POLITICS-US: Senator Seeks to Curb Controversial “Patriot Act”

Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, is on a collision course with President George W. Bush over how much leeway should be given to intelligence agencies and law enforcement to wage their "war on terror".

RIGHTS-US: Student in "Rendition" Case Brought Home for Trial

Even as defence attorneys were filing court papers charging that the U.S. government was hiding behind secret evidence, and demanding their client's release from a Saudi Arabian prison, Ahmed Abu Ali was being whisked back to the United States and charged with conspiring to kill Pres. George W. Bush.

RIGHTS-US: Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards?

Civil libertarians are wondering if the new U.S. attorney-general, Alberto Gonzales, will continue one of the trademarks of his predecessor, John Ashcroft: razzle-dazzle news conferences announcing the arrests of terrorists, followed by trials in which no one is charged or tried for any terror-related offences.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-U.S.: The Other Ivy League

When the all-black student body of Pennsylvania's Lincoln University was confronted with the proposal of integrating its all-white faculty in 1928, opinion was starkly divided.

MEDIA-US: If It Bleeds, It (Still) Leads

"If a local candidate wants to be on television, and cannot afford to advertise, his only hope may be to have a freak accident," quipped U.S. Senator John McCain as he introduced legislation to compel local television stations to improve their coverage of local political campaigns.

CORRECTION*/ENVIRONMENT-CANADA: Kyoto vs. NAFTA?

Closing North America's biggest coal-fired power plants is a key part of Canada's plan to meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations, but experts warn that U.S. coal companies could claim such a move violates international trade pacts like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

RIGHTS-US: Requiem for an American Dream

Harsh U.S. immigration and anti-terrorism laws have had a devastating effect on many Muslim communities in the U.S., leaving a legacy of fear and disillusionment, especially among young people, Asian activists said Thursday.

POLITICS-US: Negroponte Pick as Intel Chief a Win for Realists

In choosing Ambassador John Negroponte as the country's first National Director of Intelligence (NDI), U.S. President George W. Bush has opted for a hawkish, tough, ruthless realist who could very well clash with more ideological forces in the administration.

RIGHTS-US: Requiem for an American Dream

Harsh immigration and anti-terrorism laws have had a devastating effect on many Muslim communities in the U.S., leaving a legacy of fear and disillusionment, especially among young people, Asian activists said Thursday.

POLITICS-US: Bush’s Faith-Based Budget

President George W. Bush's latest budget proposal slashes funds from more than 150 government programmes, but his Faith-Based Initiative isn't one of them.

POLITICS-US: Negroponte Pick as Intel Chief a Win for Realists

In choosing Ambassador John Negroponte as the country's first National Director of Intelligence (NDI), U.S. President George W. Bush has opted for a hawkish, tough, ruthless realist who could very well clash with more ideological forces in the administration.

POLITICS-US: Scientific Sleight-of-Hand Taints Gov’t Agencies

Once again, critics of the George W. Bush administration are charging that political appointees are bending science to fit their ideological agendas.

HEALTH: Evidence Mounts Against Vioxx-Class Painkillers

In an exclusive interview, a prominent scientist attending U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hearings on the safety of a class of painkillers known as COX-2 inhibitors this week says that one drug in particular may be more dangerous than previously thought.

CORRECTED REPEAT*/RIGHTS-US: Legal Limbo for Battered Women Seeking Asylum

Shortly before he left office, former Attorney-General John Ashcroft told employees at the Department of Justice that the United States is "a freer nation than before because our families can live peacefully in their communities, our wives, daughters and mothers can travel the streets safely, and our children are turning away from illegal drugs."

CLIMATE CHANGE-U.S.: Momentum Builds for Emissions Bills

With most of the world about to leave the United States in the dust on climate change policy, the fray is shifting from global summits to Washington's Capitol Hill, where a growing coalition of Democrats and Republicans is lobbying for a national cap on carbon dioxide emissions.

POLITICS: Embedded in the Spin Cycle…

An incisive new documentary is taking aim at the U.S. media's one-sided coverage of the war in Iraq, arguing that its collective complicity deceived the populace and made the war possible.

TRADE-US: Record Deficit Challenges Free Trade Assumptions

The U.S. trade deficit swelled last year to a record high of 617 billion dollars, a nearly 25 percent increase over 2003, prompting some analysts to blame the administration's aggressive free trade agenda.

RIGHTS-US: Nuke Waste Project Divides Native Tribe

The crystalline skies and tranquil, smoke-coloured mountains ringing the reservation of Utah's Skull Valley Goshute Indian Tribe give little hint of the area's troubled history as a dumping ground for chemical and biological waste.

RIGHTS-US: Big Brother Thriving in High School Classrooms

While authoritarian states in much of the world routinely jail journalists and others for expressing critical opinions, a high percentage of U.S. high school students believe the government should censor the press and that constitutional protection of free speech goes "too far".

ENVIRONMENT-CANADA: Kyoto So Close…Yet So Far Away

Canada will be hard-pressed to meet its Kyoto targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even as scientists warn that the risks of climate change are more serious than previously thought.

POLITICS-US: Hawk-Realist Impasse Could Persist in Second Term

With the pomp and circumstance of the inaugural and the State of the Union address now out of the way, the foreign policy direction to be taken by President George W. Bush in his second term remains a subject of considerable speculation and uncertainty.