Headlines for Thursday, October 22, 2009

House committee passes Consumer Protection Agency Legislation
Today the House Financial Services Committee finished its mark-up of new legislation that would create a Consumer Protection Agency.

“Mr.  Chairman on that vote, the ‘ayes’ are 39 and the ‘nos’ are 29”

The vote largely followed party lines with Democrats voting in favor.  The new agency would be in charge of establishing mortgage and credit card rules in order to protect consumers from predatory lending, unreasonable interest rate hikes and steep fees.

The proposed agency has been steeped in controversy.  The financial industry has spent millions lobbying congress against it, saying its powers would be too far-reaching.  During the mark-up one Republican Representative – Chris Lee of New York – proposed an amendment that would allow financial institutions not to print disclosure statements in any language other than English.  To that, Illinois Democrat Luis Gutierrez responded.

“Call any major American corporation.  Call em, right now.  Call AT&T.  Call any of them, and here’s the first thing they’re going to tell you: Para espanol, oprima el dos.  These are private corporations.  They certainly want our business.”

Gutierrez argued that if the companies cultivate Spanish-speaking consumers, then they should have to offer disclosures in Spanish as well.  That Republican amendment failed.  The bill now goes to the House floor for consideration.

Pay Czar announces bailout firms executive pay cuts
The seven US financial firms that received the largest bailouts will have to cut the pay of their top executives by half  - this according to a proposal by the Obama Administration’s Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg.  Bank of America, AIG, Citigroup, GM and Chrysler are among the firms targeted.  The top 25 executives at each will see pay cuts and more of their earnings shifted into stocks – so they have more of a stake in financial health of the companies they lead.  But other financial firms that didn’t receive bailout funds or have paid them back will not be subject to the reductions.

Protests against CNN’s new series “Latinos in America”
This week, groups are protesting the broadcast of CNN's new series "Latinos in America" while the cable news channel continues to air the views of controversial host Lou Dobbs.  The "Basta Dobbs" campaign has held events across the country to pressure CNN to take Lou Dobbs off the air.  CNPI Reporter Jaisal Noor brings us the story.

Community leaders, politicians and faith groups across the country rallied Wednesday demanding that CNN remove Lou Dobbs from the air.  Organizers with the website BastaDobbs.com are calling CNN hypocritical for airing a new special on the US Latino population, while at the same time hosting what they say is the anti-immigrant rhetoric of Lou Dobbs.  They also criticized the CNN special for not addressing Dobbs, who organizers see as a polarizing figure in the Latino community.

Journalist and BastaDobbs.com co-founder Roberto Lovato spoke outside the NYC offices of CNN.  He said Dobbs provides a platform for groups and individuals that single out and attack immigrants.

“You dehumanize people you make it easier to hurt maim and kill them.  So Lou Dobbs in a way is not saying, go out and kill and hurt Latinos and immigrants, but he is providing the verbal, visual, cultural way to justify people who do do that"

Organizers say that their petition calling for CNN to take Dobbs off the air has more than 65,000 signatures.  Jaisal Noor, FSRN, New York.

Dozens dead in Somalia as militants target president’s plane
In Somalia today, at least 30 civilians have been killed and dozens more wounded by fighting and artillery fire in the capital Mogadishu, health officials confirmed.   Most of the deaths occurred in the main Bakara market in the city center after government forces engaged with militants there.  The insurgents tried to fire on the Mogadishu airport as Somali president Sheik Sharif Ahmed was about to fly to Uganda for an African Union summit.

Ali Muse Sheik is the chief of a Mogadishu ambulance service.

“We have collected 61 wounded civilians from the Bakara market and surrounding villages.”

He says his medical volunteers collected 61 injured civilians from the main market area and surrounding villages.

The Al-Qaeda inspired Shabab militants yesterday closed down two radio stations in the southwestern part of the country.  The Islamists had previously criticized the stations for airing international programming that contained music.

The same militant group also banned all international aid agencies from operating in the country, especially in areas under their control.  The United Nations says that more than 3.5 million Somalis, about half of the country’s total population, need emergency food assistance.  This report was prepared with the assistance of Shafi’i Mohyaddin Abokar in Mogadishu.

UK postal workers on nationwide strike
A 2-day nation-wide postal workers strike in Great Britain could be extended as the Communication Workers Union say they will launch further strikes next week.  Today, the BBC reports that 42-thousand workers are on strike, and 78-thousand are expected to walk off the job.  The Union and the state-run Royal Mail are struggling to reach an agreement on wages and modernization efforts.