Headlines for Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Philadelphia nurses strike over unsettled contract
Early this morning in Philadelphia, more than a thousand members of a nurse's union from Temple University Hospital walked off the job.  The strike comes after 6 months without a contract.  FSRN’s Matthew Petrillo reports from the picket line.

About 1,500 members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals are picketing outside Temple University Hospital.  Union leaders argue the hospital should provide free tuition reimbursement for nurses' children, pay increases and better health benefits.  They last negotiated two weeks ago, and have been without a contract since September of last year.

In preparation for the strike, hospital administrators hired an additional 850 nurses from across the country, mostly from California, and are expected pay them up to $10,000 a week.  Bill Cruice is the executive director of the nurses’ union.

"Temple's going to spend more on two weeks on individuals without any moral compass, without any moral code what so ever, being paid 5 to 10 thousand dollars a week.  That money could be used to settle the strike without any problem what so ever."

Temple Hospital says its nurses are the region's best paid.  But officials say they are prepared to continue negotiations with union leaders.  Matthew Petrillo, FSRN, Philadelphia.

Two more suicide bombs rip through Russia
Another pair of bombings in Russia has left nearly a dozen people dead – this time in the Russian Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus.

The second blast was captured on cell phone and obtained by RT News.  It killed a police chief.  No group has claimed responsibility for the Dagestan attack.  But Chechen rebels have claimed Monday’s suicide bomb attacks on the Moscow subway, which killed 39 people.

Top nuclear experts cite safety hazards at infamous Japanese nuclear plant
Two of Japan's top nuclear experts today criticized plans to reopen an infamous nuclear power facility less than 100 miles from Osaka.  The scientists cited potentially lethal problems with the Monju Fast Breeder Reactor - the world's first large-scale attempt at using plutonium as an inexhaustible power resource.  FSRN’s Claudia Cragg has the story.

Japan's Monju experimental fast-breeder reactor was shut in December 1995, just 4 months after going online.  A coolant loop leaked more than 1500 pounds of molten sodium, releasing toxic fumes and damaging the plant.  As plant managers allegedly tried to cover up the accident, covertly recorded videos were leaked to the press.  Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency says it has been working since on repairs and redesigns of safety measures, attempting to rebuild public trust.

But at a press conference in Tokyo, top nuclear scientists Hiromitsu Ino and Keiji Kobayashi pointed to several safety failings, and criticized the Agency’s failure to guarantee future organizational and safety checks.  Philip White, with Japan’s Citizens Nuclear Information Center, says this project will encourage the further proliferation of dangerous nuclear material.

"It's a dangerous experiment in itself and it has huge precedence, in terms of justification for the plutonium economy, so it's something to be avoided."

All Japanese national agencies have recently given a green light to the project.  Only the one governor of a near-by prefecture is holding out.  That governor has the right to veto the project if he feels safety concerns have not been addressed.  Claudia Crag, FSRN, Tokoyo.

Mumbai terror suspect waits on verdict, possible death sentence
In India, the trial of the only militant captured alive after the Mumbai terrorist attack ended today in record time.  In November 2008, militants killed more than 150 people in the financial capital.  India blames Pakistan-based groups for the attack.  FSRN’s Bismillah Geelani has the details

The trial began last April in a special anti-terrorism court inside a high security Mumbai jail.  Lawyers questioned more than 600 witnesses, including FBI officials who provided evidence the assailants had come from Pakistan.

The man accused in the case is Ajmal Kasab.  He was represented by a lawyer appointed by the court after the Mumbai Bar Association barred its members from taking up his case.  Kasab changed his plea twice over the past year, in the end pleading “not guilty.”  The prosecution is seeking a death sentence.

In addition to Kasab, 37 others, most of them Pakistani residents, have been charged with waging war against India.  The verdict is likely to be announced on May 3rd.  Bismillah Geelani, FSRN, New Delhi.

Islamic court bans social media debate in northern Nigeria
An Islamic court in northern Nigeria has banned the use of social networking sites as a forum to debate the use of amputation as punishment under Sharia law.  For FSRN, Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos.

The Islamic court banned the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria from using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook after the group initiated an online debate about amputation.  Ten years ago, a state Sharia court ordered that the hand of a man be amputated as punishment for stealing a cow.  It was the first such sentence issued following a resurgence of strict Islamic law in the north.

Last week the court temporarily suspended the debates after an Islamic group took the human rights organization to court.  This week’s verdict made the ban permanent.
The judge described the online debate as a mockery of Islam.  But the Civil Rights Congress says it will appeal the decision, calling it a breech of free speech rights.  Sam Olukoya, FSRN, Lagos.