Archive - Feb 26, 2008

• India and Pakistan Fight for Geographical Indicator Patent for Pashmina Wool
• Senate Republicans Allow Debate on Democratic Plans to Withdraw Troops from Iraq
• A House Judiciary Subcommittee Votes to Subpoena the Former Ohio Secretary of State about Voter Suppression
• Pakistani Lawyers Press New Government to Reinstate Judges
• Democratic Burmese Activists Flee the Interior for Border with Thailand

13 Meg Version Click Here
Dial-Up Listeners Click Here

• Native American Health Care
• UAW Strike
• More Casualties in Turkey/PKK Conflict
• Biodiversity Preserved

The Burmese government announced last week that there will be a referendum in May on a new constitution.  The document was drafted following the country's National Convention, which was convened by handpicked military representatives. The Military Junta also announced a new election will be held in 2010.

But real democratic reform still seems out of reach.  Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and several other political dissidents are still under detention. In the meantime, the Junta continues hunt those who took part in last year uprising. More than 150 activists and monks have managed to escape to the border.  FSRN's Ronald Aung Naing has more.

A new facet in the continuous tug of war India and Pakistan have over the state of Kashmir has recently emerged.  The two countries are now fighting over a Geographical Indicator Patent for high quality Cashmere wool called Pashmina.  Shahnawaz Khan has this report.

After the significant opposition victory in last week's Pakistani election, lawyers in the country are pressing the victorious politicians to reinstate the judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf.  Unrest among those in the legal profession was a key factor in the defeat of Musharraf's party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.  As newly-elected politicians try to form a new government, lawyers are campaigning to make the restoration of an independent judiciary one of the government's first orders of business.  FSRN'S Tony Cross spoke with lawyers in Islamabad about the situation.

The day after anti-war groups launched a multi million dollar campaign to highlight the cost of the war, Senate Republicans have agreed to consider measures that would diminish the US's troop presence in Iraq.  But Republicans are not necessarily interested in actual troop withdrawal; they say they will allow the debate so they can highlight the successes US forces have had in the country.  FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

Today the House Judiciary Committee held an oversight hearing on voter suppression.  Notably missing from the testimony was that of Kenneth Blackwell, the Former Ohio Secretary of State.  He oversaw Ohio's 2004 Presidential Elections and the ensuing charges of widespread voter disenfranchisement.  Democratic Congressmen John Conyers and Jerrold Nadler asked Blackwell to testify, but were reportedly turned down.  Now the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has voted to allow Conyers to issue Blackwell a subpoena.  Naji Mujahid has more from Washington.