POLITICS-US: They Blinded Us With Science

Evidence is mounting that U.S. scientists have been prevented by the George W. Bush administration from telling the truth about global warming and other environmental and health issues.

POLITICS-U.S.: Cheney’s Law – Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

Saturday's shooting by Vice President Dick Cheney of a quail-hunting companion on a ranch in Texas is certain to provide talk-show hosts and stand-up comedians with a veritable bonanza of jokes that could last weeks.

U.S.: “Failure of Government Initiative” Doomed New Orleans – Reports

If Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans today, the United States government would be no better prepared to cope with it than it was last August when the storm flooded the city, wrecked much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, and killed 1,400 people.

POLITICS-US: John Ashcroft Spreads His Wings

Of the many chums and political appointees that have passed through the George W. Bush administration's revolving door, former U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft practically disappeared from the news after he resigned in November 2004.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Major Firms Endorse Climate Plan

Several leading energy and manufacturing firms have joined with a prominent environmental think tank to develop the United States' first comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

ENVIRONMENT-U.S.: Evangelical Leaders Call for Government Action on Warming

Breaking with some of their colleagues in the Christian Right, a group of more than 85 U.S. evangelical Christian leaders called on Congress Wednesday to enact legislation that would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, which most scientists believe contribute to global warming.

CANADA: Court Faces Key Decision on “Aboriginal Title”

The Xeni Gwet'in First Nations in the western interior region of British Columbia are taking ancient myths into the courtroom as part of a nearly two decades-long battle with the Canadian government over the title to their land.

POLITICS: For U.S. Right, Canada Is the Great White Hope

Paul Weyrich, widely considered one of the founding fathers of the United States' modern conservative movement, is looking north these days with hopes that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's newly elected government will transform the social and political landscape of Canada.

POLITICS-U.S.: Special Forces, Big-Ticket Weapons Dominate Defence Plans

While the Pentagon emerged as the big winner Monday among U.S. government agencies in next year's budget sweepstakes, its failure to choose among the threats it says it must defend the country against may prove costly in the long run, both financially and operationally, according to analysts here.

POLITICS-US: Bush’s Attorney-General Defends Domestic Spying

If people in the United States expected to hear details of their government's top-secret "terrorist surveillance programme" from Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales in his testimony Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, they were likely disappointed.

POLITICS-U.S.: Guns Over Butter, Abroad and at Home

Despite his administration's growing concerns about preventing the collapse of states in strategic parts of the world, U.S. President George W. Bush has proposed cuts in development and disaster assistance while increasing the defence budget by almost seven percent.

POLITICS-US: Green for Danger?

As the George W. Bush administration ratchets up its domestic spying capabilities, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is collecting "research" reports on direct-action environmental groups produced by right-wing think tanks.

POLITICS-US: Bush Energy Proposals, Speech Underwhelm

U.S. President George W. Bush's proposals to boost government spending on clean energy technologies, like much of the rest of his State of the Union Address, received a tepid reaction from analysts here Wednesday who described the speech as uncharacteristically timid.

POLITICS-US: Alito Confirmation Marks Shift to the Right

The U.S. Senate's confirmation Tuesday of Judge Samuel Alito to serve on the Supreme Court marks a clear victory for Pres. George W. Bush and, even more, for the right-wing movement dedicated to reversing many of the gains made by women and minorities over recent decades.

POLITICS-US: Katrina Hearings Show Litany of Bad Decisions

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) turned down a request from the state of Louisiana for 300 rubber rafts to help rescue stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina because FEMA did not think this type of craft was "appropriate for the environment".

POLITICS-US: Requiem for a Development Dream

Foreign affairs experts agree that the George W. Bush administration is quietly engineering the death of its traditional system for delivering foreign aid - and some of them think it's not such a bad idea.

CANADA: Victorious Conservatives Likely to Tread Softly

Stephen Harper finished a long and gruelling 45-day campaign to be prime minister of Canada after leading his Conservative Party to 124 seats Monday.

POLITICS-CANADA: A Kinder, Gentler Conservative Party?

After its Jan. 23 election, Canada may be headed by a right-wing politician who has successfully sold himself as a nice, friendly and non-ideological individual in an effort to defeat the ruling Liberal party.

POLITICS-US: Two Groups Sue to Stop Wiretaps

Two major U.S. civil liberties groups Tuesday filed lawsuits calling on federal courts to order the George W. Bush administration to halt a National Security Agency (NSA) programme that has intercepted the overseas telephone and email communications of hundreds, possibly thousands, of U.S. citizens without a court-approved warrant.

CHALLENGES 2005-2006: More “Unnatural Disasters” on the Horizon

As the new year begins, extreme weather continues to plague the United States, and experts warn this may be the "new normal" under climate change.

POLITICS-US: Bush Nominee Probed on Executive Powers

The limits of U.S. presidential power emerged as a central issue in the Senate confirmation hearings for Samuel A. Alito to become a new associate justice on the Supreme Court - even as Pres. George W. Bush and Vice Pres. Dick Cheney continued to vigorously defend their use of secret electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens.