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> Wed., July. 20, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Debate Over John Roberts Begins
Iraq's Anti Occupations Members of Parliament
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Visits Washington
Los Angeles Area Aerospace Janitors on Strike
A Look at the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act
The 5th Anniversary of UN Resolution 1308
FSRN Headlines
President George Bush chose John G. Roberts as Supreme Court
nominee to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
(Bush and Roberts tape)
Roberts has served for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
for the past two years. He has worked as a law clerk for Chief
Justice Rehnquist and for the Reagan Administration as Special
Assistant to the Attorney General William French Smith and
as a counsel to President Reagan. He also worked for President
George H.W. Bush as Deputy Solicitor General. His nomination
is hailed by many conservatives and is receiving mixed reaction
from democrats. We will have more on the reaction from some
women's groups, later in the newscast.
Social unrest is increasing in China, where another round
of riots has occurred in a village in the southern province
of Zhejiang. Severine Bardon reports from Beijing.
Israeli settlers are on their third day of protest against
evacuation plans from the Gaza strip. But as Manar Jibreen
reports, the protestors are loosing support for the march
Israel has denounced.
The ninth largest US oil company rejected a $17 billion take
over bid by China in favor of a lower bid by US-based Chevron.
From KPFT in Houston, Renee Feltz reports.
Pirate attacks on ships are down across the world. The International
Maritime Bureau has reported a sharp fall in the number of
hijacking this year. According to the bureau’s figures,
they fell by nearly a third in the first half of this year
to 127 incidents. Although overall pirate attacks are down,
there is an increase of the coast of Somalia, where incidents
have become increasingly violent. There have been at least
5 seizures of ships since the end of march, and one was transporting
UN sponsored food to the Tsunami-devastate region.
[top]
Debate Over John Roberts Begins (4:26)
Several prominent women's rights groups are calling on Senate
Democrats to filibuster President Bush's Supreme Court Justice
nominee John Roberts for the court briefs he wrote as former
Deputy Solicitor General saying the Roe V Wade should be overturned.
The Democrats, however, have taken a more measured response
saying they will give Roberts a chance to prove himself through
the confirmation process. Mitch Jeserich has more from Washington.
[top]
Iraq's Anti Occupations Members of Parliament
(3:45)
Sunni members of the committee to draft Iraq's constitution
said today that they would reconsider their participation
after Monday's assassination of another member of the committee.
In Baghdad today, at least ten people died when a US base
where Iraqi recruits often line up to apply for the country's
new security forces was attacked again by a suicide bomber.
Though Iraqi security forces and civilians bear the brunt
of such violence, the move to remove US troops from the country
remains strong. David Enders interviews member of parliament
Falah Hassan, who has spearheaded the drive to pass a law
to set a timetable for the last US soldier to leave Iraqi
soil.
[top]
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Visits Washington
(2:53)
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was warmly greeted
by a joint session of the US Congress yesterday. For the past
15 years, India has opened its market up to foreign companies
and started purchasing defense equipment from the West. Prime
Minister Singh's landmark visit marks the eighth such appearance
by a foreign visitor in the House chamber in the last five
years. In New Dehli, Vinod K. Jose reports on reaction to
Singh's visit.
[top]
Los Angeles Area Aerospace Janitors on Strike
(1:51)
Hundreds of unionized janitors and their supporters marched
on the grounds of Raytheon in El Segundo, California, demanding
a raise and health care benefits. The workers are headed into
their third week of a strike against several contractors that
clean the facilities of three Fortune 500 aerospace companies.
From Los Angeles, Ngoc Nguyen reports.
[top]
A Look at the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization
Act (3:42)
From Hawaii to the nation's capital, federal recognition
for Hawaiians is a hot topic this week, although debate on
the bill has once again stalled in the Senate this week. The
Akaka Bill, also known as the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization
Act, emerged 5 years ago from the federal government, via
Senators Inouye and Akaka. Since then, the federal government
has worked in conjunction with the state of Hawaii, which
has become the bill's most powerful advocate. Opposition inside
the Senate has come from conservatives like Jon Kyl, who say
it will lead to the Balkanization of Hawaii. But Native Hawaiian
opposition to the bill is linked to the historical legacy
of the Hawaiian Kingdom and Hawaiian rights to full independence.
Anne Keala Kelly has more about native resistance to Native
Hawaiian federal recognition.
[top]
The 5th Anniversary of UN Resolution 1308
(3:00)
The UN Security Council held a session to mark the 5th anniversary
of Resolution 1308, in which it recognized for the first time
the potential threat to stability and security that the HIV/AIDS
pandemic could present and called on the UN and member states
to develop effective AIDS education, prevention, testing and
treatment strategies for peacekeepers as well as national
uniformed personnel. The Council on Foreign Relations has
released a report titled "HIV and National Security:
Where Are the Links?", that breaks new ground and offers
startling insights into the world's pandemic, while UNAIDS
has released On the Frontline, a progress report on the implementation
of Security Council Resolution 1308. Danuta Szfraniec reports
from New York.
[top]
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