August 29, 2002
Environmental Groups Sue US Government
The United States has received much criticism at the UN Earth Summit underway in Johannesburg. Today US Congressman Dennis Kucinich lay into the Bush Administration for their environmental policies and, in a surprising move, Greenpeace yesterday joined forces with the corporate lobby to attack the United States for ditching the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Meanwhile here in the US, Greenpeace has joined with more traditional ally, Friends of the Earth and the City of Boulder in filing a lawsuit against the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. They are aiming to force the agencies to apply domestic environmental regulations to energy projects they subsidize in other countries. Janaki LeFils from KGNU in Boulder reports.
Attack on Palestinians Intensifies
Two Palestinian boys was shot dead today by Israeli troops in the town of Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt The boy was among other children throwing rocks and bottles at IDF tanks that were tearing down structures. This as troops also set off explosives in main government building in Nablus, where the Mayor of Nablus has his offices, And a Reuters cameraman says Israeli troops shot at him, shattering his camera, while he was filming clashes in Gaza Strip. As Free Speech Radio News Correspondent Tim Russo reports, the Israel Defense Forces have proposed a new plan for an interim agreement with the Palestinians mandating another withdrawal and the evacuation of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for a temporary Palestinian state.
Evidence Emerges of Massacre in Afghanistan
In late November last year, as many as 10,000 Taliban and their foreign supporters were surrounded in the Afghan city of Kunduz by the Northern Alliance and U.S. led allies. When they surrendered, as many as 6,000 were transferred to the notoriously squalid prison at Sheberghan. But evidence gathered by journalists, forensic experts, and the United Nations suggests that as many as 3,000 prisoners died in shipping containers on route to the prison. Patrick Beckett has more.
Squatters Win Rights in Manhattan
More than two hundred low-income residents of Manhattan’s Lower East Side won a seminal victory last week in a deal legalizing all but one of the area’s 12 remaining squats. After three long years of low-profile talks with building representatives, the city has agreed to end evictions, transferring ownership of the eleven buildings to a local non-profit that will help residents finish the work needed to bring them up to code. Ginny Browne has more from lower Manhattan.
Woman Loses Appeal in Death by Stoning Case (4:17)
An Islamic Appeal court in Nigeria has upheld a verdict to punish a woman using death by stoning. Human rights groups have taken up her case, and it’s becoming a clash between Western human rights and Islamic values. Sam Olukoya has the story from Funtua in Northern Nigeria.
