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> Thur., Feb. 17, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Negroponte Nominated For National Intelligence Director
Christians Struggle in Iraq
Freedom of Information Act Tested in Britain
The "Colombianization" of Mexico
Election Reform Legislation In Congress
EPA Under Fire Over Pesticides
FSRN Headlines
House Passes Class Action Bill
The House of Representatives approved the "Class Action
Fairness Act of 2005” this afternoon. The bill will
now go to President Bush who is sure to sign it into law.
Shirley Chang reports from Washington DC.
Lula Sends Troops to Troubled Brazilian Region
While many in Brazil are mourning the death of Sister Dorothy
Stang, they question why, after so many assassinations, there
has not been more attention to the violence in the area. Natalia
Viana reports from Sao Paulo.
Bus Service Finally Approved for Kashmir
India and Pakistan have finally agreed to begin bus service
across the line of control in Kashmir. The bus service, due
to start on April 7, is the first substantive result from
just over a year of talks between South Asia's nuclear rivals.
Shahnawaz Kahn is in Kashmir.
100,000 Take to the Streets In Ecuador
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched near Quito's presidential
palace yesterday to demand President Lucio Gutierrez's resignation.
They charge that he is an authoritarian ruler and say he has
filled the Supreme Court with his own judges. Gutierrez responded
with a rally of his own, addressing thousands of supporters
from his palace balcony. He called his critics "arrogant"
and portrayed himself as a crusader against corrupt oligarchs.
Government protesters filled several streets near the palace
and reporters on the scene estimated they numbered about 70,000.
They said about half that many gathered for Gutierrez's speech
in front of the palace. Gutierrez, whose term runs until January
2007, has faced a political backlash since early December
after a pro-government congressional bloc replaced 27 of Ecuador's
31 Supreme Court judges. Gutierrez claims the move was justified
saying the judges were in the pocket of the rightist Social
Christian Party, which has long been associated with the country's
financial and banking sector.
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Negroponte Nominated For National Intelligence Director
President Bush today nominated US Ambassador to Iraq John
Negroponte to become the first National Intelligence Director.
The position, which was created with the 9/11 Intelligence
Reform bill signed in December appoints the Director to administer
all US intelligence activities. Mitch Jeserich reports from
Washington.
[top]
Christians Struggle in Iraq
Iraq's electoral commission certified the results of the
January 30 elections- with the main Shi'ite coalition, the
United Iraqi Alliance, securing 140 out of 275 seats in the
interim National Assembly. In Basra, Iraq's second biggest
city, secular parties are eager to defeat Islamic parties
in the next round of elections, which are scheduled for December.
A coalition of six secular parties called United Democratic
Forces, which includes a movement representing Assyrian Christians,
hopes to reverse the conservative trend in the city in the
upcoming election, although they only received about 2% of
the vote in the recent round. Meanwhile, in Northern Iraq,
about 1,300 Christian families have registered with a special
bureau of the Kurdish Regional Government, which helps them
secure new jobs and housing. Aaron Glantz has more.
[top]
Freedom of Information Act Tested in Britain
The Liberal Democratic Party in Britain wants its Foreign
Office, or FCO to reveal the date the government first sought
legal advice on the Iraq war. The FCO is refusing to hand
over the information citing that it would harm internal discussion-
a claim that Liberal Democrat Lord Lester calls "deplorable".
Lester now plans to request the information under the Freedom
of Information Act. The Act recently came into effect when
Britain joined over 100 countries that have similar procedures
after many years of campaigning by public right to know advocates.
In theory, the British public can now get unprecedented access
to data held by public bodies. Yet, as Naomi Fowler reports
from London, the Act is full of "get-out" clauses.
[top]
The "Colombianization" of Mexico
Mexico's Federal Public Security Secretary announced reforms
will be made to the country's law enforcement system over
the course of the coming weeks. This, as CIA director Porter
Goss named Mexico one of this year's potential instable countries
during his appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee
yesterday. Human rights defenders say that drawing broad connections
to criminalized acts is leading to what they call "Colombianization"
of Mexico. In Oaxaca, Vladimir Flores files this report.
[top]
Election Reform Legislation In Congress
Democratic Senate and House leaders announced today that
they will introduce election reform legislation. Among much
needed changes, the bill calls for improvements to electronic
voting machines to assure the every vote is counted. Dolores
M. Bernal has more from the Capitol.
[top]
EPA Under Fire Over Pesticides
According to a lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense
Council, the Environmental Protection Agency is illegally
negotiating agreements with industry lobbyists over pesticide
regulation. The group alleges that the EPA secretly met with
pesticide manufacturer Syngenta over 40 times. This, as the
EPA is poised to formally adopt a policy of accepting human
pesticide experiments without adopting any parallel ethical
standards to protect the health of human test subjects. Brian
Edwards-Tiekert has more.
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