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> Friday, Feb. 7, 2003
FSRN
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Today's lead stories:
Powell Sites Plagiarized Document
Inspections Continue Despite Bush's Threats
Venezuelan Oil Management Continue Strike
"Healthcare for All" Bill Unveiled
Global Banana Workers to Sue U.S. Multinationals in US Courts
Powell Sites Plagiarized Document
"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed
up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What
we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid
intelligence.... "I would call my colleagues' attention
to the fine paper that the United Kingdom distributed yesterday
which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities."
-- Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations
Security Council, Feb. 5
And as we reported yesterday on FSRN, it has been shown that
Powell’s source’s for his UN speech this past
Wednesday came out of material that was plagiarized by its
British authors, leading to an outcry about dishonesty across
the continents. While the US media has left these revelations
uncovered, many critics are now questioning if the US and
British push for war is not based on more untruths. Anastasia
Kershaw has more from London.
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Inspections Continue Despite Bush's Threats
As the US government today raised the level of national
alert to orange, indicating a high risk of a terrorist attack,
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that any war with
Iraq would be swift and not require a full US mobilization.
This, as Rumsfeld faces massive protests when he arrives in
Germany for an International Security Conference tomorrow
- some 3,500 policemen have been deployed in Munich as authorities
are concerned that Rumsfeld will face a hostile reception
following remarks that grouped Germany with Libya and Cuba.
And on the heels of President Bush's remarks that time is
up for Iraq, Chief United Nations Inspector’s Hans Blix
and Mohammed El-Baradai announced today they'll be heading
back to Iraq this weekend. In Vienna, Hans Blix told reporters
he hopes to go back to Iraq many times. Meanwhile, two dozen
left-wing members of the European Parliament are on their
way back home today after a week-long trip to Baghdad. From
Amman, Jordan, Aaron Glantz has their findings.
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Venezuelan Oil Management Continue Strike
Today the last remaining McDonald’s, one of the only
hold-out’s of the 2 month Venezuelan shut-down of industry,
reopened. And while Venezuela’s so-called general strike
officially ended this week, the strike of Venezuela’s
oil industry management and administrators goes on. This strike
has cost Venezuela tens of billions of dollars and will lead
to one of the country’s worst economic crises ever.
From Caracas, Greg Wilpert and Carol Delgado take us inside
the battle for oil in Venezuela.
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"Healthcare for All" Bill Unveiled
This week, Congressmen Conyers of Michigan and McDermott
of Washington unveiled "the United States National Health
Insurance Act" , which, If adopted, will guarantee universal
access to health care to all residents of the US territories.
This bill comes after the President’s State of the Union
address which committed an additional $400 billion over the
next decade to supposedly reform and strengthen Medicare,
while under-funded States are cutting down in Medicaid assistance
and Children’s health Insurance Programs. Ryme Katkhouda
in Washington DC has the story.
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Global Banana Workers to Sue U.S. Multinationals
in US Courts
Thousands of Banana workers from around the globe are awaiting
the ruling of the US Supreme Court on whether to allow them
to sue their employers for damages in US courts. The workers
claim that the transnational companies they worked for - companies
such as Dole, Del Monte and Chiquita - forced them to use
the pesticide dibromochloropropane, or DMCP, for years after
it was discovered to cause sterility in men. Now, tens of
thousands of workers from Latin America, Africa and the Philippines,
say that they cannot have children. The workers recently argued
before the Supreme Court that they want their cases tried
in the United States. They claim that the judicial systems
in their countries are not capable of giving them a fair trial.
FSRN Reporter David Pohl has more.
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