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> Wed., Aug. 24, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Environmentalists Denounces New Gas Consumption Measures
Venezuela Reacts to the Bush Administration's Luke Warm Response
to Pat Robinson's Call for Presidential Assignation
Striking Oil Workers in Negotiations with Ecuadorian Government
"State of Emergency" Declared at US/Mexico Border
Commission Elects to Close and Realign Naval Bases
India's Legislation for Rural Poverty
FSRN Headlines
The UK revealed the criteria that make people eligible for
deportation. Helen Kelly reports from London.
The controversial La Parota Hydroelectric Dam Project was
approved in San Marcos Mexico. Outside voting headquarters,
police and opponents clashed, using tear gas, barricades,
and stones, leaving 20 people injured. Tim Russo has more.
Israel said troops will leave Gaza with in the month, which
will be the first time in nearly 40 years the Palestinians
will regain sovereignty of that land. But as Manar Jibreen
reports, Israel is plans to tighten security in the West Bank,
President Bush spoke in Nampa, Idaho to a cheering military
crowd. He defended the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as a means
to fight terrorism and spread democracy and freedom, and that
those objectives are succeeding. He also reiterated that the
troops in Iraq will remain until the job is done.
Audio of Bush
Meanwhile, 150 Protestors rallied outside during the President’s
speech. They spoke a different message. Leigh Robartes reports.
[top]
Environmentalists Denounces New Gas Consumption Measures
Environmental and consumer watch-dog groups are denouncing
new proposed regulations purported to curb gas consumption
in the United States. The proposal by the Transportation Department
would require an improvement in fuel economy by just over
a gallon by 2011 and it would exempt some of the largest SUVs
like Hummers. The proposal also would attempt to overturn
state laws, like the one in California, that attempts to set
their own standards. Mitch Jeserich has more from Washington.
[top]
Venezuela Reacts to the Bush Administration's Luke
Warm Response to Pat Robinson's Call for Presidential Assignation
Conservative Televangelist and prominent Republican Pat
Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuela's President
Hugo Chavez on Monday. Venezuelan government officials reacted
angrily, saying that the U.S. government must condemn Robertson's
call. Bush administration statements were much weaker, however,
than Chavez supporters had hoped. Greg Wilpert has the story
from Caracas, Venezuela.
[top]
Striking Oil Workers in Negotiations with Ecuadorian
Government
Thousands of people protested in Ecuador last week over
the issue of oil exports, resulting in about a dozen injuries,
the suspension of exports, and the declaration of a state
of emergency in 2 Amazonian states. The unrest is the worst
political crisis President Alfredo Palcaio has faced since
coming into power in April, after taking over the Lucio Gutierrez'
post, who was ousted by mass protests. Striking oil workers,
who are negotiating with the government in Quito today, say
they have lived long enough with a humiliating degree of poverty
and misery, and are demanding a fair share of the oil companies'
riches. Ecuador has made over $60-billion from the oil industry
in the past 30 years - less than 1% has been used to benefit
the states where most of the oil wells are located. Joining
us to talk about the situation in Ecuador is political activists
Toni Solo.
[top]
"State of Emergency" Declared at US/Mexico
Border
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and New Mexico Governor
Bill Richardson have both declared a state of emergency along
their borders with Mexico. They claim that undocumented immigration,
crime and violence have increased dramatically over recent
months and that measures need to be taken to curb them. Immigrant
rights groups, however, believe that the measures don't solve
any problems, and instead do more harm in an already tensed
situation at the border. FSRN's Dolores M. Bernal reports
from Las Cruces.
[top]
Commission Elects to Close and Realign Naval Bases
The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission voted
today to close several naval bases, including Fort Monroe
in Virginia, and to realign some of them, such as Oceana,
also in Virginia. Republican Congress member Mark Warner and
Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton expressed their concern that
Pentagon recommendations will hurt their states' "emergency
preparedness". Anastasia Gnezditskaia reports from DC.
[top]
India's Legislation for Rural Poverty
India's parliament passed a bill guaranteeing 100 days of
employment each year to every rural household. The bill's
success has been an ambitious project for the Congress government
which came to power on the plank of tackling rural poverty.
India's Prime Minister says it's aim is to liberate the country
from poverty, hunger and unemployment. FSRN's Binu Alex has
more.
[top]
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