In New Hampshire, the first primary of the US election season is taking place. Mitt Romney may be way ahead in opinion polls but his rivals Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and others are campaigning hard to unseat him. Our Washington correspondents Philip Crowther and Stan de Saint Hippolyte have been following all the candidates on the campaign trail and bring us this report.
After eight years of conflict and 4,500 American casualties, the US Army is pulling out of Iraq. Almost all troops are expected to be back on home soil by the end of the year as military bases are handed over to Iraqi authorities. But the withdrawal is leaving some to question whether it is indeed mission accomplished.
The US will hold its presidential elections in November 2012. France 24 reports that continued support from the African American community is crucial for incumbent Barack Obama's re-election.
There's still a year to go before the US presidential election but the Republican primaries are approaching fast. Candidates are campaigning hard across the country but particularly in New Hampshire. The eastern state is viewed as a key indicator as to which candidate will go on to victory and take on Barack Obama in the 2012 election. Our correspondents went to find out more.
In the United States, unemployment figures remain high: 9.1%. Jobs will be at the forefront of the 2012 presidential election. US President Barack Obama is under immense pressure to create jobs, quickly. Unemployment is particularly high among returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Above the national average, it stands at around 13%. For now, many US servicemen and women risk coming back from war to the next fight, the one to find a steady job.
The Tea Party is a decentralised, rather disorganised political movement, but one that has a very big influence on the campaign to get rid of Barack Obama. And the Republican candidates know this.
Philip Crowther meets Daniel Libeskind, master plan architect for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, to talk about reconstruction as a healing process. He thinks that the new site he designed is reflecting American optimism in many ways.
Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the UK this Thursday to start a four-day tour. It's the first ever state visit to Britain by a pontiff. But the trip comes as the Catholic Church continues to deal with a large-scale sex abuse scandal.
