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> Tue., Nov. 8, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Senate Considers the Intelligence Authorization Measure
Continued Riots in Paris as Chirac Issues State of Emergency
South African Farm Evictions
A Look at the Budget Deficit Plan
Activists March over Mississippi River Bridge
US Soldiers Accused of Gang Raping 22-Year-Old Filipina
Candlelight Vigils Mark One Month Anniversary of Kashmir Quake
FSRN Headlines
IRAQI LAWYER AMBUSHED
Two lawyers for co-defendants in the Saddam Hussein trial
were ambushed by gunmen today in Baghdad. One attorney was
killed while the other was wounded. This is the second assassination
of a member of the legal defense team after another lawyer
was murdered the day after the trial opened in October. The
trial is scheduled to resume on Nov. 28th.
MOSSAB ARRESTS
In Nigeria, six members of a separatist group have been charged
with attempting to wage war against the government. They could
face the death penalty if found guilty. Sam Olukoya reports
from Lagos.
The six accused persons belong to the banned Movement for
the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
The group is campaigning for Nigeria's southeastern region
to secede from the rest of the country. The region has the
bulk of Nigeria's oil wealth. An attempt by the region to
secede in the late seventies led to a civil war that lasted
two and a half years. MASSOB has intensified its secession
campaign in recent years. Flags and currencies for the proposed
new state of Biafra are now in use in parts of Eastern Nigeria.
The trial of the six MASSOB activists is seen as an indication
that the Nigerian government is prepared to come down hard
on anyone thinking of breaking up Nigeria. Mujaheed Asari
Dokubo who leads a campaign for the Ijaws of Nigeria's Niger
Delta region to secede was recently arrested. He is currently
facing trial for treason. For Free Speech Radio News, this
is Sam Olukoya in Lagos
LIBERIAN RUN-OFF
Liberians went to the polls again today; this time to vote
in a run-off between the top two presidential contenders from
last month's national elections. The choice is between ex-soccer
superstar George Weah and former World Bank economist Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf. The turnout in today's runoff was reportedly
lower than in the first round. Election results are due within
two weeks.
GENEVA WTO TALKS
Members of the World Trade Organization are meeting in Geneva
today in an attempt to salvage crumbling trade negotiations.
UK Correspondent Helen Kelly has more.
World Trade Organisation member states are regrouping in
Geneva, after trade representatives from the US, the EU, India,
Brazil, and Japan failed to reach an agreement at yesterday's
meeting in London. Member states are trying to break a bitter
deadlock over customs duties and farm subsidies. The dispute
is jeopardising chances of a trade accord at the December
World Trade Organization conference in Hong Kong. EU Trade
Commissioner Peter Mandelson yesterday offered to reduce average
tariffs on agricultural imports by 46% in a bid to secure
an agreement, but wants concessions in service industries
and market access for industrial goods. The US claims that
offer does not go far enough, while Ireland argues the proposal
could wreak havoc on farming through low-price imports. France,
a major agricultural power in the EU, has threatened to veto
any deal if there are too many concessions. The talks will
conclude in Geneva tomorrow. Helen Kelly, reporting from London
for FSRN
IRS vs. PASADENA CHURCH
The Internal Revenue Service has threatened to revoke the
tax-exempt status of Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church
for an anti-war sermon. In Los Angeles Sonali Kolhatkar has
more:
Former Rector George Regas gave a stirring anti-war sermon
at All Saints Church before last year's Presidential election,
saying, "Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war
is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy
that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster." In
response the Internal Revenue Service has sent the church
a letter saying they are under investigation for violating
their tax exempt status. Reverend Ed Bacon of All Saints says
the church has not lobbied for any candidate or party but
it routinely takes strong political positions on current issues
such as the war in Iraq:
(Ed Bacon clip) "All Saints has a mission of standing
in the prophetic tradition of Christianity... We have consistently
criticized any administration in power when they used war
as a way of solving a problem that should be solved diplomatically."
According to the LA Times, the IRS investigation into All
Saints is part of a larger federal investigation of political
activity at churches and nonprofit groups. From KPFK Los Angeles,
I'm Sonali Kolhatkar.
[top]
Senate Considers the Intelligence Authorization
Measure (3:11)
A measure in the US Senate could allow the Pentagon to begin
spying on US citizens, according to some civil liberties groups.
The Intelligence Authorization measure contains a provision
that would give officials from the Defense Intelligence Agency,
also known as DIA, the ability to seek information from people
while acting undercover. The Senate is also poised to vote
on a measure tonight on whether to create an independent investigation
into the abuse of detainees. Mitch Jeserich reports from Washington.
[top]
Continued Riots in Paris as Chirac Issues State of
Emergency (3:10)
Unrests continued in France for the twelfth night, and although
authorities say it was not as violent as previous nights,
nearly 1200 cars were burned last night alone. President Jacques
Chirac declared a state of emergency today, paving the way
for curfews to be imposed on riot-hit cities and towns in
an extraordinary measure to halt France's worst civil unrest
in decades. As FSRN’s Raphaël Krafft reports, the
state of emergency is threatening civil liberties.
[top]
South African Farm Evictions (3:54)
The system of apartheid stripped South Africa's black people
of virtually all their land. Far-reaching land reform was
one of the key tasks of the new, non-racial government elected
in 1994. Instead, nearly a million black people were forcibly
removed from white-owned farms between 1994 and 2004 –
more than during the last decade of apartheid. Terna Gyuse
takes a look at what’s happening in South Africa's countryside.
[top]
A Look at the Budget Deficit Plan (3:10)
Critics say that the proposed $59.3-billion deficit reduction
plan is an attack on the poor, while Connecticut's three Republican
House members say that unless drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge is stripped from budget legislation in the
House, they will oppose the entire package. Meanwhile the
Alaskan Gwich’in People and their supporters are in
front of the American Indian Museum for another day of prayer,
education and drumming opposing the proposed drilling…
Ryme Katkhouda, of the DC Radio Coop reports.
[top]
Activists March over Mississippi River Bridge
(2:52)
One hundred local and national activists crossed the Mississippi
River Bridge from New Orleans to Gretna yesterday, to commemorate
those who were stopped and shot at my Gretna Police when attempting
to escape on that very bridge during post-Katrina flooding.
Maybel Leibenthal reports from New Orleans.
[top]
US Soldiers Accused of Gang Raping 22-Year-Old Filipina
(2:41)
Philippine prosecutors issued subpoenas this morning to
question six off-duty U.S. soldiers accused of gang-raping
a 22-year-old woman during military exercises. However, there
was no indication as to whether or when the accused would
be transferred to Philippine control due to the Visiting Forces
Agreement that’s in place. From the People Without Border’s
Collective at KPFK, Kelly Barnes has more.
[top]
Candlelight Vigils Mark One Month Anniversary of
Kashmir Quake (1:28)
Today marks the one month anniversary of the devastating
earthquake that rocked Kashmir. An estimated 87,000 people
have died, and about 3 million people are still homeless as
a result of the quake. The United Nations has come up about
$400-million short of the $550-million it is asking the donor
community for the massive relief effort. People are coming
together across the US today for candlelight vigils to commemorate
the lives lost, as well as to raise awareness of the on-going
relief effort. Tania Aidrus is an organizer with the SAquake.org,
a coalition of relief groups.
[top]
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