Archive - Jul 30, 2009

• 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

• Iranian government breaks up mourners at fallen protester’s grave
• Lebanon’s newly-formed government gives Hezbollah increased power
• Human rights group says Nigerian security forces killing civilians
• Workers occupy UK wind turbine plant to protest planned closure
• Myanmar warns against protests ahead of Suu Kyi verdict

Attempts to overhaul the health care system are slowly trudging along in Washington. Democrats in the House are struggling to unify the party. Liberal Democrats are outraged by a proposal from conservative Democrats that would weaken the government-run public option.  Meanwhile, proponents of a single-payer system are rallying in Washington and in cities across the country. FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is offering one-way plane tickets to homeless people who will return to their home towns or home countries.  The program has been around since 2007, but it's now receiving criticism from advocacy groups that say it fails to address the problems that made people homeless in the first place. Bloomberg defends the relocation scheme, saying it is less expensive than spending up to $36,000 a year to keep a family in a homeless shelter.

Opposition parties won a majority of parliamentary seats in the former Soviet Republic of Moldova. With about 98 percent of the votes counted, the ruling Communist party received only 45 percent of the vote, a drop of about five percent since the April elections that were marred by charges of vote rigging and violent protests.  Miles Ashdown reports from Moldova’s capital, Chisinau.

In Pakistan´s Baluchistan province today, the United Nations said it is taking precautions in the wake of threats from a separatist group.  The UN has closed down some offices and others will be scaled back.

Meanwhile in Peshawar Wednesday, Taliban militants killed a pro-government militia leader who previously provided support to groups fighting the Taliban.  The ongoing violence continues as NGOs and the government grapple with a massive humanitarian crisis; some 3 million people were displaced from clashes between militants and the government.

A US district judge today ruled that a Guantanamo detainee must be released in three weeks time.  Mohammad Jawad was arrested in 2002 in Afghanistan, when he was a teenager, allegedly for throwing a grenade at two US troops and an Afghan interpreter.