NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 12-2009

The Ontario Government will pay the former CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation almost $750,000 to end a wrongful dismissal lawsuit she launched against the province.

This is most likely the best day of Sara Bergami's life. The Ontario woman started out her day by carrying the Olympic torch through Corunna, a small town just south of Sarnia

ORLANDO, Fla. - A father and son played with toys and puzzles and rested on a quiet nine-hour flight from Brazil to Florida, a peaceful conclusion Thursday after a tumultuous reunion that brought a five-year custody battle spanning two continents to an en

MOSCOW - Two rare Siberian tigers were among a group of big cats in a Russian travelling circus that died during a 20-hour truck journey this week

TORONTO - A major winter storm that has hit the U.S. Plains states is threatening to dump up to 25 centimetres of snow on parts of Canada over the Christmas holidays.

The body of Lt. Andrew Nuttall is on a Christmas Eve flight back to Canada from Afghanistan. Nuttall, of Victoria, was on a routine foot patrol when he and an Afghan army soldier were killed Wednesday. An Afghan interpreter was seriously injured in the bl

At least eight people, including a child, were killed Thursday after a man driving a horse-drawn cart laden with explosives detonated the cache outside a guest house in Kandahar frequented by foreigners.

The Grinch likely suffers from some well-defined mental health conditions that others might be able to identify with, some psychologists say.

U.S. aviation authorities say they are seeking the maximum $11,000 US fine against the Colorado man behind the balloon boy hoax on grounds that he operated a balloon in a hazardous manner

A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass on Thursday.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A soldier dressed as Santa Claus sat among scores of his fellow troops, watching with rapt attention, as a guitarist clad in the shortest of dresses performed at Kandahar Airfield - a defiant show of Christmas spirit in the shadow

OTTAWA - Santa hats, Christmas trees, loving families, messages of cheer - and a beer-drinking soldier? This year's batch of holiday cards from MPs has all the traditional political requisites, and a few surprises.

An Olympic chill has descended on Whistler, the mayor of the resort north of Vancouver says, and it's emptied the slopes.

The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that denies widespread commercial fishing rights to a First Nation in the Prince Rupert region

A group of activists protesting the Canadian seal hunt angered veterans in Windsor, Ont., when they set up a 3.5-metre inflatable seal next to the city's war memorial

A fatal blaze at an Ottawa highrise Thursday morning is suspicious, investigators say

A Montreal janitor who stumbled on boxes of fake credit cards and ID while hunting down a leaky pipe was the key to a major fraud bust that is one of Canada's largest national security investigations.

Fisheries officers are trying to save a number of pilot whales washed up on a Nova Scotia beach. The rescue effort began Tuesday when the Department of Fisheries and Oceans got a call that there was a stranded whale in Port Maitland, near Yarmouth.

A highrise scaffolding collapse claimed four men's lives on Christmas Eve, leaving their split staging equipment dangling more than 10 storeys above a west-end Toronto street.

The girlfriend of a British soldier who died trying to stop suicide bombers in Afghanistan received his Christmas card the day before his death.

Stanley Tippett, a father of five, was convicted Wednesday of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in Peterborough, Ont., in 2008.

State police say a daylong standoff at a small-town Virginia post office has ended with three hostages being released and a suspect in custody

MANILA, Philippines - Search-and-rescue teams combed the waters of Manila Bay on Thursday for at least 27 people missing after a passenger ferry collided with a fishing boat, the coast guard said.

A former Winnipeg man who killed his elderly father in a U.S. hotel room has been found not criminally responsible and ordered to undergo treatment at a secure psychiatric facility

RCMP have charged two 14-year-old boys with second-degree murder in relation to the death of Hector Cardinal, a 36-year-old Lac La Biche resident.

Like a page out of the screenplay for the movie Calendar Girls, a group of Ottawa grandmothers has disrobed to raise money for local charities.

West Vancouver police are on the hunt for four men who allegedly assaulted a cab driver early Sunday morning.

Eight more of the 76 Tamil migrants who were aboard a ship seized off the coast of B.C. in October were ordered released Wednesday from detention in Vancouver.

Parishioners at a one of Canada's oldest Anglican churches will be puzzled by an enduring enigma when they gaze heavenward this Christmas.

EDMONTON - An Edmonton-based soldier has been killed during a foot patrol in Afghanistan

DENVER - A major winter storm in the western United States was moving east, as holidays travellers faced scattered flight delays Wednesday and state authorities reported at least six traffic deaths.

A deep freeze in the United Kingdom and Europe has led to about 90 deaths and is continuing to cause travel chaos

Local star Jordan Eberle scored the winning goal as Canada edged the Czech Republic 3-2 in a world junior exhibition game Wednesday night in Regina.

A year after Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament to avoid a no-confidence vote, in his year-end media interviews he isn't ruling out doing it again

PORT HOPE, Ont. -- A Milton, Ont. driver was fined $1,394 and hit with six demerit points and a seven-day licence suspension for exceeding the speed limit on Hwy. 401 by 143 km/h.

Three BC Hydro workers were sent to hospital Wednesday following an underground explosion at a major downtown Vancouver intersection.

Millions of Canadians have likely taken in the beauty of the aurora borealis and never wondered why the spectacular light show is exploding before their eyes.

ROME - An unusually high tide flooded most of Venice early Wednesday, forcing tourists and residents to wade through knee-high waters or take to improvised, elevated boardwalks set up in St. Mark's Square and other landmarks

VICTORIA, B.C. - Universities have sometimes had to hunker down and find solutions for rambunctious students using the campus as their personal playground. But rabbits?

Bestowing another individual award on Sidney Crosby seems incongruous. It is unfitting because if anybody believes in, or embodies, the importance and spirit of teamwork it is No. 87.

It won't send Los Angeles plummeting into the Pacific Ocean, but the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon do stimulate small tremors in the San Andreas Fault, researchers say.

Climate change will cause the world's ecosystems to move at an average speed of 0.42 kilometres per year to keep up with temperature changes, American researchers say.

Conservationists on Vancouver's north shore are warning people to beware of bears after several sightings this week.

The mother of a Winnipeg soldier who died in Afghanistan is easing her pain by sending comfort to the war zone.

Achtung, baby. The streets of Calgary, already peppered with Bavarian cars, may soon be getting a taste of Germanic law, as one alderman tries to regulate more responsible winter driving.

Canada Post letter carriers at a downtown station say they've been Scrooged out of their Christmas cheer.

The CFL Lions will play their 2010 CFL schedule in a 27,500-seat temporary stadium located on the site of old Empire Stadium, it was announced Tuesday. The Whitecaps will begin their inaugural Major League Soccer season in 2011 at the same facility.

Martin Jones has played in many big games at Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome, but he admitted to having a case of nerves before making his debut for Canada's junior team in his home rink.

The Vancouver School Board is investigating allegations of misconduct by more than a dozen employees who reportedly were viewing pornography on board computers.

TORONTO - A widespread service outage affected BlackBerry users across North and South America Tuesday evening.

A major winter storm continued to roar across southern Saskatchewan late Tuesday with the worst of the storm expected to hit on Wednesday.

An Ottawa police officer has admitted to slapping, kicking and grabbing a teenager by the throat while questioning him about an alleged stabbing in July.

Roberto Luongo made 20 saves and the Sedin brothers combined for six points as the Canucks silenced the visiting Predators 4-1.

OTTAWA - Canada's Olympic mascots are meant to be cute and cuddly, but visit one anti-sealing website and you'll see Quatchi angrily wielding a club and blood dripping from Miga's snarling jaws.

LONDON - Hundreds of people have celebrated the winter solstice at Stonehenge, braving snowy travel conditions and a morning fog.

LAHORE, Pakistan - A Pakistani court has ordered the noses and ears of two men cut off after they did the same thing to a young woman whose family spurned one of the men's marriage proposal

WARSAW, Poland - A foreigner outside of Poland commissioned the brazen theft of the infamous Auschwitz sign "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work Sets You Free") and detectives must expand their investigation beyond the country's borders

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited announced Tuesday it has signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Tokyo Electric Power Company. It is the Crown corporation's first contract in Japan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Outside the mess hall where Canadian troops were tucking in Tuesday to an early Christmas dinner, the only hint of seasonal snow came from the giant inflatable Frosty the Snowman doll standing sentry alongside Santa Claus.

"Between our conversation in the coffee shop, I managed to spot a mouse chowing down on the mini-cheese rolls and pointed it out to my friends and the two other customers in there with us. I snapped a picture of the little offender without hesitation," he

Eurostar resumed its high-speed rail service linking Britain, France and Belgium on Tuesday after a three-day suspension that stranded tens of thousands of travellers during the holiday season and left French President Nicolas Sarkozy indignant.

The White House warned Iran on Tuesday not to ignore a year-end deadline to accept a United Nations plan to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel.

Nearly all of the 47,000 people living on the slopes of a volcano in the central Philippines have fled to emergency shelters as officials prepared for a possible massive eruption Tuesday.

The B.C. government is reminding drivers that on New Year's Day it will become illegal to drive in the province while using a hand-held cellphone or other electronic device.

A family from sun-baked South Africa has officially won an 11-year fight to live permanently in rainy Prince Rupert, B.C.

The B.C. government is defending its record on fighting climate change following a report that it's the only province in Canada to increase its industrial greenhouse gas emissions in 2008.

Canadian team of the year honours go to the 2009 world junior hockey team, which claimed this country's fifth straight world championship this past January.

The Nashville Predators rarely found the back of the net during the first two months of the season. It's been a much different story in December.

OTTAWA - Canada's top soldier in Afghanistan is predicting a breakthrough against the Taliban insurgency by summer.

WASHINGTON - Canada has a reputation for producing a wide variety of excellent beers, but tipplers visiting the Canadian Embassy had just three choices of brews recently - Molson Canadian, Alexander Keith's Ale or Blue Light.

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is not ruling out a carbon tax for sometime in the country's future, saying the government must look to see what happens south of the border.

Quebec police have released a clip of a recent television interview with hockey great Guy Lafleur, in the hopes of cracking a missing teen case.

Hundreds of hotel and service jobs will disappear along with the loss of the Yarmouth ferry, local businesses and politicians warn.

Marine Atlantic says an accident Tuesday morning has forced the ferry service to remove one of the vessels that operates between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland so a puncture can be repaired.

All allegations of mistreatment of Afghan prisoners by Canadian troops investigated so far have been unfounded, the Canadian Forces Military Police said Monday night.

A man accused of killing a Toronto teenager as she shopped on busy Yonge Street on Boxing Day 2005 has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and has been sentenced to life in prison.

A long walk on a short pier at Vancouver's Coal Harbour nearly ended in disaster for a man who plunged into frigid waters on the weekend.

The Supreme Court of Canada announced Tuesday it will not hear an appeal by the athletes. The top court, as usual, gave no reasons for its decision. The women contend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms governs the Games and that Vancouver organizers are

Father of 17-year-old pushed in front of C-Train decries five-year prison term for killer

PITTSBURGH -- With 104 career shutouts, Martin Brodeur stands above every other goaltender who has ever played.

Ottawa, ON - The Department of National Defence is adjusting budgets to key priorities, and as a result, the Army will shift spending in some areas in order to ensure sufficient funding for operational training and new equipment.

CALGARY - The 2010 Canadian Olympic women's hockey team named Monday has more offensive skill on defence and is slightly younger than the squad that won the gold medal in 2006.

When humanity's end arrives, Clif High plans to take to his plywood ark to survive. As for the rest of us?

MOSCOW - The Russian Communist Party asked the nation Monday for a daylong moratorium on criticizing Soviet dictator Josef Stalin as they celebrate his 130th birthday.

Israel's prime minister will ask top ministers to decide Monday whether to approve a deal to exchange 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier who has been in captivity in the Gaza Strip for more than three years

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday defended the results of the Copenhagen climate change talks as a significant step toward a binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

A British Columbia woman has given her boss a Christmas gift that will keep on giving: a kidney.

Police have issued a warning about an increasingly common email scam in which fraudsters hijack email accounts to solicit money from potential victims.

American and Chinese paleontologists have found that a bird-like dinosaur probably used venom to hunt its prey, the first time venom has been found in the ancestors of birds.

A California appeals court on Monday rejected Roman Polanski's bid to have his sex case dismissed, but cited grave concerns over possible judicial and prosecutorial misconduct.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the head of the French train authority to get Channel Tunnel passenger traffic moving again by Tuesday.

TORONTO - When you think of a flu pandemic, the images that come to mind are of people sick and people dying. But influenza experts quietly admit there may be a silver lining - or several - to the H1N1 pandemic that erupted this year. Not just in the even

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The wounds, still weeping some seven months after Taliban bullets tore through the boy's hip and abdomen, are but one tiny example of the tragedy that is Afghanistan - and the small acts of kindness that sometimes ease its pain.

A New Brunswick woman who told police she'd been abducted at gunpoint and forced to drive a man to Toronto has received a conditional discharge after pleading guilty to mischief.

Traditional hunters say they may ignore a ban imposed by the government of the Northwest Territories on caribou hunting north of Great Slave Lake.

A third-party investigation has found that millions of dollars' worth of gold were not stolen from the Royal Canadian Mint's vaults as originally feared, says the institution.

A former Edmonton reservist found not guilty of sexual assault should receive compensation from the Canadian Armed Forces after an investigation by military police was found to have flaws during his trial, according to a military expert.

If you're stuck with too many tickets to events at the Winter Games in February, organizers have good news.

The chief of Peguis First Nation in Manitoba says the controversy about the salaries of elected leaders in the community is overblown.

Hayley Wickenheiser was named captain on Monday of the Canadian women's hockey set to compete at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

One of Canada's biggest energy companies is asking the federal government for $1-billion to kick-start a transformation of the country's highways.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and U.K.-based Hammerson PLC have teamed up to buy a shopping mall in Scotland from Retail Property Holdings Ltd. for about C$505 million.

IRANIAN authorities are continuing to hold several members of Osama bin Laden's family.

A Department of Transportation rule announced Monday prohibits U.S. aircraft on domestic routes from remaining on a tarmac for more than three hours with passengers aboard

Aboriginal protesters are vowing to disrupt the Olympic torch relay today during a stop at the Six Nations reserve that has the approval of the band leadership.

Landmark health-care legislation backed by U.S. President Barack Obama passed its sternest Senate test in Monday's pre-dawn hours, overcoming Republican delaying tactics on a 60-40 vote that all but assures its passage this week.

EDMONTON -- Hungry patrons, chopsticks in hand, peruse the tantalizing platter up and down to select the most delectable sushi roll.

Watching his Oilers play, head coach Pat Quinn must feel like one of those helpless drones who park themselves in front of a slot machine all day. Seven ... seven ... lemon. Seven ... seven ... lemon.

We've all spoken words we wish we hadn't. You say something spiteful or stupid. Or your joke bombs worse than a cheesy comedian's efforts on amateur night.

Canada's oldest surviving female war veteran celebrated her 105th birthday Sunday.