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News Releases

  • Internet: Major Issues

    Privatization, Open Access, Privacy, Copyright RONDA HAUBEN Co-author of Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet, Hauben said today: “While the Internet’s infrastructure grew up under public administration and funding, the U.S. government has set out to give away vital Internet functions to a private corporation called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Congress requested that the General Accounting Office do an investigation of the creation and development of ICANN and its contracts with the Commerce Department. The GAO report (which was ‘corrected’ by the Commerce Department before being issued on July 7) acknowledges…

  • Camp David: Deadline?

    FRANCIS BOYLE Boyle, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, served as legal advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace negotiations from 1991 to 1993. He said today: “The Palestinians have a very strong case they should take to the UN and the World Court. Everything that they are asking for — and then some — is contained in UN Resolution 181 and Resolution 194, both of which Israel accepted as a condition for its joining the UN. If Israel continues to refuse to let the refugees go home, or to share…

  • Police Brutality; Welfare “Reform”

    JILL NELSON Editor of the recently released book Police Brutality: An Anthology, Nelson said today: “On the day President Clinton addressed the NAACP, the mayor of Philadelphia was not present because a dozen or more of his officers were caught on video beating and kicking a suspect. Clearly there is a problem when it comes to policing citizens of color and respecting our constitutional rights… In the last decade we have seen millions of dollars go into beefing up police forces nationally and at this moment we have this much-lauded drop in street crime. It is time we look at…

  • Mideast Talks at Camp David

    LAMIS ANDONI An independent analyst and journalist who has covered the Mideast for nearly two decades, Andoni said today: “U.S. officials are apparently presenting a package to the Israelis and Palestinians, hoping that will become the basis for negotiations instead of international law. U.S. officials have been making references to achieving an agreement that will address the Israeli desire to end all Palestinian claims. Arafat is certainly the weak party, but he cannot accept something that prevents Palestinians from acquiring their rights in the future, especially since Palestinians are very disillusioned with the Oslo Accords.” More Information SUSAN AKRAM Associate…

  • Global Conference Getting Underway: AIDS and Drugs

    The 13th International Conference on AIDS will be held in Durban, South Africa from July 9 to 14. The following analysts are available for interviews: ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action, Weissman said today: “While Africa is experiencing an epidemic that ranks among the worst in world history, the multinational drug companies — which produce the drugs that can treat and extend the lives of those with HIV/AIDS — are focusing not on the humanitarian tragedy but on their bottom lines. There’s plenty of blame to go around for the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but certainly high up on the list are…

  • Interviews Available: Israeli-Palestinian Summit, Clashes in Northern Ireland

    SIMONA SHARONI Co-chair of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development, Sharoni — a long-time professor of conflict resolution and peace studies — has traveled with students to Northern Ireland and the Mideast several times. Some of her students are currently international observers in Northern Ireland. She said today: “There are a few striking similarities between the situation in Israel/Palestine and the North of Ireland, and the prospects for long-lasting peace in both regions. In both cases, albeit for different reasons, the United States has positioned itself as a key player. Yet, the Clinton administration and the State Department…

  • Interviews Available: Nazi Link to German Scandal, Elian and the Cuba Embargo, Sunday’s Mexican Election

    MARTIN A. LEE Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is scheduled to testify before a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday. In the Los Angeles Times on June 25, free-lance investigative journalist Martin A. Lee exposed the Nazi link to the current slush fund and influence-peddling scandal in Germany involving Kohl. Lee traces the roots of the corruption scandal to Kohl’s close relationship with Fritz Ries, an influential German industrialist who made a fortune during the Third Reich from expropriating “Aryanized” Jewish property and from slave labor in factories near Auschwitz. After the war, Ries became Kohl’s principal patron within the West German…

  • Interviews Available: Genome and Philip Morris / Nabisco

    JONATHAN KING Professor of molecular biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, King is on the board of the Council for Responsible Genetics. He said today: “The determination of human gene sequences represents the outcome of 50 years of public investment in basic biomedical research. The publicly released gene sequence data provide important inputs into understanding the biological basis of human health and disease…. Our genes were inherited from our parents through their parents and previous generations; their sequences are not inventions of corporate or any other scientists. The patenting of human genes by Celera, Human Genome Sciences and other…

  • Death Penalty

    Gary Graham is scheduled to be executed at 7 P.M. Eastern Time. The following analysts and critics of the death penalty are available for interviews: WILLIAM HARRELL Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Harrell said today: “We are outraged by the board’s failure to halt this execution. The judicial system has failed us, the Board of Pardons and Paroles has failed us and the governor has failed us. This is the greatest proof that the time for a moratorium on executions in Texas is now.” The president of the board of the ACLU of Texas, Greg…

  • “Prosperity and Progress”?

    Inequalities, Health-Care Coverage, Estate Tax CHARLES ANDREWS The author of the forthcoming From Capitalism to Equality, Andrews said today: “Before we celebrate the economy’s alleged prosperity and progress, we should tally the exhaustion it is causing. The average husband-and-wife family works six hours today for every five hours worked in 1979. The percentage of employees who work 49 hours a week or more rose from 13 percent in 1976 to 20 percent today. If there is a bit of prosperity today in our role as consumers, the deeper truth is that today’s economy consumes people’s lives.” SARA NICHOLS National spokesperson…

  • As Israel “Fires at Anyone Who Moves”

    We wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them. We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot fathom why…

  • America First Legal Foundation

    Reuters reported that the America First Legal Foundation, a nonprofit right-wing litigation group, is advancing a legal theory that would allow judges to throw out election results over “failures or irregularities” by local officials. 

  • Follow the Money: Peter Thiel and Menstrual Monitoring

    In a new report, Democracy Labs followed the money to connect the dots between J.D. Vance, Peter Thiel, Project 2025, and the push to monitor women’s menstrual cycles. 

  • Billions for Israeli Attacks as Hurricane Relief Efforts Face Shortfall

    The U.S. government has cited these commercial ties as one of the reasons why the U.S. should continue to supply foreign militaries, including the Israeli military, with weapons and equipment.

  • Two Attacks on Free Speech of Activists Against Israel’s Onslaught 

        Barmada, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and organizer of the peace vigil, said, “we know Blinken and his security detail do not want us there. But it is disgraceful that the State Department can barge into an official court proceeding in which they are not involved and derail a legal outcome. This abuse…

  • Israeli Attack on Iraqi Nuclear Facility *Began* Iraq’s Weapons Program

    “I worked on the pre-1981 nuclear program and I was certain it would not be used for military purposes. But after the 1981 bombing, we were so angry that we were ready to work on a military program. The Israeli attack didn’t end the nuclear weapons program, it began it.”

  • “Escalate to De-escalate”: What Led Iran to Attack Israel

    “’After a string of assassinations and other Israeli escalations in recent weeks, Iran is trying to create a new deterrence equilibrium. They are saying that we can still hit you, and we can hit you hard,’ said Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy. ‘Iran is actually trying to “escalate…

  • From Lebanon: A Million Displaced

    HANADY SALMAN, [email protected]     Salman is a journalist based in Beirut. She contributed to the book Inside Lebanon with Noam Chomsky and others, based on Chomsky’s visit to Lebanon just before the 2006 invasion by Israel. The film “Letters from Beirut: the War of 33” is based on her writings. See her writings in Jadaliyya. 

  • U.S. Bombs Killed “Pragmatic” Nasrallah

    “Just after daybreak on Monday, dozens of U.S.-made warplanes began raining bombs and missiles on Lebanon, killing more than 550 people and injuring 1,800 in the hours that followed. By day’s end, Israel had carried out one of the most intense aerial bombardments in modern history. The Israeli fighter jets were sent by the government…

  • The Uninsured: New Census Data

    Though former President Donald Trump criticized the Affordable Care Act during the most recent debate with Vice President Kamala Harris and said he would like to replace it, newly released Census data from the American Community Survey demonstrates the ACA’s progress in helping more Americans get health insurance. In 2023, the uninsured population declined for…

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