NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 02-2008

Nearly 100 hospitals, blood banks or universities across Canada house a kind of irradiation machine that the U.S. government's main scientific advisory body has warned is a prime terrorist target because of its potential use in a "dirty bomb," Canwest

AMUNDSEN GULF, NWT -- After chainsawing through solid ice, lowering 350 metres of fishing line and exposing themselves to a -35 windchill for several hours, Louis Letourneau and Alexis Burt seem surprisingly happy to haul up a few cupfuls of inedible crus

WINDSOR, Ont. - Some losses just don't feel like a loss. Especially on a night like this one at Windsor Arena, where the Spitfires paid tribute to captain Mickey Renaud before playing one of the Ontario Hockey League's best teams

Paul Tracy has indicated a preference for joining either Penske Racing or Target Chip Ganassi in the IRL.

EDMONTON - The battle of the basement turned into an old-fashioned shooting gallery.

PHILADELPHIA - Bryan Murray's move down from the front office couldn't change the result for the sputtering Senators.

DALLAS - Brad Richards did only one thing wrong in his Dallas Stars debut. He raised expectations impossibly high

BOSTON - The Boston Bruins are moving up in the NHL standings by beating the Eastern Conference's best teams.

ATLANTA - Josef Vasicek and Trent Hunter turned an apparent disadvantage into the game-winning play for the New York Islanders.

RALEIGH, N.C. - The New York Rangers' newfound attention to details is paying off with a string of wins.

New Brunswick RCMP used a stun gun to subdue a man who confronted officers with a knife at Moncton police headquarters Thursday.

Allegations of double talk on NAFTA from the Obama and Clinton campaigns dominated the U.S. political landscape on Thursday.

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's presidential council has endorsed the execution within a month of Saddam Hussein's cousin, known as "Chemical Ali," for his role in the 1980s scorched-earth campaign against Kurds, officials said Friday. But it spared the life of two

The chair of the parliamentary ethics committee says allegations that Conservative officials offered to bribe late MP Chuck Cadman could have serious consequences, and the committee will look into the matter early next week.

The Canadian military has resumed the transfer of detainees to Afghan officials on a case by case basis.

After several years of planning and digging, the world has its first secure, deep-frozen repository for backup supplies of seeds from hundreds of thousands of plant varieties that underpin agriculture

WASHINGTON - The U.S. navy is sending three ships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea in a show of strength during a period of tensions with Syria and political uncertainty in Lebanon.

Jacques Rogge isn't keen to see women's ski jumping in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government has easily survived the first confidence test of its latest budget

OTTAWA - The number of former soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress has more than tripled since Canada first deployed troops to Afghanistan, say new figures released by Veterans Affairs Canada.

A gas leak may be to blame for an explosion and fire that broke out at a school in the northwestern Ontario town of Fort Frances early Thursday morning, forcing the cancellation of classes and evacuations of nearby buildings, officials said.

WAUKEGAN, Ill. - A large explosion has been reported at a shopping plaza in Waukegan, Ill., and a town official says there are multiple injuries.

A polar research vessel has broken free from Arctic pack ice and returned home to Europe, after spending more than 500 days drifting across the High Arctic.

When Alison Garcia, 16, announced that she was leaving home to be with her 36-year-old lover, her parents could have been forgiven for hitting the roof.

AMUNDSEN GULF, NWT -- The weirdest thing about the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen is how well it floats despite the massive hole in the hull.

PARIS - The fast-warming Arctic could be plunged into "armed conflict" unless the U.S. takes the lead in resolving rival claims by the U.S., Canada, Russia, Denmark and Norway over a region that could create billions of dollars in new wealth as the ice

Sicily's Mafia is rebuilding its networks in the US, according to an Italian parliamentary report.

On Feb. 18, while conducting maritime security operations near the coast of Pakistan, HMCS Charlottetown received a report of a vessel linked to terrorist activities. Charlottetown located and tracked the Al Moula Madad, a Pakistani dhow, to a position ju

AUSTRALIAN troops have been forced to use some of their heaviest firepower to fight Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan during a series of recent skirmishes..

JUVENILE delinquents had a "sex romp" at a detention centre after staff accidentally left security doors unlocked.

Two senior cabinet ministers all but confirmed yesterday that NATO will be able to answer Canada's demand for another 1,000 troops in southern Afghanistan

The fossil of a 15m long "sea monster" found in Arctic Norway was the biggest of its kind known to science with dagger-like teeth in a mouth large enough to bite a small car, researchers said on Wednesday.

OTTAWA - There will be times after 2009 when Canadian troops will have to be engaged in combat in Afghanistan and the timing of such decisions are best left to commanders on the ground, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Wednesday.

Gay, lesbian and bisexual Canadians are significantly more likely than heterosexual Canadians to fall victim to violent crimes, including sexual assault, robbery and physical assault, according to a new study prepared by Statistics Canada and released Thu

VANCOUVER - Joe Sakic made up for lost time just in the nick of time Wednesday night.

SUNRISE, Fla. - Mats Sundin gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a reason to be glad he refused to be traded away.

Rick Mercer Liberal Song

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Steve Bernier can stop worrying. The pressure is off now that he made his Sabres debut memorable.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Brian Campbell couldn't let go of everything from his past

CHICAGO - Patrick Lalime wasn't much better than Ilya Bryzgalov on Wednesday night - just a bit luckier.

Italy's Court of Appeal has issued a new hands-off landmark ruling - outlawing men from scratching their crotches in public.

Children whose parents spank them or otherwise inflict physical punishment may be more likely to have sexual problems later, according to research to be presented Thursday to the American Psychological Association.

With both Clinton and Obama campaigning on the future of free trade deal, Emerson reminds U.S. of its easy access to energy

Wheelchair-confined man dies in house fire; dad, nephew in hospital with smoke inhalation

AMUNDSEN GULF, N.W.T. -- As a bright, red ship perched in a patch of snow-white sea ice, the Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen stands out in the Arctic like a visual embodiment of the Canadian flag.

Increasingly autonomous, gun-toting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP.

Gary Bettman had a clear message Wednesday for a panel of U.S. congressmen: the scourge of performance-enhancing drugs has not affected the National Hockey League.

CAMP SHELBY, Mississippi ― Exercise NOBLE WARRIOR, held from 4 to 14 January, was designed to assess the skills of Reservists and prepare them for a possible deployment. Some of the soldiers were assigned to the opposing forces (OPFOR).

Fans at GM Place on Wednesday night will watch a Vancouver Canucks team remarkably similar to the one before the trade deadline take on division rivals the Colorado Avalanche.

MONTREAL - Some 35 years after he won his 11th Stanley Cup, Henri (the Pocket Rocket) Richard will finally be old enough on Friday for the NHL rookie draft.

Robert Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer imprisoned for killing his severely handicapped daughter, is to be released on day parole, an appeal board said Wednesday.

UNICEF Team Canada has triumphed at the 2008 International Tent Pegging Championships held in India, winning an unprecedented three gold medals and one bronze medal out of the four team disciplines.

The province's largest jail is bursting at the seams on the weekends, forcing dozens of inmates to share cells on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

A Canadian woman who was critically injured in Africa last week has taken a turn for the worse.

Canadian women diagnosed with early breast cancer see their income plummet by an average of 27 per cent in the first year of diagnosis, a news study finds.

Norway's defence ministry said on Wednesday it would allow some of its soldiers stationed in Afghanistan to go to the south of the country where battles against the Taliban and al-Qaeda have been the toughest and Canada has been pleading for more allied

Microchip containing photo, birthdate will make forgery more difficult, extending life to 10 years

Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama threatened to pull the United States out of the free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico unless it's renegotiated.

The Vancouver Canucks put forth competitive deals to upgrade their roster before Tuesday's trade deadline, but general manager Dave Nonis said teams decided to take other offers.

Paul Stastny tallied 3:02 into overtime to lift the visiting Colorado Avalanche over the Calgary Flames 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Brian Mulroney is refusing a request from the House of Common ethics committee to return for more testimony on his business dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber.

A government motion to extend the Afghan mission to 2011 could be in jeopardy after the emergence of a major difference of opinion with the Liberals on the future role Canadian troops will assume.

JAKARTA -- The fault line that spawned the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has ruptured nearly 20 times this month, causing three strong earthquakes. The activity shows the stress the seam is under and could be a harbinger of worse to come, scientists warn.

The handful of countries that abut the north pole are not the only ones vying for the vast oil and resources believed to lie in the Arctic

France may be sending hundreds of ground troops to eastern Afghanistan to help NATO- led forces in the battle against al Queda insurgents, a French newspaper is reporting. The move comes as Canada has been appealing its NATO allies for troop reinforcement

OTTAWA - The Ottawa Senators hardly left a good impression on GM Bryan Murray going into Tuesday's NHL trade deadline.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Daniel Briere had plenty to smile about after scoring the clinching shootout goal in Philadelphia's 4-3 comeback win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Sukhoi's Su-35-1 single-seat multirole fighter made its first flight from Zhukovsky, near Moscow, on 18 February. Completion of two more aircraft is due later this year.

Turkey has continued its offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq for a sixth day with conflicting reports of rising casualties from both sides.

Safety one of the advertised luxuries of the only high-end rooms in southern-Afghan war zone

TWO Canadian scientists probing the depths of Hudson Bay have discovered deep gouges on the sea floor and other evidence shedding new light on a colossal flood that occurred more than 8,000 years ago -- a time when retreating glaciers were clearing a path

AMUNDSEN GULF, N.W.T. -- You know that scraping sound when you drive your car over a badly cleared road and the chassis bottoms out on the ice? Imagine doing something similar with a 98-metre-long, 8,000-tonne chunk of steel on the frozen surface of an

The Oxford laboratory that declared the Turin Shroud to be a medieval fake 20 years ago is investigating claims that its findings were wrong.

The Defence Department is advising Canadian soldiers not to post personal photos and information on social networking websites like Facebook, citing security concerns.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay opened Monday\'s House of Commons debate on the future of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan by urging the opposition to support extending a mission that \"matters to Canadians, our soldiers and the international communi

Finally, mankind has the answer to that eternal question, how many coconuts does it take to go from London to Amsterdam? The answer: 150,000 -- converted into biofuel and poured into a special 747, of course.

NEW YORK -- Struggling to breathe, American Airlines passenger Carine Desir asked for oxygen, but a flight attendant twice refused her request, the woman's cousin said.

A Calgary woman has become the first Canadian to receive enough donations from strangers through a U.S. website to get breast augmentation surgery.

The CBC is reporting that some sections of a new training facility being built for the Montreal Canadiens collapsed Monday.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - What a difference a week can make. Fresh off an overtime win last Sunday, Minnesota led Calgary by six points in the Northwest Division. Seven days later, the Wild are looking up at the Flames.

The news is not good for Oilers captain Ethan Moreau, who will be out for the rest of the season after breaking his ankle late in Sunday's game against the Colorado Avalanche.

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 35 shots for his second shutout of the season and fourth of his career, and the Phoenix Coyotes beat the St. Louis Blues 2-0 Sunday night.

NEW YORK - Marek Malik raised his stick and clapped his hands against it, thanking the home fans who have been merciless to him for the better part of two seasons.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Right next to the miniature Stanley Cup in Teemu Selanne's trophy case at home is the Maurice Richard Trophy he earned as the NHL's top goal scorer for the 1998-99 season.

A man is dead in what Regina police are calling the city's first homicide of 2008.

A 92-year-old woman died after the car she was in collided with a marked Calgary police cruiser responding to an emergency call during the weekend.

Taliban militants threatened Monday to blow up telecom towers across Afghanistan if mobile phone companies do not switch off their signals for 10 hours starting at dusk.

Sales by Canada's farmers hit a record high last year, as climbing prices for grain and oilseeds overcame weakness for cattle and hog producers.

The debate on whether to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan begins Monday in the House of Commons as members of Parliament return following a short break.

TORONTO -- The Department of Foreign Affairs stepped in to help a Toronto-area woman who was injured in Africa.

Niagara Regional Police are searching for the identity of a man who was swept over the Canadian side of Niagara Falls Saturday afternoon.

PARIS -- With his poll numbers sinking, is French President Nicolas Sarkozy losing his cool? An opposition leader pounced Sunday and Web surfers gawked by the hundreds of thousands at video footage showing Sarkozy snapping at a man in a crowd at a P

The David Suzuki Foundation has released a report extolling the virtues of a federal carbon tax as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

A former Ontario police officer who has been in jail for a week could be sentenced for six more months if he doesn't testify at an inquiry on Monday.

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France - Introduced in 1996, the SLK roadster allowed German luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz to expand its presence in a market segment it went away from in the mid-sixties. The ancestor of the SLK, called the 190 SL, was produced fr

VANCOUVER - In a week's time, the Vancouver Canucks have gone from a questionable team to one with some answers.

SEATTLE -- After more than three years of nonstop eruption, the Energizer bunny that is Mount St. Helens appears to have run out of steam -- at least for now.

OTTAWA - A member of the Manley panel on Canada's role in Afghanistan says the government's proposed 2011 deadline for a military withdrawal is arbitrary and should not necessarily be binding.

After weeks of trade speculation, Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin has made his decision and will not waive his no trade clause.

How deceptively gentle she appeared, as she gnawed lazily on the grass and gazed curiously at her fleet of human company. During a trip to the north, I had the privilege of befriending the animal crowned as Lord of the Arctic.

The Canadian debate over the Afghanistan mission can boost confidence among the Taliban, says a top US military leader.

HAVANA - Raul Castro was selected Sunday to be Cuba's president, succeeding his sick brother Fidel Castro, who retired five days ago after 49 years at the helm of the West's last communist country, a deputy said.

UK scientists working in Antarctica have found some of the clearest evidence yet of instabilities in the ice of part of West Antarctica.

VANCOUVER - American fishing boats with massive nets dredging the bottom of the Bering Sea for pollock accidentally caught 130,000 thousand prized chinook salmon last year

Hundreds of demonstrators chanted "Kosovo is Serbia" Saturday as they marched to the U.S. consulate in Toronto in the first of several protests planned by Canada's Serbian community over the next couple of weeks.

A Montreal man accused of having ties to terrorists has denied the latest allegations by Canada's spy service that he displayed secretive and violent behaviour and once discussed commandeering a commercial aircraft for "aggressive ends."

Pakistan has banned access to the video-sharing website YouTube because of what it says are anti-Islamic movies that users have posted on the site.

Police in Edmonton are looking for whoever spray-painted a racist comment on an election sign in front of Edmonton-Mill Creek Liberal candidate Aman Gill's campaign office.

WINNIPEG - Canada's top soldier says he feels the military has the support of all parts of the Canadian government for the mission in Afghanistan.

The Vancouver Canucks continued to enjoy their resurgent February on Saturday night, while the Detroit Red Wings likely can't wait for the end of this miserable month.