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> Tue., Mar. 1, 2005
FSRN
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Today's lead stories:
Death Penalty Opponents Praise Supreme Court Decision
Rumsfeld Face Torture Lawsuit
Malaysia Begins Mass Campaign Against Migrant Workers
Iraqis Struggling for Some Sense of Normalcy
Anniversary of US Nuclear Test in Marshall Islands
Wal-Mart Workers Vote Against Joining Union
FSRN Headlines
Unconstitutional to Execute Minors in US
In a major victory for death penalty opponents, the Supreme
Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution forbids the execution
of people who were under 18 when they commit their crimes.
Selina Musuta of the DC Radio Co-op has more.
Delay Trial Begins in TX
Three associates of US House Majority Leader, Tom Delay, are
on trial in Texas for allegedly using corporate money to secure
state offices for Republicans. From KFPT in Houston, Renee
Feltz reports.
Lebanese Protests Continue
Lebanese political parties are keeping up the protests and
pressure around the country. Mohammed Shublaq explains from
Beirut.
Bolivians Demand More Services, End to Water Privatization
Protesters in Bolivia seek to gain more social services and
overturn the advancing programs to privatize water. Luis Gomez
reports from La Paz.
Uruguay's First Leftist President Inaugurated
The inauguration of Uruguay's first leftist president marks
a continuation of South America's political shift. Mat Goldin
reports from Montevideo.
[top]
Death Penalty Opponents Praise Supreme Court Decision
(2:03)
As we reported in the headlines, the Supreme Court has barred
states from executing prisoners who carried out their crimes
when they were under 18. Reversing course from 16 years ago
when the court ruled that the execution of minors did not
violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment,
today's decision is the latest ruling in limiting the death
penalty. Joining us to today to talk about this decision is
Marc Mauer with the Sentencing Project.
[top]
Rumsfeld Face Torture Lawsuit (3:59)
After receiving thousands of internal government documents,
the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First
filed a lawsuit against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
today for violating anti-torture laws in regard to detainees.
They call the lawsuit a last resort to address the issue,
accusing both the Pentagon and Congress of failing to conduct
oversight or hold people accountable. Republican lawmakers
bitterly reject the charge. Mitch Jeserich reports.
[top]
Malaysia Begins Mass Campaign Against Migrant Workers
(4:05)
Malaysia started a major operation to hunt down up to half-a-million
migrant workers, aggressively searching plantations, restaurants
and bars, and construction sites throughout the nation. The
operation involves police, army and immigration squads coordinating
to round-up the workers, most of whom are Filipino and Vietnamese
as well as many Aceh asylum seekers from Indonesia. The round-up
is straining ties with Indonesia, whose president said that
his country cannot absorb the workers in the wake of last
December's tsunami disaster. The Malaysian government offered
a four-month amnesty to migrant workers last October, which
expired today- those remaining in the country now face fines,
jail, whipping and deportation. Authorities have arrested
nearly 200 workers so far, nearly all of them Aceh refugees.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kuala
Lumpur is now asking the Malaysian government to free them.
From Jakarta FSRN's Meggy Margiyono has the story.
[top]
Iraqis Struggling for Some Sense of Normalcy
(2:43)
Iraqis in Hilla, 60 miles of south of Baghdad, prepared
to bury dead today from yesterday's car bombing that killed
at least 110 people. As the war drags on, many Iraqis do what
they can to approximate some sense of normalcy. David Enders
visits the Baghdad School of Ballet and Music.
[top]
Anniversary of US Nuclear Test in Marshall Islands
(3:26)
51 years ago today, in one of the most notorious chapters
of the Cold War, the U.S. carried out its largest ever hydrogen
bomb test, code named"Bravo," at Bikini Atoll, in
the Marshall Islands of the central Pacific. Although wind
patterns had shifted, the test was carried out as planned,
rocketing vaporized coral 100,000 feet into the sky and showering
fallout on the people of nearby Rongelap Atoll. "Bravo"
was just one of 67 atomic and thermonuclear tests carried
out in the Marshalls: equivalent in explosive power to a Hiroshima
blast every week for a dozen years, and the effects of Bravo's
drifting fallout continue to be felt. Survivors of the test
gathered today to mark the tragic anniversary, and accused
US authorities of lying about the effects of radiation. Dave
Kattenburg visited Rongelap, and files this report, 51 years
after the fallout.
[top]
Wal-Mart Workers Vote Against Joining Union
(3:00)
Wal-Mart workers in the automotive department in Loveland,
Colorado, voted against joining the United Food and Commercial
Workers union last Friday. The store would have been the first
unionized Wal-Mart in the nation since 2000, when workers
in the meat cutting department in Jacksonville, Texas, voted
to unionize. The meat cutting position was then eliminated
from all Wal-Marts across the South. Although a majority of
workers supported the union early in the campaign, union organizers
and supporters say workers were intimidated by the company's
anti-union tactics and were afraid of losing their jobs after
the recent closing of a unionized Wal-Mart in Quebec, Canada.
This week the union will decide whether to challenge the election.
Vaishalee Mishra has more from Colorado.
[top]
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