The week's top articles:

3/31/2004 Los Angeles Times ************ VoteMeter	A Dose of Denial How drug makers sought to keep popular cold and diet remedies on store shelves after their own study linked them to strokes.
3/30/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	At the Center of the Storm Over Bush And Science The average scientific dispute is a joust in obscurity, a clash over technical matters that few but the immediate combatants grasp or are even aware of.
3/29/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	Hamas Leader Calls Bush Foe of Muslims The new Hamas leader, Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, said Sunday that President Bush is the enemy of Muslims and that God has declared war on the United States.
3/25/2004 Toronto Star ************ VoteMeter	Fog of war still hasn't lifted One year after the bombing of Baghdad, we know that the White House and the Pentagon prevaricated their way into Iraq. This while the media waved them on in a flag-flying frenzy that CBS's Dan Rather called "patriotism run amok."
3/29/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	Summit's Collapse Leaves Arab Leaders in Disarray Arab governments were in disarray on Sunday after the Arab League summit meeting, set to grapple with vital regional issues like democratic reform, Arab-Israeli bloodshed and the American occupation of Iraq, was abruptly called off ...
3/28/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	Plan to Battle AIDS Worldwide Is Falling Short 14 months after President Bush promised $15 billion for AIDS treatment in poor countries, shortages of money and battles over patents have kept antiretroviral drugs from reaching more than 90 percent of the poor people who need them.
4/1/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	U.S. Optimism Is Tested Again After Ambush Kills 4 in Iraq But along with the publicly expressed confidence, there are hints that American generals are not as sure as they were only weeks ago that they have turned a corner in the conflict.
3/28/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	China Moves Toward Another West: Central Asia An agreement this month to build a oil pipeline through this tiny hamlet makes it the center of an explosion of economic activity in what only recently was one of the most backward corners of China.
3/27/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	8 Hostages Executed in Pakistan Siege Eight Pakistani soldiers who had been taken hostage by militants...have been executed, officials said Friday, in the latest sign that the effort by Pakistan's government to flush foreign militants from the region has gone badly awry.
3/26/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	U.S. Officials Fashion Legal Basis to Keep Force in Iraq … officials say they believe an existing United Nations resolution approving the presence of a multinational force in Iraq, approved by the Security Council in October gives American commanders the authority needed …
3/25/2004 Toronto Star ************ VoteMeter	Genetic mutation may have separated man, apelike kin Touching off a scientific furor, researchers say they may have discovered the mutation that caused the earliest humans to branch off from their apelike ancestors — a gene that led to smaller, weaker jaws and, ultimately, bigger brains.
3/25/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	Corporate Tax Bill Hits Wall in Senate After Debate on Overtime After months of arduous negotiations, Senate Republicans veered close to defeat on Wednesday in their effort to overhaul corporate tax laws and resolve a $4 billion trade battle with the European Union.
4/1/2004 Toronto Star ************ VoteMeter	British Muslims take on terror British Muslim leaders yesterday urged every imam to help police fight terrorism after the arrest of eight men stoked fears that disaffected young Britons may be as much of a threat as foreign militants.
3/31/2004 Independent (London) ************ VoteMeter	GM giant abandons bid to grow crops in Britain In a huge blow to the genetically modified food lobby, Bayer Cropscience has given up attempts to grow commercial GM maize in Britain.
3/25/2004 Toronto Star ************ VoteMeter	Corn sweetener linked to obesity Researchers say they've found more evidence of a link between a rapid rise in obesity and a corn product used to sweeten soft drinks and food since the 1970s.
3/31/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	Defying Bush, Senate Increases Child Care Funds for the Poor Over strenuous objections from the White House, the Senate voted on Tuesday for a significant increase in money to provide child care to welfare recipients and other low-income families.
3/30/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	Trials Open Across Nation on Abortion-Procedure Ban The new federal law banning a procedure that the government calls partial-birth abortion compromises reproductive choice for women, and is vague and unconstitutional, a lawyer argued yesterday in Federal District Court in New York,...
3/30/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	Supreme Court to Consider Role of Intent in Age Bias The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to settle one of the most disputed questions in civil rights law: how to win an age discrimination case in the absence of proof that an employer deliberately singled out older workers for unfavorable treatment.
3/27/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	Fast Saliva Test for H.I.V. Gains Federal Approval Public health officials hope the new test will encourage wider and more frequent testing.
3/26/2004 New York Times ************ VoteMeter	Kerry Is Sticking With Plan to Raise Auto Fuel Efficiency In the face of rising gasoline prices and stagnating fuel efficiency, Senator John Kerry is sticking with a plan he backed in the Senate to increase the nation's fuel economy standards 50 percent by 2015.
4/2/2004 New York Times ********** VoteMeter	Negotiators Reach Accord on Pension Bill House and Senate negotiators said that they had reached an agreement yesterday on a bill that would save companies an estimated $80 billion in pension contributions over the next two years.
4/1/2004 Independent (London) ********** VoteMeter	Breakthrough on rat genome gives hope of new cancer drugs Scientists have decoded the full DNA sequence of the laboratory rat, a breakthrough they believe will revolutionise the investigation of the human genes behind serious illnesses such as cancer.
3/31/2004 New York Times ********** VoteMeter	3rd Day of Violence Claims 23 Lives in Uzbekistan As many as 23 people were reported dead on Tuesday in bombings and gun battles in Uzbekistan during a third day of violence in a strategic ally of the United States that borders Afghanistan.