POLITICS-CANADA: Few Mourn Fallen Foreign Minister

Canada's gaffe-prone foreign affairs minister, Maxime Bernier, resigned suddenly this week after revelations that he left sensitive and confidential government documents at the home of his ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard.

POLITICS-US: Florida Could Be Back in the Delegates Game

With just three relatively small primaries left in the protracted Democratic nominating race, the party's national leadership and the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) are still debating whether or not to count votes cast in that state's presidential primary in January.

POLITICS-US: McCain’s “Agents of Inconvenience”

As John McCain launched his presidential bid in 2007, he faced a considerable challenge to mobilise support among social conservatives within the Republican Party.

DEATH PENALTY-US: Charges of Racism Offer New Evidence

Race played a "real" role in deciding who was sentenced to death in hundreds of capital trials over a seven-year period in one Texas county, according to new academic research to be published shortly.

POLITICS-US: Republicans Fear Democratic Rout in November

The deeply unpopular legacy of U.S. Pres. George W. Bush hangs like a cloud over the election prospects of the Republican Party, raising fears of sweeping Democratic victories in the fall.

Q&A: "People Are Pedaling Faster to Stay in the Same Place"

In early May, Statistics Canada, the government's official number crunchers, released what was billed as a landmark report titled "Income Inequality and Redistribution in Canada: 1976 to 2004". The report was based on census data from the 1980s to 2005 and it analysed take-home pay and standards of living for families and individuals.

POLITICS-US: Same-Sex Marriage Making a Comeback?

Still not fully embraced by the religious right, Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, has been handed an opportunity to prove his loyalty to the party's most influential and powerful grassroots force.

ECONOMY-US: Foreclosures Spike as Lenders’ Aid Efforts Founder

U.S. banks' property seizures more than doubled in April and home foreclosure filings climbed 65 percent from a year earlier, an indication that government-hyped efforts to protect homeowners are falling short.

DEATH PENALTY-US: Catch-Up Wave of Executions Feared

Anti-death penalty activists are bracing themselves for a wave of executions across the U.S. after the state of Georgia moved swiftly to end the life of William E. Lynd following the Supreme Court's ruling that lethal injection was not a violation of the constitution.

POLITICS-US: The Mutual Investigation Society?

In one of the more ironic episodes of the George W. Bush administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation last week raided the office and home of the senior official in charge of protecting federal whistleblowers on suspicion of whistleblower retaliation within his own agency - while he was investigating possible criminal acts within the White House.

BIODIVERSITY-US: Loggers, Owls Not Out of the Woods Yet

Some wounds heal slowly, and the wounds of the logging community on the U.S. northwest Pacific coast are still smarting nearly 20 years after measures to protect a threatened species devastated their industry.

POLITICS-US: Lawmakers Seek Probe of “Media Generals”

As U.S. television networks continue their silence about their use of retired military officers to "sell" progress in Iraq, members of the U.S. House of Representatives are calling on the Defence Department Inspector General to investigate the Pentagon-sponsored public relations effort.

RIGHTS-US: Hundreds Arrested Protesting Police Abuses

She was as happy and excited about getting married that day as any young person in love. But fate had something else waiting. Just a few hours ahead of her wedding, on Nov. 25, 2006, New York City police officers killed her fiancé Sean Bell in a hail of 50 bullets.

POLITICS-US: Not With a Bang, But With a Whimper…

After the final votes were counted in the two largest remaining primaries for the Democratic nomination for the presidency, the long battle may finally be drawing to a close as Sen. Barack Obama has emerged as a clear frontrunner over Sen. Hillary Clinton with only six primaries remaining.

SCIENCE-US: Evolution Under Siege in Classrooms

Darwinian evolution - the 19th century geologist and naturalist Charles Darwin's acclaimed theory of natural selection of species and the origins of humanity - is apparently still a source of controversy, most recently here in the state of Florida.

RIGHTS-US: Blacks Suffer Persistent Injustice in Drug War

African Americans have suffered much higher rates of arrests and imprisonment than whites in the nearly 30-year-old U.S. "war on drugs", according to two reports released here this week.

RIGHTS-US: Vets Await Verdict in Class Action Lawsuit

Arturo Gonzalez delivered his closing arguments inside a packed courtroom on the 17th floor of the Federal Building in downtown San Francisco.

ECONOMY: For U.S., No News Seems Good

In the troubled U.S. economy, even good news turns to gloom on closer inspection.

RIGHTS-US: “Bioterror” Case Falls Apart

After a four-year legal battle, a U.S. federal judge has dismissed all charges against an avant-garde artist who public officials condemned as a bio-terrorist in a case critics are calling "a persecution, not a prosecution".

RIGHTS-US: Sky-High Costs – But Few Executions

Forget the ethics of capital punishment in the United States. Forget the disproportionate number of blacks on death row, or the possibility of executing an innocent victim. The death penalty may really be just too expensive, according to a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC).

POLITICS-US: Supreme Court Gives Republicans a Boost

In a decision with major implications for the November national elections, the U.S. Supreme Court Monday upheld a controversial state law that Democrats and a number of national civil rights groups believe could undermine the right of tens of thousands of poor and minority voters to cast ballots.