Headlines for Thursday, August 26, 2010

Pakistan flooding spreads into the south
As flooding spreads into the southern part of Pakistan today, the Taliban issued veiled threats to international relief workers in the country.  According to the AP, a Taliban spokesperson announced that the foreign presence was “unacceptable.”  Officials have issued evacuation notices to an additional 500,000 people in the southeast.  Rain is forecasted to continue for another 24 hours at least.

Officials try to identify massacred bodies found on Mexican Ranch
Dozens of bodies have been found on a ranch in a Mexican border state just south of Texas.  The victims are thought to have come from Central and South America to cross the border into the US.  Today officials are trying to identify the remains.  FSRN’s Shannon Young has more.

Mexican authorities found the 72 bodies after a 19 year old Ecuadorian man who survived the massacre found his way to a regional military base.  The teen, who was shot in the face, says he was able to escape because the gunmen believed he was dead.  The victims, which include 14 women, are thought to be migrants from Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras, and El Salvador who were on their way to the United States.  Consular officials from the respective countries are in the region to begin the work of identifying the bodies.

The sole survivor of the massacre says the perpetrators were organized criminals who were holding the migrants hostage.  The former armed-wing of the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas, branched into migrant smuggling, kidnapping, and human trafficking a few years ago and have a significant presence in the state of Tamaulipas, where the murders occurred.

If all of the 72 victims were killed in a single event, as survivor testimony suggests, it will qualify as Mexico's largest massacre in more than 40 years.  Shannon Young, FSRN, Mexico.

Environmentalists continue protests over Russian highway construction
The destruction of a largely untouched forest just outside Moscow has long generated controversy in Russia.  The government wants to build a new toll highway to St. Petersburg that would cut a vast swath out of the ancient ecosystem.  FSRN’s Jenny Johnson reports on the latest protests.

Activists trying to protect the Khimki forest today successfully delivered an appeal to President Medvedev with over 3000 signatures from around the world… It asks him to review plans for the highway.  Environmentalists want officials to choose an alternative route they say is readily available.

On Sunday, authorities attempted to shut down a protest-concert in the center of Moscow by preventing musicians from plugging in their equipment.  Instead, well-known singer Yuri Sevchik played his acoustic guitar and sang without a microphone to the thousands of people in the square. He said all Russian nature needs protection.

“The Khimki forest is a metaphor.  It is in all our souls.  It is wonderful greenery, it is a miracle of beauty.”

Several environmentalists made a camp in the Khimki forest last week in an effort to block loggers.  The group was reportedly attacked and beaten by masked men, and it is unclear if the camp remains.  Jenny Johnson, FSRN, Russia.

Environmental groups find new coal ash sites that pose threat to public health
Environmental groups today identified 39 coal ash storage facilities across the country that are allowing dangerous levels of toxic chemicals to leach into groundwater.

“This is a huge and very real public health issue for Americans.  People living near unlined coal ash ponds can have an extremely high, 1-in-50 risk of cancer.”

Jeff Stant is the Director of the Environmental Integrity Project, one of the groups attached to the new report.  The EPA is currently deciding how to regulate coal ash storage, but Lisa Evans of Earthjustice is concerned the agency will issue guidelines instead of actual regulations.

“With these guidelines, it is not mandatory for the states to incorporate those guidelines into their state law.  It’s enforceable only by citizens and by the states if they choose to.  But we have decades of states refusing to enact reasonable regulations of these wastesites.  There’s no reason to believe that if the EPA puts out more guidelines, that the states will step up to the plate.”

The report authors want a strong federal regulatory approach.  The most recent findings bring the total number of confirmed sites identified by the EPA and environmental groups to nearly 140 in 34 different states.  A month of EPA regional public hearings on whether and how to regulate coal ash begins next Monday in Virginia.

Pivotal women’s suffrage victory turns 90
And finally, today is the 90th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote.  In the time since that official invitation to enter US political life, women have increasingly entered politics.  But still, women only compose 17% of the lawmakers in Congress.  And only 6 states have female governors.