Washington

By Imran Garda in Americas on January 30th, 2012
Phillip 'The Cat In The Hat' Black sells newspapers in Washington

"I know them all. This one on the wheelchair, with everybody around her. She sells heroin. That guy who’s looking at you like that - he’s high on crack. Don't take a picture of him or you might not get home to your daughters alive."

I first met Phillip Black on a corner of cosmopolitan F Street in Washington, a few stops away from Ford’s Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was shot, and almost within earshot of the White House.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Americas on January 26th, 2012
Four Republican presidential candidates are facing off in their 19th debate [EPA]

Our producer in Florida, Roza Kazan, keeps you up to date with the latest from the debate and ensuing reactions.

11:25pm: Jennifer S Korn, the Executive Director of the Hispanic Leadership Network told Al Jazeera that she too thinks the economy remains very important to Latino voters. “It's the number one issue, whether you are Hispanic or not,” Korn said. 

She said illegal immigration is a “huge problem” for the US and won't just go away. But the way to solve it, she said, is to solve the problems of legal immigration in order to “eliminate” illegal immigration. “Most people would love to come to work here in a legal way, but right now it practically does not exist," Korn said. 

By Teymoor Nabili in Middle East on November 9th, 2011
Israeli soldiers simulate a missile attack, but dismiss any connection with the speculation of possible attack on Iran [Reuters]

Really?

By John Terrett in Americas on October 17th, 2011
Reuters photo

A memorial to a "King" was formally dedicated in a Washington DC park on Sunday.

The Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr was one of America's most significant 20th century leaders, whose influence has spread throughout the world.

Now he's been immortalised in granite on the US National Mall, which is known locally as America's front lawn. 

It's the first site in this part of DC to honour an African American and the only one not dedicated to a former president or a war.

The giant centre-piece is called "The Stone of Hope" and the expression on Dr King's face is meant to inspire a multitude of private interpretations.

Mired in controversy

The Chinese artist who carved the $120 million statue at the heart of the memorial Lei Yixin, said that the monument told a story of its own.

"You can see through the facial expression, his eyebrow is kind of frowning, he wants to show that he's thinking.  Dr.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on September 29th, 2011
An ardent supporter of the Iraq war, Tony Blair is now tasked with brokering Middle East peace [AFP]

Tony Blair has been a political salesman since he first made his debut at the British Labour Party conference. And he is good, no doubt about that.

Not only because he speaks coherently; he is Scottish after all. Nor is it because he's often compared with George W Bush.

It's because Tony could peddle ideas and sell economic and military agendas better than most.

The question is: Would you buy a used car from Tony?

The Palestinians and the Arabs in general have concluded enough is enough.

Nabil Sha'ath, the Palestinian Authority's first ever foreign minister, told me last year: "Forget Tony Blair. I think Mr Blair is at the wrong time at the wrong place and he’s just making it easier for Mr Netanyahu to deceive us, really, in more ways than one."

By Christopher Ars... in Americas on September 4th, 2011
Diplomatic cables describe 'coke, tokes' and a Mexican beauty queen who parties with gangsters

Poring over US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks can be a dull business - diplomatic jargon and boring posts on consular activities. But like the journalists who read them, the young diplomats who filed the dispatches from US embassies sometimes like to have fun.

By Kristen Saloomey in Americas on August 1st, 2011
Aspen, Colorado. [Photo: Glenn Gabel]

 All tension with Pakistan aside, the US shows no sign of stopping its use of unmanned drones to kill al-Qaeda members in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

 Top national security officials fled the steamy debt debate in DC to take part in the Aspen Security Forum in cool Colorado last week, but they couldn’t escape the growing controversy.

Cradled amid Aspen’s pine-covered peaks and the Washington elite, with the soothing sounds of the Roaring Fork River as a backdrop, their talk was unusually frank.

Douglas Lute, President Barack Obama’s top advisoe on Pakistan, said his plan was to increase covert action in the tribal areas to take advantage of al-Qaeda’s disarray following the death of Osama Bin Laden.

By Alan Fisher in Americas on May 9th, 2011
Photo by GALLO/GETTY

Before World War II, on the nice spring and summer days, the people of Washington would take their picnics and lunch on the lawn at the White House.

The fences that now surround the most powerful symbol in the world’s most powerful country appeared much later.

Today, throughout the city, the stars and stripes hang from buildings, and balconies and flagpoles. They are more than normal because this is a country still soaking in the news that Osama bin Laden is dead. Celebrating would be too strong a word. They did in the immediate aftermath but most people recognise that the operation in Abbottabad is not the end of things.

It dominates the newspapers and the Sunday talk shows. What it means for the so-called ‘War on Terror’, the campaign in Afghanistan, for the President and the country.

I first came to Washington DC, 20 years ago this very weekend.

By Camille Elhassani in Americas on May 6th, 2011
AFP picture

Obviously the first week of May will go down in President Barack Obama’s memoirs as a huge success.  He hit his critics who say he’s not decisive enough with a major decision – to raid the compound where Osama bin Laden was living and kill the Al Qaeda leader. 

The t-shirts saying “Obama killed Osama” can now be bought on every other street corner in Washington DC.  The president’s approval ratings are up by double digits, although that certainly won’t last, as the economy trumps every other success in the minds of Americans.  And the unemployment rate inched up last month, even while the economy added jobs.

Obama has taken a five day long victory lap:  he addressed the nation and received his highest TV viewership, he laid a wreath at Ground Zero where the Twin Towers stood until September 11, 2001.  And he spoke to soldiers at Fort Campbell where the special operations team that conducted the raid in Abbottabad came from.  He told

By Teymoor Nabili in Middle East on May 4th, 2011
Photo by Reuters

A few days ago, an article with the above headline appeared on the website of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Penned by David Pollock, the piece has been a metaphorical pebble in my shoe ever since.

Initially, I had approached the article in expectation that it might help correct one of the major misconceptions about Al Jazeera: that it's just one single news station.

The fact that there are two news stations based in Doha, operating independently with different staff and different audiences, is a fairly important fact that's often overlooked.

But rather than shedding any light on the network, Pollock's article somehow managed to leave the impression that there's a conspiracy afoot in Doha, and that the division between English and Arabic stations is a cause for concern.

So here's an attempt to add some clarity, by pointing out some of the inconsistencies in

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