Meanwhile, South Australian Premier Mike Rann has been accused of hypocrisy by Australian Democrats for saying he wants an assurance from the federal government that the state will be safe when Hicks is finally released. Rann is being criticized because his South Australian Labor Party has been pressing for Hicks' return for the past five years and now that the process is moving forward, he is expressing concern over the issue.

The Internal Revenue Service reports that a large number of cell-phone users are overlooking the telephone tax refund mistakenly believing that the one-time refund only applies to land-line customers.

According to the IRS, most cell-phone users qualify for the federal telephone excise tax refund. In most cases, the refund is also available to land-line, fax and Internet phone customers as well. The method of phone signal transmission does not affect the refund. The telephone-tax refund can add $30 to $60 -- or even more -- onto a taxpayer's refund.

"Many taxpayers are overlooking this special refund and the chance to get a bigger refund," said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. "We encourage taxpayers to spend a few extra minutes reviewing their tax return to make sure they are making an accurate request. A little extra time can mean a bigger refund check."

The government stopped collecting the long-distance excise tax last August after several federal court decisions held that the tax does not apply to long-distance service as it is billed today. The tax continues to apply to local-only phone service.

Federal officials also authorized a one-time refund of the three-percent tax collected on long-distance or bundled service billed after Feb. 28, 2003, and before Aug. 1, 2006. Bundled service is local and long-distance service provided under a plan that does not separately list the charge for local service. Bundled service includes, for example, phone plans that provide both local and long-distance service for either a flat monthly fee or a charge that varies with the time for which the service is used. It is the type of service provided by many cell-phone companies.

"We want all taxpayers entitled to this refund to get it, whether they are using a tax preparer or doing the return themselves," Everson said.

So far this year, about three in 10 tax returns received by the IRS are not requesting the telephone-tax refund.

Is downtown Los Angeles finally headed towards the likes of New York or Chicago's bustling and vibrant urban environments?  With the recent boom of construction and real estate development going on, it appears that downtown LA will once again be a popular destination for Angelinos.

The real hints that the neighborhood is changing come in more subtle forms — such as the tours Derrick Moore has been giving around downtown recently. Moore, a senior associate in CB Richard Ellis' Urban Development Group, has been helping representatives from national chain stores such as Walgreen's and the Outback Steakhouse group — who have long shied away from downtown — search for properties in the area. He has wined and dined potential retailers at local hotspots — and found their reaction a distinct shift from even a few months ago, when most took a wait-and-see attitude toward the neighborhood.

Residents have moved in, with the population now at 30,000. Some of downtown's long-anticipated, large-scale projects — including a supermarket and a movie theater — are only months from opening. Questions about downtown's future have heightened with the recent cooling of Southern California's real estate market. But downtown so far doesn't appear to be suffering much, and there are growing signs that retail is actually strengthening.

"First and foremost," Moore said, "we have to figure out the parking issue in downtown. We have to make parking easy for all the folks we are expecting to attract … for a reasonable amount of money."

One key test for downtown will be the role that parking plays in its evolution. Several observers said it is hard to find inexpensive, easy parking in the district — and that could harm the push for an active street life in downtown.

One thing that the area is lacking is a grocery store.  People don't want to live somewhere where they have to drive for 30 minutes to the closest supermarket. After over 30 years without one, the arrival of Ralphs — which started downtown at 6th and Spring in the late 1800s but abandoned the district in 1950 — is seen by many as a sign that the district's fortunes have returned.

"I think that the Ralphs opening is going to be the adhesive to hold it all together," Moore said of the retail renaissance. "That's what's missing."

Meanwhile, comments made by Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) regarding Gonzales' inconsistent explanations of his involvement in the firings did not resound with confidence in the attorney general. McConnell did not express his own backing of Gonzales, but said President Bush has confidence in Gonzales "at the moment."

The victory may be only temporary, however. The high court twice previously has extended legal protections to prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. These individuals were seized as potential terrorists following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and only 10 have been charged with a crime.

Despite the earlier rulings, none of the roughly 385 detainees has yet had a hearing in a civilian court challenging his detention because the administration has moved aggressively to limit the legal rights of prisoners it has labeled as enemy combatants.

A federal appeals court in Washington in February upheld a key provision of a law enacted last year that strips federal courts of their ability to hear such challenges.

At issue is whether prisoners held at Guantánamo have a right to habeas corpus review, a basic tenet of the Constitution that protects people from unlawful imprisonment.

Canada's controversial annual seal hunt opened Monday in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the worst ice conditions in more than two decades have nearly wiped out the herd.

Fisheries officials said they expect only a few boats from the Maritime provinces will take part in the first phase of the centuries-old hunt. About 40 boats from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are eligible, with most of the early hunting focused on the Cape Breton coast, said Fisheries Department spokesman Roger Simon.

"There are a few seals scattered from Sydney towards Canso but they are very sparse and the ice is broken and deteriorated," he said.

"What seals were in that area may be swimming back north and we know a higher proportion drowned this year. The bad ice contributed to a high rate of drowning," Fisheries Department spokesman Phil Jenkins said. "The mortality from bad ice is going to be fairly high."

The hunt is key to the livelihood of Canadian fishermen and aboriginal peoples. To protect the seal population in Canada — which now stands at about 5.5 million - fisheries officials announced a sharp reduction in the number that can be killed.