News Segments

Today, President Barack Obama outlined his positions on the legality of drone strikes and targeted killing, his Administration’s aggressive prosecution of some whistleblowers and reporters, and new efforts to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. His remarks came in a major speech that addressed his foreign policy and national security decisions at Washington DC’s National Defense University.

This week in Lima, Peru protesters have gathered outside a hotel where trade representatives and corporate lobbyists are meeting for the latest round of talks on an international trade deal, called the Transpacific Partnership, or TPP. The trade pact would govern a wide range of issues, including access to medicine, food safety, financial deregulation and the expansion of copyright rules.

Across the country, low-wage workers are mobilizing and demanding decent wages. Fast food workers, calling for a $15 hourly wage, protested in Chicago today following a strike last month. Other walkouts have taken place in Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Louis. Another labor rights campaign is also continuing their long fight to improve conditions for farm workers. Members of South Florida's Coalition of Immokalee workers traveled to New York to pressure the fast food giant Wendy's at their annual shareholders meeting. FSRN’s Melinda Tuhus was there and files this report.

Indigenous leaders and youth are meeting in New York this week for the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. It’s the twelfth session for the Forum and this year, delegates are focusing on issues affecting youth, including cultural preservation, education and health. For more, FSRN’s Salim Rizvi spoke with Erin Marie Konsmo, a Metis/Cree youth activist from Alberta, Canada. Her organization, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, North America is run by Native youth and works on issues of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice in the US and Canada.

As people across the US mark Memorial Day, many families will be honoring a loved one in the military who lost his or her life due to suicide. Last year, more active duty and reserve troops committed suicide than were killed in combat in Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that about 22 veterans take their lives each day, though their assessment only includes information from 21 states through 2010. One of those service members is Jacob Andrews.

As people across the US mark Memorial Day, many families will be honoring a loved one in the military who lost his or her life due to suicide. Last year, more active duty and reserve troops committed suicide than were killed in combat in Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that about 22 veterans take their lives each day, though their assessment only includes information from 21 states through 2010. One of those service members is Jacob Andrews.