Full Coverage: United States

30.10.2004 The 9/11 Commission Report suggests that the anti-terrorism war should be viewed more as a war against religious extremism and that the origins of Pakistan give the country a central role in this war. Pakistan has the power both to ferment an Islamic revolution and to control it.

29.10.2004 With political analysts agreeing that voter turnout, especially of minority and youth voters, will likely determine the outcome of next Tuesday’s presidential election, civil and human rights groups are pressing the Republican National Committee (RNC) to call off plans aimed at discouraging people from casting ballots.

29.10.2004

Armas en Irak © Radio Netherlands

New details emerging on missing weapons in Iraq reveal that coalition forces were made aware of unsecured weapons and explosives stockpiles after the fall of Baghdad but they did nothing about it. Researchers with the international group, Human Rights Watch, informed U.S. and British officers about stockpiles of munitions in Basra, Fallujah and along the Baquba-Baghdad road as early as May 2003 but they said they did not have enough troops to secure the sites.

29.10.2004 The results from Greenpeace Mercury Hair Sampling Project find one in every five women of childbearing age harbors more than the federal recommended mercury limit of one microgram per gram of hair. Mercury contamination causes neurological defect in the unborn and other health problems in growing children.

29.10.2004 The concept of media diversity no doubt took a turn for the better this year with the release of documentaries challenging mainstream monopoly on news coverage. For viewers out there looking for information on the most important issues of the day, there are lots of independent films to choose from.

29.10.2004 While there is no ready solution to over-exploitation, loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction and alteration in our oceans, environmentalists and marine biologists are advocating for marine protected areas as the first step toward lasting solutions.

29.10.2004

Coca-Cola

Across Europe, anger at the U.S.-led Iraq war and other unilateral foreign policy decisions is translating into a rejection of American consumer brands, says Lester Brown. With sales and earnings of Coca-cola, McDonald’s and Gap declining, the indirect effect of the Iraq war on the American economy should be a major concern because it “could be far greater than the cost of the war.”

28.10.2004 A coalition of more than 160 U.S. development and relief organizations is calling on President George W. Bush to provide more assistance to the more than 1.6 million people who have been forced from their homes in a brutal counter-insurgency campaign that the Bush administration has characterized as “genocide” in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

28.10.2004 In the weeks before Americans go to the polls to choose their next president, reports of organized efforts to intimidate voters or suppress the turnout have streamed in from across the country. Interview with Elliot Minceberg, People for the American Way Foundation, conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris.

28.10.2004 The United States turned its back on Europe since the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, says Charles Powell, analyst with the Spanish think-tank, Elcano Royal Institute. The outcome of next week’s election will not change the situation because the U.S. is now focusing on the threats generated by the 9/11 attacks and, on China which it regards as its major economic and, potentially, military rival.

28.10.2004

US elections © Guardian Unlimited

In a move that sends negative signals on electoral transparency, officials in Broward, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami-Dade counties in Florida and, Franklin and Cayuhoga counties in Ohio have denied a team of international observers access to polling sites in their locality. The team of 15 experts from 10 countries who are scheduled to observe the polls in Missouri, Ohio and Florida have been granted access to Boone County, Missouri, the City of St. Louis and Leon County also in Florida.

27.10.2004 Six months after CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ broadcast photos of abuses by U.S. soldiers of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Amnesty International is renewing its call for Washington to launch a comprehensive, independent investigation of the use of torture by U.S. forces in the “war on terrorism.”

27.10.2004 They are a few of the results benefiting Mexico from the cross-border collaboration fostered by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America. The CEC is an international organization created in 1994 through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC)--a side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

27.10.2004 In a letter to the Justice Department last week, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) urged the Bush administration to ensure the protection of minority voting rights in next week’s election. The group notes that recent disputes over identification requirements and changes in polling places in some states present ample potential for disenfranchisement of minority voters.

27.10.2004

Ogm bomba - da Greenpeace

The Bush administration has intervened to delay the release of a North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) report that recommends labeling of all genetically engineered (GE) maize. Written by NAFTA’s Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the report contradicts U.S. position that GE crops pose no contamination threat to natural varieties and, it recommends that U.S. maize imports to Mexico be milled upon entry to prevent accidental planting.

27.10.2004 Apart from its spectacular natural beauty, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to caribou, polar bears, muskoxen, and more than 135 species of birds. Environmentalists are campaigning against oil development in the Refuge because it will transform its wilderness character and threaten its wildlife.

26.10.2004 Moving Ideas recently released in depth resources on the politics of U.S. human rights practices, as a companion to The American Prospect's October Special Report, Bringing Human Rights Home: Why universal rights protect America. It includes links to reports, facts, resources, and primary sources relating to human rights in the U.S.

26.10.2004 Read Noam Chomsky’s “Media, Propaganda and the System” (Mediji, Propaganda i Sistem) at the web-site of the Elektronicke Knjige online publisher.

26.10.2004 The Russian parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol last week giving the agreement the push it needed to become international law, despite Bush failing to sign up.

26.10.2004

©The US Department of Energy, Washington DC

Environmental regulators across the country are facing resistance from the Pentagon over cleanup of contaminated military bases and enforcement of pollution limits. Investigations reveal that enforcement of regulatory actions against military facilities has dropped 25 percent in the last four years because the military has repeatedly challenged the authority of regulators to fine the Pentagon for pollution problems.