By IAN AUSTEN OTTAWA — The Canadian government is said to be ready to declare as toxic a chemical widely used in plastics for baby bottles, beverage and food containers as well as linings in food cans. A Nalgene brand bottle, which is made with bisphenol-a. A person with knowledge of the government’s chemical review program spoke ...

By Andrew Porter, Robert Winnett and Myra Butterworth Gordon Brown has been forced to defend his premiership and in particular his economic record as he faced mounting criticism over the credit crisis. As Britain’s biggest mortgage lenders snubbed his calls to cut the cost of borrowing, the Prime Minister gave a series of interviews to insist he was only "starting" the job. Amid ...

By Nadine Elsibai Pope Benedict XVI has a lot of catching up to do with the U.S. and its 69 million Roman Catholics as he begins his first official visit to the country. The trip marks the first by a pope to the U.S. since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the American invasion of Iraq, and the revelations that, over a span ...

WASHINGTON - Public approval of President Bush has dipped to a new low in the Associated Press-Ipsos poll, driven by dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy. A survey released Thursday showed 28 percent approve of the overall job Bush is doing. That was statistically tied with his previous low in the poll of 30 percent last month and in February. Only 27 percent are happy with his job on the ...

Indymedia At 7.15 this evening supporters from Brian Haw's peace camp attempted to make a citizen's arrest of Ken Livingstone outside parliament. They were arresting him on suspicion of criminal damage, harrassment, assault, and other charges arising from his authorisation of private security guards and fencing on Parliament Square during last year to remove parts of the peace camp unlawfully. Armed police arrived from everywhere and eventually succeeded in releasing ...

By Leonard Doyle in Washington Thursday, 10 April 2008 Demonstrators have tried to storm the presidential palace in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, as protests over hunger and rising food prices spread across the developing world. Demanding the resignation of President René Préval, the protesters attempted to break through the palace gates before being driven back by a contingent of Brazilian United Nations peacekeepers who used tear gas and rubber ...

Indymedia It has come to light that Oxford-educated Toby Kendall, 24, an employee of aerospace security consultants C2i International, infiltrated and spied on Heathrow campaign groups across London for a year. According to people from Plane Stupid, he was "suspected" and following an investigation he was confronted and exposed. Heathrow owner BAA has now admitted to the Times newspaper that it has been in contact with C2i, ...

San Francisco - The symbolic Olympic torch was lit Wednesday in San Francisco in a bizarre event that saw it taken into hiding in a warehouse and among a convoy of buses and amphibious vehicles. The efforts were a bid to thwart thousands of protestors lining the expected route along the San Francisco waterfront. The flame eventually appeared about an hour later in the hands of two runners, far from ...

Alan Cowell LONDON: After six months of hearings and testimony by 278 witnesses, a jury at a British inquest found Monday that Princess Diana and her lover, Dodi al-Fayed, were unlawfully killed by the negligent driving of their chauffeur and photographers who pursued the couple's speeding Mercedes into a Paris underpass more than a decade ago. Since then, the case has seized attention in Britain and ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton urged President George W. Bush on Monday to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies this summer unless China improves human rights. Clinton, in a statement, cited violent clashes in Tibet and the lack of pressure by China on Sudan to stop "the genocide in Darfur." "At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the ...

Cathy Sherman Picture this: Three guys go into a bar. The batender asks, "What'll you have?" "A beer", says the first guy. Second one says, "Whiskey" and turning to the third guy asks, "what about you?" "Oh me, I really need a good strong kick, one with lots of punch to it... Yep, I think this day calls for a big one on tap! Hey bartender, how about some of your ...

Jane Macartney in Beijing Chinese paramilitary police have killed eight people after opening fire on several hundred Tibetan monks and villagers in bloody violence that will fuel human rights protests as London prepares to host its leg of the Olympic torch relay this weekend. Witnesses said the clash – in which dozens were wounded – erupted late last night after a government inspection team entered a monastery in ...

I'll admit it: I used to admire John McCain. To paraphrase the UFO poster from "The X Files," I wanted to believe. Specifically, I wanted to believe the guy talking tough about campaign finance reform was committed to getting money out of politics. This was the Arizona senator who in 2002 taped a radio ad praising his state's "clean elections" system. It provides public money to candidates so they don't have to ...

By Jim Yardley BEIJING - A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced an outspoken human rights advocate to 3 1/2 years in prison after ruling that his critical essays and comments about Communist Party rule amounted to inciting subversion, his lawyer said. The conviction of the advocate, Hu Jia, 34, one of the most prominent human rights activists in China, quickly brought outside criticism of China at a time when the government is ...

Evening Echo Americans remembered Martin Luther King’s dream of social justice on the 40th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s assassination today. The 39-year-old civil rights leader was gunned down at around 6pm local time as he stood on a balcony of the Lorraine motel in Memphis while trying to mediate a strike on April 4, 1968. Dr King, who delivered his “I have a dream” speech at the steps of ...