Home > Programs
> FSRN
> Thur., Feb. 9, 2006
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
Thanks to FSRN.org
for making the daily programs available to Pacifica.org
Today's lead stories:
Senators Calling for Focus on Renewable Energy
Guantanamo Bay Detainees Still Being Force Fed
Rahul Mahajan: Cartoons and “Free Speech”
UN Working Group Closes Without Consensus
People Power Brewing the Philippines
WTO Rules in Biotech Crops and Products
Longer School Days at New York Public Schools
FSRN Headlines
Gaza Update: Putin opens door to Hamas; Egyptian Diplomat
Kidnapped
In a victory for Hamas, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced
that he is ready to invite the organization’s leadership
to Moscow. The announcement breaks from a U.S.-led effort
to isolate Hamas in the wake of its electoral victory. Meanwhile,
turmoil continued in Gaza today: Israeli troops killed three
Palestinian fighters in clashes near the Erez border crossing,
and Palestinian gunmen have abducted an Egyptian diplomat.
Laila El-Haddad has more on that story:
Government forces winning Nepali election, but with little
turnout
Early results in Nepal’s municipal elections show pro-government
forces winning, but with such low participation that the real
victors may be the country’s opposition parties and
Maoist rebels, who called for a boycott. Carey Biron has more
from Kathmandu:
Preval Winning Haiti
In Haiti, incomplete election returns show Rene Preval winning
with a lead commanding enough to avoid a runoff election.
Preval is a popular former president and a one-time protégé
of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide— with a quarter
of the ballots tallied, he’s leading with 68% of the
vote.
Avian Flu Enters Africa
The H5N1 strain of bird flu virus has been discovered in Northern
Nigeria. That’s the first time it’s appeared in
Africa, prompting concerns the disease could spread rapidly
across the continent. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos.
New Study Shows Unsafe Mercury Levels in Many Americans
And in the United States, a nationwide study conducted by
Greenpeace and the Sierra Club shows high levels of the neurotoxic
metal Mercury in the bodies of people who eat fish. About
one in five women of childbearing age showed levels that the
U.S. E-P-A considers unsafe for pregnant women and developing
children. That’s about twice the rate government-conducted
studies have shown. The results may be distorted because they
were based on tests of voluntarily-submitted samples rather
than a random selection. But the study does confirm earlier
research showing that people who eat fish have elevated Mercury
levels—that’s because airborne mercury pollution
gets deposited into waterways, then concentrated in the bodies
of fish that live there. Both GreenPeace and the Sierra Club
are pushing for tighter regulations on Mercury emissions from
coal-fired power plants.
[top]
Senators Calling for Focus on Renewable Energy
(2:04)
Nuclear power tops the list of priorities of the President's
budget proposals for energy. But some Senators are calling
for more focus on renewable energy and for more money to be
put into low income energy assistance programs. Leigh Ann
Caldwell reports from Capitol Hill.
[top]
Guantanamo Bay Detainees Still Being Force Fed (2:17)
U.S. military authorities are a taking tougher stance on
the forced feeding of detainees engaged in hunger strikes
at Guantanamo Bay. 84 of these detainees are said to be determined
to commit suicide, to protest their indefinite confinement.
From our DC Bureau, Anastasia Gnezditskaia has more.
[top]
Rahul Mahajan: Cartoons and “Free Speech”
(3:16)
Cartoons published in a Danish newspaper have been the subject
of mass demonstrations throughout the Muslim world, sparking
protests in over a dozen countries. Secretary of State Condoleeza
Rice is now accusing both Iran and Syria of deliberately fueling
Muslim anger at the cartoons. And while much of the debate
has centered around the topics of free speech and religious
respect – some issues surrounding the controversy have
been largely unnoticed by the mainstream press, including
the statement by a cartoonist, Christopher Zieler, that the
same editor at the same newspaper that published the cartoons
so many Muslims find offensive, refused to publish a cartoon
he said would be offensive to Christians, and readers in general.
We’re joined on the line by Rahul Mahajan, editor of
EmpireNotes.org, and author of Full Spectrum Dominance.
[top]
UN Working Group Closes Without Consensus
(3:35)
The United Nation’s Working Group on the International
Human Rights Declaration for Indigenous Peoples came to a
close last week after 12 years. It ended without the desired
consensus between member states and indigenous peoples’
representatives from all over the world, but as FSRN’s
Anne Keala Kelly reports, the final word on this draft and
whether or not indigenous peoples will support it won’t
be known until later this month.
[top]
People Power Brewing the Philippines (3:58)
As President Bush reaffirms his commitment to the war on
terror, the impacts of this war are rippling from Afghanistan,
to Iraq, to the Philippines. In July 2002, the Philippines
became the second front of the war on terror as 4,000 U.S.
troops fought suspected Al-Queda cells and trained the Philippines
Armed Forces in counter-terrorism offensives. Now, the Philippines
Armed Forces are using these tactics against ordinary citizens.
A recent report by a Filipino human rights alliance states
that 10,000 civilians suffered from harassment, displacement,
torture or murder in 2005 alone. Some Filipinos believe they
are living in a state of undeclared martial law under current
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. As FSRN’s Jen Soriano
reports, another popular uprising might just be brewing.
[top]
WTO Rules in Biotech Crops and Products
(2:00)
The United States has won a preliminary victory in its World
Trade Organization case against Europe’s de facto moratorium
on biotech crops and products. Matt Kaye has more.
[top]
Longer School Days at New York Public Schools (2:50)
The graduate student strike at New York University has entered
its fourth month. The students are demanding that the school
recognize their union, and they've just gained a powerful
ally - the sanitation workers, who are now refusing to cross
the picket line. Trash is piling up on campus, pushing the
conflict back into the headlines, and maybe even the negotiating
table. Meanwhile, throughout the city, another group of educators
was dealing with contract fallout that began to ripple through
public school classrooms this week. In last year's contract
battle with the city, the United Federation of Teachers agreed
to extend the school day in exchange for a minor pay raise.
The longer day, which went into effect on Monday, provides
extra attention to struggling students, but the mid-year schedule
change drew fire from parents and teachers alike. One group
on the front lines decided to investigate – Radio Rootz
students at the Brooklyn Comprehensive Middle School. They
send us this report.
[top]
|
Listen
to the show 
Help
stream
download
