Can Facebook stop US election misinformation?

Facebook said it would limit political ads before Americans go to the polls in November.

Facebook has announced steps to prevent its platform being exploited in the week leading up to the US presidential vote.

It will stop accepting new political ads seven days before the November 3 election, but it will continue to show what is already in the system.

 

How will John Lewis be remembered?

Mourners in the US pay tribute to rights champion before his body is laid to rest.

John Lewis is being remembered in a six-day memorial service that follows his journey through life.

The 17-term congressman from Georgia, who was hailed as the "conscience of Congress', died of pancreatic cancer on July 17 at the age of 80.

A lifetime civil rights leader in the United States who inspired the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, he was the last of the "Big Six" rights figures led by Martin Luther King Jr.

Why are US federal troops confronting anti-racism protesters?

US President Donald Trump has been criticised for plan to send extra federal officers to cities.

US President Donald Trump often calls himself the "law and order" president.

He has accused some city mayors of failing to rein in weeks of protests against police brutality.

Earlier this month, Trump sent in federal agents to Portland.

He has since announced a "surge" of federal officers to other cities such as Chicago to combat violent crime.

Who is responsible when surveillance technology is misused?

Court rejects attempt to stop Israeli tech firm NSO from selling hacking technology to governments.

Activists, journalists and even one of the world's richest men are said to have been hacked by spyware developed by an Israeli company called the NSO Group.

But the technology firm insists its products are only sold to authorised government agencies to fight "terrorism and crime".

Rights group Amnesty International has said one of its researchers was also targeted. It sued NSO to revoke its export licence from the Israeli defence ministry.

Will the Caesar Act defeat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad?

US Congress passes sanctions targeting politicians, institutions, businesses that engage with the Syrian government.

The war in Syria has devastated much of the country and its people, but President Bashar al-Assad has remained in power with the help of his foreign allies.

There is now another threat facing tens of millions of Syrians: the economy, which has been reduced to a third of its size, has been decimated.

US President Donald Trump, defiant and outraged, threatens to deploy the army to deal with protesters.

Many are calling for a "healing speech" from US President Donald Trump, tackling racial inequality and police reform head-on.

Those are the demands of many protesters outraged over the death of Black American George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer.

After several nights of the worst unrest in decades, Trump had this message: He is the president of law and order.

How can racism, police brutality in the US be brought to an end?

George Floyd's death in police custody has led to angry protests in Minneapolis and other cities across the US.

Anger and unrest have spread across cities in the United States over the police killing of yet another unarmed African American.

Like other similar incidents, the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was caught on video and went viral online.

Images of police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes, leading to Floyd's death, sparked anger.

The Impossible Choice: America's Paid Leave Crisis

The lack of a national paid family and medical leave policy has consequences for millions of workers in the US.

Fault Lines has travelled across the US to report on the country's paid leave crisis.

We heard from families directly affected by a lack of paid leave: Ali and Derek Dodd, a couple in Oklahoma who tragically lost their infant son in a daycare accident, who advocate for paid family leave for parents; Leah Clay, a single mother in the state of Georgia who ended up on public assistance after taking unpaid leave from her job as a breastfeeding counsellor to care for her baby; and Jacqui Silvani, a mother in New Hampshire who lost her teaching job while taking unpaid leave to care for her toddler undergoing cancer treatment.

Can the United States control its coronavirus outbreak?

Estimates of up to 200,000 deaths in the US as new infections rise.

The World Health Organization has warned the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic could shift to the United States.

Although Italy, Spain and China have higher death tolls, the US now has nearly 165,000 infections - more than anywhere else in the world.

A US naval ship with 1,000 hospital beds has arrived in New York to provide relief to overwhelmed hospitals.

Emergency medical centres have been set up across the country.

However, health workers say they are running out of supplies and testing kits.

The Impossible Choice: America's Paid Leave Crisis

The lack of a national paid family and medical leave policy has consequences for millions of workers in the US.

Fault Lines has travelled across the US to report on the country's paid leave crisis.

We heard from families directly affected by a lack of paid leave: Ali and Derek Dodd, a couple in Oklahoma who tragically lost their infant son in a daycare accident, who advocate for paid family leave for parents; Leah Clay, a single mother in the state of Georgia who ended up on public assistance after taking unpaid leave from her job as a breastfeeding counsellor to care for her baby; and Jacqui Silvani, a mother in New Hampshire who lost her teaching job while taking unpaid leave to care for her toddler undergoing cancer treatment.

Licence to Hate: White Supremacy in the US

How did the racist ideology behind recent US white supremacist attacks seep into the country's mainstream discourse?

In less than a year, the United States has seen two of the deadliest white supremacist attacks in its recent history.

In October 2018, a white supremacist gunman stormed the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The perpetrator murdered 11 worshippers in what became the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.

Just nine months later, a white supremacist opened fire at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people and injuring dozens. Among the victims were new parents, grandparents, people from three different countries, a US Army veteran, and a 15-year-old high school student.

Why is press freedom deteriorating globally? | Inside Story

Journalists around the world are facing increasing hostility, new report by Reporters Without Borders shows.

Media freedom is in decline and journalists around the world are working in an intense climate of fear.

This year's evaluation by Reporters Without Borders shows a marked drop in the number of countries where it is safe for journalists to work.

The World Press Freedom Index covers the state of journalism in 180 countries.

It found only eight percent of them have a media climate considered "good" for journalists.

The biggest deterioration is in the Americas with the United States, Brazil, Venezuelaand Nicaragua performing poorly.

What has Russia gained from annexing Crimea?

Five years ago Russia annexed Crimea, then began a conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed 13,000 lives.

Western countries condemned the move and imposed economic sanctions against Moscow. Coinciding with the anniversary, the EU, the US and Canada have introduced some more.

Yet, Putin remains defiant.

He said he's not returning Crimea to Ukraine and has visited the region to join the celebrations and open two new power stations.

Year in Review: The good, the bad, and the ugly of 2018

Counting the Cost takes a look at the year's biggest economic and political stories.

From Brexit to trade disputes, US sanctions on Iran, the gruesome murder of a Saudi journalist and eye-catching scandals of Facebook, Counting the Cost takes a look at the year's major economic and political stories.

What is Trump's strategy for Syria and the region?

US President Donald Trump defends his decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria

For the first time since he became president two years ago, Donald Trump visited American troops in a conflict zone - Iraq.

His surprise three-hour stop was at an air base west of Baghdad the day after Christmas.

He didn't meet any of the Iraqi leadership but invited Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to the White House in the New Year.

Trump used the opportunity to defend the withdrawal of troops from Syria saying it was made possible by the defeat of ISIL.

Why would Saudi Arabia rebuild Syria?

Syria's seven-year war has transformed ancient cities into ghost towns. Entire neighbourhoods have been wiped off the map, schools and hospitals reduced to rubble, along with just about everything else. As the war seems to be coming to an end, reconstruction is required on a grand scale. The UN estimates it will cost at least two-hundred-and fifty billion dollars. Donald Trump says Saudi Arabia has agreed to help.

Can the US be a dependable ally?

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis quits his post over differences with President Donald Trump.

Retired general James Mattis was seen as a measure of calm and stability - in a White House swirling with chaos and unpredictability.

Now, he has resigned as US Secretary of Defense, after disagreements on foreign policy with the president.

His departure comes as Donald Trump ordered a withdrawal of US forces from Syria… and suggestions he'll pull thousands out of Afghanistan too.

The Coming War on China (video)

Journalist John Pilger on how the world's greatest military power, the US, may well be on the road to war with China.

A major United States military build-up is under way in Asia and the Pacific with the purpose of confronting China, according to award-winning journalist John Pilger. Nuclear war is no longer unthinkable.

In his film, The Coming War on China, Pilger warns that the world's greatest military power, the US, and the world's second economic power, China, may well be on the road to war.

China has been building airstrips in the South China Sea in the disputed Spratly Islands archipelago, creating a flashpoint for war with the US.

Lessons from the crash: Media and the 2008 financial crisis

A decade on from the 2008 global financial crisis. Plus, Twitter bots manipulate online debates on Iran.

Lessons from the crash: Media and the 2008 crisis

Exactly a decade ago, the world was hit by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Trillions of dollars were sucked out of the global economy, tens of millions of people lost their jobs and austerity economics was imposed across numerous countries.

Here at the Listening Post, we reported back then on the failings of the financial coverage - failings that meant the crash came as a huge surprise to many around the world. The financial press cheered on a bubble that eventually burst, showed a lack of scepticism about Wall Street claims and failed to expose what was in effect mass fraud on their own beat, namely the mis-selling of mortgages to millions of Americans.

Catch & Kill: Could Trump's media allies hasten his downfall?

The National Enquirer was once Trump's most strident cheerleader, but now it's his latest headache. Plus, Radio Dabanga.

Catch & Kill: Could Trump's media allies hasten his downfall?

The question in Washington these days is not just: Where is the Mueller investigation into US President Donald Trump going - but who is next? His lawyer, Michael Cohen and a business associate, Allen Weisselberg agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for immunity.

Now, Trump's long-time friend, and a key media player David Pecker has done the same. Pecker is at the helm of American Media Inc which owns the tabloid 'National Enquirer' - part of the Trump story, mostly because of the stories it doesn't publish, a practice known as "catch and kill". If someone had a potentially damaging story about Donald Trump for sale - the Enquirer would buy it and bury it - so that bad news would never see the light of day.