Archive - Jul 2009

• Taxpayers fund lavish executive compensation packages
• California coalition urges cuts to state prison system to ease budget crunch
• Bomb attacks in Spain as Basque separatist group ETA marks 50th anniversary
• Honduran police crack down on anti-coup demonstrations

• Pakistan court rules against Musharraf
• 29 killed in bombing of Shiite mosques in Iraq
• Deaths in Afghanistan have increased 24% according to UN
• Strike over in South Africa
• Lead militant killed by Nigerian police
• New investigation implicates Karl Rove in firing of federal prosecutors
• Funding For Yucca Mountain appears to be dead
• Immigrant detainees on hunger strike in Louisiana

Wall Street financial firms have been paying huge bonuses to their top executives while accepting taxpayer-funded bailouts. The exact figures were a matter of speculation until now. A new report from the New York Attorney General shows just how much of that bailout money was going into bankers' pockets. Meanwhile, Congress continues to look for ways to get executive pay under control. Tanya Snyder reports.

As states struggle to deal with the recession, many have turned to cutting money from law enforcement and state penitentiary budgets.  California has the largest prison population in the US and the budget signed this week cut a billion dollars from the state’s prison system. Prison reform advocates say the correctional budget cut doesn't go far enough.  Africa Jones reports.

The Basque separatist group ETA marked it´s 50th anniversary today, as Spain held an official ceremony for two civil guards killed yesterday by a car bomb. ETA has not claimed responsibility, but the Spanish government blames the armed separatists for the attack.

While many Basques advocate for greater autonomy from Spain's central government, not all support total independence. To learn more about this conflict, FSRN spoke to Andre Lecours, a professor of Basque history and politics at Canada´s Concordia University. Lecours is the author of Basque Nationalism and the Spanish State.

The political crisis in Honduras continues, more than a month after a military-backed coup. The de-facto government has issued orders for police to disperse any and all demonstrations that block public roads. Police actions to break up protests have led to dozens of injuries and over a hundred detentions. Tim Russo has more from Tegucigalpa.

• Progressive and conservative Democrats divided over public option
• Obama administration discusses stimulus plan to curb homelessness
• Opposition forces defeat Communists in Moldova parliamentary elections
• US envoy Holbrooke concerned about instability in Pakistan
• Guantanamo detainee Mohammad Jawad to be released