NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 02-2010

These were indeed the best Games ever - at least if the measure is Team Canada's medal haul.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, officially closed the 2010 Winter Games Sunday evening and thousands of enthusiastic people in Vancouver's B.C. Place who wanted the thrill of competition to keep on coming responded with a

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Brimming with pride as Olympic hosts, Canada exploded in a collective spasm of national joy Sunday as hockey hero Sidney Crosby dispatched the United States in a tightrope-tense hockey thriller that capped the Games with a record-setting

Bus service in and out of downtown Vancouver was suddenly halted Sunday afternoon, less than an hour after Team Canada beat the US men's hockey team in the 2010 gold-medal game. TransLink said just before 4 p.m. it was shutting down service into the city

About 150 anti-Olympic protesters held a final, spirited march through downtown Vancouver but their chants were often drowned out by hecklers watching the Canada-U.S.. Hockey game.

As the men's Olympic gold medal hockey game between Team Canada and the U.S. went into overtime Sunday, tens of thousands of fans in downtown Vancouver stood in agonizing anticipation. Just off the intersection of Granville and Georgia streets, crowds cra

In a game for the ages, it was Crosby - leader of Canada's Generation Next - that provided Canada with the Golden Goal 7:40 into overtime. Crosby's fourth of the tournament gave Canada's men's Olympic hockey team a thrilling 3-2 victory over their arch ri

Canadians have been watching these Olympic Games in record numbers, awed by our country's greatest amateur athletes. But has it been enough to spur Canadians into finding their own inner Olympians?

The driver in an early morning crash that killed two young people and seriously injured three others in Burnaby, B.C., has been charged with 10 criminal offenses.

Canadian cross-country skier Devon Kershaw missed winning a medal by about the length of ski in the men's classical 50-kilometre race at the Winter Olympics on Sunday.

Canadians all over the world, from the Arabian desert to downtown London, are cheering on their homeland in the quest for hockey gold. In London, patrons of the city's only Canadian bar -- The Maple Leaf -- were lining up nine hours before game time to gu

JERUSALEM - Israeli riot police dispersed a crowd of masked Palestinian youths throwing stones in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A friendly rivalry is brewing between Canadians and Americans stationed at Kandahar Airfield.

The closing of the Vancouver Olympics on Sunday is expected to be more light-hearted than the show that opened the Games on Feb. 14.

The quake hit at about 10:50 p.m. local time, according to Earthquakes Canada. Its epicentre was 13 kilometres northwest of Lachute, a town of about 12,000 located 75 km northwest of Montreal.

The 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile is now blamed for the deaths of at least 708 people, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said Sunday.

VANCOUVER, B.C. - For Canadian hockey fans, it all comes down to this. Sunday's second lease on life for Team Canada after an early loss to the United States will yield a medal, win or lose. But in this country, which suddenly finds itself poised to s

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - It'll be double-doubles and doughnuts in the desert as Canadians serving in Afghanistan take in Canada's gold-medal hockey game against the United States.

Joannie Rochette will carry the Canadian flag into tonight's closing ceremony for the Vancouver Olympics. The 24-year-old figure skater from Ile-Dupas, Que., won a bronze medal less than a week after her mom Therese died of a heart attack.

If there was ever a question over the safety of breast implants then this will prove critics wrong, as a woman's silicone D cup's saved her life from gunshot.

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the government will continue to finance elite athletes, but shied away from giving any specific commitments to renewing the Own the Podium program credited with helping the Olympic team win a record number of me

Calgary Flames defenceman Robyn Regehr sent out a Twitter message on Saturday that read: "If the Americans win, they'll probably make a movie about it, so we don't want to see that happen."

Don Cherry is wearing a giant maple leaf on his heart. Or, at least right next to it, emblazoned on a tie, accenting his bright red suit with his Hockey Canada cufflinks.

VANCOUVER, B.C. - It may be the hottest ticket in Canadian sports history. Seats for the gold-medal rematch between Canada's men's hockey team and their U.S. rivals on Sunday have long since sold out but were still up for grabs online and from ticket brok

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has some advice for Team Canada heading into Sunday's gold-medal match. The prime minister, a self-professed hockey nut, said he'll be attending the game and he expects Canada to win.

A violent 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile early Saturday morning, killing more than 200 people, damaging hundreds of thousands of homes and setting off tsunami warnings across the Pacific Rim.

It may have taken eight years, but Kevin Martin took that next step up the podium he was seeking with a 6-3 win over Norway's Thomas Ulsrud in the Olympic men's curling final Saturday at the Vancouver Olympic Centre.

Canada's Lyndon Rush raced off with an Olympic bronze medal in the men's four-man bobsleigh competition at Whistler Sliding Centre on Saturday afternoon.

Scientists have confirmed that the tsunami triggered by the earthquake in Chile has reached Hawaii, but the extent of the damage was not immediately clear.

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette and Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic are the winners of the Terry Fox Award at the Vancouver Olympics.

VANCOUVER - Canada set a new personal best for Olympic gold Saturday and a new record for most golds claimed by a country at its own Winter Games with back-to-back medals in men's speedskating and for snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson.

A solid gold touch of redemption shone on Canada's men's long-track speedskaters on Saturday as they brought home the gold medal in team pursuit.

Jasey-Jay Anderson of Mont-Tremblant, Que., has won the gold medal in the men's parallel giant slalom snowboarding event at the Vancouver Olympics.

A 20cm tsunami generated by a huge earthquake in Chile has hit New Zealand's eastern Chatham Islands, and officials have warned that bigger waves are to follow.

SAN DIEGO - Anger boiled over on the University of California San Diego campus Friday, where students took over the chancellor's office for several hours to protest the hanging of a noose in a campus library.

Canadians Jasey-Jay Anderson, Michael Lambert and Matthew Morison advanced to the round of 16 in the men's parallel giant slalom snowboarding event on a rainy and foggy Saturday at Cypress Mountain.

Athletes who wear red could have a subtle advantage, say Canadian researchers, who have found that the eye perceives red as moving faster than other colours.

A 94-year-old Victoria woman is making no secret of her wish to commit suicide, but she can't find anyone to give her the lethal medication she needs to end her life.

John Babcock, Canada's last known First World War veteran, was being honoured Saturday in a memorial service in his adopted hometown in Washington state.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A friendly rivalry is brewing between Canadians and Americans stationed at Kandahar Airfield. And as with many things Canadian, it's over a hockey game - in this case, Sunday's gold-medal match between Team Canada and Team U.S.A.

MONTREAL - It has travelled thousands of kilometres in space, repaired orbiting satellites, unclogged astronauts' toilets, and helped build the International Space Station. Now the Canadarm appears set to come home.

The immortal deities of Mount Olympus are smiling on Kevin Martin's rink in Vancouver.

The head of London's Olympic Organizing Committee says there is much Vancouver has done right for its Games and it plans to copy many of the city's best practices when it stages the Summer Olympics in 2012.

For the second time in a week, Dano is resting at the Saint John Animal Rescue League after being rescued.

Maritimers are assessing the damage after Friday's storm that produced gusts of wind reaching 130 kilometres per hour.

With two short track gold medals Friday Canada now stands a reasonable chance of tying the Winter Games record of 13 gold medals.

40 meter tsunami waves hit the Juan Fernandez islands more than 600 kilometers off the coast of Chili in the Pacific Ocean, reports said.

An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours.

An alliance of environmental groups is accusing the B.C. government of not protecting enough of the critical habitat of the Vancouver Island marmot, the real-world counterpart of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games' mascot Mukmuk.

WHISTLER, B.C. - Canadian cross-country ski coaches decided late Friday not to start legally blind skier Brian McKeever on Sunday in the 50-kilometre mass start classic race at the Vancouver Olympics, a team spokesman said.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- The women of the Canadian hockey team politely accepted their gold medals and waved to an adoring crowd. And then the real celebration began.

OTTAWA - The federal government is moving ahead with plans to require large vessels to report to authorities as they sail through Canada's northern waters.

The Canadians hung on for a nervous 3-2 victory in their semifinal against Slovakia on Friday, a few hours after the U.S. dispatched Finland 6-1. The gold-medal showdown is set for Sunday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, noon PT).

Under heavy criticism for underperforming at the Vancouver Games, the Canadian men's short-track team responded on the final night of competition at Pacific Coliseum with gold in the 5,000-metre relay, and gold and bronze in the 500 metres.

Canada's Charles Hamelin took the gold medal in the men's 500 metres and Francois-Louis Tremblay won the bronze on the final night of Olympic short-track speedskating at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

Cheryl Bernard and her Calgary-based rink of Carolyn Darbyshire, Cori Bartel and Susan O'Connor fell one game short of striking gold in Vancouver on Friday.

Add Gatorade to the list of endorsement deals that golfer Tiger Woods has lost.

With a little something to prove, the Canadian men's speedskating pursuit team guaranteed themselves a medal by defeating Norway in the semifinals at the Richmond Oval on Friday.

After spending six weeks providing help to earthquake victims in Haiti, HMCS Halifax and its 225-member crew will return to its home port Tuesday morning, according to a news release.

VANCOUVER - Hockey Canada apologized Thursday for an impromptu party the Olympic women's hockey team threw for itself on the Canada Hockey Place ice after winning the gold medal.

TORONTO - The son of federal NDP Leader Jack Layton may be about to follow his father and grandfather into politics.

BEIJING - At least 29 people were injured and hundreds of buildings damaged in an earthquake in southwestern China's Yunnan province, reports said Friday.

Cheryl Bernard didn't need her best to get into the gold-medal game. But she will to win it. The Canadian skip looks to unseat reigning champion Anette Norberg of Sweden and return the women's curling gold medal to Canada in the Olympic title game in Vanc

On the strength of a stunning start that saw them score six times before the game was 13 minutes old, the United States steamrolled into the men's hockey gold-medal final.

Canada's women's speedskating pursuit team, ranked first in the world and in possession of the world record, was eliminated Friday in the Olympic quarter-finals.

Officials in Kandahar province have begun humanitarian preparations in advance of fighting later this year, when NATO forces are expected to launch their most ambitious assault on Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan since 2001.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 hit off Japan's southern coast on Saturday, prompting the country's meteorological agency to issue a tsunami warning in the region.

Canada-Slovakia doesn't have the same ring to hockey fans in this country as Canada-Russia or even Canada-United States.

As speedskater Clara Hughes recognized, being chosen Canada's Olympic flag-bearer is a most distinguished honour. While Hughes held the title at this year's opening ceremony, equally as honourable is performing the same duty at the close of the Games.

OTTAWA - Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn will present the widow of Canada's last-known First World War veteran with the flag that flew over Parliament the day he died.

Vancouver police are ordering downtown liquor stores to close early on Friday evening in anticipation of the large crowds expected to watch Canada's men take on Slovakia in the Olympic hockey semi-final.

Flights were cancelled or delayed at Canada's largest airport, and thousands of residents in Quebec and Eastern Canada faced power outages after a windy, snowy storm arrived Thursday evening from the northeast U.S.

The Ontario government will invest up to $81-million to help retain and create up to 757 jobs during the next five years at the Ford Motor Co. Essex Engine Plant in Windsor, Ont.

Broadcast Date: Feb. 26, 1951 After six weeks of supplementary training upon their arrival in Korea, the troops of the Princess Patricias go into the front lines as part of 27th British Commonwealth Brigade. On Feb. 22, the Canadians suffer their first c

The death of Carleton University student Nadia Kajouji was among the cases submitted to a U.S. prosecutor this week to determine if charges of assisting suicide should be laid against a Minnesota man.

European Union data privacy regulators are telling Google to warn people before it sends cameras out into cities to take pictures for its Street View maps, adding to the company's legal worries in Europe.

Fifteen hours before a Calgary woman was killed inside her northwest home, someone called 911 from her cellphone -- and no one came.

SeaWorld says it will keep a killer whale that drowned a trainer at the famous wildlife park, despite calls that the animal should be released into the wild or destroyed.

VANCOUVER, B.C. - A death at the Vancouver Olympics will forever place an asterisk next to its place in the history books, the president of the IOC said Thursday, and he has taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen again at the next Winter Games.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge warned women's ice hockey officials on Thursday to improve the parity in competition or risk having the sport dropped from the Games.

The International Olympic Committee will investigate the behaviour of the Canadian women's hockey players who celebrated their gold medal at the Vancouver Games by drinking alcohol on the ice.

Violent crime in Vancouver has spiked 17 per cent since the start of the Winter Olympics but it's almost entirely due to anti-Games protests that marked the Olympics' first two days, police say.

A member of the U.S. Olympic team has been arrested for alleged assault in Whistler, B.C.

Canadian Joannie Rochette won the hearts of the Pacific Coliseum crowd on Thursday with a gutsy performance to earn an Olympic bronze medal just days after her mother's death.

An Afghan flag has been raised in Marjah and a town administrator appointed, while Afghan and NATO troops continue their quest to push out the local Taliban and restore government control of the Helmand province town.

Bombardier Aerospace has a $3.1 billion US deal to sell 40 of its CS300 jet airliners to Republic Airways Holdings, a U.S. operator of 1,600 daily flights under half a dozen different airline names.

As the Vancouver Winter Games draw to a close this weekend, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson will hand the Olympic flag to IOC president Jacques Rogge, who in turn will hand it to Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov. Sochi, Russia, is the home of the 2014 Winter

The Canadians won their third consecutive gold medal at the Olympics with an efficient 2-0 victory against the rival United States on Thursday.

Kevin Martin will get his chance to defend Canada's Olympic title in men's curling after his rink dispatched Niklas Edin's Swedish foursome 6-3 in a semifinal on Thursday in Vancouver.

(CNN) -- Actor Andrew Koenig, missing since February 14, was found dead in Vancouver, British Colombia, Thursday, a source close to the family told CNN.

Canadian long-track speedskater Clara Hughes is donating her $10,000 bronze-medal bonus to the Take A Hike Foundation.

A U.S. proposal to ban the international trade of polar bear products should be rejected, according to the secretariat of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The RCMP says it has cracked the case of how 19 Greenpeace protesters were able to climb onto the roofs of the Parliament buildings in December and unfurl banners calling for action on climate change.

Wildlife agents say they've broken up a deer-poaching ring that involved more than 80 suspects.

Canada's Cheryl Bernard will play for Olympic gold in women's curling after defeating two-time silver medallist Switzerland 6-5 in Thursday's semifinals in Vancouver.

Even in a recession we Canadians love our donuts!

Apparently Canadian politics is all about the prorogue lately!

There will be a new Olympic champion this year as Slovakia have booked a semifinal date with Canada after beating Sweden 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Niklas Hagman tipped home a power-play goal with 6:26 to play to break open a scoreless game as Finland beat the Czech Republic 2-0 Wednesday night in the quarter-finals of the men's Olympic hockey tournament.

Canada's 2010 Olympic outlook was considerably brighter Wednesday thanks to a four-medal performance that tied the country's record for medals won on a single day.

A hot gas giant planet discovered in 2008 is losing its atmosphere to its star at a rate of 189 million billion tonnes a year, astronomers in China say.