Archive - Jul 14, 2009

• Supreme Court Justice nominee Sotomayor fends off accusations of racism
• Lawmakers review 19th century mining laws
• US and Cuba resume migration talks
• Refugees return to homes in northwest Pakistan
• Microfinance group helps thousands of poor Kenyans help themselves

• Former Liberian President takes the stand in war crimes trial at the Hague
• Local Rwandan official sentenced to life in prison for genocide
• Fujimore back in court – admits crime, but not culpability
• Honduran official says she’s worried about a return to the 80s
• Disparity divide still deep between black and white students in the US

Kenya’s fastest-growing microfinance group is ten years old this year. It began when fifty people from the slums of the capital Nairobi came together to start saving small sums of money. Aidan O’Donnell reports on how this microfinance organization is now helping almost a quarter of a million Kenyans out of poverty.

In Pakistan today, hundreds of internally displaced people continued to leave temporary camps, making their way home to villages and towns in the Swat Valley. The government began a multi-phase repatriation plan this week, which aims to return more than 20,000 families to Swat, Malakand, Dir and Buner districts.

Some two million in all have been displaced by fighting between Taliban militants and the Pakistani military. The government is giving the displaced $300 and a month's supply of flour, sugar, cooking oil and beans.

Migration talks between Cuba and the US began in New York today.  The two countries had suspended talks on migration six years ago after a series of disagreements over who could travel to the US and what would happen to Cubans who were intercepted at sea on their way to Florida.

The US and Cuba broke diplomatic relations in 1960 and these talks follow a couple of small apertures by President Obama, who lifted travel restrictions for Cuban Americans in April.

For the first time since President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the Supreme Court, Sotomayor had the opportunity to defend herself from accusations of being a racist.  In the second full day of hearings, Senators wanted to hear more about her position on abortion, guns and executive power.  FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

Today the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources heard from Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar and several experts, on how to reform mining legislation that has been on the books for nearly 140 years.   FSRN´s Karen Miller has more.