National News

WINNIPEG - A family friend who cared for a little girl for much of her short life has admitted he lied to social workers and he believes that his lies may have contributed to her death.

DRUMMONDVILLE, Que. - A woman stared blankly from the prisoner's dock as she appeared in court to face charges Wednesday of murdering her three young children.

WINNIPEG - Steve Sinclair had an alcohol problem, was on welfare, and would regularly leave his young daughter Phoenix with relatives or family friend Kim Edwards while he partied.

OTTAWA - Statistics Canada says police report there were 598 homicides in Canada in 2011, 44 more than the year before and the first increase in homicide in three years. The agency says the homicide rate was 1.

OTTAWA - Electronic records detailing the planned overhaul of Canadian naval intelligence — created when admitted Russian spy Jeffrey Delisle was at the height of his treachery — were deleted from a National Defence data base.

RCMP are asking for the public's help in finding two people who have been charged with kidnapping and torturing a man in Mission. Sgt. Peter Thiessen says Gurdev Hair, also known as Dave, and Steve Douglas Godard are suspects in the incident on Nov.

An Ontario Superior Court judge has struck down Toronto's ban on shark fins. Justice James Spence said in a ruling Friday that a city bylaw banning shark fins and foods such as the Chinese dish shark fin soup fell beyond the city's jurisdiction.

Three Saskatoon firefighters have been found not guilty of assaulting and obstructing two police officers.

He may never be known as Flash Garneau, but the latest contender for the helm of the federal Liberals hopes his astronaut credentials will give him a lift.

Liberals are demanding an apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper after a Conservative pollster was censured for conducting a misinformation campaign against MP Irwin Cotler.