Today in History: Abu Ghraib torture images made public
Today in history:
On April 28, 2004, the world first viewed images of prisoner abuse and torture by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, via a report broadcast on the CBS television news program '60 Minutes II.'
Also on this date:
In 1789, mutineers led by Fletcher Christian took control of the ship HMS Bounty three weeks after departing Tahiti, setting the ship's captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and 18 other crew members adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans after attempting to flee the country.
In 1947, a six-man expedition led by Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl set out from Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a 101-day, 4,300 mile (6,900 km) journey across the Pacific Ocean to the Polynesian Islands.
In 1967, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali was stripped of his WBA title after he refused to be inducted into the armed forces.
In 1994, former CIA official Aldrich Ames, who had passed U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, pleaded guilty to espionage and tax evasion, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In 2001, a Russian rocket lifted off from Central Asia carrying the first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and two cosmonauts on a journey to the International Space Station.
In 2011, convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy Garrido, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping a California girl, Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted in 1991 at the age of 11 and rescued 18 years later. (Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years to life in prison; Nancy Garrido was sentenced to 36 years to life.)
Today's Birthdays: Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is 95. Actor-singer Ann-Margret is 84. Chef Alice Waters is 81. TV host-comedian Jay Leno is 75. Actor Mary McDonnell is 73. Musician Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) is 72. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is 65. Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin is 61. Golfer John Daly is 59. Rapper Too Short is 59. Actor Bridget Moynahan is 54. Actor Jorge Garcia is 52. Actor Penelope Cruz is 51. TV personalities Drew and Jonathan Scott are 47. Actor Jessica Alba is 44. Actor Harry Shum Jr. is 43. Singer-songwriter Melanie Martinez is 30.
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New York Post
9 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump admin fires back at claims Clinton plan to ‘smear' prez with Russia ties was disinfo: ‘No one is buying your bulls–t anymore'
WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials ripped skeptics of newly released intelligence files detailing a purported Hillary Clinton campaign plan 'to tie Donald Trump to Russia' in 2016 — after the detractors claimed the sensitive documents were themselves the product of another disinformation campaign by Moscow. 'Are we really doing this?' asked Alexa Henning, deputy chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, after the New York Times characterized the intelligence released Thursday as a likely fabricated product of Russian espionage. 'The Russia Hoax was concocted against President Trump by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, James Clapper, John Brennan, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, etc. by funding a FAKE Dossier and putting into a 'real' intelligence product briefed to Congress, the WH and leaked to the public by the spineless, gutless shills in the media. Where's that headline??' asked Henning on X Friday after posting screenshots of the Times piece alongside nearly decade-old articles from the Washington Post and NBC News bringing the same charge. Advertisement 'Not to mention it says in the recently released Durham annex and [House Intelligence Committee] report it says multiple times the Clinton emails were corroborated as authentic by the CIA,' added Henning. 'No one is buying your bulls–t anymore.' CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Attorney General Pam Bondi declassified the 24-page annex to special counsel John Durham's 2023 report on Thursday, emphasizing it showed coordination between Clinton's team and former President Barack Obama's administration to push a narrative that the 2016 Trump campaign was in cahoots with Russia during the election. 8 The files showed coordination between Clinton's team and former President Barack Obama's administration to push a narrative that the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the election. Bloomberg via Getty Images Advertisement Ratcliffe — who referred former CIA boss Brennan to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution related to Russiagate — said in a statement Thursday the files revealed 'a coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump's presidency.' CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons added Friday that 'the Hillary Clinton campaign worked to plant the Trump–Russia narrative in the press—with her direct approval.' A report by the Times initially published Thursday tried to counter the administration, saying that 'a key piece of supposed evidence for the claim that Mrs. Clinton approved a plan to tie Mr. Trump to Russia is not credible: Mr. Durham concluded that the email from July 27, 2016, and a related one dated two days earlier were probably manufactured.' 8 Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released special counsel John Durham's 24-page annex of the materials Thursday. AP Advertisement The annex, which Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released Thursday, does not show that. In 2017, the CIA determined intelligence on 'the purported Clinton campaign' — which included messages from operatives in the George Soros-founded Open Society Foundations — 'to not be the product of Russian fabrication.' Brennan also prepared a memo based on the intel to defensively brief Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-Attorney General Lynch, then-FBI Director Comey and then-Director of National Intelligence Clapper. Emails from Open Society's regional director Leonard Benardo — which laid bare a plan from the Clinton campaign to boost messaging 'about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections' in order to 'distract people from her own missing emails' probe — was also considered 'likely authentic' by the FBI. Advertisement 8 '[I]t will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,' Benardo was quoted as writing in a July 25 email. Chairman Grassley '[I]t will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,' Benardo was quoted as writing in a July 25 email. 'Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.' On July 27, Benardo apparently authored another email stating: 'HRC approved Julia's idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level,' in seeming reference to a state-sponsored doping campaign by Russia following the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. 'We now know from the recent declassification that just days before the FBI launched Crossfire Hurricane, Russian intelligence reported on Clinton allies accurately predicting that FBI would 'put more oil into the fire,'' said Lyons on Friday. 'That's no coincidence, and any objective observer can see that.' FBI analysts and officers interviewed by Durham's office 'who were well versed in the Sensitive Intelligence collection, stated that their best assessment was that the Benardo emails were likely authentic,' the annex assessed, adding that investigators were 'unable to locate' identical copies. Some FBI analysts also said 'it was possible, however, that the Russians might have fabricated or altered purported U.S. emails.' 8 On July 27, Benardo apparently authored another email. Chairman Grassley But Comey's FBI never fully vetted the accuracy of the information because it wasn't deemed 'credible' enough. Advertisement Comey later testified to Congress that the conclusion prompted his July 2016 announcement of the closure of a probe into Clinton's deletion of more than 30,000 emails from a private server. In 2020, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence informed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that it did not 'know the accuracy' of the files. 8 In 2017, the CIA determined the intelligence was 'not be the product of Russian fabrication.' REUTERS Durham's 'best assessment' was that the 'emails that purport to be from Benardo were ultimately a composite of several emails that were obtained through Russian intelligence hacking of the U.S.-based Think Tanks, including the Open Society Foundations, the Carnegie Endowment, and others.' Advertisement His office could not 'determine definitively whether the purported Clinton campaign plan … was entirely genuine, partially true, a composite pulled from multiple sources, exaggerated in certain respects, or fabricated in its entirety.' Benardo told Durham's team that 'to the best of his recollection, he did not draft the emails.' 8 Brennan prepared a memo based on the intelligence to defensively brief Obama. AP A rep for Open Society Foundations said in a statement: 'We are a nonpartisan organization and do not engage in political campaign activity. These accusations are not just reckless, they are dangerous.' Advertisement Biden's future national security adviser Jake Sullivan, when consulted by Durham's team, said he 'could not conclusively rule out the possibility' of a Clinton plan to spread claims of Russian collusion with Trump's campaign team. Clinton's former foreign policy adviser Julianne Smith, who told The Post, 'I don't have any comment,' when reached by phone Thursday, told Durham's team that 'she neither drafted nor recalled receiving' the information. Smith added it was 'possible someone proposed an idea of seeking to distract attention from the investigation into Secretary Clinton's use of a private email server, but she did not specifically remember any such idea.' 8 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said 'the Obama Administration sought to delegitimize the 2016 election … subverting the will of the American people and enacting essentially a years-long coup.' AP Advertisement Texts and emails unearthed by Durham showed that Smith had communicated with other Clinton campaign foreign policy advisers about whether the FBI or other Obama agencies would 'aid that effort … by commencing a formal investigation of the DNC hack.' The former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential contender, whose office did not respond to a request for comment, didn't deny the existence of such a plan and told Durham's office the files 'looked like Russian disinformation to [her].' FBI Director Kash Patel found the intel files — along with thousands of others — stored in 'burn bags' at the bureau's headquarters in Washington, DC, a source told The Post, and said the highly classified contents contained 'evidence that the Clinton campaign plotted to frame President Trump and fabricate the Russia collusion hoax.' 'They're trying to cover their hind end,' Grassley charged on Fox News' 'America's Newsroom' Thursday of the parties privy to the so-called 'Clinton plan.' 8 FBI Director Kash Patel found 'burn bags' at the bureau's HQ that contained the 'evidence that the Clinton campaign plotted to frame President Trump and fabricate the Russia collusion hoax.' Ron Sachs/CNP / 'The cover up was so bad,' the Iowa Republican later said on Newsmax's 'The Record with Greta van Susteren.' 'Some of these documents, emails and thumb drives were in trash bags, or what you call 'burn bags.' That's where the FBI found them,' he added. 'So doesn't that tell you something about the deep state here in this city of Washington — an island surrounded by reality — that they'd do anything to cover up and [avoid] embarrassment?'
Business of Fashion
a day ago
- Business of Fashion
Are Luxury Brands Responsible for What Happens in Their Supply Chains?
Until the end of 2023, Z Production, a leather goods factory located in an industrial suburb of Florence, made bags and backpacks for Richemont-owned luxury pen and leather goods maker Montblanc. The items were made by workers who earned as little as $3 an hour, working 12 hours a day, six days a week, according to local union Sudd Cobas, which led a months-long campaign of strikes that succeeded in securing better hours and wages at the factory for its members in early 2023. Within weeks of the agreement, Richemont's local manufacturing unit announced plans to terminate its contract with Z Production, pointing to consistent infractions against its code of conduct. Sudd Cobas alleges the move amounted to a form of union busting and ultimately led to the dismissal of six of its members in October last year. Now it is helping the workers take the Richemont unit to court, hoping to hold the luxury giant legally accountable for damages to workers in its supply chain. Montblanc contests the claims laid out in the case and is separately suing the union for defamation. The company said the manufacturing unit ended its relationship with Z Production after audits turned up persistent issues, including a case of unauthorised subcontracting. Any dismissals took place months after its contract with the supplier ended and its inspections uncovered no evidence of the kinds of labour abuses alleged by Sudd Cobas, it added. 'We categorically reject these unfounded and defamatory accusations,' Montblanc said in an emailed statement. 'The termination of the supply relationship with Z Production has, for months, been extensively exploited… based on numerous inaccuracies, falsehoods and conjectures.' The litigation is the latest move in a high-stakes debate over how much responsibility big brands should have for what happens in their supply chains. With the case, Sudd Cobas is aiming to set a new legal precedent in Italy, where roughly half of the world's luxury goods are made. If successful, 'the ruling could represent a turning point for thousands of exploited workers across the 'Made in Italy' supply chains,' Sudd Cobas said in a press release it jointly issued with Abiti Puliti, the Italian branch of labour rights campaign group Clean Clothes Campaign, earlier this month. 'It would be the first time a fashion brand is held directly responsible for working conditions within its supply chain.' Limited Liability Business Models Most fashion companies — even high-end, luxury labels — don't make their own products. Instead they outsource production to a complex and often opaque network of third-party suppliers. That means they don't have direct control, or even real visibility, over working conditions. Critics argue it also allows them to sidestep legal liability when things go wrong. Labour rights advocates have pushed against this framing for decades, campaigning to bring more accountability to a system that they argue is deeply flawed and ultimately exists to boost the profits of big, multinational corporations. It's the constant pressure big brands place on manufacturers with much tighter margins to provide cheaper, faster, more flexible production that ultimately leads to cut corners and labour exploitation, they say. Brands use 'these subcontracting companies to save money on production,' said Francesca Ciuffi, an organiser with the Sudd Cobas union. 'They externalise everything.' Regulators have flip flopped on the issue. Over the last decade governments around the world have introduced a number of policies that require companies to get a better handle on where and how their products are made, often in response to scandals like the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh and an alleged government-backed scheme of forced labour in China's cotton-producing region of Xinjiang. But often these measures have lacked teeth or been weakly enforced. Shifting political winds mean some of the most progressive rules on the table now look likely to get drastically pushed back. Litigation is seen by labour and human rights advocates as one tool to help shift the paradigm, moving the pressure on brands from one of moral accountability that impacts their reputations to one of concrete, legal consequence. Climate and human rights cases against big companies have increased alongside regulatory changes and growing investor engagement with environmental, social and governance issues. Often such cases take years and may not result in a straight win for either party. But the attention they bring to the issues and even incremental changes to the way the law is applied can make a significant difference, advocates say. 'These cases are very robustly fought by brands. Very rarely do they resolve quickly, they're always heavily contested,' said Oliver Holland, a partner at UK-based law firm Leigh Day who specialises in corporate accountability litigation. 'As cases become more common won't take as long and won't be as difficult.' Luxury Exceptionalism The case supported by Sudd Cobas comes as luxury's supply chains are facing unprecedented scrutiny. For decades, the sector has tried to pass off reports of labour abuses in apparel and leather goods factories as a fast-fashion problem, isolated to far-flung manufacturing hubs with weak worker protections. Steep prices and 'Made in Italy' labels are wielded as tools in this narrative, designed to signal to consumers that luxury products were made in tightly regulated labour markets by well-paid and highly skilled artisans. And previous scandals largely came and went, without damaging brands. But over the last 18 months, an ongoing investigation into labour exploitation in fashion workshops near Milan has exposed major issues at many of luxury's most established brands. Regional prosecutors have linked companies including Dior, Armani, Valentino and Loro Piana to local sweatshops. (The brands say that they are committed to upholding high ethical standards and the incidents don't reflect the way they operate). The scandal has proved reputationally bruising. And it's landed at a particularly unhelpful moment, when luxury's biggest players are already grappling with a downturn in consumer spending, linked in part to growing criticism of declining quality and rising prices playing out in viral posts on social media platforms. Still, the material impact has thus far been limited, While the court in Milan has been critical, arguing that luxury's links to sweatshops are the result of an entrenched operating model that ignores labour risks in order to maximise profits, sanctions against brands have focused on alleged failings in their monitoring systems and have not held them legally responsible for the way workers were treated at suppliers and subcontractors. Political efforts to address the issues have focused on developing certification programmes companies can use to prevent exposure to illicit actors. A new scheme in Milan aims to establish a database of 'good' suppliers, based on voluntary disclosures and participation. Last week, Italy's Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy announced plans to introduce a new law that would ensure the sustainability and legality of companies operating in the sector. Its aim is 'to combat the illicit labour practices of a few, which can compromise the reputation of the entire sector,' the ministry said in a statement, adding that the law would protect brands that have carried out preventative checks on their suppliers from liability. Critics argue such measures fail to address the underlying business practices that they say ultimately lead to exploitation. 'Brand reputations are safeguarded — not workers' rights — by the ethical codes published on corporate websites and the so-called system of 'audits,'' Sudd Cobas and Abiti Puliti said in their statement earlier this month. 'The conflict of interest is clear, and it offers no real accountability to those employed along the production chains.' Who Pays? With the case in Tuscany, Sudd Cobas is seeking to shift this paradigm. According to the argument put forward by the workers' lawyers, Richemont's local subsidiary was Z Production's only client and had active involvement in its day-to-day operations. The factory was in effect an 'empty vessel' for Richemont's Montblanc manufacturing business, making the luxury giant the ultimate responsible employer, the case claims. It alleges the Richemont unit cancelled its contract with Z Production because output dropped after working hours were regularised for union members. The lawsuit seeks to restore jobs and secure at least five months' salary as compensation for the six plaintiffs, who it claims ultimately lost their jobs as a result of the luxury company's actions. Montblanc said the case mischaracterises its manufacturing division's relationship with Z Production and that the six workers involved in the case were dismissed 18 months after the unit announced plans to terminate its contract, and 10 months after it stopped working with the supplier. Its decision to end the relationship was made after audits turned up 'persistent incidents of non-compliance' with the company's code of conduct, including unauthorised subcontracting, Montblanc said, adding that neither its own inspections, nor a third-party forensic audit conducted in early 2023 found evidence of working conditions like those alleged by Sudd Cobas. A judge in Florence's labour court consented to hear arguments in July. The next court date is set for December. Simone Stern Carbone contributed to this story.
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
Rose Leiman Goldemberg, 97, dies; her ‘Burning Bed' was a TV benchmark
Ms. Goldemberg was working as a playwright in the mid-1970s when she sent a few story outlines to an unusually receptive television producer. One of them, a drama about immigrants set on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1910, caught his interest. It became a television movie, 'The Land of Hope' (a title Ms. Goldemberg hated), which aired on CBS in 1976. It centered on a Jewish family and their Irish and Italian neighbors. There were labor organizers, gangsters, and musicians, and a rich uncle who wanted to adopt a child to say Kaddish for him when the time came. Such an ethnic stew was a stretch for the network, and critics loved it. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'A thoroughly charming surprise,' John O'Connor wrote in his review for The New York Times. Advertisement As a pilot for a series, 'The Land of Hope' went nowhere, but it made Ms. Goldemberg's reputation, and she began receiving stories to be turned into scripts. 'Where did you spring from?' one network executive asked her, she recalled in a 2011 interview for the nonprofit organization New York Women in Film & Television. 'As though I were a mushroom.' It was Arnold Shapiro, the veteran producer, writer and director behind 'Scared Straight!,' a well-received TV documentary about teenage delinquents being brought into contact with prison inmates, who sent Ms. Goldemberg 'The Burning Bed,' a 1980 book by The New Yorker writer Faith McNulty about the case of Francine Hughes. Advertisement Hughes's story was horrific. For 13 years, she had been terrorized by her alcoholic husband. One day in March 1977, after a brutal beating, she called the police in their Michigan town. Two officers responded and then left, saying there was nothing they could do because they hadn't witnessed the attacks. That night, the beating resumed, and Hughes's husband raped her. When he fell asleep, she doused the bed with gasoline, lit a match, and set the bed on fire. Then she put her children in the car and drove to the county jail to report what she had done. Her husband died that night, and Francine Hughes was charged with first-degree murder. Nine months later, a jury pronounced her not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. The verdict made national headlines. Fawcett, the pinup star of 'Charlie's Angels,' the frothy crime series, was already attached to the project; she had shown her dramatic chops in 'Extremities,' an off-Broadway production about a woman who exacts revenge on her rapist, and wanted to continue working in that vein. Yet the project was initially turned down by all three networks. When it was resurrected, by NBC, in one of those complicated scenarios particular to Hollywood, Shapiro was somehow left out of the production. The movie aired in October 1984, to mostly critical acclaim. (Paul Le Mat played the husband.) It was seen by tens of millions of viewers, and NBC's ratings soared, pulling the network out of third place and putting it on top for the first time in a decade. Fawcett, Ms. Goldemberg, the producers, and even the makeup artist were nominated for Emmy Awards, and the movie set off a national conversation about domestic abuse. Women's shelters, a rarity in those days, began opening all over the country; the film was shown in men's prisons; and Ms. Goldemberg was often asked to speak to women's groups. Advertisement Inevitably, as she recalled in 2011, 'someone would say, 'I couldn't talk about my own abuse until I saw the film.'' She added: 'It wasn't because of me. It was a wonderful performance by Farrah, and the timing was right. It was just a remarkable confluence of the right things happening at the right time.' Still, Ms. Goldemberg began fielding entreaties from other actresses who wanted her to write star vehicles for them, projects akin to 'The Burning Bed.' She did so for one of Fawcett's fellow angels, Jaclyn Smith, cowriting the TV movie 'Florence Nightingale' for her. Broadcast in April 1985, it did not have the same impact as 'The Burning Bed'; most critics found it soapy and forgettable. A Lucille Ball vehicle fared much better. Ball wanted a script about homelessness, and when she and Ms. Goldemberg met at her Beverly Hills house, Ball laid out her terms: She wanted to play a character with some of the personality traits of her grandmother, and named for her. Ms. Goldemberg came up with 'Stone Pillow,' a television film about a homeless woman named Florabelle. In his Times review, under the headline 'Lucille Ball Plays a Bag Lady on CBS,' O'Connor called the movie 'a carefully contrived concoction' but praised Ball 'as wily and irresistible as ever.' Advertisement Rose Marion Leiman was born on May 17, 1928, on Staten Island, N.Y. Her mother, Esther (Friedman) Leiman, oversaw the home until World War II, when she became an executive secretary at Bank of America; her father, Louis Leiman, owned a chain of dry-cleaning stores in New Jersey. Rose earned a bachelor's degree in 1949 from Brooklyn College, where she had enrolled at 16, and a Master of Arts in English from Ohio State University. She married Raymond Schiller, a composer who followed her from Brooklyn College to Ohio State, in 1949; he later became a computer systems designer. They divorced in 1968. Her marriage, in 1969, to Robert Goldemberg, a cosmetic chemist, ended in divorce in 1989. Her first television-related job was at TV Guide in the 1950s, writing reviews of shows airing on what was then a new medium. She eventually began writing plays. Ms. Goldemberg is survived by a son, Leiman Schiller, and three stepchildren, David Goldemberg, Kathy Holmes, and Sharanne Goldemberg. This article originally appeared in
