Q&A: “A Long and Disturbing History of Human Testing”

In early March, the Pentagon's Force Protection Agency released a colourless, odorless gas in Crystal City, Maryland as part of a simulated terror attack intended to track air flows and test an array of chemical sensors.

WEST AFRICA: Check Point &#39&#39Friendships&#39&#39 Hobble Regional Trade

''Give It To God''. These are the words inscribed on the front of the huge truck that goods transporter David Agbalanyo drives between the Ghanaian capital Accra and its northern neighbour, Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou.

THEATRE-US: Something Wicked This Way Comes

It's not surprising that ethics - or more precisely, a lack thereof - has taken centre stage during this New York theatre season. Playwrights have trained their sights on the morally challenged West, hoping perhaps to get theatregoers to muse on the connections between public and private evil.

POLITICS-US: Reforms Failed to Curb FBI Spying

One of the nation's most respected counterterrorism experts is predicting that Congress will take action to rein in the "unchecked power" of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to spy on U.S. citizens without court approval - and then forbid them from publicly protesting the violation of their civil liberties.

POLITICS-US: Future Hazy for Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative

With the days of his administration numbered, President George W. Bush is working to shore up what was intended to be the centrepiece of his domestic policy agenda, his faith-based initiative.

CULTURE-US: High Fashion Still a “White Affair”

Supermodel Tyson Beckford was disappointed with New York's 2008 Fashion Week, and not because he had a problem with the designs, patterns, fabrics or materials used. Instead, he was critical of the model selection.

ENVIRONMENT: Emissions Solutions Start at Home

Making buildings more environmentally friendly is the easiest and most effective way to cut climate-changing carbon emissions, often slashing energy costs by up to 70 percent. So why isn't there a massive effort to "green up" existing buildings and set green standards for all new construction?

ECONOMY-US: Pacific Coast Towns Seek Life After Logging

The small city of Forks sits in the northwest corner of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, four hours away from Seattle by car, tucked near the Pacific coast by one of only two temperate rainforests in the world. The city literally grew from the trees that surround it. Its industry: timber.

ENVIRONMENT: Polar Bears in Limbo as Drilling Leases Go Forward

A coalition of environmental groups sued the George W. Bush administration Monday for delaying a decision to protect polar bears threatened with extinction due to the melting ice in its Arctic habitat. Polar bears could be the first species officially threatened by climate change.

POLITICS-US: We Don&#39t Do Torture – Especially in Debates

Media critics, foreign policy experts and human rights advocates are charging that questions asked by the moderators of the televised debates among U.S. presidential hopefuls have frequently been trivial and designed to produce conflict to boost ratings, while ignoring many of the most pressing issues facing the United States.

RIGHTS-US: One Electric Chair Ban Could Lead To Others

Human rights activists are weighing the significance of one U.S. state's total ban on the use of the electric chair for executions, suggesting that this should be seen as another important milestone in winning battle against the death penalty in their country.

WOMEN’S DAY: Science No Longer a Boy’s Club

In 2001, Dr. Henrietta Edmonds made a startling discovery during a rare expedition in the frozen arctic: Smoky, particulate-rich plumes of hot water swirled 3,000 metres under the ice - a sign of hydrothermal vents on the sea floor - and lots of them.

POLITICS-US: Primordial Right-Wing Think Tank Still a Player

Last month, the Heritage Foundation, Washington's largest and one of its most influential conservative think tanks, celebrated its 35th anniversary of saying no to so-called "big government" and yes to privatisation, deregulation, eviscerating the United States' social safety net, "traditional family values" and pre-emptive military strikes and a muscular foreign policy.

POPULATION-US: More People Call the Streets Home

At last November's Republican presidential debate in St. Petersburg, Florida, activists trying to draw attention to the city's homeless problem were discreetly corralled away from the candidates by a perimetre fence.

CANADA: Native Leader Serving Six Months for Opposing Mine

Algonquin community leader Robert Lovelace had never been charged with an offence, but when a uranium company began prospecting for radioactive ore on unceded native land without engaging in consultation, he decided to take action, organising a non-violent blockade.

POLITICS-US: Dem Race Could Be Decided By Party Elites

Bringing an abrupt end to Sen. Barack Obama's winning streak in the primary battles for the Democratic U.S. presidential nomination, rival Sen. Hillary Clinton reinvigorated her campaign by taking three of four primaries on Tuesday - including key delegate-rich states Ohio and Texas - and by doing so, raised ominous questions for the Obama campaign.

ECONOMY: New U.S. Data Point to Recession

New government data and business surveys show the world's biggest economy falling into - and possibly already in - recession.

POLITICS-US: Embattled Veterans Official Resigns Post

Another high-ranking George W. Bush administration official has resigned. The Department of Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Benefits Daniel Cooper quit Thursday amid mounting criticism over a backlog of disability claims for injured veterans that runs six months long and an appearance he made in a fundraising video for an evangelical Christian organisation where he said Bible study was more important than doing his job.

POLITICS-US: Can Obama Deliver Rebirth of a Nation?

Illinois Senator Barack Obama has made a political career of trying to straddle delicate lines. But come November, he hopes to instead break historic barriers by becoming the first black man to be elected president of the United States.

POLITICS-US: Right Paints Obama as Manchurian Candidate

Since launching his bid for the U.S. presidency in 2007, Senator Barack Obama has weathered attacks on his background, race, name and religion.

ENERGY: Investors Warned Against Coal-Fired Power Plants

Prospects for coal-fired power plants have dimmed amid soaring construction costs, regulatory uncertainty and concern about global warming, say energy economists.