CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - No sooner had Bush started speaking at the naturalization ceremony welcoming new American citizens than protesters began shouting at him, calling him a “war criminal.” The President paused in his remarks and then responded, “To my fellow citizens, we believe in free speech in the United States of America.” One woman moved towards the [...]

LONDON - The former Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt returned to what she called her “other family” in France today as doubt was cast on the apparently daring rescue that won her freedom. Arriving to a warm embrace from Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni, the 46-year-old, who was largely brought up in France as the [...]

An article by the Colombian weekly magazine Cambio suggests the U.S. military base in Manta, Ecuador, will be moved to a new location in Colombia after the U.S. military’s contract with Ecuador expires in 2009. The likely new host for the U.S. base is Colombia’s Palanquero air force base in Puerto Salgar, 120 miles north [...]

The evidence linking biofuel production to rising food prices can’t be ignored. Between the start of 2002 and early 2008, basic global food commodity prices rose by 220%. The global production of biofuels - ethanol and bodiesel - rose from less than 8m gallons in 2004 to an estimated 18m gallons in 2008. The most [...]

Nobody has denigrated the service of John McCain or his suffering in captivity as a prisoner of North Vietnam, as much as his supporters wish to pretend that someone did. Nobody has denied that his valor in captivity offers insight into his character. But so far almost nobody has asked the most important question about [...]

While observing the Fourth of July, Americans would do well to reflect on the fundamental principles of this country as found, for instance, in our Declaration of Independence. The true patriot is the American who is not content merely to celebrate the ideals of the Founders but who struggles to defend those ideals today. In 1776 [...]

A group of islands with the potential to develop into a tourist paradise has been named as the country least equipped to withstand the effects of climate change. The Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, between Mozambique and Madagascar, are a small nation of sparkling blue lagoons and picture-postcard beaches. But the country is politically unstable [...]

Google must hand over the personal details of anyone who has ever watched a video on YouTube, a US judge has ruled. ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ has been viewed 1.5bn times on YoutubeThe order will come as a surprise to millions of people who have used the video sharing site to view footage of TV shows, films, [...]

Senator Barack Obama has rushed to clarify his position on the Iraq War after he appeared to wobble on a commitment to withdraw US ground troops within 16 months, a central plank of his candidacy. The Democratic presidential nominee used a press conference to say that the timetable was not set in stone and that he [...]

Are we the ones who will witness democracy’s demise? I don’t think this is what poet June Jordan had in mind when she wrote, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” It could happen. When a small segment of the population has a disproportionate amount of the wealth, it’s called a plutocracy. When a small group [...]

WASHINGTON - The United States and Poland reached a tentative pact Wednesday on a controversial missile defense shield, part of which Washington wants to site in the former communist country, a senior State Department official said. “At this point, I am really happy that we made real good progress in the past few days,” said the [...]

1. It’s the “Declaration of Independence,” not the “Declaration of World Domination.” Just in case anyone in the current White House forgot. 2. According to the signers of the Declaration, it’s okay to care about what the rest of the world thinks. The very rationale of the Declaration is that when folks do something [...]

WASHINGTON - A State Department passport record system that holds personal data on more than 120 million Americans is wide open to abuse and unable to prevent or detect unauthorized access, investigators said Thursday. The review by the department’s inspector general was ordered after revelations in March that State Department employees and contractors had accessed the [...]

NEW YORK - Maher Arar, whose “rendition” to Syria is widely viewed as an egregious example of mistaken identity, has again been denied the right to appear in court, and Congressional efforts to rein in the George W. Bush administration’s widespread use of national security as a defence appear to be foundering. Late last month, a [...]

SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who died in a suicide bombing. On Jun. 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council meeting in Fallujah, 69 kms west of Baghdad, between local tribal sheikhs and military officials. Three Marines, [...]

LONDON - Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body. The figure [...]

We live in the most astonishing of times, politically speaking. And I don’t mean that as a compliment. There is so much I would hate to try to have explain to an alien about our politics.  Same with a human five centuries from now - it’s just that I’m not so sure [...]

It reads like a Hollywood script-Colombian commandos descend into the jungle and exit with 15 hostages, including a former Colombian presidential candidate and three American Pentagon contractors who’d been held by anti-government guerillas. The hostages had been held for six long years. What a long time and what a relief. The Pentagon’s been getting great press [...]

We expect our cell phones to do a lot these days: make calls, check e-mail, take photographs, play music, surf Web sites, let the government track your every move. But civil liberties groups have a few questions about that last feature, and have filed a lawsuit seeking to force the Department of Justice to respond [...]

While you’re watching this fireworks this July 4th, take a moment to reflect on the words of International Atomic Energy Director Muhammad Al-Baradei, who said that a military strike on Iran would “turn the Middle East into a ball of fire.” Also take a moment to reflect on just how far [...]