NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 07-2009

U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden has signalled that Washington would not stand in the way if Israel chose to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, even as the top U.S. military officer said any attack on Iran would be destabilizing.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - In a war fought against a shadowy enemy on what can be profoundly hostile terrain, having eyes in the sky is a huge benefit.

EDMONTON -- More than 30 years after it was created, Alberta's multibillion-dollar Heritage Savings Trust Fund has become a stagnant pool of money that has failed to achieve one of its primary goals -- diversifying the province's boom-bust economy.

VANCOUVER -- Twenty-one years after the house fire that branded him a selfless hero and burned him to within an inch of his life, Joe Philion is finally ready to die.

MONTREAL - Montreal police say they had to stop helping an attempted murder victim when they were surrounded by a mob and pelted with rocks

MONTREAL - A Montreal man will be arraigned Monday after he was jumped by patrons while trying to rob a bar.

MONTREAL - A deadly improvised explosive device of the type that has slashed into the ranks of Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan has claimed another victim, bringing the Canadian military death toll in the war-weary country to 122.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida - Two monorail trains crashed early Sunday morning in the Magic Kingdom section of Walt Disney World, killing one train's operator, emergency officials said.

NEW YORK - The World Jewish Congress is calling for Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone to resign after he was quoted as saying that Adolf Hitler "got things done."

Canada's ability to watch over its coastlines and the Arctic will get a boost early next year when an orbiting satellite is upgraded, allowing it to better conduct surveillance of vessels.

More than just a fortune in gold is missing from the Royal Canadian Mint. Silver, platinum and palladium have disappeared, too, but the mint won't say how much.

CALGARY -- The heroic efforts of a Calgary woman has earned her a prestigious Carnegie Medal

KABUL - Taliban militants fired rockets and mortars at a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two American troops in a fierce battle as thousands of Marines in the south continued with their massive anti-Taliban push

NEW YORK - The first visitors to Statue of Liberty's crown in nearly eight years have made the arduous climb - and one couple marked the occasion by getting engaged.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea's weekend missile launches show the communist country is improving its capability and accuracy and are a cause for concern, officials said Sunday.

INUVIK, N.W.T. -- The roof leaks, the wiring is tangled and the Arctic wind blows through leaky old windows.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is warning free speech will be in danger during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

EnCana Corp.'s natural gas pipeline in northeastern B.C. sprang a small leak after being targeted by a sixth bomb Saturday, the second case of what the RCMP describe as "domestic terrorism" in less than a week.

About 2,000 soldiers turned out at Kandahar Airfield on Saturday to pay their respects as the casket of Cpl. Nick Bulger was loaded onto a transport plane for the journey home to Canada.

Former NFL MVP Steve McNair and a woman were found shot to death in an upscale Nashville neighbourhood Saturday. McNair was 36.

MORONI, Comoros - Doe Cyrille and his crew searched for hours in crashing winds and waves up to 16 feet (5 metres) high for any sign of Yemenia Flight 626. Then they spotted a girl impossibly clinging to a piece of debris.

Unsurprisingly, finding a manufacturer for an obsolete-format release of the Seventies superstars' latest wasn't easy

The King of Pop was no stranger to the God of Thunder. Monstrously tongued KISS bassist Gene Simmons and Michael Jackson might not seem like guys who would move in the same circle.

Sporting placards with photos purported to be of livestock in distress and statistics on past casualties at the Calgary Stampede, animal rights protesters called for the end of calf roping at the rodeo --although they conceded it's a tall order

The other day I went to the cupboard where we keep plastic shopping bags; I needed one for the kitchen garbage bin.

Deep flaws mar recycling program as tons of organics end up in landfills or are turned into compost so toxic it kills plants

BROCKVILLE, Ont. -- A man who police say fled an impaired driving checkpoint in Brockville, Ont., on Friday night is dead after officers fired shots.

TORONTO -- Fraud artists are finding it easier amid a battered economy to entrap marks with dubious offers once easily dismissed as scams, and are snaring a growing number of victims to the tune of millions of dollars a month, experts say.

Iran has charged an employee of the British embassy in Tehran with "acting against national security," according to his lawyer.

Changes ordered by the CRTC to the cellphone industry may not make the jobs of Canada's emergency responders any easier because it will still be difficult to locate the source of calls to 911, according to a technology industry group.

A convicted sex offender and drug dealer who was supposed to be deported from Canada after leaving Manitoba's Stony Mountain Penitentiary this week is free on bail and remains in the country.

RCMP in Barrhead, 120 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, are trying to extricate a vehicle from the Athabasca River that may be connected to two men missing since 2004.

A former Edmonton police officer was fined $8,000 plus victim surcharges for causing a fiery crash last spring that injured four teenagers.

The Tragically Hip, who were set to headline the first Virgin Festival in Halifax on Saturday, have pulled out because of a family emergency.

An outbreak of H1N1 flu has temporarily shut down an Eastern Ontario overnight summer camp.

LONDON - Go ahead, poke someone on the job. It might be good for your career -- and your company's bottom line

CALGARY - The number of Canadians falling behind on their credit payments is increasing at an "alarming" rate, says a survey by market research firm Equifax Canada.

B.C. Lions' receiver Ryan Grice-Mullen dropped a Hail-Mary pass with 13 seconds to go that would have given B.C. the win in a back-and-forth 28-24 Roughriders' victory that featured a whopping 15 turnovers.

Russians are not as free as they were under Boris Yeltsin, but they seem to like it that way

OTTAWA - Canadians remain smitten with Barack Obama.

ESQUIMALT, B.C. -- Life beneath the sea is about to go live on the Internet, with the launch of the world's largest and most advanced underwater observatory off the coast of British Columbia.

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired two missiles off it eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, in yet another provocative move after U.N. sanctions were imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.

About 300,000 people lined downtown Calgary's curbs and office highrise windows to take in the annual Stampede parade Friday morning.

On Mars, snow falls in the early morning from wispy, feathery clouds that many Earthlings would recognize as cirrus clouds, a Canadian-led research team has reported.

Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Ottawa Friday afternoon for an official visit to Canada.

Two years into his time in Denver, Ryan Smyth is once again on the move. The Colorado Avalanche have traded Smyth to the Los Angeles Kings for puck-moving defenceman Kyle Quincey, blueliner Tom Preissing and a fifth-round pick.

OTTAWA � One of the biggest celebrities on Parliament Hill Wednesday capitalized on the opportunity to speak out against Canada�s seal hunt. Clad in a powder blue T-shirt with an image of a seal pup drawn on it, Sarah McLachlan condemned Canada�s

Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff continued to be hounded in Winnipeg yesterday by the Conservatives for comments they claim are anti-Ukrainian.

A Canadian soldier who was a member of Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance's tactical team was killed Friday in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb

After Sarah Palin's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week she has announced she will be stepping down in a few weeks. In a press conference called minutes ago, Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin has announced she will not run for re-election and is steppi

Anaheim Ducks forward Teemu Selanne says his next NHL season will be his last.

Members of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union finished a four-day occupation of the government's fisheries building on Thursday night. The sit-in was the latest in a series of protests the FFAW has organized to command public attention about this sea

424 Search and Rescue/Transport Squadron from 8 Wing Trenton, Ont. took part in an international search and rescue exercise in the Netherlands

Canadian commanders in Afghanistan received new fighting orders on Thursday which will prevent their troops from shooting at the Taliban if there is any risk of civilian casualties, even if it means allowing the enemy to escape

Canada and Jamaica will square off at Home Depot Center Friday night to open the CONCACAF Gold Cup

Free agent winger Mikael Samuelsson signed a three-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. The terms of the deal were not announced.

The proposed 15-metre-wide suspension bridge would cross the entrance to False Creek just west of Burrard Street, linking Kitsilano at Vanier Park with the West End at Sunset Beach.

A Canadian soldier travelling in a convoy carrying the senior commander in Kandahar province was killed Friday when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.

It's tragic enough to hear about the loss of an iconic figure without learning that the sudden demise was reportedly self-inflicted.

Mike Holmes says he's heard the criticism about animal cruelty at the Calgary Stampede, but he's still proud to be this year's parade marshal.

WINNIPEG - Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is accusing the Tories of dividing Canadians through personal attacks on his patriotism and by dredging up controversial remarks about Ukrainians made 15 years ago.

A fisherman who put his own safety at risk to save two police divers working off Newfoundland's northeast coast has received the highest honour from the RCMP.

A top official in the Alberta Children and Youth Services department has been found guilty of contempt for failing to act promptly on an order from the province's highest court, CBC has learned.

TORONTO -- Investigators have concluded a devastating $10-million fire that destroyed two-thirds of the luxury townhomes in a subdivision under construction in Mississauga earlier this week was arson

A Connecticut girl overheard her mother's screams during sex and thought she was being assaulted, so the 16-year-old rounded up some friends to attack the woman's companion, police say.

Swine flew has a whole new meaning north of the GTA after a Barrie radio station's mascot -- a huge inflatable oinker named Pinky -- broke free from its tether and soared up into the sky during Canada Day celebrations.

When Martin Jones met his wife four years ago he never imagined that one day he would get to see what she looked like.

TORONTO -- There was still more questions than answers last night as officers from four different forces tried to piece together a bizarre hijacking in which a truck driver says he was bound with duct tape, blindfolded and stuffed into the back of his rig

TORONTO - A baby whose health was so poor her parents offered her heart for transplant before she managed to pull through is back on life support in hospital.

Some Stampede-goers know how to party their wedding rings off.

The Edmonton Eskimos dodged a bullet on Thursday, escaping with a victory almost spoiled by a fourth-quarter Winnipeg Blue Bombers comeback.

Seven years in the making, the Air Force Museum of Alberta in Calgary hopes to attract visitors through its innovative way of telling the history of Canada's Air Force.

Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance spent most of Canada Day visiting Canadian bases in southern Afghanistan, wishing soldiers the best - and helping stop a Taliban ambush in the process.

EDMONTON - Albertans are crossing their fingers that predicted cloudy patches turn into bouts of rain later this week to wash away what has become a dry spring of sunburnt misery.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea fired a barrage of short-range missiles off its east coast Thursday, a possible prelude to the launch of a long-range missile toward Hawaii over the July Fourth holiday

WASHINGTON - With concerns rising about another North Korean long-range missile test, two independent scientists say Kim Jong Il's government may be using an old Soviet ballistic missile to boost a rocket capable of reaching the West Coast of the United S

Most Taliban militants encountered by U.S. troops on the first day of a massive new offensive retreated rather than engage in battle, military officials said Thursday.

Warmer weather is causing a famous breed of Scottish sheep to get smaller, according to research published in a leading scientific journal

The view from the floor of the four new balconies jutting out from the103rd floor of Chicago's Sears Tower is a breathtaking 412-metre drop straight down

On the eve of a trip to Moscow, U.S. President Barack Obama scolded Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday for keeping "one foot in the old ways of doing business."

New research into a meteorite that crashed into northern British Columbia nine years ago is revealing startling clues that could help unravel the origins of life on Earth.

VICTORIA, B.C. - A minor league hockey player who told a B.C. court that fighting and trash talking are part of the game has been found not guilty of assault causing bodily harm in connection with an on-ice incident last season.

Hundreds of people gathered in a St. John's park on Wednesday to observe the unveiling of three plaques honouring Newfoundlanders who died in Europe during the First World War.

Ford Motor Co of Canada was the number one selling automaker in the country for the first time in 50 years as it posted a 25 percent jump in sales in June over a year earlier, the company said on Thursday.

A guy gets drunk on beer, climbs on a motorcycle and his female passenger dies in a crash. His favorite tavern, Fatties on the Lake, plans a fund-raiser. For him. For Jay F. Taylor, the guy in jail facing drunken homicide charges. And it's featur

It is past time that this intolerant and subversive organization folded its tents and retreated from the public forum. It is a disgrace to all Arabs, and it is, by the way, past time that we heard the same from a sizable number of Arab-Canadians. Loud and

ne example is a cashier employed by the City of Toronto, who at the top of the scale would make $27.82 per hour, compared to about $12 in the Ontario private sector.

One of the world's poorest countries is getting a break on its debt payments. Canada has forgiven Haiti's $2.3-million debt. It's part of the federal government's plan to relieve impoverished and heavily indebted countries of their debts to Canada.

American employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, driving the unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5 per cent, suggesting that the economy's road to recovery will be bumpy. The U.S. Labour Department report, released Thursday,

CALGARY - Changes that came into effect Wednesday could mean more 14-year-old scooter drivers on Alberta streets, a move that some applaud as a way to teach young riders responsibility and others insist is a safety hazard.

The U.S. military confirmed Thursday that an American soldier is missing and is believed to have been captured by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan.

A golf tournament near Shippagan, N.B., this weekend will honour the late local hockey hero, Luc Bourdon, with a fundraiser to help young people get more access to sports.

The list of invitees for Canada's 2010 Olympic men's hockey team orientation camp features a mix of Olympic veterans and young up-and-comers.

National security investigators with the RCMP are investigating a gas leak on an EnCana pipeline in northeastern B.C. that may have been caused by another deliberate bombing.

The fourth body found in a car in a canal near Kingston, Ont., has been identified as the aunt of the other victims, police confirmed Thursday morning.

The pilot of a doomed Air France flight was flying with neither the help of the autopilot nor information about the plane's speed and direction when it slammed into the Atlantic Ocean a month ago, French officials said Thursday.

BLAINE, Wash. - A North Vancouver woman might well be saying "D'oh" after she was allegedly caught at the U.S. border with 100,000 pills of ecstasy shaped like Homer Simpson and the Transformers.

It gives "sheets of rain" a whole new meaning. Waiting to pick up her boyfriend outside the Richardson Building about 11 a.m. Saturday in miserable rainy, windy weather, Winnipegger Tanya Slusarczyk received a shock from above.

TORONTO -- Members of a victims rights group advocating on behalf of a Chinatown shop owner who was charged after allegedly apprehending a shoplifter said they're disappointed with Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair and Attorney General Chris Bentley for not

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics have become a bargaining chip at Air Canada as the country's largest airline tries to overcome labour strife and avoid filing for bankruptcy protection.

Long-standing animosity between Mohawks and border guards boiled over May 30, when natives protested the arming of customs agents. The guards fled their Cornwall Island post, saying they feared violence, and the federal government shut down the crossing.

Calgarians hoped to see some Canada Day fireworks at a sold-out McMahon Stadium on Wednesday, and both the hometown Stampeders and Montreal Alouettes happily obliged.

Fifty Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan will today put their patriotism on display in a big way, with a gift sent from Winnipeg on the nation's birthday.

There wasn't much of a Canada Day celebration at Ivor Wynne Stadium on Wednesday.

KABUL -- Thousands of U.S. Marines and hundreds of Afghan troops moved into Taliban-infested villages with armour and helicopters early Thursday in the first major operation under President Barack Obama's revamped strategy to stabilize Afghanistan.

Brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin re-signed with the Canucks on Wednesday, right before the NHL free agency feeding frenzy was set to begin at noon.

Police in Victoria are bracing for another Canada Day party that, in recent years, has been marred by rampant drinking and rowdiness, turning the national holiday into the busiest day of the year for law enforcement.

OTTAWA - Canada swapped its economic blues for a rocking national birthday party that dressed up cities and towns across the country in red and white.

LOS ANGELES, July 1, 2009 (AFP) - Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden, known for his distinctive nose and roles opposite Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "On The Waterfront," has died, officials said Wednesday. He was 97.