John Terrett

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John Terrett
Correspondent | United States
Biography
John Terrett is a Washington DC based correspondent for al Jazeera English.

Latest posts by John Terrett

By John Terrett in Americas on January 16th, 2012
Muhammad Ali at his 70th birthday party in Louisville Kentucky on Saturday night

The boxing legend and humanitarian Muhammad Ali turns 70 this Tuesday, January 17.

In the town where he was born, in the southern US state of Kentucky, a party was held on Saturday night in his honour. Ali was there, along with 250 of his closest friends. 

The event was in aid of the Muhammad Ali Center, which showcases the achievements of a man known the world over as, simply, "The Greatest."

Media access was limited, but I was able to squeeze into the building just in time to see Louisville's favourite son - and one of the world's most beloved men - shuffle to the barrier of a balcony overlooking the foyer. 

He didn't speak - I'm not sure he can say much these days - and maintained only a only blank expression throughout his brief appearance. He was supported by his family throughout and his skin appeared to have an unhealthy yellow hue. He was also painfully thin.

By John Terrett in Americas on January 9th, 2012
In recent months, hundreds have protested for more equitable access to healthcare as part of the Occupy protests [GALLO/GETTY]

As millions of Americans struggle in the worst economic times since the Great Depression, keeping up with rising healthcare costs has become an all-too-common problem.

Low-income residents in the northeastern state of Maine who do not have insurance, however, have found a novel way of getting access to healthcare services: they earn time credits which can be exchanged for time with a doctor by doing yard work or other everyday chores.

To find out more, I joined midwife Lindsay Bushnell as she arrived at Abbey Morgan's apartment, on the outskirts of the city of Portland.

By John Terrett in Americas on December 30th, 2011
A Thai investor looks at an electronic share price display during the last day of trading in year 2011 [AFP]
As the year turns, what's in store for the global economy?
Europe's on the threshold of recession. 
Its decade-old single currency seems to be on the brink of collapse. 
The US is struggling with a jobless recovery as the presidential election year begins.
Meanwhile, emerging economies like China, its Asian neighbours and most of Latin America - especially Brazil, which is now the sixth biggest economy in the world, leaving previous incumbent Britain in its rear-view mirror - are booming.
To find out more I turned to the Peterson Institute for International Economics on "Think Tank" row in Washington, DC.
It's the only major think-tank in the US devoted to international economics and its leading thinker, Dr C Fred Bergsten, has been running the institute since it was created in 1981.
He says that in 2012, high income and relat
By John Terrett in Americas on December 27th, 2011

Millions of Americans are facing a bleak holiday new year as they wait to hear if the banks will foreclose on their homes.

The US economy is still struggling to get going again after the global financial collapse of 2008.

The recovery has been slow - and lacking in sufficient new jobs - while home prices remain at historically low levels.

I have just come back from the Midwestern state of Minnesota, where over twenty five thousand people lost their homes to foreclosure last year.

"Look what's that?" "Say alligator" "Alligator!"

That's Monique White who is playing with her grandson, Deshaun, in the Minneapolis home her late dad helped her buy in 2003... but which she might be about to lose.

Raising two sons and a grandchild, she is proud to be the first in her family to own a home.

When the US economy tanked, Monique was initially told her job as a youth counsellor was safe ... but in February 2010 that changed. Monique told me.

By John Terrett in Americas on December 14th, 2011
Photo by Reuters

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with US business leaders on Tuesday, the second day of his visit to Washington DC. 

He told them that instead of military generals leading the way in Baghdad's future, it would be business owners and captains of industry like them.

Maliki wants US companies to set up shop in Iraq.

I went along to hear him speak at the US Chamber of Commerce headquarters just steps from the White House. (That's a measure of how important business and commerce is in the US that the first building you come to when crossing Lafayette Park after leaving the White House is the Chamber's HQ.)

His message, just weeks before most US troops pick-up and go home, was clear, "our door is open, please come!"  He said: "Iraq represents a great investment environment, a nascent one and very promising!"   

By John Terrett in Americas on December 8th, 2011
Test models performed well in the laboratory, but the farm's real turbines will need to stand up to the region's bleak weather
Maine, a northeastern US state known more for its lobster than renewable energy, is pushing to become a world leader in deep sea wind power.

While Europe has over one hundred off-shore wind farms - some fixed to the seabed and some floating - the United States, perhaps surprisingly, has none at all. That's right: none, zero, nada.

By John Terrett in Americas on December 4th, 2011

I'm standing on the concourse watching an Alaska Airlines 737 jet landing in poor weather at Washington DC's Reagan National Airport.

Flight four from Seattle is "greener" than others that touch down here.

It's engines are powered, in part, by a sustainable biofuel. Twenty per cent is used cooking oil, 80 per cent traditional aviation fuel.

Alaska's CEO Bill Ayer, says: "The engine operates exactly the same. All of the parameters, everything that we measure technically about engine performance is identical."

Alaska Airlines says if all its aircraft were powered this way for one year it'd be like taking 64,000 cars off the road.

Other carriers are testing green fuels too.

Tags: Bill Ayer
By John Terrett in Americas on November 17th, 2011
A protester camps in McPherson Square, Washington DC.

In some ways, the Occupy Wall Street Washington DC encampment is the "last man standing" among all the Occupy movements in the US right now.

Two months after the protests broke out, many of the others have been cleared out or denied permission to pitch tents or sleep overnight in such places as Oakland, Philadelphia, New York - we've all seen the headlines!

I've just come back from the DC site in McPherson Square, only a couple of blocks from the White House, where I sought the views of the "residents" on why they think the authorities have largely left their camp alone.

John, cradling his breakfast-time yoghurt told me:

"Well I think we have a very good approach, we have a non-violent approach. Here we practice non-violent direct action.  We have a very good working relationship with the police."

Tags:
By John Terrett in Americas on November 15th, 2011
Photo by Reuters
Basketball is pretty much the only sport "invented" in America that has easily crossed international borders.
  
Unlike Gridiron, the US version of football, and baseball, the game is played the world over.
 &
By John Terrett in Americas on November 7th, 2011



A 67-year-old former football coach at one of the US.'s leading academic and sporting universities in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania has been arrested on allegations of serial child abuse.

Assistant coach Jerry Sandusky helped coach Penn State's football team for more than 30 years. 

He also ran a charity helping disadvantaged teenaged boys.

But now he's turned himself into the authorities having been charged with 40 counts of child abuse. 

His lawyer Joe Amendola says, "He's been aware of these allegations for over three years now. He came back to State College voluntarily last night."

The 41-page indictment, issued after a three-year Grand Jury investigation, is graphic.

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John Terrett's picture
John Terrett
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John Terrett is a Washington-based correspondent for Al Jazeera English.

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