Archive - Aug 18, 2009

• Credit card interest rates go up as industry faces new regulations
• Prime Minister al-Maliki wants Iraqis to decide departure date for US troops
• Armed protestors attend President Obama´s Phoenix meeting
• South Korea mourns former President Kim Dae Jung
• Israel freezes plans for more West Bank settlements

• Honduras: Detained protestors appear in court as human rights missions begins
• US House investigators release five more forged lobbying letters
• Afghanistan: pre-election violence continues, more killed
• DHS admits more immigrants have died in detention than previously reported
• Ohio authorities execute Jason Gatsy despite clemency recommendation
• UN relocates Somali refugees to ease rampant overcrowding at Dadaab
• Robert Novak:  1931 - 2009

Credit card companies are raising interest rates on consumers. These new fees are going into effect just days before new regulations on the credit card industry will be implemented. FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

In January, Iraqis could vote to give US forces the boot sooner than the timeline for withdrawal established by the US military. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wants Iraqis to decide the departure date of US troops through a referendum that would be held at the same time as the Iraqi national elections.

This comes as the US commander in Iraq announced that some US forces may be deployed to northern Iraq, following an up-tick in violence in the area. FSRN´s Karen Miller has more.

For the second time in a week armed protesters have showed up outside an Obama event.  Witnesses say about a dozen protesters with guns showed up at a rally in Phoenix yesterday, just outside a conference center where the President was addressing war veterans.  

The rally consisted mostly of unarmed people with placards in favor or against the President´s plans for health care reform. The armed protesters, who did not appear to be together, included a man with a semi automatic assault rifle slung across his shoulder. The man refused to give his name, but said he was simply advocating his right to bear arms and expressing his opposition to Obama´s policies on health care and gun control.  CNN reported that a second man with a semi-automatic weapon was also present.

This comes less than a week after a man wearing a handgun around his leg came to Obama´s town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The incidents have raised concerns that armed protesters will continue to show up at Obama events and that these protesters may be part of a larger trend.

FSRN spoke to Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty Law Center. His organization has been monitoring the activities of radical right wing militia groups since the early 90s. Their recent report on the rise of militia groups can be found at www.splcenter.org.

Former South Korean President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kim Dae Jung died Tuesday after a month long battle with pneumonia.  Kim was 85 and after a long political career he came to be known as Korea´s Nelson Mandela.  Kim opposed his nation’s military rulers and opened the door for democratic reforms in South Korea. But he was best remembered for engaging North Korea after decades of hostility.  FSRN´s Jason Strother has more from Seoul.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited the White House Tuesday and spoke with President Barack Obama in a closed door meeting.  Mubarak is making a short visit to the United States, during which he has expressed the willingness of Arab states to support a new peace initiative between Israel and Palestine.

Few details from Tuesday´s meeting were revealed. But Mubarak did say that Egypt wants to put aside plans for a temporary solution to the Palestinian issue.  And he called for final status talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

Meanwhile in Israel, the government has decided to freeze the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, following mounting pressure by the Obama administration.  FSRN's Ghassan Bannoura reports.