News Releases

  • Pinochet’s Release

    JOYCE HORMAN Joyce Horman is the widow of Charles Horman. Along with another U.S. citizen, Frank Teruggi, he was detained and murdered in September 1973 in the days following Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s bloody military coup backed by the U.S. government. She has worked to uncover the facts about his murder for more than 26 years. Today she said: “With this decision to allow Pinochet to go to Chile rather than face justice in Spain, it becomes even more important to press the U.S. intelligence agencies to release the remaining documents they have on the cases of Charles Horman and Frank…


  • Religion and Politics

    REV. JIM WALLIS Editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine, Rev. Wallis said: “Al Gore and George W. Bush have talked about how much Jesus influenced them. The question has been whether that’s an appropriate thing for a candidate to talk about. It is very appropriate for a candidate to speak of their personal faith — if they say what it means in relation to public policy issues. So what would Jesus say about poverty in the midst of prosperity? What would Jesus say about 44 million Americans without health insurance?…. Talking about whether Bush’s speech at Bob Jones University will affect how…


  • Bradley and McCain: Insurgents?

    MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD Editor of The Progressive, Rothschild said: “Bradley doesn’t represent a real alternative to Gore or McCain or Bush. He supports the death penalty. He favors tougher sanctions on Iraq. Along with Gore, he has been a leading proponent of NAFTA and the World Trade Organization; and he, like Gore, has carried water for the pharmaceutical companies. Bradley’s health plan is a far cry from universal care, and he leaves the insurance companies firmly in command. He voted for aiding the contras in 1986. Bradley — like Gore, McCain and Bush — is for bloated Pentagon spending and has…


  • Scientist’s Resignation Raises Questions About Nuclear Policy

    A month ago, Andreas Toupadakis held a classified position at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. But he resigned his post, voicing criticisms of U.S. nuclear policy. Interviews are available with Dr. Toupadakis and other nuclear policy analysts: ANDREAS TOUPADAKIS Prior to joining the staff at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s “Stockpile Stewardship” program on nuclear weapons, Toupadakis worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Shortly after resigning, he issued an open letter which reads in part: “I have seen how easy it is for nuclear contamination to occur, and how hard it is to clean it up…. Do nations possess nuclear, chemical…


  • Rising Cost of Oil… And Embargo

    WENONAH HAUTER During the last year, gasoline prices have gone up from about 90 cents a gallon to $1.36, while crude oil has gone from $12 to $30 a barrel. Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy Project, said today: “Throughout the history of the oil industry, it has been plagued with sharp peaks and valleys in oil pricing. The recent rise in oil prices is completely predictable. Most of the time, oil interests are able to collude and keep prices high. But, occasionally, like last year, their cooperative — some would say non-competitive — efforts fail and prices…


  • Still “Missing”: Truth About Chile

    A front page New York Times story reported Sunday on passages of State Department documents which show that the U.S. government knew far more than it acknowledged about the murder of two U.S. citizens in Chile. Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, who supported the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, were detained and murdered in September 1973 in the days following Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s bloody military coup backed by the U.S. government. Their execution was the subject of the film “Missing.” The following people are available for interviews: PETER KORNBLUH National Security Archive senior analyst Kornbluh, who has led the…


  • Pharmaceutical Drugs: Mergers and Medicare

    Pfizer Inc. announced today that it plans to buy Warner-Lambert Co. for $90 billion in stock in a deal that creates the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company. Meanwhile President Clinton and others are putting out proposals on Medicare. The following analysts are available for interviews on these and other subjects related to the pharmaceutical industry: SIDNEY WOLFE, M.D. Director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, Dr. Wolfe said today: “This would be the 29th significant merger in the pharmaceutical industry in the last decade. There is no evidence that the economies of scale have resulted in price savings to consumers…


  • Major Foreign Policy Issues: Austrian Neo-Nazis, Sanctions on Iraq, NATO and War Crimes, Israeli Nukes

    MARTIN A. LEE The author of “The Beast Reawakens,” a recent book about neofascism and right-wing extremism in Europe and the U.S., Lee said today: “The inclusion of Jorg Haider’s Freedom Party, a movement with openly fascist roots, in the national governing coalition in Austria is one of the most dangerous developments in contemporary European politics. Holocaust-deniers and neofascist ideologues are influential figures within the Freedom Party, and its dramatic rise to power has coincided with a sharp increase in racist violence in Austria, where shocking levels of anti-Semitism persist. There is reason to be concerned about a spillover effect…


  • New Hampshire: Battle of the Big Bucks

    On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, some analysts argue that money has largely determined the front runners. GEORGE W. BUSH Raised in this race: $57,120,597. Top career patrons: Enron Corporation (natural gas), $555,275; Sanchez family (banking, oil and gas), $322,400; Vinson & Elkins (law firm), $316,950; Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (a leverage buyout firm; its founder bought the Texas Rangers from Bush and his partners in 1998), $305,150; Bass family (financed Harken Energy’s drilling in Bahrain in 1990 when Bush was a Harken director), $273,927; The Sterling Group (merchant bank), $259,000; MBNA Corporation, $244,416; Pilgrim’s Pride (poultry),…


  • State of the Issues

    The following analysts are available to comment on President Clinton’s policies and his State of the Union address: KAREN DOLAN Coordinator of the Progressive Challenge project, Dolan said: “The economic boom has bypassed millions of Americans; there’s been a widening of the gap between rich and poor. We need more progressive taxation… Clinton has missed an incredible historic opportunity to reduce the military budget and shift spending to pressing human needs.” More Information EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON Author of “The Crisis in Black and Black,” Hutchinson said: “The government has not lived up to its promises in ’empowerment zones.’ You see…


  • Rubio Refuses to Address Threat of Israel’s Nuclear Weapons

    The Washington Post recently noted: “‘There is a low boil of unease about Israel’s nuclear program and what could compel them to use nuclear weapons short of facing a WMD attack,’ said an administration official.”

  • SNAP Cutbacks and $1.5 Trillion for War: Food Not Bombs a Solution?

    McHenry said today: “I have spent my entire adult life sharing food with the hungry but this policy of forcing people already struggling to spend hours of their week just to get assistance that is not enough to provide food for the month is one of the cruelest hunger policies I have witnessed. For many…

  • Pope’s Call for Peace and Resistance and the Pentagon Protests

    They assembled on the right-hand side of the Pentagon entrance to protest, they said, the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran — a war His Holiness Pope Leo XIV declared unjust, immoral, in violation of international law, and against the Gospel. Standing or kneeling, they began to sing and pray for peace. All 27 were…

  • Israel Escalates Attack on Lebanon, Threatens Beirut

    “Trump claimed in two posts on Truth Social after his call with Netanyahu that some sort of ceasefire had been agreed to, though Israeli attacks continue in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah continues to fire at Israeli forces.“

  • Colombia Elections to Proceed to Runoff Between Left-Wing and Far-Right Candidates

    “Colombia held presidential elections yesterday. Among a field of several candidates, far-right criminal defense attorney Abelardo de la Espriella leads with nearly 44 percent of the vote while left-wing Senator Iván Cepeda of the governing Pacto Histórico party came in second with nearly 41 percent. Since no candidate reached the 50 percent threshold needed to…

  • Congress “Moves to Integrate U.S. and Israeli Militaries”

    “Buried in the House’s version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released [last week], is section 224, entitled ‘United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.’ The provision would arguably do more to intertwine the U.S. military with the Israeli military than the more than $200 billion (inflation adjusted) in military assistance Israel has received…

  • Beyond AIPAC: Protesting the American Jewish Committee

    While many focus solely on AIPAC as “the pro-Israel lobby,” a group of activists note the power of other groups like the American Jewish Committee. This weekend, these activists are protesting outside the AJC’s annual “Global Forum” in Washington, D.C.

  • Bolivia Government Demonizing Protesters

    “The chaotic Paz administration continues to give mixed messages on dialogue as it politically persecutes protest leaders and moves closer to the Bolivian equivalent of martial law. The right, the government and privileged Bolivians continue to stigmatize social movements as bloodthirsty, vandals linked to drug trafficking, although they are on the streets to guarantee subsistence…

  • Netanyahu: “Deepening” Operation in Lebanon, 31 Killed on Tuesday

    “Israel carried out more than 180 strikes across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley on Tuesday, according to local media, despite the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States.”

  • Ten Arrested at NJ Port for Blockading Israel-Bound Weapons

    “Over 30 activists blockaded the entry point to the Maher Terminals of the Port of Newark-Elizabeth, attempting to prevent a shipment of ammunition and weapons components to Israel by the vessel ZIM Virginia. The activists called for the eviction of the Israeli shipping company Zim Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM) and … the Danish Maersk –…

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