The award of a weapons contract to one of the world’s largest arms makers has emboldened two Canadians charged by the federal government for refusing to complete the 2006 census.

The United Native Nations has dropped out of a human-rights complaint filed in July against the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and Project Civil City commissioner Geoff Plant.

Former security-guard instructor Joel Warren says the Downtown Ambassadors do not receive enough training to deal with drug users, homeless people, and those with mental illness.

Producer Catherine Winder describes the challenges of working under budgetary and time constraints in creating an original look for the first animated Star Wars feature film.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars will finally give audiences the opportunity to see George Lucas’s animated vision of a war that has been on his mind for 30 years.

When George Lucas decided to produce the latest chapter in the Star Wars saga as an animated television series, the idea of using big-name actors was tossed out the window.

On Tuesday (August 5), the gavel came down in the auction of the first two vehicles seized under the B.C. Civil Forfeitures Act. But some lawyers and civil-rights groups remain concerned about the Civil Forfeiture Act and the powers it gives the province.

On Sunday (August 10), scientists in Europe will activate something called the Large Hadron Collider, bringing on line the largest machine ever built.

An estimated 5.6 magnitude earthquake has just struck the Los Angeles area.

On July 30, a group of people is scheduled to gather at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 5 p.m. to demand that Prime Minister Stephen Harper bring Omar Khadr back to Canada.

In just over 24 hours, music will begin to play at B.C.’s largest music festival in recent memory. The first ever Pemberton Festival will kick off at 5 p.m. tomorrow (July 24) with Barn Dance, a 12-year-old Pemberton tradition that showcases local country music.

A Winnipeg man died shortly after he was tasered by police on July 22.

Three Vancouver groups that focus on civil rights and social policy have filed a human-rights complaint against the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and the city’s Project Civil City commissioner, Geoff Plant.

An alleged failure of communication on behalf of the Canada Border Services Agency could have played a significant role in the July 15 deportation of Robin Long, a supporter has said.

Afghanistan’s ambassador to Canada says NATO’s military mission has nothing to do with a proposed massive pipeline project that will bring natural gas to his country’s neighbours. In a phone interview with the Georgia Straight, Omar Samad said the $7.6-billion pipeline won’t be finished before Canadian troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan in 2011.

Practitioners say their approach, which involves injecting a sugar solution into damaged ligaments or tendons to stimulate the body to repair itself, can produce results when all other options have failed.

British Columbia Crown counsel has decided not to press charges against Michael Barcellona, a cameraman who was arrested by Vancouver police on June 12.

Descent Into Chaos is not another professor’s attempt to cash in on the debacle that is George W. Bush's presidency. It is the result of a highly regarded journalist’s dedication to a crucially important, increasingly volatile region of the world.

American war resister Robin Long was told by the Canadian Border Services Agency that he would be deported to the U.S. by as early as Monday (July 14), according to the Council of Canadians.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has announced that residential-property sales in Metro Vancouver were down 42.9 percent in June 2008 from June 2007. But finding an apartment in the city has not gotten any easier.

Speaking in Vancouver at the Wall Centre on Monday (June 23), the United Nations’ assistant secretary-general for economic development lashed out at a process that many world leaders have touted as a possible solution to skyrocketing food prices.

A camera operator arrested at a June 12 demonstration is considering filing a complaint against the Vancouver Police Department. “The more I think about it, I’m not just going to lie down here,” Michael Barcellona told the Straight by phone. “They made an example of me, and if I can make an example of them, I will.”

Right up until June 25, 2008, Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe was, amazingly, an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

Yesterday (June 23), American comedian George Carlin died of a heart attack. Carlin, referred to on Larry King Live as the comedian who inspired a generation, was 71 years old.

There is just something special about seeing a penguin fly.

Fields of unmarked landmines and an unchecked insurgency stand in the way of what could be Afghanistan’s largest development project, a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report states.

Almost a year ago, the United Nations’ assistant secretary general for economic development agreed to speak in Vancouver on a topic that the event’s ticket still describes as “Washington rediscovers agriculture”.

A camera operator was arrested on June 12 during a noisy protest outside the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, where former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell was speaking. The arrest for assault by trespass (which means resisting removal from private property) came at the end of the engagement, when event staff asked protesters to leave and they refused, according to Const. Tim Fanning, spokesperson for the Vancouver police department.

Afghan and NATO forces are preparing for a major battle with the Taliban in Kandahar province of Afghanistan, where most Canadian forces in the country are stationed.

Inside the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre on June 12, a crowd of over 1,000 warmly greeted former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell. The audience laughed at his jokes and clapped when he broke for applause. Outside, the scene was very different; noisy protesters used a megaphone to shout charges of war crimes loud enough to be heard inside the lecture hall.

Paksong was blissfully quiet, yet mysterious. It is a beautifully peculiar place with a real air of adventure to it, but it was quite out of the way on our intended trip to the Cambodian border.

Last week, the price of gas in Vancouver soared to over $1.40 a litre. It has hovered there ever since. Around the same time, on June 6, the Washington Post ran a story that found a new outfit to blame for record oil prices: Wall Street.

On June 8, Vancouver councillor Peter Ladner defeated Mayor Sam Sullivan for the Non-Partisan Association mayoral nomination. In light of the upset, the Straight asked former Vancouver city councilor Tim Louis a few questions about where Ladner could take Vancouver.

Aid workers operating under the watchful eye of an oppressive government are forced to keep their heads down. That is why challenging humanitarian work is usually carried out in silence. But a string of high-profile dustups between aid groups and governments in Zimbabwe, China, and Burma has put an uncomfortably hot spotlight on these countries’ leaders.

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, some deserters from the war have battled to remain in Canada. Yesterday (June 3), they scored a victory when the House of Commons passed a motion that urges the Conservative government to allow deserters and their families to remain in the country.

Famed intellectual Noam Chomsky may have found something that he and U.S. President George W. Bush can agree on: the Canada-U.S. border.

Controversial Jewish-American scholar Norman Finkelstein was deported from Israel on May 25 and banned from the country for 10 years.

In a major victory against the Conservative government, a B.C. Supreme Court ruling has allowed Insite to operate for another year.

Today (May 27) in the House of Commons, NDP defence critic Dawn Black (New Westminster-Coquitlam) introduced a bill to outlaw torture.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier resigned late Sunday (May 25) over an alleged security breach, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters in Ottawa.

Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gillis has decided to have head coach Alain Vigneault stay on with the team through the 2009-10 season.

Researchers from British Columbia played a key role in the development of an immensely powerful particle accelerator, which they hope will provide clues to the origins the universe.

The international community should insist it will not deliver aid to Burma unless the country’s ruling military junta opens the country’s borders, a leader of the Burmese Canadian community has said.

The British Columbia Library Association has written an open letter asking CanWest Global Communications Group to withdraw its lawsuit against Mordecai Briemberg and others.

Gwynne Dyer recently wrote about a flood of chicken-cross-the-road jokes that have come out of Zimbabwe’s contested presidential elections. The piece reminded me of another chicken-cross-the-road joke that came out of Iraq.

On Saturday (May 10), as part of Pangea Day, four hours of short films will play simultaneously in thousands of locations around the world as the result of a wish.

This afternoon (May 7), Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with Burma’s prime minister-in-exile Sein Win. According to a Canadian Friends of Burma media release, it was the first time a Canadian prime minister has ever met with the Win, whose official position is chairman of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.

Vancouver didn’t get a chance to celebrate the passing of the Beijing Olympic torch in the same way that cities like London and Paris did. But on May 10, the “Tibet Freedom Torch” will be run through our city’s streets.

This morning (May 6), biologist Alexandra Morton went to court to challenge the provincial government’s constitutional right to regulate B.C.’s coastal waters. The issue is fish farms and the deadly effect they are having on wild salmon, she told the Straight.

Tom Smith, founder and chairman of Taser International Inc., is scheduled to appear in Vancouver next Monday (May 12) to present at the first Braidwood Inquiry.