NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 12-2008

Wall Street is grappling with the fallout from an apparent US$50-billion investing scam that allegedly victimized various millionaires, pensioners, hedge funds, charities and major worldwide banks.

Despite having to shut down Parliament to save his government from being toppled by a furious opposition coalition, Prime Minister Stephen Harper pulled no punches when discussing his political rivals in a year-end interview with CTV Atlantic.

BAGHDAD - Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in anger at American policies, as support for the act and the journalist flowed in from across the Arab world

A well-rested Mats Sundin is putting himself in position to be a great holiday gift for one of the National Hockey League's 30 teams

OTTAWA - A retired Canadian diplomat and a top aide who is also Canadian have disappeared in west Africa while on a United Nations mission.

Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta as well as U.S. neighbour North Dakota are in a mid-December deep freeze, with temperatures as much as 15 to 20 degrees below normal for this time of year

Jeremy Steinke, 25, has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.

Canada's junior hockey team was decided Monday morning when 16 players were released from selection camp.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - For the second time in a week soldiers turned out in the cold darkness of Kandahar Airfield to say a silent goodbye to three Canadian soldiers killed in the line of duty.

With a week to go before the official start of winter, a deep freeze that set in across Western Canada brought wind chill warnings for cities and towns between eastern British Columbia and Manitoba on Sunday

Members of the Jamaican bobsled team were greeted by a crowd of supporters as they arrived at Vancouver International Airport Saturday.

The Vancouver Canucks overcame a shaky start in their Sunday night homecoming, scoring four goals in eight minutes en route to defeating the Florida Panthers

Amid widespread speculation that Roberto Luongo could be sidelined longer than the Vancouver Canucks are willing to admit, the workhorse starting goaltender said Sunday that there's no date for his return from a groin strain suffered Nov. 22 in Pittsburgh

Health Canada has recalled thousands more toys that a recent Toronto Star investigation found contain dangerous levels of lead.

A family trying to find out how their son died in Afghanistan is fighting to get a copy of the military police investigation into his death, as well as other documents that might shed light on whether he was shot by insurgents or by gunmen working for a p

A surprise visit by US President George Bush to Iraq has been overshadowed by an incident in which two shoes were thrown at him during a news conference.

Looking for 6th straight road win, but haven't won in B.C. in 14 years

Despite less-than-ideal conditions, Canada's Matthew Morison had a good feeling about Sunday's FIS World Cup snowboarding stop in Italy.

An already fun weekend became more exciting for Canadian speedskater Christine Nesbitt, who reached the podium for a second straight day at a World Cup long-track competition in Nagano, Japan, on Sunday.

BOSTON -- His name is Herb, and he was very, very cold when he was found on a Cape Cod beach.

Residents of Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island awoke Sunday morning to snow on the ground.

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - When John Crosbie was an 18-year-old student in Ontario, his aversion to Confederation was so strong that he would deliver a "poke in the chops" to classmates who teased him with the nickname "Canada Crosbie."

Tributes are pouring in for three Canadian soldiers killed in a roadside bombing west of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan

Keanu Reeves believes he is "perfect".

Saturday night's all right for Dwayne Roloson, who stopped 23 shots in a 3-0 shutout win for the Edmonton Oilers over the Vancouver Canucks.

Vancouver police have identified the victim of Friday night's shooting at a company Christmas party as Benjamin Banky, 40, the CEO of TallGrass Distributors Ltd.

KABUL, Afghanistan - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday that his country could send extra troops to Afghanistan under a U.S.-led military surge aimed at stemming terrorism and supporting upcoming Afghan elections.

ANIZAI, Afghanistan - Vancouver's notorious Downside Eastside is a low-income neighbourhood dominated by open-air drug markets, back lane "shooting" galleries where addicts inject drugs and the mentally ill live on the street.

Three Canadian soldiers were killed and another was injured Saturday when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan, the Canadian military said

This is a snippet of the training for the Close Protection (CP) team. CP operatives provide close protection for general officers and visiting dignitaries, often in places such as Afghanistan, allowing commanders to leave their safety to the CP team and f

The Vancouver Canucks will bring their season-long road trip to a close tonight, when they visit the Edmonton Oilers and Rexall Place.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Two explorers conducting underwater surveys of Lake Ontario have uncovered an aquatic mystery -- a rare 19th-century schooner sitting upright 152 metres under the waves.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Militants attacked a terminal in northwest Pakistan early today that is used by vehicles ferrying supplies to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The ice storm that walloped parts of New England may take "days" to clean up and residents should seek shelter, officials said Saturday, as more than one million people struggle without electricity.

SYDNEY, Australia - An Italian adventurer who spent 10 months rowing more than 18,000 kilometres across the Pacific has been rescued a mere 120 kilometres short of his goal - Australia - after rough weather sapped him of his final shreds of energy.

NEW DELHI - The Indian navy captured 23 pirates who threatened a merchant vessel Saturday in the lawless waters of the Gulf of Aden, where dozens of ships have come under attack by gunmen in recent months.

Canadian speedskaters Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., and Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., narrowly missed reaching the top of the podium Saturday, finishing second in their respective 1,000-metre races in Nagano, Japan.

Quebec drivers have one more weekend to install winter tires as a new law requiring them comes into effect Monday

The untold story of how elements of the first Conservative budget in 2006 encouraged big U.S. players such as AIG to make a push into Canada, creating our version of subprime mortgages

Van Johnson, a U.S. film, stage and TV actor known for his roles in The Caine Mutiny and Brigadoon, has died. He was 92

Southern B.C. is being hit with its first major snowfall of the season, ranging from a few centimetres in Metro Vancouver and southern Vancouver Island to as much as 20 centimetres in the southern Interior.

Police and emergency response teams surrounded a building in Vancouver on Friday after shots were fired and amid reports that a hostage was inside, according to witnesses.

WARSAW, Poland -- Polish archeologists believe silk-draped skeletons found in a cathedral crypt are the 600-year-old remains of three grand masters of the Teutonic Knights.

A temporary shutdown at the Chalk River, Ont. nuclear reactor is causing a shortage of medical isotopes, forcing Canadian doctors to scramble to cancel and rearrange appointments with their patients.

Injured goalie Roberto Luongo wasn't healthy enough to join his Vancouver Canucks teammates on their trip to Edmonton for Saturday night's game against the Oilers

The federal government and Ontario have reached a deal to offer a proportional aid package to Canada's auto industry if a proposed $14-billion US package is approved in Washington, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Friday.

The federal cabinet will be asked early in the new year to give its blessing to spend $3 billion to replace Canada's geriatric fleet of search-and-rescue planes, the Canadian Press has learned

A toddler lost in the Virginia woods was back home safe Sunday thanks to two puppies who kept him warm through a harrowing night of freezing temperatures.

A man who killed two people after driving his pick-up into their house while drunk has filed a lawsuit claiming that he, too, was a victim in the incident.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Canadian Forces already have tanks, armoured vehicles and helicopters at their command in their battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan. They are about to add one more item to their arsenal - the donkey, perhaps the humblest

TORONTO - Canada plans to announce an auto sector bailout package almost immediately after the U.S. concludes its deal with Detroit's Big Three, according to a senior government official.

The Great One's dad, Walter Gretzky, was one of dozens of Canadians appointed members of the Order of Canada in a ceremony Friday.

A motorist has died in a crash on Highway 2, as a snowstorm blows into central and southern Alberta.

Archaeologists have found the remains of what could be Britain's oldest surviving human brain.

The Canadian military wants to buy unmanned aircraft that can attack targets as the U.S. military does now in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan with its hunter/killer Predator drones, a move that has sparked interest from as far off as Israel.

A leading Canadian union official says he's been told that General Motors plans to shut down all of its North American plants for the entire month of January, which would leave tens of thousands of Canadians temporarily unemployed right after the holidays

The West is indirectly funding the insurgency in Afghanistan thanks to a system of payoffs to Taleban commanders who charge protection money to allow convoys of military supplies to reach Nato bases in the south of the country

OTTAWA -German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber, pictured, has scored a longer stay in Canada, despite a Supreme Court of Canada ruling yesterday that closed the door on his attempts to escape extradition to his native Germany to face criminal cha

Calgary's Helen Upperton captured her second women's World Cup bobsleigh race after winning the two-man competition Friday in Igls, Austria

The public will get a first-hand look inside the Richmond speedskating oval when the mammoth new building is officially opened Friday afternoon, a full 14 months before the 2010 Olympics.

A European Union import ban on polar bear trophies from two regions in Canada's Arctic has raised the hackles of the Inuit organization, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc

The Globe and Mail reports that former B.C. Lions slotback Jason Clermont has agreed to terms on a contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

OTTAWA - Canada is asking India for intelligence about Pakistan-based al-Qaida insurgents that pose a threat to Canadian Forces troops in Afghanistan.

ALMA, Que. - A Quebec man was found not guilty on Friday of helping his disabled uncle kill himself.

TORONTO -- Every man's fantasy is to have sex with sisters? I don't know, but it's not exactly medical advice. You don't expect to hear it from your doctor.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Friday that the federal government will continue discussions with the auto industry in Canada despite the collapse of a proposed $14-billion US federal bailout of the Big Three automakers in the United States.

It is fitting that John Roberts' induction into the Canadian Broadcasting Hall of Fame coincides with Canadian Music Week next March. While he has been a familiar fixture on U.S. network TV news for almost 20 years, he's still fondly remembered in this co

Idea of 'well-endowed' should include brain power, say researchers into reproductive health

Mall shoppers vow they won't be cancelling Christmas this year, despite economic woes

The three Ontario hospitals with the highest rates of patient deaths last year have found ways to lower the number of preventable deaths at their institutions, according to a report released yesterday.

Rivals for felon's eye unsheathe their nails

A Toronto woman faces 28 charges after calls were made to parents telling them to attend a meeting because their children had been sexually assaulted by a school employee.

Alexandra Firgin-Hewie had been warned about hanging out with the older neighbourhood girl in south-end Mississauga.

pinup queen played a key role in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and later became a cult figure

People hoping to smuggle weapons or handcuff keys into prisons may be out of luck.

In preparation for his deployment to Afghanistan, Major Rob Bayes, 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron (THS) Plans Officer, undertook one of the bigger challenges of his career recently and ended up succeeding. What was the challenge? To completely organize

An extensive RCMP report on Canada's airport security has concluded that gangs and smugglers have infiltrated the country's largest airports.

B.C.'s Criminal Justice Branch is set to announce at a press conference Friday that the actions of the officers, who Tasered the agitated Dziekanski in the early hours of Oct 14, 2007, did not constitute criminal behaviour.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plan to stack 18 vacant Senate seats with Tory loyalists before Christmas was denounced by opposition MPs Thursday as a cynical move which contradicts past pledges to reform the upper chamber.

Canada's defence ministry has ruled out extending its combat mission in Afghanistan past the 2011 scheduled deadline despite hints from U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates that Ottawa should reconsider its end date.

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games will cost at least $170 million more than what the province has budgeted, the auditor general said Thursday

Alberta's resources industry is researching ways to treat toxic wastewater from oilsands production so it is safe enough to pump back into the Athabasca River, according to senior managers from major companies and a chief industry scientist.

A few busy Vancouver streets could be car-free every Sunday this summer if a new Vancouver councillor gets her way

Tickets for Vancouver's 2010 Olympic Games were for sale on the internet just a few short hours after the people who won the lottery for the first round of tickets released were notified.

The country that once welcomed the tired, poor, huddled masses is now asking for a little reciprocation. And Canada, Germany and Australia are heeding the call. They top a list of the countries most welcoming to expats. There, relocators have a relativ

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada says the federal government broke the law in financing the employment insurance system by transforming premiums paid by workers and employers into an unconstitutional tax. In a 7-0 judgment, the court ruled Thursday

TORONTO -- A 25-year-old Brighton man is in Kingston Hospital with serious injuries after a spectacular single car crash in which his vehicle left the road, became airborne and slammed into a six-tonne forklift, moving it back about four metres

TORONTO -- The outraged hockey dad couldn't believe he was watching his 15-year-old son being punched in the face by a linesman. He still can't.

ORLANDO, Fla. - The skeletal remains of a small child have been found near the Orlando, Fla., home of a missing three-year-old girl.

A Calgary police officer was almost run over Wednesday while investigating a stolen car at the Market Mall.

TORONTO -- Gossip websites around the world are in a tizzy over a report that megastar Tom Cruise lost his BlackBerry while promoting his new film "Valkyrie" in Toronto this week.

EDMONTON -- An aboriginal band has threatened the very basis of Alberta's oilsands industry by filing a court challenge to the province's system of granting land tenure.

Change is often difficult, especially on television. Tonight's the night we've all been dreading: Gil Grissom, a.k.a. actor William Petersen, is leaving CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. But dry those tears, faithful CSIers. He's not quite gone yet. H

High-end fashion designers rarely concern themselves with the banal realities of cold weather. It restricts them creatively, they'll sniff.

In a wooded area of Mount Pleasant Cemetery where nature is left untamed, Jack Radecki scours the leafy forest floor searching for acorns from white oak trees. He finds not one.

Canada ranks last in the first comparison of child care services in 25 developed countries, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.

Patrick Novak says it is time for normally "apathetic" Canadians to speak out against a decision by the Big Six banks not to fully match a big interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to fill 18 vacancies in the unelected Senate with Conservative loyalists before Christmas, CTV News has learned.

It may not be too late to send the presents back, as astronomers have calculated that Christmas should not be celebrated on December 25 - but on June 17 instead.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - In a land of IEDs, landmines and suicide bombers civilian casualties are commonplace in Afghanistan and are often mentioned in passing in news reports or for that matter not mentioned at all.

OTTAWA - Could a third cut to the hated goods and services tax be just the elixir needed to revive Canada's economy?

OTTAWA - Canada's military is locked into the Afghan mission until 2011, but is preparing for the next war or peacekeeping mission by establishing a series of supply depots around the world,

POZNAN, Poland -- The world has lost nearly one-fifth of its coral reefs and much of the rest could be destroyed by increasingly acidic seas if climate change continues unchecked, an environmental group warned Wednesday.

Cartoons showing sex acts involving children based on Simpsons characters are pornographic, a judge ruled.

RCMP stopped a speeding SUV on Hwy 2 near Olds recently and uncovered a rolling arsenal of weapons, including three automatic assault rifles. Nine firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition were recovered from the vehicle.

There is a giant black hole at the centre of our galaxy, a study has confirmed.

Le, a scientific genius from Brampton in Ontario, Canada, said he never had time to find a real partner so he designed one using the latest technology.

The experts at Desert Knowledge Co-operative Research Centre say it tastes just like a good steak. Not only that, but eating camel would help save the delicate ecosystem of the Australian desert.

A well-known Canadian conservationist is flabbergasted that the publisher of the Oxford Junior Dictionary sent words like "beaver" and "dandelion" the way of the dodo bird.

Warning that Canada is "entering a recession," the Bank of Canada slashed its key overnight rate yesterday by three-quarters of a percentage point to 1.5 per cent, its lowest level since 1958, as the global economic crisis continues to deepen.

Michael Jackson's famous jewelled glove is going on the auction block.

Ontario's Liquor Control Board is recalling an Italian wine, but not for the usual reasons.