NEWS IMAGE COLLAGE / for 07-2009

The rumours of Arland Bruce's return to the Toronto Argonauts appear to be a tad premature.

TORONTO - A new specialized team of drug investigators has uncovered one of the largest heroin caches found in Canada during its first investigation, one that started and finished within a month.

There is more evidence that using a cellphone while driving puts motorists at high risk of getting into an accident.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's director of communications, Kory Teneycke, is planning to step down from his post, CTV News has learned, just as speculation ratchets up about a possible fall election.

This ones for you newfette ;-)

At least two dozen gas stations in Alberta have run dry after a severe storm in Edmonton forced two refineries to shut down.

The number of Canadians getting regular employment insurance benefits in May reached 778,700, the highest level on comparable records going back 12 years, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

A Winnipeg woman is suing Manitoba Lotteries Corp., claiming casino staff allowed her to continue gambling for years after she agreed to be banned from the establishments.

AJAX -- For two years Ray Collingham felt like somebody was holding a gun to his head.

OTTAWA -- The Great Ottawa Flag War is raging.

Where YOU set the nation's priorities. Imagining how the parliament might work if it was run completely democratically through the internet.

It is high summer. Parliament is in recess and television is in reruns. For a watchful media, though, there is no holiday; autumn is far away, yet it is open season on Michael Ignatieff.

Toronto Mayor David Miller says the city has reached a tentative deal with its unions, signaling a possible end to the city's 36-day strike if the agreement is ratified.

With scorching temperatures sizzling British Columbia, two municipalities in the Fraser Valley have slapped restrictions on watering lawns and cleaning driveways, fearing there may not be enough water if a fire breaks out.

The wild stormy weather experienced across B.C. this weekend will be replaced by a scorching heat wave that could last until Saturday, according to weather officials.

HONOLULU - State officials in Hawaii on Monday said they have once again checked and confirmed that President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen, and therefore meets a key constitutional requirement for being president.

"It's an extension of playing dress-up."

Canada's most renowned philosopher has weighed in provocatively on the debate surrounding the "atheist bus" campaign, describing as "pathetic" the cross-Canada advertising effort to promote the idea that "there's probably no God."

CHICAGO - A Texas woman decapitated her newborn baby and ate pieces of his body before turning a knife on herself, police said Monday

According to a report in the Globe and Mail a group that is intending to bid on the Phoenix Coyotes wants to bring five of the team's regular season games to Saskatoon or Halifax

Edward Gorman, The Times Motor Racing Correspondent, says the return of the seven-times champion in place of the injured Brazilian cannot be ruled out.

The system designed to track the Defence Department's extensive stocks of materiel does not provide accurate information to ensure such supplies are properly safeguarded or can be readily located, a department audit has found.

OAKVILLE, Ont. -- Nathan Green couldn't have picked a better place to record his first PGA Tour victory.

A good divorce lawyer may keep you from getting taken to the cleaners, but having a legal eagle on your side won't protect you from the negative effects of marriage breakdown on your body, a new study says.

The National Football League on Monday welcomed back former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

KABUL - A confident President Hamid Karzai on Monday offered peace talks to Taliban militants if they renounce violence and called for a new relationship with the West if he wins a second term in next month's presidential election.

BEIRUT - Hezbollah's leader was quoted by two Lebanese newspapers Monday as warning that his Iranian-backed militants will strike Israel's largest city of Tel Aviv with missiles from Lebanon - if the Jewish state attacked the guerrillas' south Beirut stro

LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared Monday that a mission to oust Taliban fighters from an Afghan stronghold has been a major success, despite a mounting death toll and public skepticism over the merits of the campaign.

Israel's defence minister told visiting U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates Monday in Jerusalem that his country is taking "no option" off the table regarding Iran's nuclear program, indicating that a military strike remains a possibility

A Canadian man faces the death penalty after a court in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, found him guilty of three counts of being a member of a terrorist organization.

Guinness World Records has named Doctor Who the most successful science-fiction series, the second Guinness record for the much-loved BBC-TV production.

A plan to put a billboard near the base of an iconic climbing destination on the Sea-to-Sky Highway north of Vancouver is upsetting Squamish, B.C., residents and environmentalists.

A fish biologist in the Northwest Territories says he may have found an entirely new species of cisco in Great Slave Lake.

Leading stun gun manufacturer Taser International Inc. unveiled on Monday a device that is capable of deploying three shocks without having to be recharged

A soldier accused of shooting and killing his comrade in their tent in Afghanistan over two years ago testified Monday that "in retrospect" he realizes he had other options to pulling the trigger.

Missing financial adviser Earl Jones turned himself in to Quebec provincial police on Monday, weeks after provincial securities regulators said he was suspected of bilking clients out of as much as $50 million

Via Rail says its passenger rail service should be back to normal on Monday after a two-day Canada-wide strike, offering discounts of 60 per cent on tickets to all destinations to woo back customers.

More hot weather forecast for B.C. is raising concerns about the water supply, air quality and even more forest fires, but it's not yet officially a heat wave according to CBC meteorologist Claire Martin.

Police in Mississippi say a woman was carjacked by a bikini-clad suspect, who they say later tried to rob an RV dealership.

Bank account numbers. Home addresses. Phone numbers. Most people probably wouldn't volunteer this information to a stranger, yet millions use the Internet every day to send and store sensitive information - not to mention the countless secrets and embarra

HALIFAX, N.S. - A club in Halifax named after a character on the television show the Trailer Park Boys isn't typically considered a gay bar.

WINNIPEG -- A man was beaten by residents and charged with child abduction after a bizarre case of mistaken identity Saturday afternoon in the North End.

At six, she was allegedly sexually assaulted by her foster father. Later, she says she was molested by her grandfather.

CFB TRENTON -- A 36-year-old man is dead and police are looking for a 32-year-old male in connection to an incident on Department of National Defence property.

TORONTO -- The union for the city's outside workers has reached a deal in the 35-day-old strike, the head of CUPE local 416 announced this morning. Striking workers granted the City of Toronto a third extension earlier today to get a deal done or union ne

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., July 26 (Reuters) - A Canadian astronaut aboard the International Space Station said on Sunday it looks like Earth's ice caps have melted a bit since he was last in orbit 12 years ago

OCOTAL, Nicaragua - Ousted President Manuel Zelaya has encamped his roving government-in-exile in this sleepy mountain town near the Honduran border to launch his return to power after a coup last month.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Sarah Palin stepped down Sunday as Alaska governor to write a book and build a right-of-centre coalition, but she left her long-term political plans unclear and refused to address speculation she would seek a 2012 presidential bid.

One of Afghanistan's two vice-presidential candidates, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, survived an ambush by Taliban fighters on Sunday, campaign officials said.

The union representing striking Toronto municipal workers that threatened to walk away from the bargaining table was still in talks with the city early Monday.

One of the groups interested in keeping the Phoenix Coyotes in Arizona has offered some unique ideas on how it would proceed with the club.

Mother Nature put on a show Saturday night in the sky - and on the ground much of southern B.C. was hammered by severe weather of the type we haven't seen in years, according to Environment Canada.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Monday that it is open to new dialogue to defuse tensions over its nuclear weapons program in what appeared to be a call for direct talks with the United States.

For more than a week, John Lovelace has been buzzing across the country as he leads a distinct armada of aircraft to the epicentre of Canadian aviation history.

A team of forensic pathologists will study the corpse of a fin whale found wedged against the bow of a cruise ship in Vancouver on Saturday.

EDMONTON -- Australian racer Will Power led from the pole and won under a caution flag at the Rexall Edmonton Indy Sunday in a race marred by a pit fire that burned driver Tony Kanaan's hands and face.

As July turns into the deadliest month ever for coalition soldiers in Afghanistan, NATO has revealed it's testing a new device to help detect roadside bombs -- those so called "improvised explosive devices" that have caused such carnage for Canadian and o

NEW DELHI - India on Sunday launched the first nuclear-powered submarine built on its soil, asserting itself as a world power by joining just five other countries that can design and construct such vessels.

The U.S. administration is determined to achieve a "truly comprehensive" Arab-Israeli peace settlement that includes normal relations between Israel and all of its Arab neighbours, President Barack Obama's special Mideast envoy said Sunday.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canada's outgoing ambassador to Afghanistan says the insurgency is strong and determined, and deep-rooted challenges lie ahead for the war-torn country and the international troops who have taken on the Taliban.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Unlike the real thing, there was no threat of rain Sunday - or even much hope of respite from the searing desert heat as golfers braved the fairway at the Kandahar Canadian Open.

With Denmark becoming the latest nation to reveal major plans to sharpen its Arctic military capabilities, a global buildup in the tools of northern warfare has experts concerned about an increased risk of conflict.

VERNON, B.C. - A father and his son defying an evacuation order to save their waterfront home from a raging forest fire instead ended up in a race to save a waterbomber pilot whose plane had crashed into the lake.

The B.C. Forest Service says the Terrace Mountain fire in the Okanagan that is keeping over 1,000 people out of their homes is 50 per cent contained.

The federal government made a last-ditch effort Sunday to persuade European politicians to vote against a ban on Canadian seal products.

As the rain pours down and puddles all over the GTA today, residents are warned of possible flooding conditions.

BALTIMORE - NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is offering a glimpse of atmospheric debris from an object that plunged into Jupiter in a rare collision with the planet

Vancouver police have released an update on the case of a murdered woman who was found floating in the Fraser River in south Vancouver on Thursday evening.

The Brazilian careered off at the 200kph Turn Four at the Hungaroring after being hit in the helmet by flying debris from rear wing of the Brawn GP of compatriot Rubens Barrichello.

Even as it insists the international scramble for polar resources "is not adversarial and it is not a race," the Canadian government is poised to launch a major public relations offensive touting its record on asserting the country's Arctic sovereignty an

MONTREAL - Via Rail Canada says it will resume full service across the country late Sunday.

A dead whale was impaled on the bow of a cruise ship that pulled into the Port of Vancouver on Saturday morning, witnesses said

A waterbomber battling the Terrace Mountain fire north of Kelowna, B.C., has crashed into Okanagan Lake.

Mark Leduc, who won a silver medal in boxing for Canada at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, has passed away at the age of 47.

Child advocates have slammed a risque range of baby clothes that created a storm of controversy in Australia and are now on sale in New Zealand.

CALGARY - A 14-year-old Strathmore girl who accused a group of men of sexually assaulting her has admitted she fabricated the allegation.

With more than 100,000 books sold in North America and many more $1 wristbands, the stop-complaining prophet has hit a nerve with people of all walks of life. What started as a Sunday morning sermon has blossomed into a movement embraced by schools, workp

An Exshaw man has filed a $2.5-million lawsuit against the RCMP and two constables for allegedly repeatedly Tasering him during an arrest in Banff two years ago.

An already "horrific" month on Alberta's roads grew worse Thursday when four members of a northern native band, including a mother and her two teenage daughters, were killed when their car collided head-on with a half-ton truck near Bonnyville.

LONDON -- Britain's last surviving veteran of the World War One trenches, Harry Patch, has died at the age of 111, the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.

Forget the leather. This season, frankly fake footwear will keep you on your toes

Fighting a Toronto parking ticket is challenging at the best of times, and at least twice as hard during the civic workers strike.

When Arthur C. Clarke envisioned a space elevator in his novel series, Space Odyssey, the futuristic machines were made of solid diamonds.

A writer takes her endowments to the streets and finds not just leering but also liberation

The federal government has found no proof that a woman stranded in Kenya because she didn't look like the photo on her Canadian passport is actually a Canadian citizen, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Friday.

Siblings of the woman who died in a Rideau Canal lock near Kingston, Ont., told CBC News on Friday that their sister, Rona Amir Mohammed, feared for her life at one point in the days leading up to her death.

Swedish telecom giant Ericsson has emerged as the winner in the bidding war for Nortel Networks Corp.'s wireless division with a purchase price of $1.13 billion US, Nortel said in a statement early Saturday.

Florida - Parents in Florida are complaining about a sculpture of a nude family outside a shopping centre west of Delray Beach.

Failing travel companies should have to warn the industry watchdog they intend to shut down, a government report recommends in the wake of the sudden closing of Conquest Vacation in April that stranded hundreds of vacationing customers.

In a set of truly disturbing allegations, a 17-year-old boy is accused of fatally stabbing his dad, cutting the body into pieces and dumping the remains in wilderness north of Winnipeg.

Police say a woman's former lover took her and her new beau hostage before leaping from the ninth floor of a downtown apartment tower yesterday.

WASHINGTON - Knocked offstride by a racial uproar he helped stoke, President Barack Obama hastened Friday to try and tamp down the flames.

The U.S. administration of George W. Bush considered sending U.S. troops into a Buffalo, N.Y., suburb in 2002 to arrest a group of terrorism suspects in what would have been a nearly unprecedented use of military power within the United States, The New Yo

The Calgary Stampeders left BC Place quiet as a mausoleum on Friday night, drubbing the Lions all night long in a 48-10 rout.

In January 2008, the Government of Canada commissioned an "Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan." This report recommended that Canada's mission in Afghanistan be extended past 2009, providing certain conditions were met

The U.S. and Canadian governments have released details of a 42-day Arctic Ocean mapping mission as part of the two countries' efforts to extend their sovereignty over resource-rich areas of the polar seabed.

ROME - Archaeologists have found five well-preserved Roman shipwrecks deep under the sea off a small Mediterranean island, with their cargo of vases, pots and other objects largely intact

Mounties have ruled out foul play and arson in a fatal cabin fire that killed three children in B.C.'s southern Interior.

The man who police say sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl in Surrey earlier this month has been linked through DNA to two other sexual assault cases involving children, RCMP officials said Friday.

The family of an Afghan girl killed by a warning shot apparently fired by a Canadian soldier has expressed anger and confusion over her death.

The Toronto Argonauts didn't exactly look great without Arland Bruce on Friday night, but they didn't have to be the way the Winnipeg Blue Bombers played.

A Toronto man had a brush with death at the hands of a GO train, one that ended with him getting nearly $1,000 in tickets and seeing the front of his truck damaged.

TEHRAN, Iran -- An Iranian passenger plane skidded off the runway during its landing in northeast Iran and crashed, shredding the cockpit into a tangled mass of wreckage and killing 17 people, the state news agency said.

SYDNEY, N.S. -- A soldier accused of shooting and killing a colleague in a tent in Afghanistan over two years ago says he felt his life was threatened by someone when he whirled and fired his weapon.

The Al-Fauz Institute for Islamic Thought says its purpose is to teach young Muslims how to apply Islamic ideas to Canada�s pluralistic society and �prepare young minds that will take up the mantle of the Muslim community.� Tamimi is scheduled to la

A lightning quick sex session in a bush during a storm ended in a flash when a bolt of lightning struck the ground nearby making the earth move for the lovemaking couple.

A class action lawsuit filed Thursday by a New Jersey man alleges meals at Denny's contain unsafe salt levels, a non-profit groups said.

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez announced Thursday he will send military personnel and equipment to the border with Colombia in reaction to Colombian plans to allow the U.S. to use basis in its territory for anti-narcotics operations.