Wikinews:Briefs/October 13, 2008

= Audio Wikinews Brief for October 13, 2008 =

Transcript
From Wikinews, the free news source, this is the Audio Wikinews Brief for Monday, October 13, 2008. I'm Kevin Fields, and here are today's current stories.

Zanu-PF attempts to reassign Zimbabwean ministries, MDC angered
In Zimbabwe the Zanu-PF, which until recently had complete control over all Zimbabwean cabinet posts, has reassigned control of these in a process separate from the power sharing negotiations which are taking place. This move seems aimed at giving Zanu-PF, the party lead by Robert Mugabe, control of the most important government ministries. The move will not be official, however, until approved in the power sharing negotiations. The move was an nounced yesterday in The Herald, a newspaper run by Zanu-PF, and was criticized heavily from the Movement for Democratic Change, which is led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

Bush deploys military in the US for active duty as federal response force
US President Bush deployed the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team to a new role on United States soil last Wednesday, training for dealing with national crises. Critics claim that act of the Executive Branch violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits military participation in domestic matters. The unit will be renamed the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear or Explosive Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced 'sea-smurf'). CCMRF has been assigned for year-long duty and is currently training at Fort Stewart, Georgia to prepare them for "civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios" such as security or natural disasters. The CCMRF team is scheduled to redeploy to Afghanistan in 2010, with a new team then coming back to the United States for similar training. The action has raised concerns for some citizens like journalist Naomi Wolf, an author critical of the Bush administration, who referred to the deployment as a 'coup' in a well-circulated viral video and issued Americans a call to action. Seattle reporter Amy Goodman has also been critical of the actions.

Florida officials investigating controversial MMA fight
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has started a preliminary investigation into allegations of corruption and fight fixing after mixed martial arts fighter Seth Petruzelli defeated Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson in the main event of the EliteXC: Heat pay-per-view  on Saturday, October 4, 2008. The investigation is based on comments Petruzelli made during a radio interview earlier in the week. EliteXC officials deny any wrongdoing. Petruzelli defeated Ferguson fourteen seconds into the first round of the main event fight, taking the fight on just two hours notice after Ferguson's original opponent, legendary fighter Ken Shamrock, was medically disqualified due to a cut on his forehead. Petruzelli made comments on to a Florida radio station the next day that suggested he was approached by an official with the EliteXC promotion and told he would be paid more if he attempted to fight in a manner which made his opponent look strong. EliteXC officials have strongly denied this claim, and Petruzelli himself has since backtracked on this statement  and insisted he was misunderstood. The Florida DBPR doesn't feel any wrongdoing has taken place, but is bowing to public pressure from critics and media sources.

Fernando Alonso wins 2008 Japanese Grand Prix
Renault driver Fernando Alonso won the FIA 2008 Formula One Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix on the Fuji Speedway at Oyama, Sunto District, Shizuoka, Japan. This became the second victory in a row for the Spaniard since the previously won Singapore Grand Prix. Although Alonso started only fourth, after two McLaren-Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen with Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari third on the grid, he raced second behind Robert Kubica from BMW Sauber after the leaders missed the first corner. In the Drivers's standings, Lewis Hamilton retains his lead losing two points to Felipe Massa and is five points ahead of him. Robert Kubica came much closer to Lewis, now only 12 points behind. Alonso is on a distant 7th in the provisional standings. Earlier Alonso said that he "remained realistic as it will be difficult to race the Ferraris and McLarens, but we will give our maximum to score as many points as possible because the fight for fourth in the Championship remains very close." Ferrari is now seven points ahead of McLaren and fourteen over BMW Sauber in the Constructors' Championship.

Conclusion
This has been an Audio Wikinews Brief and is freely available for copy under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license at http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/. Catch the latest breaking news on Wikinews at Wikinews.org.