NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 02-2009

A B.C. environmental group says it will ramp up its drive to put oil-slick stickers on thousands of loonies, rather than accede to demands from the Royal Canadian Mint to stop the publicity campaign.

In a watershed economic event, Canada has tallied its first monthly trade deficit since 1976 - a year of demoralizing stagflation when over a million workers took to the streets in a day of protest against the Trudeau government's economic policies.

In its fight to wear its traditional jersey at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Hockey Canada was hoping the IOC would relax its rules regarding logos. Instead, the IOC reinforced its no-logo stand yesterday with strict regulations for the Vancouver/Whistler Gam

Bar Refaeli will have men around the world turning the pages of Sports Illustrated, as the model bared mostly all for the cover of the magazine's widely-read swimsuit issue.

The only international television network broadcasting graphic images of death and destruction during the recent Gaza hostilities was a network unavailable on all but a few North American TV screens: Al-Jazeera.

The AP originally reported that Figge swam from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa to Trinidad (2,100 miles) in 25 days while escorted by a boat. She was said to have rested every night and hopped back in the water in the morning.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has asked his officials to review a contentious new law that critics say unfairly leaves some children adopted overseas with a restricted form of citizenship.

The Vatican has admitted that Charles Darwin was on the right track when he claimed that Man descended from apes.

OTTAWA - Ridding Afghanistan of corruption and improving the country's governance are more immediate challenges than military security, says America's top military commander

TORONTO -- The military is focused on withdrawing from Afghanistan in two years and is already eyeing preparations for possible future missions.

SAQQARA, Egypt -- Illuminated only by torches and camera lights, Egyptian labourers used crowbars and picks Wednesday to lift the lid off a 2,600-year-old limestone sarcophagus, exposing -- for the first time since it was sealed in antiquity -- a perfectl

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea appears to be gearing up for another long-range missile test, the latest in a string of moves seemingly aimed at stoking tensions with South Korea and winning the attention of the Obama administration.

If Charles Darwin could revisit the Galapagos Archipelago on his 200th birthday this Thursday, he would find some of the scattered volcanic islands hearteningly untouched but others tragically damaged since he first set foot there on Sept. 15, 1835.

The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board is deciding whether to increase the number of bowhead whales that Inuit can hunt in Nunavut waters, after hearing from Inuit and fisheries officials Tuesday.

Canadian scientists will get better access to British research stations in the Antarctic under a new deal between the two countries. In return, it will be easier for British researchers to use Canada's scientific facilities in the Arctic.

A Montreal judge upheld an arrest warrant against Guy Lafleur on Wednesday, giving the court the green light to move ahead with the Hockey Hall of Famer's obstruction of justice trial

A love story between two badly burned koalas rescued from Australia's deadliest bushfires has provided some heart-warming relief after days of devastation and the loss of over 180 lives.

The koala moved gingerly on scorched paws, crossing the blackened landscape as the fire patrol passed.

A sharp fall in exports in December pushed Canada to its first monthly trade deficit since March 1976, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

Even the Taliban are feeling the effects of the global financial crisis.

Canada is prepared to consider a cut in the number of newcomers allowed into the country if necessary over the short term to respond to a souring domestic job and economic scene, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says.

Canada could transform its bogged-down health care system and shrink lengthy wait lists by adopting Europe's successful blend of private medicine and universal access, the head of the country's largest doctors group said Monday.

The Tories' federal leadership advantage has evaporated since Michael Ignatieff took over the Liberal helm, a new poll suggests.

The husband of a Sussex woman who police subdued with a stun gun last week said the RCMP officers made the right choice during the altercation.

With barely a year to go before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the team has yet to find a sponsor. And so, the team has put itself up for sale.

Canada's $120-million plan to lead the overall medal count at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics appears to be on track after a banner week at international sporting events.

Sundin scored a pair of goals and Jannik Hansen netted the winner with 4:42 left in regulation to guide the visiting Vancouver Canucks to a 6-4 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.

The new schedule calls for the collider to produce the first beams at the end of September and the first collisions in late October, with a short technical stop planned over the Christmas period.

HALIFAX, N.S. - The uncle of an airman who died when a military helicopter plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in 2006 says the penalties are too light for a pilot who was unqualified for the mission and officers who approved the flight.

A BBC team used aerial cameras to film the creatures during their epic summer migration, as they navigated through cracks in the melting Arctic sea ice.

LONDON, Ont. -- Fighting should be eliminated from hockey at all levels of the game, according to recommendations released Tuesday from an expert panel dealing with concussions in hockey.

An Audubon Society study to be released Tuesday found that more than half of 305 birds species in North America, a hodgepodge that includes robins, gulls, chickadees and owls, are spending the winter about 55 kilometres farther north than they did 40 year

Canucks' new 2nd line arrives in St. Louis with 15 points in 2 games

Two pilots took off from Edmonton City Centre Airport Tuesday to start their recreation of a historic 1929 flight

Manitobans have been slipping, sliding and falling after two days of rain and ice across the southern portion of the province....Now comes the snow.

A military report into the crash of a military helicopter off Nova Scotia in July 2006 that killed three men says officers sent numerous emails warning of poor pilot training in the months before the accident

School principal Erik Millett says he was flooded with hostile messages, including taunts and death threats, after his decision to stop the daily singing of the national anthem at Belleisle Elementary School in New Brunswick.

Extending Canada's mission in Afghanistan beyond 2011 didn't come up at a meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday between top U.S. and Canadian military leaders.

Just over two weeks ago, the newly-minted U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, issued an action directive on the "northern border strategy" currently in place within the United States.

The province is already home to the largest Icelandic community outside of that country. Now, the Manitoba government is offering to help unemployed Icelanders fill job vacancies in the Prairie province.

Chinese officials assured the United Nations they are committed to the protection of human rights Monday, a claim challenged by a handful of Western nations.

Helicopters, hovercraft, and other military vehicles will be hard at work across the Lower Mainland and around other Olympic venues this week as the police, the Armed Forces and other agencies start their Olympic security exercises on Monday.

Canadian Government representatives recognized members of the Department of National Defence (DND), the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Army, and U.S. government contractors at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. last month for their e

The general responsible for Canadian forces deployed overseas said yesterday that he had told the incoming commander of Task Force Afghanistan to come up with contingency plans to provide additional security during national elections slated to take place

EDMONTON -- About 100 troops deployed yesterday morning to Kandahar from Edmonton for a nine-month tour to serve as part of the headquarters for Canada's task force in Afghanistan.

NEW YORK - An animal rights group has accused the American Kennel Club of trying to create a doggie "master race."

CAIRO -- A storeroom housing about two dozen ancient Egyptian mummies has been unearthed inside a 2,600-year-old tomb during the latest round of excavations at the vast necropolis of Saqqara south of Cairo

The B.C. Liberal government is taking a temporary leave from its championed balanced-budget law to clear the path for two years of deficit spending.

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Following a week in Metro Vancouver punctuated by gunfire, the province's top politicians and police are finding themselves under the gun.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The two men sitting on the doorstep of a shop in a penniless neighbourhood of Kandahar had a hard look about them - even compared with the other stony faces on the sidewalk.

The teen, whose identity is protected by the court because of his age, is charged with three counts of assault after an alleged confrontation last September at a school in the Montreal borough of LaSalle

Several Quebec soldiers who were preparing for a spring deployment to Afghanistan will stay home after a series of troubling incidents involving suicide threats and standoffs with police.

Tim Cook's intimate and personal chronicle of the First World War, incorporating the viewpoint of Canadian soldiers, has won the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction.

Freezing rain across southern Manitoba halted highway traffic, delayed air travel and caused spot power outages early Monday morning.

Researchers who found chunks of a meteorite in Saskatchewan last November believe they're getting close to answering a key question: where in space did it come from?

Syncrude Canada has been charged for not taking measures to keep wildfowl out of the tailings pond where 500 ducks died last year after they were trapped in the water's oily waste, the Alberta government announced Monday.

Sales and prices of existing homes will continue widespread declines that took hold in the middle of last year, and no province is expected to buck the trend, said a forecast from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released Monday.

It is an irony that is probably not lost on Canada's trade negotiators. But as the U.S. grapples with its "Buy American" plans, Canada appears to be exporting a growing number of big-ticket defence contracts to the U.S., including one to an Illinois compa

From January 3-12, two members of the Grenadier Guards joined 1 850 of their Canadian counterparts from Land Force Quebec Area at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, during Ex Noble Guerrier.

VATICAN CITY - Israel's chief Rabbinate is resuming dialogue with the Vatican after freezing ties over a Holocaust-denying bishop and the pope will meet major Jewish groups to try to make amends, a Church source said on Saturday.

PORT CLINTON, Ohio - Many of the 134 fishermen rescued from Lake Erie ice returned to the kilometres-long floe Sunday using rented air boats to retrieve left-behind snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and other equipment. A few ventured onto the risky ice

Investigators said Monday they believe arson may be behind at least some of more than 400 fires that tore a path across a vast swath of the state of Victoria over the weekend. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, visibly upset during a television interview, reflect

The B.C. Lions announced late Sunday that they have agreed to a contract extension with non-import wide receiver Paris Jackson.

A FORMER NASA employee has just revealed that he witnessed two American astronauts meeting an extraterrestrial during a Space Shuttle mission.

New second line has combined for 15 points in two games

Two people are dead after a hit and run near Granville Island in Vancouver late Saturday night.

OTTAWA -- The Canada Revenue Agency has issued at least $3 million in paycheques to people who don't work there, says a new audit.

SAO PAULO -- Four people at the rear of a plane that crashed in a muddy Amazon river managed to open an emergency door and swim to safety as the aircraft sank, dragging at least 24 others to their death.

President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Canada will provide the prime minister with the chance to form a working relationship that could pay Ottawa major dividends in the years to come, says a former deputy prime minister.

Embattled Conservative Sen. Patrick Brazeau defended himself against allegations of corruption and sexual harassment Sunday, saying the personal attacks are the byproduct of his ongoing fight against what he called the "native establishment."

Canada's preliminary-round opponents are now set for the men's hockey tournament at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

Canada's Kristina Groves and Christine Nesbitt finished 1-2 in the 1,500 metres Sunday at the world all-round speedskating championships in Hamar, Norway, and Groves ended up second in the women's overall chase.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he hopes the Year of the Ox will also be the year of the return of the bull market

It was the fifth case of gun violence in the Lower Mainland since Monday, but police won't say if any of the incidents are linked.

VICTORIA, B.C. - B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell once staked his political career on slaying budget deficits, but the premier and his Liberal caucus will return to the legislature unexpectedly Monday to turf their much-vaunted balanced-budget law.

The face of the war in southern Afghanistan is becoming more sinister as a fanatical wing of the Taliban, with strong links to Al Qaeda, has moved into the region.

Roberto Luongo and Mats Sundin, among others, showed why the Vancouver Canucks could be a dangerous team down the stretch in a 7-3 thumping of the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.

MUNICH -- NATO's secretary-general on Saturday blasted Europe's reluctance to respond to American calls for more troops in Afghanistan, saying countries like Germany and France need to "share the heavy lifting."

James Whitmore, a veteran character actor who was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of President Harry Truman, has died aged 87.

The navy is making plans to refit a 40-year-old Halifax-based supply ship that completed a $40-million refit in 2005, raising questions about a replacement program that ran aground last summer.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Jennifer Figge pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand, exhilarated and exhausted as she touched land this week for the first time in almost a month.

Friday's shooting outside of a Langley shopping centre is a grim reminder that public places are no longer immune from gang violence. Police warn that people should be concerned about the recent escalation of violence.

At least 134 people were rescued Saturday afternoon after a 13-kilometre-wide slab of ice broke free from the Ohio shore of Lake Erie in the morning.

Scorching hot temperatures and shifting winds combined to create a series of deadly wildfires in Australia on Saturday, claiming at least 35 lives and razing scores of private homes.

Canadian Forces have begun deploying unmanned aerial drones in Afghan skies, which officials say will help save the lives of Canadian soldiers by improving their intelligence capabilities.

The federal public works department's deadline passed Saturday for Canadian companies to submit bids on up to $100 million on upgrades to NATO's main air base in southern Afghanistan.

Police found as many as 40 bullet holes in a truck after a man was shot Friday afternoon outside a suburban Vancouver supermarket.

A historic bid to topple Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland and his cabinet failed Friday, with MLAs voting against it by a narrow margin.

The Canadian freestyle ski cross team was in a rapturous mood Friday, taking five of six podium spots in the men's and women's ski cross final at a World Cup event on Vancouver's Cypress Mountain.

HMCS Winnipeg departed Esquimalt February 5 for a six-month deployment to the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

WHITTIER, Calif. - The veil of secrecy octuplets' mother Nadya Suleman shrouded herself in for more than a week was lifted Thursday with the release of public documents showing that the 33-year-old struggled with depression for years until she finally beg

A new global survey shows the majority of the world views Canada in a positive light, except we appear to be rubbing the Turks and the Russians the wrong way.

High-tech driver's licences will soon make their debut in British Columbia to help prevent identity theft and fraud.

A former Canadian astronaut steered a replica of the historic Silver Dart on the runways of an Ontario airport Friday after earlier tests showed stability problems with the aircraft.

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan will be ordered to attack opium traffickers and drug facilities when there is proof of direct links to the Taliban, CBC News has learned.

Can the Minister of National Defence become the NATO Secretary General??

A pledge by the United States to honour its trade commitments would still leave Canada dangerously exposed to Buy American restrictions in the massive economic-stimulus package.

Nuclear reactors are to be built in Sweden for the first time in nearly 30 years after the Government decided to abandon a decades-old commitment to phase out the power source.

Canada's job losses in January surpassed anything seen during the previous economic downturns in the 1980s and 1990s, Statistics Canada said Friday.

More than 68,000 British Columbians lost their full time jobs in January as the province's unemployment rate shot up in January to 6.1 per cent, an increase of 0.8 percentage points from December.

The man convicted for his participation in the fatal beating of a gay man in Stanley Park eight years ago was released from prison today -- two years early.

KANDAHAR - Two Canadian soldiers have been wounded - one seriously - after a roadside bomb attack, north of Kandahar.

The pioneers of aviation in Canada began their journey into powered flight February 23, 1909, in Baddeck, N.S.

Emergency officials in Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia are bracing for the possible eruption of a volcano.

Scientists have discovered the skeletal remains of several crocodile-eating snakes, so big they measure longer than a city bus.

A new study from Toronto researchers suggests that the collapse of a large portion of the Antarctic ice sheet would shift the very axis of the Earth.

OTTAWA - The federal governments hands billions of dollars to the provinces and territories for various programs, but lacks any way to ensure the money is actually spent on those programs, the auditor general reported Thursday.

The MV Faina, a Ukrainian vessel, was seized by pirates in September in the Gulf of Aden, a high-traffic shipping lane off the coast of Somalia known as a hot spot for such hijackings.

The calm, baritone voice of a pilot who successfully ditched a passenger jet into New York's Hudson River last month is heard in audio recordings released Thursday telling air traffic controllers in a matter-of-fact tone, "We're going to be in the Hudson.

The B.C. government unveiled its plans Wednesday to replace the Port Mann Bridge on Highway 1 east of Vancouver with a single 10-lane bridge.

Two children who were rescued as part of a provincewide child pornography investigation that resulted in 31 arrests are just the tip of the iceberg, and there are likely thousands of other kids out there still being exploited, an Ontario Provincial Police

City staff say low levels of radioactive matter have been detected in material from one of the city's waste water treatment facilities.