Men Were Abused Even after Military Found Them Not to Be “Enemy Combatants” Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 21, 2014. A federal appeals court heard argument today on a civil lawsuit brought by six men formerly held at Guantánamo who were wrongly detained and abused while at the prison. The suit, one of[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 20, 2014 – 1:17 P.M. EST MR. EARNEST:  Good afternoon, everybody.  Thank you for being at the White House for the briefing today.  Surely some of you are coming back from a late-night trip to Mexico, which sounds a little more exciting than it probably was.  (Laughter.)  But[Read More…]

Federal Trial Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging NYPD’s Spying on Muslim Americans New York—(ENEWSPF)—February 20, 2014. Today, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the New York City Police Department’s broad surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey. In a summary 10-page opinion, and without oral argument, the case was dismissed for[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 20, 2014.  Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement after it was announced that a cut to the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security will not be included in President Obama’s budget for Fiscal Year 2015.  “It is great news that the President is responding[Read More…]

Appeal to the UN seeks to stop eviction of Panamanian community San Francisco, CA–(ENEWSPF)–February 20, 2014.  Environmental and human rights organizations submitted an urgent appeal to United Nations Special Rapporteurs on behalf of members of the indigenous Ngöbe community—the community faces imminent forced eviction from their land for the Barro[Read More…]

Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—February 20, 2014. The Department of Defense announced today the release of its Electromagnetic Spectrum Strategy (EMS) to increase available spectrum in order to meet growing demand from the commercial wireless industry while maintaining critical military capabilities. “The Department’s Electromagnetic Spectrum Strategy addresses the ever increasing need for spectrum[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 20, 2014.The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against travel to Afghanistan. The security threat to all U.S. citizens in Afghanistan remains critical.  This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning for Afghanistan issued on August 23, 2013. No province in Afghanistan should be considered immune from violence and banditry,[Read More…]

Vienna, Austria–(ENEWSPF)–February 20, 2014. MODERATOR: Good morning. Welcome to the backgrounder today. Thank you for hustling over here. For those of you who I haven’t met, if there are any of you still, I’m [name and title withheld]. I’ll be calling the questions today. In a moment I’ll turn it[Read More…]

Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—February 20, 2014. We are outraged by the images of Ukrainian security forces firing automatic weapons on their own people.  We urge President Yanukovych to immediately withdraw his security forces from downtown Kyiv and to respect the right of peaceful protest, and we urge protesters to express themselves peacefully. [Read More…]

BURLINGTON, Vt.–(ENEWSPF)–February 20, 2014 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today welcomed a White House announcement that President Barack Obama will not call for cuts in Social Security benefits as part of a budget blueprint that he will submit to Congress on March 4. “I applaud President Obama for his[Read More…]