Thursday, October 4, 2007

Headlines(5:45)
PINOCHET FAMILY ARRESTED

The entire immediate family of Chile's former dictator has been placed
under arrest by a Santiago judge on charges of money laundering and
illicit enrichment in the so-called Riggs Bank scandal. FSRN's Jorge
Garreton has more from Santiago.

Investigating Judge Carlos Cerda ordered this morning the arrest of
the Pinochet family including his widow, Lucia, for the embezzlement
of some 8 million dollars from public coffers. 18 close Pinochet
collaborators have also been placed under arrest. The investigating
judge says Pinochet, his family and close advisers directly benefited
from the looted treasury. All of those arrested today allegedly
participated in the misuse of public funds. The missing money later
re-appeared in secret accounts at the Washington-based Riggs Bank. A
2004 US Senate probe led to the discovery of nearly 8 million dollars.
The judge is investigating accusations that Pinochet hid some 26
million dollars with the help of Riggs Bank. Pinochet died last
December of a heart attack before he could stand trial on charges of
corruption and human rights abuses. For FSRN this is Jorge Garreton in
Santiago.

SOUTH AFRICAN MINE CLOSED AFTER ACCIDENT

South African authorities have closed a gold mine just one day after
an accident trapped 3200 miners underground. All but 600 of those
miners had been rescued by airtime. Tiny Magija reports from Cape
Town.

Rescue workers are confident that they can reach all of the remaining
miners by this evening. The miners were trapped when a pipe fell into
the elevator shaft on Wednesday morning, cutting off the power supply
for the elevator used to bring miners to the surface. South Africa's
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has blamed the incident on
employer negligence. NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka: (clip) "Well as
the NUM we believe that we have said enough to industry and we have
attended workshop on safety issues now definitely the next step will
be to call on our members to embark on industrial action in order to
force the companies to make safety a priority within the industry."
Mine accidents and fatalities are not uncommon in South African mines.
The country is home to rich deposits of gold and diamonds. Mine owners
have routinely been accused of putting profits before the lives of
workers. For FSRN, I'm Tiny Magija in Cape Town.

HOUSE VOTES TO CLOSE CONTRACTING LOOPHOLES

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a measure today to
close some major loopholes that prevent criminal prosecution of
security contractors. The move comes amidst a major scandal involving
billion dollar private security contractor, Blackwater USA. Many
Blackwater USA employees serve as private security for diplomatic
personnel in Iraq. However, Blackwater guards enjoy a large degree of
immunity from prosecution within the US criminal justice system. The
bill passed by the House today seeks to close prosecution
loopholes...and the Senate is considering similar legislation.

COURT ACTION AGAINST PFIZER RESUMES IN NIGERIA

In Northern Nigeria, hundreds of people demonstrated today outside the
regional office of the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer to
demand compensation for children affected by a drug trial. Sam Olukoya
reports.

Human rights groups organized today's demonstration to protest an
experimental drug trial the American company carried out on Nigerian
children during an outbreak of meningitis in 1996. Some of the 200
children used as test subjects in the drug trial either died or
suffered permanent physical disabilities like deafness, blindness,
paralysis and brain damage. The protest coincides with the resumption
of legal actions against Pfizer in Nigerian courts. The company is
facing four separate lawsuits with claims against it running into the
billions of dollars. Pfizer is accused of using the children as live
test subjects without seeking the consent of their parents. For Free
Speech Radio News, this is Sam Olukoya in Lagos.

FDA AUTHORIZED TO INVESTIGATE APPROVED DRUGS

A new law gives the Food and Drug Administration increased authority
to investigate drugs after they go on sale. Kellia Ramares has more.

The FDA Revitalization Act is a response to the discovery of heart
complications of the painkiller Vioxx and the diabetes drug Avandia
after those drugs hit the market. The law requires the registration of
late stage efficacy trials and their results in a publicly accessible
database. Merrill Goozner, Science Director of the Center For Science
in the Public Interest, said this will help scientists who are doing
Meta-research of multiple trials to detect safety issues that may not
be evident from one trial. But Goozner criticized the law's
continuation of a user fee system whereby the pharmaceutical industry
provides about half the funding for the FDA's Office of New Drugs:

There is a structural conflict of interest when the companies
regulated by the agency at the same time pays the fees that pay the
salaries of the people that are supposed to be guarding over them. In
this case, it's not really the fox guarding the chicken coop, but its
sort of like the fox paying the guards at the chicken coop. And that's
just not a good situation." The FDA must still formulate regulations
to implement its new authority. For FSRN, I'm Kellia Ramares.

Features
Congress Prompts Investigation on Torture-like Treatment of Detainees(3:00)

Congress has prompted an investigation into a report that says the
Department of Justice approved torture-like treatment of detainees
despite laws passed by Congress and Supreme Court decisions banning the
behavior. A story, revealed by the New York Times has sparked outrage
in Congress and further mistrust of the Administration. FSRN's Leigh
Ann Caldwell reports.

North and South Korea sign a landmark peace agreement(2:45)

The leaders of North and South Korea have signed a declaration calling
for peace. Their joint statement was made today at the end of a three
day summit in Pyongyang. In a report from Australia’s Herald Sun
however, the statement called for a summit of "three or four countries"
to declare a formal end to their conflict. That means the US and China
must add their signatures to finish it. Will the landmark agreement
boost hopes for reconciliation? FSRN's Jason Strother has the story
from Seoul.

Bank of America funds coal industries (4:00)

Environmental groups this week announced a new campaign to demand that
major coal industry financiers invest in renewable energy instead.
Rainforest Action Network, Step It Up, and other environmental groups
are targeting Bank of America and Citibank for supporting the coal
industry with billions of dollars in credit facilities and direct loans
for coal companies. The groups calculate that Citbank finances 200
times more for fossil fuel energy than it does for alternative energy;
Bank of America, 100 times more. In this two-part series, FSRN's
Christina Aanestad takes a look at the banks' funding histories. Today
she focuses on Bank of America…

UK and India conduct joint anti-terror exercises in Kashmiri Highlands(3:30)

Elite troops from the Indian and British armies are undergoing joint
exercises in the mountains of Indian-administered Kashmir. The Chairman
of the moderate faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz
Umar Farooq, says that the three-week joint military anti-terror drill
of the Indian and British troops in Ladakh is condemnable and in
contravention of agreements. Shahnawaz Khan reports from Kashmir’s
summer capital, Srinagar.

African Americans speak out on military service(5:20)

Historically, African-Americans have enlisted in the military at rates
higher than their percentage of the population. According to the
Pentagon, enlistment of African Americans in the military has dropped
nearly 30% since the start of the war in Iraq. FSRN's Karen Miller has
more.