NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 03-2008

Soldiers who lose limbs, sight or hearing to roadside blasts or training accidents deserve more cash and part-time soldiers should be treated the same as full-time soldiers, say MPs demanding changes to the military amputee and injury compensation program

Montreal's great gift to board game fans, Trivial Pursuit, has been sold to U.S. toymaker Hasbro Inc., and not for a trivial sum.

While in Victoria some diners ate by candlelight or turned off the television, for an unimpressive reduction in power consumption of 2.6 per cent, Hartley Bay managed 100 per cent.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has stepped up attacks on the Dalai Lama, blasting him for abusing religion, stirring protests in Tibet and preparing for independence as the Olympic flame arrived in Beijing on Monday under tight security.

AGASSIZ - A second inmate at Mountain Institution has died after a weekend riot that led to the murder of a notorious sex offender.

The federal minister responsible for Canada's space agency spoke eloquently today about this nation's contribution to space exploration as he announced a national recruitment campaign to replenish Canada's six-member astronaut corps.

The Air Force brought their newest fighter helmet to Exercise BOLD QUEST at Nellis Air Force base in Nevada. Sergeant Robert Comeau met with a CF-18 pilot. With the new helmet that the Air Force...

CALGARY - Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has won the dubious title of Fossil Fool of the Year runner-up, beating out several of North America's top energy and automaker chief executives.

OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier says there's no rush to find a NATO partner to ease Canada's deadly combat mission in Afghanistan - although he expects a deal very soon.

NEW YORK -- Yahoo Inc. is launching a new site for women between ages 25 and 54, calling it a key demographic underserved by current Yahoo properties.

NEW YORK -- Scientists are scanning human DNA with a precision and scope once unthinkable and rapidly finding genes linked to cancer, arthritis, diabetes and other diseases.

An investigation into an air crash that killed five people in Alberta reveals the plane experienced instrument failure before spiralling downwards at such a high speed the wings and tail ripped from the fuselage in mid-air.

MOSCOW - This week's NATO summit in Romania will be Vladimir Putin's last appearance at a top-level international forum before he steps down as Russian president, still pushing to halt NATO's expansion into the stomping grounds of the former Soviet Uni

LONDON - Some of England's most sacred soil is being disturbed for the first time in more than four decades. Archeologists are working to solve the enduring riddle of Stonehenge: When and why was the prehistoric monument built?

An injured Canadian soldier is being treated at a military hospital in Germany after his armoured vehicle drove over a roadside bomb outside Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan, the military said Monday.

RCMP and Transportation Safety Board investigators on Monday went aboard the coast guard icebreaker that was towing a fishing vessel when it overturned off Cape Breton over the weekend, killing three sealers and leaving a fourth presumed dead in icy water

HALIFAX - The Canadian government traded accusations with a militant environmental group Monday after a collision between a coast guard icebreaker and a ship owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on the third day of the annual East Coast seal hun

When Ivy Harnett's husband told her to rush to her cabin window Sunday to see a polar bear, she assumed he was simply teasing.

"Stephane Dion is trying to take control of his caucus, believing he's being undermined by people like Mr. Coderre and Michael Ignatieff, and so the knives are out," CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife told Canada AM.

The Toronto Blue Jays open their 2008 regular season in style on Monday, as the team participates in the final home opener to be played at Yankee Stadium.

Poland appears ready to increase its offer of helicopter support for Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

The federal government has revoked a key water permit for Imperial Oil Ltd.'s proposed $8-billion Kearl oilsands mine as massive projects around Fort McMurray, Alta., come under intensified environmental scrutiny, the Globe and Mail reports.

A Winnipeg MP who thinks the penny is a nuisance and too expensive to ship around the country is expected to introduce a private member's bill on Monday to take it out of circulation.

TORONTO -- Canada's world-leading embrace of Earth Hour should alert the country's politicians to the deep and widespread level of concern people have about global warming, organizers said Sunday.

Maxime Bernier says Canada will consider it a "failure" if Ottawa does not get the 1,000 additional troops that it's seeking for the NATO mission in southern Afghanistan.

OTTAWA -- The election guessing game resumes Monday with Stephane Dion continuing to hold out the possibility that he'll finally pull the plug on Stephen Harper's minority government.

Some of Stephane Dion's top advisers are planning to press the Liberal leader in the coming days to dump Michael Ignatieff as deputy leader, CTV News has learned.

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Newfoundland and Labrador's former health minister says his staff made the premier's office aware of problems with breast cancer testing months before it became public.

OTTAWA -- The RCMP watchdog says there's no evidence the Mounties played politics in the income trust matter during the last federal election.

Always a tense time in Atlantic Canada, this year's seal hunt has proved no exception, with a conservation group clashing with the Canadian Coast Guard in the Gulf of St. Lawrence just three days into the annual seal hunt.

British Columbia will be the first Canadian province to pay for acupuncture with public health insurance money, the province's health minister announced on Sunday.

The Vancouver Canucks moved back into playoff position Sunday - wait, that's not even the unbelievable part - driven by a two-goal performance from a player who had scored twice in his previous 29 games, which were interrupted 15 times by his placement i

OTTAWA -- The Ontario feud. Controversial changes to immigration policy. The RCMP. These are a few of the contentious issues -- along with the ongoing Cadman-Mulroney-NAFTAgate affairs -- facing the Harper government Monday as MPs return to Parliament a

OTTAWA - MPs and Senators from all parties have spent more than $3.7 million of taxpayers' money travelling the world since January 2006, parliamentary records show.

There are still some questions the coast guard needs to answer with respect to the tragic death of several seal hunters off the coast of Iles de la Madeleine, says the town's mayor

Jennifer Jones added a couple more memorable shots to her highlight reel en route to her first world curling championship Sunday in Vernon, B.C.

OTTAWA - On the eve of a crucial NATO summit, Poland appears ready to increase its offer of helicopter support for Canadian troops in Afghanistan who are awaiting the arrival of their own transports.

Coast guard icebreaker keeps enough light to warn if polar bears try to jump on deck

HALIFAX - While shocked residents of the tiny Iles-de-la-Madeleine grieved over the deaths of three sealers yesterday, questions arose over a coast guard rescue operation gone wrong, including from one of the survivors.

Another day, another crucial game in the highly competitive Northwest Division. The struggling Vancouver Canucks will attempt to get back into a playoff spot when they host the Calgary Flames on Sunday night.

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea threatened South Korea with destruction Sunday after Seoul's top military officer said he would consider attacking its neighbour if it tried to carry out a nuclear attack.

KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - In a crude bunker of wood, sandbags and mud that serves as the temporary home for a Canadian gun troop in southern Afghanistan, the typical trappings of a military that's long been dominated by men are conspicuous by thei

TORONTO - Canadians across the country embraced powerlessness Saturday, dining by candlelight, counting stars or swaying in the dark to acoustic music as they marked the country's first Earth Hour.

A turnover by Calgary Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf has helped Edmonton keep its Stanley Cup playoff hopes alive.

FREDERICTON - Canada's seal hunt has been dominated for years by the bitter debate over saving seals, but the deaths of at least three hunters in the icy North Atlantic is focusing attention on the safety of sealers and the risks they take to maintain a

Montreal Canadiens will have to wait one more night to wrap up their first division title in 15 years

Jennifer Jones stole one in the 11th to complete a comeback from three down and win the semifinal at the women's world curling championships in Vernon, B.C.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese security forces sealed off parts of Lhasa on Saturday and Tibet's government-in-exile said it was investigating reports of fresh protests, weeks after the city was shaken by an anti-government riot.

EDMONTON -- The Transportation Safety Board says an in-flight breakup caused a plane crash that killed the president and two executives from an Edmonton engineering company.

When the Formula One circus shows up in Bahrain next weekend, there will be a familiar face in the paddock.

The world of high-stakes gambling is nothing new to Hollywood. From "The Cincinnati Kid" to "Ocean's 11" and "Casino Royale," scoring cool cash off a hot deck of cards makes for good storytelling.

VICTORIA -- B.C. Solicitor General John Les has resigned over allegations he improperly benefited from a land deal while he was mayor of Chilliwack.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Wild hope they've toughened up enough for the playoffs. The other parts of their game are working well, too.

DENVER - If the Colorado Avalanche make the playoffs, they will have their captain to thank.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - George Gillett walked into the visitors' dressing room at HSBC Arena and whispered to a handful of his Montreal Canadiens players.

Members of a car enthusiasts' website used the Internet and a little ingenuity to take down a suspected car thief and return a prized set of wheels back to its rightful owner.

A Spruce Grove sicko with a fetish for diapers and dolls was put behind bars yesterday for molesting his niece and listening to child pornography on his MP3 player.

HALIFAX - It's being billing as "Canada's biggest party," but a critic says a bid by a Halifax-based group to set a record for the world's largest pub crawl encourages dangerous binge drinking.

HALIFAX - A search is continuing for four men after their fishing vessel capsized off Cape Breton while under tow by a Canadian Coast Guard ship.

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper appeared to dampen expectations Friday that all of Canada's demands on Afghanistan will be met during next week's NATO leaders summit in Romania.

KUUJJUAQ, Que. -- Harper Island? Ile de Harper? Prime Minister Stephen Harper could end up with a remote Quebec island named after him following a land-claim deal with the Inuit of the province's northern Nunavik region.

VANCOUVER -- British Columbia's self-proclaimed "prince of pot" says the Canadian government has nixed a plea bargain with U.S. authorities that would have meant five years in prison.

Five months to the day after the founder and CEO of an Edmonton engineering company died in a plane crash, the son who replaced him at the firm, along with four others, died when their aircraft crashed in Alberta Friday morning.

Rescuers have recovered the bodies of three sealers who were sleeping below decks when their fishing vessel rolled over in icy waters near Cape Breton early Saturday morning.

A provincial law that gives Victoria the power to expropriate chunks of Pacific Spirit regional park without any financial compensation to Metro Vancouver is unprecedented in B.C., a lawyer for the regional government says. And regional politicians say it

TORONTO - Millions of people across Canada and around the globe are expected to turn out their lights Saturday evening to raise awareness about pollution and global warming in an initiative known as Earth Hour.

VICTORIA - B.C. Solicitor General John Les has resigned over allegations he improperly benefited from a land deal while he was mayor of Chilliwack.

VERNON, B.C. - Canada's Jennifer Jones dropped a 7-5 decision to Bingyu Wang of China in Page playoff action Friday at the Ford world women's curling championship.

It didn't take long for the Vancouver Canucks to wipe the wide smile off the face of proud papa Roberto Luongo.

THE Taliban has announced the start of a new offensive in Afghanistan, promising "painful strikes" to force all enemy soldiers to leave, according to a web message.

KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - It's a time-honoured tradition that's been around for as long as parents have been watching their children go off to war, and if this week's haul is any indication, it's alive and well.

OTTAWA - Navy divers who dismantle roadside bombs and booby traps in Afghanistan have been honoured as a group.

Ford Motor Co. will reopen a shuttered engine plant in Windsor, Ont., with financial help from the Ontario government, industry sources say.

KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - The fighter jet, probably an F-16, came from nowhere, invisible under cover of night as it unleashed a short but deadly burst of gunfire with a sound that seemed to rip a hole in the darkness.

CHARLOTTETOWN - A familiar scene is being played out on ice floes off Eastern Canada as sealers and seal hunt opponents take up their positions and ready their clubs and cameras for another season of tension on the ice.

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper appeared to dampen expectations Friday that all of Canada's demands on Afghanistan will be met during next week's NATO leaders summit in Romania.

KUUJJUAQ, Que. - Harper Island? Ile de Harper? Prime Minister Stephen Harper could end up with a northern Quebec island named after him, following a land-claim deal with the Inuit of the area

An 85-year-old Canadian war veteran living on the Canada-U.S. border is again feeling pressure from American homeland security officials

Music legend Bob Dylan will celebrate his next birthday with a little salt water nearby. Dylan, who turns 67 on May 24, will perform that evening at Mile One Centre in St. John's

WHISTLER -- Picturesque Pemberton in the Lillooet River Valley is living in the shadow of disasters.

A tentative deal between Marc Emery, Vancouver's Prince of Pot, and the U.S. government over money-laundering and drug charges has been nixed by Ottawa.

WASHINGTON -- Astronomers at 25 observatories around the world began aiming their telescopes this week at a preview of our sun's eventual death.

As the harp seal hunt opens in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada's fisheries minister is cautioning one of the world's best-known anti-sealers to be on his best behaviour.

In a case police hoped would be the beginning of the end for the Hells Angels in B.C., a veteran, full-patch member of the notorious motorcycle club was acquitted yesterday of drug-trafficking charges and acting on behalf of a criminal organization.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired several short-range missiles off its west coast on Friday, a South Korean news agency reported, in what analysts saw as a show of anger at Washington and the new conservative government in Seoul

Team Canada will be challenged by China in the 1-2 Page playoff at the world women's curling championships in Vernon, B.C. on Friday evening (6 p.m. PT).

A moratorium on salmon farming along British Columbia's North Coast has been put in place because of concerns about the potential impact on wild salmon stocks.

OTTAWA, March 27 (Reuters) - The Canadian government left little doubt on Thursday that NATO allies would send additional troops to southern Afghanistan, fulfilling a condition that Canada had set for keeping its own soldiers there.

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - A newly arrived British soldier actually thought the hugely popular and profitable Department of National Defence-owned Tim Hortons franchise at this noisy airbase was a religious cult.

OTTAWA - Canada will be forced to rely on borrowed tanks for the war in Afghanistan until 2011, a federal tendering document has revealed.

WASHINGTON -- The razor-sharp beaks that giant squids use to attack whales -- and maybe even Captain Nemo's submarine -- might one day lead to improved artificial limbs for people.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The maker of the popular photo-editing software Photoshop on Thursday launched a basic version available for free online.

Canadian skip Jennifer Jones lost her hold on first place at the world women's curling championship on Thursday, dropping a 6-3 decision to Denmark's Angelina Jensen in Vernon, B.C

Canada's Transportation Safety Board on Thursday urged the federal government to tighten rules for hot-air balloon operators, bringing them to a level equal to those that apply to other commercial passenger aircraft

A man convicted in a string of violent purse snatchings near two Vancouver SkyTrain stations was sentenced Thursday to eight years in prison in a B.C. provincial court.

DENVER - The Vancouver Canucks are gaining a baby but losing a centre. Goaltender Roberto Luongo left the team early this morning to travel home to south Florida, where his wife Gina was expected to deliver the couple's first child this afternoon.

TORONTO - There are signs of a thaw in relations between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in a joint, $700-million announcement Thursday.

Every 11 years or so, the sun gets a little pissy. It breaks out in a rash of planet-sized sunspots that spew superhot gas, hurling clouds of electrons, protons, and heavier ions toward Earth at nearly the speed of light

Gordie Howe will turn 80 years old this Monday, March 31.

OTTAWA - Canadians are among the world's most prolific users of debit cards. However, according to new research done for the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, many may be too complacent about the security of their cards.

REGINA -- Two-year-old Shaylyn Lejoure had a memorable driving experience on Wednesday morning. At about 11 a.m., the toddler drove the family vehicle into a room at the Victoria Park Inn, at 2050 Victoria Ave. East. No one was injured in the accident

OSLO (Reuters) - The coldest winter days in Russia and Canada have become up to 4 Celsius (7 Fahrenheit) milder since the 1950s in an extreme sign of climate change, the British Meteorological Office said on Wednesday.

VICTORIA -- He was nearly lost at sea, run out of town and blessed by the Pope, but for Lyle Thurston, it was all in a lifetime's work to make the world a greener place.

A thousand years and a million family photos later, Stanley Park's famed hollow tree is about to be laid to rest.

A Delta councillor fears that Burns Bog will soon be overrun by a species of voracious killer bullfrogs.

The European Union is considering trade sanctions against Canada in what would be the most significant challenge yet to the country's annual seal cull, due to start later this week.

LHASA, China - A group of Tibetan monks disrupted a tour by foreign reporters to Lhasa on Thursday, complaining there is no religious freedom and the Dalai Lama is not to blame for recent violence.

MONTREAL - Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada is hopeful the Canadian deployment to his country will have accomplished its mission in about three years time.

OTTAWA - Facing Taliban militants amid a rain of rockets may have been uncomfortable, but standing in Rideau Hall was downright nerve-racking for some Canadian soldiers who accepted bravery awards Wednesday

VERNON, B.C. - Jennifer Jones would have loved a chance to atone for Tuesday's mistake against China. Thanks to solid play from the rest of her team, she didn't have to.

China's ambassador to Canada, Lu Shumin, had some strong words Wednesday for the international news media and supporters of the Dalai Lama.

The Minnesota Wild regained top spot in the Northwest Division at the expense of the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

The Vancouver Canucks relinquished seventh place in the Western Conference to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night

Via Rail is offering Canadian Forces members, veterans and National Defence employees free rail travel for the month of July in a gesture of appreciation, railway officials said Wednesday in Halifax.

BERLIN - Petra the swan has a new home and so does her beloved swan-shaped paddleboat

(Sports Network) - The Canucks failed to distance themselves from the Avalanche last time out. Now, Vancouver will try to avoid getting passed by Colorado in the standings, as the two clubs square off tonight at the Pepsi Center.