In Russia, this is the equivalent of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch coming to the defense of Bill Gates and Microsoft during the U.S. anti-trust trial in the 1990s.

By making certain statements about God blessing America in the war on Iraq, did George Bush inadvertently make it a Holy War? I will look at the use of God in his State of the Union address and how he has invoked God since then. Many religious groups and leaders were very upset by this.

The US House of Representatives--with seven Democrats absent, including mainstream presidential candidates--voted 213 to 210 to approve new regulations that will cut off many Americans from guaranteed overtime pay. The numbers effected range from 1 million to 8 million. Nikos Valance reports.

Falsehoods ranging from exaggeration to plain untruth were used by the US and UK governments to make the case for war against Iraq. More lies are being used in the aftermath. Glen Rangwala and Raymond Whitaker report.

Salim Muwakkil agrues that one of the primary reasons to support the congressional bill to study the feasibility of reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans is the need to acquaint Americans with the devastating effects slavery has had on African-Americans, a need made even more apparent during national discussions of the Supreme Court's recent affirmative action rulings.

According to Immanuel Wallerstein, George W. Bush's days are numbered. The justifications for the Iraq invasion are unravelling--the weapons of mass destruction are nowhere to be found. In his commentary, Wallerstein links to the fall of Richard M. Nixon during the Watergate Crisis.

In 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a study indicating that as many as 30% of young, urban, African-American men who have sex with men were HIV-positive. From CNN to the New York Times, the media reported these alarming numbers and speculated about how they got so high. But to many AIDS service providers and gay activists, the numbers came as no surprise. Karen Hawkins reports.

Khaled Dumeisi, a Muslim, could face up to 10 years in the federal slammer and a $250,000 fine if convicted. According to the U.S. Attorney, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the defendant is suspected of gathering information in the U.S. about people living in America for the purpose of providing the information to hostile governments. He added, The charges are serious. Well, it is kind of strange that Mr. Fitzgerald mentioned hostile governments, since the law doesn t make that distinction. Is he trying to say that if an American citizen acts as an agent for a foreign power, that s supposedly an ally, like say Israel, he won t be prosecuted? Huh?