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> Wed., Dec. 17, 2003
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Immigration Update
Iran Calls for International Trial of Saddam
EPA on Mercury Emissions
Federal Mediator to Enter Grocery Strike Dispute
Brach's Candies closes in Chicago, Wal-Mart Opens
Free Speech Radio News Headlines by Nell
Abram
Hussein Update
Reports today suggest that Saddam Hussein is being held in
an undisclosed location somewhere near Baghdad.Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld says he has requested that the CIA control
the questions and "the management of the information
that flows from those interrogations." Rumsfeld added
that Saddam Hussein is "accorded the protections"
of a prisoner of war but was not formally designated as such.
No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion,
may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information
of any kind whatever," the Geneva Conventions say.
Ashcroft (This story produced by Joann Hong was edited out
of the cast due to time constraints)
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who has already faced
much criticism from Constitutional Rights and free speech
groups for his contentious provisions in the Patriot Act,
is now being publicy admonished for twice violating the gag
order in a Detroit terror trial and is paying fines for illlegally
accepting an excessive amount of 110,000 dollars in donations
for his unsuccessful 2000 Senate campaign. Although the Detroit
District Judge Gerald Rosen expressed that “more than
a warning is necessary”, Ashcroft faced no formal charges
after claiming that his actions were “inadvertent.”
Also, out of the 110,000 dollars that Ashcroft accepted for
his campaign, he was only ordered to pay back 37,000 dollars.
CAFTA – Shannon Young
The Costa Rican delegation walked out of Central American
Free Trade Agreement talks this week. After late night negotiations
the United States struck a last minute deal with Guatemala,
Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras.
Headscarves in France – Zeenat Hansrod French President
Jacques Chirac said today that a law is necessary to ban
conspicuous religious signs in schools.
Medical Marijuana – Kellia Ramares
A three-judge panel from the nation’s most liberal Circuit,
the Ninth, has ordered a temporary injunction on Federal raids
against medical marijuana patients and providers pending a
trial.
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Immigration Update (3:50)
In the prosecution of Zacarais Moussaoui, the only living
person accused in the 9/11 attacks, federal officials indicated
Moussaoui may be allowed to use statements made by alleged
Al-Queda deatainees. While federal officials call it an attempt
to find a middle ground over the issue, Moussaoui's lawyers
say he should be allowed to question the detainees directly
as they may provide evidence clearing Moussaoui of charges.
Also federal officials say Jose Padilla, an American citizen
who has been labeled an enemy combatant by the government,
will be allowed a lawyer after his value as an intelligence
source has ended. Meanwhile, Homeland Security officials and
the Justice Department are proposing to expand a FBI database
meant for wanted criminals to include foreign students who
are in violation of the immigration code by not maintaining
enough credits or earning high enough grades. And today, several
immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit against the Department
of Justice for enlisting local law enforcement to apprehend
undocumented immigrants. Mitch Jeserich has the story from
Washington DC.
[top]
Iran Calls for International Trial of Saddam (3:58)
Following the capture of Saddam Hussein, President Bush
seized the opportunity to renew his warning to Iran saying
in a press conference on Monday that Iran would face international
consequences if it pursued weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile,
Iran has demanded that Saddam Hussein be tried in an international
court as Tehran intends to bring charges against him for crimes
against Iranians during the bloody eight year long Iran-Iraq
war. Many experts believe that if Saddam Hussein were to be
tried in an international court for his role in the death
of hundreds of thousands of Iranians during the Iran/Iraq
war, US and other western countries could also be implicated
for their role in supplying Iraq with chemical weapons and
intelligence information. Pejmun Haghighi has more.
[top]
EPA on Mercury Emissions (4:28)
The Environmental Protection Agency scuttled a deadline
this week to issue new guidelines requiring power plants to
reduce mercury emissions. Dramatically reversing three years
of policy, the EPA instead proposed a cap and trade plan.
The agency will set a broad limit for mercury emissions, and
allow companies that meet the limit to sell pollution credits
to companies that continue to emit. While the plan will reduce
the total level of mercury emissions nationwide, it leaves
hot spots like Texas, which leads the country in mercury emissions,
virtually unprotected. From Pacifica station KPFT reporter
Erika McDonald brings us one affected community’s story.
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Federal Mediator to Enter Grocery Strike Dispute
(3:24)
A federal mediator will meet with both sides of the southern
California grocery strike this Friday, trying to find common
ground on health care, pensions, and wages. Nearly 71,000
employees of Ralph’s, Albertson’s, and Safeway
grocery stores have been picketing since October 11. Local
support has been strong, and the United Food and Commercial
Workers vow to remain on the picket line one day longer than
their employers can hold out. The United Food and Commercial
Workers have focused their pickets on Safeway, which runs
the Vons and Pavilions chains. The UFCW expanded the strike
to Northern California and warehouses and distribution centers
nationwide late last month. And as Walt Tanner reports from
Pacifica Station KPFK in Los Angeles, yesterday, some two
thousand union members marched in protest to a Pavilions grocery
store, owned by Safeway Inc.
[top]
Brach's Candies closes in Chicago, Wal-Mart Opens
(3:27)
Chicago prepares to welcome its first Wal-Mart in the city
as Brach’s Candies moves its plant out to Mexico after
a century of operation in Chicago. From WZRD in Chicago Tom
Robb reports.
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