FILM-US: Media With a Message Stars At Youth Festival

At first there is nothing odd about the picture on-screen: a cyclist on the bustling streets of Manhattan, protected by a helmet, gloves and a cycling suit. Then the camera captures a wider angle, and the audience sees that the cyclist has only one leg.

CANADA: Public Health System Suffers Legal Setback

In a close 4-3 decision, Canada's Supreme Court has put into question the country's system of free doctors and hospital services, held as an alternative to the for-profit model of medical delivery elsewhere in the world.

RIGHTS: U.S. Moral Authority in "Free Fall", Senators Warn

As Amnesty International urged the George W. Bush administration to "close Guantánamo and disclose the situation in the USA's shadowy network of detention centers around the globe", a subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil services group once led by U.S. Vice Pres. Dick Cheney, won a 30-million-dollar contract to help build a new permanent prison for terror suspects at the U.S. Navy's controversial detention center in Cuba.

REFUGEES-US: Some See Asylum-Seekers as Cure for Urban Decay

Fleeing civil war and economic and political chaos in their home country, they came to the United States a few years ago, where they tried to settle down in a small town. Though initially welcomed by the locals, they didn't have to wait long to face hostility and xenophobia.

RIGHTS-US: Looking Back on "Bloody Sunday"

The summer of 1965 found the United States in turmoil.

POLITICS-US: "Heathens" Not Welcome at Air Force Academy

In late April, the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a longtime religious watchdog group, called the nation's attention to numerous incidents of religious bias and the official promotion of fundamentalist Christianity at the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based United States Air Force Academy - a problem that apparently has been brewing for quite some time.

POLITICS-US: Campaign Contributions Might Aid Anxious Allies

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has sent 20,000 troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, got warm words, a press conference, and dinner.

POLITICS: Civil Society Champion, or Partisan Operative?

In countries across the globe, independent organisations are struggling to build civil society. Depending on who is defining the goals of civil society, it can be alluring or unappealing; both transparent and ambiguous.

POLITICS: Nuclear Warrior Replaces Bolton as Arms Control Chief

The top U.S. government official in charge of arms control advocates the offensive use of nuclear weapons and has deep roots in the militarist political camp.

U.S.: Surging Ethnic Media Speak in Many Tongues

Although largely ignored by advertisers, ethnic radio, television and newspapers in the United States now reach an astonishing 64 million people, about half of whom prefer them to the mainstream press, according to the first ever nationwide assessment of foreign-language and other ethnic media.

POLITICS-U.S.: Right-Wing Hostility to NGOs Glimpsed in Amnesty Flap

This week's flap over Amnesty International's characterisation of U.S. overseas detention facilities and practices as a ''gulag of our times'' offers insights into the Bush administration's and its neo-conservative supporters' deep distrust of some non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

ENVIRONMENT: Nukes-Against-Global Warming Strategy Scored as Too Costly

Faced with the rising toll of global warming and soaring petroleum prices, countries like Canada and the United States are giving nuclear power another look. But this might be among the most expensive ways to produce electricity, say experts and environmental advocates.

U.S.: No Place Like Home for Poor Under Bush Housing Plan?

The administration of President George W. Bush, having slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from public housing programmes, is proposing legislation that would reverse a decades-long federal policy that helped provide decent housing for some of the neediest people in the United States, say housing advocates.

POLITICS-U.S.: Military Finds Itself in Twilight Zone

On the day that U.S. citizens honoured the nation's war dead, the U.S. armed forces found themselves in a twilight zone somewhere between glory and hell.

POLITICS-CANADA: Submarine Death Probe Gives Defence Critics Sinking Feeling

The contested purchase of four second hand, diesel-powered submarines from Britain continues to reverberate in Canada following an inquiry into the death of a naval officer and injury of nine other seamen during a fire on one of the vessels, the HMCS Chicoutimi.

DEVELOPMENT: World Bank Chief’s Send-off Stirs Conflict Among His Critics

A party Thursday night to honour outgoing World Bank President James Wolfensohn for 10 years at the helm of one of the world's most powerful financial institutions has ignited disagreement among some of his critics over how to deal with the public lending agency.

RIGHTS: Give Rumsfeld the Pinochet Treatment, Says U.S. Amnesty Chief

If the administration of President George W. Bush fails to conduct a truly independent investigation of U.S. abuses against detainees in Iraq and elsewhere, foreign governments should investigate and prosecute those senior officials who bear responsibility for them, the head of the U.S. chapter of Amnesty International said here Wednesday.

U.S.: New Environmentalism, Or Backdoor to Nuclear Power?

Mainstream U.S. environmental groups, injured by political defeats, public indifference and budget cuts, are weighing alliances with neo-conservatives - improbable rightwing bedfellows in the struggle to rein in global warming who want to reduce U.S. dependence on Middle East oil. In the process, some greens are reconsidering their longstanding opposition to nuclear power.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: Of Music, a Man, and Social Revolution in a Feared Slum

Anderson Sa was 10 years old when he first witnessed a murder. Outside a store in Vigario Geral, one of the most violent of Rio de Janeiro's 600 favelas, or shantytowns, a man was dragged out of a car, beaten, and then shot in the head. Anderson's reaction as a 10-year-old boy?

POLITICS-AFGHANISTAN: Pleasantries But No Change as Bush Greets Karzai

While lavishing praise on his guest Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush indicated that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will receive neither greater control over U.S. troops in his country nor substantially more aid to persuade poppy farmers to drop out of the narcotics business.

RIGHTS: U.S. Struggle that United White, Black Schools Marks an Anniversary

Fifty-one years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision that would forever change life in America. The Court ruled that ''separate but equal'' schools for white and black children were inherently unequal.