Archive - Jun 4, 2009

• In Cairo speech, Obama seeks fresh start with Muslim world
• North Korea takes US journalists to trial
• China looks back at Tiananmen massacre
• Immigrant rights advocate Walter Staton convicted for littering Arizona desert
• Grassroots activists push for immigration reform in Washington, DC.
• Senate debates health care reform; FSRN lays out the options

• Hamas and Fatah clashes intensify in the West Bank
• Ban on Cuba lifted by the OAS
• EU elections open
• New Hampshire legalizes same sex marriage
• Telecom immunity upheld by federal judge
• Texas immigration detainee allegedly beaten and transferred following meeting with Amnesty International

In an eagerly anticipated speech broadcast around the world, US President Barak Obama spoke in Cairo today.   Aya Batrawy reports.

Grassroots activists from around the country are meeting in Washington DC to discuss a comprehensive plan for immigration reform.

They say they will pressure President Obama and Congress to draft new immigration laws this year. FSRN´s Karen Miller reports.

The US Senate is getting closer to revealing legislation to reform health care.

Although details on the plans have not been finalized, a Massachusetts-type health plan of universal coverage is a possible model.

Meanwhile, advocates for a government-run single payer system continue to work to make their concerns heard. FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell walks us through what this all means for health consumers.

A federal jury in Tucson, Arizona has convicted No More Death volunteer Walter Staton for “knowingly littering” when he placed gallon jugs of water along heavily traveled migrant trails.

Thousands of migrants have died along the US Mexico border since the 1990s when border enforcement policies shifted migration corridors to increasingly remote locations like the Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge in Southwest Arizona.
Amanda Shauger observed Staton´s two-day trial and files this report.

Chinese authorities blanketed Beijing´s Tiananmen square with police officers today and prevented most journalists from filming at the site, as the world commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.

Thousands died in 1989 as government troops cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations.  But the incident is such a taboo in China, that it wasn´t mentioned by any of the local papers.   

There were no protests reported on the mainland, although some 150,000 people did hold a vigil in the autonomous city of Hong Kong.