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> Tue., May. 17, 2005
FSRN
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Today's lead stories:
Last Minute Lobbying Efforts on the "Nuclear Option"
Newsweek Retracts Article About US Interrogators Desecrating
Koran
Indonesia Drops Charges Against US-Based Multinationals
Small Faction of Pro-GMO Countries Prevent International Consensus
on Food Labeling
Destruction of Central America's Largest Extension of Wetlands
Demonstrators Protest Against Logging in Southern Oregon
FSRN Headlines
More than 12-thousand landless farmers are to hold a mass
protest in Brazil’s capital against what they are calling
the government’s slow rate of reform. Natalia Viana
reports from Sao Paulo.
Low voter turn out may still generate an historic election
in the Los Angeles mayor’s race. Soul Rebel Radio's
Oriel Maria Siu reports from KPFK.
The Nicaraguan president has signed an agreement with the
former banana workers adversely affected by a pesticide that
was outlawed in the 1960’s in the US. Nan McCurdy has
more from Managua, Nicaragua.
So-called “dead zones,” in the world’s
oceans and seas, where pollution has killed most if not all
life, are expanding. Valarie Torres explains from KPFT in
Houston.
Kuwaiti women may now vote and hold local elected offices
for the first time in their history. Loud applause broke out
from the public gallery as the Parliamentary leader read the
final vote. However, conservatives were furious and managed
to place a clause that requires women in Kuwait to follow
Islamic law when voting or campaigning. Neither Parliamentarians
nor political analysts are sure if that means women must have
separate polling places or if they must wear strict Islamic
dress. One potential candidate said she’s running for
a seat that will be open in 2007 but will start campaigning
now.
[top]
Last Minute Lobbying Efforts on the "Nuclear
Option" (3:56)
After weeks of talks, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid
announced yesterday that negotiations with Majority Leader
Bill Frist broke off over a change in Senate rules on filibusters.
Democrats say that if Senate rules change they will halt any
business from happening in the legislative body. Selina Musuta
of the DC Radio Coop reports from Capitol Hill on last minute
efforts to lobby for and against the rule change, also known
as the nuclear option.
[top]
Newsweek Retracts Article About US Interrogators
Desecrating Koran (4:29)
Thousands of people have been protesting across Afghanistan
as well as other parts of the Muslim world in response to
a report published by Newsweek that US interrogators desecrated
copies of the Koran while interrogating prisoners in Guantanamo
Bay. Newsweek retracted its report yesterday. KPFK's Sonali
Kolhatkar has more.
[top]
Indonesia Drops Charges Against US-Based Multinationals
(1:56)
Indonesian police arrested three suspected snipers that
killed five police officers and one civilian at a village
in the Molluca province where the armed Muslim-Christian conflict
has claimed 9,000 lives. Authorities say the suspects are
well trained and used US Carabins, AK47s and M3s.
Meanwhile, while halting the legal process against US-based
multinational Monsanto on charges that the company bribed
an Indonesian official to issue a license for planting transgenic
cotton, authorities once again promised yesterday to cancel
the legal process against US giant gold mine corporation,
Newmont. According to an independent investigation, Newmont
pollutes Buyat Bay with cyanide, arsenic and mercury, causing
dangerous illness to the community. Eric Klein reads for FSRN's
Meggy Margiyono.
[top]
Small Faction of Pro-GMO Countries Prevent International
Consensus on Food Labeling (2:51)
An international meeting on labeling guidelines for food
and food products containing genetically-modified organisms,
or GMOs, ended without reaching a conclusion on a draft agreement.
Although the majority of the over 50 nations participating
in the meeting spoke in favor of labeling GMOs in the food
supply, a handful of nations opposed to the measure prevented
consensus. One of the countries in the dissident faction was
Mexico - which ended a moratorium on the cultivation of GMOs
just over two weeks ago. Shannon Young reports from Oaxaca.
[top]
Destruction of Central America's Largest Extension
of Wetlands (3:21)
Over half of Guatemala's Laguna del Tigre National Park,
located within the Maya Biosphere Reserve, has been reduced
to ashes and taken over by settlers and cattle ranchers in
the last few years. The un-hindered destruction threatens
Central America's largest extension of wetlands, a critical
habitat for endangered species like the howler monkey and
tapir. Conservationists say the park will be lost if the government
continues to ignore the magnitude of the problem. They also
point to nearby community-based forest management as a successful
alternative to failed attempts to preserve Laguna del Tigre
and other neighboring parks. Jill Replogle reports from the
Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala.
[top]
Demonstrators Protest Against Logging in Southern
Oregon (2:14)
President Bush's new Roadless Area rules have sparked another
wave of public resistance to one of the largest logging sales
in Forest Service history. Demonstrators in southern Oregon
gathered to draw attention to what they say is the illegal
logging of old-growth reserves effected by the 2002 Biscuit
Fire. From KBOO in Portland, Jacob Fenston has more.
[top]
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