Newscast for Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Petraeus outlines Afghanistan and Pakistan strategy
A pair of assumed U.S. drones struck Pakistan today, killing 14 people. This is the first time the Orakzai region has been attacked, which lies near the border with Afghanistan. The strike took place after the Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud asserted his group is responsible for a deadly attack in Lahore in retaliation for U.S. drone attacks on Pakistan, and threatened attacks on U.S. soil. Meanwhile, General David Petraeus told lawmakers in Washington today that the U.S. in investigating the threats and responding to them. He added that the war in Afghanistan has now become the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a single war, which he said would be long and sustained. Although lawmakers praised this new strategy, some are concerned that the plan fails to layout how the terms of success will be measured. Washington Editor Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

Congress to continue funding fusion centers
The Bush administration created more than 40 fusion centers following the September 11 attacks. These offices are created to expedite the sharing of information between different local, state and national security agencies. The centers also collect data from the private sector. The sharing of information between the military, the government and the private sector has brought fusion centers under scrutiny – and reports that they’ve targeted anti-war war activists and third-party supporters have caused critics to cite fusion centers as a potential threat to a citizen’s right to privacy and free speech. FSRN’s Sam Greenspan is in Washington, where a Congressional panel today weighed the promise and danger of these fusion centers, and indicated they will continue funding them.

Bernanke reminded that minorities, women should be included in recovery plan
During this recession, the Congressional Black Caucus is reminding the Administration that it’s not just their portfolios that need diversifying. Caucus members charge that minority and women-owned businesses have been left out of economic recovery plans. As Tanya Snyder repots, the Caucus convened a meeting between business owners and Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to try to design a more inclusive program.

Sacramento’s tent city residents say they will not be moved
The National Alliance to End Homelessness says that an additional 1.5 million people could be left homeless, a third of them children, because of rising foreclosures and the recession. By one estimate the tent city in California’s capital, Sacramento, is growing by 20 to 50 people a week. Recent media attention on the encampment prompted the Sacramento city council last week to provide additional shelter beds in order to shut down the privately-owned site. But as Africa Jones reports, many of tent city's homeless say they will remain outdoors.

Egypt’s top film poses the prickly topic of divorce on the big screen
The number one movie in Egypt now has caused a stir because of a scene in the film that addresses the thorny issue of divorce among Christians of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Egypt is home to at least 10 million Coptic Christians, making that community the largest religious minority in the country. In a report on the obstacles facing Coptic couples seeking divorce, FSRN’s Aya Batrawy speaks with the movie’s screenwriter and director and those opposed to the issues raised by the film.