CANADA: As Seal Hunt Moves Onto Ice Floes, Protests Continue

The controversial commercial seal hunt extended Tuesday onto the ice floes south of the Labrador Peninsula in Canada, as animal rights activists protest what they consider an unnecessarily cruel practice.

POLITICS-US: Crusader for a Christian Nation

In all the hullabaloo raised by the cable news coverage of the Terri Schiavo case and the so-called miracle of Ashley Smith, a Georgia woman freed by her kidnapper after she read him passages from a bestselling Christian self-help book, few are talking about the elephant in the room - the Christian right's vision of cultural transformation in the United States.

POLITICS-US: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Special interest groups and lobbyists in Washington spent a whopping 13 billion dollars to influence decisions made by the White House, Congress and other U.S. federal agencies over the past eight years, a watchdog group said Thursday.

RIGHTS-US: Partisan Rancor Marks Start of Schiavo Hearings

Terri Schiavo, the severely brain damaged woman whose plight riveted the nation for weeks, is now dead after her husband won the legal right to disconnect her feeding tubes.

POLITICS: For Reluctant GI’s, Canada Remains the Great White Hope

So far, only a trickle of U.S. soldiers are heading north to Canada to avoid serving in the U.S. military campaign in Iraq.

RIGHTS-US: Cooler Heads Review Patriot Act in Congress

Disclosure of a 75 percent increase in secret wiretaps and "sneak and peek" searches since 2000 is likely to provide ammunition for civil liberties groups determined to modify the USA Patriot Act when Congress begins two months of debate on the law Tuesday.

RIGHTS-US: Famed Fighter Against Japanese Internment Dies at 86

The Japanese-American who waited 40 years for justice is dead.

POLITICS-US: Power to the People?

A group of lobbyists representing five leading energy companies is stepping up efforts to persuade the U.S. Congress to enact further industry deregulation before a key energy bill is introduced on Apr. 5.

POLITICS-US: Too Many Friends in Undemocratic Places?

As the U.S. State Department was unveiling its third annual report on "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy" this week, four of the country's best-known legislators came together to introduce a bipartisan bill to boost the promotion of democracy throughout the world - and signal a fundamental change in U.S. foreign policy.

HEALTH: Canada Offers Free Heroin to Some Hard-Core Addicts

A year and a half after opening North America's first safe injection site, Vancouver will soon be the first city in the region to prescribe free heroin to about 158 addicts in carefully monitored clinical trials.

RIGHTS-US: Fresh Skirmishes in the Information Wars

Civil libertarians and opposition political leaders are stepping up their efforts to pull back the "veil of secrecy" they claim has characterised the George W. Bush administration.

HEALTH-U.S.: Refinery Blast Fuels Demands for Safer Chemicals

As federal investigators sift through the ruins of a Texas oil refinery where 15 workers were killed and more than 100 injured in a Mar. 23 explosion, watchdog groups say the accident raises questions about the safety of chemical plants around the United States.

POLITICS-US: Bob Barr and Friends Strike Back At Patriot Act

In a political environment more fractious than Washington has seen in over a decade, there are still signs that left and right can find common ground.

MEDIA-US: Bush Shows No Remorse for Fake Newscasts

Despite a rising chorus of condemnation from journalists and media critics, the George W. Bush administration shows no signs of abandoning its distribution of taxpayer-funded "news" to U.S. newspapers, radio and television stations.

RIGHTS-US: Battle Over Feeding Tube Becomes a Free-For-All

"Terri Schiavo has done nothing to deserve the death sentence she has been handed. She is a disabled woman guilty of nothing more than marrying a man who has not taken seriously his vows to love and protect her for as long as they both shall live."

POLITICS-CANADA: Questions Linger in Air India Bombing Saga

After two acquittals, a 20-year investigation and the destruction of key taped evidence by intelligence agents, calls are being made for a public inquiry into what has come to be known as Canada's 9/11.

POLITICS-US: Pentagon Reaffirms Globocop Role

March has been a bad month for the world's multilateralists who, encouraged by several early appointments to the State Department and a successful presidential tour of Europe, had hoped that George W. Bush would temper his unilateralist instincts in his second term.

POLITICS: Anger and Grief Mark Second Anniversary of Iraq War

Joining others around the world, tens of thousands of people in cities across the United States took to the streets Saturday calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq and immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from that country.

ENVIRONMENT-U.S.: New Offensive for Oil Drilling in the Arctic

After a Senate vote this week, the George W. Bush administration is treating the issue of oil drilling in a pristine Alaskan wildlife refuge as fait accompli. But some oil companies seem to be taking a cautious attitude about investing in the 607,000-hectare Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

RIGHTS: Just How Much is a Protection Order Worth?

A victim of domestic violence goes to court and gets a protection order against her husband in a state that has a law mandating the police to arrest the abuser if he violates the order. He does, and the victim repeatedly reports his conduct to police, but police fail to respond. Can the police be held responsible?

POLITICS: No-Bid Gov’t Contract to Tiny College Raises Eyebrows

A tiny Pennsylvania college is challenging one of the United States' leading open-government advocacy groups about its account of how the college won a no-bid government contract to provide training for intelligence officers at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).