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> Thur., Oct. 20, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Guantanamo Bay Detainees Say They are Being Force Fed to Inflict
Pain
Mahmmod Abbas Meets with President Bush
Kashmir Earthquake Relief Efforts
Generic Drugs for Bird Flu
Radio Shutdown in Senegal
The High Price of Living in San Diego
FSRN Headlines
HARIRI ASSASSINATION REPORT
A United Nations team of investigators submitted their findings
today in the case of the assassination of former Lebanese
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hariri was killed in February
by a massive car bomb in Beirut. A number of powerful Syrian
officials were interviewed during the investigation and many
suspect some sort of Syrian involvement in Hariri's murder.
The report will not be made public until the UN Security Council
has had a chance to review it.
GUARDIAN REPORTER KIDNAPPED
An Irish journalist working for a London-based newspaper has
become the latest foreign press worker to be kidnapped in
Iraq. Anatasia Kershaw reports from London.
Rory Carroll, Iraq correspondent for the British newspaper,
the Guardian - was kidnapped by gunmen last night in Baghdad.
Carroll was preparing a report for today's edition of the
paper on Saddam Hussein¹s trial. The Irish journalist
was abducted as he left a private residence after conducting
an interview. The Irish government has urgently appealed to
several middle-eastern embassies to help discover his whereabouts.
Police in Baghdad have interviewed Carroll's work colleagues
who witnessed the abduction. According to the Committee to
Protect Journalists, an organization that works to protect
press freedom worldwide, at least 34 media workers have been
kidnapped in Iraq since April of 2004. This is Anastasia Kershaw
reporting from London for Free Speech Radio News.
NIGERIAN DEBT RELIEF
The Paris Club of creditor nations has agreed to give Nigeria
18 billion dollars worth of debt relief. Sam Olukoya reports
from Lagos.
The debt relief comes at a time of growing discontent in
Nigeria regarding debt payment to external creditors like
the Paris Club. The Paris Club, is a group of powerful creditor
nations including the United States, Britain and Japan. The
Nigerian government says the interest rate tied to the loan
from the Paris Club grew by billions of dollars in the last
twenty years. Nigeria spends about a third of its annual budget
on debt servicing and therefore, can not afford to execute
vital social and economic programs. Many Nigerians disagree
with loan repayment on the grounds that the loans went to
corrupt military regimes and never directly benefited the
country. Corrupt officials are widely accused of siphoning
loan money to their private foreign bank accounts. Before
the relief, Nigeria owes the Paris Club about $30bn. For Free
Speech Radio News, this is Sam Olukoya in Lagos.
MINIMUM WAGE STAGNATES
The Senate has rejected two proposals to increase the federal
minimum wage. Katia Al Awwad reports Washington DC.
The Senate yesterday voted 51 to 47 against a proposal by
Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy to raise the minimum wage
from $5.15 to $6.25 over the course of 18th months. An alternative
proposal presented by Senator Michael Enzi of Wyoming also
failed by a vote of 57 to 42. Enzi's proposal stipulated the
same wage increase, but included various breaks and exemptions
for small businesses. Sen. Kennedy argued that one in ten
American families lives below the poverty line and that the
current minimum wage is not enough to lift families out of
such poverty. The last time Congress approved an increase
in the federal minimum wage was in 1996. For Free Speech Radio
News in Washington DC, this is Katia Al Awwad.
AMAZON DROUGHT
FSRN's Sao Paolo correspondent Toya Mileno reports:
The Amazon river has been critically affected by the worst
drought to strike Brazil in the past 50 years. Scientists
who study the Amazon river say that high temperatures in the
Atlantic ocean - possibly caused by global warming - are responsible
for the severe drought in the Amazon river basin. 914 communities
and 28 cities have been left isolated in a region where much
of the transportation is by boat. Authorities from Amazonas
state in Brazil declared a state of emergency on October 10th.
Brazil's Federal Government has sent over 14 million dollars
to help 32 thousand families in the drought stricken area.
The severe drop in water levels has produced more than 150
tons of dead fish, including 120 rare Peixes-Bois; an endangered
species in the Amazon river system. Health officials fear
the outbreak of an epidemic when water levels return to normal
- as remains of dead animals and garbage could contaminate
the rivers that supply the population with water. Brazil's
National Institute of Meteorology predicts that winter rains
will begin in November.
[top]
Guantanamo Bay Detainees Say They are Being Force
Fed to Inflict Pain (2:55)
Newly declassified documents reveal that Guantanamo Bay
detainees who are on a hunger strike are claiming they have
been abused in force feeding methods. They claim that feeding
tubes were forced up their nose and down into their stomachs
without the use of anesthesia or sedative, and were used to
inflict pain. They also claim that the same un-cleaned tubes
were used on differed people being held at GITMO. These new
allegations come as a new report just released by a human
rights group claims that at least 100 detainees have died
while in US custody since 2002. Mitch Jeserich reports from
Washington.
[top]
Mahmmod Abbas Meets with President Bush
(1:48)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with George Bush
today at the White House. After their meeting, they both addressed
reporters in the Rose Garden, where Bush for the first time
indicated an independent Palestinian state may not be created
while he's still in office.
[top]
Kashmir Earthquake Relief Efforts (3:24)
For the first time in 16 years, a person in Indian-administered
Kashmir can call another in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
As a humanitarian gesture, India has set up a four calling
centers in Jammu and Kashmir, where people can call their
loved ones across the line of control in Muzaffarabad. The
step was taken after a killer quake rocked the region on October
8. More than 40,000 people have died in Pakistan administered
Kashmir, with an additional 1300 people have died on the Indian
side. From Srinagar, Shahnawaz Khan has more
[top]
Generic Drugs for Bird Flu (4:28)
Amidst growing demand by consumer groups that Western countries
should be well prepared in the event of an outbreak of bird
flu, concern about the availability of enough drugs to stop
its spread is growing. As India's second largest pharmaceutical
company, Cipla is prepared to make a generic version of Roche's
Tamiflu available, groups are also asking the US government
to allow imports of generic versions of patented medicines
such as Roche’s Tamiflu to help the country prepare
for a possible bird flu pandemic. As FSRN’s Binu Alex
reports from India, generic version offer affordability and
availability, especially in cases of emergency.
[top]
Radio Shutdown in Senegal (3:46)
Senegal’s first private radio station, Sud Fm, which
went on air in 1994, contributed in reinforcing democracy
in the country through the peaceful change of power that happened
in Senegal in 2000. However, it was closed down this week,
as Ibrahima Gassama, the head Sud FM in the Casamance interviewed
Salif Sadio, of the armed rebel group Movement for Democratic
forces for Casamance, who said he was still fighting for the
independence there. Ndiaga Seck reports.
[top]
The High Price of Living in San Diego (3:52)
The San Diego City Council approved a landmark Community
Benefits Agreement for a $1.4 billion housing development
project with a 5-to-1 vote this week. It's the first time
developers and community groups have worked together in the
city to come up with a mutually acceptable agreement. More
than 20 San Diego labor and community groups formed a Community
Coalition for Responsible Development, or ACCORD, and hope
this process sets the standard for future development in the
city. In San Diego, Miles Ashdown reports.
[top]
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