August 29, 2003
Headlines Produced by Randi Zimmerman
Protesting Yale Workers Arrested – Melinda Tuhus
DNA Evidence Not Good Enough for Innocence – Sally Watt
1 in 5 Women Assaulted at Academy – Daniel Costello
UN Considering Multi-National Force in Iraq – Haider Risvi
Mosque Blast Kills Shiite Leader (3:00)
Soon after Friday morning prayers began in a mosque in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in Iraq, a powerful car bomb exploded outside the mosque killing some 75 and injuring scores more. Among the dead is influential Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. Our correspondent Ahmed al Rawi spoke to us from Baghdad shortly after the blast.
Six Way Talks Conclude – Little Progress (4:06)
The Bush Administration still refuses to sign a non-aggression pact with North Korea. That at the conclusion of three days of talks between the US, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia. At the Summit in Beijing, North Korea repeated its position that it would scrap its nuclear weapons program if the Bush Administration guaranteed in writing that America would not attack, but US negotiators refused. From Seoul, Aaron Glantz has more.
People Pressure for Clean Air (3:59)
In the aftermath of August 14th power outage, utilities successfully lobbied President Bush to weaken clean air rules. Power plants, including the dirtiest in the country, can upgrade without installing pollution controls. But in Minnesota, grassroots organizing is defying the Bush administration. Bowing to public pressure, the state’s largest supplier of electricity has submitted a voluntary proposal to convert its two oldest, and dirtiest, coal burning plants to natural gas, but as FSRN’s Ann Alquist reports from Minneapolis, communities are asking “at what price?”
Free Trade Sends More Jobs OS (4:39)
Over the next 15 years, 3.3 million US service jobs and $136 billion in wages will be sent offshore to places such as Russia, China, India, the Philippines and Canada. Until now, the practice has managed to stay under the radar but it could meet serious opposition, as more and more companies like GE, Cisco Systems, Boeing and IBM search for cheaper labor to cut costs and increase shareholder value. Martha Baskin looks at the larger picture of free trade and free trade agreements of which the moves overseas by US corporations is an integral part.
Amina Lawal Appeals Death by Stoning (4:00)
A woman sentenced to death by stoning under Islamic law has appealed against the sentence to a higher Islamic appeals court in Northern Nigeria. The woman, Amina Lawal, had earlier lost an appeal against the death sentence at a lower appeals court. Her battle to stay alive is coming as President Olusegun Obasanjo who is under pressure from western countries, is planning legislation to abolish the death penalty. Human rights groups have hailed this move. But in the predominantly Muslim north of the country, there is outrage. Muslims say the death penalty should not be abolished because it is an important aspect of Islamic law. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos.
