In 1967, police arrested an African-American cab driver in Newark, N.J. setting off six days of rioting. Last week, the police fatally shot black Briton Mark Duggan; an event that many are calling the spark that ignited four days (to date) of rioting in the U.K. But do the similarities end there? Many would argue that the underlying causes of the 1967 Newark riots — rampant joblessness, alienation and racial disparity — are the same as those that incited riots in the U.K. this week, as well as the riots that overtook America's cities in the late 1960's.

Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone suggested that the Tottenham riot was fueled by citizens unleashing pent-up resentment over the weak economy, high unemployment rate, and historically deep budget cuts that decrease funding for poor communities in the United Kingdom. "This is the first generation since the Great Depression that have doubts about their future," he told the BBC. Those same conditions that led to the unrest in the U.K. may apply to the U.S.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is preparing to jump into the race for the Republican nomination for president and his state's record on job creation will likely be a central focus of his campaign. A significant number of the jobs created in the U.S. over the past two years were created in Texas. This despite the widespread economic uncertainty and stubbornly high unemployment that's gripped the nation since the official end of the recession. However, in spite of its success at jobs creation, the state's unemployment number has remained stable.

Six seats in the Wisconsin State Senate are up for grabs today. The elections are being viewed as a referendum on the collective bargaining restrictions signed into law this year by Republican Governor Scott Walker and his GOP allies in the state legislature.  After today's recall elections of Republican state senators will be the recall votes on two Democrats next week. Democrats need to win a net of 3 seats to gain a majority in the State Senate.

Record numbers of undocumented immigrants have been deported under the Obama administration, despite the president's acknowledgment that the country's immigration policy separates families and punishes children. What happens to the deported when they return to their native countries after years — sometimes decades — in the U.S.? And what about their children, who are American citizens?

Last weekend's tragedy in Oslo has drawn international attention to Europe's far-right political parties, which had been gaining power in several European nations in recent years. Confessed attacker Anders Breivik stated allegiance to their anti-immigration and anti-Islamic platforms. Where do these parties go from here? Can they tone down their rhetoric and maintain their niche in the political landscape?

Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian charged with carrying out a mass killing last week in his home country, told his lawyer he was saving Norway from Muslim domination. Breivik is an anti-Muslim extremist, and it has become clear that he was heavily influenced by American bloggers, who share his fears about the threat of Muslim immigrants on Western culture.

Later today, the House of Representatives will vote on the "cut, cap and balance" plan being pushed by House Republicans as a prerequisite for raising the country's debt ceiling. The plan is expected to pass in the House, where Republicans hold a majority, but will likely die in the Democrat-controlled Senate. President Obama has already said he will veto the bill.

All eyes will be on the British Parliament as News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch appears before the Select Committee this morning, at about 9:15 a.m. EST. The media tycoon is at a crossroads, with many of his top deputies implicated in the scandal that has engulfed his media empire and left his company's reputation in tatters. Murdoch has long been a controversial figure, but the questions surrounding his leadership of News Corp. and the corporate culture it has engendered have come under new fire in light of the phone hacking affair.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of President Obama signing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Bill into law. A key component of that bill was the establishment of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which will open its doors on Thursday. Yesterday, Obama announced Elizabeth Warren — the progressive icon who was charged with setting up the CFPB — will not be heading the new agency. In other news, the first legal same-sex marriages will take place in New York next weekend, and the nation's biggest banks will release their latest quarterly earnings statements.

Another week ends with little progress made in the debt ceiling talks in Washington. President Obama will speak at a press conference for Friday morning at 11 a.m. (EST), but all indicators point to little headway being made towards a compromise. 

The federal judge presiding over the Roger Clemens perjury case has declared a mistrial. Judge Reggie Walton made his decision after prosecutors exposed the jurors to evidence he ruled inadmissible. The government lawyers' blunder was a mistake Judge Walton said even "first-year law students" would have known to avoid.

An article published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association says the state should intervene in cases of morbidly obese children. The authors say that parents should lose custody in the most extreme cases of childhood obesity. This opinion has drawn criticism from several lawyers and members of the bioethics community.

Responding to concerns that lawmakers in Washington will fail to reach an agreement on raising the country's debt threshold, credit ratings agency Moody's placed the U.S.'s credit rating under review for the first time since the federal government shutdown in 1995. The U.S. still risks losing the Aaa rating it has had since 1917, even if lawmakers come to a last minute agreement before the August 2 deadline.

Reports are emerging that the C.I.A. used a fake vaccination drive in Pakistan to gather intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, prior to the May 1 raid where the Al Qaida leader was killed. The fake vaccine drive has received criticism from members of the public health community, who say this type of strategy could undermine future efforts to combat diseases across the globe.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is the latest figure to be dragged into the News of the World phone hacking scandal. Cameron was apparently warned several times not to employ former News editor Andy Coulson as his chief spokesman. Now, the media is questioning what this means about Cameron’s judgement and character.

Federal unemployment benefits are set to expire by the end of the year. The benefits were extended in the wake of the recession, but they have become a statistically significant driver of the nation's economy, as the more than 14 million jobless Americans use the benefits on items like clothes and groceries. Will the expiration of the benefits have an effect on an already anemic recovery?

Another shot has been fired in the ongoing negotiations between President Obama and Republican Congressional leaders to raise the nation's debt limit before the August 2 deadline. Obama challenged Republicans in a press conference on Monday, saying that it was time for the GOP to back up rhetoric about tackling the country's long-term debt problems. Republicans leaders have said they will seek a smaller deal with more cuts to social program and no tax increases on the wealthy. Lawmakers will return to the White House for more negotiations this afternoon.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford's visit to Syria has drawn the condemnation of the Assad regime. Ford visited the city of Hama, a center of anti-Assad sentiment, where pro-democracy activists greeted him with flowers and olive branches. Meanwhile, in Damascus, pro-Assad demonstrators hurled rocks and eggs at the U.S. Embassy, protesting Ford's visit. 

Friday produced another round of ugly job numbers as the country's unemployment rate inched up to 9.2 percent. Yet in Washington, the conversation remains fixed squarely on a compromise to raise the country's debt ceiling. Have lawmakers forgotten about the country's unemployed? And what about the "99'ers," the individuals who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits and are left with no government assistance? Where do they fit into the picture?