Newscast for Friday, December 16, 2011

Congress advances funding bill despite questions of transparency, hits to social services

In a last-minute deal to avoid another government shutdown, negotiators from both parties in Congress agreed on a more than $1 trillion spending bill late Thursday night. The House of Representatives passed the legislation Friday and sent it to the Senate for approval. Some of the many policy riders on the bill have been abandoned, such as restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, but a handful of controversial measures remain, and concerns over transparency moved some lawmakers to vote no. FSRN’s Alice Ollstein has the details from Capitol Hill.

Military trial for Bradley Manning begins raising secrecy issues

Today, the pretrial for Army Analyst Bradley Manning opened at Fort Meade, Maryland under tight security and limited media access. Manning, who turns 24 tomorrow, has been kept away from the public since his detention in May 2010. He is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of government documents to Wikileaks. The documents and videos shed light on a wide range of subjects, including civilian deaths in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, torture of detainees, and the US role in the Middle East. Manning’s charges could bring the death penalty, but military prosecutors say they will seek life in prison without the possibility of parole, if convicted.  For more, we’re joined by Elizabeth Goitein. She’s the Co-Director of the Liberty & National Security Program at NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice and has written extensively about secrecy, security and the Bradley Manning case.

Pennsylvania community fights contamination after hydraulic fracturing

The controversy over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking continues in states across the country. Recently, the EPA said fracking in Wyoming contaminated the ground water. In Pennsylvania, residents are also concerned. As part of FSRN’s continuing series on hydro fracking across the country, Jim Krivo reports from Dimock, Pennsylvania.

For more information about the Dimock community go to waterdefense.org.

Egyptian protesters clash with security forces in Cairo

Hundreds of Egyptian protesters clashed with security forces outside of the Egyptian cabinet in central Cairo on Friday. Citing witnesses and state TV, Al Jazeera reports more than 200 injured and at least two killed. FSRN’s Noel King has this report from Cairo.

Rights violations against LGBT people widespread, according to UN report

This week, the United Nations released its first-ever report on human rights violations against LGBT people. It found that in every region of the world, people and institutions commit violations against others simply because of gender identity or sexual orientation. These violations include discrimination, rape, arbitrary detention, torture and murder. UN Radio’s Daniel Dickinson spoke to Charles Radcliffe from the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights about the report.

To read the full report: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/19session/A.HRC.19.4...