Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Headlines (5:15)

CHAVEZ GRANTED SWEEPING POWERS
Venezuela's
National Assembly unanimously passed a law today that will allow
President Hugo Chavez to issue laws by decree for a limited time on a
wide range of issues, which he says will enable him to introduce
Socialism in Venezuela more rapidly. Greg Wilpert has the story from
Venezuela.

In an outdoor session that was
open to the public, Venezuela's legislature passed a so-called
"enabling law," which will allow President Chavez to pass laws by
decree over the next 18 months in eleven areas. This is third time that
Chavez has been given such powers by the National Assembly and Chavez
is the seventh Venezuelan president to make use of this provision in
the Venezuelan constitution. Chavez asked the legislature for this
enabling law with the argument that efficiency and the
population'seagerness to move the country towards what he calls "21st
century socialism," requires it. The National Assembly easily agreed to
the provision, which requires a three-fifths majority to pass, because
it is entirely controlled by Chavez supporters, ever since the
opposition boycotted National Assembly elections last year. The eleven
areas in which Chavez may pass laws include the reform of the state for
less bureaucracy and corruption, the strengthening of grassroots
democracy, the nationalization of strategic industries such as
telecommunications, and the reorganization of political jurisdictions,
among other things. Venezuela's opposition parties say they plan to
challenge the enabling law in the Supreme Court.

HOUSING ACTIVISTS ARRESTED IN NEW ORLEANS
New
Orleans police removed two housing activists from a condemned housing
development early this morning, ending a two-week occupation. The St.
Bernard development has been the sight of frequent protests by
residents and their supporters to reopen thousands of units of public
housing that have been closed since Hurricane Katrina. Christian
Roselund is in New Orleans and has more.

NOPD
SWAT teams burst into the St. Bernard Development around three AM and
arrested Jamie "Bork" Laughner and Curtis Rumrill, two members of
Mayday NOLA, a housing rights group that has been occupying the
development for two weeks. Housing activists on the scene claim that
SWAT team members armed with semi-automatic rifles turned media and
supporters away. The occupation began on Martin Luther King Day when
dozens of residents and hundreds of supporters entered the development
and began to clean out the units, which have been uninhabited for
seventeen months. The occupation of St. Bernard is part of a movement
to reopen thousands of units of public housing in the city that the
Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development condemned to
destruction last June. Soleil Rodrigue, media liaison for the group
Survivor's Village: (Audio: Rodrigue: this is one of the fingers of the
land grab that is going on here in New Orleans. People need housing
now, and this housing is in better condition than most of the homes
that were damaged by the flood.) At the time of this report, a New
Orleans judge had ordered the release of Rumrill and Laughner, and
housing activists were awaiting their discharge from the city's jail.

ARREST WARRENTS IN EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION CASE
Arrest
warrants have been issued in Germany for 13 people in connection with
the alleged CIA-orchestrated kidnapping of a German citizen in the
agency's extraordinary rendition program. The warrants were issued in
the last few days against the alleged kidnappers on suspicion of false
imprisonment and serious bodily harm in connection with the abduction
of Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent. Al-Masri
maintains he was abducted in December 2003 at the Serbian-Macedonian
border and flown by the CIA to a detention center in Kabul,
Afghanistan, where he says he was abused. AL-Masri was later released
when the CIA determined they had detained the wrong person.

PROTESTS IN ECUADOR SHUT DOWN CONGRESS
Ecuador's
Congress, which the nation's new socialist President Rafael Correa
refers to as a "sewer of corruption", was stormed by thousands of
protesters yesterday after it blocked a promised referendum on a new
Constituent Assembly. Joseph Mutti reports from Quito.

Congressional
representatives suspended proceedings and had to be escorted out of the
building after an angry multitude threatened to have their heads
Tuesday. The date for the Constituent Assembly referendum has been set
by Correa for March 18, but Congress is doing everything it can to
prevent the establishment of a new legislative body that will
ultimately replace it in spite of the support of 70% of the nation for
Correa's reforms. Deploring any violence, but defending the people's
right to protest, the president said that there was no clash between
the executive and Congress but rather between 13 million Ecuadorians
and 100 deputies.

ISRAEL PROPOSES MOVING WALL FURTHER INTO WEST BANK
According
to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has
approved moving a section of the West Bank Separation Wall at least
five kilometers east of the Green Line near the West Bank city of
Ramallah, in order to take in the nearby settlements of Nili and
Na'aleh.

This proposed route would create
two Palestinian enclaves separating about 20,000 Palestinians while
Nili and Na'aleh together have some 1,500 residents. The move came as a
result of pressure of the Israeli settlers of both illegal settlements.
If approved by the cabinet, it will be the first time the Israeli
government moved the route away from the Green line that separates the
occupied West Bank from Israel. The Israeli High court had previously
ordered some sections of the wall be moved closer to the green line
because of the negative impact on the Palestinians.

Features

Congress Members Grow Weary of Possible Armed Conflict with Iran (3:15)
Members of Congress are growing weary amidst growing anticipation that
the Bush Administration is heading towards armed conflict with Iran.
Washington Editor Leigh Ann Caldwell has more.

Report Indicates Conflicting Stories Regarding Najaf Battle (4:30)

An article in today’s Independent indicates that there are
conflicting accounts of Monday’s battle in Najaf between US-backed
Iraqi security forces and a messianic cult called the “Soldiers of
Heaven”, which resulted in the deaths of 263 people. Iraqi and Arab
news sources say that those killed were tribal Shia pilgrims making
their way to Najaf to celebrate Ashoura when the tribe’s leader and his
wife were fired upon at a checkpoint. As fighting between the tribe and
Iraqi security forces escalated, more and more groups joined in – a
story that contradicts English-language accounts of Monday’s battle.
Patrick Cockburn is in Baghdad, he authored today’s piece in the
Independent.

Immigrant Rights Groups Mobilize at State Level (3:54)
The federal Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services announced
today the beginning of a 60-day comment period on proposed changes to
fees for immigration documents that could result in increases of 80
percent. Meanwhile, as many state legislatures end their first month of
business in the new session, local lawmakers are proposing new bills to
target undocumented immigrants on the state and local levels. As Darby
Hickey reports, these pieces of legislation are not going unanswered,
as immigrant rights groups are mobilizing on the state level across the
country.

Indian Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Banning Genetically Modified Seeds Trials (4:00)

India’s Supreme Court began to hear arguments today regarding an
order to ban field trials of genetically modified (GM) seeds in the
country. The suicide of 75 BT cotton growing farmers in the past week
alone has escalated the issue of GM seeds in India – a country where
nearly 60 percent of the population depends solely on traditional
agriculture for survival. PC Dubey reports.

Cave Residents in Spain Organize Against Evictions (4:20)

Spanish police in the city of Granada have conducted at least two
recent raids on a community of people living in caves in the hills
above the city’s historic Albaicin district. Although the caves have
been continuously inhabited for more than a thousand years, city
officials say they have become too dirty and dangerous to be lived in.
But local residents say the destruction of their homes has more to do
with politics and tourism, and they’re organizing to save their
neighborhood. From Granada, FSRN's Andrew Stelzer has the story.