Headlines for Friday, April 10, 2009

Fiji’s president nullifies country’s constitution
In Fiji today, president Ratu Josefa Iloilo threw out the constitution, fired the island nation’s judiciary and took complete control of the government.  Iloilo plans to name an interim government and says the country will hold elections by 2014.  Soon after nullifying the constitution, he issued Public Emergency Regulations that banned public gatherings and imposed curfews.  Iloilo assured local media that basic human rights would be maintained.  Today’s move comes after a Fijian court invalidated the president’s former interim government, which had been in place since 2006.

Thai protesters block entrance to Asia Summit
Protesters in Thailand today blocked the entrance to the Asian Summit – a meeting of 16 regional nations that will run through the weekend.  Video footage shows protesters crowding the entrance and attempting to turn over police vehicles.  The red-shirts are backers of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Algeria re-elects president in contested election
The incumbent president of Algeria has won a third term in office in elections that closed last night.  Officials say Abdelaziz Bouteflika won over 90 percent of the vote.  But the election was not without incident. The North African country was rocked by rioting in the capital Algiers, and one polling station was bombed, injuring two people.  The local paper El Watan reports other polling stations were burned.  Some opposition parties in the country boycotted and are calling the election a charade.      

Former Nazi cleared for deportation by Ohio court
New developments today in the deportation case of Ukrainian-born Clevelander John Demjanjuk.  Evan Davis has the details.

A Federal Immigration appeals board ruled today in the case of suspected Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk, once again clearing the way for his deportation to Germany to face indictments on charges of war crimes.  Demjanjuk, an 89-year-old retired autoworker, was convicted in an Israeli court in 1988.  The court said he participated in the executions of some 29,000 Jews and others in the notorious Sobibor concentration camp during World War Two.  But that conviction was overturned on appeal and Demjanjuk returned to the U.S. in 1993. The U.S. Justice department revoked Demjanjuk's citizenship in 2002 citing additional evidence, but he has remained in the U.S. ever since pending a series of appeals.  Because of his advanced age, some are calling the deportation of Demjanjuk a form of torture, but the court has not yet ruled on that issue.  Demjanjuk's son, John Junior, has said his father intend to appeal today's ruling to a U.S. district court.  Evan Davis. FSRN

CIA say secret prisons abroad closed
CIA director Leon Panetta says the agency has fired security contractors in charge of CIA prisons abroad.  He also says he has banned the use of contract interrogators at the facilities.  In an email sent to employees, he claimed the CIA’s secret prisons abroad have been closed.  

Suit holding US corporations accountable for role in South African apartheid moves forward
After a 5-year delay, a Judge in New York’s Southern District court ruled a human rights lawsuit can move forward to hold multinational corporations liable for their role in South Africa’s apartheid.  Rebecca Myles from Pacifica station WBAI in New York has been following this story.

The lawsuit Ntsebeza et al v. Daimler AG et al now has the green light to proceed to trial.  The lawsuit was filed on behalf of tens of thousands of South Africans, and alleges corporations General Motors, Ford, Daimler and IBM aided and abetted South African forces in killings, torture, arbitrary denationalization and the crime of apartheid.  The complaint against the car companies claims they provided South African forces with armored military vehicles, which went into townships on killing sprees.  Tyler Giannini IS one of the attorney’s representing the plaintiffs.  HE says IBM provided race based identify documents that stripped black South Africans of their nationality and citizenship.

The initial lawsuit included more than 50 companies, but after years of litigation only a handful remain accused.  And because the lawsuit is an Alien Tort claim, plaintiffs can only seek civil damages – no criminal charges can be brought.  Rebecca Myles.  FSRN.  New York

ProPublica.org examines Obama administration financial disclosure forms
And finally, the public interest journalism website ProPublica is sifting thorough President Barack Obama and nearly 180 other staffers’ financial disclosure forms.  Because of the sheer volume of the documents, they are seeking help from the community to identify any notable entries.  Anyone interested in weighing in should go to ProPublica.org.