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Negotiations on an international tobacco control treaty failed to make progress last week as anti-smoking groups accused Washington of siding with the tobacco industry in trying to water down the draft.

They're often portrayed as obstructionists to trade and the global economy. But the social movement that mobilized thousands in Quebec last month -- and earlier in Seattle and Prague -- is maturing beyond street protests.

On 5 April, Greenpeace launched a new climate campaign by writing to the 100 largest U.S. corporations, many of whom funded Bush's election campaign, and asking them to explain their position on the Kyoto Protocol. As of today, only ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. corporation, has responded, not with a letter, but by taking out ads in major newspapers attacking the Kyoto Protocol.

More than 60,000 citizens went to Quebec City in late April 2001 to express their concerns about the FTAA. The motivating reasons for going were many, but central to the protest is the concern with the rise of unchecked corporate power, which is increasingly and inequitable defining the world we live in.

Flaws plague the draft of an international anti-smoking treaty being discussed this week in talks sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO), charge civil society groups, particularly because proposed bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship have been watered down.

The United States will focus on increased domestic production of oil and greater use of coal for electricity generation in a new national energy strategy to be announced in a few weeks, Vice President Richard Cheney said Monday.

Sarah James, a powerful Gwich'in woman, has been a voice for indigenous rights, human rights, and environmental issues for over 10 years. Since 1988, she has been a leader in the fight to prevent oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Ms. James is a Board Member of the Gwich'in Steering Committee and the International Indian Treaty Council.

Here is the schedule for the 2001 tour.

As a new round of negotiations on an international treaty controlling the spread of tobacco use opens in Geneva, it is still unclear what the Bush administration's position will be. What is clear, however, is that international tobacco control will almost certainly not be a priority for the Bush administration.

As activists target the spring meetings of the IMF/World Bank with demands for 100% debt cancellation, the World Bank Bonds Boycott marks its one-year anniversary with an announcement that 25 institutions throughout the U.S. including city governments, trade unions, churches and investment firms have committed not to buy World Bank bonds.