News Items

  • Election Reforms: Falling short

    WASHINGTON — Proponents of progressive election reform gave cautious approval to the recent report issued by a commission assigned to investigate the improvement of federal elections. Many critics, however, point to several obstacles that remain in the way of free and fair elections throughout the United States. The report, issued by the National Commission on Federal Election Reform headed by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, was presented to President Bush. Among its recommendations are provisions regarding increases in equipment standards and stepped-up federal funding for the administration of elections.

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  • Son of Star Wars: Another arms race?

    WASHINGTON — Reports emerging from the Pentagon about plans to test a “Space Bomber” are drawing accusations that the U.S. government is attempting to engage in another arms race. The bomber, a spacecraft reportedly capable of destroying targets on the other side of the globe within 30 minutes, is a key component of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s plan to modernize U.S. weaponry. The satellite is currently under production by NASA and Lockheed Martin, a leading military contractor. Pentagon claims that the bomber can cause greater and deeper ground damage from a virtually unassailable height have many critics questioning it as…

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  • ExxonMobil: Facing a boycott

    ExxonMobil, one of the biggest corporations on the planet, is now facing a boycott spearheaded by activist groups protesting the company’s policies at home and abroad. The boycott was launched by PressurePoint, a grassroots organization looking to “take real action on climate change and corporate influence,” according to Chris Doran, campaigns director for the group. “The U.S. government’s climate change policy is the ExxonMobil policy,” Doran says. “What sort of democracy do we have when one company can buy off our political process for its own gains?” ExxonMobil is a charter member of the Global Climate Coalition, an influential industry…

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  • Beyond the Ford-Firestone Uproar: Critics blast lack of regulation, accountability in SUV safety

    WASHINGTON – Recent congressional hearings probed the accountability of Ford and Firestone in many incidents where car or tire malfunctioned, causing injury or death. The hearings also questioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal government’s chief regulator of automobile safety, and its role in providing the public with adequate information. While the blame-placing among corporate executives and congressional subcommittees occurred on Capitol Hill, several analysts decried the lack of accountability being demanded of the corporations involved. Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, pointed to a lack of regulation of sport utility vehicles and rollover standards.

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  • NEWS BRIEFING WITH LAWRENCE SUMMERS, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY RAYMOND OFFENHEISER, PRESIDENT, OXFAM

    Questions from IPA appear below in bold HEADLINE: NEWS BRIEFING WITH LAWRENCE SUMMERS, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY RAYMOND OFFENHEISER, PRESIDENT, OXFAM DEBT RELIEF TO POOR COUNTRIES AND OXFAM EDUCATION NOW AWARD INTRODUCTION: MARTA ARIAS LOCATION: NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON D.C. BODY:

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  • Ten Real Reasons To Impeach Clinton

    We all seem to have lost our sense of proportion. Why are the political leaders of the United States and the major media talking of impeaching Bill Clinton for lies about sex, surely not the most important sins of his administration? If Clinton is to be impeached, why do it for frivolous reasons? I can think of at least ten reasons to impeach him, for acts far more serious than his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky or his lies to Kenneth Starr. I am speaking of matters of life and death for large numbers of people. 1. Clinton approved, very early…

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  • Autopsy Of A Disaster: The U.S. Sanctions Policy On Iraq

    For a shorter version of this timeline, click here. Myth: The Sanctions Will be Lifted When Iraq Complies with the U.N. Inspections April 3, 1991: U.N. Security Council passes Resolution 687 which states that upon “the completion by Iraq of all actions contemplated in” specific paragraphs of the resolution, “the prohibitions against financial transactions … shall have no further force or effect.” The paragraphs cited have to do with weapons inspections. Other paragraphs in the resolution have to do with “return of all Kuwaiti property seized by Iraq” and Iraqi liability for losses and damage resulting from Iraq’s occupation of…

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  • Global Coalition Pushes for Countries to Back South Africa at World Court Against Israel

    A newly formed coalition is urging other countries to file Declarations of Intervention at the International Court of Justice in support of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. The International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine convened around the urgent need for nations to invoke the Genocide Convention as a way to end the State of…

  • Bombings in Lebanon and Iran

    “A deadly attack near the tomb of Iran’s Gen. Soleimani, assassinated by the U.S. four years ago, has left at least 86 dead as per Iranian media. This is likely to escalate the already high tensions in the Middle East, with many in Iran suspecting Israeli involvement. … Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi: ‘The first…

  • South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel

    Boyle assessed that a South African victory was likely at the ICJ in spite of the presidency of the Court being held currently by Joan Donoghue, a former State Department official. He also charged the Biden administration with “aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide” and “violating the the U.S. Genocide Convention Implementation Act.” He stressed the…

  • South Africa Invokes Genocide Convention Against Israel

    “This section provides an overview of the acts in which Israel has engaged that are genocidal in character, having regard to their nature, scope and context. These acts are ongoing, and ongoing in a conflict context, where Israel is deliberately imposing telecommunications blackouts on Gaza and restricting access by fact-finding bodies and the international media.…

  • * The Lancet: State Parties to the Genocide Convention Must Act * UNSC Resolution

    “The two abstentions by Russia and the United States will further convince” much of the world that “Russia is the more worthy of their support. They are both abstaining because the resolution does not call for a cease-fire that would stop the killing. But Russia wants the cease-fire, whereas the United States does not.”

  • Beyond U.S. Isolation at UN: What’s Not Being Done

    “The U.S. government is continuing to veto and delay at the UN Security Council as Israel violates international law with its bombing in Gaza and other actions. There’s a whole host of things that should be happening under international law that are not being done. This is partly a result of U.S. government obstruction, but…

  • 20 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know About the War on Gaza

    “The ideal war for the U.S. government and the weapons dealers that have such control over it is a war fought with U.S. weapons by non-U.S. fighters. The war in Ukraine, the Saudi war on Yemen, the current war on Gaza — these risk few U.S. lives directly but enrich U.S. oligarchs substantially. …”

  • Genetically Engineered American Chestnut Trees

    The American Chestnut Foundation announced it would drop its signature effort to develop a genetically engineered American chestnut tree. The decision has far-reaching implications for the future of genetically engineered organisms.

  • Israel, U.S. Campuses, and the “Fragility of the Coloniser”

    “For the first time Israel has lost legitimacy among young people in the U.S. Zionists are losing the argument. With their usual propaganda no longer effective, they have turned to the blunt imposition of power, censoring and penalising any expression of support for Palestinian freedom.”

  • Biden Threatens Houthis in Yemen as They Try to Force Israeli Ceasefire

    “Yemen has been under a U.S.-supported, Saudi-led blockade for over eight years and Gaza is under siege. The results have been horrific. Yet no one cared and now, a military coalition is coming to aid Apartheid Israel while it is committing Genocide in Gaza.”

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