FINANCE-US: No Free Ride for Mega-Rich Heirs, Billionaire Urges

The world's third-richest man called on lawmakers Wednesday to maintain the estate tax, levied on wealth passing between generations, or risk replacing U.S. democracy with "dynastic plutocracy".

RIGHTS-US: Economic Ladder Shaky for African Americans

Black families in the United States lag significantly behind whites in economic mobility over the past 35 years, says a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts released Tuesday.

Q&A: “The U.S. Has Its Own Toilet Problem”

Come Nov. 21, the United Nations will formally launch the "Ínternational Year of Sanitation, 2008", with the primary goal of finding ways to provide toilet facilities to some 2.6 billion people worldwide who lack proper sanitation.

RIGHTS-US: Case Crumbles Against Officer Who Refused Iraq

First Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq, won what his backers are calling a "huge victory" in court Thursday.

ECONOMY: For U.S., A Winter of Discontent?

The U.S. economy will "slow noticeably" and face increased inflation pressure in coming months but it likely will be spared the stagflation that crippled it in the 1970s, the central bank chief said Thursday.

CANADA: Native Group Questions Custodial Deaths

Canadian policing authorities are drawing criticism on the issue of in-custody deaths, especially among aboriginal people, including some cases that are now decades old.

RIGHTS-US: Gov’t Pillories Avant-Garde Academics

A week after 20-year-old charges were dropped against the last two defendants in the longest-running federal prosecution in U.S. history - the so-called "L.A. Eight" - another case threatens to take its place.

CANADA: Upstart Paper Cracks Irving Media Monopoly

For more than two years, the Irvings - the 129th richest family in the world, with interests in energy, construction, forestry and transportation - owned every single English language newspaper and magazine in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.

ENVIRONMENT: Are Alaska&#39s Energy Riches Blowing in the Wind?

Eight hundred kilometres west of Anchorage, on the coast of Kangirlvar Bay off the Bering Sea, sits the Yup'ik Eskimo community of Toksook Bay.

RIGHTS-US: Torture Queries Fail to Stop Bush’s Justice Pick

Despite his refusal to declare water-boarding illegal, President George W. Bush's choice to be his next attorney-general overcame a significant hurdle here Tuesday as the Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly endorsed his nomination.

CANADA: Stun Guns Linked to Two Deaths in Four Days

A 40-year-old Polish construction worker, on the first flight of his life, agitated by a misunderstanding, lay dead hours after arriving at Vancouver International Airport. He had set off more than a day earlier from a tiny Polish village, excited to see his mother.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Toxins Threaten to Uproot Entire Town

The quiet village of Tallevast in Florida's Manatee County traces its roots back to the 1890s, when a community of shacks was built there for African-American labourers who worked tapping sap from the local pine forests to make turpentine and grew sugarcane, celery and strawberries in the fields.

Q&A: "My Work Reflects These Dark Times We Live In"

Stan Douglas is an internationally renowned photographer, filmmaker and multimedia installation artist who has been called "one of the most accomplished Canadian artists of the younger generation".

ENVIRONMENT-US: Green Housing Not Just for the Rich

Mary Jane Jagodzinzki nervously anticipated the arrival of a busload of building professionals. As it turned out, she needn't have been too concerned.

POLITICS-US: Will Catholics Lean Right or Left in 08?

Over the past two decades, Catholic voters in the United States - once consistent supporters of the Democratic Party - have been heavily courted by the Republicans.

POLITICS-US: From Prodigal Child to Wayward Waif

The nation's most powerful Religious Right organisations gathered last weekend in Washington to find a presidential candidate who shared their values. And every single Republican hopeful made the pilgrimage to state his case.

POLITICS-US: Homeless Vets Play the Waiting Game

U.S. Army Specialist James Eggemeyer injured himself before he even set foot in Iraq, jumping out of a C-130 gunship during training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Q&A: “We’ve Stopped Believing in Ourselves”

Dr. Michael Byers, a professor of politics and international law at the University of British Columbia, recently released a provocative book titled "Intent for a Nation - A Relentlessly Optimistic Manifesto for Canada's Role in the World."

HEALTH-US: Soldier’s Death Highlights Medical Staff Shortages

On Sep. 19, Kay McMullen had the last conversation she ever would with her son, Gerald Cassidy, or G.J., as he was known to his family and friends.

LABOUR-US: Union Flexed Muscles, But New Workers Lose Out

Even as the United Auto Workers (UAW) voted to ratify a comprehensive new four-year contract with the U.S. automaker General Motors Wednesday, and reached a similar deal with Chrysler, whether the outcome represents a victory for the country's dwindling organised labour movement remains open to interpretation.

ECONOMY-US: Stemming the Trickle-Up Effect

When he took office last year, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he was increasingly concerned about the widening gap between the nation's rich and poor.