United States

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 Adam Raney in Americas on January 10th, 2012
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shake hands during a welcoming ceremony [Reuters]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad exchanged warm embraces and signed several trade and political agreements on Monday.

Few details were given to the press - other than that the agreements were meant to expand research in science, nanotechnology, industry and politics.

It was more a display of how they were deepening ties on economic development projects and strengthening their political alliance. Chavez touted ongoing projects such as food processing plants, and tractor and bicycle factories - all of which were built in Venezuela with Iran's help.

He even included pre-recorded segments at the press confence where workers gave viewers tours of corn processing plants and milk treatment plants.

For two of the world's most oil-rich countries though, the projects seemed a bit small scale to be highlighted for the international press.

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on December 16th, 2011
[Gregg Carlstrom/Al Jazeera]

This photo is from Thursday's "flag-casing" ceremony in Baghdad, which marked the formal end of the US military command here. 

Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, spoke at the ceremony: He praised the progress of the Iraqi security forces and said "we created an Iraq that could finally govern and secure itself."

You'll notice that the labels on the chairs include not just your name, but the number of the concrete bunker you should hide in if the ceremony is rocketed.

A standard precaution for the military, sure, but it's a small detail that highlights how Iraq really still is a war zone, despite the US withdrawal.

By Kamal Hyder in Asia on November 30th, 2011
Pakistanis have staged anti-NATO protests across the country in recent days. [Photo: EPA]

The attack toook place in the dead of the night, and for more than two hours, American helicopters pounded a well-known and marked Pakistani post.

The Pakistani army frantically tried to convey to NATO, ISAF and the US high command in Afghanistan to stop the attack, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. By the time it was over, more than 24 soldiers lay dead, including officers, and over a dozen wounded.

The Pakistani post, known as Volcano, was where the two sides held their flag meetings.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on November 16th, 2011
Lula shaves his iconic beard.

I was once at a dinner party in the United States not too long ago, when a guest asked me a simple, straight-forward question: “Is that guy with the beard still the president down there in Brazil?”

The guy with the beard.

I chucked, and answered, no, the bearded guy is no longer president. It’s now a woman. The guest, who admitted to not following Brazil news that closely, gave me a quizzical look and then I think the conversation quickly moved on to the weather or something like that.  

File 52286

Lula da Silva and his famous beard when he was president of Brazil [Getty] 

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on October 11th, 2011
The Massachusetts statesman's presidential ambitions include a plan for his Latin neighbours.

If Mitt Romney becomes president of the United States, he apparently has big plans for Latin America. 

“Neither the Bush administration or the Obama administration really focused on Latin America,” a Romney aide apparently told a conference call of reporters late last week, according to this article in Politico. 

The article quoted an aide who said President Mitt Romney would envision “larger campaigns for economic opportunity in Latin America” and that Latin America would be one of the main regions in the world Romney foreign policy would differ from George Bush or Barack Obama. 

Fair enough.

With that in mind I took great interest when on Friday Romney released his 44-page foreign policy white paper titled: “An American Century - A Strategy to Secure

By Imran Khan in Asia on September 25th, 2011
Photo by EPA

Like all great lovers' tiffs, this one started with frustration. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, decided to make his feelings public.

In a nutshell, he accused Pakistan of state sponsored terrorism, alleging that its Inter-Services Intelligence backs the Haqqani network. The Haqqanis are a fearsome bunch of fighters whose lineage goes back to Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Back then, their leader, Jalaludin Haqqani, was seen as a hero, even sitting in the White House with the then President Ronald Reagan. But it wasn't just the US. The Pakistanis nurtured and encouraged him to go fight in Afghanistan, supplying him with weapons and safe havens.

That was 20 years ago and, like all bad marriages, things left unresolved often explode.

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on September 22nd, 2011
Palestinians marching in Ramallah on Wednesday in support of the PLO's statehood bid. [Gregg Carlstrom/Al Jazeera]

The reaction in the West Bank to US President Barack Obama's speech at the United Nations has been, as you might expect, frustrated. Frustrated - but not surprised.

The frustration was mostly with the tone of the speech, rather than its substance. The most offensive line to many, at least in interviews this morning, was Obama's declaration that "there are no shortcuts"; as several Ramallah residents reminded me, the Palestinian people have been dispossessed for 63 years already.

But the speech did not surprise anyone; it has been clear for months, after all, that Obama planned to veto the Palestine Liberation Organisation's bid for full membership at the UN. Mustafa Barghouti, the Palestinian politician and activist, called Obama's position "disappointing" in an interview before the president's speech.

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on September 19th, 2011
Mahmoud Abbas arrived in New York on Monday ahead of the UN General Assembly. [EPA]

The Palestine Liberation Organisation seems to have passed the point of no return in its bid for full membership at the United Nations. Mahmoud Abbas could still abandon the bid - he will not formally submit the PLO's request until later this week - but that would be a politically ruinous move after his speech on Friday night.

Nonetheless, the United States and the European Union are still trying to convince Abbas to back down. There will be a few frantic meetings in New York this week ahead of Abbas' speech to the UN General Assembly on Friday.

The carrot they are offering him is the prospect of renewed negotiations with Israel, possibly with a timer attached: If talks do not go anywhere after, say, six months, the so-called Quartet would then endorse the PLO's bid for UN membership.

By Asad Hashim in Americas on September 12th, 2011
Two towers of light shine out from the World Trade Centre site [Reuters]

Two white beams reach impossibly high into the sky, just as two black hollows mark the places where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood; testaments to both an absence and a resolve.

On Sunday, the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a room full of relatives and families of the victims of the attacks that she felt “a particular satisfaction” to be part of “the team … that made sure [Osama] Bin Laden was brought to justice”. By which, of course, she meant to be part of the effort to have the former al-Qaeda leader killed.

She went on to say that the Obama administration would not rest until those deemed to be responsible for the attacks are “similarly brought to justice”.

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