Last week the Rudd government launched its carbon emissions trading scheme, which is based on the government’s assumption of a pitiful five percent reduction in Australia’s level of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, compared with the 25 percent recommended by climate scientists.

As poor business decisions and the deepening recession forced the US-based Big Three automakers to seek a financial bailout from the US government totaling $25 billion last year, production in other countries by those car makers outpaced US production.

The Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in Congress last week to the delight of the labor movement and to the chagrin of top CEOs of companies like Wal-Mart, government bailout recipients like Citgroup, and a host of pro-big business front groups with dubious names like the Workforce Fairness Institute.

Homeless advocates in the United States say if the new Congress and the Barack Obama administration do nothing, many more low-income people already teetering on the brink could end up living on the streets over the next two years.

Using the same language as the previous US administration to justify a surge of troops in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus told a gathering sponsored by the World Affairs Council last week that "[w]e must help our Afghan partners create the breathing space that'll allow the people to stand up for themselves...

After Canadian taxpayers have paid more than $11 billion for our military mission, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has publicly conceded that the NATO war in Afghanistan is "unwinnable." But despite his admission, Harper is now waffling on recent commitments that Canadian troops would be withdrawn by 2011.

The oldest and most prevalent source of renewable energy known to man, biomass is already a mainstay of energy production in the United States and elsewhere. Since such a wide variety of biomass resources is available biomass promises to play a continuing role in providing power and heat for millions of people around the world.

For me, capitalism has never been an abstract concept. It is a real, concrete part of everyday life. When I was a boy, my family left the rural misery of Brazil's north-east and set off for Sao Paulo.

Cuba's "Yes I Can" literacy teaching program, successfully boosted by Cuba and Venezuela in 26 countries, aspires to reach the figure of five million people taught how to read and write by the end of this year.

There is no doubt that polar bears are in serious trouble. Already on the ropes due to other human threats, their numbers are falling faster than ever as a result of retreating ice due to global warming.

The media is reporting that President Obama will make a final decision on his Afghanistan strategy next week. He is faced with widespread evidence of failure and a history of a country that has proven time and again to be "the grave yard of empires." It is time to bring US troops home.

Although the United States has repeatedly refused to allow Adriana Pérez to visit Gerardo Hernandez, she will never give up the struggle for the right to visit her husband. Gerardo Hernandez is one of five Cuban anti-terrorists incarcerated in the United States.

On Saturday (March 14th), President Barack Obama will meet with Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva in Washington. It is the first time Obama will meet with a Latin American head of state as President.

Residents of Guam are so reluctant to accept the US Marines to be stationed on the island of US territory in the Pacific, that the Guam governor would sign the ordinance passed by the Guam Legislature to hold a referendum over the planned reinforcement of US forces in Guam.

On Sunday, March 15 there is a presidential election in the Central American country of El Salvador. Up until a short while ago, the candidate of the left, Mauricio Funes of the FMLN, had a considerable lead over his right-wing opponent, Rodrigo Avila of the ARENA Party, which has been ruling El Salvador for quite a while.

While banks and mortgage lenders get bailed out, families across the country are increasingly facing the prospect of losing their homes. There's a new bill in Congress that would help: the Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act. It would enable struggling homeowners to renegotiate the terms of their loans and stay in their homes.

Local events in the Bay area in California, Tucson, Arizona, New York City and St. Louis, Missouri. Come ready to celebrate, learn, and to get agitated.

After months of a media war supporting and condemning it, the Employee Free Choice Act was finally introduced into Congress again this week. The bill has been debated before, but with a larger Democratic majority, its chances of passage are much greater today, and President Obama has said he'll sign it.

On March 11, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) posted a new regulation, plus a guidance letter outlining how the provisions in the FY 09 omnibus spending bill would be implemented, as related to Cuban-American family travel and ag sales.

Fifteen years ago you sometimes heard – actually you heard quite a bit – people saying: "Let's have a single-payer system like in Canada. The government is going to be the health insurer for everybody." You don't hear that as much as you used to.