Free Republic

Prisoners of war suffer in ways most veterans don't, enduring humiliating forced marches, torture or other trauma that may haunt them long afterward. In partial recompense, the government extends them special benefits, from free parking and tax breaks to priority in medical treatment. Trouble is, some of the much-admired recipients of these benefits apparently don't deserve them. There are only 21 surviving POWs from the first Gulf War in 1991, the Department of Defense says. Yet the Department of Veterans Affairs is paying disability benefits to 286 service members it says were taken prisoner during that conflict, according to data...

<p>FOR the lawyers who file lawsuits against corporations, it looked like the next big thing — the next fen-phen, asbestos or even tobacco, the mother of all jackpots.</p> <p>Like the lawsuits involving asbestos, the fire-retardant material that when inhaled can cause a horrible lung cancer, the new suits involved a substance that under certain circumstances could harm the lungs: silica, a purified sand used as a cleaning abrasive as well as in making glass, paint, ceramics and other materials. Silica dust, when inhaled, can lodge in the lungs, causing silicosis, a disabling and often fatal lung disease.</p>

OTTAWA -- A sharp drop in the number of refugee claimants arriving in Canada this year is the result of a new pact with the United States that's turning out to be a "silent killer," a national refugee group says. The Canadian Council for Refugees issued a report yesterday urging the federal government to tear up the so-called safe third country agreement, saying it is having "a devastating effect on the ability of refugees to find protection." The Immigration Department insists that the agreement has been a success and that Canada's commitment to protecting refugees has not wavered. Under the...