Archive - Jun 30, 2010

• Third day of Kagan confirmation hearings
• Unemployment benefits and financial reforms bills stalled ahead of recess
• Carbon trading program in the Southwest raises questions about renewal energy financing
• Aquino sworn in as new president of the Philippines
• Child labor in the Indian state of Rajasthan

• ACLU sues over no-fly list
• Hurricane Alex storm surge pushing oil ashore in Gulf
• Mexican court releases Atenco 12
• Maoists attacks intensify in India
• William Taylor, acclaimed civil rights lawyer, dies

The Senate Judiciary Committee held its third day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.  If confirmed, Kagan would replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. FSRN’s Nathan Moore reports.

Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill continued to maneouever to win support for two pieces of legislation - the continuation of unemployment insurance and the financial reform bill. Unemployment benefits will run out for an estimated 1.5 million people by Saturday - unless Democrats can the win the support of one more lawmaker to pass a stripped down version of a spending bill.

Environmental groups are pushing power companies and tribes in the south west to go green. Native American environmental activists want to use pollution credits from a closed dirty power plant in western Arizona, to invest in renewable power. But some groups are critical of pollution trading as the best approach to financing renewable energy.  FSRN’s Christina Aanestad files this report.

Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III was sworn in today as president of the Philippines. Aquino ran on a platform of ending corruption and fixing the economy, as well as on the Aquino name.  He comes from a long dynasty of politicians and is the son of popular former President Corazon Aquino and assasinated opppsition leader and former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. His family legacy was one of the points he addressed briefly in English during his inaugural speech

"My parents sought nothing less and died for nothing less than democracy, peace and prosperity.  I am blesssed by this legacy.  I shall carry the torch forward."

Noynoy Aquino is sometimes referred to as "the bachelor president" because he has neither a wife nor children. His presidency succeeds that of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who had been in office since 2001. Aquino is the Philippine's 15th president.

India has one of the world's highest rates of child labor - with more than 12 million children under the age of 14 working in what can often be hazardous occupations. Despite awareness of the problem, adults continue to send young children into workplaces where hours are long and pay is low.  FSRN's Jasvinder Sehgal traveled to the western state of Rajasthan to get a close up look at child labor in India. He files this report.