Headlines Package - August 13, 2008

• Mugabe Agrees to Power Sharing Deal: Zimbabwean State-Run Media
• Shooting Attack at Arkansas Democratic Party Headquarters, Chairman Wounded and in Critical Condition
• 3 Aid Workers Killed in Afghanistan
• Iraq Refugees on Hunger Strike in British Immigration Detention Center
• "Green Scare" Defendant Sentenced in Portland

Mugabe Agrees to Power Sharing Deal: Zimbabwean State-Run Media
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe is poised to install a new power-sharing government, according to reports in Zimbabwe's state-run media. Plans for the new government reportedly do NOT include opposition leader and former presidential contender Morgan Tsvangirai. Weeks of South African mediated negotiations between Mugabe and Tsvangirai collapsed after the long-time president refused to accept any conditions that would involve him giving up the reigns of power. Mugabe is rumored to have worked out a power-sharing deal with a breakaway faction of Tsvangirai's party; the Movement for Democratic Change.

Shooting Attack at Arkansas Democratic Party Headquarters, Chairman Wounded and in Critical Condition
The chair of the Arkansas Democratic Party, Bill Gwatney, is reportedly in critical condition after a gunman shot him three times in his office in the party's Little Rock headquarters. Police later apprehended the suspected gunman. Motives for the attack are unknown, but the incident is under investigation.

3 Aid Workers Killed in Afghanistan
Three foreign aid workers and their Afghan driver were killed in an ambush today in the Logar province, southwest of Kabul. It's the latest headlines-grabbing attack in what has proven to be a very violent week in the war-torn country. Asma Nemati reports from Kabul, Afghanistan.

The three women working for the International Rescue Committee were traveling in a 2-car caravan when a vehicle carrying gunmen cut off the caravan and opened fire; killing the women and their driver. All three women were foreign nationals of Western countries. The IRC has announced the suspension of its work in Afghanistan until further notice. Today's attack underscores rising violence targeting international aid workers. Nineteen have been killed so far this year, which already outpaces last year's death toll. Attacks in general have also been on the rise, with Monday having been particularly deadly. At least 43 people, including civilians, police and insurgents, died in 5 separate attacks across Afghanistan. The deadliest of Monday's attacks was a coalition air strike that killed 25 militants and 8 civilian hostages inside of a compound in the southern province of Uruzgan. In a report released earlier this month, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief estimates that as many as 1000 Afghan civilians have been killed so far this year. The relief agency also reported that air strikes have increased 40% over 2007 levels. For FSRN, I'm Asma Nemati reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Iraq Refugees on Hunger Strike in British Immigration Detention Center
This news from the UK, 13 Iraqi Kurds are 4 days into a hunger strike at the Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre, in Oxfordshire. FSRN's Natalia Viana has more.

The hunger-striking detainees want Britain to stop forcibly deporting Iraqis to a country torn by war. They began their strike after news that a refugee sent back to Iraq last week had committed suicide. More than 200 Iraqi asylum seekers have been removed from the UK this year alone. One of the detainees, Fazzel Abdul-Ahmed, who has lived in the Uk for 7 years, claims he'd rather starve to death than be deported. [clip] "My life is on a danger because I have a problem with organization Kurdish - one - and there is no place I'm going to and south of Baghdad there is no safety for people to return to." Another 50 detainees of different nationalities joined in to protest conditions at the detention center. Fazzel Abdel-Ahmed says that he and the other hunger strikers are feeling the effect of 4 days without food. The Home Office says only "a small number of detainees" are on strike, but the situation is "under control". For FSRN, I'm Natalia Viana in London.

"Green Scare" Defendant Sentenced in Portland
A federal judge in Portland, Oregon has sentenced an environmental activist to prison time for his role in a so-called "eco-terror" case of property destruction. Kyle Burris has the story.

Eco-activist Tre Arrow was sentenced to seventy-two months in prison yesterday on two counts of arson. The charges came in connection to a string of fires targeting cement and logging trucks in 2001. The radical environmental group, Earth Liberation Front, claimed responsibility, saying the property destruction was in protest against various Oregon companies for their destruction of the environment. Bruce Ellis is Tre Arrow's defense attorney [clip]: "What has happened, if we look, since the Patriot act has passed, that many of these statutes have become very draconian, and what used to be civil disobedience in now felonies. These draconian sentences are designed to punish people who resort to property damage as political protest." Prosecutors accused Arrow of being the ringleader in the arson attacks, something the activist had denied. Three other ELF members received lighter sentences after agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors in the case. Facing a possible life sentence, Arrow changed his plea to guilty last May. He will receive credit for time served in Canada, prior to his extradition to face charges in the US. He is expected to serve out the remaining two and a half years of his sentence in a federal prison. For FSRN, I'm Kyle Burris in Portland, Oregon.

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