Jen Poyant

There is a growing sentiment in in Miami that black men are being targeted violently by local police officers. Seven African American male suspects have been fatally shot by Miami police in the past eight months. Adding to the tension, some think, is the fact all of the officers who pulled the trigger in those shootings were Hispanic. City Commissioner Richard Dunn has called for Police Chief Miguel Exposito to step down. The Takeaway talks to Chief Exposito about the community’s calls for new leadership. 

A community grows more and more restless everyday in Miami over the concern that black men may have recently become the target of violence by local police officers. Seven African American male suspects have been fatally shot by Miami police in the past eight months. Adding to the tension there, all of the officers who pulled the trigger in those shootings were Hispanic.

It’s the fourth day of allied attacks against Colonel Moammar Gaddahfi’s loyalist forces in Libya. Correspondent for The New York Times, David Kirkpatrick reports from Tripoli on the rebel fighters and their intended goal. While the rebels fight on, the question remains as to what the future leadership might look like, and whether the country is experiencing a civil war. Is it a fight for democracy or just one side against the other?

Qatar has sent fighter jets by way of Greece in order to back allied forces in the military action to enforce a U.N. mandated no-fly zone over Libyan air space. It is the first Arab nation to provide military support to the coalition effort and a reminder that Qatar is an economic and political force in the region. The small peninsular country has garnered considerable influence throughout the world by creating key and conflicting allies while managing to attract investment from the West. It's site of the 2022 World Cup, and home to the Al Jazeera news network, which has been instrumental in reporting the wave of change happening in the Middle East.

The tsunami came too quickly. Japan's coastal towns had only a 30-minute warning, which was barely enough time to escape the wave, and for many disabled citizens, not enough time at all. The disabled are among the most vulnerable victims of the recent destruction in Japan. Yukiko and Shoji Nakanishi are members of a Japanese relief organization that is working tirelessly to provide shelter and evacuation support to northern Japan's disabled populations. 

The fantasy of outsmarting our enemies and even the ones we love most in this world is a natural dream. We all love to be right, to have the upper hand. The movie “Limitless” tests the boundaries of that fantasy by imagining the consequences of a world where we can access the deepest boundaries of our brains with the helpful pop of a pill.

Washington is facing two major foreign policy situations. The U.N. Security Council has voted to act broadly in Libya, imposing a no-fly zone and even leaving open other forms of conflict in order to protect the civilian population. With ten member states voting for the measure and five abstaining, it is an historic move in a complicated region. And in Japan, a dire nuclear threat continues while survivors of last weekend's earthquake and tsunami struggle to find food and shelter. How is Washington tackling these two situations? 

The chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given a much more dire analysis of the nuclear threat bearing down on Japan than Japanese officials. Gregory Jaczko told Congress yesterday that the damage to at least one reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant was more serious than Tokyo has described, and suggested Americans in that country stay at least 50 miles away — well above the Japanese evacuation area of 12 miles from the plant.

Since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the world has associated radiation with fear and horrible repercussions. That fear seemed somewhat justified during the cold war, and then after the Chernobyl disaster and Three Mile Island. But it’s easy to forget that we’re surrounded by radiation every day; that it occurs naturally. Or that we undergo medical treatments to fight diseases like cancer with radiation. Is radiation as scary as we think?

Wednesday on The Takeaway, Wall Street and Finance reporter for The New York Times, Louise Story mentioned the existence of something called a "cat bond."  How do catastrophe bonds work? Essentially, these bonds are packages of insurance risks and it's a complex market, says Louise Story. As weather events get worse and more risky, the insurance companies are wiling to pass along this risk to the investors. However, when the market get too big and the risks get too high, will we see something akin to the mortgage market bust?

Congressional hearings on Islamic Extremism in America begin Thursday morning in front of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Congressman Peter King (R-NY), chair of the committee, called the hearings in order to start a debate over whether American Muslims are doing enough to prevent home-grown terrorism plots. Rep. King has a long history interacting with Muslims who live in his Long Island district and some say his relationship with the Muslim community changed drastically after 9/11. Many complain that singling out one religious group and tying it to extremism is discriminatory.

The debate continues over how the international community should respond to events in Libya, where Col. Moammar Gadhafi has been killing rebel forces and Libyan civilians. There are, of course, many risks to imposing a no-fly zone, which would a significant military commitment in the region and, already, some high-level military officials have warned against that. But more and more people in Washington and in the Middle East are seeing a distressing scenario in Libya that calls for intervention. Is a no-fly zone the best way to intervene?

Today is the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. Recently, women in the Middle East and North Africa, have been standing up and pushing for democratic change and equal rights. What lies ahead for women in these countries as they grapple with forming new, more democratic, governments?

Congresswoman Gwen Moore was on The Takeaway to talk about women’s access to family planning and health care services, particularly for poor, black women in the U.S. Congresswoman Moore (D-Wis.) gave an impassioned speech recently on the House floor defending the funding of Planned Parenthood. This week we're joined by Ryan Bomberger, co-founder of The Radiance Foundation, which advocates cutting funding for programs like Planned Parenthood. Ryan Bomberger rents billboards in states like California and Louisiana, with messages like, “Black Children Are an Endagered Species” and “Too Many Aborted.”

We Americans relish our revolutionary spirit. Our American system of democracy was founded on the cultural belief that we must fight against tyranny. That American-style democracy has served as an example for many emerging nations since the American Revolution. But as we watch revolutions change the sociopolitical landscape of the Middle East, is it fair to ask whether our own system should serve as the best example of a working and efficient system of government?

After Moammar Gadhafi made a defiant and rambling speech to the people of Libya yesterday, where he refused to step down and swore that he would die a martyr, the international community was left to decide exactly how to respond. German Chancelor Angela Merkel called the speech ‘alarming’ and threatened sanctions on the North African Nation. Meanwhile the head of Libya’s anti-Gadhafi delegation at the UN called on the Security Council to address the violence that he has unleashed on the Libyan people. Some are worried attacks on protesters by the Libyan air force could be next.

The State Department remains tight-lipped on the role of the American man recently arrested in Pakistan for murder. The man in question, Raymond Davis, was suspected of being a spy. The Obama administration claimed that Davis had diplomatic immunity and should be set free from Pakistani custody. Last Friday, P.J. Crowley, State Department Spokesman would only say to The Takeaway that Davis is a U.S. Diplomat entitled to diplomatic immunity. You can hear that interview here. But reports out yesterday confirm that Davis was working in a part of a C.I.A. team, as an independent contractor. Either way, what does the case of Raymond Davis mean for the U.S. Pakistan relationship? 

Yesterday afternoon former President Bill Clinton said in a statement: “The world is watching the situation in Libya with alarm. The government of Libya has a responsibility to respect the universal rights of the people, including the right to free expression and assembly.” The EU, Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other European figureheads made similar condemnations. But it's not always as simple as tyranny against democracy, is it? Lybia is a country in which the West is invested. 

How much is a human life worth? Could you hazard a guess at the federal government's answer? Try $8 million, give or take a couple, depending on the agency that's coming up with the figure. An article published by The New York Times about the process of setting the value of a human life caught our interest. The government must have a system in place to come up with this number, so it can set safety regulations for businesses. But each agency seems to have a different formula for coming up with the figure.

Verifiable updates have been hard to come by in Libya, where more protests have been reported over the past several days. There is a notable absence of independent journalists reporting from there because of iron-clad restrictions on the press and on the Internet. Protests were reported by ex-patriots around the world who have contacts in Libya. The protests were aimed Libya’s ruler, Moammar Gadhafi, who has been in power for 41 years. What is situation in the North African country today, and what does it say about Gadhafi's rule?