U.S.: Govt Sued Over ‘Political Abuses’ as it Seeks Expanded Security Powers

The U.S. government is engaging in political intimidation and improperly investigating law-abiding advocacy groups, civil liberties groups have charged - even as the U.S. Senate weighs renewing controversial counter-terrorism powers and the White House seeks to have them expanded.

U.S.: Security Missteps Spawn Quirky Cases

Expanded powers and a heightened sense of alert have helped U.S. law enforcers take some dangerous people off the country's streets since the White House declared its ''war on terror''. But they also have triggered some bizarre missteps.

MEDIA-U.S.: A Tale of Two Stories

Here's a question for international news hounds. Who is the ''son of a bitch'' referred to in this comment by a U.S. Defence Department spokesman?

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: Where Drugs, Immigration, and Corrido Music Collide

A young man arrives at a fork in the road and neither choice before him presents a lesser risk to his survival, neither one is less traveled, and neither one is morally higher or lower than the other.

U.S.: Conflicting Security Assessments Breed Suspicion of Govt Claims

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials say government steps have made it more difficult for terrorists to operate in the United States - even as leaders of an investigative panel assail Washington for moving too slowly to protect the nation and the Department of Homeland Security itself reveals it will scrap billions of dollars worth of hastily purchased equipment.

POLITICS-U.S.: ‘Republican Revolution’ Architect Mulls White House Run

Nearly a decade after being named Time magazine's ''Man of the Year,'' Newt Gingrich is out greasing the skids for a possible 2008 run at the White House with a tour promoting ''Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract With America'', a book containing a series of 20th century proposals wrapped in 21st century rhetoric. The book had a short stay on the New York Times bestseller list but will the public be buying Gingrich as presidential timber?

IMMIGRATION: New U.S. Bill Would Let the Undocumented Work and Stay

Seven influential U.S. lawmakers have introduced bipartisan comprehensive immigration legislation designed to strengthen border security and enforcement of immigration laws and reduce the flow of illegal immigrants by offering them visas to work in the United States.

POLITICS-U.S.: Bolton Embarrassment Latest Setback for Bush Hawks

The failure of U.S. President George W. Bush's U.N. ambassador-designate to get the unanimous support of Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has dealt a new setback to the coalition of unilateralist hawks that led the drive to war with Iraq and is strongly opposed to diplomatic engagement with Iran and North Korea.

TRADE: Lobbying Intensifies For, Against U.S.-Central American Trade Deal

Leaders of the United States and six Central American and Caribbean nations are stepping up efforts to overcome lawmakers' opposition to the U.S.-Central American-Dominican Republic free trade agreement (CAFTA-DR).

POLITICS-U.S.: A Terrorist Comes Home to Roost

The sudden and untimely arrival on U.S. territory of a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asset and admitted terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, poses an embarrassing challenge to the credibility of the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

POLITICS: White House Privacy Beats Public Right to Know About Cheney Group

The White House has won a court decision shielding it from having to turn over documents to advocacy groups which claimed in a lawsuit that corporations swayed Vice President Richard Cheney's task force on U.S. energy policy.

RIGHTS-U.S.: Fear of Islam on the Rise – Muslim Group

Reported incidents of anti-Muslim bias including hate crimes, discrimination, and harassment rose sharply in the United States last year, according to a new report by a major Islamic group.

POLITICS-U.S.: Security Whistleblowers Demand End to Retaliation

Fifty current and former employees of U.S. national security agencies are demanding that Congress end government retaliation against those who expose national security blunders.

RIGHTS-U.S.: New Driver’s License Rules Assailed as Unsafe, Anti-Migrant

New U.S. driver's license rules attached to a ''must-pass'' military spending bill will undermine individual privacy and public safety and lead to increased discrimination against immigrants and asylum-seekers, according to the new measure's critics.

U.S.: Military Spending Leaves Home Front Unguarded – Report

The U.S. Defence Department should cut billions of dollars from major weapons programmes and plough the money into domestic security initiatives, says a new report with far-reaching implications not only for the federal budget but also for dozens of arms makers and other private defence contractors.

TRADE: New U.S. Trade Czar Faces Tests at Home and Abroad

U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, now in his second week on the job, faces numerous challenges as he seeks to build support at home and abroad for an ambitious U.S. trade agenda, observers say.

DEVELOPMENT: World Bank Says Openness Aids Investment

The World Bank called on governments Monday to release more information about their economies, saying this would help to create a ''sound investment climate'' in nations seeking foreign capital for commercial development.

EDUCATION-U.S.: Hearings on Evolution Evoke Famed ‘Monkey Trial’

In the early 1920s, with many in the United States worried about losing traditional values to the secular modernism of jazz, the silver-tongued William Jennings Bryan - three-time Democratic candidate for president - led a fundamentalist crusade to banish Charles Darwin's 1859 theory of evolution from U.S. classrooms.

EDUCATION-U.S.: Groups Push Bible on Hitherto Neutral Territory

Despite numerous court setbacks and continuing challenges from civil liberties organizations, right-wing Christian groups are stepping up efforts to introduce the Bible into public school classrooms, saying it already is used as a textbook in 300 school districts nationwide.

POLITICS-CANADA: Liberal Party Scandal Casts Pall Over National Unity

A political corruption scandal gripping Canada's ruling Liberal party appears to be boosting the prospects of the independence movement in the country's largest province, French-speaking Quebec.

DEVELOPMENT: Sudan Dam Draws Fresh Fears of Social Unrest

One of Africa's largest dams, now under construction in Sudan, carries a hefty price for the environment and threatens intensified social unrest, project critics say.