Headlines for August 31, 2006

- UN: Israel Dropped 90% of Cluster Bombs in War's Final Hours
- Hezbollah Renews Call for Prisoner Swap
- Israel Rejects Annan Call To End Lebanon Blockade
- Annan: Ending Israeli Occupation Key to Mideast Peace
- Pentagon Believes Iran Up To 8 Years From Nuclear Weapons
- Monitors Accuse Sri Lankan Forces of Aid Worker Massacre
- Chile Establishes National Day of the Disappeared
- California To Limit Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- US Tenders New Contract For Monitoring Iraq War Coverage

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Shocking Lancet Study: 8,000 Murders, 35,000 Rapes and Sexual Assaults in Haiti During U.S.-Backed Coup Regime After Aristide Ouster A shocking new report in the British medical journal the Lancet on human rights abuses in Haiti finds that 8,000 people were murdered and 35,000 women and girls raped during the U.S.-backed coup regime that followed Jean Bertrand Aristide. Those responsible included Haitian police, United Nations peacekeepers and anti-Lavalas gangs. We speak with the co-authors of the report. [includes rush transcript - partial]

Eyewitnesses Account: UN Forces Open Fire on Poor Haitian Neighborhood United Nations troops in Haiti opened fire last week on a poor neighborhood outside of Cite Soleil. We show footage of the raid, speak with a writer and activist who witnessed the raid and hear from the mother of a nineteen year-old who was killed in the raid.

Women Recount Gang Rape, Abuse at Hearing Against Haitian Death Squad Leader Emmanuel Constant Two women have testified at an evidentiary hearing in a civil case against a former Haitian death squad leader living in New York City. The suit against Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was launched in December 2004 by a group of women who suffered gang rape and other abuses from Constant's forces. We speak with the lead attorney in the case.

Public Outcry Forces Ohio to Delay Destruction of Presidential Ballots A public outcry in Ohio has forced the state to delay its plans to destroy the ballots from the contested 2004 Presidential elections. Allegations of fraud and disenfranchisement in the state continue to cause people to question the results which declared Bush the winner by a 130,000 vote margin. We speak with Steven Rosenfeld, co-author of the forthcoming book, "What Happened in Ohio."

"I Am Not Willing To Kill Or Be Killed For Something I Don't Believe In" - AWOL Soldier Refuses to Return to Iraq We hear from a soldier who is refusing to fight in Iraq. Mark Wilkerson has been AWOL for more than a year and is turning himself in at Fort Hood in Texas today. In a taped video statement he says, "I am not willing to kill or be killed for something I don't believe in. My morals said going to Iraq was not the right thing to do." I was not going to live a life of violence."

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