[2] First National ended production in February, and the Global stations which had aired that program broadcast Canada Tonight in its place until the new newscast launched.

The look and feel of the newscast was also distinctively different in comparison to other national newscasts; eschewing common elements like maps and globes, instead swirling circles in the Global house colors of red (with burgundy and orange, known internally as the "vortex of news") were used with a circular logo integrating the Global "crescent" logo of the era; the music package was uniquely heavy on woodwinds, drums and flutes.

In conjunction with the launch of Global's new visual identity in February 2006, the program began to be aired live at 6:30 pm in the Atlantic Time Zone, and 5:30 elsewhere.

[5] This version of the program is then broadcast via satellite tape delay in time zones to the west (at 6:30 Eastern, 5:30 Central, Mountain, and Pacific, and 6:00 on CHBC Kelowna since 2009), with updates if news events warrant.

(On October 11, 2011, CIII moved Global National back to 6:30 p.m. as part of a scheduling shift with its early evening newscast, the News Hour.

In February 2008, Newman began presenting the weekday edition of Global National from a specially-built digital newsroom and studio facility in Ottawa.

Tara Nelson was named Global's Europe bureau chief in September 2008;[9] her position as the program's weekend anchor was then shared by Carolyn Jarvis on Saturdays and Robin Gill on Sundays.

[13] Carolyn Jarvis was reassigned to Global's newsmagazine program 16:9 in 2011, with Robin Gill taking over as Saturday anchor alongside her pre-existing Sunday hosting duties.