Headlines for Thursday, January 7, 2010

Greenpeace protesters go before Danish judge after being detained without charge for 3 weeks
The Danish justice system has finally allowed the release of four Greenpeace protesters who gate-crashed the heads of state dinner at the Copenhagen climate summit in December.  They’d been held without charge for nearly three weeks.  For Free Speech Radio News, Naomi Fowler reports.

It was a humiliation for the Danish security services; the four dinner-suited activists passed all checkpoints unchallenged and got into the Danish Royal Palace to unfurl their banners saying ‘Politicians Talk, Leaders Act.’ Initially lawyers were told they’d be released within 24 hours without charge – but then a judge ruled they should be detained indefinitely.

Greenpeace accused the Danish government of breaking the European Convention on Human Rights.  The four also alleged they were treated badly in detention.  Twelve-thousand letters were sent to the Danish Embassy in London asking for their release.  One of the activists is Spain’s Greenpeace Director Juan Lopez de Uralde:

“Civil society is standing up and talking and we are talking through peaceful means to the heads of state and whether they want to listen or not, that’s their responsibility.”

The four still face trial and possible prison sentences.  Naomi Fowler, FSRN, London.

Coptic Christians killed in Egypt, riots follow
Six Coptic Christians and one security guard are dead today in Egypt, after drive-by shooters targeted members of the Church outside a Christmas midnight Mass celebration this morning.  Under the Coptic Orthodox calendar, Christmas is celebrated on January 6th.  The shooters have not been apprehended.  Tensions between Muslims and Christians in the central Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi have been running high in the past months following the sexual assault of a Muslim girl – allegedly by a Coptic man.  After this morning’s killings, families and supporters of the dead gathered outside a hospital morgue, there they protested, clashing with police.

Mortar fire from Gaza following announcement of Israeli Missile Defense System
Israeli aircrafts today dropped thousands of warning leaflets on different parts of the Gaza Strip.  The fliers were dropped following a barrage of homemade rocket fire from Gaza into Israeli areas.  FSRN's Rami Almeghari has more.

It is not the first time that Israel has dropped leaflets warning Gazans not to approach border areas.  For more than two years now, the Israeli army has maintained a 300-meter buffer zone along the border.  A statement by the Gaza-based information ministry downplayed the warnings, considering them a part of Israeli propaganda.

The armed wing of Gaza’s Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for more than a dozen homemade rockets on nearby Israeli areas including the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing.  No injuries or damages were reported, according to Israeli media reports.  The border crossing has been closed.

These developments come on the heels of violent clashes between Hamas and security forces at the Egypt-Gaza border, as well as an announcement by Israel that it would deploy a missile defense system to guard against Gaza fire.  Rami Almeghari.  Free Speech Radio News.  Gaza.

Honduras charges military leaders for illegally removing Zelaya from country
The Attorney General of Honduras has charged three leaders of the military for forcibly removing then-President Manuel Zelaya from the country in June.  The military’s actions, often referred to as a coup, led to months of instability, mass protests, violence and international intervention.

The charges come after US Diplomat Craig Kelly visited earlier this week.   The move could be a way for the newly-elected administration to distance itself from the coup government.  Kelly once again asked standing President Roberto Micheletti to step down, but he declined.  State Department spokes person Phillip Crowley says the US still has to evaluate it’s future relationship with the country.

“The election by itself was not enough to – we have some decisions to make in terms of the nature of our relationship, the nature of assistance in the future.  So there are still steps that Honduras has to take, and we are encouraged by comments by President-elect Lobo, but we are there to continue to move this process forward not only to get to January 27, but most importantly, to see that government advance once it’s in office.”

The new Honduran administration is scheduled to take office on January 27th.

Gunman opens fire in St Louis factory, kills three
A gunman in St.  Lewis opened fire this morning in an electrical transformer plant, killing 3 people and leaving at least 9 injured.  The gunman has been identified as assembly line worker Timothy Hendron, who according to CNN, is involved in a lawsuit against the ABB company over its retirement plan.  As of airtime, Hendron was still on the loose.

Study: Threat of homegrown Muslim terrorism overblown
Nearly two months after the Fort Hood shootings where 13 soldiers were killed by a Muslim-American Army psychiatrist, researchers from the University of North Carolina and Duke University say the threat of homegrown terrorism in the United States has been overstated.   FSRN’s Lynda-Marie Taurasi reports from Chapel Hill.

The study, which was funded by the US Department of Justice, cites that 139-American Muslims have been accused of plotting or carrying out acts of terrorism post-September 11th.  UNC Sociology professor and study co-author Charles Kurzman says that number is small in comparison to terror cases in other countries and even overall crime in the United States.

“Off all the world’s terrorism and all the world’s Islamic terrorism, a miniscule portion of that occurs within the United States and by Muslim-Americans.  We’re very fortunate in that regard.  What we found is that Muslim-American communities are active in making sure that their young people are inoculated against these global messages, and they don’t always get credit for having done that.”

He says in the past eight years, there have been few examples of Muslim-Americans that have radicalized and turned toward violent extremism.  However, in the last year alone, there were 41 suspects related to incidents of homegrown terrorism, a drastic spike compared to two years ago.  Still, the study found no pattern in levels of arrests and incidents per year since 9/11.

The study did not address non-Muslim domestic terrorism.  Lynda-Marie Taurasi, FSRN, Chapel Hill.

New Jersey Senate to vote on Gay Marriage
And finally today, the New Jersey Senate is expected to vote whether to allow gay marriage.  Hundreds of supporters and opponents of the legislation gathered outside the Capitol in Trenton this morning.  It does not appear gay rights advocates have enough support in the Senate to pass the legislation.