Current Events
Current Events
'Red Ken' elected London mayor despite Blair opposition
Ken Livingstone, dubbed "Red Ken" for his leftist views, became London's first-ever elected mayor, dealing Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair a grating blow three years into his government's rule. CNN reports: 5.5.00
US forces expel protesters from Puerto Rican bombing range
In a pre-dawn raid Thursday morning hundreds of US Federal Marshals, FBI agents and military forces forcefully expelled more than 140 protesters who were occupying a US Navy bombing range on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. Protesters had been occupying Camp Garcia on the facility for 380 days, demanding that the Pentagon stop using the island as a bombing range and return the land to civilian use. World Socialist Website Reports: 5.5.00
The killing of Patrick Dorismond: New York police violence escalates in wake of Diallo verdict
Less than one month after the acquittal of four New York City police officers in the fatal shooting of Amadou Diallo, new acts of murderous violence by the city's police force have made it clear that the fusillade that felled the West African immigrant in the Bronx was no aberration. World Socalist Website Reports; 3.22.00
Truckers converge on Washington to seek fuel price relief
Hundreds of independent truckers, seeking relief from fuel prices that have more than doubled in the past year, began converging on the nation's capital again Thursday -- the second such effort in less than a month to lobby members of Congress. CNN reports, 3.16.00
The Los Angeles police scandal and its social roots
this is a 4 part series reported be the world socalist website.
part 1 of the report 3.13.00
part 2 of the report 3.14.00
part 3 of the report 3.15.00
part 4 of the report 3.16.00
There They Go Again: The Washington Post's Iraq Tall Tale
Since January 1999, the Washington Post has spun a tall tale about the 1998 collapse of U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq and the U.S.-British airstrikes that followed. Not only has the Post rewritten Iraqi history, but the paper's new version of events contradicts its own coverage from the time of the airstrikes. Despite running several letters to the editor pointing out the mistake, the paper has repeated the error again and again. How many times can one newspaper get the same fact wrong? FAIR reports: 3.8.00
South Dakota: Stop Abuses of Detained Kids
Since the death of a fourteen-year-old girl at the state boot camp for girls last year, a growing number of youth and their parents have come forward with accounts of egregious human rights abuses in South Dakota's juvenile detention facilities. These accounts charge that guards shackle youth in spread-eagled fashion after cutting their clothes off (a practice known as "four-pointing"), chain youth inside their cells ("bumpering"), and place children in isolation twenty-three hours a day for extended periods of time. Girls held in the State Training School report that they have been strip-searched by male guards, sprayed with pepper spray while naked, and handcuffed spread-eagled to their beds.human rights watch reports, 3.6.00
Mumia Abu-Jamal supporters arrested in Washington anti-death penalty protest
About 500 people demonstrated outside of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC Monday, protesting the death penalty and demanding a new trial for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Jamal has been incarcerated on Pennsylvania's death row for 18 years after being framed up for the December 9, 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. The protest was organized by the Free Abu-Jamal Coalition.World Socalist Website: an article 3.1.00
The Amadou Diallo case: The social and political roots of police violence
The four New York City police officers acquitted February 25 in the shooting death of Amadou Diallo may still face departmental trial and could be removed from the force if it is found that the shooting violated police department guidelines. In addition, Diallo's parents intend to file a civil suit against the police and the city, and the Justice Department announced, through the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, that it would review the case “to determine whether there were any violations of the federal criminal civil rights laws.”Worls Socalist website reports: an ediotrial 2.28.00
Dozens arrested outside Supreme Court in protest for Abu-Jamal
Dozens of people were arrested outside the Supreme Court building Monday during a protest seeking a new trial for a former radio journalist sentenced to death for killing a Philadelphia police officer. CNN reports: 2.28.00
Texas executes 62-year-old great grandmother Betty Lou Beets
The state of Texas executed Betty Lou Beets, a 62-year-old great grandmother, Thursday evening at Huntsville prison. Beets was the second woman to be put to death in Texas in the last two years—Karla Faye Tucker was executed in February 1998—and the fourth woman to die in the US since executions resumed in 1976.world socalist website: an article 2.26.00
Clinton pushes $1.6 billion military plan for Colombia
The Clinton administration last week intensified its campaign to win a massive increase in funding for US-directed military operations in Colombia. world socalist website: a article 2.23.00
TV documentary presents case of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal
On Wednesday, February 16 the US cable network Arts & Entertainment presented the documentary "Death Row Radical: Mumia Abu-Jamal" as part of its American Justice series. Mumia has been on death row for the past 18 years after being framed up in connection with the shooting death of a Philadelphia police officer. Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania has signed two death warrants for his execution. world socalist website: a article, 2.23.00
Run, Ralph, Really Run
Ralph Nader is running for President, and a fair number of progressives are excited by the prospect. They should be. the nation: an editorial, 2.22.00
Sources: News Links
