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> Fri., Oct. 13, 2006
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Today's lead stories:
FCC Stalls Vote on AT&T and BellSouth Merger
Pyongyang Signals It’s Ready to Go Back to Negotiations
British General is Calling for Iraq Exit
Who is Arming the Lord’s Resistance Army?
Public Access to California Police Records Restricted By Recent
High Court Decision
Gallaudet University Students Continue School Barricade
FSRN Headlines
NORTHERN IRELAND TALKS CONCLUDE
Three days of talks aimed at reestablishing a power-sharing
government in Northern Ireland ended today with a tentative
agreement. Maeve Conran reports.
Representatives from all political parties in Northern Ireland
concluded 3 days of intense negotiations this afternoon in
Scotland. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Premier
Bertie Ahern met with the Northern Ireland politicians in
a last-ditch attempt to restore a power-sharing government
between Republican groups, who wanted Northern Ireland returned
to Irish rule, and Unionist groups, loyal to the Union with
Britain. The original power-sharing agreement came 8 years
ago in talks to end decades of violence in the province. But
the government disbanded 2 years ago amid bitter internal
conflict. This afternoon, the St. Andrews agreement was given
to the Northern parties, who will consider them and return
a decision by November 10th. Under the agreement, nominations
for First Minister and Deputy First Minister must be made
by the Unionist and Republican parties by November. Ahern
and Blair say they hope power will be restored to the Northern
Ireland government by next March. For FSRN, this is Maeve
Conran in Dublin.
HUGE CASUALITIES THIS WEEK IN SRI LANKA
Planned Sri Lankan peace talks have been thrown into doubt
after 330 combatants were killed this week in escalating clashes
between the government forces and the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Ponniah Manikavasagam reports from Sri Lanka.
At least 130 soldiers were killed Wednesday and over 500
were wounded in a fresh fighting between the government forces
and the rebels, when the army tried to push into rebel territory
in the northern Jaffna peninsula. The government said 200
rebels were killed and many more were wounded in 6 hours of
fierce fighting. The rebels rejected the tally and said they
lost only 22 fighters. The heavy fighting came hours after
Norway's top peace broker, Erik Solheim, had announced the
government and the Tamil Tigers had agreed to a face to face
talks in Switzerland later this month. The rebels accused
the government of escalating the fighting. But the military
maintains it has confined itself to defensive action and pre-emptive
strikes against rebel concentrations. The truce monitors say
that the warring parties are not allowing them to visit the
fighting areas and they are unable to assess the real situation.
Critics say the escalation in fighting has dimmed prospects
of a resumption of peace talks. For Free Speech Radio News,
I am Ponniah Manikavasagam from Vavuniya, Sri Lanka.
SHINING PATH SENTENCES
The leadership of Peru's former rebel army, the Shining Path,
are in court today in Lima. Pamela Cueva has the story.
Members of the Central Committee of the Shining Path rebels
were in a Lima courtroom today for sentencing on charges of
terrorism, homicide and crimes against the state, thereby
concluding an eleven month trial.The result of their first
trial before a hooded military court was annulled in 2003
by the Constitutional Court that declared illegal the anti-terror
legislation approved by the ex-president, Alberto Fujimori.
The Shining Path's leader has been held in isolation in prison
since the year 1992, without a formal sentence. Almost all
of the former rebel leaders exceed 50 years of age and a minimum
sentence of 30 years or more would all but assure death in
prison before their release date. Defense attorney Manuel
Fajardo said the former ringleaders would ask the government
for a political solution to the problems originated by the
popular war. For FSRN, Pamela Cueva with Alfredo Cuadros in
Lima.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ECUADOR
Voters in Ecuador head to the polls on Sunday in the country's
first presidential election since a popular uprising in February
2005 forced the resignation of former president Lucio Gutierrez.
Polls favor a win for Rafael Correa from the left-leaning
PAIS party. Correa's main rival, Alvaro Noboa of the PRIAN
party, is the richest man in Ecuador and is closely associated
with the country's radical right-wing oligarchy.
BORDER SOCIAL FORUM OPENS
In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - the first annual Border Social
Forum has opened, bringing together an estimated 900 people
from throughout Mexico and the US. Kat Aaron reports.
(sound - chanting) The event kicked off with a march across
the Santa Fe bridge into El Paso, Texas - with close to 200
people occupying the bridge in protest of harsh border policies.
The three-day forum is focused on issues of cross-border unity
and border justice, as Carlos Marentes of the Border Agricultural
Workers Union explains. (sound) "Border justice means
better conditions for the people. Border Justice means a border
along which people move freely not like today where we have
a militarized border with the national guard like we are in
a war situation - the ability of people to unite." The
gathering, which runs through Sunday, is leading up to the
US Social Forum in June of 2007, and the World Social Forum
in Nairobi later that year.
[top]
FCC Stalls Vote on AT&T and BellSouth Merger
(3:50)
The Federal Communications Commission has stalled voting
on a major merger between AT&T and Bell South. The decision
was expected today, but concerns within the Commission over
the deal that would make the largest telephone company has
caused delay. FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.
[top]
Pyongyang Signals It’s Ready to Go Back to
Negotiations (2:25)
The U.N. Security Council is set to vote tomorrow on a resolution
that would impose sanctions on North Korea. Meanwhile, Pyongyang
signals it's ready to go back to negotiations. FSRN’s
Yanmei Xie has the story.
[top]
British General is Calling for Iraq Exit
(2:32)
The head of the British Army repeated his call today for
the British Armed forces to leave Iraq soon. In an interview
yesterday for a British newspaper, he was highly critical
of the country’s part in the military strategy. From
London, Naomi Fowler reports.
[top]
Who is Arming the Lord’s Resistance Army?
(3:24)
The source of fresh arms supplies to the Lord's Resistance
Army rebels is being investigated by authorities in Uganda
and Southern Sudan. This news comes just days after a new
report by the Control Arms Campaign, a group made up by Oxfam
International, Amnesty International and the International
Action Network on Small Arms, which accused western countries
of indirectly allowing the sale of arms to rogue states which
put them into wrong hands. FSRN’s Joshua Kyalimpa has
more.
[top]
Public Access to California Police Records Restricted
By Recent High Court Decision (4:20)
A recent California Supreme Court decision has led city
officials around the state to put the brakes on open citizen
oversight of the police. In late August, the high court turned
down the publisher of a San Diego newspaper that was seeking
the name of a Deputy Sheriff who had been accused of mishandling
a domestic violence case and filing a false report. A reporter
at the San Diego Union Tribune was barred from a meeting of
San Diego's civilian service commission, where the Deputy
Sheriffs appeal was being heard. Since the high court allowed
the deputy's information to remain secret, citizen oversight
bodies around the state have been closing their doors to those
seeking information about police and their possible misconduct.
Eric Klein has the story.
[top]
Gallaudet University Students Continue School Barricade
(4:00)
Students at the world’s only liberal arts university
for the deaf and hearing-impaired promised today to keep the
campus shut down in a protest over its incoming president.
Nan McCurdy reports on the latest developments at Gallaudet
University in Washington D.C.
[top]
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