Archive - Apr 21, 2010

• Banks increase effort to block financial reform as Republicans show signs of support
• Supreme Court overturns ban on animal cruelty in videos, citing First Amendment
• Advocates press Coca-Cola on destructive practices in India
• Conference on nonviolent resistance opens in West Bank
• Palestinian astrophysicist brings telescope tour to Gaza

• Seattle garbage collectors go on strike leaving 1 million residents without service
• AZ immigration bill sparks widespread protests
• Rental housing unaffordable for rising number of Americans
• Rising food prices in India draw mainstream protests

As Democrats continue to push to bring the financial reform bill to a vote on the Senate floor, some Republicans are showing signs that they may support the legislation.  Meanwhile, financial lobbyists are ramping up their fight against the reform. FSRN’s Matt Pearson reports.

President Obama was on Capitol Hill today talking to Senate leaders from both parties about the process to replace Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who recently announced his retirement.

When asked whether he would ever nominate a candidate who opposed abortion rights, Obama said he would say the same thing as every president that’s ever been asked this question.

“I don’t have litmus tests around any of these issues, but I will say that I want somebody who interprets the constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights and that includes women’s rights.”

Republicans are threatening to filibuster any nominee they view as “activist.” But some legal scholars say the current, conservative court could be the most activist in recent memory. The administration wants to nominate a candidate by the end of May and get the new justice seated and staffed by the next session.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that it is legal to make videos showing cruelty to animals striking down a law they saw is too broad. Though some animal rights advocates are disappointed, first amendment scholars say the Court got it right. Tanya Snyder reports.

Today, Coca-Cola company held its annual shareholders meeting in Atlanta. Coca-Cola generated $8.2 billion in profits last year. In India – a country the company calls a key emerging market - sales increased by 21 percent in the last quarter of 2009. But critics say this growth has a tremendous price on the local communities and the environment, where the company oversees more than forty bottling plants and is the largest domestic buyer of sugar. Last month, a government committee in Kerala found that Coca-Cola should be held liable for $48 million in damages and was responsible for residents' health problems and water pollution.

These issues were brought to the shareholders meeting today by Amit Srivastava, coordinator with the India Resource Center, an advocacy organization that monitors globalization in India. He joins us by mobile phone in Atlanta.

India Resource Center: http://www.indiaresource.org/index.html

Coca-Cola Company: http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/ar/downloads.html

Hundreds of Palestinians along with international and Israeli delegates attended the fifth conference on nonviolent resistance today. From the central west Bank village of Bil’in, FSRN’s Ghassan Bannoura reports.

FSRN's Rami Almeghari gazes at the stars. Photo by Amjad Hammad.

In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian astrophysicist is touring the coastal territory. He's bringing with him a telescope, said to be the first of its kind in Gaza. And his mission is to educate people about the universe. FSRN's Rami Almeghari has more.