NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 12-2007

Crews were still working on Wednesday to clear the road to the Fraser Canyon community of Boston Bar, which was cut off over the weekend when avalanches blocked the Trans-Canada Highway on both sides of the village.

The tap water of Vancouver residents might be a little cloudy these days owing to debris from the recent storm in water reservoirs, but it's still safe to drink, health officials say.

Opposition parties in Quebec urged premier Jean Charest to testify before the House of Commons ethics committee to address new allegations about a 1993 political donation from controversial businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.

The RCMP's new backup policy could cost tens of millions and see some remote detachments get more officers, while others might be served by Mounties who are flown in by plane, an official with the force said Wednesday.

MOSCOW - Russia has sent an 11-ship aircraft carrier group to the Mediterranean Sea as part of an effort to resume regular Russian naval patrols on the world's oceans.

A total of 17 out of 32 of anti-virus products failed the company's stringent VB100 test, which expects software to detect 100 percent of the commonly-circulating 'WildList' thrown at it without signalling any false positives.

HALIFAX - Gordon Collins of Halifax vividly recalls the morning 90 years ago when a massive burst of fire, smoke and white-hot shrapnel ripped through the port city's north end, killing more than 1,500 people.

OMAHA, Neb. -- A man with a rifle opened fire at a busy shopping mall Wednesday, killing eight people before taking his own life. Five more people were wounded, two critically.

The Saskatchewan farmer who is behind bars for killing his disabled daughter will find out Wednesday whether he will be granted partial freedom.

The face and colour of Canada has changed dramatically in this new century, as any trip on Toronto's subway or a visit to a school anywhere in the Greater Toronto Area will confirm. Indeed, almost 20 per cent of the people living in Canada are foreign-bo

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - It was a scene not altogether uncommon for Canadian soldiers at Forward Operating Base Wilson: a passing Toyota Corolla brimming with four Afghan adults and five children rolled over an improvised explosive device and exploded.

There was a birthday party at the Berlin Zoo Wednesday as its most famous polar bear turned one.

small town in B.C.'s Fraser Canyon now has a single-lane trail to allow in supplies after mudslides had cut off access.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - They are the anonymous ones, soldiers who don't talk about their duties and who have perhaps the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the Canadian Forces.

* GENEVA - China continues to evict 13,000 people each month in preparation for the Beijing Olympics, despite worldwide attention and increased scrutiny, a housing rights group said Wednesday. The Center on Housing Rights and Evictions said a recent t

All four of the major manufacturers of liquid infant formula sold in North America use cans lined with bisphenol A, a chemical that mimics the hormone estrogen, according to a survey conducted by the Environmental Working Group.

Donnie Register has a new reason to be thankful he's married - police say his wedding band deflected a bullet and probably saved his life

A New York counterterrorism detective who was fired after he said he failed a drug test because his wife spiked his meatballs with marijuana has filed a lawsuit to recover his job.

Robert Latimer, currently serving a life sentence for killing his severely disabled 12-year-old daughter in 1993, will get his first shot at parole today

* Montreal RCMP have charged a man they allege is a world leader in pirating movies, an arrest they say could help counter Montreal's reputation as a major location for movie piracy.

Health Canada on Tuesday announced a recall of certain holiday ornaments and children's jewelry, saying the items contain unsafe levels of lead.

Norval Morrisseau, one of Canada's foremost aboriginal artists and the founder of an entire art movement, has died.

The RCMP have charged another Montreal man for allegedly filming a movie inside a theatre.

A new federal report is warning of an international scramble for oil and minerals under melting Arctic ice and water scarcity in the Great Lakes, but the Harper government is keeping the study on the shelf, the Citizen has learned.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has agreed to release German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber on bail of $1.31 million, a representative of his lawyer says.

BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) - U.S. and German navy ships have cornered Somali pirates who seized a Japanese-owned chemical tanker more than a month ago and are demanding a ransom, an official said on Tuesday.

Karlheinz Schreiber told a federal committee Tuesday he didn't discuss money with former prime minister Brian Mulroney during a private 1993 meeting, but that the two made an oral agreement to work together when Mulroney left office.

ROME - Tweety may get a chance to take the witness stand and sing like a canary.

SPERWAN GHAR, Afghanistan - On any dusty road, rural village or busy street corner they are there - waiting, watching and ready to report in.

* OTTAWA -- Iran has expelled Canada's ambassador to Tehran, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said Monday. "Canada regrets the decision of the Government of Iran to order our ambassador to leave Tehran, which is entirely unjustifiable," he sa

A security flaw in Passport Canada's website has allowed easy access to the personal information - including social insurance numbers, dates of birth and driver's licence numbers - of people applying for new passports. The breach was discovered last

* A 21-year-old woman from Milton, Ont., is facing several charges after she allegedly used a samurai sword to attack her boyfriend, smash windows at a nearby gas station, hack at a car and wound an off-duty firefighter.

Canada's ambassador to Iran has been expelled from Tehran, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said in a news release Monday evening.

Michael Ignatieff got lucky last week. The deputy leader of the Liberal Party of Canada managed to score Sault Ste. Marie's own Christian Provenzano as his Ottawa-based chief of staff.

OTTAWA - Karlheinz Schreiber sprinkled his testimony at last week's parliamentary hearings with enough tantalizing tidbits to keep MPs drooling for more.

NEW YORK - Think you're smarter than a Grade 5 student? How about a five-year-old chimp? Japanese researchers pitted young chimps against human adults in tests of short-term memory, and overall, the chimps won.

The NHL has topped Yahoo Canada's list of the most searched terms for the second year in a row, the internet company reported Monday.

Metro Vancouver officials are warning that heavy rains over the last 24 hours could lead to cloudy drinking water after a huge storm transformed the South Coast of B.C. into a slushy mess overnight Sunday.

It may look like a human hamster wheel, but Alexey and his company, VirtuSphere Inc., believe this device will add a whole new spin on virtual reality.

MANCHESTER, England - International soccer rule-makers stopped short of issuing a clear ruling here Saturday on whether players can legally wear the hijab during a game.

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, New Jersey Devils netminder Martin Brodeur and Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom were named the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending December 2

The biggest storm of the season transformed the South Coast of B.C. from a winter wonderland into a slushy mess overnight Sunday

Many Canadians braced for blasts of wintry weather Monday after a weekend that saw much of the country blanketed in snow.

The United Nations climate change summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali could be humanity's last shot at reversing course on policies and behaviour that could cause catastrophic changes to the climate, some world leaders and environmentalists ha

Police evacuated the B.C. Ferries terminal at Tsawwassen yesterday and arrested a 32-year-old foot-passenger who was overheard saying that he was going to set off a bomb on the Spirit of Vancouver.

"Cooking, like sex and dancing, is a pleasure best shared."

The boom that comes from a Leopard 2A6M firing is a bone-shaking, deafening noise that can rattle even the most experienced of tankers if they aren't expecting it.

* John Connor won't just be back. He'll also be bat. The Dark Knight himself, Christian Bale, has signed on to star as the heir to the cyborg-battling rebellion in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, the long-awaited fourth installment in the Te

Canadian drivers should brace themselves for record gasoline prices this spring if crude oil stays in the $90-a-barrel range, experts say. \"They could be getting into the $1.30, $1.40, maybe even the $1.50 range per litre,\" said Jason Toews, one of

Canada's air force has run out of propellers for its aging Buffalo search-and-rescue aircraft, so it is stripping parts off the planes to keep a few flying.

TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty will introduce legislation today aimed at providing more support for Ontario's military families.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Whether it takes two hours or two months of planning, all of the major Canadian military decisions on the battlefield or otherwise in Afghanistan come through the Tactical Operations Centre at Kandahar Airfield.

Hockey Canada has announced the list of 37 players that will take part in Canada's National Junior Selection Camp - but don't expect any NHLers.

WASHINGTON -- One of the most complete dinosaur mummies ever found is revealing secrets locked away for millions of years, bringing researchers as close as they will ever get to touching a live dino.

BEIJING -- China's space program has defended a photo of the moon's surface taken by its lunar probe as authentic, dismissing critics who suggested it had been copied from a similar image captured by an American orbiter

Canada's men's alpine ski team is generating buzz in the world of downhill skiing not seen since the Crazy Canucks put Canadian athletes on the map in the late 1970s.

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's former prime minister and chief opponent of President Pervez Musharraf, was ruled ineligible for the country's upcoming parliamentary elections in January, an election official said Monday.

International observers denounced the results of Russia's parliamentary elections on Monday, saying the vote that secured an overwhelming victory for President Vladimir Putin's party was "not fair."

Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Hugo Chavez said Monday he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state.

A British teacher imprisoned in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad has been pardoned and released, British Embassy officials in Khartoum said Monday

The Teddy Bear Toss record is back in the Stampede City

* Dalhousie University in Halifax has had an internet video blocked and is investigating what it considers a hate crime against a professor and his family.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez suffered a stinging defeat Monday in a vote on constitutional changes that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely and solidify his bid to transform this major U.S. oil provider into a socialist state.

President Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia, won Russia's parliamentary election on Sunday, official results indicated after more than half the votes were counted.

Goaltender Roberto Luongo had one streak end and another continue Sunday night in Minnesota.

The B.C. government issued a flood watch for parts of the province's south coast after the snow that caused traffic chaos over the weekend turned to rain late Sunday afternoon.

Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn used private jets to travel between Ottawa and his riding and sent the bill to the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, which is under his responsibility, documents show.

TORONTO -- Canada's immigrants will take the spotlight Tuesday when new census information is released showing just how many foreign-born people call the country home, numbers that underscore the thorny debate over whether Canada accepts too many immigra

OTTAWA - National Defence has been warned it will have to cover the costs of the Afghan war entirely out of its own budget next year, without any top-up from the federal Treasury Board, a political source has told The Canadian Press.

There's something about the Grand Slam of Curling series that brings out the best in Kevin Martin.

Cookbook author and television chef James Barber, who appeared on CBC-TV for 10 years as The Urban Peasant, has died.

The Harper government is opening the door to "wide-ranging" and "large scale" impacts to the earth's ecosystems because of its refusal to recognize a tipping point in the battle against global warming as it heads into major United Nations climate cha

Essentially dropped by the Canadian Alpine Ski Team 18 months ago, Britt Janyk was forced to reinvent herself as a skier.

When Safaa Menhem stepped out of the locker room with her soccer teammates before Saturday's game, her hijab was wrapped snugly around her head and draped around her neck.

Egypt's self-appointed morality experts harass less-pious neighbours

Alarmed by recent incidents? Wait'll you see what the company is planning for 2008

The Canadian Forces have hired a private-security firm in Afghanistan that once employed a former member of a South African military unit that assassinated opponents of the apartheid regime.

The Conservative government has drafted legislation aimed at solving the embarrassing problem of the so-called "lost Canadians" - tens of thousands of people, including some lifelong residents of Canada, whose nationality has been thrown into doubt by C

GUNDY GHAR, Afghanistan - This barren mountain top in the heart of the Zhari district may be one of the most inhospitable places on earth.

Voters in Venezuela will pass judgment today on President Hugo Chavez's constitution reforms, including one that would allow him to stay president indefinitely.

Voting in Russia's parliamentary elections held Sunday is expected to result in a strong majority for President Vladimir Putin's party.

TURIN, ITALY - Charles Hamelin of Ste-Julie, Que., and Kalyna Roberge of Ste-Etienne-de-Lauzon, Que., each won a silver medal in their respective 1,500-metre races on Saturday at the fourth stop on the short track speed skating World Cup circuit in Turin,

Coquitlam RCMP are urging residents of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam to stay indoors and off the local roads. Due to worsening road conditions through the afternoon and evening, the police force issued a media alert to try and reduce the amount of non-emer

The New Democrats are accusing the federal government of shortchanging seniors to the tune of about $1 billion.

The scientist who won Canada's top research prize for his work on pollution in the Great Lakes now wants a moratorium on development in the Alberta oilsands, saying the rush to extract petroleum could threaten the mighty Athabasca River.

The Karlheinz Schreiber saga. Chapter Two, Scene One: A German tax department.

Canadian drivers should brace themselves for record gasoline prices this spring if crude oil stays in the $90-a-barrel range, experts say.

With a shutout streak that has stretched more than three games, Vancouver's Roberto Luongo has already set personal and franchise records. Minnesota's Marian Gaborik, though, is on a streak of his own that could end both of them.

Prince Edward Island tasted winter Saturday as snow flurries turned into squalls and police asked drivers in the western part of the province to stay off the roads.

Venezuelans are divided on a series of constitutional reforms to be decided in a referendum on Sunday, pollster Luis Vicente Leon says.

Miss China, Zhang Zilin, has been crowned Miss World 2007 in the Chinese resort of Sanya, the first time an East Asian contestant has won.

The Xinhua news agency cited unnamed sources in the People's Liberation Army as saying the railway would become "a main option" for transporting soldiers. Analysts say the move is likely to fuel concerns that China is using the rail link to tighten

OTTAWA - Ottawa is facing a multimillion-dollar bill to find work for border guards who can't - or won't - carry guns, newly released documents show.

The long-time spokesman who has resolutely defended Brian Mulroney throughout the controversy involving Karlheinz Schreiber says he can no longer speak for the former prime minister because he cannot devote the required time.

There is this thing in baseball about a pitcher carrying a no-hitter into the late innings: You never go near him in the dugout and you never, ever say the word "no-hitter." Never. Ever.

The RCMP and the Richmond B.C. fire department appear to be offering conflicting accounts as to whether Robert Dziekanski was already dead by the time medical help arrived.

Researchers are launching the largest-ever U.S. study aimed at solving one of the most perplexing mysteries of modern times: the cause of autism.

OTTAWA - A tough-talking Stephane Dion appears to be setting the stage for a spring election, warning that his Liberals won't continue propping up the minority Conservative government for much longer.

ARMSTRONG, Ont. -- A Canadian Forces rescue team braved critically cold temperatures Friday to parachute into the site of a plane crash and rescue three people in northern Ontario on Friday.

OTTAWA -- Canada is set to commit its largest cash infusion yet to battle the landmine scourge in Afghanistan. Sources say International Development Minister Bev Oda will outline a major funding boost Monday that's expected to be worth at least $5

It had money, by the billions. It had successful partners and powerful politicians on side. And the Balzac project definitely had panache, including a grand horse racing track, Vegas-style slot parlour and southern Alberta's biggest shopping comple

But we're Canadians. We like to blend in

Helen Upperton and Jenny Ciochetti were Canada's golden gals on Friday, opening the women's 2007-'08 World Cup season with a first-placed finish at Canada Olympic Park.

TSN's coverage of the highly anticipated Green Bay Packers-Dallas Cowboys game Thursday delivered a national average audience of 630,000 viewers, making it the most watched NFL game in TSN history

Anton Volchenkov suffered a broken finger last night when he blocked a shot and it's expected the Ottawa Senator defenceman will be sidelined for four weeks.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Goal scoring is down but the NHL's caretakers decided Friday to resist more radical change. The NHL's board of governors meetings wrapped up with a healthy discussion of the game, and despite the downward trend in offence, it

JERUSALEM -- A wall mentioned in the Bible's Book of Nehemiah and long sought by archaeologists apparently has been found, an Israeli archaeologist says.

VANCOUVER - The possibility of joining the NCAA for the first time has Canadian colleges looking south of the border with mixed emotions.

EDMONTON - The Edmonton Oilers take home-ice advantage to a whole new level when the Anaheim Ducks pay a visit.

MIAMI - Police said two men and two juveniles arrested Friday in the shooting death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor went to his home intent on stealing, not killing.

NEWARK, N.J. - Zach Parise downplayed his first three-goal game. "It was just one of the those nights," Parise said. "Sometimes you get the bounces. Sometimes you play a great game and have nothing to show for it."