RIGHTS-US: Anti-Terror Bill Targets Asylum Seekers

Controversial anti-immigration provisions that were stripped from an intelligence bill last year have resurfaced as the "Real ID Act", setting the stage for a partisan fight in Congress that could affect the cases of thousands of asylum-seekers.

HEALTH-U.S.: The Ghosts of Ground Zero

When President George W. Bush gives his State of the Union address Wednesday night, he will undoubtedly mention the terror attacks of Sep. 11, 2001.

POLITICS-U.S.: More Cannon Fodder, Please

Amid rising concern about the over-extension of U.S. military forces and the growing budget deficit, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neo-conservative group whose past foreign policy recommendations have often been followed by President George W. Bush, is urging Congress to add 25,000 new soldiers to U.S. ground forces each year over the next several years.

RIGHTS-U.S.: The World Wide Watchers

Is the U.S. government spying on its citizens' email and web surfing habits?

POLITICS: U.S. Missile Shield Finds Few Takers in Canada

With Canada's governing Liberal party clinging to power by a shaky minority in Parliament, Washington's controversial North American missile defence programme may create a crisis that will force the country into a snap election.

/UPDATE*/POLITICS-US: Controversial Nominee Squeaks Past First Vote

Riding over opposition from its Democratic members, the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday voted 10-8 to send the nomination of Attorney General-designate Alberto Gonzales to the full Senate for confirmation, possibly as early as next week.

RIGHTS-US: Leading Groups Take Rare Step of Repudiating Nominee

On the eve of a key confirmation vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, two major U.S. human rights groups called for the rejection of Attorney General-designate Alberto Gonzales on the basis of his advice regarding the treatment of detainees in the Bush administration's "war on terror".

LABOUR-U.S.: Welcome to the Jungle

The impersonal tone of the accident reports does little to lessen their stomach-churning content.

POLITICS-US: Retiree Doggedly Pursues Legal Challenge of Iraq War

His name is Clare Callan. He is a feisty 85-year-old former congressman from rural Nebraska. And he is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to declare that Pres. George W. Bush had no legal authority to go to war in Iraq.

POLITICS-US: War-Weary Public Leery of New Overseas Adventures

President George W. Bush faces a difficult challenge in rallying U.S. public opinion behind his clarion call for spreading freedom and democracy abroad, according to a number of surveys published over the last two years.

POLITICS: Unclouded by Doubt, Bush Vows Freedom-Spreading Mission

Kicking off his second four-year term, President George W. Bush Thursday delivered an inaugural address filled with the righteous resolve and soaring rhetoric that are music to his core constituency, but will almost certainly grate on the nerves of almost everybody else, both here and abroad.

POLITICS-US: Champagne and Pepper Spray Herald Bush’s Return

There is the Freedom Ball, the Patriot Ball and the Democracy Ball. Not tired yet? How about the Independence Ball, Liberty Ball, Stars and Stripes Ball, Texas Wyoming Ball, and Commander-In-Chief Ball.

POLITICS-U.S.: Voters Hope for Softer, Gentler Second Term

If U.S. President George W. Bush steers his foreign policy in a more multilateralist direction, he will have strong support from both Republican and Democratic voters for doing so, according to a new survey and analysis based on several major polls on foreign-policy attitudes conducted over the last six months.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Monsanto "Seed Police" Scrutinise Farmers

Agribusiness giant Monsanto has sued more than 100 U.S. farmers, and its "seed police" have investigated thousands of others, for what the company terms illegal use of its patented genetically engineered seeds, and activists charge is "corporate extortion".

POLITICS-US: Cabinet Nominee Wrote Blueprint for Sep 12 Crackdown

Like Pres. George W. Bush's nominee for attorney-general, his choice for homeland security tsar is likely to face stiff opposition from some Democratic senators and human rights advocates because of what they say were abuses of civil liberties during his service in the Justice Department.

POLITICS-U.S.: Rice Surprises

Ending weeks of sometimes fevered speculation, Bush administration officials confirmed Thursday that Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice's deputy at the State Department will be a confirmed Atlanticist and arch-realist, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Zoellick.

HEALTH: Washington’s Hand Seen in Looming Drug Import Ban

For years, poor, uninsured and elderly U.S. residents have turned to their northern neighbour to fill life-saving prescriptions that local pharmacies had priced out of reach.

POLITICS-US: Author of "Torture" Memo Faces Stormy Confirmation

Led by a dozen retired generals and admirals, including a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, human rights groups are urging the U.S. Senate to carefully scrutinise the role of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales in devising detention and interrogation policies for the Bush administration's "war against terrorism" before confirming him as attorney-general.

HEALTH: Intimidation, Politics and Drug Industry Cripple U.S. Medicine

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supposed to safeguard the nation's medical products, drawing upon the substantive expertise of its drug scientists in vigilant dedication to the public's health, that is not the case today.

CHALLENGES 2004-2005: U.S. Politician Targets Immigration

The law to revamp U.S. intelligence services was passed at the 11th hour in the last Congress partly because of a deal that deleted many contentious anti-immigration provisos. But the sponsor of those sections says he will reintroduce them as "must pass" legislation "on the first day of the 109th Congress in January."

HEALTH-CANADA: Drug Injection Site Pricks U.S., U.N.

Jeff West, one of the coordinators of the safe drug injection centre known as Insite, leads the way through the doorway. Track lighting makes the room dim but you can see that it is clean.