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Canada's image scarred by sponsorship scandal ROMA LUCIW Globe and Mail Tuesday, December 5, 2006 Canada failed to crack the top 10 list of countries perceived to be the least corrupt, according to the results of a new international survey that suggests the sponsorship scandal has scarred our squeaky-clean image. The inaugural Gallup Worldwide Corruption Index found that Canada ranked 15th, right behind Uruguay and Vietnam but just ahead of the Netherlands and Belgium. Canadians gave themselves high marks on everything from the economy to health to law and order, but a failing grade on the nation's leadership, which...

WASHINGTON - When he was asked recently why Americans aren't delighted by their strong economy, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called that the $64,000 question.

Though the legal wrangling in the Terri Schiavo case has been loud and contentious, the brain-damaged woman's physical response to having her feeding tube removed is likely to be very serene. "The process of starving to death seems very barbaric but in actuality is very peaceful," said Dr. Fred Mirarchi, assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. "The patient's experience is really pretty benign," said Dr. Joanne Lynn, a hospice physician associated with Americans for Better Care of the Dying, a group working for improved end-of-life care. "Overwhelmingly, what will happen is nothing."...

After weeks of repetitive wall-to-wall coverage of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, the American media have finally achieved success: U.S. soldiers are now being labeled as war criminals by some of their fellow Americans - just as their predecessors in Vietnam were. "I've been called a baby killer," ROTC recruit Alexia Regner told the New York Post on Friday, saying the insult was hurled by some of her fellow students at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University. "I was pissed. I would never kill a baby," Regner explained. "I was thinking, I took an oath to defend their right to call...

Public confidence in the president’s handling of homeland security has been damaged by the testimony of former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke to the 9/11 panel this week, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. Richard Clarke’s charge that George W. Bush largely ignored the Al Qaeda threat before the September 11 attacks has dealt a sharp blow to the president’s ratings on a crucial issue. According to the latest NEWSWEEK poll, the percentage of voters who say they approve of the way the president has handled terrorism and homeland security has slid to 57 percent, down from a high of 70...