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> Tue., Apr. 6, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
US begins Apache Attacks in Iraq
Iraq Policy from Capitol Hill
ACLU Files Case Against No Fly Lists
New Government Coalition bring Peace to Sri Lanka?
Part 1: Rwanda Genocide – 10 Years Later
FSRN Headlines
Immigrants here in the United States must now wait as long
as 18-months for residency renewals. Documents allowing immigrants
brief visits outside the country currently take an estimated
seven months for approval rather than two. And, families are
left to make painful decisions about separations as one waits
through the application process. Expecting backlogs from added
security, the Bush administration alloted an additional 160-million
dollars for processing assorted applications. Officials working
in immigration say the delays are the result of agents being
moved from issuing documents to performing security checks.
Officials at Homeland Security say they have no regrets about
the delays because they’ve been able to stop a handful
of people they say are possible threats to the United States.
The cigarette company Philip Morris has agreed to pay the
European Union one billion dollars. Philip Morris, is calling
the settlement an investment, admits to no wrongdoing. Patrick
Beckett has more.
The Radical Islamic party and the military led Democratic
party in Indonesia are expected to gain power in today’s
elections. However, the party that will gain the most, is
the one representing the former 32-year dictatorship. Meggy
Margiyono reports from Jakarta.
Activists are still working to get more from Bechtel coporation
in their handling of a village’s water supply. More
from Sogomon Tarontsi in D.C.
Residents in the California town of Inglewood will decide
if Wal-Mart should have sovereinty in their neighborhood today.
The world’s largest corporation is seeking to build
a shopping center the size of 17-football fields without going
through standard environmental impact studies, traffic reviews,
or public hearings. If Wal-Mart is successful, it will build
the first center in Los Angeles County. The corporate behemouth
has spent a million dollars in a campaign targeted at the
mostly working class community. Organized labor has been barely
able to put out 150-thousand dollars to teach residents about
the what they believe to be Wal-Mart’s negative effects
on local businesses and labor practices.
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US begins Apache Attacks in Iraq – FSRN Exclusive
8 more American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the
last two days and over 100 Iraqis have died since the weekend
as anti-American violence sweeps the country. Shi’te
Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today left the mosque just south
of Baghdad where he has been holed up with throngs of his
loyal supporters protecting him from US soldiers who have
been ordered to arrest him. Meanwhile in Fallujah, which has
been surrounded for days by American soldiers in the aftermath
of the gruesome murders of the American mercenaries, the US
military has begun air strikes and door to door house searches.
And as our correspondent Aaron Glantz reports in this FSRN
exclusive, the US military is now using Apache helicopters
to attack residential neighborhoods for the first time since
the occupation began.
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Iraq Policy from Capitol Hill
Meanwhile in Washington DC, calls from lawmakers on Capitol
Hill to reconsider the June 30th transfer of authority in
Iraq and the request for more troops to be sent to the occupied
country are going largely ignored by the White House. The
administration has confirmed that contingency plans are being
drawn up in the case that the U.S. sends more troops to Iraq,
but today Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there is
no sign of such a need. Mitch Jeserich reports from Washington
DC.
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ACLU Files Case Against No Fly Lists
Today the American Civil Liberties Union filed the first
nationwide lawsuit challenging the government's support of
the Transportation Security Agency's No Fly Lists, saying
that the list violates passenger's rights. Selina Musuta reports
from Washington, DC.
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New Government Coalition bring Peace to Sri Lanka?
Following the weekend’s general elections in the South
Asian nation of Sri Lanka in which the party of the current
president gained the most seats, yet no clear majority, which
has forced it to form a coalition government with smaller
parties, today a new prime minister was sworn in. Prime Minister
Mahinda Rajapakse vowed to pursue the previous government's
peace process with Tamil rebels amid fears that it may take
many months to restart any peace talks. From Sri Lanka our
correspondent Ponniah Manikavasagam reports.
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Part 1: Rwanda Genocide – 10 Years Later
Ten years ago, army and militia loyal to the then Hutu extremist
government killed almost a million mainly Tutsis and moderate
Hutus in the Rwandan genocide. In the decade since, the country
has done much to rebuild. Yet, there remain many challenges.
Today we begin a special 3 part series examining the aftermath
of the Rwandan genocide. Tomorrow we travel into Rwandan refugee
camps, but today we look at the process for reconciliation
and justice inside Rwanda where tens of thousands of alleged
genocide perpetrators remain in prison still awaiting trial.
As our correspondent Rupert Cook reports from Rwanda, for
a society still-scarred by the trauma of 1994, reconciliation
might seem a distant prospect.
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