US President Barack Obama called for greater economic fairness in his annual State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. The president also called on Congress to invest more in education and clean energy.
In a show of political defiance, Iran announced it was beginning the enrichment of uranium at an underground plant, which some Western countries believe is to produce nuclear arms. Iran maintains it is purely for civilian use. This latest diplomatic dispute comes in the wake of economic sanctions imposed by the US and threats from Iran to close a strategic waterway if Washington continues.
The US is considering Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's request to visit, a senior US official said on Monday. He would be allowed to enter only for "legitimate" medical treatment, having sustained wounds in an attack on his palace in June.
Douglas Herbert meets Norman Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute. They talk about American politics. Confronted with Healthcare Reform and with last summer's debt ceiling crisis is America's government broken ?
Annette Young meets American writer and photojournalist, Derek Henry Flood, who is also the editor of Militant Leadership Monitor, a Jamestown Foundation Publication. They talk about how Washington was slow to respond to the Arab Spring and as a result, how America’s image in the region has taken a battering.
We count the political cost of the US "super committee" breakdown. Who in Washington will be the biggest losers from the failure to strike a deal? Meanwhile in Brazil, a "Truth Commission" has been set up to help heal the wounds of crimes committed during the military dictatorship. Finally, we look at how prisoners are chipping in to the rush to get ready for the football World Cup in Brazil.
Bipartisan talks aimed at finding a long-term solution to the United States' debt crisis reportedly reached a stalemate on Monday, with lawmakers unable to agree on cuts to welfare spending and raising taxes for the rich.
Over the past month, US Republicans have been getting enthusiastic about an outsider presidential candidate, Herman Cain. The former pizza magnate is seen as a strong contender. Despite his campaign being damaged in recent weeks after allegations of sexual harassment emerged from four separate women, Cain remains joint top in the latest Gallup polls. So what is the key to his staying power?
This weekend the Florida Democratic party is holding a three-day state convention. It's a key battleground, and campaigners on both sides are already trying to get their teeth into the electorate. Two key groups for them to target are the elderly and Jewish communities. We show you how both parties are trying to persuade them to tick their box.
A strong earthquake hit the east coast of America Tuesday forcing the evacuation of the Pentagon and the US Capitol. The 5.9 magnitude quake also hit New York, but there were no immediate reports of significant damage.
