NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 09-2011

In 1980, in the pre-Internet, pre-download days when R.E.M. formed in Athens, Georgia, there was no alternative. There was no Americana. There was no grunge.

MacKay's office defended the move, saying it was an opportunity for the defence minister to see the helicopters' search-and-rescue abilities up close.

Invasion of Canada. Bombing raids on British industrial interests. Naval blockade. Chemical weapons. Six million troops fighting on the Eastern seaboard. This wasn't a crazy Nazi plan. It was the United States' strategy to destroy Britain as a world super

New data from space have cast into doubt the identity of the asteroid that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. The current theory is that a large asteroid called Baptistina collided with another rock, throwing out huge fragments into the Solar System.

A rare giant armadillo has been caught on camera by researchers in the wetlands of central Brazil. Little is known about the mysterious mammals, which can reach 1.5m in length and weigh up to 50kg.

Bowhead whales, the giants of the Arctic, are using the Northwest Passage to move across the top of the Americas. Skeletons, DNA samples and harpoon heads have all suggested that bowhead populations living on each side of the continent did meet and mingle

A 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck Japan on Wednesday just hours after Typhoon Roke buffeted Tokyo with strong winds and rain, resulting in at least 13 people dead or missing.

Convicted serial killer Clifford Robert Olson is dying of cancer and has only days to live, according to the families of some of his victims.

The Conservative government's push to end the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly over wheat and barley sales came under fire as Parliament's fall session got underway on Monday. Opposition MPs called on the Conservatives to accept the results of a wheat

Magnetricity could have practical applications down the road to store data in computers or conduct electricity, said U of W chemistry Prof. Chris Wiebe.

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer and a third hiker, Sarah Shourd, were seized on July 31, 2009, after apparently straying across an unmarked border between Iraq and Iran.

Families in pickup trucks stacked with mattresses and jugs of water fled Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte Tuesday ahead of an expected new push by revolutionary forces to seize the city from die-hard loyalists of the fugitive leader.

About 1.3 million people in central Japan have been urged to leave their homes as a typhoon approaches Tuesday, accompanied by heavy rains and flooding believed to have claimed the lives of a boy and elderly man.

The David Suzuki Foundation overstepped its legal bounds as a charity after its famous founder endorsed Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's green energy plan in a video, critics have charged.

B.C.'s spiny dogfish has become the first shark fishery in the world to be deemed sustainable, helping to open doors to foreign markets and offering a glimmer of hope for globally overfished shark populations.

An 11th person has died from injuries sustained during a plane crash that marked the United States' deadliest air racing disaster, police in Reno, Nev., say.

After years of debate and months of final preparations, the U.S. military can no longer prevent gays from serving openly in its ranks.

A mother rabbit is helping feed six orphaned kittens after their mother was shot over the weekend.

After years of lagging behind Japan, Mexico and other quake-prone countries, the U.S. government has been quietly testing an earthquake early warning system in California since February.

Grace McGregor, the director of the regional district for Christina Lake, says that conservation officers have killed at least 17 problem bears this year. She believes that many of those animals were those that had been fed dog food for years by local res

A fatal grizzly bear attack in July at Yellowstone National Park may have been provoked when the victim and his wife fled and screamed, officials say.

The world's largest centre for theoretical physics -- named after the world's most famous living physicist -- opened in Waterloo, Ont., Saturday.

The report, entitled Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, argues that mountains of studies and recommendations from academics and even House of Commons and Senate committees almost never find their way into government policy.

The International Monetary Fund has cut its growth outlook for Canada for this year and says the global economy is "in a dangerous place."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will ask Parliament to extend Canada's participation in the NATO mission in Libya by three months, he said Tuesday following a meeting on the country's future at the United Nations.

Security researchers have developed a potential cyber attack that could decrypt secure communications used by online banking and payment sites.

Winnipeg hockey fans are buzzing with excitement as the Jets began their first NHL game in the city in 15 years.

Two B.C. families whose infants died inexplicably are sounding the alarm about mothers taking antidepressants while pregnant.

A B.C. man who was abandoned as a teenager is being sued by his elderly mother for parental support.

Rod Phillipson, a 66-year-old experienced pilot, was last seen lifting off around 6:30 p.m. on Friday. A search was launched after he failed to arrive at a farm in Kelowna later that night.

A woman is in critical condition after her arm was severed in industrial blast at a gravel pit in Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.

It might be September, but it would seem that the huge icebergs drifting along Newfoundland and Labrador's eastern coast haven't checked the calendar in a while.

Parc Downsview Park Inc., the museum's landlord, handed an eviction notice to staff at the historic facility a few days ago, said Cohen. The Air and Space Museum is behind on its rent by about $100,000 and has gone through several management changes i

The Harper government is paying a high-powered management consultant firm almost $90,000 a day for advice on how to save money.

A survivor of last month's plane crash in Resolute Bay, Nunavut says there were no signs of trouble before the plane went down.

A BC Ferries vessel was called in to rescue some well-heeled tourists from a floating wilderness lodge that lost its moorings during a windstorm on Sunday.

Memory cards in a video camera aboard a post-Second World War military aircraft may hold a clue as to why the plane crashed on Saturday at a Reno, Nevada air show killing 10 people, including the pilot.

Deep areas of Earth's oceans may absorb enough heat that warming of the surface pauses for as long as a decade, a new study has found.

Three earthquakes shook a major part of Guatemala in less than 90 minutes Monday afternoon, killing at least one person, authorities said.

Giant king crabs are invading the waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, which are warming with climate change, say researchers.

A rally held to recognize the Toronto District School Board for allowing rights and freedoms turned into a shouting match Saturday between religious groups.

About 100 people are spending the day searching for a helicopter and pilot first reported missing in B.C. about two days ago.

Premier Christy Clark is about to introduce her first major policy initiative since her election as premier last February -- a jobs plan that comes as the B.C. economy shrinks and job growth sputters.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced this weekend that he would submit his bid for full membership in the United Nations to UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday during the annual General Assembly session in New York.

Canada's top soldier says he sees no reason to reimburse taxpayers for spending more than $1 million on personal flights using VIP government aircrafts.

Vincent Clerc scored twice in the last three minutes as France beat a resilent Canada 46-19 at the Rugby World Cup on Sunday with a margin that flattered the French for the second consecutive week.

At 16, Lexi Thompson has become the youngest player to win an LPGA Tour event.

Buck Pierce threw touchdown passes to Greg Carr and Terrence Edwards as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers won a showdown for first place in the CFL East Division with a 25-23 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday afternoon.

Federal MPs from across Canada are preparing for a return to Ottawa on Monday as the current session of Parliament resumes in the House of Commons.

National Transportation Safety Board officials investigating the Reno, Nev., air show crash that killed nine people are trying to figure out if a small piece of the aircraft fell to the ground before the crash.

A strong earthquake shook northeastern India and Nepal on Sunday night, killing at least nine people, damaging buildings and sending legislators in Nepal's capital running into the streets.

The pilot of a Second World War-era plane has died after it crashed and burst into flames at a West Virginia air show, the second deadly air show crash in 24 hours.

Air Canada's flight attendants have given their strike notice and could be off the job as early as Wednesday.

Sidney Crosby will practice starting Saturday at a higher pace, with considerably more exertion, than at any point since the Penguins star was sidelined with a concussion in January.

Officials at the Vancouver Aquarium say a young beluga died on Friday morning as a result of an infection, and they don't think the death is connected to an overnight break-in.

International scientists are expressing concern that cuts at Environment Canada could hobble a program monitoring ozone, a component of the atmosphere that protects living things from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

While Canada's top general is being criticized over his use of government jets, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says any officials who use the jets for personal reasons should write a cheque to Ottawa.

A group of Russian sailors have nearly succeeded in piloting their homemade boat through the Northwest Passage.

CHICAGO - U.S. scientists have developed a strain of green-glowing cats with cells that resist infection from a virus that causes feline AIDS, a finding that may help prevent the disease in cats and advance AIDS research in people.

PHOENIX - Dozens of people reported observing a dazzling, bright light, or lights, streaking across the sky Wednesday night over Arizona and Southern California in what authorities said were likely meteor sightings.

A British Columbia cancer patient is eyeballing new ways to raise money for his medical bills.

Hurricane Maria could hit Newfoundland on Friday, just one year after Hurricane Igor tore apart infrastructure there and left dozens of communities in states of emergency.

OTTAWA - Defence Minister Peter MacKay was warned the manufacturer of the air force's new maritime helicopters might be tempted to cut corners in the rush to get the long-delayed program back on track, say internal documents.

The Dallas Stars signed an agreement to sell the team to Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi and filed a prepackaged bankruptcy plan Thursday to help facilitate the transaction.

Henry Winkler, who played the supercool Arthur Fonzarelli in Happy Days, has been made a member of the Order of the British Empire for his educational work on dyslexia.

RCMP officers in Prince George, B.C., will not be disciplined or charged after the use of a stun gun, commonly known as a Taser, on an 11-year-old boy at a group home earlier this year.

Greenpeace's 40-year history is studded with outrageous stunts, from acting as human shields protecting whales to hanging protest slogans from iconic landmarks. Love them or hate them, those spectacles have turned Greenpeace into one of the most recogniza

A second major scientific body has said Arctic sea ice is about as low as it's ever been since satellites began monitoring it.

A fishing industry council is recommending that up to 70,000 grey seals should be killed to test the hypothesis that the mammals are preventing the recovery of cod stocks in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

A B.C. Crown prosecutor was attacked outside the Prince George courthouse on Thursday morning, following a disturbance at a nearby homeless shelter.

Two local governments and a farm in B.C.'s North Okanagan face criminal charges after manure contaminated drinking water in early 2010.

A possible aftershock from last week's earthquake rumbled across northwestern Vancouver Island early Thursday morning, centred in almost the same area as last week's more powerful 6.4 magnitude shake just off Port Alice.

A study of amber found near Grassy Lake in Alberta - dated from what is known as the Late Cretaceous period - has unearthed a full range of feather structures that demonstrate the progression. "We're finding two ends of the evolutionary development th

On any given night, about 50% of the city's exotic dancers on the job are fresh-faced college or university students who are shedding their clothes to earn degrees, industry officials say.

The Canucks came back from seven points down with 16 minutes to go to beat Tonga 25-20 in front of a capacity crowd of 17,174 at the Northland Events Centre.

Mayor Rob Ford�s approval rating has taken a nosedive, according to a new poll that reveals major opposition to a batch of proposed budget cuts. Four in ten surveyed Torontonians, or 42%, told Forum Research they approve of the job Mayor Ford is doin

Students at an Ottawa-area high school are being forced to get their food elsewhere after the company that used to make meals in the cafeteria declined to do so this year, saying new healthy food guidelines have made the venture unprofitable.

A bell is hanging high up in a belfry in Africville, Nova Scotia, baffling community members who say it mysteriously appeared one night at the site of a church that's being rebuilt to commemorate the black community that once flourished there.

A fire aboard the Canadian submarine HMCS Victoria will not jeopardize the vessel's planned sea trials later this year, the navy said Tuesday. The fire, which occurred a week ago as the 70-metre vessel was dry-docked in Esquimalt, B.C., is the latest setb

The man accused of abducting a three-year-old boy from his bed in Sparwood, B.C., has been arrested on charges of kidnapping and abduction of a person under age 14, the RCMP said as it released more details on his arrest.

Astronomers using a telescope in Chile have discovered 50 previously unknown exoplanets. The bumper haul of new worlds includes 16 "super-Earths" - planets with a greater mass than our own, but below those of gas giants such as Jupiter.

Almost a year after Hurricane Igor lashed Newfoundland and Labrador, a remnant of the storm has been recovered on the other side of the Atlantic.

The amount of sea ice covering the Arctic is lower than ever before, satellite data show

Vancouver police are still spending too much time and resources dealing with the city's mentally ill, according to a newly released report.

Actor died in Sydney on Sunday after battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

OTTAWA - The deaths of three people in a Gatineau, Que., home Friday were the result of a double-murder suicide, family confirmed

The air force is not training enough pilots to meet its demands while at the same time it faces a wave of retirements as well as the recruiting of skilled staff by airlines.

Several Canadian cities are marking the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including the tiny Newfoundland community that sheltered and offered kindness to stranded travellers the day of the tragedy.

Zhongming "James" Mou, 35, was charged late Saturday afternoon with the first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Yating Lancy Hu. The Burnaby mother, 27, vanished in mid-July

Nearly 80 American soldiers were wounded and two Afghan civilians were killed in a Taliban truck bombing targeting an American base in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said Sunday, a stark reminder that the war in Afghanistan still rages 10 years after the Sept.

Between the ringing of bells and moments of silence, amid tender words and a sea of tears, Americans united in solemnity on Sunday to remember the 9/11 attacks that rocked their country 10 years ago.

The number of homes destroyed by a Texas wildfire has risen to 1,554 and is expected to further increase as officials enter more areas where the blaze has been extinguished, officials said Sunday. Seventeen people remain unaccounted for.

Cliff Robertson, the handsome movie actor who played John F. Kennedy in PT-109, won an Oscar for Charly and was famously victimized in a 1977 Hollywood forgery scandal, died Saturday. He was 88.

In one 24-hour period this weekend, B.C. conservation officers killed three cougars that were bothering people and attacking household pets near Squamish.

The victory in front of a fourth-straight sellout crowd of 30,518 at Canad Inns Stadium boosted the Riders' record to 3-7 and gave the Bombers (7-3) their second straight loss.

The parents of a toddler missing for four days thanked the person believed to be his abductor after the boy was returned safely to their Sparwood, B.C. home on Sunday.

Anthony Calvillo threw for 421 yards and four touchdown passes, including three in the second quarter, to lead the Montreal Alouettes to a 43-13 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday.

The unveiling of a new memorial honouring the passengers and crew who fought their hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, was among several commemorative events were held a day ahead of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S