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> Wed., June 30, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Sudanese Humanitarian Crisis -- Powell and Annan Visit the
Region
Sudanese Humanitarian Crisis -- Human Rights Abuses in SPLA
Territory
GAO says Iraq Worse Off Now Than Before the Invasion
Involuntary Recall of Soldiers
Labor Rights in the Sex Film Industry
FSRN Headlines
Military tribunal for Guantanamo Detainees
The Bush administration is gearing up for military tribunals
and is possibly moving the people currently held at the Guantanamo
Bay prison camp. According to a Los Angeles Times report,
officials in the White House say the move is in response to
yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling that said military
prisoners must be granted access to the U.S. court system.
Yet, Prime Minister Tony Blair said of the four British prisoners,
“the military process does not provide guarantees to
the standards” they require. Blair says, the British
men should be either “tried fairly in accordance with
international standards or returned to the U.K.” The
administration is considering moving those ready for trial
to a single conservative jurisdiction (so federal prosecutors
can avoid flying all over the country and benefit from what
they believe will be more friendly judges.) More than 600
people are currently being held at the U.S. Naval base in
Cuba. Bush administration officials say they can be held without
charge indefinitely.
Justice Dept. Refuses Release of Information
The U.S. Justice Department is refusing to provide information
on foreign lobbyists saying the department is unable to copy
its database. They claim the computer system will crash. Victoria
Jones reports from D.C.
Officials Confront Crackdown on Immigrants
Local California officials are confronting the statewide crack
down on undocumented residents very differently. Aura Bogado
reports from KPFK.
Fast and Vigil Against Death Penalty
Opponents to the death penalty are staging a fast and vigil
hoping to abolish state sponsored executions. Jenny Johnson
has more from the Supreme Court.
Israeli High Court Rules on the Wall
Israeli Defense Ministry officials said they would comply
with today’s high court ruling on the barrier wall.
The court said that the fence, 8-feet of concrete in some
areas, places an undue burden on Palestinians. The court wrote,
the fence route has “created such hardship for the local
population that the state must find an alternative that may
give less security but would harm the local population less.”
Palestinians charge the fence is really a land grab by the
Israeli government. They noted that if the fence were built
in the area specified by the court ruling, about 12-thousand
acres of Palestinian land would remain on the Israeli side.
[top]
Sudanese Humanitarian Crisis -- Powell and Annan
Visit the Region (4:39)
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Anan were scheduled to meet in the
Sudanese capital Khaartoum today following Powell's visit
in the western region of Darfur. Anan will visit Darfur tomorrow.
Since fighting broke out in the region last year between the
government of Sudan and two rebel armies, more than a million
black Africans have fled thier homes, triggering what the
UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. As pressure
builds on world leaders to stop the mass killing, rape and
displacement of civillians at the hands of government backed
militias, some human rights groups are calling for U.S. led
miltary intervention under UN auspices. But in the wake of
the invasion and occupation of Iraq, suspicion of US motives,
particularly among African governments, is hampering urgent
action by the international community. Susan Wood reports
from the UN.
[top]
Sudanese Humanitarian Crisis -- Human Rights Abuses
in SPLA Territory (3:45)
Although southern Sudanese SPLA rebels have recently signed
a peace agreement with the Islamist government in Khartoum,
ending more than two decades of war, conflict continues in
the western Darfur region. US Secretary of State Colin Powell
has today visited Darfur, again calling on the Sudanese government
to rein in the Arab militias terrorizing the civilian population.
But, as Rupert Cook reports, ongoing human rights abuses in
Darfur make many in SPLA territory sceptical about any hopes
for long-lasting peace."
[top]
GAO says Iraq Worse Off Now Than Before the Invasion
(2:46)
The Iraqi legal system was nominally given charge of what
happens to Saddam Hussein today. But despite attempts to show
the country is under some modicum of Iraqi control, reports
continue to come out that undermine some notions the occupation
authority has ever had any control at all. A report from the
General Accounting office today confirms what many Iraqis
have known for some time — that many services are in
worse shape than they were under Saddam Hussein. David Enders
has this report from Baghdad.
[top]
Involuntary Recall of Soldiers (4:00)
Two days after the partial transfer of Iraqi authority,
the U.S. Army is set to notify about 5,600 retired and discharged
soldiers that they will be involuntarily recalled to serve
in Afghanistan and Iraq. And as deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein is being handed over to the Iraqis, the Pentagon plans
to maintain custody of about 6,000 Iraqi detainees, which
human rights groups call a breach of international law. Mitch
Jeserich has more.
[top]
Labor Rights in the Sex Film Industry (4:23)
A recent HIV outbreak in California's adult film industry
left five porn performers infected with the virus. The HIV
scare captured worldwide media attention and raised questions
about the porn industry's ability to continue policing itself.
The out-break has spurred some porn performers to talk about
forming the industry's first union - and they're getting help
from one of the country's largest, the Communication Workers
of America. From Los Angeles, Ngoc Nguyen has the second of
in a two part series on health and labor rights in the sex
film industry.
[top]
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