News Segments

At a public hearing in Washington today, activists, doctors, scientists, parents, and concerned citizens told the EPA that a proposed rule to regulate carbon emissions at new power plants doesn’t go far enough. The rule comes as a new study predicts a spike in heat-related deaths in the US due to a warmer and more unpredictable climate. The coal and natural gas industry is fighting the proposal. FSRN’s Alice Ollstein has more, in Washington, D.C.

This week, the chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko, said he would step down from the federal body. Jaczko announced his resignation as the agency is implementing the first significant changes to its emergency response plans at nuclear plants in more than thirty years. They include smaller evacuation zones and less frequent emergency training.   For more we’re joined by Daniel Hirsch. He’s a nuclear policy expert and a lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program ended today in Baghdad, with the details of UN inspectors and the future of US and European-imposed sanctions still unclear. Parties agreed to meet next month in Moscow. Israel has criticized the talks as a way to prolong negotiations. But inside Israel, voices have risen against a possible attack on Iran, including influential military leaders. The Real News Network’s Lia Tarachansky reports in Tel Aviv.

To see a video of this report, go to therealnews.com.

In a book recently published by an Argentine journalist, former dictator Jorge Videla admitted that his governmnet’s killed seven or eight thousand civilians as part of a systematic plan to “dispose” of everyone it considered “subversive.” The confession has stirred strong reactions among Argentines, who continue to struggle with the legacy of state-sponsored violence. FSRN’s Eilis O’Neill reports.

Egyptians turned out to vote in large numbers today in the country’s first true democratic Presidential elections in history. Across the country, voters went to polling stations to choose from a list of 13 possible candidates representing a broad spectrum of political backgrounds. From Cairo, FSRN's Noel King reports.

The clock is ticking for the US House and Senate to resolve their differences on the wide-ranging transportation reauthorization bill. Funding expires next month. The congressional conference committee has been grappling for weeks over many controversial measures in the bill. The House version would slash funding for bicycle and pedestrian programs, prevent the EPA from regulating coal ash pollution and approve the Keystone XL pipeline, even as new reports show the project wouldn’t lower gas prices or create nearly as many jobs as its backers claim.

Today, we continue our examination of the country’s prison system, by focusing on the for-profit facilities that are playing an increasingly larger role in detaining and deporting immigrants. In the US, about half of all immigrant detainees are housed in private for-profit facilities, making immigration enforcement a multi-billion dollar industry. Advocates have long condemned conditions inside detention facilities, and in 2009 the Obama administration pledged to make improvements. But a new report from the ACLU of Georgia finds that “serious abuses” are still ongoing.