PRESS DIGEST - Canada - Jan 6

Jan 6 (Reuters) - The following are top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

- Food prices have soared to record levels around the world, raising fears that poor countries could face a crisis similar to the one that led to rioting and rationing two years ago.

- BP (BP.N) and its partners made a series of cost-cutting decisions that ultimately contributed to the oil spill that ravaged the Gulf of Mexico coast over the summer, the White House oil spill commission said Wednesday.

BUSINESS:

- Rising stock prices and higher interest rates are giving some much-needed relief to Manulife Financial Corp's (MFC.TO) balance sheet, restoring some of the fortune that plunging markets took away. As a result, analysts say the insurer, which lost more than $3.3 billion in the previous two quarters combined, could earn $2 billion for the three months that ended Dec. 31.

NATIONAL POST:

- Canada settled for silver at the World Junior Hockey Championships for the second consecutive year with a crushing 5-3 loss to Russia at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo on Wednesday.

FINANCIAL POST:

- Canada's High Liner Foods Inc (HLF.TO) HLF.A has put all of Iceland on edge with its public declaration this week that it wants to buy the island nation's premier seafood supplier Icelandic Group.