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> Fri., Oct. 21, 2005
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Today's lead stories:
A Look at Harriet Miers
UN’s Report on Rafik Hariri Assassination
US Undersecretary Burns Visits India
Buddhists Increasingly Targeted in Thailand
Liberian Voters to Choose New President in Upcoming Runoff
Election
Diesel Emissions in California
FSRN Headlines
REACTION TO HARIRI REPORT
An investigative report presented to the United Nations Security
Council accuses Syrian and Lebanese officials of involvement
in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister and
billionaire businessman Rafiq Hariri. Haider Rizvi reports
from the United Nations.
Both Syria and Lebanon have strongly denied the allegations
made in the report. Faysasal Mekdad, the Syrian ambassador,
said the report is based on political motives and that it
does not deal with the actual facts related to the crime.
In his words, the report is a big lie,. It's and not a credible
report. John Bolton, the US ambassador, on the hand, called
the report hard-hitting and said it requires a follow-up from
the Security Council. Hariri was killed in a car bomb in February
this year. In their report, the UN investigators said the
inquiry is not complete and that it needs to be continued.
They will be back to the Security Council with another report
in December.
DELAY IN COURT
Former US House Majority Leader Tom Delay appeared in court
today as part of a conspiracy case that accuses him of money
laundering. In Houston, Renee Feltz reports the trial will
be postponed as Delay seeks a new judge:
DeLay's spent 4 minutes before Judge Bob Perkins in the Travis
County courtroom. His attorney asked the judge to recuse himself
because he'd made donations to progressive group, moveon.org...
noting the group was selling tshirts with Delay's mugshot.
MoveOn says they're not selling the shirts. Jake Bernstein
was in the courtroom reporting for the progressive magazine
the Texas Observer:
(14 sec cut) "The judge did give a small contribution
to MoveOn but he said he'd given it in 2004 during the presidential
election to help John Kerry."
Judge Perkins will allow a separate judge to hear the recusal
motion. Delay also requested a change of venue from the Democratic-leaning
Travis County - a move Bernstein finds ironic:
(6 sec cut) "DeLay and his lawyer have been arguing for
a quick trial but i don't see how they'll get it with all
these procedural motions.'
Pundits in Washington DC say Delay will have a difficult time
reclaiming his leadership position if his trial fails wind
up before January, when some Republicans will press for an
election to replace him. From KPFT in Houston, I'm Renee Feltz
for FSRN
WILMA APPROACHES
After killing at least 13 people in Jamaica and Haiti, Hurricane
Wilma is bearing down on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, and is
slowly creeping towards Cuba and South Florida. From WMNF
in Tampa, Andrew Stelzer reports.
With 145 mile per hour winds, Wilma is expected to produce
10 to 20 inches of rain in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and
up to 40 inches in Cuba's mountainous regions. Cuba has already
evacuated almost 400,000 people from its westernmost provinces.
Forecasters say landfall somewhere on Florida's southwest
coast isn't likely until sometime Monday afternoon; by then
it may be as low as a category 2. The state of Florida has
declared a state of emergency, as have many local counties.
This gives authority to each counties administrator to make
decisions about resources and money. In coastal areas like
Port Charlotte, hundreds of Floridians who were effected by
hurricanes in 2004 still have FEMA issued tarps instead of
roofs on their homes. Several counties have begun evacuating
coastal areas, or have plans to do so by Saturday. For FSRN,
from WMNF in Tampa, I'm Andrew Stelzer
NEW ORLEANS HOUSING VICTORY
The residents of Forest Park apartments in New Orleans are
celebrating a victory today, after the owners of the public
housing complex agreed to stop evictions and to maintain existing
leasing arrangements. Jenka Soderberg has the story from New
Orleans.
Today's victory comes after the residents led a week-long
campaign to pressure the apartments' owner to stop illegal
evictions of public housing residents. The campaign included
a resident takeover of the management office, as well as solidarity
actions at the property owner's offices in Boston and Washington,
DC. Many residents of New Orleans are dismayed at the chaos
and inaction of the federal housing authorities. Their New
Orleans office has been closed since Hurricane Katrina hit.
Cynthia Wiggins is the manager of a local public housing project:
(clip)"HUD is trying to manage this out of Washington
DC and it can't happen. This thing has to be managed here
in the city. It's ludicrous from our perspective that we have
erople in Washington DC that think they know what's happening
here but haven't been here to see the destruction."
The emergency freeze on evictions, declared after the flood,
will end on October 25th. Jenka Soderberg, FSRN, New Orleans
LABOR DISPUTE IN ARGENTINE SUBWAY
Contract workers from the Buenos Aires subway system clashed
with police last night, after shutting down all 5 of the CITY'S
subway lines. Marie Trigona has more in Buenos Aires.
Some 500 subway janitors and security guards from three temporary
employment agencies went on strike to be included in the collective
labor contract between formal employees and Metrovías,
the private company that runs the Buenos Aires subway system.
After the Labor Ministry refused to meet with the janitors
and security guards yesterday, the workers blocked the subway
line. Police then shot tear gas and fired water canons inside
the subway tunnels, lined with high voltage electric cables.
Protesting workers responded by discharging fire extinguishers,
throwing rocks and building barricades with ladders. Dissident
subway delegates from an independent union commission were
threatening to shut down the 5 subway lines today to pressure
for the inclusion of the temporary workers in the collective
labor contract. The contract workers met early today with
the labor ministry and the Metrovías company to negotiate
a solution as subway service returned to normal.
[top]
A Look at Harriet Miers
It's been a difficult week for the nomination of Harriet
Miers to the Supreme Court. She has been slammed by Christian
conservatives and had an embarrassing incident of having her
questionnaire returned to her by the Senate Judiciary Committee
for not adequately responding to the questions. Now, many
religious conservative groups are saying that if Miers is
confirmed, the GOP will be unable to count on their support
in the upcoming 2006 elections. Mitch Jeserich reports from
Washington.
[top]
UN’s Report on Rafik Hariri Assassination
As we reported yesterday, The United Nations has released
its report on the investigation into the February killing
of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The report
accused Syrian officials of not cooperating, and implicated
top intelligence officers in both Syria and Lebanon in Hariri's
assassination. This is the first official link between Syria
and Hariri’s murder. Syria's U.N. Ambassador Fayssal
Mekdad reiterated that Syria is innocent in the murder and
that they had have cooperated with the investigation. Top
Syrian officials, including Syrian President Bashar Assad's
brother were edited out the final UN report on its investigation
into the assassination. The Syrians had previously been named
as possibly helping plan the killing. Detlev Mehlis, leader
of the UN probe, told journalists the names were not included
in the public report because only one witness had identified
them and he didn't want un-collaborated accusations to lead
to an impression of guilt. Meanwhile, the Whitehouse is pressing
for Syria to be held accountable for its role in the assassination.
FSRN's Eric Klein spoke with Steven Zunes, professor of Politics
at the University of San Francisco about the significance
of the UN report on Hariri.
[top]
US Undersecretary Burns Visits India
US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns met with Indian
officials today to discuss steps towards the landmark Indo-US
nuclear deal. Observers say the goal of his visit is to maintain
the political momentum gained after an agreement reached between
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George Bush in
Washington in July, in which the US pledged to change its
domestic laws to resume nuclear supplies to Indian reactors,
while India agreed to separate its nuclear and military facilities.
From New Delhi, FSRN’s Vinod K. Jose reports.
[top]
Buddhists Increasingly Targeted in Thailand
In Thailand, attacks against Buddhists and civilians are
escalating in the country’s southernmost provinces.
Thai officials say a suspected Muslim insurgency is to blame
for the almost daily violence, which has left more than 900
people dead in the last 21 months. From Bangkok, FSRN correspondent
Doualy Xaykaothao has more on the latest attack.
[top]
Liberian Voters to Choose New President in Upcoming
Runoff Election
Liberians are preparing for a run off election to choose
a new president. The peaceful nature of the first round of
polling suggests that Liberians do not want a repeat of a
14-year war that left the country in ruins- but the country
still faces a delicate road to peace. Sam Olukoya reports
from Lagos.
[top]
Diesel Emissions in California
The California Air Resources Board, which sets air quality
standards for the nation's most polluted state, will consider
a three-year delay in enforcing standards that mandate cleaner-burning
transit buses. Leilani Albano reports.
[top]
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