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> Thur., Mar. 9, 2006
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Abu Ghraib Prison Closing
Sectarian Violence Continues in Iraq
Voices for Creative Nonviolence Disrupt House Committee
Bush Signs USA Patriot Act into Law
Civil Rights Groups in Oregon Challenge NSA Surveillance with
Lawsuits
India Debates Witness Protection Program
Mauritanian Refugees in Senegal Want to Return Home
EPA Holds Hearing on Particulate Matter
FSRN Headlines
PORTS DIVESTMENT
Dubai Ports World, the United Arab Emirates port management
company, announced today that it will transfer the operation
duties of a number of U.S. ports to an American company. This
comes one day after the the House of Representatives overwhelmingly
approved legislation that would kill the deal to allow Dubai
Ports World to administer U.S. port terminals.
PROTESTS AT EXXON-MOBIL FACILITY IN NIGERIA
In Nigeria, hundreds of Exxon-Mobil workers were released
this morning after being held overnight in a company export
terminal by angry youths seeking compensation for a major
oil spill. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos.
Several hundred youths took over Exxon-Mobil's export terminal
at Ibeno, in the Niger Delta, just before close of work yesterday.
The protesters prevented both foreign and local workers from
leaving the premises, forcing them to spend the night in their
offices. The youths want compensation for an oil spill from
Exxon-Mobil's operations. The spill, which occurred in 1998,
affected Nigeria's entire 850 kilometer-long coastline. The
oil spill affected millions of people who depend on fishing
for their source of livelihood. Three years ago, a Nigerian
court ordered Exxon-Mobil to pay ten million dollars as compensation
to three communities affected by the spill. The company then
appealed the court judgment saying that the spill caused no
adverse effects on the people or the environment. The protesters
withdrew this morning after Exxon-Mobil agreed to hold talks
on financial compensation for the disaster. For Free Speech
Radio News, this is Sam Olukoya in Lagos.
PETROECUADOR STRIKE CONTINUES
A strike by some 4,000 contract workers at Ecuador's state-owned
oil company continues in 3 Amazon provinces, despite a state
of emergency declared by the president on Tuesday. Petroecuador
has regained control of a number of facilities in the region
after military forces dislodged striking workers from occupied
installations yesterday. Production is slowly recovering as
constitutional rights remain suspended in the 3 oil-rich provinces.
DIEBOLD IN FLORIDA
In Florida, the Supervisor of elections in Leon county, who
recently exposed security flaws in Diebold voting machines,
is now planning legal action against the company. From WMNF
in Tampa, Andrew Stelzer has the story.
In December, Leon County elections supervisor, Ion Sancho,
enlisted a Finnish computer expert to try and hack the county's
Diebold machines. After the hacker was successful in showing
how someone inside the supervisor's office could alter election
results without a trace, Sancho vowed not to use Diebold machines
in another election. Since then, however, the other 2 companies
which are approved to supply voting machines in Florida, ES&S
and Sequoia, have refused to sell machines to Leon County,
which left Sancho with no choice but to go with Diebold. But
Diebold, despite its contact to deliver machines, is also
refusing to sell them to Leon County. Now Sancho has field
notice of legal proceedings, alleging that the company is
in breach of that contract. Since they couldn't get any new
machines by a federal January 1st deadline, Leon county has
already lost half a million dollars in federal grants. While
California's Voting Systems Assessment Board has praised Sanchos
security tests, Florida's Secretary of State, appointed by
Governor Jeb Bush, has threatened legal action against him.
For FSRN, reporting from Tampa, I'm Andrew Stelzer.
SARKOZY IN THE CARIBBEAN
France's interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy started a visit
to the French West Indies today. It's a trip he had to postpone
in December because of threats of demonstrations against him.
Tony Cross reports from Paris.
Sarkozy today touches down on the island of Guadeloupe and
will go on to Martinique, but he's had to wait three months
to make his Caribbean trip. He had to cancel in December because
huge protests were threatened. French West Indians, most of
whom are descendants of slaves, were furious over a law passed
last year which told teachers to explain the "positive
role" of French colonialism. And, after last year's riots,
they objected to Sarkozy's statements that low-income housing
projects should be "vacuum-cleaned" of "scum"
and gangsters. That led poet and veteran black consciousness
campaigner, Aimé Césaire, to refuse to meet
him. The controversial law has now been amended. Sarkozy hopes
that he's mended fences by writing an open letter, explaining
that he's gone through a process of personal development on
the "sensitive issue". He says he now has a better
understanding of the "depth of the wound" and the
link that "could be made" between colonialism and
slavery. And he hopes to meet Césaire, although last
Sunday, the 92-year-old facetiously asked a radio interviewer
"Who is this young man and why does he want to meet me?"
For FSRN I'm Tony Cross in Paris.
[top]
Abu Ghraib Prison Closing
A US military spokesman announced a decision today to close
the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. The facility will likely
shut down within three months and involve the transfer of
over 4,000 prisoners. A new detention facility, known as Camp
Cropper, is currently under construction near the Baghdad
airport.
[top]
Sectarian Violence Continues in Iraq (3:43)
Meanwhile, the violence continues in Iraq: a car bombing
in Baghdad today took the lives of at least nine civilians,
authorities said. That was just one of the attacks that claimed
Iraqi and US lives during the past two days as sectarian violence,
anti-occupation attacks and simple lawlessness continue in
the country. Against the backdrop of political meetings that
threaten to open even greater divisions, others continue to
call for unity. In this report narrated and produced by David
Enders, Salam Talib spoke with people in Baghdad about the
ongoing violence.
[top]
Voices for Creative Nonviolence Disrupt House Committee
(0:30)
Both houses of Congress are poised to approve a $90-billion
supplemental. $20-billion would go to Hurricane Katrina relief
efforts, and $70 would continue to fund the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asked the Senate today to quickly
pass the measure, and although a House committee, passed the
measure last night, the proceeding was disrupted by anti-war
activists.
[top]
Bush Signs USA Patriot Act into Law (2:57)
President Bush has signed the USA Patriot Act into law.
The law makes 14 of the 16 provisions from the original Patriot
Act permanent, and is being hailed by supporters as necessary
to provide the government the tools with which to apprehend
terrorists. Meanwhile, opponents to the Patriot Act are working
to make right, where they say the Patriot Act goes wrong.
Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.
[top]
Civil Rights Groups in Oregon Challenge NSA Surveillance
with Lawsuits (2:04)
The Senate Intelligence Committee voted this week to block
an investigation into the National Security Agency’s
warrant-less domestic spying program – but the American
Civil Liberties Union, along with the Center for Constitutional
Rights and an Islamic Charity in Oregon refuse to back down
on the issue. As FSRN’s Julie Sabatier reports from
Portland, Oregon, all 3 organizations have all filed lawsuits
challenging the legality of domestic surveillance.
[top]
India Debates Witness Protection Program
(3:49)
India's Supreme Court punishment of a Gujarat riot witness
for perjury has opened a debate about tightening laws to protect
witnesses. Witnesses changing their statements is nothing
new in the Indian judiciary – but the participation
of states and influential, rich individuals pressuring witnesses
is drawing sharp criticism. As FSRN’s Binu Alex reports,
there is growing debate for a witness protection program.
[top]
Mauritanian Refugees in Senegal Want to Return Home
(3:36)
Mauritius’ new ruler, Colonel Eli Ould Muhammad Vall,
was in Senegal for two days this week - where some Mauritanian
refugees have lived in exile for the past 17 years. Refugees
took the opportunity to call on the transitional government
to settle their plight. For years, the Mauritanian government
denied there were Mauritanian refugees in the Senegal River
valley, and instead considered them Senegalese nationals.
Today, refugees have yet to wait for the end of the government’s
transition due in 12 months, before any Mauritanian government
considers their case. From Senegal, Ndiaga Seck reports.
[top]
EPA Holds Hearing on Particulate Matter (2:36)
The Environmental Protection Agency held its only public
hearings yesterday, on proposed changes to standards for the
suspended dust and soot that regulators call “particulate
matter”. In the past few years, evidence has mounted
that particulate matter is far more harmful to human health
than previously thought. The EPA is required by law to update
its rules in light of emerging science, but according to public
health advocates, the proposed new rules amount to a rollback
in nearly every area, and could cause tens of thousands of
premature deaths per year. That’s drawn fire from state
officials, who say they’ll bear the health care costs,
and the EPA’s own clean air scientific advisory panel,
which, for the first time in history, publicly denounced the
rules, and asked the EPA’s Bush-appointed administrators
to change course. Brian Edwards-Tiekert reports from San Francisco,
where environmentalists, doctors, scientists, and farm workers
gave 12 hours of testimony during yesterday’s hearing.
[top]
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