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> Mon., June. 5, 2006
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
AIDS: 25 Years Later
U.S. Military Admits More Accidental Iraqi Deaths
Peru's New President to Face Tough Opposition in Congress
Western Oil Workers Freed in Nigeria
Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal Begin Extended Strike
Australian Government Challenges Aboriginal Customary Law
FSRN Headlines
ISLAMIST MILITIA TAKES MOGADISHU
After weeks of urban fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu,
an Islamist militia now claims to control the city. Most of
the warlords based in Mogadishu have reportedly fled the capital.
Members of the Islamic Court militia say the coalition of
warlords known as the Anti-Terror Alliance has been receiving
support from the United States. More than 300 people have
died in the past four months of fighting. Warlords have controlled
Mogadishu since 1991.
BORDER POLICIES
Fifty-five members of the Utah National Guard have arrived
at the Arizona border with Mexico to perform support duties
such as building roads and installing lights. Patrik Angstrom
Poore reports from Tucson.
On Sunday, Arizona's Human Rights Coalition, No More Deaths,
completed a week-long 75-mile walk from the Mexican border
at Sasabe to Tucson to raise awareness about the deadly circumstances
for border crossers in the Sonora desert. At least 79 migrants
have died in the desert so far this year and triple-digit
temperatures have only just begun. On Saturday, 55 members
of the Utah National Guard arrived in Arizona to perform support
duties such as building roads and installing lights. Joseph
Nevins, an expert on Border policy at Vassar College, participated
in the walk and gave his reaction: (actuality :12) "By
increasing the number of people policing the boundary, it's
going to force people into harsher terrain, force them to
take longer journeys, and the result is obvious, its going
to be increased human suffering, for that reason we have to
oppose it." The Utah guard joins about 150 National Guard
troops already in place, with an expected 300 Arizona guard
to join them in June. President Bush plans to send up to 6,000
troops to four border states as part of a program to increase
policing of the southern border. For FSRN, I'm Patrik Angstrom
Poore in Tucson.
NATIONAL STRIKE IN CHILE
Chilean high school students have called for a nation-wide
work stoppage today to pressure the government to include
the right to an education in the constitution. Jorge Garreton
reports from Santiago.
The National Work Stoppage Day has been successful as students
have organized a series of peaceful actions throughout the
country. The teacher's union and health care workers have
pledged their active support. University students have temporarily
suspended classes in support of the high school students,
but in downtown Santiago there have been running battles between
police and stone-throwing students and hooded youths. President
Michelle Bachelet regretted the action, saying that the government
has answered most of their demands. She says her government
will create a commission that includes students that will
reform the Education Act to ensure that education is a constitutionally
protected right instead of a for-profit enterprise. As the
government response to the student's demands has received
widespread approval from the public, the students will have
to tread in careful waters to ensure their gains are not lost
with pressure tactics that continue without an end in sight.
For FSRN this is Jorge Garretón in Santiago.
NEW CRIME STATISTICS IN INDIA
While India's economy is soaring so are crimes against women
- according to a new report. Binu Alex has more.
A woman is raped every 30 minutes in India, while another
is killed every 75 minutes by domestic violence. This, according
to new figures compiled by India's National Crime Records
Bureau, in a damning report that will be submitted to the
Indian Parliament next month. The data, which is all from
2004, showed that violence against children also rose by nearly
25% and recorded cases of selective abortion of female fetuses
was up by 50%. The new crime figures show that 30 % of rapes
recorded in the country's 35 major cities occurred in the
capital city of New Delhi, making it the most dangerous city
in the country for women. The sharp increase in crimes against
women and children has been attributed to better reporting
of crimes and improved crime data collection. Prejudices against
girl children are not a new in India, but what is alarming
is low conviction rates for these crimes because social stigma
and shoddy police work make victims reluctant to speak out.
From Ahmedabad in India, I am Binu Alex for Free Speech Radio
News.
ELECTIONS IN SOUTH DAKOTA
South Dakota will hold its state primary elections on Tuesday
and the American Civil Liberties Union will be watching polling
sites to ensure that Native American voting rights are not
compromised. Jim Kent reports.
Black Moon vs the state and Quiver vs the state are just
two of the many Native American voting rights lawsuits filed
against South Dakota in recent years. ACLU spokesperson Jennifer
Ring notes that even with appeals filed by the state in the
many suits it's lost, some progress has been made. (Ring:
"The biggest case, of course, is the Bone Shirt case.
That's the one that had to do with the legislative redistricting.
My understanding is the state has indicated it intends to
appeal, BUT, this election, there will be a single-member
house district, basically, on the Rosebud Reservation. So,
that's one more seat for Native Americans.") Because
of what Jennifer Ring calls South Dakota's long and ugly history
of trying to exclude Native Americans from the political process,
the ACLU will be closely monitoring the primary elections.
(Ring: "I'm not seeing a recognition by the state of
South Dakota or its political subdivisions that they have
a problem. They go on denying they have a problem. They go
on doing things they've already been told they can't do.")
Ring adds that reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, currently
being debated in Congress, is critical to ensuring the voting
rights of Native Americans in South Dakota and across the
country. For FSRN, I'm Jim Kent, in Hot Springs, South Dakota.
[top]
AIDS: 25 Years Later (3:41)
25 years ago today, on June 5, 1981, the first the first
five AIDS cases were reported. Two-and-a-half decades later,
the disease has claimed more than 22-million lives worldwide,
including more than half-a-million people in the United States.
To commemorate 25 years of AIDS research, the National Institutes
of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, held a conference highlighting
the history of AIDS, significant research breakthrough and
the formidable challenges ahead. Anastasia Gnezditskaia reports
from Washington D.C.
[top]
U.S. Military Admits More Accidental Iraqi Deaths
(4:04)
The US military announced today it accidentally killed three
Iraqi civilians in their homes during a training exercise
last week. According to the Pentagon, the Task Force Band
of Brothers unit fired a 155 millimeter round from a self-propelled
howitzer on a military base near Baqubah, that landed in an
a village miles away. The military admits an explosion from
the howitzer fire destroyed a building in that town and killed
three Iraqi civilians, injured three others and damaged six
houses. The announcement comes after the military's admission
that US Marines killed 24 civilians, including a 66 year old
woman and a 4 year old boy, in the Western town of Haditha
last November. In our continuing coverage of the massacre,
correspondents Aaron Glantz and Salam Talib look at the culture
of the US military occupation of Iraq, and why it leaves so
many Iraqi civilians dead.
[top]
Peru's New President to Face Tough Opposition in
Congress (3:00)
Peru’s former president, Alan Garcia won the round-off
round of presidential elections in Peru yesterday. Diletta
Varlese reports from Peru, where Garcia, the moderate of 2
candidates, will have to face a large opposition presence
in Congress.
[top]
Western Oil Workers Freed in Nigeria (2:57)
Eight western oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria’s Niger
Delta region have been released. The kidnap was the latest
carried out in the oil-rich region by local youths protesting
the activities of western oil companies, and there are fears
that the unending crisis will affect the international oil
market. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos.
[top]
Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal Begin Extended Strike
(3:04)
This weekend, Bhutanese refugees in Nepal began an extended
strike both in the capital and near several of the refugee
camps in the southeastern part of the country. Although the
situation for the over 100,000 refugees has hardly changed
in the 16 years since they were kicked out of Bhutan, many
are now hoping that the recent transformation in the Nepali
political situation will allow for renewed action. From Katmandu,
Carey Biron reports.
[top]
Australian Government Challenges Aboriginal Customary
Law (3:18)
The ongoing problem of violence and abuse in Australia’s
indigenous communities has led to calls for tougher sentencing.
The country’s federal government now wants to abolish
the rights of indigenous offenders to use their cultural customs,
or the notion of “customary law”, as a defense.
Elise Potaka reports from Sydney.
[top]
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