Monday, October 15, 2007

• Palestinians and Israelis Prepare for November Peace Talks
• US Foreign Policy Goals in Israel-Palestine are Fraught with Setbacks
• New Information about Warrantless Wiretaps Emerges
• US Navy Wants to Augment Presence in Africa
• Bayh Insists upon Answers in Suspicious Death of Soldier in Kentucky
• Peruvian Amazon Suffers in Wake of a Natural Resources Grab
  

Headlines
TURKISH PARLIAMENT TO MULL MILITARY ACTION
The Turkish government has written up a measure to authorize the use of
full-scale military force in Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkey argues force is
necessary to crush Kurdish separatists who stage cross-border attacks
from bases in northern Iraq. The Turkish military has been building up
its troop presence along the border for months and reportedly shelled
some rural areas over the weekend. The US opposes a Turkish invasion of
the relatively peaceful region of Iraqi Kurdistan. However, relations
between Washington and Ankara are currently on the rocks due to a
congressional resolution to recognize the 1915 mass murder of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks as an act of genocide.

TWO REPORTERS KILLED IN IRAQ IN AS MANY DAYS
In other news from the region, two Iraqi reporters have died in the past 48 hours. Hiba Dawood has the story.

Washington Post reporter Salih Saif Aldin was shot at close range
in the forehead yesterday when he went to interview residents of a
southern neighborhood of Baghdad. Iraqi freelance reporter Dhi
Abdul-Razak al-Dibo died in an ambush today in the city of Kirkuk.
Reporters Without Borders estimates that 205 media workers have been
killed in Iraq since the start of the invasion, with at least 54 of
those deaths having occurred since the start of this year. More than
80% of the journalists murdered in Iraq are Iraqi. For FSRN, I'm Hiba
Dawood reporting.

ENVOY URGES U.N. ACTION WITHIN QUARTET
The United Nations has come under criticism from one of its own top
human rights officials for failing to address the ongoing abuses in the
occupied Palestinian territories. Haider Rizvi reports from the United
Nations.

UN envoy for the Palestinian territories John Dugard says the UN
should should quit the Middle East Quartet because it has not done
anything to protect the Palestinians from Israeli abuses in the
Occupied Territories. In a statement, Dugard justified Israeli concerns
about security, but said its response towards the Palestinians in Gaza
and the West Bank is very disproportionate. He said he would urge the
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take the UN out of the Quartet if it
fails to address the human rights situation. The Quartet consists of
the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia. It's
stated aim is to help Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace deal.
Observers say the Quartet has been ineffective due to U.S. support for
the Israeli military and its actions. Dugard is due to present his
report on the Palestinian human rights situation to the UN General
Assembly later this month. I'm Haider Rizvi at the United Nations.

CHINESE NATIONAL PARTY CONGRESS OPENS
In China, the 17th National Communist Party Congress opened in Beijing
today with President Hu Jintao delivering a speech to 2,200 party
delegates. The congress takes place once every five years and is a time
when the party outlines new directions and promotes the next generation
of leaders. Elise Potaka has more from Beijing.

In a speech that ran just under two and a half hours, President
Hu Jintao told party delegates that China needs to continue to build
what he called a "moderately prosperous society" by addressing the gap
between rich and poor, and narrowing the urban-rural divide. The speech
also talked of the need to do more to promote environmental
conservation, and reiterated the country's unification policy on
Taiwan. Touching on another sensitive issue, President Hu Jintao also
promised to ensure the quality and safety of Chinese made products. The
lead-up to the congress has been tense. Internet censorship has been
stepped up, and well known dissidents placed under house arrest for the
meeting's duration. Police reportedly arrested several people outside
the congress today. They'd come to present the government with
petitions about problems in their home towns. The party congress will
conclude on Sunday with the announcement of the next group of party
leaders, and a possible successor to President Hu Jintao. I'm Elise
Potaka in Beijing for FSRN.

BOMBING IN INDIA TARGETS MIGRANT WORKERS
Police in the Indian State of Punjab have detained over a dozen people
in connection with a bomb blast that killed seven in a movie theater on
Sunday night. Bismillah Geelani has the story.

The blast occurred in a multiplex cinema in Luhiana, one of
India's largest industrial cities. The bomb killed seven people and
wounded 32 others. All of the dead were migrant workers, as are most of
the wounded. Migrant workers from nearby states make up about one third
of Ludhiana's population of 3 million. The blast appears to have
carefully targeted the movie theater known for showing films in the
Bhojpuri language spoken by many of the city's migrants. Punjab Police
officials investigating the blast are focusing primarily on a possible
link with Kashmiri and Sikh Militant groups and have already detained
over a dozen alleged suspects. For FSRN, This is Bismillah Geelani from
New Delhi.

Features
Palestinians and Israelis Prepare for November Peace Talks (2:48)
US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, met with Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah today. Rice is hoping
to secure a joint Palestinian-Israeli working paper, which would
outline key issues to be discussed at the Washington-sponsored
conference slated for November. FSRN's Rami Al-Meghari has more.

US Foreign Policy Goals in Israel-Palestine are Fraught with Setbacks (2:03)
Diplomacy may not be the first thing to come to mind when discussing
the policy goals of the Bush Administration. But well into its second
term, the administration has tried to make an Israel and Palestine
peace deal a focus of its foreign policy. Diplomacy may save lives,
but the road to peace has been pockmarked with false starts and
uncertainty. And as FSRN Correspondent Matt Laslo reports from
Washington, leaving a positive legacy in the Middle East may be out of
the Administration's grasp.

New Information about Warrantless Wiretaps Emerges (2:20)
Court documents released last week in an insider trading case are shedding new light on warrentless wiretaps. The former CEO of Qwest Communications revealed that the National Security Agency approached the company about participating in a warrentless surveillance program in February 2001 -- six months before the terrorist attacks of September 11 th. The Bush Administration has claimed the 9-11 attacks were the main impetus for wanting to gather information about America's phone records.

In the trial, Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio alleges that the company's refusal to take part in the program for fear it violated the law, led the government to cancel a separate contract in retribution. Nacchio is appealing a conviction for 19 counts of insider trading, stemming from the sale of Qwest stock in 2001, just before the company's share price tumbled. FSRN's Michael Reagan reports.

US Navy Wants to Augment Presence in Africa (3:46)
The US Navy announced a new initiative to increase its presence off the coast of Africa. This is the latest in the US's military expansion into that continent. The military claims the reason is for stronger diplomatic ties, but some are skeptical. FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

Bayh Insists upon Answers in Suspicious Death of Soldier in Kentucky (4:07)
Senator Evan Bayh is demanding the Army answer questions about the death of an Indiana National Guardsman who died five months after returning wounded from Iraq. In a letter sent last week to Army Secretary Pete Geren, Bayh wrote that Sergant. Gerald Cassidy "received substandard medical treatment while in the Army's care." An autopsy concluded Cassidy had been dead for hours before being found at an Army medical facility in Fort Knox, Kentucky, and may have been unconscious for days. Aaron Glantz has more.

Peruvian Amazon Suffers in Wake of a Natural Resources Grab (4:20)
The Peruvian Amazon is a region rich in oil, wood, and other
natural resources, and should be an area of great wealth. But its
resources have meant a troubled history -- spawning conflict with
neighboring states, environmental degradation, and abuses of indigenous
peoples. In part one of this special two-part feature, Tom Allan
reveals the cost - of selling the forests.