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> Mon., Feb. 13, 2006
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Chertoff Announces Plans to Reform FEMA
Homeless in New Orleans: Judge Paves Way for Mass Hotel Evictions
Haitians in the Diaspora Reflect on Canadian Role in Their
Nation’s Destabilization
New Yoricans Denounce FBI Raids in Puerto Rico
No Child Left Behind Negatively Affecting Native American
Children
Hyatt Hotel Housekeepers Protest New Rule
FSRN Headlines
CLOSELY-CONTESTED NOMINATION OF PRIME MINISTER IN IRAQ
Ibrahim al-Jaafari has been nominated by Iraq's ruling Shia
coalition to stay on as Prime Minister in the newly-elected
government. His nomination yesterday defeated the other leading
candidate by just one vote.
US ROCKET KILLS 2 IN PAKISTAN
Another US rocket landed in Pakistan over the weekend. Masror
Hussain reports from Islamabad.
Two civilian women were killed and five children injured
in the troubled North Waziristan region on Saturday when one
of the four rockets fired from Afghanistan hit their nomadic
shelter, four kilometres from the border. There are still
unconfirmed reports that US planes intruded into Pakistani
territory and bombed a village in Sulemankhel. Witnesses in
the area say US-led allied troops fired rockets after Taliban
fighters fired 18 mortar shells at one of their posts. In
Kabul, US military spokesman, Lt. Mike Cody, confirmed the
Saturday attack but said there were no reports of casualties
on either side. In a briefing today, the Foreign Office in
Islamabad strongly reacted to the latest incident involving
cross-border firing and damage to civilian life and property
in Pakistan...but incidents of US rockets landing in Pakistan
are on the rise. Saturday's incident was the third in the
last six weeks. For Free Speech Radio News, Masror Hussain,
Islamabad.
UN REPORT ON GUANTANAMO
The conclusions of an 18-month United Nations inquiry reportedly
call for the immediate closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention
center and the prosecution of those accused of torturing detainees.
David Enders files this report.
The UN Human Rights Commission draft report says the US should
put the more than five-hundred detainees at Guantanamo on
trial or release them. The US government argues that it can
hold "enemy combatants" - the new legal term which
has been given to the prisoners - for as long as it likes,
regardless of whether there is evidence to charge them, in
order to prevent them returning to the battlefield to carry
out attacks against US troops. It is much the same argument
that has been made to justify lengthy detentions without charges
in US military prisons in Iraq, where thousands more are detained.
The report, a copy of which has been obtained by London's
Daily Telegraph, equates the force feeding of hunger-strikers
and certain interrogation techniques carried out against detainees,
with torture. Bill Goodman is the legal director at the Center
for Constitutional Rights, which has long advocated for the
release of Guantanamo detainees. "The operation at Guantanamo
totally disregards international law and disregards international
norms of humane behavior and often what goes on is torture."
The full report is scheduled for release on Wednesday. In
New York, I'm David Enders for FSRN.
FRANCE MISPLACES 30 TONS OF ASBESTOS FROM WARSHIP
India's Supreme Court today ruled that the French aircraft
carrier, Clémenceau, must be examined by a commission
of naval officers to see if it is safe to be dismantled in
an Indian ship breakers' yard. This, after France's Defence
Ministry admitted yesterday to misplacing 30 tonnes of the
asbestos that is supposed to have been removed from the ship.
Tony Cross reports from Paris.
The French Defence Ministry claims that 115 tonnes of asbestos
were cleared out of the Clémenceau, before it was sent
off on its final, controversial, journey to the Indian state
of Gujarat. But now the ministry says that only 85 tonnes
arrived at the centre where they were to be buried. Embarrassed
officials say that maybe the paper-work was wrong ... or maybe
the missing material has been misappropriated. Environmental
campaigners Greenpeace accuse the French navy of lying when
it claims that all but 45 tonnes of asbestos were removed
before the Clémenceau set off. They say that there
are between 500 and a thousand tonnes on the carrier... and
that it's a danger to the lives of the Indian workers who
will dismantle it. India's Supreme Court today ordered a committee
of retired naval officers to be set up to examine the aircraft-carrier
to see if it can enter Indian waters. It said that a previous
panel of experts, which reported today, was too deeply divided
and had failed to answer a number of questions. French President
Jacques Chirac is due to visit Delhi next Sunday. For FSRN,
I'm Tony Cross in Paris.
ARSONISTS TARGET CHURCHES IN ALABAMA
A fire set this weekend in a Baptist church is the latest
arson in a string of recent blazes in rural Alabama, where
a total of ten Baptist churches have been burned in the past
2 weeks. Investigators say there is no racial pattern to the
crimes, as churches with both black and white majority congregations
have been targeted. Unlike the 9 previous fires, Saturday's
blaze was set in broad daylight.
[top]
Chertoff Announces Plans to Reform FEMA
(4:07)
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
announced plans today to reform the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), one day after a report released by House Republicans
placed blame on Chertoff for many of the failures in Hurricane
Katrina response. Meanwhile, members of a Senate Committee
heard testimony that FEMA mismanagement contributed to wide
scale ab! use and fraud of government funds in Katrina's aftermath
– and one Senator called for FEMA to be dismantled.
Washington Editor Leigh Ann Caldwell has more on these developments
from Capitol Hill.
[top]
Homeless in New Orleans: Judge Paves Way for Mass
Hotel Evictions (2:38)
Thousands of Gulf Coast families displaced by last fall's
hurricanes will become homeless today as FEMA quits paying
for hotel rooms for a second group of evacuees. A federal
judge in New Orleans denied a temporary restraining order
this morning to stop the evictions, although many of the promised
FEMA trailers have not yet arrived. Christian Roselund has
more from New Orleans.
[top]
Haitians in the Diaspora Reflect on Canadian Role
in Their Nation’s Destabilization (4:31)
At least one person was killed and 4 injured in Haiti today,
when United Nations troops opened fire on demonstrators. Protestors
have largely paralyzed the nation’s capitol of Port-au-Prince!
, and managed entry into the hotel where election authorities
have announced the results of last week’s vote –
popular candidate Rene Preval was expected to win in the first
round, but authorities now say there will likely be a run-off
to decide the beleaguered nation’s new leader. A coup
d'etat toppled Haiti’s democratically elected government
nearly 2 years ago, and as the anniversary approaches, Haitians
in the diaspora are reflecting on the role that Canada has
played in destabilizing their country. Aaron Lakoff has more
from Montreal.
[top]
New Yoricans Denounce FBI Raids in Puerto Rico
(3:06)
The FBI raided half a dozen private homes and business in
Puerto Rico on Friday, as part of an investigation into what
they say was a plot by the Boricua Popular Army, or Macheteros,
to carry out terrorist acts on private interests and the general
public in Puerto Rico. No one was arrested in any of the raids,
leading activists to denounce the FBI actions as intimidation
of the Puerto Rican pro-independence movement. We’re
joined on the line by Vicente “Panama” Alba, a
Puerto Rican pro-independence activist in New York, where
a demonstration is planned tonight.
For more information, you can email him at panamaalba2@yahoo.com
[top]
No Child Left Behind Negatively Affecting Native
American Children (2:46)
President of the National Indian Education Association,
Ryan Wilson, delivered the annual State of Indian Education
address today. As Yanmei Xie reports from Washington, Wilson
says declining funding and intrusive mandates imposed by the
No Child Left Behind Act are impeding the advancement of Indian
education.
[top]
Hyatt Hotel Housekeepers Protest New Rule
(3:27)
More than 100 housekeepers have been protesting outside
San Diego’s downtown Hyatt Hotel daily for the past
week-and-a-half, calling for the corporation to rescind a
recent change in policy. Miles Ashdown reports on the new
rule that Hyatt housekeepers are calling unsafe and inhumane.
[top]
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