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☆ Fact Check-Altered image appearing to show Hillary Clinton in Guantanamo Bay
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

An image appearing to show former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton apprehended by armed forces is digitally altered. The original photograph shows soldiers escorting a detainee in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in January 2002. Some social media users say the altered image appears to show Clinton apprehended by two police officers, walking with their backs to the photographer. It shows police escorting a detainee to their cell at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (here). The original photograph was captured in January 2002 and shows soldiers escorting a detainee to their cell in Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba.

☆ Guantanamo inmates showing signs of 'accelerated ageing' - ICRC
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, April 21 (Reuters) - Inmates who have been held for years in the Guantanamo Bay U.S. detention facility in Cuba are showing signs of "accelerated ageing", a senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday. Hamilton's comments came after a visit to the facility in March following a 20-year hiatus. There were 40 detainees when President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021. Hamilton also urged Washington to resolve the fate of the detainees, urging action to transfer those out who were eligible. Reporting by Emma Farge and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Red Cross Expresses Alarm Over Detainee Health at Guantánamo Bay
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Carol Rosenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — A senior official with the International Committee of the Red Cross issued a rare statement of alarm on Friday about deteriorating health conditions and inadequate preparations for aging prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. The U.S. military must do a better job of providing care for prisoners who are “experiencing the symptoms of accelerated aging, worsened by the cumulative effects of their experiences and years spent in detention,” Patrick Hamilton, the head of the Red Cross delegation for the United States and Canada, said in the statement. In March, Mr. Hamilton and other delegates made a routine quarterly visit to the detention facility, the organization’s 146th since the wartime prison opened in January 2002. He said the detainees’ “physical and mental health needs are growing and becoming increasingly challenging.”“Consideration must be given to adapting the infrastructure for the detainees’ evolving needs and disabilities, as well as the rules that govern their daily lives,” said Mr. Hamilton, who had last visited the prison in 2003, when 660 men and boys were held there. Today, 30 detainees remain.

☆ Pentagon’s Repatriation of Algerian Leaves 30 Prisoners at Guantánamo
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Carol Rosenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — The U.S. military repatriated a prisoner to Algeria on Thursday who had been held at Guantánamo without charge for more than two decades, as the Biden administration continues its efforts to reduce the detainee population at the Navy base. The prisoner, Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush, 52, was among about 20 suspected low-level fighters who were swept up by Pakistani security services in a 2002 raid in Faisalabad on dwellings believed to be Al Qaeda safe houses. The suspected fighters were ultimately taken to Guantánamo Bay. His release leaves only one prisoner captured in the raid still at the Pentagon prison in Cuba. Lawyers who have tried to speak with Mr. Bakush described him as reclusive.

☆ Tiny homes, big problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Daniel Geiger | Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

Beyond their star appeal, low-cost tiny homes like Casitas have real-world utility. The homes have been seized upon as a solution for cities like Los Angeles to house the homeless. They showed off their homes' transportability by hitching several of them to a Tesla and filming drag races between Teslas and trucks that were hooked to trailers carrying the homes. So far, though, after a little more than a year of building, the company has fabricated only about 400 homes. Even if it were churning out thousands of units, Boxabl hasn't yet received the certifications required to sell them in most states across the country.

☆ Bill Maher said he's afraid of Trump 'on a very personal level' and thinks Trump wants to take revenge on him
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bill Maher said he's scared about Trump on a "very personal level." Maher has often mocked Trump on his HBO show 'Prime Time.' "I am afraid of Trump on a very personal level because I don't think he likes me. In the run up to the 2020 presidential election, Maher successfully predicted that Trump would refuse to concede defeat if he lost. "If it's Biden against Trump, Biden will win – that's a good bet," Maher said.

☆ U.S. transfers two Guantanamo Bay detainees to Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 23 (Reuters) - The United States has transferred two brothers from the Guantanamo Bay U.S. detention facility in Cuba to Pakistan, bringing the total number of people held at Guantanamo down to 32, the Pentagon said on Thursday. There were 40 detainees when President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021. The federal government is barred by law from transferring Guantanamo detainees to U.S. mainland prisons. "The United States appreciates the willingness of the Government of Pakistan and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility," the Pentagon said in a statement. A total of 32 detainees remain, of whom 18 are eligible for transfer, the Pentagon said in its statement.

☆ Cuba suffers third major blackout in a week
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Cuba on Tuesday suffered its third major blackout in little more than a week, leaving a vast swath of the center and east of the island without power, energy officials said on state-run TV. The blackout Tuesday spanned 430 miles (700 km) from Cienfuegos province in south-central Cuba to Guantanamo, on the far southeastern tip, leaving more than half of the country´s population of 11 million without power. On Saturday, another blackout cut power for millions of people from Matanzas, east of Havana, to Guantanamo, an outage power officials attributed to a "human operation error." The Minister of Energy and Mines said last week that rolling blackouts would resume and last until May while the country overhauls decades-old oil-fired power plants ahead of the summer season. Cold War-era embargo on Cuba, which complicates financing and purchase of parts, fuel and capital investment.

☆ A tiny-home startup has attracted 160,000 customers, including Elon Musk. But disgruntled customers, an empty factory, and a tie to an alleged Iranian agent cloud its future.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Daniel Geiger | Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

A Boxabl Casita being delivered to a SpaceX facility in Texas. Tackling the US housing crisisStamped out on an assembly line, Boxabl homes could finally begin to help quench America's perpetual housing shortage. Homeowners, meanwhile, could rent out Boxabl units as secondary dwellings in their backyards or as Airbnbs. Firooznia, Tiramani said, sometimes provided a tiebreaking vote when the father and son disagreed on business decisions. During a tour of Boxabl's factory in December, a freelance reporter for Insider saw Tiramani's wife, Shauna, arrive with their four young children.

☆ Guantanamo Detainee Released to Belize
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Jess Bravin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Majid Khan was allegedly tortured at a secret Central Intelligence Agency facility overseas before his transfer to Guantanamo in 2006. The Pentagon said Thursday it had transferred Guantanamo detainee Majid Khan to Belize, reducing the offshore prison’s head count to 32, including 20 others who like Mr. Khan have been cleared by security officials for discharge. Mr. Khan, 42 years old, is a former al Qaeda operative who allegedly was tortured at a secret Central Intelligence Agency facility overseas before his transfer to Guantanamo in 2006. He has cooperated with U.S. authorities for more than a decade, pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges and in March 2022 completed a prison sentence reached through a plea bargain.

☆ U.S. transfers Pakistani Guantanamo Bay detainee Khan to Belize
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Idrees Ali | Thomson Reuters | National Security Correspondent Focusing On The Pentagon In Washington D.C. Reports On U.S. Military Activity | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

There were 40 detainees at Guantanamo when President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021. The federal government is barred by law from transferring Guantanamo detainees to U.S. mainland prisons. Khan told of being beaten, subjected to the simulated drowning technique called waterboarding and raped anally by objects. This went on for three years, from the time of his arrest in Karachi in 2003 until his 2006 Guantanamo transfer, Khan said. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified U.S. lawmakers about his intent to transfer Khan last year, the Pentagon said.

☆ Biden signs Defense Authorization Act, but voices concerns
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday signed the Defense Authorization Act, but he voiced concerns about several of its provisions, including one that he said could hamper the administration's prosecution of Guantanamo Bay detainees. "I urge the Congress to eliminate these restrictions as soon as possible," Biden said in a statement, referring to a provision barring the use of funds to transfer certain detainees into the United States. Reporting by Paul Grant; Editing by Tim AhmannOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fact Check-False claims Moderna CEO was executed at Guantanamo Bay stem from widely-debunked website
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An article from a website regularly debunked by Reuters Fact Check for spreading fake news articles falsely claims that Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel was executed on Nov. 18, 2022 by the “U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps.” There is no evidence to support this claim. Bancel has made public appearances and spoken publicly since Nov. 18 (here), (here). No reference to the incident exists on the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corp website (www.jag.navy.mil/news.htm) or Moderna’s website (here). Claims that Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel was executed on Nov. 18, 2022 by the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps originate from a website that publishes satire and fake news.

☆ China operating over 100 police stations across the world with the help of some host nations, report claims
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Nina Dos Santos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Madrid-based human rights campaigner Safeguard Defenders says it found evidence China was operating 48 additional police stations abroad since the group first revealed the existence of 54 such stations in September. When approached by CNN last month about Safeguard Defenders’ original allegations, China’s foreign affairs ministry said the overseas stations were staffed by volunteers. However, the organization’s latest report claims one police network it examined had hired 135 people for its first 21 stations. The organization also sourced a three-year contract for a worker hired at an overseas station in Stockholm. The NGO determines Italy has hosted 11 Chinese police stations, including in Venice and in Prato, near Florence.

K9s for Warriors, an organization that has rescued over 1,500 dogs from shelters and trained them as service dogs for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, matched Romero with Puppy — an Australian shepherd — in June. His wife, Brenda, who is a nurse practitioner in psychiatry, encouraged him to apply for a service dog. So far, O’Haire said, research based on participants from K9s for Warriors is showing that veterans with service dogs are struggling significantly less. And for those who are employed, there’s five times less absenteeism from work due to health.”But getting a service dog for veterans with PTSD is still a challenge. “The waitlist for service dogs on average tends to be two years.

☆ Republican incumbent Rep. Andrew Garbarino faces off against Democrat Jackie Gordon in New York's 2nd Congressional District election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Andrew Garbarino is running against Democrat Jackie Gordon in New York's 2nd Congressional District. NY-03NY-18NY-19NY-22NY-01NY-17 HouseRepublican incumbent Rep. Andrew Garbarino faces off against Democrat Jackie Gordon in a rare 2020 rematch in New York's 2nd Congressional District. In 2020, Garbarino defeated Gordon by a near-7-percentage-point margin in a race to replace longtime Republican Rep. Peter King. Voting history for New York's 2nd Congressional DistrictNew York's 2nd Congressional District includes the South Shore of Suffolk County and a section of Nassau County. His challenger, Gordon, has raised $1.6 million, spent $1.57 million, and has $56,000 still left to spend, as of October 19.

☆ Immigration and rights groups ask Biden administration not to send Haitian migrants to Guantanamo facility
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

More than 280 immigration, faith-based and rights groups sent a letter to the Biden administration on Friday asking it not to send Haitian migrants interdicted at sea to Guantanamo Bay or a third-party country. The groups were responding to a Sunday report by NBC News that the White House's National Security Council had asked the Department of Homeland Security to model scenarios in case of a surge of Haitian migrants. The groups who signed the letter, led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance, urged the Biden administration to instead allow Haitians to be removed from dangerous vessels at sea and taken to the U.S. to claim asylum. The administration must not under any circumstances send asylum seekers and migrants to the notorious Guantánamo Bay or other offshore detention locations,” the groups said. Similar criticism arose in September 2021 after the Biden administration began mass deportations of Haitian asylum seekers who crowded by the thousands under an international bridge in Del Rio, Texas.

☆ With a possible surge of Haitian migrants ahead, the Biden admin weighs holding them in a third country or Guantanamo
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

For more than 30 years, Guantanamo Bay has had a Migrant Operations Center that houses migrants picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Caribbean. Planning now under consideration would roughly double the capacity at the Migrant Operations Center to 400 beds, according to the document. The Biden administration received bipartisan criticism for its handling of a massive flood of Haitian migrants in September 2021, which led to more than 12,000 massing under an international bridge in Del Rio, Texas. The Biden administration ramped up deportation flights to deal with the influx, but so far those flights have halted since August 2022. A spokesperson for the NSC said, “The United States remains committed to supporting the people of Haiti.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center was released and “reunited with his family” in Pakistan, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday. “We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family,” the statement said. The Pentagon said in a statement Saturday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had “notified Congress of his intent to repatriate Saifullah Paracha to Pakistan” last month. Following Paracha’s release, 35 detainees remain in Guantanamo Bay and 18 have been cleared for release, according to Amnesty International. The most high-profile prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay prison is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

☆ Pakistani returns home after 18 years of U.S. detention in Guantanamo prison camp
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct 29 (Reuters) - A Pakistani national held by the United States for 18 years in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp without trial on suspicion of links to al Qaeda returned home to Pakistan on Saturday, Pakistan and the United States said. "We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement. At 75, he was the oldest inmate at the camp, according to Reprieve, a London-based human rights group that worked on his case. It said in a statement that Paracha's continued detention was no longer necessary to protect against a "significant threat" to the security of the United States. The Defense Department said 35 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay, of whom 20 are eligible for transfer and three for a Periodic Review Board.

☆ Activist groups call on T-Mobile to stop providing cell service to the Guantánamo Bay prison site
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Caroline Haskins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

T-Mobile had at least 11 contracts providing service to the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base and prison. Almost 800 people have been imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay since the prison opened in 2002. At least 11 of these contracts, according to research conducted by the coalition and shared with Insider, are for providing cell service to the Guantánamo Bay prison site. T-Mobile's Guantánamo Bay contracts are worth a meager amount compared to its other contracts worth more than a million a piece. The US has held almost 800 people in the Guantánamo Bay prison, often without being charged with a crime, since it opened in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks.

☆ Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court, in a bipartisan vote
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-07 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Jackson makes history as the first Black woman to become a Supreme Court justice. The 51-year-old jurist currently serves on the second-most powerful court in the country, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, often considered a launchpad to the Supreme Court. Biden appointed her to that seat a year ago, which, at the time, sparked rumors that she would make the shortlist if a Supreme Court vacancy arose. In her opening statement, she pledged to "support and defend the Constitution" if confirmed to the Supreme Court.

☆ A leaked video exemplifies what Black migrants endure in US detention centers
▼ + stars: | 2022-03-26 | by ( John Washington | José Olivares | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

A leaked video obtained by Insider shows guards violently tackling a Black asylum seeker at a Louisiana detention center. Detainees and immigration lawyers say there is a disturbing and overlooked problem of anti-Black racism in immigration detention. In January, Representative Cori Bush (D-MO) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) called for a "holistic review of the disparate treatment of Black migrants." Across the state, eight new immigration detention centers have been opened in the past three years – all privately run. In just Texas and Louisiana, 11 separate facilities in recent years have shifted from prisons or jails to immigration detention centers.

Persons: Brandon, Sarah Loicano, Loicano, he'd, Anna Watts, They're, Allen Morris, Morris, he's, —, Cori Bush, Cory Booker, Romelia Solano, Solano, wasn't, It's, Eunice Cho, Cho, Sami Disu, Trump, Biden, Joe Biden, Shah, Black, I've, Jim Crow, Winn, Sarah Decker, Decker, they're, Ellis, Rebekah Wolf, Critics, Wolf, RAICES, isn't, That's, Acheleke, Fuanya, kneeled, fingerprinted, Sophia Diez, Zhang Organizations: FIFA, LaSalle Correctional Center, Salvadoran, Brandon, LaSalle Detention, LaSalle Corrections, . Immigration, Customs Enforcement, ICE, Department of Homeland Security, Office, Customs, Border Patrol, LaSalle, and Immigrant Center for Education, Legal Services, Human Rights Watch, Immigrants, American Friends Service Committee, Southern Poverty Law, Detention, Freedom, Mariposa, LaSalle Correctional, of Africana Studies, John Jay College of Criminal, Detention Watch Network, ACLU, New Orleans ICE Field Office, Winn Correctional Center, ICE Processing Center, RFK Human Rights, Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, Winn, US Naval, American Immigration Council, —, American Bar Association, Haitian Locations: Louisiana, Cameroon, LaSalle, Africa, West Africa, Brownsville , Texas, Caribbean, Mexico, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Glades, Louisiana , Louisiana, Kentucky, Black, U.S, COVID, Allen Parish, Texas , Louisiana , Arizona, Georgia, New Orleans, Asia, Angel, US, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, New Mexico, Central America, South Asia, Eastern Europe, Central, South America, United States, American, Brandon

☆ Black women in the legal world celebrate Ketanji Brown Jackson's historic Supreme Court nomination as a 'victory' for all Americans
▼ + stars: | 2022-03-03 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

The two were enrolled in the same classes, both members of the Black Law Students Association, and lived in the same dormitory building. Black women in the legal world celebrated Jackson's Supreme Court nomination, a milestone that they said marks significant progress for their representation in the legal field, but also for the country as a whole. Installing judges of diverse backgrounds can better ensure the legal system is working equitably for all Americans, Black women in the legal field told Insider. "Now when I tell her, 'You could be a Supreme Court justice,' she can look at the Supreme Court and think, 'Yes, I could, there's someone there who looks like me.'" MoveOnORG activists call for the immediate confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court on February 25.

☆ Actorul Benedict Cumberbatch crede că a fost "pacientul zero" al pandemiei
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-07 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +2 min

Actorul britanic Benedict Cumberbatch crede că este posibil ca el să fi fost "pacientul zero" al pandemiei de coronavirus, informează Agerpres, care citează DPA. După ce a analizat simptomele pe care le-a dezvoltat atunci, actorul crede, în prezent, că a fost unul dintre primii oameni din lume care au contractat periculoasa maladie COVID-19. "Eram extrem de bolnav în momentul în care toate acele informaţii despre COVID au apărut dintr-o dată la începutul anului 2020", a declarat Benedict Cumberbatch pentru The Independent. "Eram atât de bolnav - a fost pneumonie borderline", a adăugat artistul, care a adăugat că s-a luptat cu boala pentru a termina filmările şi că "a vomitat între scene". Am sentimentul puternic că Guantanamo nu îşi merită locul în lumea noastră", a mai spus Benedict Cumberbatch.

Persons: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Macdonald, Jodie Foster, Joe Biden Organizations: Independent, Cape Town Locations: Agerpres, Londra, Cape, Africa de Sud, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Guantanamo

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