Ottawa - Two ships, one of them carrying hundreds of passengers were stuck in the ice in the Saint Lawrence Seaway off Matane in eastern Canada, news reports said.

Ice breakers had failed to clear a path for the two stricken ships, the CTMA Vacancier ferry with 300 people on board, and the Georges-Alexandre-Lebel, a cargo ship owned by Canada's COGEMA shipping company, Canadian television CTV reported Tuesday. A third ship was freed on Monday.

Passengers on the cruise ship were on their way to a one-week cross country ski tour on Monday when the ship became enmeshed in the ice, but the detour has dampened their holiday mood.

Ottawa - Two ships carrying hundreds of passengers are stuck in the ice in the Saint Lawrence Seaway off Matane in eastern Canada, news reports said.

Ice breakers failed on Monday to clear a path for the two stricken ships, the CTMA Vacancier ferry with 300 people on board, and the Georges-Alexandre-Lebel, a cargo ship owned by Canada's COGEMA shipping company.

COGEMA general director Andre Landry told the French-language newspaper Le Soleil that ice of that thickness has not been observed in the seaway that early in the year for many years.

Ottawa, Dec 19 : A top archeologist has said that the upcoming Dakar Rally, which has been relocated to Argentina and Chile because of security fears, could damage important archeological sites.

According to a report by the Canadian Press, the rally, which this year will feature more than 500 vehicles, was transferred from Africa because of terrorism concerns and will be held in South America from January 3-18.

Five hundred and thirty teams will participate in the rally, with 82 trucks, 188 cars, 30 4x4s and 230 motorcycles racing over 9,000 kilometers and cross over the Andes mountain range separating Argentina and Chile.

Ottawa  - Prime Minister Stephen Harper Wednesday appealed to Canadians to support his minority government and vowed to fight a no-confidence vote in parliament by the opposition.

In a nationally-televised address Harper accused the opposition on Wednesday evening of wanting to overturn the results of the latest general elections only seven weeks after the poll.

Canada's government would fight its opponents by all means at its disposal to prevent them from forming a coalition government to replace his own, Harper said.

Ottawa, Dec. 2 : In a political coup, Canada''s three opposition parties have joined hands to oust the just elected minority government of .

Leaders of the country''s three main opposition parties presented their plan to topple Harper''s minority government at a press conference in Ottawa late on Monday afternoon.

According to the Globe and Mail, the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois publicly signed a coaltion accord and sent a letter to Governor-General Michaëlle Jean saying the opposition has lost confidence in the Conservatives.

Ottawa, Nov 29 : Scientists have found the fragments of a 10-tonne asteroid along the Alberta/Saskatchewan border in Canada.

According to a report by the Canadian Press, University of Calgary researchers Alan Hildebrand and graduate student Ellen Millet discovered several pieces of the space rock late on November 27 near Marsden, a farming village of 275 people about 270 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.

The search for the space rock began on November 20 after the asteroid was spotted hurtling towards Earth by thousands of people in both Alberta and Saskatchewan.

People in the Marsden area not only saw the fireball, which was as bright as a billion-watt light bulb, but they also heard and smelled it.