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> Fri., Dec. 1, 2006
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Supreme Court to Hear Cases Challenging Race as Determining
Factor for Placing Youth in Schools
World AIDS Day
Soldiers from Rural Areas More Likely to Die in Iraq
Canadian President Introduces Motion to Recognize Québec
as a Nation
Barnraising in Reesheh, Jordan
FSRN Headlines
CALDERON INAUGURATION
Mexico witnessed two separate inaugural ceremonies today in
order to secure the presidential transition of powers. Tim
Russo reports.
In an unprecedented act, Mexico's President Elect Felipe
Calderon received, for the first of two times, the Presidential
Sash from outgoing President Vicente Fox at 12:01 am in the
Presidential Palace. Calderon's second and official inauguration,
as defined by the Mexican Constitution, took place this morning
in Mexico's congress despite attempts by opposition parties
to block the swearing-in ceremony. (Calderon sound - fade
down) President Felipe Calderon and Vicente Fox had to force
their way to the podium after a massive entourage of secret
servicemen had to facilitate their entrance into congressional
chambers. The ceremony lasted less than 5 minutes amidst shouts,
, and chanting from congressional representatives. Legislators
had already spent three days camped out in the halls of congress
after opponents and supporters of Calderon scuffled earlier
this week over control of the podium where the swearing-in
took place. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands protested in
the streets of Mexico City today, still upset that votes in
the hotly-contested presidential election were never recounted.
For Free Speech Radio News, this is Tim Russo in Mexico.
BRAD WILL'S SUSPECTED MURDERS FREED
In the Mexican state of Oaxaca, two men suspected of murdering
New York Indymedia videographer Brad Will have been released
from police custody. Ample photographic evidence shows the
two men - both local police officials in plainclothes - aiming
firearms at demonstrators on October 27th shortly before Will
was gunned down. The judge who ordered their release cited
lack of evidence.
TROUBLE FOR TOLEDO IN PERU
Peru's former president Alejandro Toledo is facing legal troubles
in the country he used to govern. Pamela Cueva reports from
Lima.
Ex-president Alejandro Toledo is at the center of a corruption
scandal. Toledo returned to Peru this week after four months
abroad. He will stay in the country for 20 days before returning
to the United States. Toledo has been called before a congressional
committee investigating a number of contracts negotiated under
his administration that allegedly directly benefited Toledo
and his wife. If he refuses to attend the hearings, the commission
will have the authority to request a court order to prevent
Toledo from leaving Peru or to ask for his extradition if
he leaves and refuses to return voluntarily. The former president
is under investigation for contracts including the Camisea
gas project, the construction of the Interoceanic highway
to connect Peru with Brazil, and alleged irregularities committed
in the Commission of Amazonian and Andean Towns. His US citizen
wife, Eliane Karp, has also been implicated in the last scandal,
but she has not been back to Peru since the end of Toledo's
presidential term.
SUICIDE BOMBING IN SOMALIA
The second suicide attack ever to strike the transitional
federal government in Somalia hit a government checkpoint
on the road to Baidoa Thursday evening. Abdurahman Warsameh
reports from Mogadishu.
The suicide attackers were a veiled woman and two other men
in three bomb-laden cars. The explosions killed at least ten
and injured many more. In September, the Interim President
of Somalia, Abdullahi Yusuf escaped unharmed when a bomber
struck his motorcade in Baidoa, in the first suicide attack
in the country. Eleven people including Yusuf's younger brother
were killed in the blast and a subsequent gunbattle. The transitional
Somali government accused the Union of Islamic Courts of being
behind the attacks; a charge vehemently denied by the Islamists
who control much of southern and central Somalia. This Iraqi
insurgency-type tactic is rare in Somalia's civil strife with
these attacks being the first of a new pattern in this war-torn
Horn of African nation's decade and half political conflict.
On Wednesday, an Islamic leader in Mogadishu threatened he
would ask international Islamic jihadists to come to Somalia
and fight the Ethiopian troops in the country if The UN arms
embargo is lifted, a move the Islamists see would give foreign
forces the green light to come to Somalia. For FSRN, I'm Abdurahman
Warsameh in Mogadishu.
MASSIVE RALLY IN BEIRUT
Hundreds of thousands gathered in downtown Beirut today to
call for the ouster of the pro-Western government. Jackson
Allers reports.
Today, as Shi'a Muslim supporters of Hizbullah and their
Christian allies in the Free Patriotic Movement gathered in
downtown Beirut, the mood was a marked contrast from the hundreds
of thousands of people that gathered the week before to show
their support for the current pro-Western government - and
to mourn for the assassinated Industry Minister, Pierre Gemayel.
Many observers at today's demonstration, described it in less
somber terms -- more as a celebration of what is shaping to
be a confrontation between the two political camps in Lebanon.
(ambient chants) Chanting for the replacement of the government
-- many interviewed said that they could not trust a government
that failed to protect their own -- referring to Gemayel's
assassination the week before. Meanwhile, Hizbullah and the
opposition supporters plan to maintain a continuous presence
outside of the Parliament building until the government steps
down. The current government has said that it has no intention
of resigning. Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon, this is Jackson
Allers for Free Speech Radio News.
ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN AFRICA AND SOUTH AMERICA
African and South American leaders have announced the formation
of a partnership aimed at ending the dominance of western
economies. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos.
The partnership known as the Africa-South America Cooperative
Forum was formed at the end of the first summit of African
and South American leaders which took place this week in Nigeria.
The aim of the partnership is to promote economic ties between
both continents in order to end western dominance of the global
economy. President Olusegun Obasanjo who hosted the summit
said an economic cooperation between countries of both continents
is necessary to counter decades of economic and political
vices like the reliance on high-interest loans from financial
institutions backed by developed countries. The leaders resolved
to set up institutions and mechanisms to give practical expression
to the new cooperative forum. For Free Speech Radio News,
this is Sam Olukoya in Lagos.
[top]
Supreme Court to Hear Cases Challenging Race as
Determining Factor for Placing Youth in Schools (3:20)
The Supreme Court will hear two cases next week that are
challenging school integration for grades kindergarten through
12th. In both cases, the petitioners will argue to the court
that it’s unconstitutional for race to be the deciding
factor in placing youth in schools. FSRN’s Leigh Ann
Caldwell reports.
[top]
World AIDS Day (3:56)
Today's World AIDS Day is designed to stop a global pandemic
that has left 40 million people worldwide currently living
with HIV/AIDS. Pushing for universal access to treatment,
transparency and accountability in federal HIV funding, and
allowing local clean needle exchange, are just some of the
issues activists and researchers are mobilizing around in
Washington, DC today. Ingrid Drake has more.
[top]
Soldiers from Rural Areas More Likely to Die in Iraq
(3:37)
Italy pulled the last of its troops from Iraq today, and
South Korea announced this week that it will pull half of
its troops from the country. Meanwhile, at least 2,885 U.S.
military personnel have died in Iraq since the start of the
war – and a new report released by the Carsey Institute,
a think tank at the University of New Hampshire, indicates
who, exactly, is dying. According to the report, U.S. soldiers
from rural communities are dying at a higher rate in Iraq
and Afghanistan than soldiers from larger metropolitan areas.
Aaron Glantz has more.
[top]
Canadian President Introduces Motion to Recognize
Québec as a Nation (3:05)
Canada’s conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper,
introduced a controversial motion to Parliament this week
to recognize Quebec as a nation within a united Canada. FSRN's
Stefan Christoff reports from Montreal.
[top]
Barnraising in Reesheh, Jordan (4:10)
In Jordan, a change to the government’s communication
laws in 2005 resulted in the legalization of privately owned
radio stations. This past week, one of the first community
based local radio stations was created in a small Bedouin
village. With the help of U.S. based Prometheus radio project,
the people in the town of Reesheh built their own radio station
in a matter of days. FSRN’S Andrew Stelzer was there
and has the story.
[top]
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