May Day On MerseysideIndymedia UK - 27 Apr 2008This week, people on Merseyside and around the world will be celebrating International Workers’ Day – or May Day – an event that has been held every year since 1890. It was originally intended to be a strike day, commemorating the ‘Haymarket martyrs’, who were framed and then killed by the state of Illinois for their part in the struggle for the eight hour working day.
Former Marine Returns to Iraq as Embedded Photographer Only to be Ordered HomeDemocracy Now - 27 Apr 2008James Lee is a former Marine from California who served two tours of duty in Iraq in 2001 to 2004. He’s been back in Iraq more recently, this time as an embedded photographer. Lee is now a journalism student at San Francisco State University and filed reports from Iraq for the college newspaper, the Golden Gate XPress. But earlier this month, Lee was abruptly de-embedded. On April 2nd, just before General Petraeus was due to brief Congress on progress in Iraq, Lee was ordered to leave Basra. [includes rush transcript]
Scott Ritter: By Releasing Intel, US Endorses Israel’s Illegal Bombing of Alleged Syrian Nuke SiteDemocracy Now - 27 Apr 2008The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog group, Mohamed ElBaradei, has criticized the United States for withholding intelligence that it says showed the construction of a nuclear reactor in Syria that Israel bombed in September. The International Atomic Energy Agency chief was critical of both the US delay in releasing the information and of Israel’s bombing of the site before the IAEA could inspect it. We speak with former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Scott Ritter. [includes rush transcript]
Following Acquittal of NYPD Officers in Sean Bell Killing, Advocates Call for Special Prosecutor in Police Brutality CasesDemocracy Now - 27 Apr 2008In New York, a coalition of civil rights advocates are calling for a permanent state-level special prosecutor to handle police brutality cases following the acquittal of three NYPD detectives in the killing of Sean Bell. The 23-year-old Bell died in a hail of fifty police bullets on the morning of what would have been his wedding day in November 2006. Two of his friends were also injured in the shooting. All three men were unarmed. We speak with Sanford Rubinstein, the attorney representing Sean Bell’s fiancee Nicole Paultre-Bell and with Jessica Sanclemente, the co-coordinator of People’s Justice.
Headlines for April 28, 2008Democracy Now - 27 Apr 2008NYPD Officers Acquitted in Killing of Sean Bell, Afghan President Karazi Survives Assassination Attempt, Bush Administration Claims It Can Ignore Anti-Torture Laws, Human Rights Groups Push For Trial of Rumsfeld, Pentagon Admits Planning Potential Military Action Against Iran, Adm. Mullen Claims N.Korea-Syrian Nuke Link, Palestinian Family killed in Israeli Shelling, Green Zone Hit by 10 Rockets or Mortars, U.S. Firm Builds Amusement Park And Zoo Near Green Zone, U.S. Sergeant Acquitted in Killing of Unarmed Iraqi, Pentagon Suspends Briefings for Retired Military Officers, 27 UN Agencies Meet to Tackle Global Food Crisis, Profits Soar for Global Agribusinesses & Speculators, Truckers Protest Rising Fuel Costs in D.C., Bush to Veto Democratic Plan to Help Homeowners, Canadian Police Arrest Five Mohawk Protesters, Saudi Blogger Released After Four Months In Prison
Mother, four children amongst victims of Israeli Gaza strikeElectronic Intifada - 27 Apr 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rIsraeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed four children and their mother when they shelled their home in Ezbet Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip today. Another man was killed in the attack which occurred during an IOF incursion in different parts of the town of Beit Hanoun. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights’ monitoring finds that the IOF stepped up their aggression on Gaza.
Book review: “Not Everyone Can Throw Stones”Electronic Intifada - 27 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn his Dutch-language book launched in the Netherlands last week, The Electronic Intifada co-founder Arjan El Fassed demonstrates how his life is deeply entwined with Palestine. Not Everyone Can Throw Stones tells the history of El Fassed’s life in the Palestinian Diaspora in a personal, moving and tense style. Contributor Adri Nieuwhof reviews for The Electronic Intifada.
West Bank farmers face ruin after trees uprootedElectronic Intifada - 27 Apr 2008JEET, WEST BANK, 27 April (IRIN) – It was difficult for 87-year-old Jamil Khader to discover that nearly all of the 1,400 olive trees his extended family planted in February had suddenly gone missing, having been uprooted and stolen. “He became very ill when I told him. He was hospitalized and was in bed for a week,” his son Khalil, from the small town of Jeet in the northern West Bank, told IRIN.
