Newscast for Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Afghanistan general McChrystal faces congressional hearing
In Washington DC, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing for Lt. Gen Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's pick to head US forces in Afghanistan.

McChrystal testified about his military past saying he knew of  torture tactics at Abu GHraib. He also warned of more Afghan civilian casualties.  FSRN´s Karen Miller reports.

Supreme court justice nominee Sotomayor meets lawmakers on Capitol Hill
Nominee to be Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, spent the day on Capitol Hill. She met with both Democratic and Republican Senators crucial to her confirmation. Democrats praised her credentials and demeanor.  And while Republicans distanced themselves from incendiary remarks made by conservatives, they withheld judgment. 

Assistant Republican leader John Kyl is also a member of the Judiciary Committee. He says he wants to know if Judge Sotomayor agrees with President Obama’s criteria for a judge.

“He said that in 95 percent of the cases judges agree but that in that last 5% there may not be precedent there may not be law that dictates the result. And that’s when you have to let your feelings, your preconceived notions, your sense of empathy and other factors enter in. Including whether you want to help the little guy, that’s wrong.”

Republicans say they will thoroughly examine her record.

Former guerrillas take over in El Salvador
The Central American country of El Salvador, inaugurated a new president Monday. Former journalist Mauricio Funes became El Salvador´s first left wing president in decades.

Before seeking power at the ballot box, Funes´s party the FMLN, fought a bloody civil war against government forces in the 1980s. For some Salvadoreans, this election marks- a turning point in their country´s history.  Karla Aguilar reports from La Libertad.

Fifteen years after Rwandan genocide: FSRN speaks to a survivor
This Thursday, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda will be presenting progress of the genocide trials to the United Nations in New York. As the court continues to try to hold people accountabilty for the genocide, survivors are marking the 15th anniversary of the genocide - a dark period for the world in which many Western countries failed to stop a 100-day slaughter during which one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered, in an attempt to eliminate Tutsis from the tiny East African country.

FSRN´s Tanya Castle sat down with Freddy Mutanguha (moo-tan-goo-ha)  a genocide survivor, who now runs the Gisozi Genocide Museum, in Rwanda's capital, Kigali.

UN reviews Israeli abuses in Gaza. Amnesty says Hamas also guilty
A15-member UN fact-finding mission is in Gaza to investigate human rights violations during the January Israeli attacks on the region.

The mission´s arrival comes a few days after Amnesty International's annual report highlighted a series of Israeli violations early this year.

The Amnesty report also suggested that the ruling Hamas party has committed human rights violations throughout the Gaza Strip. FSRN's Rami Almeghari reports.

Minnesota court reviews dispute over senate seat
The contested Senate race between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken took another step in its long journey toward resolution when it reached the Minnesota Supreme Court on Monday.

The contest and subsequent court cases have now entered their (its) seventh month.  On Monday, the High Court heard arguments by attorneys from both sides and will likely spend the next several weeks reaching its decision.

But even after the Minnesota court makes its ruling, the case could still be appealed to Federal Court.   Marty Owings reports from St Paul.