News Segments

The Susan G. Komen Foundation's decision to end its long-standing partnership with Planned Parenthood sparked a widespread outcry this week. Many groups and individuals vowed to pull funding from the foundation and send their donations directly to Planned Parenthood. This forced the Komen Foundation to respond with a statement today and apologize to the American public. FSRN’s Alice Ollstein has the details, in Washington, D.C.

Today Iran’s supreme leader vowed to retaliate in the event of an attack and condemned Western-backed oil sanctions on his country. According to Reuters, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke on state TV to mark the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The call for military action in the region has galvanized the anti-war movement and on Saturday, actions are planned in cities across Europe, and the US.

One of the cities taking part is Minnesota and we go there now to speak with Marie Braun. She’s with Women Against Military Madness, part of the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition.

Muslims and civil rights advocates are rallying today outside New York City police headquarters, following the latest in a series of abuses by the department. Yesterday, the AP disclosed new information about the NYPD illegally targeting Shia and Iranian Muslims for profiling and surveillance. This follows an earlier AP investigation into spying and revelations that the NYPD screened an anti-Muslim film. Muslims are redoubling their demand that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly resign. FSRN’s Salim Rizvi reports.

Europe has strict rules for protecting personal data, often going further than the US to make sure private consumers aren’t taken advantage of. Now, as companies are increasing their use of data-mining and social networks are becoming troves of personal information, the European Commission is proposing to overhaul its landmark data protection law. Privacy advocates applaud the move while businesses say the new rules could affect their bottom line. From France, FSRN’s Liam Moriarty reports.

Throughout the presidential primary campaign, candidates have repeatedly drawn attention to Americans who use food stamps, igniting a debate over who receives public assistance and why. That debate resurfaced in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives this week, as the House voted to restrict where some welfare recipients can spend their benefits.

As many Americans depend on food assistance to make ends meet, access to housing also continues to be a problem. But a federal program that aims to end chronic homelessness may be seeing some modest results. According to a new report, the number of people experiencing homelessness decreased by one-percent between 2009 and 2011. The National Alliance To Prevent Homelessness attributes this to a federal program that’s spent more than $1 billion.