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> Tues., June. 24, 2003
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
US Announces Plans for Iraq
Report from Biotech Summit in Sacramento
EU Summit Ends in Greece
Pakistani President in Washington
New EPA Head?
Residents Protest Mountain Top Mining
US Announces Plans for Iraq (3:48)
Following up on a story that FSRN was the first to cover
in the United States back on February 6 of this year, British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today said that the intelligence
dossier that was found to be plagiarized from a PHD student
was an embarrassment for the government. Straw was giving
evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, when he
stated it was a "very substantial error that the sources
of the document were not properly attributed." Meanwhile,
the US has now laid out it’s plan for post-Saddam Iraq.
Oula Farawati reports.
[top]
Report from Biotech Summit in Sacramento
(3:37)
Ministers from over 70 countries have gathered in Sacramento,
California for the USDA backed conference on agriculture and
biotechnology. Over two thousand people have also convened
in Sacramento to protest the conference, calling it a platform
for the Bush Administration to push genetically modified foods
down the throats of developing nations. Those sentiments were
echoed today by the EU trade commissioner Lamy, who said blaming
the EU for pressuring some African countries into refusing
to accept GMO food aid was just pushing the interest of US
agribusiness and was inadmissible. (:30 long actuality) Meanwhile
the Sacramento Biotech meetings have been the target of ongoing
peaceful demonstrations, while a heavy presence of police
officers in riot gear has kept protesters at least 2 blocks
from the conference. The conference is strictly off limits
to the public and accredited reporters have very little access
inside and must be escorted by the conference’s PR staff
when roaming the venue. The only open debate amongst supporters
and opponents of genetically modified foods was not sponsored
by the USDA, but by the activist and research group Food First
and the Pesticide Action Network. It was held last night in
front a packed crowd in the historic crest theatre in downtown
Sacramento. Mitch Jeserich was there and he files this report.
[top]
EU Summit Ends in Greece (3:24)
The agenda of the just ended EU summit in Halkidiki, Greece
had a depressing familiarity despite the hype surrounding
the new draft constitution presented with a tear and a smile
by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing to stem
the influx of illegal immigrants, economic migrants and political
refugees. Unfazed by thousands of protestors, kept well away
from the summit by some15000 police officers, as Sputnik Kilambi
reports, European leaders have set the stage for fortress
Europe to continue.
[top]
Pakistani President in Washington (1:01)
Pakistani president Gen Pervez Musharraf met with President
Bush in Washington today. After backing the US in it’s
war on Afghanistan, Mnusharraf was in the US to secure military
and financial assistance from Bush, who today pledged to put
before Congress a $3 billion package for Pakistan. And according
to Asad Isne, Toronto based write of International Politics,
while the two leaders are talking about fighting terrorism,
both states have questionable human rights records themselves.
For more info: www.asadisne.ws
[top]
New EPA Head? (3:36)
As the Environmental Protection Agency released it’s
“Report on the Environment” yesterday lauding
the US for being greener than it was 30 years ago, EPA director
Christine Todd Whitman will be stepping down this coming Friday.
Idaho governor Dirk Kempthorne is being repeatedly mentioned
as the top candidate to succeed her. Yet critics charge that
during his tenure as governor, and in the US senate before
that, Kempthorne has not made the environment a priority.
Leigh Robartes has more.
[top]
Residents Protest Mountain Top Mining (3:26)
Coalfield residents from across West Virginia and Eastern
Kentucky gathered in Charleston, West Virginia yesterday to
protest a controversial mining practice known as "Mountain
Top Removal". Coal companies have been phasing out "deep"
or “underground" mining and instead using MTR largely
because it is much less labor intensive. It only takes 8 laborers
to remove a mountain top to get at the coal as opposed to
the hundreds of miners the industry used to employ. The top
600-800 feet of the mountains are blasted away and the resulting
debris is pushed in to the valleys, which residents say makes
for a toxic backyard. Evan Davis filed this report.
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