NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 06-2009

Run-up in oil prices contributing to guarded optimism, as trades begin to rebound

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea boasted that it has become a "proud nuclear power" and threatened Monday to harm the U.S. if attacked, as tensions mounted over a possible crackdown on exports of suspected missile parts from the North.

Mike Weir had a rough Sunday at the U.S. Open in Farmingdale, N.Y., as he bogeyed his final hole before play was suspended, and is now six shots behind leaders Lucas Glover and Ricky Barnes heading into the final day of action.

About 24,000 Toronto city workers walked off the job after their unions and city officials couldn't reach deals by the 12:01 a.m. Monday deadline, the unions said.

DUBAI -- If it were in a position to do so, Al Qaeda would use Pakistan's nuclear weapons in its fight against the United States, a top leader of the group said in remarks aired on Sunday.

University of Montreal scientists identify �hiding places' for AIDS virus in human body, say it is the first clue about how to eradicate HIV

The lawyer for a Quebec man who barely survived being lost for nine days in the B.C. backcountry and watched his wife die in the ordeal says she's surprised by the level of animosity being thrust toward her client.

The B.C. Court of Appeal has more than doubled the sentence for a man convicted of sexually abusing his daughter for 13 years, starting when she was a toddler.

OTTAWA -- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff wants the Canadian embassy in Tehran to do all it can to help those injured in the Iranian government's crackdown.

Pre-race favourite Eye of the Leopard won the 150th running of the Queen's Plate at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack on Sunday.

A Canadian journalist working in Iran was arrested without charge on Sunday and has not been heard from since.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's government said Sunday it arrested the daughter and four other relatives of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the country's most powerful men, in a move that exposed a rift among the ruling Islamic clerics over the disputed

VICTORIA -- Search crews are scouring the area between Anchorage, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon, for a missing plane with two people on board.

A group of Canadian and U.S. researchers believe that chemotherapy could one day be used to treat the HIV-AIDS virus, by targeting cells that cannot be attacked with existing drugs.

Errol Flynn, Hollywood's original bad boy and swashbuckling screen hero, would have turned 100 on Saturday.

A rare rocket attack on the main U.S. base in Afghanistan early Sunday killed two U.S. troops and wounded six other Americans, including two civilians, officials said.

North Korea has accused the United States of plotting atomic war against the communist regime, saying President Barack Obama's recent commitment to extending nuclear protection to South Korea only exposed his government's intention to attack.

SURREY, B.C. - Two males are dead and another person has been rushed to hospital in what appears to be a double murder in a Surrey, B.C., home.

STEUBEN COUNTY, Indiana -- One person is dead and 11 people were sent to hospital after a Greyhound bus carrying the London Silverbacks semi-pro football team collided with an SUV in Indiana, the Canadian team's assistant head coach said Sunday.

Firefighters in Calgary struggled to haul four women on board their boat Saturday night as they clung to orange buoys in the Bow River that mark what officials call the "drowning machine."

The City of Toronto and its civic workers remain far apart on contract talks as a midnight strike deadline looms, prompting a city spokesman to reiterate that more time is needed to hammer out an agreement.

The political unrest in Iran is having a ripple effect in Vancouver as thousands gathered Saturday night to show support for loved ones back home.

A farmer in central Alberta wants answers to the unexplained deaths of nearly 20 deer and a moose. Glenn Norman said the dead animals were found near Bowden, Alta., this spring, and fish and game officers were immediately called to investigate.

SEOUL, South Korea -- A U.S. Navy destroyer is tailing a North Korean ship suspected of carrying illicit weapons toward Myanmar in what could be the first test of new UN sanctions against the North over its recent nuclear test, a leading TV network said

TORONTO -- Investors are rightly curious about the future of the spring rally on the Toronto market after the TSX lost ground last week after four straight weeks of sharp gains.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Father's Day brought heightened memories of home for many Canadian soldiers Sunday, while others arose early for a different kind of mission: a charity run around part of Kandahar Airfield.

OTTAWA -- As young people prepare to don caps and gowns this month and take the stage to grab their diplomas, Canadians confess a certain skepticism about the value of an education in this country.

Iranian state television has raised the death toll from anti-government demonstrations to at least 17 and reported Sunday that the daughter of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, along with four other family members, has been arrested for participating i

CALGARY - Two friends allegedly trying to make hash oil in a basement suite bathroom were taken to hospital with severe burns early yesterday after the volatile concoction blew up in their faces.

Patricia Huculak came to Toronto to escape a violent ex-husband, only to face threats, violence and harassment at the place that was supposed to make her feel safe -- a YWCA apartment for abused women.

STOCKHOLM -- Veteran centre Mats Sundin will reportedly not play for defending champion Sweden in the Olympic hockey tournament next year

Sources tell TSN that Brent Sutter is in the final stages on the details of an agreement to become the next head coach of the Calgary Flames.

A man led police on a high-speed vehicle chase yesterday in and around Winnipeg, while calling the city force numerous times on a cellphone to update officers on his location.

The funeral for actor David Carradine was anything but sombre - Hells Angels led the procession and mourners wore Indian headdresses, cowboy boots and kilts.

George Gillett has reached an agreement in principle to sell the storied hockey franchise and the Bell Centre to the Molson family, the National Hockey League team announced Saturday.

KABUL -- A New York Times reporter known for making investigative trips deep inside dangerous conflict zones escaped from militant captors after more than seven months in captivity in Afghanistan and Pakistan by climbing over a wall, the newspaper said Sa

BOURNE, Massachusetts -- Fishery managers trying to protect rare sea turtles from dying in fishing nets have tapped a Cape Cod company to build a device they think can help balance turtle protection with profitable fishing.

A woman was killed in a fiery crash Friday when a CN freight train carrying a load of ethanol derailed and plowed into her stopped car northwest of Chicago, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes.

Police used tear gas, water cannons and batons Saturday to disperse thousands of protesters rallying in the central part of Iran's capital to demand a new presidential election, witnesses said.

The man behind the Terrafugia Transition, dubbed "The Flying Car," says you could see his vehicle on the road and in the skies as early as 2011.

STONEHENGE, England - Thousands of neo-Druids, New Age followers and the merely curious were flocking to Stonehenge to await the sunrise over the prehistoric monument and celebrate the longest day of the year.

A forest fire that covered 80 square kilometres in B.C.'s Cariboo Region has been fully contained.

The Snowbirds' fleet of jets has been cleared to fly in air shows again after an overhaul and inspection of its lap belts, the Department of National Defence said Saturday.

Transportation Minister John Baird has sent a letter to Toronto Mayor David Miller indicating that he will not be granting the city's application to use stimulus funds to purchase streetcars because it does not fit the criteria laid out by the government.

Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova presented a prototype dress to reporters that is designed to light up when the wearer's mobile telephone rings.

Fashionistas dust off their trendiest toppers ahead of tomorrow's Queen's Plate race

Star tests prompt Toronto Public Health to investigate vendors of soft ice cream, yogurt

The weather was far from perfect, but it was not bad enough to stop some players from starting their third rounds on Saturday at the U.S. Open. And the Canadians in the field made quite a collective move up the leaderboard in the second round.

Catholic schoolteachers in Toronto can bank 20 sick days a year and use portions of sick leave for their own criminal court appearances - provided the charges do not stick.

Canada is turning to modern forensics to identify soldiers who died on the battlefields of Europe and Korea.

IQALUIT -- Police exchanged gunshots with a 20-year-old man who was walking around outside the community's high school armed with a rifle, an RCMP spokesman said Friday.

OTTAWA -- The Federal Court of Canada has rejected a Jewish group's attempt to revoke the citizenship of a former Nazi guard, saying the decision to allow the man to stay in Canada was reasonable and in keeping with the Charter of Rights.

English-language state television in Iran is reporting that a bomb has exploded in Tehran at the shrine of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as anti-government protests on Saturday quickly turned violent.

A Montreal man came dangerously close to being killed in North York yesterday when a tire flew off a U-Haul trailer, sailed across Hwy. 401 into oncoming traffic and smashed through the windshield of his rig.

Cops have charged 13 people -- including six minors -- in connection with a storm of firebombings and assaults in Mill Woods last year.

ST. CATHARINES -- As scientists toil in their laboratories, trying to crack the global mystery of missing honey bees, Stan DiFruscio need only go home to figure it out.

Investigators are trying to figure out why a man was on a railway track when he was struck by a freight train and killed in south Winnipeg's Fort Garry neighbourhood yesterday.

Ottawa is standing firm in its refusal to give Toronto $400-million in stimulus money for the largest light-rail contract in North American history, raising questions about the fate of a project with huge economic spin-offs for Canada's beleaguered indust

The first person charged in a cowardly attack on a senior was [u]out on probation[/u], which included orders to do community service, at the time of the crime she's alleged to have committed.

My father always got the same thing for Father's Day: a bottle of Crown Royal whisky in its iconic purple felt bag. It was our fallback gift for his birthday and Christmas, too. That he insisted on premium rye only to mix it with cut-rate brand X cola was

Six common man-made chemicals will be banned in soft vinyl toys and lead limits will be lowered under proposed regulations announced by Ottawa yesterday.

In commercial after commercial on TV, the image of the modern husband and father is one of the buffoon - trapped in a shed he built without doors, staring blankly at spilled juice, gorging on dog cookies until his ever-capable wife comes to the rescue.

WASHINGTON - A new anti-missile system ordered for Hawaii is partly a strategy to deter North Korea from test-firing a long-range missile across the Pacific

TORONTO -- A Toronto Crown attorney who was forced to submit to a police strip search is asking a Superior Court judge today to lay sexual assault charges against those officers

Days after her daughter Maya was attacked by a cougar in Squamish, B.C., Maureen Lee is speaking out - against urban development.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- Phil Mickelson lumbered along the rain-softened turf of Bethpage Black for 29 holes. Lucas Glover had it even worse, taking nine hours to play 31 holes Friday in a U.S. Open that felt like a marathon.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Dutch police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google's Street View map application, a spokesman said Friday.

NASA launched its first moon shot in a decade Thursday, sending up a pair of unmanned science probes that will help determine where astronauts could land and set up camp in years to come.

Victoria Poon's focus was squarely on her start in the women's 50-metre butterfly race, but it was her finish that caught everyone, including the Montreal swimmer herself, off guard.

Some residents in North Vancouver, B.C., are uneasy after a man who spent 26 years in jail for rape moved into their neighbourhood.

Alberta's finance minister said Friday she wished she hadn't been the one to start a debate about whether it's best for children to have one parent stay at home while the other one works.

Health Canada moved Friday to ban the use of harmful chemical additives called phthalates in children's soft vinyl toys.

A CLOSE friend of David Carradine and and ex FBI agent has claimed he was drugged and murdered by a brutal, flirtatious pair of Thai Lady Boys.

A leading Canadian expert on circumpolar politics is praising the Conservative government for strengthening the country's control over its Arctic waters through environmental legislation that came into force last week

LONDON - Guinness World Records says 113-year-old British World War I veteran Henry Allingham is now the world's oldest man.

CALGARY -- A piece of bush and lush farmland in central Alberta is the focal point in the deaths of nearly 20 deer and moose which died under suspicious circumstances over the winter.

Formula One's governing body is planning legal action against eight teams threatening to break away from the league to form their own rival series next season.

Being a journalist has been an honour, a great responsibility and a lot of fun, CBC-TV's Don Newman said Friday morning as the news veteran prepared for the final broadcast of his daily Newsworld program Politics.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged calm on Friday and hinted of a crackdown if Iranians continue their protests of the country's disputed presidential election.

PANJWAII DISTRICT, Afghanistan - Equipment, not manpower, is the key stress point facing the Canadian military as it struggles with a lengthy and dangerous deployment in the harsh and hostile environment of southern Afghanistan, Canada's top soldier said

Walter Cronkite, 92, the former CBS anchor once known as the Most Trusted Man in America, is reported to be gravely ill.

Beijing Olympic organizers say they made a profit from last year's Summer Games

OTTAWA - Hopes for a speedy economic turn-around got a reality check Friday with a surprisingly big drop in April retail sales that provided clear evidence Canada remains in recession.

The Snowbirds, Canada's military aerobatic demonstration team, will be back in the air as soon as some maintenance work is done on their aircraft ejection-seat system.

Canada's Mike Weir shot a career-best 64 at Bethpage in the opening round of the U.S. Open on Friday, where he leads the field at 6-under.

A French cargo ship that sank off the coast of southern Newfoundland late last year was overloaded when it left harbour, a report by a French government agency said Friday.

Canada's long-running minority Parliament closed quietly Friday for a three-month summer recess after a fractious session, which ended with MPs voting on a routine spending bill that had threatened to topple the government.

The police investigation into Quebec's construction industry heated up yesterday with seizure orders placed on what police say is $10 million worth of assets belonging to a member of the Hells Angels.

Just after 6 p.m., Master Cpl. Don Pike, 35, tried to pass other vehicles on 66th Street during off-duty hours on Canadian Forces Base Edmonton. The truck ultimately went into the ditch and rolled.

An email between RCMP brass a month after officers repeatedly used a Taser on Robert Dziekanski suggests the officers discussed using the weapon before they even laid eyes on the Polish immigrant.

Health experts have long warned of the risk of obesity, but a new Japanese study warns that being very skinny is even more dangerous, and that slightly chubby people live longer. People who are a little overweight at age 40 live six to seven years lon

Palestinians degraded and humiliated by Israeli security.

A communication problem is being blamed for the continued distribution of a missing-child picture in CIBC Visa envelopes, months after the youth's body was found.

A couple who moved back to Newfoundland so their terminally ill daughter could spend her final days with family say they were shocked to have had their request to buy adjoining plots at the cemetery turned down.

Firefighters rescued a group of patrons forced to flee in various states of undress after a swingers club caught fire in downtown Montreal Friday morning.

ROCKY HARBOUR, N.L. -- An ambulance driver and attendant are credited with saving a heart patient and preventing what could have been a serious explosion after their vehicle caught fire Wednesday in western Newfoundland.

WINNIPEG -- The federal Conservatives are trying to reignite a controversy over comments about Ukrainians written by Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff more than 15 years ago.

The NDP plans to introduce a motion Friday to amend bankruptcy laws to make sure pensioners and laid off employees get top priority on the list of creditors.

SARNIA -- Thomas Moffit has been convicted of second-degree murder in the 2007 killing of his girlfriend, Shelley Mathieu-Read, whose body has never been found.

MONTREAL - Air Canada says it will allow passengers to bring their cat or small dog in the cabin on flights beginning in two weeks - for $100 on a domestic return trip and $200 for overseas trips.

EDMONTON -- Firefighters from Eastern Canada blazed the trail from the Edmonton International Airport to northern Alberta yesterday, where they joined the massive fight against Alberta's hottest problem.

ATHABASCA, Alta. - A former high school guidance counsellor from the northern Alberta community of Athabasca will go to trial this summer on charges of sexual exploitation and making child pornography.

TORONTO -- The family of homicide victim Oliver Martin said yesterday they were victimized twice: Once by the gunman who killed Martin and his best friend, and again by police, hospital staff and the coroner's office who refused them what they needed to g

TORONTO -- Yesterday's front-page tale about a former PoW being threatened with a $700-a-day hospital charge has sparked outrage from readers and is being investigated by the minister of veterans affairs in Ottawa.

Today is Make it Seven Day in Hamilton. Yesterday was send a letter to Gary Bettman Day. We're not certain, at this time, what tomorrow may bring.

The fathers featured on a recently redesigned Alberta Ministry of Justice Web site include janitors, cooks, drywallers and carpenters hailing from all five corners of the jagged province, but all 141 of them have one thing in common: they have missed spou

Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership hopeful Tim Hudak has won the support of former, long-time human rights commissioner Keith Norton, adding credibility to his pledge to scrap the body that enforces the province's human-rights code if he wins.

Iran's Supreme Leader upholds election result; says enemies targeting legitimacy of Islamic establishment

Pollution in the Mekong river has pushed freshwater dolphins in Cambodia and Laos to the brink of extinction, the conservation group WWF has said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canada will not remain silent on the political situation in Iran after Tehran added Canada to a list of countries that it says is meddling in its internal affairs.

Thousands of underprivileged kids are waiting anxiously to hear if the B.C. government will come up with money to help send them to summer camp.

A summer program that brings children from radiation-affected areas of Belarus to Canada has been cancelled because Ottawa has so far refused to agree to new travel demands made by the Belarus government.

The Calgary Flames may be a part of the Winter Classic in 2010. The National Hockey League and NHLPA are in discussions that would see the Flames host the second of two outdoor games on New Year's Day.