Andrea Germanos

Department of Defense Scraps Plan to Ban Cluster Bombs

“This is a profoundly retrograde step that puts the U.S. way out of line with the international consensus.”

Andrea Germanos
By Andrea Germanos
A man holds a cluster comb fragment after a Saudi-led airstrike in Yemen's capital, Monday, April 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

The Pentagon made a decision that "beggars belief," human rights groups said Friday, when it tossed out its plan to ban certain cluster bombs that leave a large percentage of lethal, unexploded munitions, which pose a significant risk to civilians. "This is a profoundly retrograde step that puts the U.S. way out of line with the international

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Aid Groups Call Saudi’s Total Blockade of Yemen a ‘Nightmare Scenario’

Yemen is the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, with 21 million people in desperate need of assistance,” said Shane Stevenson, country director for Oxfam.

Andrea Germanos
By Andrea Germanos
A Yemeni man looks at a World Food Program ship at the port of Aden, Yemen

Nearly 20 humanitarian agencies on Wednesday warned of a "nightmare scenario" after the Saudi-led coalition blocked off all entry points to Yemen, a decision that cuts off life-saving aid and compounds the catastrophe in the war-ravaged country. "Yemen is the world's biggest humanitarian crisis, with 21 million people in desperate need of

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Scott Pruitt, Notorious For Suing EPA, Enacts Roadblocks To Sue EPA

“The irony is that polluters don’t even have to sue Pruitt to get what they want. They just pick up the phone and ask,” says NRDC’s John Walke

Andrea Germanos
By Andrea Germanos
What Pushed A Senior EPA Official To Resign In Protest?

Trump's Environmental Protection Agency on Monday issued a directive that one environmental organization says targets nonexistent collusion and will make it easier for corporations to pollute. The order from EPA Administrator [and former serial EPA suer] Scott Pruitt curbs "the type of legal agreements the EPA can reach with groups pressuring it

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Iran’s Foreign Minister Rips Trump As Congress Faces Call To “Defend Diplomacy”

President Donald Trump’s decertification of the nuclear deal widened the mistrust “between the global community and the United States,” said Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Andrea Germanos
By Andrea Germanos
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, left, and Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif prepare to take their seats for a meeting, Monday, July 17, 2017, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday that President Donald Trump's decertification of the nuclear deal days earlier widened the mistrust "between the global community and the United States." Zarif, who played a key role in the 2015 deal known officially as JCPOA, including extensive diplomatic efforts with his then-U.S.

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New Report Puts Spotlight On “Ag-Gag” Laws And The Forces Behind Them

The new report, “Ag-Gag Across America”, documents rise of — and ALEC’s hand behind — the dissent-crushing laws.

Andrea Germanos
By Andrea Germanos
A Pilgrim's Pride contract chicken farm full of three-week-old chicks just outside the city limits of Pittsburg, Texas, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008. (AP/LM Otero)

A new report puts a spotlight on so-called "ag-gag" laws, offering a clear look at how these efforts to criminalize whistleblowing "are part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent." Released Wednesday by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Defending Rights & Dissent, "Ag-Gag Across America Corporate-Backed Attacks on Activists and

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Need For Diplomacy More Clear Than Ever After North Korea Claims H-Bomb Test

“It is up to the Trump administration whether they want to flip this into an opportunity to belatedly start talking directly to Pyongyang, or just continue down the beaten track of shows of force, more U.N. sanctions, and secondary sanctions.”

Andrea Germanos
By Andrea Germanos
Earthquake and Volcano of the Korea Monitoring Division Director Ryoo Yong-gyu speaks to the media about North Korea's artificial earthquake with a map of the Korean peninsular in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017. North Korea said it set off a hydrogen bomb Sunday in its sixth nuclear test, which judging by the earthquake it set off appeared to be its most powerful explosion yet.(AP/Lee Jin-man)

Calls for restraint and diplomacy emerged on Sunday after North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb capable being placed on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). A statement released from North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Institute says Pyongyang conducted the test with "perfect success" at noon local time Sunday, and

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11 States Sue After EPA Sides With Chemical Industry Against Safety Rules

‘The Trump EPA continues to put special interests before the health and safety of the people they serve,” said New York Attorney General Schneiderman.

Andrea Germanos
By Andrea Germanos
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt holds up a hardhat he was given during a visit to Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2017. (AP/Gene J. Puskar)

Eleven states filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency and its chief, Scott Pruitt, in federal court on Monday over the agency's decision to postpone implementation of a rule aimed at lessening the risk of a chemical plant disaster such as the deadly one that rocked West, Texas in 2013. "Protecting our workers, first-responders,

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