Home > Programs
> FSRN
> Thur., Dec. 28, 2005
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
Thanks to FSRN.org
for making the daily programs available to Pacifica.org
Today's lead stories:
International Donors Pull $375 Million in Aid From Ethiopia
Mexican Human Rights Worker Faces Criminal Prosecution for
Exposing Child Porn Ring
Palestine: "New Guard" Dominates Fatah Ticket
Amidst Electoral Turmoil, Disabled Iraqis Struggle for a Voice
in Politics
Ex-workers Drop Sexual Harassment Lawsuits Against American
Apparel
Native Hawaiian Activist Jailed Over Buried Artifacts
FSRN Headlines
TROOPS DEPLOYED TO NIGER DELTA
Troops are now being deployed in Nigeria's Niger Delta region
to protect oil installations following a spate of attacks
on oil pipelines in the area. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos.
Four major oil pipelines in the Niger Delta have been attacked
in the last two weeks. Authorities say explosives were used
to blow up the pipelines. The Nigerian government has ordered
troop deployments in both Delta and Rivers States where the
attacks took place. The most devastating of the attacks was
on a pipeline belonging to the Anglo Dutch oil company Shell
Petroleum. A local militant group, which wants autonomy for
the Niger Delta, claimed responsibility for some of the attacks.
Local people accuse the Nigerian government and western oil
companies of denying them a share of oil proceeds. Local human
rights groups have urged the Nigerian government to be cautious
in its deployment of security forces to guard oil facilities.
Environmental Rights Action warns that the move could further
heighten tension in the region. The group observed that security
forces deployed to the Niger Delta in the past are known for
gross human rights abuses. For Free Speech Radio News, this
is Sam Olukoya in Lagos.
SUICIDE BOMBING IN WEST BANK
The Israeli army has announced that the West Bank city of
Tulkarem is now under military control after a suicide bombing
at a nearby roadblock. Manar Jibrin reports from the West
Bank.
A Palestinian man blew himself up at portable Israeli military
roadblock near Tulkarem today, killing one soldier and two
Palestinians. Also injured in the bombing were three soldiers
and six Palestinians. The Israeli army claimed that the bomber
was intending to blow himself inside Israel. Adnan Hattab,
a journalist from Tulkarem, stated that the bombing happened
meters away from an installed Israeli checkpoint that leads
to Israel, adding that the bomber blew himself near a Palestinian
car.
(audio) "The incident took place at a portable checkpoint,
few meters close to a main military checkpoint that leads
to Israeli areas. Apparently a Palestinian young man in his
twenties with a beard who was riding a Palestinian car, blew
himself up after the Israeli soldiers stopped the car, and
asked him to get out and take off his Jacket. The explosion
killed three Palestinians and one Israeli soldier and wounded
many others"
Several Israeli jeeps and ambulances rushed to the scene of
the blast after the bombing closed the area, and a imposed
curfew. Palestinian police have been warned not to carry their
weapons. For FSRN form IMEMC.Org in Palestine, I am Manar
Jibrin.
SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT VISITS INDIA
Amidst fresh violence in Sri Lanka, its new President is on
a four day diplomatic visit in India seeking help in the peace
process. Vinod K. Jose reports from Delhi.
The Indian administration said to the visiting Sri Lankan
President Mihindra Rajapakshe that it was concerned about
rising violence in Sri Lanka and called for the resumption
of peace talks between Colombo and the Tamil National Liberation
Fighters - LTTE. However, India remained non-committed on
President Mahinda Rajapakse's request for its direct role
in the peace process. Both sides of the conflict between the
Tamil liberation force, LTTE and Sri Lankan government have
been observing a ceasefire since 2002. So far this month,
around 40 Sri Lankan soldiers and Tamil leaders have been
killed in fresh violence. In mid-1980s India intervened militarily
in Sri Lanka. The LTTE later killed Indian Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi who had sent the Indian army to the Tamil areas.
Since then, Indian involvement in Sri Lanka has been limited
to economic and social affairs. From New Delhi, this is Vinod
K. Jose for Free Speech Radio News.
HONG KONG PRISONERS
Family members of Korean farmers detained during this month's
protests against the World Trade Organization arrived in Hong
Kong today to be present during tomorrow's court hearing.
The Archbishop of Hong Kong has also publicly given his support
to the protesters while characterizing the actions of the
Hong Kong police as inappropriate. Dante Toza files this report.
Hong Kong police arrested nearly a thousand people during
protests against the World Trade Organization Ministerial
meeting earlier this month. The majority were released within
days without charge. Fourteen protesters - mostly Korean farmers
- are facing legal action. They have been charged with unlawful
assembly, which carries a penalty of five years in prison.
The Archbishop of Hong Kong, Joseph Zen, in addition to publicly
supporting the Korean farmers who protested against the WTO,
also gave surety to the detainees: a legal support guarantee
that was required in order to secure their temporary release.
The 14 accused are due to appear in court tomorrow. Their
legal team is asking that the charges be dropped, so that
the defendants can return to their homes. This is Dante Toza
for FSRN in Hong Kong.
NOLA HOMES
Late Wednesday a civil court ordered a temporary halt to the
official bulldozing of homes deemed unsafe in New Orleans.
Christian Roselund has more.
In a last minute legal battle to stop bulldozing of flood-damaged
properties in the lower 9th ward, lawyers from the grassroots
legal network and the Loyola law clinic won a temporary victory
yesterday against a city administration which they say was
attempting to rush the process of home demolitions at a time
when few residents would be around to question what was happening.
City inspectors have declared over five thousand homes unsafe
to enter in New Orleans, most of those in the city's lower
9th ward. Of those homes, 2,500 were scheduled to be destroyed
beginning this week. Steve Bradbury of ACORN, a plaintiff
in the case, says that while many of these homes are damaged
beyond repair, displaced homeowners are not being adequately
informed of what is happening. The temporary injunction lasts
until January 6th, when a full hearing on the demolition of
these homes will be held. Lawyers with the Grassroots Legal
Network, the legal team of aid organization People's Hurricane
Relief Fund, say that they will attempt to work out a settlement
with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's office. For Free Speech
Radio News In New Orleans, this is Christian Roselund.
Retraction
And finally, FSRN would like to retract the December 19th
headline story about the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth
student who was visited at his home by Department of Homeland
Security agents after requesting a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's
"Little Red Book". The story was first reported
in the New Bedford Standard Times and later picked up by a
number of news outlets and circulated on the internet. According
to the Boston Globe, the student has since confessed to UMass
Professor Brian Williams -- who FSRN interviewed -- that the
story was fabricated. Though FSRN reporter Catherine Komp
took measures to confirm the story with Homeland Security
officials, her calls were not returned.
[top]
International Donors Pull $375 Million in Aid From
Ethiopia (3:12)
International donors announced today that they will withdraw
$375 million dollars in aid to Ethiopia’s government
following its post-election crackdown on dissidents. One hundred
journalists and opposition supporters were charged with treason,
genocide and other crimes last week. The aid cuts come at
a bad time for Ethiopians: a monitoring agency says millions
are threatened by a coming famine. Jenny Johnson reports.
[top]
Mexican Human Rights Worker Faces Criminal Prosecution
for Exposing Child Porn Ring (4:10)
A Mexican human rights worker and journalist is facing criminal
prosecution for authoring a book that implicates a powerful
businessman in a child pornography ring. Amnesty International
says members of Mexican police agencies have previously made
death threats against Lydia Cacho Ribeiro for her work sheltering
battered women and girls--the organization says the charges
of defamation, which is a criminal offense in Mexico, amount
to officially-sanctioned harassment of a human rights worker.
Amnesty’s 2005 annual report report says attacks on
Mexican human rights workers are a serious problem—especially
when they happen with the complicity of government officials.
Vladimir Flores reports.
[top]
Palestine: "New Guard" Dominates Fatah
Ticket (2:44)
Palestine’s dominant but divided Fatah party has managed
to submit a unified list of candidates its candidate list
for Palestinian parliamentary elections. In move likely calculated
to improve Fatah’s chances of defeating the more militant
Hamas faction, the list is weighted in favor of the party’s
so-called “new guard,” with jailed activist Marwan
Barghouti heading the ticket. David Enders followed Mustafa
Barghouti, who came in second in the election for prime minister
earlier this year, during a day of meetings in the West Bank
city of Tulkarem.
[top]
Amidst Electoral Turmoil, Disabled Iraqis Struggle
for a Voice in Politics (2:09)
Iraq’s Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups have refused
to open discussions with the Shiite religious bloc leading
in Iraq's parliamentary elections until there's a full review
of the contested results. Their refusal could deepen the political
turmoil in the wake of elections that leading Sunni parties
have accused of being plagued by electoral fraud. Preliminary
results from the vote show the United Iraqi Alliance leading,
but with a vote small enough to require the formation of a
ruling coalition with other groups. Iraqi officials said they
have found instances of fraud serious enough to cancel the
results in some places but not to hold another vote in any
district.
While political demonstrations and bombing attacks escalate
in Iraq, one large constituency is receiving little attention—that’s
the roughly 1.5 million disabled Iraqis--many of whom are
war victims. FSRN's Salam Talib spoke with Iraqi Disabled
Rights Advocate, Zina Abrahem.
[top]
Ex-workers Drop Sexual Harassment Lawsuits Against
American Apparel (3:22)
Two former employees of socially-responsible garment maker
American Apparel have dropped lawsuits alleging the company’s
CEO created a sexually hostile work environment. Leilani Albano
reports.
[top]
Native Hawaiian Activist Jailed Over Buried Artifacts
(3:33)
A federal judge has jailed a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner
for refusing to reveal the location of artifacts his organization
borrowed from a museum and then re-buried with the bones of
Hawaiian elders. The Bishop Museum in Honolulu has controlled
the items in question for nearly a hundred years. Fourteen
Hawaiian groups claim rightful ownership of the artifacts,
but don’t all agree on what should be done with them.
More members of the group that buried them face jailtime if
they don’t reveal the locations of the artifacts—but
they say doing so would violate Hawaiian religious beliefs.
Anne Keala Kelly reports.
[top]
|
Listen
to the show 
Help
stream
download
