NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 12-2007

PHOENIX - The Toronto Raptors were a one-man show. That wasn't near enough with the Phoenix Suns revved up and running. The Suns raced past Toronto 122-103 on Saturday night despite Chris Bosh's career-high 42 points.

ATLANTA - Kari Lehtonen has no explanation for the Atlanta Thrashers' success in shootouts. "I really don't know," the goalie said. "We have some really good guys. That helps my job."

SUNRISE, Fla. - The Toronto Maple Leafs found a way to win a close game. Pavel Kubina's power-play goal 34 seconds into overtime helped the Maple Leafs snap a three-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers.

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Roberto Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks finally figured out how to win in a shootout. Luongo made 27 saves and stopped three of four attempts in the tiebreaker to lift the Canucks to a 2-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturda

A 13-year-old boy, a boarding student at Canada's prestigious National Ballet School in downtown Toronto, has been released on bail after appearing in court yesterday to face seven sexual assault charges.

A month before 150 reservists leave for a tour in Afghanistan, Canada's military heroes received a standing ovation at the Pengrowth Saddledome Friday in a special Calgary Flames salute to the Canadian Forces.

LONDON -- Santa shot at in Rio. Electric eels light up Japanese Christmas tree. Singapore elephants get festive gift of boots for jumbo pain. Around the globe, Christmas invariably offers tales of the wacky, wild and downright weird -- and the 2007 fes

OTTAWA -- Transport Canada has issued safety warnings and recalls for three models of children's car seats. But while the recalls affect more than 12,000 units, all of the problems can be fixed without having to return the seats, the department said F

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Buffalo Sabres spoiled two former teammates' homecoming, and picked up another two points in the standings.

CALGARY - In a showdown Friday night between two of the NHL's hottest scorers, Mike Ribiero scored twice to outduel Jarome Iginla.

CHANGCHUN, China - Canadian aerialist Steve Omischl opened the World Cup freestyle ski season with victory Friday. Omischl, from North Bay, Ontario, won the aerials title at Changchun Lianhuashan Ski Resort, easily beating a field that included the 20

NANAIMO, B.C. - Several months ago, carpenter Allan Francis sliced open four fingers on his left hand in a table saw accident. A month later he was flown to Vancouver General Hospital after blood in his abdomen led doctors to find what could be a cance

OTTAWA -- He grabs a pen, borrows a scrap of paper and starts drawing up a military blueprint for Canada's future in Afghanistan

The jolly old elf 's disappearing act in marketing suggests he's losing his magic

"Flavors of Entanglement," which she hopes to whittle down to 11 tracks in the following weeks, includes "Not As We," which features only piano and vocals, and "Moratorium," which is "essentially a song about my readiness to stop repeating bad patt

Charges against an army cadet accused of sexually assaulting two 14-year-old girls in New Brunswick were dismissed amid a procedural "mix-up" involving a military investigator and a Crown prosecutor, the Canadian Press has learned.

The Islamic Supreme Council of Canada cancelled a protest planned for Friday in Calgary over anti-Muslim comments made on a Western Standard blog site, after receiving an apology from the magazine's owner.

Corrections officials will decide where a man convicted of raping and killing an Edmonton teenager, and diagnosed as highly psychopathic, will serve his sentence, said a judge. Michael Williams, 20, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2005 sex

A 21-year-old soldier is in custody after shots were fired from what police believe was an assault rifle outside an Edmonton home Friday. There were no injuries in the overnight incident, which began when officers answered a call at about 3 a.m. MT abo

The Ontario Tories called a four-year prison sentence given to a man who sexually abused his young daughter live on the internet a "slap on the wrist," and called on the attorney general to appeal.

Canadian soldiers patrolling the volatile Panjaway district of southern Afghanistan captured two Afghan men believed to have handled explosives. The incident happened near Forward Operating Base Sperwan Ghar, said CBC News reporter James Cudmore, who a

Vernon, B.C. -- British Columbia's first set of conjoined twins will undergo a vital operation in Vancouver in the new year. Toddlers Tatiana and Krista Hogan, who will turn 14 months old on Christmas Day, are joined at the head and appear otherwise

Many Canadians who have already spent the better part of a month shovelling and shivering through below-average temperatures and above-average snowfalls probably won't bat a frosty eyelid as winter officially descends early Saturday.

Consumers could potentially be hit by a new tax on electronic storage devices such as iPods and blank memory cards in 2008. The federal Copyright Board has given its approval for a special levy on iPods and other digital players because they can be us

An overnight residential fire in Toronto has killed a woman and two children. The townhouse blaze has a fire official calling for mandatory sprinkler installation.

In interviews this week, Lee H. Hamilton and Thomas H. Kean (co chairs of the 9/11 Commission), were convinced that the C.I.A had made a conscious decision to impede the Sept. 11 commission's inquiry.

The humanitarian agency "Medecins Sans Frontieres" just released their Top 10 most underreported humanitarian stories of the year. These stories recieved an embarrasing total of just 18 minutes of coverage on the major news outlets in the US for the

In the prime minister's second annual year-end interview with CTV News, he reveals his thoughts on the economy, national unity, and even what's playing on his iPod.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - The nephew of Trevor Berbick has been convicted along with another man of killing the 54-year-old former world and Canadian heavyweight boxing champion.

ST. ANTON AM ARLBERG, Austria - Canadian Kelly VanderBeek captured a silver medal in a women's World Cup downhill event Friday. The native of Kitchener, Ont., finished in one minute 32.36 seconds.

BOSTON - Sidney Crosby doesn't have plans to become an NHL tough guy. "I don't think so," the Pittsburgh captain said Thursday night after his first NHL fight in the Penguins' 5-4 shootout win over the Boston Bruins. "It's not something I'm go

* CHICAGO -- The mother of a U.S. astronaut who has been in space since October was killed when a freight train hit her car at a railroad crossing near Chicago, police said on Thursday. Daniel Tani's 90-year-old mother, Rose, died on Wednesday as he

* Nowhere in the world is women's hockey more popular than in Canada and the United States. The Hockey Hall of Fame at Yonge and Front Sts., meanwhile, has long been established as a North American-centric operation that has historically paid far more att

Larry Stewart, Kansas City's original Secret Santa who anonymously wandered city streets doling out $100 bills to anyone who looked like they needed it. Stewart died of cancer at age 58 earlier this year. But his legacy lives on.

Few people are naive enough to believe pop stardom has anything to do with the music anymore. In terms of outlandish stunts and stupidly successful gimmicks, pop stars really stepped it up in 2007.

A Roman Catholic priest charged with indecent exposure after being accused of jogging naked in the pre-dawn darkness has pleaded not guilty and asked for a jury trial.

Canadian analysts said the two Google-related hacks which surfaced recently should cause IT managers to look at employee Web surfing as a security hazard rather than a time waster.

I just have to post anything that mentions sinking Leafs...LOL

The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations says NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell should apologize to Chris Simon for mistakenly suggesting the Islanders forward is receiving drug and alcohol treatment following his latest league-imposed suspensi

PUCHOV, Slovakia - It was another easy victory for the Canadian world junior team

WASHINGTON - Mars will be unusually bright this Christmas Eve and the moon will be shining full - a development that might make Santa Claus rethink his need for Rudolph's red nose.

Queen Elizabeth has become the oldest British monarch ever, ousting Queen Victoria from the long-held spot.

VICTORIA - It used to be the image of Dudley Do-Right, the squeaky-clean Mountie, that was etched into the minds of Canadians when they considered the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

OTTAWA - An Ontario court has thrown out businessman Karlheinz Schreiber's lawsuit against Brian Mulroney, saying it has no jurisdiction over the dispute.

TORONTO - Ontario is returning Ipperwash Provincial Park to an aboriginal community and vowing to forge a new relationship with First Nations more than a decade after Dudley George was shot on the land by a police sniper.

OTTAWA - Former Tory cabinet minister John Crosbie has been named lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Christmas carol Silver Bells has been dropped from Thursday's school concert at Elmdale Public School after an attempt by the choir directors to remove the word Christmas from the song ignited controversy that spread across the country.

WINDSOR, Ont. - The ever-hungry northern snakehead, which has been dubbed Frankenfish and Fishzilla, is one of the two most feared invasive fish that could get into the Great Lakes, a biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada said Wednesday.

President George W. Bush on Thursday hailed Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan as "brave souls" and listed Canada as a NATO ally doing more than its share to fight the Taliban.

Long lost Christmas card turns up 93 years after it was originally sent.

A home-brewed drink called superjuice is having a devastating impact on young people living on a remote Manitoba First Nation, a round table on native youth issues heard Tuesday.

* An Ontario man who sexually abused his young daughter live on the internet in 2006 will be sentenced Thursday in a St. Thomas court for child abuse and internet pornography.

* Taser, popularly used term for any make of stun gun... it's the new buzzword (pardon the pun) on the news and online. Now stun guns are being marketed to women and the offerings run the gamut from shockingly sexist to insufferably cute

The pen is indeed mightier than the sword! Fidel Castro, revolutionary hero to millions, has recently taken to the written word to voice his opinions.

Four federal agencies dealing with Mohamud all cited his privacy rights as a reason for not warning the public or disclosing whether he is now in an immigration lockup or in a minimal-security halfway house, as parole officials recommended. The Somalia

It was a year that began with unprecedented political attack ads and ended with a nationally televised ethics review.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Jarome Iginla has never had this much fun playing for Calgary. Scoring goals and dominating opponents can have that affect

The National Hockey League has suspended New York Islanders forward Chris Simon for 30 games for stepping on Pittsburgh's Jarkko Ruutu last weekend.

* A man who was shot and killed by Winnipeg police late Monday night was a former member of the Canadian Forces, CBC News has learned.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Another Spears baby is reportedly on the way -- and it's not Britney's.

One moment you are a stay-at-home mom, most days and nights eaten up by endlessly schlepping your three boys to and from the hockey rink in small-town Ontario. One moment later, you find yourself living in a tent in Afghanistan, pondering life's someti

A thief netted a police badge along with several wallets, keys and cellphones during a locker-room theft while off-duty officers were playing hockey.

Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton had his driver's license suspended for a month in France after he was caught speeding by police

An Italian court has ruled that a couple could not name their son "Friday" and ordered that he instead be called Gregory after the saint whose feast day he was born on

Troubled British soul singer Amy Winehouse was arrested on Tuesday as part of an investigation into perverting the course of justice, London police and her publicist said.

* A Danbury woman is facing charges that she groped Santa Claus at the Danbury Fair mall. Sandrama Lamy has been charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and breach of peace.

A new poll suggests most Canadians don't want a public inquiry into Brian Mulroney's business dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber, despite their deep misgivings about the former prime minister's truthfulness and the propriety of his actions.

Yes, UFOs do exist, Japan's top government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Don Chevrier, a popular sports announcer best known as the original television voice of the Toronto Blue Jays, died on Monday.

Police in Kitchener, Ont., released a composite sketch Tuesday of a man wanted in the shocking death of an elderly man delivering Christmas cards and said the suspect may have been involved in another attack.

* A new case of mad cow disease has been confirmed in a 13-year-old beef cow in Alberta, says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - With Christmas just a week away, Canadian Forces postal workers at Kandahar Airfield have their hands full.

* WestJet airlines has suspended a program that allows minors to fly alone after a five-year-old girl travelling last week was able to leave her flight with a stranger. WestJet said Monday it will not book any new young passengers until an internal re

HONOLULU - The Japanese military became the first U.S. ally to shoot down a mid-range ballistic missile from a ship at sea in a test Monday.

WELLINGTON, N.Z. - New Zealand is considering whether to increase its troops in Afghanistan and assume a combat role because of a rising threat from Taliban fighters, a military commander said Tuesday.

Cuba's ailing communist leader, Fidel Castro, has said he has a duty not to hold on to power or obstruct the rise of younger people.

WASHINGTON - The latest act of senseless violence caught on tape is cosmic in scope: a black hole in a "death star galaxy" blasting a neighbouring galaxy with a deadly jet of radiation and energy.

Canada's trade relations with the United States are being hurt by U.S. protectionism and Washington's aggressive security bureaucracy, forces that are regularly erecting new obstacles to cross-border commerce, International Trade Minister David Emerson

INUVIK, N.W.T. - Charlie Furlong knows the lands and waters of the Mackenzie Delta like a childhood chum, but now his old friend is acting strange.

OTTAWA - The federal government will introduce tougher product-safety laws in the new year, including measures to make importers responsible for the safety of what they bring into the country and higher fines for violations.

A six-kilometre ice jam near Prince George, B.C., has shattered and decreased in size to two kilometres, but local residents are still threatened by flooding.

Canada's top soldier says Taliban fighters are increasingly attacking fellow Afghans in an attempt to halt progress without facing the deadly consequences of fighting NATO forces.

* An Ontario businessman who exposed numerous women to the HIV virus will appear in a Windsor court Monday for a hearing that will determine whether he should be designated a dangerous offender.

Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits Leader of the Band and Same Old Lang Syne helped define the soft-rock era, died Sunday at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer. He was 56

City crews playing catch-up to clear local roads after storm brings area to a standstill

ST. LOUIS - A simple slant pattern to his favourite receiver gave Brett Favre yet another record in a milestone season.

TV star proves a Big hit with fans, gawkers while shopping downtown

A native activist on P.E.I. who was dismayed by the cultural stereotyping of a toy in a Kinder Surprise says the company was quick to respond to his complaint.

ST. LOUIS - If the Calgary Flames continue to play like this away from home, they may not be all that eager to return to Alberta any time soon

* A kindly Kitchener, Ont. senior out delivering Christmas cards to neighbours was beaten to death on the weekend. Friends say that Hunter Brown was attacked in his next-door neighbour's driveway.

If the most dire climate forecasts come true the tourism industry in Europe's far north, already feeling the effects of global warming, may find itself promoting a Santa in shorts and a camel-drawn sleigh.

A North Vancouver RCMP member has been charged with possession of child pornography, a fact the Mounties kept quiet for more than four months, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

OTTAWA - Forty years ago, two significant hockey events occurred, although one didn't seem particularly significant at the time. A) The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup. Who knew they wouldn't win another one in the 20th century (it's early -

A Canadian company specializing in Internet porn is being sued by Facebook amid allegations it hacked the popular social networking website's computers and tried to access the personal information of users, court documents show

OTTAWA - The Taliban have become more sophisticated in the way they plant roadside bombs in Afghanistan, importing lethal tactics already tested and proven on bloodied U.S. forces in Iraq, says Canada's chief of defence staff.

Canadian forces were involved in a major offensive Sunday that cleared Taliban insurgents and a weapons cache out of an area 40 kilometres west of Kandahar City.

Canada's mission in Afghanistan could be driving some soldiers out of the military, says a military analyst.

Defence Department officials are recommending audits or reviews for 52 contracts totalling more than $1 billion after determining that the deals exhibited "high risk attributes."

How a sly international cabal is trying to make Kyrgyzstan the true home of our Santa

Environment Canada says the worst is yet to come from a massive winter storm that has swept up from the U.S. Midwest to batter Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Josephs and Marys in search of a room at the inn this Christmas are being made an offer they can't refuse. A British hotel chain is promising free accommodation to couples who share their first names with the couple from the C

VANCOUVER - It was a year ago today that a wind storm hammered B.C.'s West Coast, knocking down thousand of trees and devastating Vancouver's Stanley Park.

About 40 evacuation notices were delivered Saturday morning to people in a low-lying area of the city as officials examined a trail of slushy ice extending for six kilometres along the Nechako River.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - Former Olympic and world champion Pierre Lueders of Canada won the World Cup two-man bobsled race Saturday at the Olympic Sports Complex.

Fighter pilots from 3 Wing Bagotville and 4 Wing Cold Lake are stepping up their training flights this week and next as they prepare to launch on Christmas Eve to escort Santa Claus through North American airspace.

Wildlife officers are hunting down coyotes in the Canmore area after three children were attacked in one week.

About 50 people of all ages and body types showed up in the buff at the St. John's waterfront for a new TV arts show created by actor and director Mary Walsh.

Karla Homolka, one of Canada's most notorious criminals, has pulled up stakes for the Caribbean

December 14th, 2007 This amazing video was shot from a news helicopter flying above the desert near Phoenix of the Geminid Meteor Shower.

MOSCOW - Russia's top military officer has accused the United States of seeking direct confrontation with Moscow.

In June 1998, Roger Clemens was in the midst of a rather ordinary season with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Rocket, who captured the AL Triple Crown and Cy Young award in '97 in his first year with Toronto, was trudging along with an 8-6 record and 3.77

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - Calgary's Jon Montgomery and Michelle Kelly of Grande Prairie, Alta., won silver in the World Cup skeleton race Friday at the Olympic Sports Complex.

STAR of wonder, star of light: were you a celestial miracle heralding the birth of Jesus, or a scientific phenomenon?

Craig Hartsburg and his coaching staff got one last piece of business out of the way on Friday, naming Calgary Hitmen defenceman Karl Alzner as captain of Canada's national junior squad.

Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan - The Candian Forces is planning to build a new forward operating base in Arghandab, a strategic district North of Kandahar City that was the site of fierce fighting between coalition forces and the Taliban this fall.