Newscast for Friday, April 10, 2009

Massive protests call for Georgian President Saakashvili to step down
Demonstrators calling for the ouster of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili have entered their second day of protest – and the political opposition is pledging civil disobedience until the president steps down. FSRN’s Jacob Resneck reports from the capital city of Tbilisi, where protests have so far remained peaceful as tens of thousands of demonstrators continue to rally in front of the nation’s parliament.

Early results in from Indonesia ‘s national election
First official counts from Indonesia’s national elections began trickling in Friday night, local time in the capital of Jakarta. A quick count confirms what pre-election polls predicted: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party appears to have garnered around 20 percent of the seats in Parliament – that’s nearly three times what the party got in 2004’s elections. This marks the country’s third national elections since the fall of dictator Suharto in 1998, and it is likely Yudhoyono’s eight year old party is the only one to come close to meeting the 25 percent quota needed to nominate a candidate in July’s presidential elections. Belinda Lopez reports from Jakarta.

Pentagon decision has lawmakers fighting to protect jobs in their districts
President Obama has asked Congress for $83.4 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says it’s his first and last war supplemental – since unlike Bush before him, Obama will be inserting war spending in his regular budget. The request was made against a backdrop of big changes in defense spending. Tanya Snyder reports.

Obama moves to purchase fuel efficient vehicles
President Obama announced plans this week to buy more than 17,000 US-made fuel efficient vehicles for the federal fleet. Besides a symbolic gesture to both the automotive and environmental communities, Sam Greenspan reports that some groups concerned with mass transit are pleased that the vehicle purchase is moving forward.

Will EPA’s new plan of action truly protect kids?
The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will begin to monitor the air quality of 62 schools in 22 states. The program is the first of its kind to assess toxic emissions around schools. But as Africa Jones reports, parents in Berkeley, California say the EPA’s action plan won’t be enough to protect them and their children from toxic air.