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> Fri., Jan. 31, 2003
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Snow Confirmed as Treasury Secretary
North Korea and James Bond
Universities to Spy on Foreign Students
India Regresses on AIDS Awareness
Push to Videotape Police Interrogations
Snow Confirmed as Treasury Secretary (3:01)
On the heels of yesterday's approval by the Republican controlled
Senate Judicial Committee of conservative judicial nominee
to the Appeals Court, Miguel Astrada, the Bush Administration
moved further to the right today as President Bush's new Secretary
of the Treasury won confirmation. John Snow, former railroad
executive, replaces former secretary Paul O'Neil who resigned
in December 2002. Snow is expected to strongly advocate for
Bush's economic plan which consists massive proposed tax cuts
for the rich. Gareth Schweitzer reports from DC.
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North Korea and James Bond (3:41)
The United States today warned North Korea not to begin
reprocessing plutonium, the warning came on the heels of reports
that American spy satellites over North Korea have detected
what appear to be trucks moving the country's stockpile of
nuclear fuel rods out of storage. Meanwhile, North Korea also
issued an attack on the latest James Bond film, Die Another
Day, saying it "makes mockery of the Korean nation,"
and showed that America plans war on the Korean peninsula.
And as Washington struggles with how to cut a deal with North
Korea, James Bond goes in to save the day. Simba Russeau files
this report.
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Universities to Spy on Foreign Students
(4:37)
The US government is now asking colleges to spy on students
in the name of national security. Some of the 9-11 hijackers
entered the country on foreign student visas, and that's reason
enough for the government to scrutinize foreign students.
The INS yesterday unveiled a 37-million dollar computerized
database designed to keep better tabs on the nation's close
to 600,000 exchange students. And, they're asking universities
to hand over information about student status. As the Washington
Post reported earlier this week, the FBI has even turned up
at colleges, asking campus police to help monitor students.
But, co-eds may be seeing more of another military presence
on their campus. Ngoc Nguyen has the story.
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India Regresses on AIDS Awareness (4:20)
As FSRN has reported, India now has the second largest number
of people living with HIV and AIDS, second only to South Africa.
Nearly four million Indians are already infected with HIV
or AIDS, and infections are rising at alarming rates. HIV
in India has already spread beyond high-risk populations and
into the workplace and family. Maharastra state has one of
the highest rates of infection in India. But this week, the
Maharastra state government insisted that an AIDS awareness
ad campaign targeting men who visit sex workers be removed.
Miranda Kennedy reports from Mumbai, the capital of Maharastra.
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Push to Videotape Police Interrogations
(3:15)
Yesterday the City Council of New York met to discuss what
went wrong in the case Central Park Five, where five men spent
years in prison for a crime they were later found innocent
of committing. Though the four black and one Latino teenagers
from Harlem confessed to having attacked the Central Park
Jogger, their lawyers have continually insisted that the videotaped
confessions were coerced. The father of one of the Central
Park 5 says the police actually gave his son a script to read
in front of the camera. And yesterday's hearings addressed
New York City Councilman Bill Perkins proposed legislation
that will require the NYPD to videotape interrogations from
beginning to end. Carlos Fabara reports from Manhattan.
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