Archive - Dec 3, 2009

• Honduran Congress votes against returning power to Zelaya
• Fed Reserve chair defends his performance and seeks second term
• At job summit, lawmakers and civil rights groups call for assistance to black and Latino workers
• India outlines climate change plan ahead of Copenhagen summit
• Residents in Bhopal fight for clean up of toxic disaster, 25 years later

• GE/Comcast deal raises concerns of media consolidation
• US Senate votes on women’s health & medicare
• Texas scheduled to execute inmate with possible mental retardation
• Somali med school graduation blast a “national disaster”
• Water shortage protest leaves one dead in India

Serious human rights abuses have taken place in Honduras during the months-long political crisis. That's according to new research by Amnesty International. The research draws on a recent 10-day visit to the country and documents killings, arbitrary arrests and illegal raids by military assigned to law enforcement duties. Meanwhile, the Honduran congress voted late Wednesday night against reinstating ousted President Manuel Zelaya to the presidency. The 111 to 14 vote was a requirement of the US brokered deal between de-facto President Roberto Micheletti and Zelaya, who has been taking refugee in the Brazilian Embassy since September 21st. FSRN'S Tim Russo brings us more from Tegucigalpa.

Ben Bernanke, Chair of the Federal Reserve, appeared on Capitol Hill today. He's attempting to secure his job. His term to head the Federal Reserve is up soon and President Obama nominated him for another four-year term. But outrage over the role of the Fed and Bernanke’s handling of the financial crisis could create roadblocks to his confirmation. FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

The White House is holding a jobs summit today that brings together business owners, financial experts and labor leaders. The goal is to generate more jobs at a time when the national unemployment rate is just over 10 percent - and when you add underemployed and part-time workers, that number hits 17 percent. But some lawmakers and civil rights groups say the administration has not put enough focus on those in the US most affected by unemployment: Latinos and African Americans. FSRN's Karen Miller has more.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference begins next week in Copenhagen. And the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases are still far from a consensus. China, the world's lead producer of carbon emissions, has pledged to reduce its emissions by as much as 45 percent by 2020. US President Obama finally agreed to attend the conference, but Congress has yet to produce climate change legislation and the US has proposed only tentative cuts to emissions. Meanwhile, developing nations, which some scientists predict will be affected most by climate change, say richer countries are not doing enough.

Today, India's parliament debated their climate change plan - and officials made some important announcements.

We're joined by Vinuta Gopal from New Delhi.  She heads the climate and energy team for Greenpeace, India.

The 1984 gas leak in the Indian city of Bhopal remains the worst industrial disaster in history. On the night of December 3rd plumes of toxic gas from a pesticide plant owned by Union Carbide killed thousands of nearby residents overnight and disabled survivors in the tens of thousands. Twenty-five years later the site has still not been cleaned up. Activists are now demanding that Michigan-based Dow Chemical – which now owns Union Carbide – pay its share of the cost. FSRN's Jacob Resneck reports from Bhopal.