Americas

By Kimberly Halkett in Americas on May 15th, 2012
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner onstage at the 2012 Fiscal Summit in Washington DC [Reuters]

US fiscal policy leaders are watching the European debt crisis closely.

They know that in a global economy European economic woes could have an impact here, spreading like a contagion to US banks, trade, the stock market and, quite possibly, the US election in November.

As the third annual Washington Fiscal Summit, convened by the Peterson Foundation, takes place in Washington, top Obama administration and congressional leaders are meeting to discuss America’s own long-term fiscal challenges.

The nation is facing a series of critical fiscal deadlines by the end of this year.

Tax cuts - sometimes called Bush-era tax cuts - are set to expire and automatic spending cuts to entitlement and defence spending are due take effect in 2013.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans want that to happen and are now arguing, mostly along party lines, on how best to reduce America’s debt and deficit.

Congress is, and has been for months, in a standoff.

By Rob Reynolds in Americas on May 14th, 2012
Photo: EPA

One afternoon in May, Al Jazeera accompanied police sergeant Joseph Paul on patrol in San Jose, California, a city of just under a million people. As Paul wheeled his cruiser down the highways and streets of his city, he said his daily routine is full of  potential dangers. 

“On patrol you have absolutely no idea who you're dealing with, what their story is, why they're where they are, why they're doing what they're doing,” Paul said.  “So you have to always be alert.”

On this particular patrol, Sgnt Paul did not encounter any dangerous situations. But the conditions of police work - the unpredictability, and the way that even a routine traffic stop can suddenly turn violent, are what police departments around the US often cite in support of arming officers with Tasers. In 2004, the San Jose department  became one of the first law enforcement agencies to equip each of its patrol officers with a Taser.

By Alan Fisher in Americas on May 13th, 2012
Mitt Romney's high school behaviour has come under scrutiny after reports suggested that he was a bully [AFP]

Now most of us would not like to be judged as adults by how we behaved in high school. There are moments many of us would choose to forget.

However, for some, those moments are still seared into the memory, an instant replay to make us feel awkward, uncomfortable or sad.

Mitt Romney is now facing allegations about his high school behaviour; how he would shout out 'atta girl' when a 'closeted gay student' answered in class, or how he walked a blind teacher into a door, 'laughing hysterically' at the outcome according to the Washington Post.

But then there is also an alleged attack on John Lauber.

According to the Post, Romney was incensed when Lauber turned up one day with dyed blonde hair.

A group, led by Romney, is then said to have pinned him to the ground.

Despite the screams for help and the tears in his eyes, Romney then cut his hair with a pair of scissors.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on May 12th, 2012

OIAPOQUE, Brazil - An informant has passed along rough GPS coordinates for the whereabouts of an illegal gold mine. It’s mid-morning, and a small group of army soldiers are huddled next to two military helicopters receiving their final briefings.

But this is no ordinary mission. 

This is the border between the Brazilian Amazon and French Guiana, a densely covered jungle region, and the only way to mount an operation to the gold mine is from helicopters. The forest extends for hundreds of miles and can’t be penetrated by car, ground troops, or even a tank.

File 70506

Security forces gather before a mission into the jungle. [Maria Elena Romero/Al Jazeera]

By Kimberly Halkett in Americas on May 12th, 2012
Unemployment levels are hovering around 8 per cent, forcing many to rely on government assistance. [GALLO/GETTY]

Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Thursday voted to cut a government subsidy programme known as “food stamps” that allows many low income Americans to eat. They also approved cuts to federal worker benefits and help for the elderly.  Why?  To avoid cuts to defence spending scheduled to take effect in 2013. 

The legislation was passed after hours of passionate debate by Democrats and Republicans, and the fight is far from over. Democrats have vowed to halt the cuts in the Senate.

I listened to the arguments, made by politicians whose salaries start at roughly $175,000. Then my photographer Rob Michaud and I drove about six blocks to the other side of Capitol Hill, where incomes are significantly lower. 

In fact, a large number of Capitol Hill residents rely on government assistance and live below the poverty line. It’s a stark contrast.

By David Mercer in Americas on May 11th, 2012
Activists say more than 400 villagers from Rio Negro had been killed by the time the dam wall was complete

I meet activist, land evictee and massacre survivor Carlos Chen in front of the Catholic Church in the town of Rabinal. 

A solid man in his late-50s, Carlos shakes my hand gently and suggests we go to his village to discuss filming plans for the following day. 

While walking along a dusty side street we pass a small museum dedicated to the local Maya Achi culture. Poking my head inside one of the rooms a shiver runs down my spine. 

Staring at me are the portraits of hundreds of people murdered during Guatemala's civil war.

Two entire walls are stacked with images of those massacred in Rio Negro, a community that refused to leave their land to make way for the Chixoy hydroelectric dam.

The photographs are taken from government-issued ID cards, and the paper is cracked and yellowing.

By Patty Culhane in Americas on May 11th, 2012
The closest the press gets to Obama's ritziest fundraisers is usually the security team outside. [AFP]

I could have been writing this from balmy, beautiful California, but I'm not.

As many of my colleagues jet to Seattle and stop in Los Angeles for a series of fundraisers, I'm still in Washington D.C.

We decided not to go, and there's a good reason why. We wanted to tell you about who's paying for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, and the campaign happens to be the worst place to do that.

At Obama's kick-off in Richmond, Virginia, I watched as he made repeated references to "ordinary people" and "middle-class Americans".

Conventional wisdom holds that Obama's presidency was made in 2008 by a horde of "ordinary people" donating small amounts.

He did have more small donors then the other candidates, but studies have since said the phenomenon was exaggerated, and this time around, small donors make up only 45 per cent of his donations.

By Andy Gallacher in Americas on May 10th, 2012
Al Jazeera

Truvada is a major breakthrough in the fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS.

The US Food and Drug Administration has stated that it is a "safe" and "effective" way of preventing the virus, and yet this little blue pill has already become something of a polarising force.

There are those who say it is a major step towards the goal of finding a cure for the HIV virus, and clinical trials have backed those claims up.

But others, some of whom have been fighting for years to get those at risk to use condoms and counselling, have concerns that Truvada may lead to a dangerous sense of invincibility.

If taken every day, Truvada provides more protection against the HIV virus than any other drug available.

Potential 'catastrophe'

Having an excuse to not use a condom has led the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to describe the use of Truvada as a potential "catastrophe" that could undue years of safe-sex advocacy.

By Josh Rushing in Americas on May 10th, 2012
Michael Selsor being escorted to the execution chamber of Oklahoma's death row [ Josh Rushing]

I came to Oklahoma to witness a killing, a homicide in fact.

At a microphone Debbie Huggins fights tears and with a strong southern drawl says slowly, emphatically: "What we did to him today was much kinder than what he did to my dad."

"Him" refers to Michael Selsor and "what" to the murder of Clayton Chandler, a clerk shot six times during a gas station robbery in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Selsor pulled the trigger even after Chandler had complied and volunteered the loot.

"In 1975 I never would have thought that it would take 37 years for justice," Huggins says.

Today's justice was delivered about half an hour before Huggins approached the microphone; it is why I am here.

By Kimberly Halkett in Americas on May 10th, 2012
Obama's announcement comes six months before the elections [Reuters]

Less than 24 hours after the US state of North Carolina voted on Tuesday to amend its constitution to prohibit marriage of gay couples, US President Barack Obama made history by coming out in support of same-sex marriage.

In a US television interview, Obama said, "for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married".

The president's position is an election year gamble.

Al Jazeera Live

What's Hot


Recent Comments

This work is licensed under Creative Commons. Please read our attribution policy.