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> Wed., Jan. 7, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Bush Announces Guest Worker Program
Reaction from Uganda on Immigration Changes
Mad Cow Traced to Canada
DC Primary Contested by DNC
India and Pakistan Talking Peace
FSRN Headlines:
US Releases 506 Iraqi Detainees
Iraq’s U.S.-led coalition plans to release 506 prisoners
from detention camps in Iraq this week. Elia Herman reports
from DC.
British Company Get’s Defense Contract
The Department of Homeland Security has chosen a British company
to develop a system to protect passenger planes from terrorist
missile attacks. Naomi Fowler has more from the UK
Federal Court Approves Texas Redistricting
Democrats’ Unbroken control of the Texas delegation
to the U.S. House is expected to end following a federal court’s
approval of a new redistricting map. Renee Feltz reports from
Houston.
The Terminator Gives First State of the State Address California
Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered his first State of the State
address yesterday. Diane Solomon reports from San Jose.
Schizophrenic Executed in Arkansas
A man diagnosed as a schizophrenic was executed in Arkansas
last night. Charles Singleton was convicted for the stabbing
death of a grocery shop clerk in Little Rock in 1979. Singleton
was diagnosed as sane at the time of the murder, but Singleton’s
lawyer says, his mental health deteriorated while on Death
Row. Last year, the Eighth Circuit Federal court ruled that
Arkansas could forcibly medicate Singleton to make him eligible
for execution. Members of the European Union as well as Amnesty
International petitioned Arkansas Governor, Mike huckabee
for a stay, saying it was morally reprehensible to execute
a person with a severe mental illness. But the governor refused.
Another prisoner, Karl Roberts, was also scheduled to be executed
last night in Arkansas, but a federal appeals court granted
him a temporary stay.
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Bush Announces Guest Worker Program (3:30)
Today President Bush announced a new proposal to create
a so-called ‘guest worker’ program for undocumented
workers. While the program falls short of granting amnesty
to the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United
States, it will allow some undocumented workers to continue
working for 3 years in the U.S. and allow them to travel and
return from their home countries. In a speech at the White
House, Bush said changes to Immigration policy would make
the country safer by giving officials a better idea of who
is crossing the border. In an apparent response to conservatives
who oppose any reward to those who enter the United States
illegally Bush is including in his plan incentives to entice
the workers to go back to their homelands. And as Mitch Jeserich
reports from Washington DC, while immigrant rights activists
say some legalization is better than none, they criticize
Bush's proposal as being more for business interests than
that of immigrants in the United States.
[top]
Reaction from Uganda on Immigration Changes
(3:46)
The proposals announced by President Bush today that would
give legal status to foreign workers, including millions who
are constantly hiding from police for fear of deportation,
are generating excitement in the African country of Uganda
where many young men dream of coming to America. Yet as FSRN’s
Joshua Kyalimpa reports, while working in the US helps the
economy of a poor country like Uganda, it is mainly the middle
class who benefits leaving the majority of poor people with
no opportunities.
[top]
Mad Cow Traced to Canada (4:22)
Washington State came from Alberta, Canada. The announcement
spurred the two US senators from Montana to call for certifying
the US beef supply mad cow-free and the resumption of US beef
exports to the forty countries that have banned it. This comes
as the USDA followed through with its plan yesterday to kill
a herd of 450 calves in Washington state because one of them
is the offspring of the cow found to have mad cow disease.
Meanwhile scientists and other critics are blasting the agencies
December 30th regulations, saying they still leave US beef
consumers at risk. FSRN correspondent Leigh Robartes has more.
[top]
DC Primary Contested by DNC (3:47)
The Washington D.C. City Council surprised many, and upset
a few, when it voted last month to move the District's Presidential
Primary to January 13th. D.C. Democrats said they made the
move, over objections from the Democratic National Committee,
in order to focus attention on the lack of voting rights in
the nation's capitol. Darby Hickey of the D.C. Radio Coop
reports.
[top]
India and Pakistan Talking Peace (4:02)
India and Pakistan will begin a peace dialogue next month
on contentious issues that have caused major hostilities between
the two nuclear neighbors for over five decades. Indian Prime
Minister Vajpayee and Pakistani President Musharraf held a
high-level meeting Monday on the sidelines of the SAARC summit
of South Asian leaders which wrapped up yesterday. A joint
declaration says the peace talks will touch on many topics,
including the issue of Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed
by both countries. Masror Hussain reports from Islamabad.
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