Canada News Headlines - AFP

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada supports Rwanda's bid to join the 53-nation Commonwealth composed mainly of former British colonies, Canadian officials said Monday amid criticisms of the African nation's rights record.

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canadian aboriginal children are being raised in "extreme poverty," the nation's top chief lamented Monday, two decades after parliament voted unanimously to eradicate child poverty.

KITCHENER, Canada (AFP) - Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir hit a couple of pot-holes this weekend on the road to their home-country Olympics in February, but they were still the class of the ice dance field at Skate Canada.

MONTREAL (AFP) - Facebook can be a double-edged sword, a Canadian woman learned when an insurance company cut her health benefits, claiming she was healthy after seeing pictures of her smiling in bikini at the beach.

TOKYO (AFP) - Asian champions Japan scored four tries to overwhelm Canada 27-6 for their second straight win to wind up the two-game test series between the two countries on Saturday.

OTTAWA (AFP) - A Canadian court Friday ordered the country's refugee board to review the rejected asylum application of a lesbian US soldier who claimed her sexual orientation had prompted death threats.

HALIFAX, Canada (AFP) - The international community must ensure that aid and development projects in Afghanistan do not fuel corruption in the war-torn nation, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Friday.

STANSTEAD, Canada (AFP) - Canadians in Stanstead and Americans across the border in Derby Line, Vermont once lived in harmony as one community, mostly ignoring the imaginary line that separates them.

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's government has dismissed opposition demands for a public inquiry into claims that troops in Afghanistan handed detainees over to local officials who were believed to torture.

KITCHENER, Canada (AFP) - Japan's 2006 Olympic champion Shizuka Arakawa telephoned Akiko Suzuki to offer some advice after the unheralded Japanese woman posted a surprise win at the ISU Grand Prix in China last month.

OTTAWA (AFP) - Top brass from Europe and the Americas, including US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, gather this week in Canada to discuss the future of NATO, the war in Afghanistan and other pressing security matters.

GENEVA (AFP) - The World Trade Organisation will rule on a challenge brought by Canada and Mexico against US regulations requiring country-of-origin labels for food.

OTTAWA (AFP) - Finance ministers and central bankers from the world's seven richest countries will meet in the Canadian Arctic in February, ahead of the full G20 summits later in 2010, officials announced Wednesday.

VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) - Rusty Goepel was named the new chairman of the organizing committee for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics on Wednesday, replacing Jack Poole who died last month.

PARIS (AFP) - Canadian industrial giant Bombardier is in "exclusive talks" with the French railway agency SNCF for an 8.0-billion-euro contract (12-billion-dollar) to build 860 trains, SNCF said on Wednesday.

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canadian consumer prices rose 0.1 percent annually in October, following a 0.9 percent decline the previous month, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) - Consumer campaigns to protect threatened fish species have failed, researchers warned Tuesday in a report underscoring the need for alternative ways to save threatened marine species.

OTTAWA (AFP) - The swine flu has contributed to 37 deaths in Canada over the past five days, bringing the total number of fatalities blamed on the A(H1N1) virus to 198, a senior health official said Tuesday.

OTTAWA (AFP) - A senior bureaucrat tasked with deciding who to add to Canada's no-fly list is not being given all the facts, an audit said Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Rising Canadian star Ryan Reynolds is getting in the know after signing up for romantic comedy "TMI," entertainment industry press reported Tuesday.

MONTREAL (AFP) - A 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck Tuesday off Canada's Pacific coast in the remote Queen Charlotte Islands region, experts from the US Geological Survey said, but no casualties were reported.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday said India would take all necessary steps to safeguard its nuclear facilities as the country tightened security in the wake of fresh fears over possible attacks.

OTTAWA (AFP) - Longer toes and shorter lower legs allow sprinters to run faster than others, a new study suggests.

MONTREAL (AFP) - Nations representing 60 percent of global aviation endorsed Monday a plan to liberalize the flagging industry that will drive consolidation and could lead to the emergence of multinational airlines.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - General Motors said Monday an improving global auto market will allow the struggling auto giant to repay government loans early and move forward toward a 2010 share offering.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - General Motors' top executive said Monday the automaker was on track for a public share offering in the second half of 2010, to allow the US and Canadian governments to divest from the company.

MUMBAI (AFP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday began a two-day visit to India, calling for stronger and improved ties between the nations, particularly on trade.

VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) - Women ski jumpers hoping to compete in the 2010 Olympics here lost a court bid Friday to force Games organizers to include them on constitutional grounds.