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> Wed., Oct. 13, 2004
FSRN
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Today's lead stories:
3rd Presidential Debate Tonight
Supreme Court Considers Death Penalty and Immigration Law
Latest From Iraq
US Bomber Cockpit Audio Reveals Attack on Fallujah Residents
Ikhawanis and the Kashmir Elections
Cuban Vote in Florida
FSRN Headlines
Gaza Violence Continues
A Palestinain schoolgirl who was hit by Israeli gunfire as
she sat inside a United Nations school in Gaza died today.
Laila el-Haddad reports from Gaza.
11 Secretely Detained in Jordan
According to the Israeli Daily Haaretz, the CIA is detaining
at least 11 of Al Qaeda’s senior operatives at a top-secret
interrogation facility in Jordan. Prisoners are being held
without access to lawyers, family members, or the Red Cross.
A Human Rights watch report charges that this is in direct
violation of the Geneva Convention ratified by the United
States. The detention of prisoners outside the U.S. enables
the use of otherwise illegal interrogation methods. Khalid
Shaikh Muhammed, the alleged principal architect of the 9/11
attacks, is among those believed to be held in Jordan.
Maryland Won't Allow Poll Observers Near Polls
Just 2 weeks before Election Day, the Maryland State Board
of Elections is refusing to allow independent poll observers
to monitor possible glitches with the Diebold electronic voting
machines. A federal law suit was filed yesterday. From Hyattsville,
Dolores M. Bernal has more.
Republican Funded Group Trashes Democrats Voter Registration
Forms
The FBI has been notified that hundreds of voter registration
forms have been intentionally discarded or destroyed by a
private company hired by the Republican Party to sign people
up to vote. Employees who worked for the Voters Outreach of
America in Las Vegas allege scores of registration forms were
thrown in the trash. According to former employees, Voters
Outreach of America sought only Republican registrations.
The company reportedly employed up to 300 part-time workers
and collected hundreds of registrations each day. The two
ex-workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors
tear up and trash resistration forms signed by Democrats.
Similar complaints have been received in Oregon and in Reno,
Nevada where officals have asked the FBI to investigate.
Indymedia Back Online?
Today as Indymedia reporters protested the FBI's confiscation
of two of the network's servers, word came from the host company
Rackspace that the servers will be back online by 5pm GMT.
From KPFT in Houston, Renee Feltz has more.
[top]
3rd Presidential Debate Tonight (4:01)
The 3rd and final Presidential debate between George Bush
and John Kerry will take place tonight at Arizona State University.
The debate will focus on domestic policies such as homeland
security, the economy, jobs, and healthcare. While people
in Arizona consider a proposition that immigrant rights activists
say violate human rights, immigration policies are not issues
the mainstream candidates have sparred over. Mitch Jeserich
has this Presidential debate preview
[top]
Supreme Court Considers Death Penalty and Immigration
Law (3:53)
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on cases dealing
with immigration law and the death penalty. Debate before
the high court asked justices to consider world opinion when
deliberating the constitutionality of juvenile death penalty
cases. And in one of three immigration cases to be heard this
week, the court was asked to decide whether the government
can send immigrants back to countries that haven't agreed
to accept them. Jenny Johnson files this report
[top]
Latest From Iraq (3:24)
The results of the first scientific exhumation of mass graves
in Iraq are discovering hundreds of bodies which US investigators
say they hope will help to convict Saddam Hussein of crimes
against humanity. Nine trenches in a riverbed at the Hatra
site in northern Iraq are reported to contain at least 300
bodies, possibly, thousands, including pregnant women and
toddlers still clutching toys. Meanwhile four more US soldiers
were killed today in a roadside blast in Baghdad, while in
Sadr City where the money for guns exchange is underway, there
has been anger over the fact that on handing in weapons, the
Iraqi police giving vouchers instead of cash. For the latest
from Baghdad, FSRN host Deepa Fernandes speaks with Eman Khammas
of Occupation Watch based in Baghdad.
[top]
US Bomber Cockpit Audio Reveals Attack on Fallujah
Residents (1:16)
The UK Independent recently reported that the Pentagon says
it is pursuing further investigation into war crimes in Iraq
after last week’s airing of disturbing cockpit footage
taken from a US warplane. British television’s Channel
4 aired video footage of apparently unarmed civilians being
killed while walking down a road in Fallujah. This 30-second
clip contains radio communication between the pilot and his
air controller:
AUDIO
During the exchange, neither the US F-16 pilot or controllers
ask whether the people were armed or posing a threat. Though
the existence of the footage has been known for some time,
the broadcast by Channel 4 News is believed to be the first
time a mainstream broadcaster has shown the video.
[top]
Ikhawanis and the Kashmir Elections (3:15)
As voters went to the polls in Kashmir today for by-elections,
turnout was low in the Kashmir valley and eight people were
seriously injured as violence marred the days voting. Police
say separatist guerillas triggered a landmine in an effort
to scare people away from the polling booths. These actions
however have some Kashmiri’s pointing out that in the
ongoing unrest in the small South Asian nation, the Indian
government itself has favored a group of surrendered militants,
called the Ikhwanul Muslimen to fight their battles. In the
mid nineties, this group managed to tilt the conflict in India’s
direction, becoming notorious for their terror tactics. Yet
as Shahnawaz Khan reports from Srinigar, today the Ikhwanis,
find themselves at the receiving end.
[top]
Cuban Vote in Florida (4:08)
Just weeks before the election, recent polls show Florida's
Bob Graham’s senate seat is a virtual toss-up between
democrat Betty Castor, the former Florida education commissioner
and USF president, and republican Mel Martinez, the Cuban
born former federal Housing secretary. In 2002, Martinez was
instrumental in advising the president to curtail trade and
travel to Cuba, something that political observers say, just
might backfire. From Florida, FSRN's Mark Antokas files this
report as we continue our One Month Countdown coverage leading
up to the November 2 election.
[top]
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