Sunset Daily

Ferguson, NYC, Milwaukee: Protests Erupt After Officer Cleared in Killing of Unarmed Dontre HamiltonWill Guantánamo Ever Close? "Diplomaculate Conception": U.S. Helped Jailed Cuban Five Member Artificially Inseminate His WifeU.S. Frees More Prisoners, But Dozens Remain Behind BarsA Nightmare Taxi Ride: Oregon Veterinarian Jailed in East Timor After Sharing Car with Drug PeddlerJapan $29 Billion Stimulus Seeks Quick Boost for Regional Economies: Draft


Japan aims to give a quick boost to lagging regional economies and low-income households with subsidies, merchandise vouchers and other schemes in a $29 billion stimulus package aimed at rejuvenating a two-year reflationary effort, a draft of the plan showed. The draft, seen by Reuters on Wednesday ahead of its official release, also urges the Bank of Japan to hit its 2 percent inflation goal as quickly as possible, and promises to do its utmost to halve Japan's primary budget deficit in the fiscal year starting next April, to curb a runaway public debt.


A Wisconsin prosecutor has decided not to bring charges against a white police officer who fatally shot a mentally ill African-American man. In April, Milwaukee Officer Christopher Manney responded to a call about a man sleeping in a park. Before Manney arrived, two other officers had already spoken to the man, Dontre Hamilton, and found he was not causing a problem. But Manney said Hamilton resisted when he tried to frisk him, sparking a confrontation, during which Hamilton grabbed Manney's baton and hit him. Manney opened fire, shooting Hamilton 14 times. The shooting led to Manney's firing for violating policy on handling people with mental illnesses. But on Monday, the Milwaukee County district attorney said Manney acted in self-defense. The shooting of Hamilton has sparked mass protests in Milwaukee including a highway shutdown Friday which resulted in 74 arrests.


Six years after first promising to close Guantánamo, President Obama is beginning to free more men from the 13-year-old military prison in Cuba. Four Afghans were sent home this week, following six other Guantánamo prisoners sent to Uruguay earlier this month, four years after they were first approved for release. Their transfer was the largest for a single group out of Guantánamo since 2009. Meanwhile, Clifford Sloan, the Obama administration's envoy for Guantánamo's closure, has just submitted his resignation. But with 132 prisoners still behind bars, will Guantánamo ever close? We are joined by Pardiss Kebriaei, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.


We end today's show with a story of love, birth and politics -- a story some are calling "diplomaculate conception." The wife of one of the members of the Cuban Five who was just released from prison after 16 years is expecting a baby, due in just two weeks thanks to some unusual diplomatic moves. Gerardo Hernández, the baby's father, is one of the three former Cuban intelligence agents released as part of a prisoner swap amidst thawing ties with Cuba last week. While he was not allowed conjugal visits, Hernández was able to impregnate  his wife by having his frozen sperm transferred to his wife in Panama, a process authorized by U.S. officials, funded by the Cuban government and facilitated by a staffer for Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy. We are joined by Martin Garbus, an attorney for the Cuban Five.


Nearly two years ago, Stacey Addison of Portland, Oregon, began a trip around the world starting in Antarctica. But the trip turned into a nightmare soon after she arrived in East Timor. On September 5, Stacey, a veterinarian, was traveling in a shared taxi with another passenger she had never met. The other passenger asked the driver to stop at a DHL postal office to pick up a package. It turned out the package contained illegal drugs. Soon after, the taxi was stopped by police. Police arrested everyone in the car. More than three months later, Stacey is still locked up in East Timor. Her family and friends have been waging an international campaign for her release. We are joined by two guests: Stacey Addison's mother, Bernadette Kero, and Charles Scheiner of La'o Hamutuk, the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis.