U.S.: Military’s Anti-Gay Policy May Be in Final Days

The ongoing effort to repeal the policy banning gays and lesbians from openly serving in the U.S. military got more ammunition Tuesday when the U.S. Department of Defence released a report finding that its repeal would cause only minimal short-term disruption to the military.

From DREAM to Nightmare, Deportations Soar in U.S.

While the U.S. Congress idles on the passage of the DREAM Act, immigrants here face ever harsher treatment. The rate of deportations has increased by 1,200 percent since 1990, from 30,000 per year then to a staggering 360,000 under the Barack Obama administration.

U.S.: Federal Reserve Conjures – and Redefines – Money

The private central bank of the United States, the Federal Reserve, has begun purchasing $600 billion of long-term U.S. Treasury Bonds, essentially subsidising the federal deficit for the year.

U.S.: Clock Ticks on Immigration Reform Bill

Democratic lawmakers will attempt to summon up their waning power by using the so-called "lame duck" session of Congress to pass what will likely be the closest they will get to comprehensive immigration reform.

U.S.: Will Pentagon Be Exempt from Budget Cuts?

With pressure to slash the 1.3 trillion-dollar federal deficit rising sharply, the public debate over whether to exempt the Pentagon from such cuts is moving rapidly toward centre-stage.

U.S.: Courts Throw Out a Third of Deportation Cases

While U.S. immigration authorities are "understandably eager to trumpet the overall number" of people they deport, close to one in three deportations recommended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is being rejected by immigration courts, according to an analysis of case-by-case government data.

U.S. Regulators Omit Wider Implications of GM Salmon

U.S. regulators are poised to decide as early as next week whether to approve a genetically modified salmon for human consumption.

CANADA: A Govt Versus Its People on Climate Change

The Canadian public is completely at odds with its own government on climate change, a new survey revealed Friday.

New York Terror Verdict Hailed as Vindicating Civil Trials

The conviction of the first Guantanamo Bay detainee brought to New York for trial is triggering a wide range of reactions from politicians and legal experts.

U.S.: Health and Privacy Concerns Dog Airport Body Scanners

Privacy advocates called on the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Tuesday to end its controversial new initiative of whole-body scans and enhanced pat-downs of airline passengers, calling the programme "dangerous to health, ineffective and unconstitutional".

U.S.: Poll Finds Growing Aversion to Death Penalty

A clear majority of U.S. voters - 61 percent - would choose a punishment other than death for murder if given a choice, the Death Penalty Information Centre said Tuesday as it released the results of "one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted" of U.S. citizens' views on capital punishment.

Illness Plagues Gulf Residents in BP’s Aftermath

Increasing numbers of U.S. Gulf Coast residents attribute ongoing sicknesses to BP's oil disaster and use of toxic dispersants.

U.S. Defaults on Vow to Reform Asylum System

Human rights groups say time is running out for the federal government to make good on a pledge to shift the country's immigration detention system to one that emphasises a civil rather than criminal approach.

Outrage Mounts over Bush’s Waterboarding “Confession”

After a three-year investigation, President Barack Obama's mantra – "look forward and not backwards" – appears to have trumped the rule of law as a special prosecutor declined to pursue criminal charges against the Central Intelligence Agency operatives involved in the destruction of video recordings of interrogations of "war on terror" suspects.

U.S.: Few Big Fish Land in Immigration Dragnet

Putting local police on the "front lines" of immigration enforcement is distracting federal agencies from their objectives by turning over people with no criminal history, or those who have committed minor or non-violent crimes, and setting them on a course toward unnecessary deportation.

Obama Lawyers Defend “Kill Lists”

Lawyers for the Barack Obama administration told a federal judge Monday that the U.S. government has authority to kill U.S. citizens whom the executive branch has unilaterally determined pose a threat to national security.

Muslim Americans Foil Terror Threats

A new report on violent extremists in the United States finds that terrorism plots by non-Muslims greatly outnumber those attempted by Muslims, and that Muslim-American communities helped foil close to a third of al Qaeda-related terror plots threatening the country since Sep. 11, 2001.

BOOKS-US: Dissecting the Perpetual War Machine

Andrew J. Bacevich emerged in the first decade of the century as this country's most widely read and widely respected critic of U.S. militarism and empire.

Canada’s Parliament Buckles under Weight of Mining Industry

The corporate clout of the mining industry trumped political ideology in Canada when members of all political parties helped to narrowly defeat a bill late last month that would have imposed standards on Canadian mining companies operating in developing countries.

Obama Foreign Policy Likely to Face Republican Challenges

While foreign policy issues played almost no role in Tuesday's election results, the historic Republican landslide will almost certainly make Barack Obama's vision of a more positive U.S. role in international affairs more difficult to pursue.

Republicans Sweep U.S. House

Opposition Republicans have scored major victories in the country's midterm elections by taking control over the House of Representatives from the Democrats and scoring impressive gains in the Senate, which delivered a stinging blow to Barack Obama's presidency.