Thursday, January 25, 2007

Headlines (5:30)
CURFEW IN BEIRUT
Four people are dead and another 20 are wounded after clashes erupted
today in Beirut between supporters and opponents of the government.
Fighting started with an argument between university students over
Tuesday's national strike. The clashes escalated from rock-throwing to
gunfire as it moved from the university campus onto neighborhood
streets. The Lebanese Army has declared a curfew in effect until dawn.
The violence has overshadowed news of a 7.6 billion dollar aid package
for Lebanon that was announced earlier today at a donor conference in
Paris.

BRITISH DEBATE ON TROOP PULLOUT
While President Bush is coming under fire for his proposal to send
more troops to Iraq, Britain's Prime Minister has promised to bring
British troops home. Naomi Fowler reports from London on the first
full Parliamentary debate on Iraq for 2 and a half years.

Many were critical of Prime Minister Blair's absence from yesterday's
Parliamentary debate. Instead, he was at a business conference and he
sent his Defense Secretary Margaret Beckett to face angry Members of
Parliament: (sound) "I don't think it is any longer reasonable or
legitimate to ask our armed forces to bear this burden and that's why
I believe the process of withdrawal should begin on the first of May
and it should end in October. In short Mr Speaker, it is time to go."
Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell. While the British
Defense Secretary said British troops would start to come home in the
spring although she could not set a precise date, that same day US
ambassador in Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad said he wanted Britain to keep
its troops at the current level. "It is clear" he said "our preference
would be 'the longer we stay together here the better." The British
government is playing down any tensions between UK and US policy,
insisting that British plans are consistent with the coalition's long
term strategy. This is Naomi Fowler in London for Free Speech Radio
News.

MINIMUM WAGE
The battle to increase the minimum wage continues as Democrats and
Republicans in the Senate go into day 5 of their debate on the issue.
Karen Miller reports from Washington DC.

A move to pass the minimum wage increase as a stand alone bill failed
yesterday. Republicans and one key Democrat in the Senate want the
legislation to include tax breaks for small businesses. Senate leaders
are working on a compromise. Senator Ted Kennedy, Democrat from Mass:
(sound) "This issue calls out for justice. It calls out for fairness.
It calls out for action. We are sending out a very strong message to
those who are opposing the increase. We will get an increase to the
minimum wage." The 2 dollar and 10 cent increase has already been
approved by the House as part of its 100 hour agenda and Democrats in
the Senate are determined to move forward on the issue. President Bush
has said he would support the minimum wage increase as long as small
business tax breaks are maintained. For FSRN I'm Karen Miller in
Washington DC.

ECUADOR'S DEFENSE MINISTER DEAD
The administration of Ecuador's new president, Rafael Correa was dealt
a heavy blow last night with the death of the nation's first female
Defense Minister only 9 days after she took office. Joseph Mutti
reports from Quito.

Guadalupe Larriva was the most visible member of the president's new
cabinet that includes six other women. She was widely respected on
both sides of the political divide and had shown commitment to legal
reforms that would make the country's military subordinate to elected
political authority. Her death, in what is reported as a mid-air
collision between helicopters, is being treated as an accident
although there are many who voice suspicion as to the timing and
circumstances of the crash – above all because no other high ranking
military official was with her at the time. The new government has
been under siege from day one, with the Congress – which Correa refers
to as a sewer of corruption - blocking the promised referendum on a
Constituent Assembly to draw up a new constitution. Observers in
Ecuador say that an indication of the president's apprehension over an
impartial military inquiry into the death of Larriva came today when
he requested foreign expert help in investigating the crash. For FSRN
in Quito, I'm Joseph Mutti.

RUSSIAN SUPPORT FOR INDIAN NUKE PROGRAM
India and Russia today signed a memorandum of intent for the
development and construction of four additional atomic reactors in
India. FSRN's Vinod K. Jose reports.

Two were agreed earlier. Now, materials for four more nuclear reactors
are on their way to India. Heads of Indian and Russian nuclear
agencies signed a deal after a meeting between visiting Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in
New Delhi. India has an estimated 100 Billion dollar nuclear energy
market and countries that supply materials for the nuclear industry
have been eying this market since the passing of Indo-US nuclear
agreement. New reactors can be built in India only after it is
exempted from international restrictions on trading in fissile
material by the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the International Atomic
Energy Agency. Until then, it is the time for negotiating deals and
signing agreements to make way for the huge nuclear energy business.
For FSRN from New Delhi, this is Vinod K. Jose.

Features
Iraq Resolution Opposing Bush’s Troop Increase Gaining Support in the Senate (1:00)
The Iraq resolution offered by influential Republican Senator John
Warner, opposing the President’s troop increase in Iraq, is gaining
broader support than the version offered by Senator Joe Biden, Chair of
the Foreign Relations Committee. Several moderate Democrats and
Republicans, who are turned off by the strong language in the Biden
bill, are pleased with the alternative. The Warner resolution avoided
the word “escalation”, and cut out the term “not in the nation’s
interest”. The Warner resolution also includes parts of the Iraq Study
Group’s recommendation to impose benchmarks. They also wanted to
distinguish Anbar Provence, which they said needs additional troops. It
is unclear which resolution will get a vote, or if a combination of the
two will be offered.

Despite Optimism, Iraqi Economy Shows Signs of Continued Slump (2:30)
Fighting across Iraq today left at least 60 people dead, and there were
street battles again between Iraqi and U.S. troops and Iraqi guerrillas
on Haifa Street, a central Baghdad neighborhood that has seen increased
fighting in the past two years. Fighting on Haifa Street on Tuesday
included the apparent shoot-down of a helicopter belonging to the
private U.S. security firm Blackwater, and the execution of four
security guards inside it. Despite the ongoing violence, some argue
that there are hopeful signs for Iraq's economy, as the U.S. dollar
weakens worldwide, strengthening other currencies. But many Iraqis are
unconvinced. Hiba Dawood reports.

Conference of Mayors Calls on Fed to Fund Local Clean Energy Initiatives (4:00)
More than 250 mayors called for the federal government to fund local
initiatives on clean energy and to improve energy efficiency at the
75th annual meeting of the US Conference of Mayors in Washington DC
today. Nan McCurdy has more.

American Indian State of the Union Highlights Need for U.S. to Make Good on Treaties (3:30)
The President of the National Congress of American Indians delivered
the State of their Union address today. President Joe Garcia said
Native Americans have made great strides, but have a long way to go. He
said they’ll need the U.S. government to fulfill their side of past
treaties and agreements. FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

Footballer’s Imminent Execution Highlight’s Singapore’s Troubling Death Penalty Laws (3:30)
A 20-year-old Nigerian footballer convicted of drug trafficking is due
to be executed on Friday in Singapore. Singapore is said to have the
highest per capita execution rate in the world - most of those
executions are carried out for drug related offenses. The impending
execution has not only brought Singapore’s high execution rate under
spotlight, but also highlights the execution of persons, including
foreign nationals, for crimes like drug trafficking, where no life was
taken. Sam Olukoya has more from Lagos.

Italians Protest New U.S. Military Base (3:45)
Italy’s government signed an agreement with the United States to build
a new military base in the country’s north, without consulting its
population. Italian locals have staged an ongoing protest against the
base, which, as Diletta Varlese reports, has now expanded to the
national level.