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> Thur., Aug. 25, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Confusion over Iraq Constitution
The Economic Structure of Iraq's Future
Calls for Investigation Over Racial Profiling Data Coverup
Gag Rule Imposed for HIV and Anti-Trafficking Funding
Children's Hospital Staff on Strike in Argentina
FSRN Headlines
Pakistan’s local elections have been racked in violence.
At least ten people have been killed in the second phase of
Pakistan’s council elections. Elections are crucial
to President Pervez Musharraf for several reasons. The outcome
will give insight on if he should win the presidential election
next year. They also give the opportunity for Musharraf to
prove his effectiveness in cracking down on Islamic violence
in his country. In the first round of elections held last
week, 20 people were killed and thousands protested the outcome,
saying it was rigged.
The Bush Administration is trying to block a UN effort to
adopt a major resolution that calls for drastic measures the
reduce poverty and bring about reform in the world body. Haider
Rizvi has more for the UN.
Supreme Court nominee John Roberts may have been a part of
the Iran-contra affair. That’s one of 2,000 papers Democrats
are seeking that the White House refuses to release. During
Robert’s tenure during the Reagan Administration, he
authored a paper about an office that was used to side step
the ban on funding militias to overthrow the leftist Sandinistas
in Nicaragua. Other papers involving Roberts refusing to be
released are on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,
Presidential pardons.
Russia says they have contained the bird flew to one region
in Siberia. Fearing the disease could spread west, European
Union health and veterinary experts are holding emergency
meetings. Guy Degen has more from Germany.
The World Health Organization expects to declare a health
crisis in Africa because of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis kills
1,500 people in Africa daily. African Health Ministers are
meeting to discuss the rise. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos.
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Confusion over Iraq Constitution (3:57)
Clashes broke out across southern Iraq today between militiamen
loyal to cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr and security forces loyal
to the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Since Sadr ended uprisings last summer against the Iraqi government
and the US occupation, government security forces have continued
to arrest Sadrists. The latest fighting was reportedly sparked
by demonstrations against the reopening of the Sadr office
in Najaf, closed since the fighting. The fighting halted a
meeting on the new Iraqi constitution, which, as David Enders
reports, has problems of its own.
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The Economic Structure of Iraq's Future
(3:30)
Confusion continues over the status of Iraq's draft constitution,
and whether it will be ready to be put to a referendum come
October. Vital issues such as the rights of women, and autonomy
for Kurds have been discussed by the Iraqi National Assembly
as well as the international media - yet the country's new
economic structure has been largely out of the limelight.
Joining us to talk about this topic is Foreign Policy in Focus
scholar and author of the upcoming book "The Bush Agenda:
Invading the World, One Economy at a Time", Antonia Juhasz.
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Calls for Investigation Over Racial Profiling Data
Coverup (4:12)
Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers
of Detroit is calling for an investigation into reports that
some Bush administration officials tried to suppress racial
profiling data that indicates black and Latino drivers are
three times more likely to face force and have their cars
searched after a traffic stop than whites are. Mitch Jeserich
reports from Capitol Hill.
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Gag Rule Imposed for HIV and Anti-Trafficking Funding
(4:01)
A US-based health organization has sued the government over
newly enacted US policies that attach strings to global HIV
funds. For months, human rights groups, health organizations,
members of Congress and even the Brazilian government have
criticized the funding restrictions, which bar HIV and anti-trafficking
money from going to organizations working outside the US which
do not explicitly condemn prostitution. FSRN's Darby Hickey
has more.
[top]
Children's Hospital Staff on Strike in Argentina
(4:26)
Some 5,000 people marched to the Labor Ministry today in
Buenos Aires, in support of striking hospital staff workers.
As workers in Argentina are concerned over the fact that prices
for basic goods are rising, but wages are not, the staff at
Garrahan children's hospital in Buenos Aires is entering their
fourth consecutive strike in less than a month. Non-medical
staff at Garrahan, whose salaries have been frozen for 14
years, voted on Monday to go back on strike today and tomorrow,
to demand a basic salary of 1,800 pesos, the equivalent to
600 US dollars, saying that they have the right to earn a
wage that correlates to the basic cost of living. Marie Trigona
files this report.
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