Now President of Cuba, Raul Castro with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela earlier this year.

• Kurdish-American Community Protest Turkey's Invasion of Northern Iraq
• Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Benefits Resigns
• Police Arrive en Masse to Break Up Protest at Miami High School
• Low-Income Americans Losing Opportunities to Register to Vote
• The New Face of the Cuban Government Begins Work
• LA Eco-Village Fights School District over Plans to Raze Housing

13 Meg Version Click Here
Dial-Up Listeners Click Here

• Israel Warns of Gaza Invasion
• Suspected Sri Lankan Rebel Blows Himself Up in House Raid
• Afghan Journalist Declared "Unlawful Enemy Combatant"
• Debt Forgiveness Package for Small Indian Farmers
• US Tops China as World's Largest Jailer

In Washington DC, about 4-dozen people from the Kurdish American community, many of whom have family in Kurdistan, protested Turkey's invasion of Northern Iraq.

(sound clip) ambiance: Peace Now War No

They delivered petitions to the State Department, intended for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.  The letters express opposition to and disappointment with the US's support of Turkey's use of military force against the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. Ismial Sindi's relatives live on the border of Turkey and Kurdistan.

(sound clip) "We are helping each other when we changed the Iraq regime so we want the United States to stay with the Kurdish because we help the United States."

This afternoon in Miami, Florida nearly 70 police cars were dispatched to Miami Edison Senior High School to break up what is being called a riot, a brawl or a peaceful walk-out protest – depending on your news source.  Dozens of students were taken away in handcuffs.

To get a sense of the situation on the ground, I spoke with Max Rameau of Cop Watch Miami.  He has been in contact with sources at the High School.  I asked him to explain the situation that led up to today's events.

(sound clip)

That was Max Rameau of Cop Watch Miami.

The Los Angeles Eco-Village Intentional Community has been fighting plans by the Los Angeles Unified School District to demolish residential buildings in their neighborhood.  The School District wants to build a new elementary school on the site of affordable Eco-Village housing.  The Village is a U.S. Green Building Council Neighborhood Development pilot program.

But the tide may be turning for the environmentally conscious community. At a third public meeting last night, the School District presented an alternative to the demolition.  Dan Fritz attended that meeting and files this report from Pacifica station KPFK in Los Angeles.

Another high-ranking Bush Administration official has resigned. The Department of Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Benefits, Daniel Cooper quit amid mounting criticism over a backlog of disability claims for injured veterans.  Reportedly, the backlog runs six months long.  Cooper also made an appearance in a fundraising video for an evangelical Christian organization where he said Bible study was more important than doing his job.  Aaron Glantz has more.

A new study by two voting rights watchdog groups shows that many states are failing to provide low-income people the opportunity to register to vote.  The study says this is disenfranchising millions of US citizens. In Ohio for instance, which votes in the presidential primaries next Tuesday, 100-hundred thousand people were registered in Welfare offices in 1995.  By 2005, that number had decreased dramatically to 40,000 people. Yanmei Xie has the story.

Cubans are witnessing historic change in their country's government. Following Fidel Castro's announcement that he would not seek re-election as president, the Cuban National Assembly elected the powerful, 31-member, Council of State to take his place.  And one of the first international acts by the Council has been to sign two United Nations human rights pacts – a move Fidel Castro resisted for over 30 years.  From Havana, Juan Jacobson takes a look at the new government of Cuba