ENERGY: Clean, Green Goo to Power Engines

Stephen Mayfield, the recently appointed director of the University of California at San Diego's Algae Biotechnology lab, is taking on a Texas-sized challenge - giving birth to a nascent alternative energy industry.

RIGHTS-US: “New” Military Courts Still Lack Basic Safeguards

While conservatives complain about Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terror suspects from Guantanamo coming to New York for trial, many legal experts and human rights groups are being equally outspoken in their criticism of the "new and improved" military commissions designated to try five other detainees.

EDUCATION: Foreign Students Flock Back to U.S

The number of international students attending colleges and universities in the United States has reached an all-time high of 671,616, largely bolstered by an increasing number of undergraduate students from China, while U.S. students are also studying abroad in higher numbers.

U.S.: Supreme Court Punts on “Redskins” Case

The ongoing drive to purge derogatory American Indian nicknames and mascots from U.S. sports and schools took a minor hit Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined, without comment, to hear an appeal challenging the trademark protecting the name of the National Football League's Washington Redskins.

U.S.: Nearly One in Six Citizens Went Hungry in 2008

As the World Food Security Summit got under way in Rome Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) disclosed that nearly one in six U.S. households went hungry at some time during 2008, the highest level since it began monitoring food security levels in 1995.

U.S.: Army Underreporting Suicides, Says GI Advocacy Group

According to a soldiers' advocacy group at Fort Hood, the U.S. base where an army psychiatrist has been charged with killing 13 people and wounding 30 in a Nov. 5 rampage, the official suicide figures provided by the Army are "definitely" too low.

RIGHTS-US: Decision on 9/11 Trials Sparks Praise, Anger

The U.S. government's decision to bring five high-profile terror suspects to the United States to face trials in a civilian court has drawn reactions ranging from praise to condemnation to confusion.

ECONOMY-US: “Green” Jobs Should Be Black and Brown Too

The Barack Obama administration's drive to promote a "green" economy is not working in the interest of poor people in the United States, especially those who belong to minority communities, according to a new study by a leading think tank.

POLITICS-US: The Healthcare Sausage Factory

Watching healthcare reform legislation pass through the U.S. Congress is like watching sausage get made. It is a gory and lumbering process of alliances and amendments, procedure and pandering.

RIGHTS-US: Obama’s Terrorism Courts Still “Fatally Flawed”

Human rights advocates and legal scholars are voicing sharp criticism of President Barack Obama's revisions to the George W. Bush administration's Military Commissions Act of 2006, characterising them as unnecessary and saying the new law will lead to further delays and create a system of "second-class justice".

CLIMATE CHANGE-US: Too Little, Too Late for Copenhagen?

The momentum that U.S. climate change legislation has picked up in recent weeks will not be enough to get it through prior to the Copenhagen climate talks that kick off Dec. 7. It has also come at a steep price for those most committed to seeing such legislation pass.

U.S.: “War Comes Home” with Ft. Hood Shootings

While investigators probe for a motive behind the mass shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas Thursday, in which an army psychiatrist is suspected of killing 13 people, military personnel at the base are in shock as the incident "brings the war home".

POLITICS-US: No Sunset for Sweeping Patriot Act Powers?

The USA Patriot Act, rushed into law by a panicky U.S. Congress in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, gave the government broad surveillance powers to spy on innocent citizens. But it also stipulated that three of its more controversial provisions should expire next month unless reapproved by lawmakers.

ENVIRONMENT: Rethinking Jobs for a Sustainable Economy

The possibility of environmental catastrophe has led many leaders, scholars and average citizens to reconsider an economy based on constant growth. It is becoming clear that people, especially in the United States, will need to consume less in the way of natural resources to avoid planetary peril.

U.S.: Secret Bailouts for Giant Failing Banks of the Future?

Big banks will not be forced to downsize and the public will be the last to know when they fail, a controversial bill unveiled by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Congressman Barney Frank proposes.

RIGHTS-US: Gay Bar Raids Draw Community Outrage

Two recent police raids of gay bars in Atlanta, Georgia and Fort Worth, Texas have sparked mass protests in the two cities and led activists to question whether equality for persons of all sexual orientations in the U.S. has come as far as some would like to believe.

CANADA: Ontario Aggressively Woos Green Power Investors

A "feed-in tariff" offering guaranteed premium prices for electricity from wind, solar, biomass and other green sources promises to attract large-scale international investors and developers, especially those aiming to erect wind turbines, to Canada's most populous province.

U.S.: Arizona Renews Push to Criminalise Immigrants

Arizona could become the first state in the U.S. to criminalise the very presence of undocumented immigrants.

U.S.: Cities Use Inclusionary Zoning as Housing Costs Climb

With most U.S. cities facing a severe shortage of affordable housing, more and more are beginning to turn to so-called inclusionary zoning (IZ).

RIGHTS: Obama Urged to Fully Comply with Anti-Torture Treaty

The fifteenth anniversary of the U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture passed last week with little fanfare and virtually no press attention from the mainstream media here.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Greatest of Lakes Hit by Climate Change

The weather was right for swimming this summer along the shores of Lake Michigan, but on many days, the only living things seen on the beach were gulls, picking away at zebra mussels ensnared in a thick, green slime that covered every rock, pebble and grain of sand for miles.