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> Fri., Nov. 17, 2006
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
U.S. Troops Accused of Atrocities Opt for Plea Deals
France’s Socialist Party Chooses Royal as Presidential
Candidate
Filipino Families of Disappeared Persons Appeal for Help
Ecuador’s Intag Community Resists Open-Pit Copper Mine
Project
As Many as 20,000 People Expected to Participate in SOA Watch
This Weekend
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters Wraps Up
Conference
FSRN Headlines
SUDAN AGREES TO ACCEPT UN PRESENCE IN DARFUR
After months of rejecting an expanded peacekeeping force,
the Sudanese government has agreed to a United Nations presence
in Darfur. FSRN's Emmanuel Okella reports.
During a UN-convened meeting yesterday at the African Union
Headquarters in Ethiopia, Khartoum agreed to an expanded United
Nations package of support for the African Union force that
is currently on the ground in the Darfur region. However,
sticking points remain; Sudan insists that the expanded force
must be African-led, African-manned, and African-controlled.
That could be a potential deal-breaker for UN members who
want more say in the operation. Currently, a force of 7,000
African Union troops patrols the region...but many observers
say the force is too small and under-funded to prevent ongoing
bloodshed. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was optimistic
about the breakthrough: (sound) "All the participants
came with the right spirit, the right mood and a determination
to find a solution realizing that we cannot maintain the current
impasse." The deal could lead to the deployment of 17,000
troops plus 3000 police, but Khartoum hasn't signed onto that
yet. Final details of the agreement are to be discussed at
a meeting next week in the Republic of Congo. For Free Speech
Radio News Emmanuel Okella reporting.
NEW CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
Representative John Boehner of Ohio has won the position of
Minority Leader in the 110th Congress. Roy Blunt also kept
his leadership position and will be the Minority Whip of the
House of Representatives. The Republican leadership elections
for the House of Representatives firms up the House and Senate
leaders when lawmakers begin a new session in January.
BUSH APPOINTS ABSTINENCE-ONLY ADVOCATE TO LEAD FAMILY PLANNING
PROGRAM
In other news from Washington DC, women's groups are voicing
concerns about President Bush's choice for the new head of
the family planning program at the Department of Health and
Human Services. FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.
Eric Keroack is the current director at A Woman's Concern,
a Christian women's center that discourages contraception
and promotes abstinence. President Bush appointed him yesterday
to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services' family
planning grant program which awards nearly 300 million dollars
to programs focused on families, teens, and low-income people's
pregnancy prevention. The appointment, which doesn't need
Senate confirmation, disturbs women's choice groups. Olga
Vives is Executive Vice President of the National Organization
for Women: (sound) "This continues to show the arrogance
of this president, who doesn't listen or realize that this
country wants change." The hiring of Keroack comes the
same week the President re-nominated 6 conservative judges
who were unable to pass through the Senate confirmation process.
For FSRN, I'm Leigh Ann Caldwell.
CONCERNS OVER CLEAR CHANNEL BUYER
The country's largest owner of radio stations, Clear Channel,
has agreed to a buy-out for a reported 18.7 billion dollars.
One of the two major investment groups involved in the purchase
of Clear Channel - has been accused of violating Securities
and Exchange Commission disclosure requirements. Mark Taylor-Canfield
has more from Seattle.
Thomas H. Lee Partners is the world's second largest private
equity firm, specializing in leveraged buy outs. Private-equity
firms are currently the target of a U.S. Justice Department
investigation into possible anti-trust violations. Shareholders
filed a lawsuit this week in the Manhattan federal court accusing
Thomas H. Lee Partners of illegally conspiring to drive down
the prices they paid when taking companies private. Media
activists in Seattle claim that Thomas H Lee Partners' history
of litigation for unethical business practices does not bode
well for the legal and financial future of the Clear Channel
properties which have dominated the US media. This is Mark
Taylor-Canfield in Seattle for Free Speech Radio News.
FORMER DICTATOR AND FOREIGN MINSTER ARRESTED IN URUGUAY
In Uruguay, a former dictator and ex-Minister of Foreign Relations
have been arrested. They will both face charges of involvement
in the murder of their regime's critics. Asli Pelit reports
from Montevideo.
A judge ordered the arrest of the 2 former officials yesterday.
Ex-Dictator of Uruguay, Juan Maria Bordaberry soon after turned
himself in to the police. His then-minister of Foreign Relations,
Juan Carlos Blanco, was arrested immediately. The men are
accused of involvement in the killing of two left-wing politicians,
Zelmar Michellini, Hector Gutierrez Ruiz, and two militants,
Rosario Barredo and William Whitelaw, who were executed in
Buenos Aires in 1976. According to Uruguayan law, Bordaberry
and Blanco are not protected under the long-protested amnesty
that protects members of the army involved in killings of
the civilians during the dictatorship. The Uruguayan judge
ordered 10-years of prison for both men, without possibility
of early release, due to the seriousness of their crimes.
Some 180 Uruguayans were killed during the 12 years of military
rule.
[top]
U.S. Troops Accused of Atrocities Opt for Plea Deals
(3:30)
Media outlets were full this last spring, with allegations
of brutalities committed by U.S. troops in Iraq. Now, many
of those soldiers are facing their day in court, but some
observers are concerned at the number of accused who have
reached plea deals with the military. Aaron Glantz reports.
[top]
France’s Socialist Party Chooses Royal as Presidential
Candidate (3:00)
France's Socialist Party has chosen Ségolène
Royal as its candidate for next year's presidential election.
As FSRN’s Tony Cross reports from Paris, she’s
the first woman to stand a realistic chance of winning the
post.
[top]
Filipino Families of Disappeared Persons Appeal for
Help (3:40)
An Asian human rights group has condemned the Philippine
government's failure to investigate a growing number of extra-judicial
killings and forced disappearances in the country. The Asian
Human Rights Commission has also called on authorities to
look into the cases of forced disappearances with the same
urgency as political killings. As FSRN’s Girlie Linao
reports from Manila, families of disappeared persons are appealing
for urgent help in hopes that their relatives are still alive.
[top]
Ecuador’s Intag Community Resists Open-Pit
Copper Mine Project (3:15)
Junin is a community within Ecuador’s Intag cloud
forest region, a place considered to have one of the world's
greatest biodiversity. But it is also the site for a proposed
open-pit copper mining project by a Canadian company listed
on the Toronto Stock Exchange. As Kasim Tirmizey reports,
residents of Junin and surrounding communities are resisting
the proposed mining project.
[top]
As Many as 20,000 People Expected to Participate
in SOA Watch This Weekend (3:30)
This weekend, the 17th annual gathering of School of the
Americas, or SOA, Watch outside the gates of Fort Benning,
Georgia, is expected to draw a record crowd of 20,000. Participants
from throughout the world come to honor the tens of thousands
of Latin American civilians who have been persecuted, tortured
and killed at the hands of graduates of the school. The participants'
goal is to close the school either by cutting its U.S. funding,
or by draining the pool of soldiers from countries throughout
Latin America, about a thousand of whom attend classes at
the school every year. Organizers have made progress on both
fronts this year. Melinda Tuhus reports.
[top]
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters
Wraps Up Conference (3:15)
As Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian Prime
Minister Marouf Al Bakhit signed into agreement a memorandum
of understanding covering 17 key areas of trade, social development
and media cooperation yesterday in Jordan's capital Amman,
the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters wrapped
up its ninth world conference. Community radio broadcasters
from more than 94 countries attended the event to analyze
and explore the challenges facing community radio. FSRN’s
Jackson Allers reports from Amman.
[top]
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