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> Fri., Aug. 26, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Increased Violence and Deportations of Haitians in the Dominican
Republic
The Roots of Violence in Southern Iraq
ACLU Documents FBI Library Monitoring
Israel Seizes Palestinian Land
A Look at Mercury Rules and Utility Companies
FSRN Headlines
Seventeen people, fourteen of them children, died in a Paris
fire in an apartment complex housing African immigrant families.
The fire raises criticism of the lack of low-income housing
in the French capital. Tony Cross reports from Paris.
A library is suing the federal court for a provision of the
Patriot Act. This is the first time proof has emerged that
the government is using the Patriot Act to extract citizens
records, something the government has repeatedly denied. The
suit, filed by the ACLU said the provision is 'unconstitutional
on its face" and that the provision removes any requirement
of individual suspicion and that the FBI can demand sensitive
information about sensitive people. Few details of the suit
are known because of a gag order, which the ACLU said is an
unlawful to freedom of speech.
A weekend of events are planned at the Crawford Texas camp
site of anti-war protestors as pro-war advocates have arrived.
Katie Heim has more.
The Cuban government condemned US policy as being responsible
for 31 Cubans who went missing at sea last week. Joseph Mutti
has more from Havana.
A deal was struck between protestors and oil companies in
Ecuador. The oil companies will provide more compensation
to the poor communities who live on the land in which the
companies work. In exchange, the communities will stop strikes
that disrupt oil production. two-thirds of the 25 percent
tax the oil companies pay, will be given to the communities
to use for education, health care, and infrastructure. The
deal was made after days of negotiations followed a 6 day
strike that stopped oil exports.
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Increased Violence and Deportations of Haitians
in the Dominican Republic (3:10)
After three young Haitian immigrants were recently beaten
and burned to death recently in the Dominican Republic, Haiti
recalled it top diplomat to the country yesterday. Police
in the Dominican Republic are investigating the murders of
the men, who were doused with flammable liquid, set ablaze,
and died days later. Dominican immigration authorities, meanwhile,
have deported hundreds of Haitians in recent weeks, for unauthorized
immigration. Joining us to talk about the violence towards
Haitians in the Dominican Republic is Brian Concannon, the
Director for the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.
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The Roots of Violence in Southern Iraq (3:46)
Violence continued in southern Iraq today, indefinitely
postponing meetings of the country's national assembly. The
fighting that began Wednesday between followers of cleric
Moqtada Al-Sadr attacking offices belonging to the Supreme
Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq has been steeping
since the end of a summer-long uprising against occupation
troops, led by Sadr, was put down last year by the US military
with the help of members of Badr Brigade, SCIRI's Iranian-trained
armed wing. David Enders explains the roots of this violence.
[top]
ACLU Documents FBI Library Monitoring (4:18)
The American Civil Liberties Union has just disclosed that
they can finally document that the Federal Bureau of Investigation
used the PATRIOT Act to demand library patron records and
Internet transactions. This contradicts the FBI's many claims
made amidst heated Congressional debate over the PATRIOT ACT,
where the FBI had declared, time and again, that it has not
used the Act in requesting library records. Ryme Katkhouda
of the DC Radio Coop reports.
[top]
Israel Seizes Palestinian Land (3:57)
Israel issued orders to seize Palestinian-owned land to
link a main Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank to
Jerusalem this week, just as it finished the evacuation of
settlers from its Gaza colonies. Laila El-Haddad reports from
Gaza on the implications of the land grab, and how it is tempering
Palestinian enthusiasm towards disengagement.
[top]
A Look at Mercury Rules and Utility Companies
(3:43)
The District of Columbia Public Service Commission filed
an emergency petition Thursday, with the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, to reverse the shutdown of an Alexandria, Virginia
power plant owned by Mirant Corporation saying that the closure
of the plant would threaten homeland security and put strain
on the electrical needs of DC residents. Yet the power plant
was failing to meet national air quality standards and producing
dangerously high amounts of mercury and other pollutants.
From DC, Selina Musuta has more on the plant's closure.
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