Nation in brief

Seniors boycott drugmaker over Canada cuts

With a battle cry of "Tums down!" senior citizens groups have started a boycott of drug giant GlaxoSmithKline, after the company cut supplies to Canadian pharmacies that sell its drugs to Americans on the Internet at bargain prices.

The seniors are taking aim at the British maker of Tums antacid, Aquafresh toothpaste, Contac cold remedy and dozens of common prescription medicines, calling Glaxo's decision "mean-spirited" and harmful to older people.

Last week, hundreds of groups began an e-mail and phone campaign urging U.S. consumers to stop buying Glaxo's over-the-counter products.

House backs 'do not call' list

WASHINGTON -- The House voted Wednesday to approve a national "do not call" list intended to help consumers block unwanted telemarketing calls.

The House voted 418-7 to allow the Federal Trade Commission to collect fees from telemarketers to fund the registry, which will cost about $16-million in its first year. Money for the program still needs approval in a House-Senate compromise $397-billion spending package for this year.

$2-a-pack cigarette tax urged

WASHINGTON -- A federal health commission on smoking recommended Tuesday evening that the Bush administration raise the federal tax on cigarettes from 39 cents to $2.39 a pack, arguing that the huge increase could prevent 3-million premature deaths and help 5-million Americans quit smoking within a year.

At least half of the $28-billion expected to be generated by the tax increase would be invested in anti-tobacco efforts such as a national quit line, a major advertising campaign and insurance coverage for federal workers seeking treatment.

No filming of jury talks

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas' highest criminal court Wednesday barred the PBS series Frontline from videotaping jury deliberations in a death penalty case.

In its 6-3 decision, the Court of Criminal Appeals said the taping -- which legal experts said would have been a first in a U.S. capital case -- would violate the "ancient and centuries-old rule that jury deliberations should be private and confidential."

Prison ministry challenged

Most inmates at Iowa's Newton Correctional Facility live three to a cell and have no privacy, even when they use the toilet. But if they agree to immerse themselves in Bible study and "the transforming love of Jesus Christ," according to a pair of lawsuits filed Wednesday, they are given keys to their cell doors, private bathrooms, free phone calls -- even access to big-screen TVs.

The lawsuits, filed by the Washington-based advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, challenge the constitutionality of InnerChange Freedom Initiative, run by evangelist Charles Colson's Virginia-based Prison Fellowship. President Bush has touted it as a model for his national effort to allow religious groups to compete for public funds to provide social services.

Lawmaker: France 'second-rate'

WASHINGTON -- A member of the House International Relations Committee called France "a second-rate country" that should be left out of any future defense coalitions that include the United States.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., accused France of using its influence at the U.N. Security Council and NATO to hobble the disarmament of Iraq.

"We may have to restructure (NATO), form a new alliance which the French will not be a part of," King said Tuesday. "We cannot allow a second-rate country to have a veto power or obstructionist power over American foreign policy."

"France is posturing itself as a moral guardian, when they would have lost World War I, and they set a world record in World War II for the quickest surrender by a world power," King said.

In trials . . .

DEATH BY AUTO: A Houston jury began deliberations Wednesday in the murder trial of a woman who ran down her husband with her Mercedes-Benz after catching him and his lover at a hotel.

Clara Harris, 45, who insisted the death last July was an accident, could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. The jury can also consider lesser charges of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.

ESPIONAGE: Jurors in Alexandria, Va., recessed Wednesday without reaching a verdict in the trial of suspected spy Brian Patrick Regan. The jury is scheduled to resume deliberations today.

Regan, 40, of Bowie, Md., is accused of attempted espionage for Iraq, Libya and China. He has pleaded innocent.

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