval has been granted for a new sports channel, tentatively known as CBC Sports Plus, CBC Sports announced Wednesday.

VANCOUVER (CBC) - A man has been arrested after a shooting in Surrey, B.C., on Tuesday afternoon left one woman dead and another seriously wounded, police said.

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Spanish plane with more than 170 people on board went off the runway Wednesday at Madrid's Barajas Airport, killing at least 90 people, officials said.

IQALUIT - Canada will be keeping closer watch on Russian activities in the Arctic following the invasion of Georgia, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said yesterday, adding that the country appears to have entered a "new era" of relations with Moscow.

HMCS Ville de Quebec under orders not to stop out of concern for hostages

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador is estimating the province will gain $20 billion in royalties and up to 3,500 jobs from the Hebron offshore oil project, after a final agreement was signed Wednesday in St. John's.

A harrowing bus ride from Fort McMurray is over for two brothers who feared they were going to be victims of a knife-wielding man in a manner similar to a gruesome attack last month in Manitoba

The United States and Poland formally signed a deal on Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defence base in Poland, despite fierce objections from neighbouring Russia

There are 149 people dead after an airplane crashed during takeoff Wednesday at Madrid's airport, burst into flames and broke into pieces, according to officials.

Montreal has been voted the most expensive property to buy in a new international version of Monopoly, edging out major tourist destinations like London, Paris and New York. (And ya know CKA had something to do with this ;-) 0

MONTREAL - The Thetford Chicken Massacre, with its hatchets, booze and bloody headless fowl, has ruffled the feathers of animal welfare activists.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Tens of thousands of people crowded the downtown area of New Zealand's biggest city Wednesday to watch about 30 topless young women riding motorcycles and open-topped cars along the main street.

Russia has rejected a draft resolution circulated at the UN Security Council calling for an immediate withdrawal of its forces from Georgia, which Moscow said goes against the terms of a previous ceasefire agreement

"The next thing I heard was a big, loud crash and I turned right beside me and I turned and I looked and here was this white spot with spider web effect and the only thing I could think of was, somebody shot," she said.

Quebec will retain its toehold in Canada's nuclear industry by going ahead with a major retrofit of its lone nuclear power plant

Federal researchers are using satellite photos of a national park in the western Arctic to show how climate change is prompting vegetation from southern Canada to creep into the tundra, possibly threatening the northern ecosystem.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay travelled to Iqaluit Tuesday to launch Operation Nanook, Canada's annual military operation to exercise Arctic sovereignty and prepare for emergencies in the North

Canadian athletes turned up the heat at the Beijing Olympics Tuesday pushing Canada's medal count to 13 -- more than the 12 won at the 2004 Games.

The website that promoted the finding of the supposed remains of the legendary Bigfoot has confirmed what most people suspected: the body was nothing more than a rubber sasquatch costume.

Former Vancouver Canucks head coach Marc Crawford claims that Todd Bertuzzi acted in "direct disobedience" to instructions from the bench when he attacked Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore

I thought something was odd when I picked up a new thing of baking soda for the fridge (on the right): "Change Every 30 Days"? I thought it used to be three months. Sure enough, find an old box (on the left): "For Best Results, Change Every 3 Months."

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A Canadian soldier has been injured and an Afghan interpreter killed in a suicide bombing attack near Kandahar City.

Canada's Jason Burnett won silver Tuesday in men's trampoline at the Beijing Games.

Canadian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep won a bronze medal in the 100-metre hurdles final late Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics

Alexandre Despatie won Canada's third medal on Day 11, finishing second in the men's three-metre springboard diving competition at the Beijing Olympics.

Friends of Tim McLean, killed in a brutal attack on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba in late July, say someone has been cashing in on the tragedy by posing as his sister to solicit donations

It put the Conservatives' popularity at 36 per cent, the Liberals at 30 per cent, the NDP at 14 per cent and the Green party at 10 per cent. Six per cent were undecided.

On Aug. 19, 1942, after nearly three years of waiting in England for a chance to fight, Canadian troops were sent to raid the French coast at Dieppe. But the Germans were ready for them, and the attack became a massacre. Of nearly 5,000 Canadians sent to

Canada's Simon Whitfield captured the silver medal in the men's triathlon Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics

OTTAWA - The Harper government has been warned that the ecological "footprint" of the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline on an Arctic bird sanctuary that protects migratory birds and at-risk species such as polar bears could exceed the threshold deemed ac

A group of doctors from across Canada is calling on the Canadian Medical Association to support reforms that would strengthen Canada's public health care system.

A group of people claiming to be the heirs of the legendary Knights Templar are suing Pope Benedict XVI, seeking more than $150 billion for assets seized by the Catholic Church seven centuries ago.

EDMONTON - When news broke Friday that two self-proclaimed sasquatch trackers in the state of Georgia claimed to have one of the fabled ape creatures in their freezer, Jeff Meldrum was quickly pulled into the story. After all, he's one of the few PhDs con

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said yesterday that a new Conservative government would require prison inmates to work during their incarceration.

Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the "North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer". Others predicted that the entire "polar ice cap would disappear

Aboriginal leaders have declared war on the oilsands, vowing to go to court to stop what they say is the destruction of their land and the poisoning of their water.

Canada looks toward new technologies to pinpoint improvised explosive devices before they explode

Police are still working to restore calm in the community of Montreal North more than a week after violent riots sparked by the death of a local teen.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. will argue at a NATO ministers meeting for a unified response to punish Russia for invading Georgia, even as officials say Moscow has positioned missile launchers in the separatist South Ossetia province.

GORI, Georgia - Russian tanks and troops roamed freely around Gori on Monday and made forays toward the Georgian capital, keeping control of the highway that slices through Georgia's midsection

Iran has test-launched a rocket it plans to use to carry a research satellite into orbit, state television reported Sunday

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf resigned from office Monday before his political opponents could begin impeachment proceedings against him, saying he had "worked for the country in good faith."

The latest Taliban threats against Canada are nothing more than propaganda designed to turn the Canadian population against the war in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Peter MacKay says.

Canada earned a silver in the team jumping competition on Day 10 at the Olympic Games, giving veteran rider Ian Millar his first medal in his ninth Olympic appearance.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's Islamic opposition party has urged the government to cancel a concert by Avril Lavigne, saying the Canadian singer's on-stage moves are "too sexy," an official said Monday.

The 27-year-old Toronto native won a silver in the women's trampoline event here Monday night, giving her three Olympic medals in her illustrious career.

Group says slaying of aid workers was act of 'revenge'; open letter threatens more bloodshed if troops don't pull out of Afghanistan

Early Saturday morning, a pet owner reported one of his two dogs became violently ill after chewing on a stick near the Kensington Sports Complex in the Vancouver suburb, Cpl. Alexandra Mulvihill said Saturday.

While RCMP brass and its media relations division scrambled to keep from being "crucified" over Taser use and the death of a man at Vancouver's airport, they also had to deal with an increasing barrage of complaints accusing officers of being everything f

OTTAWA - For a place that Prime Minister Stephen Harper claims is on the brink of anarchy, Parliament has been a busy little beehive since the current session began a year ago this fall.

PHOENIX - Days of heavy rains around the Grand Canyon caused an earthen dam to fail Sunday and created flooding that forced helicopters to pluck hundreds of residents and campers and deliver them to safety.

FREDERICTON - After years of decline, it looks like wild Atlantic salmon are making a comeback in the rivers of eastern North America.

Russia is considering arming its Baltic fleet with nuclear warheads for the first time since the cold war, senior military sources warned last night.

GORI, Georgia - Russia's president said troops would begin pulling out of Georgia on Monday, but made no mention of leaving the separatist province at the heart of the conflict between the countries.

Polar bears and glaciers may be icons of northern climate change but they are also swelling the sails of Nunavut's tourism industry.

OTTAWA - Canada's NATO partners are being asked to ride shotgun on rented Russian-built transport helicopters and newly purchased Chinooks once the air force takes possession of them in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canadians must convince their government to pull out of Afghanistan or face more attacks like the one that killed two Canadian aid workers last week just south of Kabul, the Taliban have said in an "open letter"

The United States protested the women's 100-metre final at the Olympics on Sunday, asking that the race be reviewed because of a possible false start by one of the country's sprinters.

BEIJING - The men's eight crew capped a three-medal day for Canada at the Olympic rowing regatta by capturing a gold medal.

Canadian women's lightweight double sculls rowing pair Melanie Kok and Tracy Cameron clinched the bronze medal on Sunday in a photo finish

The gunfire may be quieting, but the diplomatic battle over Georgia isn't over: From his ranch in Crawford, Texas, President Bush rejected outright any claim by Russia to the two disputed regions in Georgia, saying the country's borders must remain intact

Ryan Cochrane won Canada's first swimming medal of the Beijing Olympics on Sunday, taking bronze in the 1,500-metre freestyle.

In a summer of record marine traffic in the Arctic, the Canadian military is about to begin a series of elaborate rehearsals in case something went wrong on any of the increasing number of cruise ships, pleasure craft, research or commercial vessels plyin

Canadian wrestler Tonya Verbeek won the second Olympic medal of her career and Canada's third of the Beijing Summer Games on Day 8 of Olympic competition.

Wrestler Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., has won Canada's first gold of the Beijing Olympics.

The Canadian men's rowing pair Scott Frandsen and Dave Calder are the first Canadians to reach the podium in Beijing.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stood by an emotional President Mikhail Saakashvili Friday as he declared that Georgia has signed a ceasefire agreement to stop the deadly conflict that he blamed on Russian aggression and international apathy.

MELFORT, Sask. - One of two children injured in a highway rollover in Saskatchewan has died, boosting the death toll from the accident to five, RCMP said Friday.

MOSCOW - The struggle over a tiny, impoverished part of the Caucasus mountains has erupted into a widening confrontation between Russia and the West, the worst since the Soviet Union collapsed.

Several thousand Elvis fans lined up in the street in front of Graceland Friday night for a single-file procession to his grave on the 31st anniversary of the singer's death.

The City of Toronto is taking over responsibility for the cleanup of properties around the site of last weekend's huge propane explosion, effective Saturday, the city announced Friday night

Carol Huynh has guaranteed Canada's first Olympic medal by advancing to the gold medal match of women's freestyle 48-kilogram wrestling.

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever.

A tiny woman and two children were laid to rest on a bed of flowers 5,000 years ago in what is now the barren Sahara Desert. The slender arms of the youngsters were still extended to the woman in perpetual embrace when researchers discovered their skeleto