Black farmers sue Agriculture Dept.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Black farmers sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sept. 9 with claims that the government discriminates against them in loans and farm programs — allegations that also were at issue in a sweeping civil rights case settled five years ago.
Hotel workers fight employer takeaways
LOS ANGELES (PAI) — Beset by employers demanding givebacks, hotel workers in Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco took to the streets in August and September, culminating in arrests in the latter city on Labor Day.
International notes
Nigeria: Anti-union law passes / Northern Mariana Islands: Military engineers dig in / Mexico: Unions protest social security ‘reform’ / Haiti: Lavalas aids the poor / Afghanistan: Former mujahedeen run in election
U.S. gave cash to anti-Chavez groups
Documents recently obtained from the U.S. Department of State under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by www.venezuelafoia.info demonstrate that more than $5 million annually during the past two years was given by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to various organizations in Venezuela, many of which are aligned with the opposition to President Hugo Chávez.
Cubans mobilize to counter Ivans wrath
Three days before Hurricane Ivan grazed Cuba, U.S. journalist Karen Wald heard from a Cuban friend: “Everything is crazy with Ivan coming. This is a war situation here. … People are really scared.”
Schoolchildren protest Israels apartheid wall
A-RAM, West Bank — More than a thousand Palestinian schoolchildren, boys and girls from age 6 to 14, wearing their school uniforms and carrying books and supplies, demonstrated here on Sept. 13 in the shadows of the 15-foot-high concrete “separation barrier” that is being built in this bustling town of 60,000 near East Jerusalem.
A wife fights for her husbands freedom
TAMPA — The Bill of Rights guarantees persons accused of a crime a speedy trial, but Sami Al-Arian and his seven co-defendants have been in federal prison a year-and-a-half and their trial is not scheduled until next year at the earliest.
National Clips
ST. LOUIS: GOP kills assault weapons ban / JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ky.: Education workers vow to strike for health care / BIRMINGHAM, Ala.: Female inmates strip searched / WASHINGTON: Gay Republicans withhold endorsement
Abortion ban struck down for third time
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kopf, ruling in Carhart v. Ashcroft, joined two other judges in finding that the so-called “Partial Birth Abortion Ban,” passed by Congress and signed into law by George W. Bush in 2003, is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced.
Calif. official joins suit against Diebold
SAN FRANCISCO — Amid growing nationwide concerns about assuring the integrity of the vote in November, developments in California are highlighting vote integrity issues in the state.
