NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 04-2008

The NHL's best road team is going home to play at least one more game.

Brenda Martin has agreed to serve a five-year sentence in a Canadian prison - but she's counting on a shot at immediate parole.

FORT McMURRAY - Syncrude has vowed to avoid a repeat of the wildlife incident that killed almost all of the ducks that landed on one of its tailings pond

An ex-commando was arrested just 24 hours before the release of his candid memoir about life in Canada's elite Joint Task Force 2, leading his co-author to suggest authorities are trying to discredit the book's claims.

Fredericton's flood levels are expected to match -- or even surpass -- the worst flood to hit the New Brunswick capital in recorded history, as the St. John River seeps into the city.

Nato has warned Russia that its recent troop build-up in Georgia's two breakaway regions undermines its neighbour's territorial integrity.

Researchers studying long-term changes in sea temperatures said they now expect a "lull" for up to a decade while natural variations in climate cancel out the increases caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions

The rising price of hops, malt barley and aluminum, along with higher energy and fuel costs, are pressuring breweries to increase the cost of suds. But Labatt Breweries and Sleeman Breweries, in southern Ont., are holding off as long as they can

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - In Kandahar, a poverty-racked city of mud walls and thatch roofs, suicide bombers prowl and a charismatic young governor derided by critics as corrupt and immoral has lost the confidence of both his constituents and the Canadian mi

MOSCOW - For nine decades after Bolshevik executioners cut down Czar Nicholas II and his family, there were no traces of the remains of Czarevich Alexei, the hemophiliac heir to Russia's throne.

WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials are quietly considering a significant change in the war command in Afghanistan to extend U.S. control of forces into the country's volatile south. The idea is partly linked to an expectation of a fresh infusion of U.S. com

PHILADELPHIA - The Montreal Canadiens are one game away from elimination despite yet another night of outshooting and outchancing the Philadelphia Flyers.

Yet another convicted murderer has gone missing from a minimum-security prison in B.C.

Canada's Olympic athletes will wear read and white uniforms decorated with a fusion of Canadian and Chinese symbols at the Beijing Summer Games.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay was tight-lipped Wednesday about a report that the federal government might cancel its $5 billion contract to replace Canada's aging fleet of Sea King helicopters.

The study, published online Wednesday in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, estimates prenatal multivitamin supplements "may prevent 900 cases of pediatric leukemia and 300-400 cases of pediatric brain tumours annually in the United States

If Stephane Ortelli Had Nine Lives, He Just Spent Fifteen Of Them

Defence lawyer Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler argued three months ago that prosecuting Khadr contravenes international law, including the Child Soldier Protocol signed by the United States.

BADEN-BADEN, Germany - Former SS doctor Aribert Heim tops a list of most-wanted suspected Nazi war criminals released Wednesday. He is a man so brutal that witnesses remember him as the worst they saw, though he was only at Mauthausen concentration camp f

Federal prisons were supposed to go completely smoke-free on Wednesday, but Correctional Service of Canada has decided to instead phase its smoking ban in gradually.

The grand chief of Manitoba's Southern Chiefs Organization is demanding an official apology from the provincial Conservative party for what he labels a racist remark made by an MLA.

A fast-growing and aging population means more hospital patients are being cared for in hallways and tub rooms, the CEO of the Calgary Health Region said Tuesday.

Omar Khadr's lawyer made a forceful plea before a federal subcommittee Tuesday, asking Ottawa to help get his Canadian client out of a U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Nearly naked, green-painted anti-fur campaigners converged on a Montreal trade show Tuesday, hoping to convince passers-by that no matter what their thoughts may be on animal cruelty, fur is bad for the environment.

A small town northeast of Gatineau is almost completely under water after rising waters from the Petite Nation River surrounded the area.

Emergency officials in Fredericton, N.B. are still on high alert as the St. John River continues to swell, threatening homes along its banks.

TORONTO -- A government-backed proposal to ban smoking in cars with children is being introduced today in the Ontario legislature.

At least seven activists, including two Canadians, have been deported from Hong Kong, prior to the Olympic flame's return to Chinese soil after a turbulent 20-nation tour.

Two Canadian activists planning to protest during Hong Kong's leg of the Olympic torch relay were among a handful of foreigners promptly deported upon arrival at Hong Kong's international airport Tuesday, the activists say.

TORONTO - With Wednesday's midnight deadline bearing down, millions of procrastinators across Canada are scrambling to get their income taxes done and filed.

NEW YORK - Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery grew into a notorious "problem child," died Tuesday. He was 102.

Hundred of migrating birds are dying after landing on a tailings pond in northern Alberta owned by Syncrude, environment officials confirmed Tuesday.

DENVER - The usually heated Colorado-Detroit matchup has never been this one-sided, on the scoreboard or in the trainer's room.

ABOARD CANFORCE 99 - The lights of a lonely village twinkled below as Maj. Tim Burke manoeuvred the giant, camouflaged C-17 Globemaster into position for a spine-tingling, rapid descent into Kandahar Airfield

San Jose captain Patrick Marleau finally found the back of the net, but it still wasn't enough for the Sharks.

The Pittsburgh Penguins remain perfect in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and in position for a second straight series sweep.

Truck crashes have closed two major B.C. highways. The Coquihalla Highway, the north-south freeway that runs through the B.C. Interior between Kamloops and Hope, has been closed in both directions just south of Merritt after a truck carrying formaldehy

The City of Montreal has sent firefighters a cleaning bill for $500,000 after it removed Habs-inspired graffiti and slogans from fire stations across the island.

Klaus Lackner, a physicist at Columbia University, said placing enough carbon filters around the planet could reel the world's atmosphere back toward the 18th century, like a climatic time machine.

And the central Canadian province could even start getting payments next year, they warn. Data to calculate who should get what is notoriously delayed, and since Ontario is on the edge next year in TD's calculations, its fortunes could go either way.

Premier Danny Williams called the budget, which forecasts a surplus of $544 million for the coming fiscal year, "unprecedented" and said it represents "an outstanding turnaround in four short years."

The high price of gasoline is about to get higher in B.C. once the provincial government's carbon tax is fully implemented.

New Brunswick residents are keeping close watch on the swelling St. John River Tuesday as a forecast of rain threatens to bring the water to dangerous levels.

MONTREAL -- A Montreal gay bar that caters to male clients has settled a discrimination complaint with a woman who was thrown out of the premises.

VICTORIA -- A coroner's jury watched a chilling video Monday in which a terrified woman told police how she was worried her husband's anger, violence and his fixation with knives could eventually lead him to harm his family.

The head of the local Canadian Auto Workers union in Oshawa said he felt like he was "kicked in the gut" after hearing news that nearly 1,000 jobs would be cut from the city's car plant.

The federal government is facing some harsh accusations from the advocates of a Canadian citizen who returned to his native Sudan several years ago but has not been allowed to come home.

Omar Khadr's lawyer says he hopes that a federal subcommittee's hearings this week will result in a decision to push for his client's return to Canada.

Strip clubs are chafing under a proposed federal crackdown on dancers and the lure of the Internet

Another speeder has felt the wrath of Essex OPP -- and this time the driver is Californian. OPP said the U.S. woman's Mercedes Benz was clocked at a speed of 140 km/h heading west on Highway 401 just before 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

The minute smoke started pouring out of the oven and the bread inside spontaneously combusted, I knew I was toast. Again.

With his Mercedes and the rings on his fingers, Josef Fritzl looked every inch a property owner, said neighbours and shopkeepers in this tidy Austrian town. Even when running errands, they said, he wore a natty jacket, crisp shirt and a tie.

OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines in helicopters and Humvees flooded into a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan's most violent province early Tuesday in the first major American operation in the region in years

The Philadelphia Flyers scored three times in the second period of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series on Monday night, chasing Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price from the game and taking a 2-1 series lead

More planes and more work are on the agenda for this base's 429 Transport Squadron, and its commander says his team is ready for both.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Joe Pavelski collapsed like a kid on rented skates, nudging the puck straight to Brad Richards as he fell. Richards, who has a few big playoff goals in his past, turned that turnover into the Dallas Stars' tying score before the Sharks

WASHINGTON - Comedian Craig Ferguson has come up with a new way of describing the Canada-U.S. relationship.

Warning: Elements of this stories may disturb some readers

School divisions in southern Manitoba are struggling to keep up with a growing number of students who are arriving in the area as part of an immigration boom.

Cellphone and BlackBerry use at a major federal department has been out of control, with costs skyrocketing in a chaotic atmosphere, says a new audit.

With gas prices on the rise and an economic slowdown forecasted, the Conservative government is facing new, tough questions from a nervous public.

OTTAWA -- Three of Canada's best-known institutions the post office, its militant union and Tim Hortons are at the centre of an unusual libel action that erupted over a controversial posting in the swelling blogosphere.

DESERONTO, Ont. -- Six Nations protesters in Caledonia say they won't remove a blockade until the police back down at another aboriginal protest in eastern Ontario.

VANCOUVER -- The fight to keep the doors open at Canada's only safe injection site heads to the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver today.

MP Jason Kenney said Monday he doesn't know how long it will take to get Brenda Martin back to Canada, but he's optimistic it will be soon.

Home ice advantage proved to be no advantage at all for the San Jose Sharks.

An earthquake measuring about 4.8 on the Richter scale shook the seabed off the northern tip of Vancouver Island Sunday afternoon.

BILLINGS, Mont. - Tony Saunders stalked his prey for 55 kilometres by snowmobile through western Wyoming's Hoback Basin, finally reaching a clearing where he took out a .270-calibre rifle and shot the wolf twice from 30 metres away.

Scores winning goal, while Fleury stops 26 shots for 2nd career playoff shutout

the main protagonists, Greene and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, appear to have locked horns in determined fashion after the union's former president posted a blog last month satirizing Greene's decision to take the Tim Hortons seat.

HAVANA -- Only a month has passed since ordinary Cubans won the right to own computers, and the government still keeps a rigid grip on Internet access.

Chicago outlawed handgun sales in 1981. In the past week, there have been 40 shootings

Guy Rose, the owner of the 100-year-old Quilchena Hotel, is explaining the history of three bullet holes in the wooden panelling of the hotel's saloon.

The Ontario government and opposition parties united Sunday to pass back-to-work legislation, ordering an end to a surprise Toronto transit strike that idled the country's largest fleet of subways, streetcars and buses.

OTTAWA -- Canada's military is struggling to shed its "white guys" image, embracing more culture and diversity to put a more colourful face on the armed forces.

Calgary's the nation's hot spot for inventive crooks using a series of new and unscrupulously creative ways to skim debit card information from businesses for later raids on victims' bank accounts, says a city cop.

KYIV, Ukraine - Twenty-two years after the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, work is underway on a colossal new shelter to cover the ruins and deadly radioactive contents of the exploded Soviet-era power plant.

CALGARY - Alberta will continue to suspend its controversial spring grizzly bear hunt into 2009 amid growing evidence that numbers of the iconic carnivore are significantly lower than earlier estimates.

This time, Martin Biron got the better of the Montreal Canadiens.

NEW YORK -- Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to "close this city down" to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - They're proudly displayed by any self-respecting bull, but dangling big metal ones on the back end of a truck could be banned in Florida.

Team Canada general manager Steve Yzerman is sticking with what works, naming Phoenix Coyote Shane Doan captain for the upcoming world men's hockey championship

Johan Franzen is doing his best to make the ailing Colorado Avalanche trio of Peter Forsberg, Wojtek Wolski and Scott Hannan feel much worse.

Here's a question to ponder over the weekend: Would you rather live in Windsor, where the summer heat turns the city into an oven and where unemployment is high, or would you rather live in Calgary, where the summers are short but beautiful and workers a

Forget avocado, evening primrose oil or other exotic ingredients, the latest facial to hit New York is a mask made with bird excrement.

In what looked like an improbable dance scene from a zombie movie, nearly 1,000 people gathered recently in New York to gyrate en masse as part of the latest hipster diversion: the silent rave

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia 76ers are in the playoffs for the first time in three years, but motorists were the ones celebrating on Friday.

Canadian journalist Arthur Kent -- best known as the "Scud Stud" for his coverage of the 1991 Gulf War for NBC -- is suing the makers of the movie Charlie Wilson's War for unauthorized use of his voice-over and footage in the film's depiction of the S

HAMILTON - Two men who operated a church where marijuana was sold as a sacrament were sentenced to prison Friday.

REGINA - The mayor of a town that allegedly seized a woman's dogs, then killed them because she was on welfare, is getting an earful.

Beer lovers are grumbling as prices have begun rising in the city. Skyrocketing prices for everything from barley to hops to fuel are pushing up prices around the city.

With $100 billion worth of bitumen projects on tap, the province is ready to battle environmental groups trying to turn public opinion against what they call 'dirty oil'

Wife found dead one hour after violent husband was killed on highway

Ten years ago this spring, Karen Garrison watched as her twin sons were locked up in prison, for longer than she ever thought possible.

Gasoline prices in North America will soar over the next four years to $2.25 a litre, causing a massive jolt to the continent's manufacturing base not seen since the oil shocks of the 1970s, a leading economist is warning.

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- The Victoria Cross and other medals belonging to a celebrated Newfoundland war hero are back in his home province after four-and-a-half years in Ottawa.

MONTREAL -- Colombia's witness-protection agency has warned a former paramilitary turned state witness that two assassins posing as tourists plan to travel to his new home in Canada to kill him.

MONTREAL - Vandals have defaced the tomb of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

PITTSBURGH - The young and skilled outfit that is the Pittsburgh Penguins added another important entry Friday night in a story that has years left to play out.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Their dressing room is small and spare, and the teal-coloured crowd despises them. Yet the Dallas Stars feel right at home these days in the Shark Tank

DESERONTO, Ont. -- Seven Mohawk protesters arrested during a tense standoff with police in eastern Ontario on Friday are to appear in court today.

The floor of an Abbotsford, B.C. church collapsed during a Christian rock concert on Friday night, leaving 42 people injured.

A handful of thrill-seeking ride enthusiasts braved high-speed twists and stomach-churning drops as they test-drove the country's tallest and fastest roller coaster today at Canada's Wonderland.

Step inside Azim Popat's small shop on Gerrard St. E., and you'll see every kind of basmati rice, from the finest polished grain to the cheaper, lower-grade kernels, proudly displayed and piled in 4.5-kilogram bags. For now, the shelves are stocked a

The TTC strike should be over by Monday morning. The Liberal government is scrambling to have the back-to-work legislation introduced tomorrow with a rare Sunday sitting in the Legislature, sources told the Star this morning.

In one particularly delicious and telling moment, Mr. Ignatieff invoked Senator David Smith as the father of his candidacy. Mr. Smith was sitting but feet away. "I was the establishment candidate because I knew David Smith," Mr. Ignatieff nodded to the

Party becoming `true opposition' as Dion forced to dodge Tories

The Conservatives stand at 33 per cent support across Canada, a loss of three percentage points since a similar poll in March. The Liberals have been the prime beneficiaries of that slide, up four percentage points to 30 per cent, according to the online

Dallas Stars captain Brenden Morrow scored his second goal 4:39 into overtime to give his club a 3-2 opening win in their Western Conference semifinal against the San Jose Sharks.

The Pittsburgh Penguins weathered an early storm and then stormed out to an amazing victory Friday night.

The Ontario Provincial Police were involved in a tense standoff with Mohawk protesters in Deseronto, about 220 kilometres east of Toronto, on Friday.

Scientists have found 17 living relatives of a centuries-old "iceman," whose remains were discovered in a melting glacier in northern British Columbia nine years ago.