This Week's Report

This Week's Report

Understanding Mormonism
By Marcia Clemmitt
October 19, 2012

Has it become a mainstream religion?

As the first Mormon to win the Republican Party's nomination for president, Mitt Romney has focused new attention on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Built in 1830 upon what founder Joseph Smith said was God’s word delivered on golden tablets by an angel, the church is deeply rooted in American history. Yet only half of Americans view the faith as Christian despite its regard of Christ as divine.

• Are Mormons Christians?
• Should the Mormon faith be an electoral issue?
• Are charges of racism against the Mormon church valid?

Read this week's CQ Researcher report

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Coming Up in CQ Researcher

Mexico's Future
By Peter Katel
Coming October 26, 2012
Mexico's newly elected president is preparing to take office Dec.1 as organized-crime gangs maintain their grip on many parts of the country. At least 50,000 Mexicans, including ordinary citizens, have been killed over the past six years despite a U.S.-aided military and police offensive against the gangs. U.S.-Mexico ties go far beyond security assistance, but that issue is likely to top the policy agenda as long as the violence continues—regardless of who wins the U.S. election.

Wildfires
By Peter Katel
Coming November 2, 2012
Wildfires have become larger and more intense over the past decade, straining budgets at agencies that manage public lands and threatening scenic areas. Climate change, development and past firefighting policies have increased fire risks, and the trend is likely to continue. However, there is little consensus about how costs and responsibilities should be divided among homeowners, communities and government agencies.

Indecency on Television
By Kenneth Jost
Coming November 9, 2012
The protracted legal fight over broadcast indecency is continuing after a Supreme Court decision that nullified penalties against the ABC, CBS and Fox networks but left the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission's policy unresolved. Now, the FCC faces conflicting pressures from broadcasters and free speech advocates on one side and anti-indecency groups on the other over how to deal with a backlog of 1.6 million pending complaints about sex and vulgarity on radio and television.

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Current CQ Global Researcher

Human Trafficking and Slavery
By Robert Kiener
October 16, 2012

Are governments doing enough to eradicate the illicit trade?

Long hidden and often denied, the global epidemic of human trafficking and slavery is finally being exposed on the world stage. A five-year-old chained to a rug loom in India, a domestic servant enslaved and beaten in the Middle East and sex slaves trafficked within the United States are among the 21 million men, women and children held in some form of bonded labor, slavery or forced prostitution around the world today. With millions of vulnerable victims being trafficked across international borders, this inhuman crime racks up more than $32 billion in profits each year.

Read this CQ Global Researcher report

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Coming Up in CQ Global Researcher

Biodiversity Under Siege
By Reed Karaim
Coming October 30, 2012
Earth's biodiversity, the profusion of plants and animals that work together to support life on the planet, continues to shrink. Species are going extinct at a rate most scientists find alarming, possibly as many as 150 a day, while the populations of many surviving species are declining rapidly. Some researchers believe the Earth could be approaching a tipping point, called a "state shift,' in which biodiversity loss causes global ecosystems to change rapidly and dramatically, a theory that other scientists refute.

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In the News

Issues covered in past CQ Researcher reports that are in the news now:

Google Ordered to Modify Privacy Policy
European regulators asked Google on Oct. 16 to modify its global privacy policy so that users have a clearer understanding of what personal data is being collected and can better control how that information is shared with advertisers. The company will be fined beginning in early 2013 if it fails to comply.

See:
"Google's Dominance," CQ Researcher, Nov. 11, 2011.

FBI Thwarts Attempted Terrorist Bombing
A 21-year-old Bangladeshi national was charged Oct. 17 with attempting to establish an al Qaeda cell and bomb the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, who was living on Long Island, met with an undercover FBI agent who gave him inert explosives. He was arrested after attempting to detonate a dummy bomb.

See:
"Homeland Security," CQ Researcher, Feb. 13, 2009.

Appeals Court Rules DOMA Unconstitutional
A federal appeals court in New York on Oct. 18 ruled unconstitutional the Defense of Marriage Act, saying it unlawfully discriminates against same-sex married couples by denying them equal federal benefits. Two of the three judges ruled in favor of Edith Windsor, an 83-year-old lesbian widow who was unable to claim a deduction for a federal estate tax when her partner passed away in 2009.

See:
"Gay Marriage Showdowns," CQ Researcher, Sept. 26, 2008, updated May 29, 2012.