U.S.: Growing Pessimism on Afghanistan After Quran Burning

While top officials in the Barack Obama administration insist that U.S. strategy in Afghanistan is working, the violent aftermath of last week's apparently inadvertent burning of copies of the Quran at a military base is fuelling growing pessimism about the U.S. and NATO mission there.

U.S. Voters Increasingly Alienated by Two Major Parties

A new book shows there are now more U.S. voters who identify as independent than as Democrats or Republicans, despite the fact that the two major parties maintain their virtual stranglehold on U.S. politics and, so far, on the 2012 presidential election process.

U.S. States Grapple with Exploding Prison Populations

Budget constraints combined with exploding prison populations are prompting a number of U.S. states, including some of in the politically conservative south, to rethink their criminal codes.

Scientists Denounce Climate Change Denial, Censorship

Amid revelations of a well-funded U.S. organisation's plans to deliberately distort climate science, scientists and journalists at a major scientific conference called on the Canadian government to stop its muzzling of scientists.

Canada’s Tough New Crime Bill May Violate Child Rights

As the Senate debates the merits of the Canadian government's newly-passed omnibus crime bill, organisations across the country have raised serious issues with the legislation, particularly when it comes to amendments relating to the treatment of young offenders.

Q&A: U.S. Women’s Commissions Under the Budget Axe

State and local Commissions on the Status of Women (CSW) are facing shrinking budgets and even total elimination at a time when women are some of the hardest hit by the financial crisis, says Susan Rose, vice chair of Human Rights Watch's Santa Barbara Committee.

U.S.: Muslim “Terror Threat” Belied by Numbers

The threat of terrorism carried out by Muslim Americans appears to have been exaggerated by U.S. officials in recent years, according to a new study on domestic terrorism released Wednesday.

New Rule Puts Brakes on U.S. Public Housing Demolitions

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the publication of a new notice which significantly tightens its procedures for the processing of public housing demolition applications by local housing authorities.

U.S.: Building Communities Around Sustainable Food

With more and more communities in the U.S. South turning to cooperatives as a way to produce and consume food in a sustainable manner, several cooperatives are hoping to expand on what they view as more than just a "shopping experience" but a way of life.

Occupy DC Protesters Stay Put Amid Eviction Threats

Two days after some 400 people were arrested during a protest organised by Occupy Oakland on the U.S. west coast, members of Occupy DC say they have no plans to leave despite the threat of police action.

U.S.: Plan for Popular Presidential Vote Quietly Advances

Unlike many of the younger democracies around the world, the United States still does not elect its president by popular vote. Indeed, a majority of U.S. citizens elected Al Gore to be president in 2000, but because the U.S. elects its presidents by way of a convoluted system called the electoral college, George W. Bush was declared the winner that year instead.

U.S.: Forced Marriages Still an Ugly Secret

Two years ago, 40-year-old Vidya Sri decided to leave the devastating marriage her parents had forced her into nearly two decades ago. Alone for the first time, she began an earnest quest for support groups, women's organisations or service providers who might help her in the healing process.

Shale Gas a Bridge to More Global Warming

Hundreds of thousands of shale gas wells are being "fracked" in the United States and Canada, allowing large amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, to escape into the atmosphere, new studies have shown.

U.S.: “Money Isn’t Speech, Corporations Aren’t People”

In most mainstream media the words "corruption" and "election fraud" accompany images of makeshift polling stations manned by armed guards in Burma or burning tires beside tattered ballot boxes in South Sudan – the insidiousness of stolen elections and a crumbling democracy is very seldom associated with the United States.

U.S.: A Credit Union to Bail Out People, Not Big Banks

Occupy activists from Wall Street to San Francisco's financial district have dramatised their anger with big financial institutions by blocking JP Morgan Chase Bank doorways, dancing atop Wells Fargo counters, pitching a tent in a Bank of America lobby, hanging banners across Citibank windows, and accompanying the actions with the now-familiar chant "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out."

U.S.: Obama Rejects Giant Keystone Pipeline Scheme

In a decision fraught with political risk, U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday rejected the permit for the proposed giant Keystone XL pipeline project, insisting that his administration needed more time to determine whether it served the national interest.

Websites Black Out over “SOPA Censorship”

The number one rule young journalists are taught when starting radio broadcasting is simple: No dead air. Cough into the microphone if you must, but don't allow silence to creep in.

CANADA: Opposition Builds to New “Tar Sands” Pipeline

As public hearings began earlier this month into a controversial pipeline that would transport crude oil from the Alberta tar sands to tankers along the coast of British Columbia, environmental groups and First Nations communities have raised staunch opposition to the project, which they say puts both the environment and their traditional way of life at risk.

U.S.: A Decade in the Purgatory Called Guantanamo

Hundreds of protesters, dozens outfitted in orange jumpsuits and black hoods, took to the streets outside the White House on Wednesday to demonstrate against torture and indefinite detention on the 10th anniversary of the opening of the U.S. prison facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

U.S.: A Movement Evolves to Occupy the Future

With its encampments mostly destroyed, the nascent Occupy Movement in thousands of communities across the U.S. and dozens more around the world has not faded away.

Less Counter-Insurgency, More Asia in New U.S. Strategy

Capping a major eight-month review, President Barack Obama unveiled a new defence strategy here Thursday that places more emphasis on U.S. military capabilities in Asia and the Pacific and much less on counter-insurgency and nation-building operations in poorer and conflict-plagued countries.