NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 12-2009

At 10 p.m. Sunday, it was reported Murphy had a drug problem and may have been addicted to painkillers she used after plastic surgery.

Sturgeon poachers on the Fraser River were handed "precedent-setting" court fines in 2009 as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans tries to preserve the endangered fish population, said Herb Redekopp, the conservation and protection chief of the Lower Fr

Using his instincts, Jupi Angootealuk survived a hunting trip that went horribly wrong. Now his community is celebrating, and his family wants to sell his story

VANCOUVER -- David Backes scored twice Sunday as the St. Louis Blues vacated the Western Conference cellar with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

Canadian Tamils of Sri Lankan descent have voted almost unanimously in favour of the creation of a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka, claims a group that organized a "referendum" on the issue.

An exhibition victory over Sweden came with a small scare for Canada's world junior team.

The Conservative government is in an 11th hour scramble to put together a national pavilion at the Vancouver Olympics, even though it was advised for years by bureaucrats and partners that it should take advantage of the Winter Games to promote Canada to

Police say a 53-year-old man is unaccounted for after a massive fire destroyed a hangar at an airport in Prince George, B.C.

The snowstorm that battered the northeastern United States on Saturday moved into Nova Scotia on Sunday, creating treacherous driving conditions and causing some flight cancellations.

A music teacher whose students performed at one of President Obama's inauguration events has been put on administrative leave after taking 40 students to eat at a Hooters in downtown Phoenix.

ALTA BADIA, Italy - A scary moment for Robbie Dixon almost resulted in another Canadian skier's injury Sunday.

A holy cow in Connecticut, perhaps? Or maybe a divine bovine?

BAGHDAD - Iraq took back a remote oil well from Iranian forces and tentatively approved a lucrative oil deal with foreign investors in separate steps Sunday toward shoring up its nascent oil industry in the face of still-existing security pitfalls.

CARACAS, Venezuela - An unmanned U.S. spy plane recently violated Venezuela's airspace and the military has been ordered to shoot down any such aircraft if it happens again, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday

An international team spent two months in 2008/9 surveying the Gamburtsevs in Antarctica - a series of peaks totally buried under the ice cap.

A Dutch teenager barred from sailing solo around the world because of her age has been found on a Caribbean island after going missing, police say.

Don Cherry used his Coach's Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada to respond to criticism from a Toronto neurosurgeon who said Cherry's support for an aggressive style of hockey is dangerous for the game.

If home is where the heart is, there will be two clubs feeling pretty good about themselves in Vancouver on Sunday night

Investigators in Prince George, B.C., are scouring the scene of a massive blaze that destroyed an airport hangar Saturday.

The Philippines' most active volcano could erupt within days, officials warned Sunday after detecting a drastic surge in earthquakes and eerie rumbling sounds in surrounding foothills. Tens of thousands of villagers have been evacuated as a precaution.

A woman who says she was thrown to the ground and strip-searched at the Ottawa International Airport on her way home from her grandmother's funeral plans to make an official human rights complaint.

A slow-moving snowstorm that blanketed swaths of the northeastern United States and caused at least five deaths continued its northward trek Sunday.

Brittany Murphy died early this morning after she went into full cardiac arrest and could not be revived, multiple sources tell TMZ. Murphy starred in such films as "Clueless," "8 Mile," and "Don't Say a Word." "King of the Hill"

n Italy, where winters are generally milder, heavy snow and subfreezing temperatures were causing havoc. In Sicily, the Defence Ministry dispatched helicopters to ferry civil protection crews to people in need of urgent medical care.

MONTREAL - The federal government wasted no time Saturday trying to take some of the sting out of criticism that it failed to play a meaningful role in global climate change talks in Denmark that produced a shaky agreement.

The iconic Snowbirds aerobatic flying squadron will open their 40th season of tours with a performance at their home base just outside of Moose Jaw, Sask., on April 28, 2010.

Fire crews are battling a massive blaze that broke out at the airport in Prince George, B.C., on Saturday afternoon

Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse set start and track records on the way to a gold medal in the World Cup event at Altenberg, Germany, on Saturday.

Canadian alpine skier Manuel Osborne-Paradis was fastest at the World Cup downhill in Val Gardena, Italy, earning his third career World Cup win, his second this season.

OSWIECIM, Poland - Polish authorities stepped up security checks at airports and border crossings and searched scrap metal yards Saturday as the search intensified for the infamous Nazi sign stolen from the Auschwitz death camp memorial.

LONDON - More than 2,000 people were stranded beneath the English Channel for up to 16 hours when their Eurostar trains came to a halt in a tunnel, leaving many of them without food, water - or any idea of what was happening.

Up to 50 centimetres of snow will fall on the eastern United States on Saturday, the U.S. National Weather Service said.

More than 200 people lined up at Saint John's Long Wharf Saturday morning with buckets and coolers in hand to buy live lobster for $5 a pound.

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A large earthquake struck Taiwan on Saturday night, causing some injuries and damage in the capital of Taipei as well as damage near the quake's epicenter.

David Hutchison, who played Santa at Parkway Mall on Ellesmere Rd., says he was told Wednesday by mall officials that he was canned for giving out candy canes to shoppers who didn't pay to take a photo with him.

Relative to their normal prey, male spiders are not very nutritious, and females only eat their mates if they are starving, researchers have found.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's nuclear chief said Friday the country has started making more efficient centrifuge models that it plans to put in use by early 2011 - a statement that underscores Tehran's defiance and adds to international concerns over its nuclear

The death of a Whistler man Thursday night on the Sea-to-Sky Highway occurred despite a costly upgrade of the road intended to help prevent such accidents.

OTTAWA - Jean Chretien once offered to risk his neck bungee jumping in a bid to squelch persistent rumours of ill health that plagued him during his troubled tenure as official Opposition leader.

A new building at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown is the first National Defence facility in Canada to meet a tough North American standard for environmentally friendly construction

Canada's military police have been quietly investigating allegations for more than a year that the country's troops abused Afghan detainees

They came to see Alex Ovechkin. They left buzzing about Mason Raymond and Roberto Luongo.

The equipment van for the Minnesota Wild caught on fire this afternoon in the parking lot of Scotiabank Place in Ottawa prior to the Wild's game against the Senators on Saturday.

Air Canada said Friday it is cutting back on its maintenance requirements but denied a union leader's claim that the airline is laying off employees.

"It seems there are too few politicians in this world capable of looking beyond the horizon of their own narrow self-interest, let alone caring much for the millions of people who are facing down the threat of climate change," d. "It is now evident tha

Thirteen more former employees have joined an animal abuse complaint against a world-class conservation centre in Langley, B.C.

TORONTO - An Etobicoke schoolgirl thought she it was a bad dream when a balding, middle-aged man tried to force her into his Cadillac

The olive-sided flycatcher, a medium-sized migratory songbird, was listed Friday as a threatened species under Newfoundland and Labrador's Endangered Species Act.

Frank Ostrowski will be home for Christmas for the first time in 23 years

It looks like the injury-hit Canadian team has lost another skier for the season.

Doctors prepared Friday to perform emergency surgery on a Brazilian toddler to remove some of the 42 sewing needles allegedly inserted into him by his stepfather during a series of rituals.

The Canadian Avalanche Centre in Revelstoke, B.C., has issued a special avalanche warning for the mountainous rural areas of the province's South Coast area.

Vancouver's elite Urban Search and Rescue Team is being overhauled less than eight weeks away from the 2010 Olympics

Declining caribou herds have led the Northwest Territories government to ban all caribou hunting in the Bathurst Caribou herd's winter range.

The Supreme Court of Canada has upgraded a young woman's conviction for her role in the killing of a 13-year-old Edmonton girl to first-degree murder, rejecting the defence that she had a change of heart in the girl's slaying.

The Washington Capitals are not in much of a fight for the Southeast Division lead, but they're definitely not afraid to defend each other.

A coalition of environmental groups at the Copenhagen climate change conference gave its "Fossil of the Year" award to Canada on Friday.

The Philadelphia Phillies introduced pitcher Roy Halladay at a news conference after he was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays for three prospects. Halladay has agreed a three-year contract extension worth $60 million with an option for a fourth year.

"I saw some trains stopped and I didn't want to walk the extra five blocks so I just got in between two cars," said Hambler, who nearly succumbed to hypothermia as he desperately clung to the speeding train as it sped southward.

People in Iqaluit may need to swap their parkas for raincoats this weekend, as the weather forecast calls for rain and temperatures on the plus side.

The Olympic torch relay was delayed and forced to take a different route to Toronto's city centre Thursday evening after a crush of protesters rallied against the Games.

The corrida, or bullfight, has long been a part of Spanish life. But this week the Catalan parliament in Barcelona will consider a proposal to ban it, becoming the first region in of Spain to do so.

A 13-year-old boy from northern Manitoba has been charged with the second-degree murder of Bernard Hart. The boy was arrested and charged on Wednesday by RCMP in Thompson, Man. He will be appear in Thompson provincial court at a date yet to be determined,

After Canada took a public relations beating all week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided to keep a low profile on his first day at the Copenhagen climate summit.

NASA, the wonder agency of the 1960s, and Google, the go-to company of the early 21st Century, are trying to give the world the ability to monitor both the carbon dioxide pollution and the levels of forest destruction that contribute to global warming

BlackBerry users in North America are slowly regaining access to email after a long shut down due to an unspecified network issue from maker Research in Motion.

The Canadian alpine team has suffered another blow as Kelly VanderBeek suffered a suspected torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during a crash Thursday on the second downhill training run at the World Cup race in Val d'Isere, France.

Scientists are hailing the unlocking of the complete genetic code of two of the most common cancers as "a fundamental moment in cancer research."

A Canadian archeologist exploring a cave in Mozambique has found the earliest evidence of prehistoric humans using and processing wild grains for food.

The federal government is selling off its commercial Candu reactor division, Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt announced on Thursday.

Scientists studying a 160-year-old can of soup found in the Canadian Arctic have detected lead levels in its broth and sealant that are "off the scale" -- further evidence, they say, of the lead poisoning believed to have doomed the 19th-century Franklin

Saku Koivu tapped in the go-ahead goal on a power play with 4:13 left to give the Anaheim Ducks a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.

Astronomers using small, off-the-shelf telescopes in Arizona have found a planet orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light years away. The planet is about 6.5 times heavier than Earth and nearly three times its diameter, making it a so-called super-Earth.

British billionaire Richard Branson is lending his support to the City of Vancouver's efforts to fight climate change and create green jobs.

The former chief of the Squamish fire department says he was fired from his job for trying to put a stop to firefighters drinking alcohol at the city's two fire stations between emergency calls.

B.C. gang leader Clay Roueche has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to drug-trafficking charges in the U.S.

The pilot of a Quebec news helicopter that crashed Wednesday morning in Montreal at the peak of rush hour is being hailed for his skill in preventing a worse outcome.

Canada has finalized its 22-man roster for the upcoming world junior hockey championship, releasing nine players on Wednesday in Regina.

A Brazilian toddler has been found with up to 40 needles inside him, which police say his stepfather deliberately inserted in a "black magic" ritual.

"I think it says there are some really good things happening, really innovative things we can share with other cities," said Shirley Lowe, the executive director of the Old Strathcona Business Association.

A Calgary bus company that transports children with special needs says it will be difficult to replace one of its stolen buses. Someone stole the vehicle from the business's parking lot early Saturday morning.

Jayna Hefford of Kingston, Ont., scored a pair of goals to pace the Canadian women's hockey team a 6-2 win over the U.S. in Tuesday's exhibition game.

Nasa satellites have weighed the water lost by the US State of California's heartland since 2003.

A team of archaeologists and scientists says they have for the first time found pieces of a burial shroud from the time of Jesus in a tomb in Jerusalem.

Canada has "rushed" scores of fighting vehicles with five tonnes of additional armour plating to Afghanistan to try to counter the Taliban's lethal success with larger homemade landmines.

An emergency meeting of the special Commons committee on Afghanistan could not go ahead Tuesday when all seven Conservative members failed to show up.

There is one evening in December when millions of children scan the sky for the sight of a rather plump, bearded gentleman said to be strangely attired in a red suit and a red toque with a big white pompom. He is also reputed to be boundlessly generous an

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner completed its maiden flight Tuesday, more than two years behind schedule.

Oral Roberts, a U.S. evangelist who rose from humble tent revivals to found a multimillion-dollar ministry and a university bearing his name, died Tuesday at age 91.

An investigation by the Abbotsford Police Department has concluded no charges should be laid in the police shooting of a homeless man in downtown Vancouver in March, the department announced on Tuesday morning.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Whoever killed U.S. Army Specialist Demetrius Void will likely never be known. The 20-year-old was walking late one September night along a poorly lit road on the sprawling Kandahar Airfield military base in southern Afghanistan wh

The Conservative government has not ruled out giving special breaks to oilsands companies when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, Environment Minister Jim Prentice acknowledged Tuesday.

Chilly Alberta has already shattered a power use record set just last week.

Children in Cornwall, Ont., who were sexually abused or at risk of being abused were sometimes further harmed by the authorities entrusted to help them, a public inquiry has found.

Planet-hunters have discovered two "super-Earths" orbiting two nearby Sun-like stars.

Thousands of people in the Philippines have fled their homes after the country's most active volcano oozed lava and shot up plumes of ash on Tuesday.

Two homes in the Calgary area used as marijuana grow-ops have been successfully seized under new provincial legislation. One house in northwest Calgary and one in Cochrane, valued at $400,000 to $450,000 each, are being sold and some of the proceeds will