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> Fri., Mar. 4, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Stephen Johnson Nominated To Head EPA
Senate Hearings On Judicial Nominee Boyle
US Withdraws Controversial Anti-Abortion Amendment At UN Conference
Conference Takes Up Human Trafficking
Landmark Ruling On Refugees In Australia
Iraq's Growing Prison Population
Tennessee Battles With Health Care
FSRN Headlines
Strikes Continue in Peru
Strikes continue in Peru. Victor Loza, President of the Medical
Federation of Peru is set to begin negotiations with the Minister
of Health, Pilar Mazzetti tonight. Loza says that the government
must take their issues seriously or they will be forced to
escalate the strike by suspending emergency services at hospitals
and health care centers. Health Minister Mazzetti released
a statement today asking doctors to take responsibility for
the public health crisis they may be creating with the strike.
And today, 90-thousand employees at the Ministry of Health,
many of whom are not on payroll, announced that they will
go indefinite strike on April 4th to achieve job security
and other benefits. These medics are employed by the government
public health care system that serves uninsured Peruvians.
Throughout Peru, 14-thousand doctors have left work since
Wednesday on an indefinite strike. They demand significant
increases in the government health budget to remedy what organizers
call a “precarious lack of equipment and infrastructure
in public hospital center. That report was provided by Kristy
Herrera in Lima.
US Bars Sandinista from Harvard Professorship
The U.S. government is barring a former Sandinista from taking
a professorship at Harvard. Nan McCurdy explains from Managua.
Coke to Reveal Secret Formula in Brazil
Coca Cola may have to reveal their secret formula in Brazil
to prove the soft drink is free of an illegal substance. Natalia
Viana reports from Sao Paolo.
Cuban Tourism Rules Change
The Cuban tourist ministry has the foreign press corps in
an uproar over new anti-corruption policies. From Havana,
Joseph Mutti reports.
French Closer to EU Constitution Approval
French officials have advanced the approval process for the
new European Union constitution. Tony Cross reports from Paris.
WTO Says US Cotton Subsidies Illegal
The World Trade organization issued another blow to U.S. domestic
policy by ruling subsidies given to cotton farmers as illegal.
The complaint issued by the Brazilian government, charges
that the subsidies unfairly depress cotton prices for other
producers. West African cotton producers in Benin and Tanzania
say they have also been hit hard by the policy and urge the
Bush administration to quickly rescind them. While U.S. trade
officials say they are looking into the issue, insiders report
the government is “footdragging” on their commitment
to provide poor nations access to fair trade.
[top]
STEPHEN JOHNSON NOMINATED TO HEAD EPA (1:21)
Today President Bush nominated Stephen Johnson to become
the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Johnson, who has been acting administrator since Mike Leavitt
went to head the Department of Health and Human Services,
has spent the last 24 years at the EPA as an expert on pesticides.
Johnson praised Bush for his record on the environment. [Johnson
sound] Bush says that Johnson's first job will be to lobby
Congress to pass the President's Clear Skies Act that would
delay enforcement of public health standards for smog that
were created by the Clinton era Clean Air Act. [Bush sound]
The Clear Skies Act would also expand a pollution trading
system for toxic air emissions to allow companies who pollute
over federal standards to trade credits with other companies
who pollute under the federal cap. The Clear Skies Act is
currently in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
where lawmakers are currently divided 9 to 9 on the bill.
Independent Senator from Vermont, Jim Jeffords, who is a frequent
critic of Bush's environmental policies, praised the nomination
of Stephen Johnson to head the EPA.
[top]
SENATE HEARINGS ON JUDICIAL NOMINEE BOYLE
(4:01)
Meanwhile, Senators heard testimony from Bush's controversial
judicial nominee, Terrence Boyle for the 4th Circuit Court
of Appeal. As a District Judge, Boyle made numerous decisions
to curtail the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities
Act. Democrats are likely to filibuster his nomination, which
could lead to a Republican attempt to take away the filibuster
with judicial nominations. Mitch Jeserich reports from Capitol
Hill.
[top]
US WITHDRAWS CONTROVERSIAL ANTI-ABORTION AMENDMENT
AT UN CONFERENCE (1:42)
At the ongoing 49th meeting of the UN Commission on the
Status of Women today, the US withdrew it's amendment regarding
women's reproduction- an amendment that would have refused
to recognize abortion as a fundamental right. Ellen Sauerbrey
is the US ambassadorthe 49th Conference on Women.
[top]
CONFERENCE TAKES UP HUMAN TRAFFICKING (4:30)
Besides the Bush Administration's controversial demand to
block the right to abortion, another hot topic at this years
UN Commission on the Status of Women is the issue of human
trafficking, which has become a major concern for global governments
in the ten years since the influential 4th Conference on Women
in Beijing. Arguments about what trafficking is, and how best
to respond to it, are being debated. Darby Hickey of the DC
Radio Coop reports from UN Headquarters in New York.
[top]
LANDMARK RULING ON REFUGEES IN AUSTRALIA
(3:29)
Australia's notoriously tough asylum laws were challenged
earlier this week when the High Court unanimously ruled against
a policy held for more than fifty years which barred certain
asylum-seekers from taking refuge in the country. Free Speech
Radio News correspondent Christine Baker reports from Sydney.
[top]
IRAQ'S GROWING PRISON POPULATION (2:47)
The convening of Iraq's new parliament, originally scheduled
for Sunday, has been postponed as politicians continue to
wrangle over the makeup of the new government and issues of
Kurdish independence. Meanwhile, attacks on the US military
and on the Iraqi police and army continued across the country.
Roundups of suspected insurgents ahead of January's elections
have not quelled the violence, but have swelled the population
of Iraqis being held by the US. David Enders files this report
from Abu Ghraib Prison, south of Baghdad.
[top]
TENNESSEE BATTLES WITH HEALTH CARE (2:20)
During their visit to Washington, DC this week, some members
of the National Governors Association expressed concern over
President Bush's push to make $60 billion in cuts to state's
Medicaid programs. As Ingrid Drake reports, the fight to protect
the health care program for the uninsured is already underway
in Tennessee.
[top]
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