Howard Alexander

NEW YORK – "Mockingjay, Part 1" didn't catch fire like the previous installments of "The Hunger Games," but it still had the biggest opening of the year with $123 million at the weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.

FERGUSON, Mo. – Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson did not receive a severance package when he resigned over the weekend, the St. Louis suburb's mayor said Sunday.

TORONTO – On the twisty drama "The Good Wife," oftentimes the most electrifiying moments onscreen happen on another screen.

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea on Saturday proposed a joint investigation with the U.S. into the hacking attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, warning of "serious" consequences if Washington rejects a probe that it believes would prove Pyongyang had nothing to do with the cyberattack.

TORONTO – Celebrity watchers and armchair coaches may have produced the most social media chatter over the past 12 months, but those tuned into the web's global conversations believe 2014 will be remembered as the time when social justice advocates found their voice.

REGINA – Lori Campbell's most prized possession is a thick folder filled with paperwork.

KINGSTON, Ont. – Prime Minister Stephen Harper celebrated the 200th anniversary of Canada's founding father — Sir John A. Macdonald — by stating so much good came from what he called an ordinary man of whom little was expected.

SEATTLE – Russell Wilson hit Jermaine Kearse for a 35-yard touchdown 3:19 into overtime to lift the Seattle Seahawks to an improbable 28-22 victory over Green Bay in the NFC championship game.

OTTAWA – Canadian troops exchanged fire with Islamic State extremists during a recent battlefield planning exercise in Iraq, the military revealed on Monday.

OTTAWA – Newly tabled anti-terrorism legislation would give Canada's spy agency more power to thwart a suspected extremist's travel plans, disrupt bank transactions and covertly interfere with radical websites.

TORONTO – The family of a Canadian journalist languishing in an Egyptian prison launched an online campaign Monday, urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene in the case of Mohamed Fahmy.

OTTAWA – Canadian soldiers appear to be more likely than their civilian counterparts to have experienced abuse, including corporal punishment, or to have witnessed domestic violence as children, new research aimed at exploring the incidence of depression and suicide in the military suggests.

TORONTO – Groups of students huddle around desks at a university campus as the instructor gives out a quick overview of the job at hand: build a crane, create an electromagnet and pick up metal.

OTTAWA – Canada stands with the tens of thousands of Russians who took to Moscow streets on Sunday to protest the killing of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson says.

ROGERS PASS, B.C. – It's called avalanche alley for a reason.

Starbucks baristas will no longer write "Race Together" on customers' cups starting Sunday, ending as planned a visible component of the company's diversity and racial inequality campaign, according to a memo.

VANCOUVER – Canadians joined millions around the world Saturday night in turning off their lights to mark Earth Hour, celebrating the ninth year of the annual event.

MONTREAL – Elmer Lach was more than just the centre who fed passes to Maurice (Rocket) Richard on the Montreal Canadiens famous Punch Line.

OTTAWA – Mike Duffy had the Senate pay to frame pictures of his family members and for photos to be sent to former American first lady Barbara Bush, an Ottawa courtroom heard Monday in the suspended senator's fraud and bribery trial.

TORONTO – More Canadians are choosing to cancel their cable TV and satellite packages and a new report suggests there's no sign of the migration slowing down.