Archive - Mar 2009

• Donors conference at The Hague focuses on Afghanistan
• HHS nominee faces Senate committee
  
• Congress takes up Consumer Protection Act
• Florida farm workers carry on the legacy of Cesar Chavez
• Global recession swells the ranks of Japanese homeless

• Hundreds drown trying to cross from North Africa to Europe
• Pakistani Taliban leader admits Lahore attack and threatens more
• Tax havens finally under fire
  
• Dengue fever outbreak in Argentina
• Supreme Court: Native Hawaiins have no claim on land
• Big Tobacco must pay UK troops begin to leave Iraq

Japan is facing its worst recession in decades.  The global financial crisis has taken its toll on the nation’s export-driven economy and corporations are laying-off tens of thousands of workers. Many of these newly-unemployed laborers are now living on the streets or in parks. FSRN’s Jason Strother has the story from Tokyo.

Today marks what would have been the 82nd birthday of Cesar Chavez. Eight states officially celebrate Cesar Chavez day to remember the labor leader, educator, and farm worker activist. He co-founded the United Farm Workers to improve working conditions in the California fields. Chavez died of natural causes in April of 1993, but his legacy lives on in various farmworker struggles. One of the groups picking up the torch is the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in South Florida. On the line from Immokalee is Gerardo Reyes, an organizers with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, or CIW...

Congress is considering legislation to protect consumers from abusive credit card practices.  It’s an issue that has languished in Congress before, but advocates say current economic conditions have created momentum for strong consumer protection. FSRN’s  Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

President Barack Obama’s cabinet is nearly complete. Kathleen Sebelius appeared before a Senate committee today to present her qualifications to become the next Secretary of Health and Human Services.  Peter Granitz reports from Washington.

President Obama left today for the G20 summit in London, where world leaders will discuss the global economic crisis during the one-day meeting. Obama then heads to Strasbourg for a NATO summit, where about 25,000 French and German police are already mobilizing in anticipation of protests - nearly 1 police officer for every anticipated demonstrator. World leaders will discuss NATO's presence in Afghanistan during the meetings. Protesters are organizing a peace march on Friday.