Wikinews:Briefs/October 22, 2007

The time is 6:30 UTC and this an Audio Wikinews Brief for Monday, October 22, 2007.

Cheney warns of 'serious consequences' of Iran's nuclear ambitions
In a speech on Sunday, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney warned that Iran will face "serious consequences" if it refuses to stop enriching uranium. In his speech, Cheney also accused Iran of being "the world’s most active sponsor of state terrorism," and called Iran's government "a growing obstacle to peace in the Middle East."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said today that Iran's nuclear policies are "unalterable" and that terminating Iran's nuclear program "isn't on the agenda and won't be." Iran maintains that it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, a position that has been backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Turkey preparing for incursion into Iraq after PKK militants kill 17 soldiers
As many as 17 Turkish soldiers were killed and 16 were injured in an ambush on Sunday after Iraqi Kurdish militants (PKK) attacked the patrol in Hakkari Province on the Iraq-Turkey border. As a result, a large battle erupted and at least 32 Kurdish militants were killed.

Turkey has been building up troops along its border with Iraq with reports suggesting as many as 60,000 are currently stationed there. On Wednesday, Turkey approved a measure that authorized sending troops into Iraq to take out PKK militants, but on Sunday an official said that the incursion into Iraq was not urgent.

The U.S. and Iraq have stated repeatedly that they are against any military action against the PKK and believe that it would cause even more instability in the region.

Leaders in the Kurdish controlled areas of Iraq state that any attack on them would be met with retaliation.

First non-white Governor elected in Louisiana in over 100 years
On Saturday, it was announced that the first non-white Governor had been elected for the State of Louisiana in the United States in over 100 years. He is also the youngest Governor ever elected in Louisiana.

Bobby Jindal, 36, an Indian-American and Republican, won the election receiving 54% of the votes, with the nearest opponent, Walter Boasso having only 18% of all votes. Jindal plans to improve education throughout the state and cut taxes.

Interestingly, the local and statewide results from Louisiana's primary election yesterday have cast doubt upon the theory that the Republican Party was injured politically from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Teacher sexual misconduct rampant in American schools, says AP
An Associated Press investigation published Sunday revealed findings of more than 2,500 cases of sexual misconduct from minor to extreme types, by educators in the American educational system over a five year period.

Investigations suggest that many cases of sexual abuse are never reported, and those that are reported often do not lead to punishment for the offender. The cases do not always include enough evidence, and for this as well as other reasons the schools, courts, state governments, and federal governments cannot be sure that they are keeping sexual deviants out of teaching.

Certain academic studies estimate that only about 10 percent of victimized children report sexual abuse of any kind to a person who can take action to help them but when reported, teachers, administrators and some parents frequently cannot recognize the warning signs of a crime.

The full report is available online.

This has been an Audio Wikinews brief and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license at http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/