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> Thur., Apr. 6, 2006
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Libby Says Bush Leaked Classified
DC Students Walk Out As Senate Submits Compromise Immigration
Bill
The Showdown in Nepal: Demonstrators Defy Ban on Protests
New study Indicates TV Stations Run Corporate-Sponsored News
Releases
Made in Argentina (In Slave-Like Conditions)
France’s New Immigration Bill and Its Right-Wing Author
FSRN Headlines
CAR BOMB IN NAJAF
In Iraq, at least 13 people are dead and dozens are wounded
after a car bomb exploded today in the holy city of Najaf.
The blast reportedly occurred near one of the world's most
important sites for Shiite Muslims; the Imam Ali shrine. Today's
incident comes amid ongoing sectarian tensions, sparked by
the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra.
MASS GRAVES DISCOVERED NEAR KIRKUK
Saddam Hussein was indicted earlier this week on charges of
genocide for military campaigns carried out against Kurds
in the late 1980s, known as the Anfal campaigns. Kurdish officials
announced today that one-thousand bodies have been discovered
near the northern city of Kirkuk, including both Kurds and
Shiites. David Enders reports from Baghdad.
Throughout the last three years, Iraqi central government
and local officials have continued to unearth mass graves
from the period of Hussein's rule. The grave sites that were
announced today are in the villages of Al-Asri and Tubazawa,
west of Kirkuk. Two mass grave from the era of Saddam's rule
were reportedly found outside the southern city of Nasiriyah
on Tuesday. Mass graves in the hundreds were also unearthed
outside Basra and outside the northern Kurdish city of Halabja
in 2004. The Anfal campaigns, which began in 1987 and continued
in 1988, left an estimated 180,000 people dead. Six other
co-defendants were indicted on genocide charges this week,
including Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known
as Chemical Ali.
PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTER DETAINED
Israeli police arrested a newly-appointed Palestinian cabinet
minister today as he traveled from Jerusalem to take over
from his Fattah predecessor. Minister for Jerusalem Affairs,
Khalid Abu Arafah, was released hours later.
NABLUS INVASION
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued its invasion of the
West Bank city of Nablus for a second day. Manar Jibreen reports.
The Israeli Army, backed by 40 jeeps and bulldozers invaded
Nablus again today. Eight people, including an American reporter,
were injured when soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets
on stone-throwing residents. Ghasssan Hamdan is the head of
the Palestinian Medical Relief committees of Nablus: "An
Israeli army official said that military operation in Nablus
is ongoing and claimed that it targets wanted Palestinians,
however we are certain that it targets civilians and their
property. Ambulances were also targeted, army fired at ambulances;
however thanks to God, none of the crew members were hurt."
During the invasion, the Israeli army arrested 7 people whom
they allege are members of the Al-Aqsa Martyres Brigade, the
armed wing of Fatteh. The 7 include a girl taken from a nearby
village, raising the number of young women arrested in the
Nablus area to five since Tuesday.
INDIAN ENVIRONMENTALIST HOSPITALIZED
In India, a hunger striking anti-dam activist has been forcibly
hospitalized. Binu Alex has the story.
In a dramatic action early this morning, the fasting anti-dam
activist, Medha Patkar, and two of her fellow activists were
arrested on charges of attempting suicide and forcibly taken
to a hospital. At the time of her arrest, the prominent environmental
activist was in the eighth day of a hunger strike. The Hospital
Superintendent, O K Sharma said Patkar's condition is stable.
"She is conscious, stable, and has accepted about 600
CC of water with salt." Patkar's fast has forced the
government to assign a team of three central ministers to
visit the site of the Sardar Sarovar Dam to see the plight
of displaced people first hand. Her fellow protestors, however,
are continuing the fast and say there will be no shortage
of people willing to fast in solidarity with the movement.
The fast is in protest of a proposed dam project that will
displace an estimated 320,000 people, mostly members of indigenous
tribes. The government says it will be a lifeline of the people,
but mostly in urban areas. From Ahmedabad in India, I am Binu
Alex for Free Speech Radio News.
PROTEST CRACKDOWN IN MANILA
Phillipine police today broke up a street demonstration demanding
the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who
has come under renewed pressure to quit after Thailand's Prime
Minister stepped down. Girlie Linao reports from Manila.
Anti-riot policemen used water cannons and batons to drive
away about 1,500 demonstrators from a bridge in front of the
presidential palace in Manila. Organizers said several demonstrators
were injured in the violent dispersal, but no arrests were
made. Authorities have warned groups demanding President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo's ouster that rallies without permits would
be broken up. Arroyo banned the holding of rallies without
permits last year amid the mounting calls for her resignation
over allegations she cheated in the May 2004 presidential
elections. The ban remains in effect. The campaign to oust
Arroyo has received a boost from the success of street protests
against Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who has resigned
to ease the political tensions in Thailand. many Filipinos
are demanding that Arroyo do the same, but the president's
aide said she is determined to finish her term, which lasts
until 2010. For FSRN, I'm Girlie Linao in Manila.
[top]
Libby Says Bush Leaked Classified (2:56)
President Bush ordered the leak of classified information
in July 2003, through Dick Cheney, according to documents
filed in a CIA leak case. In documents released today, filed
by a federal prosecutor late yesterday, Dick Cheney’s
former Chief of Staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby testified
that he was told to give classified national security information
to a New York Times reporter. The prosecutor's papers say
that Libby gave the reporter classified information "only
after the vice president advised defendant that the president
specifically had authorized to disclose certain information..."
Libby is defending himself from charges of perjury, obstruction,
and lying in the case of who leaked the name of CIA operative
Valerie Plame. The prosecutor's document never mentions Valerie
Plame – only that Libby gave the reporter "certain
information" from the classified report. We’re
joined on the line by Norman Solomon, Executive Director of
the Institute for Public Accuracy, and author of War Made
Easy.
[top]
DC Students Walk Out As Senate Submits Compromise
Immigration Bill (3:54)
The Senate presented a compromise immigration bill, expected
to garner the necessary 60 votes to pass. Just hours later,
students several miles away from the Capitol building walked
out of classes, demanding fair immigration reform. Washington
Editor Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.
[top]
The Showdown in Nepal: Demonstrators Defy Ban on
Protests (3:56)
Riot police have arrested over 1,000 pro-democracy demonstrators
in Nepal – nearly half of them in the capital city of
Katmandu alone, for resisting the government’s ban on
protests. A four-day nationwide strike begins today, followed
by a major demonstration on Saturday, which government officials
have threatened to disrupt due to Maoist-related security
concerns. FSRN’s Carey Biron is in Nepal, and reports
on what many in the country are calling a showdown.
[top]
New study Indicates TV Stations Run Corporate-Sponsored
News Releases (2:40)
A new study released today by the non-profit Center for
Media and Democracy, found at least 77 television stations
around the country have aired corporate-sponsored video news
releases over the past 10 months. The report accuses the TV
stations of actively disguising the content - which has been
produced and paid for by companies like General Motors, Panasonic
and Pfizer - to make it appear to be their own reporting.
Aaron Glantz has more.
[top]
Made in Argentina (In Slave-Like Conditions)
(2:40)
Bolivian workers in Argentina are pressing the government
to take action against slave-like working conditions inside
clandestine textile shops, after a fire in a factory killed
6 people in Buenos Aires last week –including 4 children;
2 of them 3-years-old. The government has initiated inspections
of seamstress shops employing Bolivians and Paraguayans, and
inspectors have shut down at least 12 of these plants. Marie
Trigona has more from Buenos Aires.
[top]
France’s New Immigration Bill and Its Right-Wing
Author (4:21)
Following France’s controversial First Employment
Contract, which has sparked weeks of massive protest, the
country’s Interior Minister has submitted a controversial
draft bill on immigration. As FSRN’s Khaled Sid Mohand
reports, a meeting was held in Paris to protest against the
law as well as its hard-line right-wing author, Nicholas Sarkozy.
[top]
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