Wikinews:Audio Wikinews/Transcripts/June 14, 2005

Audio Wikinews transcript – 2005 06 14 – 0100 UTC
As reported by Nicholas Gerda

June 14, 2005. This is Wikinews.

Lead Story
G8 finance ministers agree deal to relieve debts of 18 nations The finance ministers of the G8, the world's eight richest countries have agreed a deal to relieve the debts of 18 of the poorest countries in the world.

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the African Development Fund will write off all of the money owed to them by the selected countries.

The countries are Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The deal, spearheaded by the UK, aims to free up government revenue for domestic spending on things such as education and health services. Full details are not yet available but $40bn is expected to be cleared.

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Fund will write off 100% of the money owed to them by selected nations.

Charities have said that the debts of 62 countries need to be cleared if the UN wants to meet it's target of halving world poverty.

Fourteen of the eighteen countries to get debt relief are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Headlines
Lula's future in the hands of Brazilian Parliament The government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is in a severe political crisis. The crisis began after the exposure of a series of scandals which involve the Workers' Party, the Brazilian ruling party.

Last month, some men, supposedly involved in illicit negotiations with the Brazilian Post Service recorded a video which shows former Post Office Chief, Maurício Marinho, during a supposed bribe negotiation. In the tape, Marinho receives and puts in his pocket R$3,000 (about 1,259 USD) in cash. He insinuates that the scheme is commanded by deputy Roberto Jefferson. The recording was aired by the major Brazilian television stations.

Report finds FBI missed multiple chances to stop 9/11 The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) missed several opportunities to uncover and to possibly stop the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States, a report has found.

The agency did not respond to leads and failed to follow up a theory that al-Qaeda was sending its members to US-based flight schools, it said. The report by the United States Department of Justice's Inspector General said that mistakes amounted to a "significant failure".

The conclusions indicated in the report are similar to others, drawn up after investigations into US intelligence performance in the months and years leading up to the events that occurred on September 11, 2001.

The report is a year old -- but is only being released after a legal battle involving lawyers for Zacarias Moussaoui, who has been convicted of an al-Qaeda plot against the United States, but is currently fighting a possible death penalty.

U.N. condemns lack of due process in American-run Iraq prisons The United Nations Secretary-General has criticised United States handling of prisoners in Iraq, during a recent report to the UN Security Council. He said that the prisoners were denied due legal process and other rights guaranteed under international law.

"One of the major human rights challenges remains the detention of thousands of persons without due process. Despite the release of some detainees, their number continues to grow. Prolonged detention without access to lawyers and courts is prohibited under international law including during states of emergency," the Secretary General's report said.

His argument is that since the US has declared that the occupation has ended and sovereignty has been handed to the Iraqi's, it has no legal right to detain prisoners.

The US military has defended its actions, saying that it has not breached prisoners' rights under the Geneva Conventions, and is acting to process current detainees as quickly as possible.

Wikipedia Current Events

 * The 2005 trial of Michael Jackson concludes with the singer found not guilty on all counts.
 * The finance ministers of the G8 member countries agree to $40 billion in debt relief for 18 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries before next month's G8 summit.
 * Following massive protests in Bolivia, Supreme Court Chief Justice Eduardo Rodríguez is named transitional president after Carlos Mesa resigns.
 * President Faure Gnassingbé names Edem Kodjo the new Prime Minister of Togo.
 * The United States drops its objections to another term by Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Today in History provided by Wikipedia
June 14 is Liberation Day in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands.


 * 1381 - King Richard II of England met the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt.
 * 1777 - The Continental Congress adopted the stars and stripes design for the flag of the United States.
 * 1822 - Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society.
 * 1940 - Paris fell under Nazi Germany occupation (see History of Paris).
 * 1985 - TWA Flight 847 was hijacked by Hezbollah militants.

Today's fact provided by Wikipedia
Philip of Poitou, Bishop of Durham from 1197 to 1208, quarrelled so fiercely with his monks that he tried to burn them out of a church, and later excommunicated the entire chapter.

Thank you for joining us for today's segment. Join us again tomorrow for more headlines, news, facts, and anniversaries.

I'm Nicholas Gerda.

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