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> Thur., Mar. 3, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Lawmakers Say CIA Agents In Abuse Scandal Protected
Organizers in Iraq Face Danger
Canadians Rally to Support Jean Bertrand Aristide
Bush Administration Threatens Abortion Rights at UN
Immigrants Made to Wear Electronic Ankle Bracelets
Social Security Debated in California
FSRN Headlines
US Senate Keeps Canadian Beef Out
The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would prevent
Canadian beef from entering the United States. By a slim margin,
the Senate will overrule the US Food and Drug Administration’s
plan to reopen the border to beef on Monday March 7th. Due
to fears of passing along mad cow disease, Canadian beef has
been kept out of the United States for two years. Canadian
officials blame the ban on the heavily funded and protectionist
US beef industry. Yesterday a federal judge in Montana issued
an injunction on the USDA plan saying that keeping the border
closed would cause “minimal harm.” The House has
yet to take up the measure. Today, George W. Bush said he
would veto any legislation that keeps Canadian beef out of
the U.S.
Halliburton Employees May Have Rigged Bids
Former employees of Halliburton may have rigged bids for foreign
construction projects. Renee Feltz reports from KPFT in Houston.
Indonesia Sends Warships to Oil and Gas Border
The Indonesian government sent three warships to two lucrative
oil and gas border areas increasing territorial tension with
Malaysia. The move raises the volume on charges of violations
of sovereignty from both sides. Meggy Margiono reports from
Jakarta.
Federal Judge's Family Killed by White Supremacists
Police have yet to talk about a possible motives in the killing
of members of a federal judge’s family in Chicago, but
human rights groups believe those sympathetic to white supremacist
Matthew Hale are behind the slayings. Leigh Robartes has more.
Tens of Thousands Protest in Peru
Thousands of protestors have converged in Peru's capital city
of Lima today, joining 14-thousand doctors in the third day
of their strike. Demonstrators representing the General Union
of Workers, The Federation of Fishers, cotton workers, and
former municipal workers are converging around the Peruvian
Congress, demanding a suitable contract for already striking
public doctors and a General Work Law. Activists are also
protesting against increasing privatization and against the
Free Trade Agreement that Peru, along with Colombia and Ecuador,
is currently negotiating with the United States. Port aviation
workers have announced similar strikes and marches for later
this week.
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Lawmakers Say CIA Agents In Abuse Scandal Protected
(4:00)
The Senate Republican Chair of the Intelligence Committee
says there is not enough evidence to launch an official investigation
into the CIA's role in alleged abuse of detainees. But a top
lawmaker on the committee tells our correspondent Mitch Jeserich
that he believes that some within the CIA are being protected.
[top]
Organizers in Iraq Face Danger (3:18)
Insurgents in Iraq today detonated two suicide car bombs
outside the Ministry of the Interior, killing at least five
policemen. The announcement that two US soldiers died Wednesday
from wounds sustained in an attack brought the number of US
deaths in Iraq to fifteen hundred and two, with more than
eleven hundred of those coming from hostile fire. A strike
on a gas pipeline north of Baghdad is expected to cut supplies
to the capital, which had seen improvements in the past week.
Workers for the state oil company have also come under attack,
prompting unions to call for their rights. But as David Enders
reports from Baghdad, it is also dangerous to be an organizer.
[top]
Canadians Rally to Support Jean Bertrand Aristide
(2:40)
In one of the largest demonstrations outside of Haiti, over
500 people took to the streets of downtown Montreal last Saturday,
marking the one-year anniversary of the ousting of Haiti's
democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who
was forced by U.S. soldiers onto a military plane and into
exile in South Africa. Free Speech Radio News correspondent
Stephan Christoff files this report from Montreal.
[top]
Bush Administration Threatens Abortion Rights at
UN (3:46)
10 years after the UN's 4th World Conference on Women that
resulted in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,
international women's rights representatives, NGOs and observers
have come together at UN Headquarters in New York assess gender
equality. The Bush administration is insisting the platform
include an anti-abortion statement, but is facing international
pressure to drop the demands- including opposition from all
25 European Union nations, that vowed to deny such a proposal.
FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.
[top]
Immigrants Made to Wear Electronic Ankle Bracelets
(2:36)
A new Homeland Security Department pilot program is placing
electronic ankle bracelets- similar to those placed on criminal
offenders, on immigrants who are waiting for a resolution
on their legal status. From Washington, DC, Dolores M. Bernal
has more.
[top]
Social Security Debated in California (2:45)
As the debate on Social Security takes shape, representatives
and senators from both parties, took time out during last
week's recess, to host forums on the topic in their home districts.
About 200 people turned out in Santa Cruz, California to hear
from a trio of congressional democrats, who had more questions
than answers about Bush's plan for privatization. FSRN's Vinny
Lombardo reports.
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