Former Moscow Police officers arrested over framing of Russian journalist Ivan Golunov
rt.com | 2020-01-29
Last summer, his detention on bogus drug charges rocked the world of Russian media, leading to an unprecedented show of journalistic unity. | Now, investigators have detained five ex-police officers who are accused of fabricating the case against Ivan Golunov, a reporter for Riga-based online publication Meduza. | The former members of the Moscow Police's drug trafficking control department are currently being interrogated, according to Svetlana Petrenko, the official representative of Russia's Investigative Committee. The detainees were removed from their posts last July in the immediate fallout from the cont…
rt.com/russia/479477-golunov-case-police-arrested/

Iran is Not Responsible for US Deaths in Iraq
John Grant | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-29
Who exactly is responsible for US casualties in Iraq during the Iraq War? The question has been raised thanks to President Trump's decision to assassinate Iranian General Gasem Soleimani. On January 13, the New York Times published a front-page story about a lawsuit filed against Iran in federal court by US veterans and veteran families;…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/29/iran-is-not-responsible-for-us-deaths-in-iraq/

Putin Pardons US-Israeli Woman Jailed in Russia on Drug Charges
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-29
Russian President Vladimir Putin has pardoned the U.S.-Israeli woman that was jailed in Russia for drug-related charges, the Kremlin announced on Wednesday. | RELATED: | Israeli Defense Minister Wants Annexation of Occupied West Bank | According to the Kremlin, Putin signed the presidential decree to pardon the woman, Naama Issachar of New Jersey, a move that received acknowledgement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of their bilateral meeting. | The U…
telesurenglish.net/news/Putin-Pardons-US-Israeli-Woman-Jailed-in-Russia-on-Drug-Charges-20200129-0009.html

Spain: Catalonia Gets Set for Snap Regional Election
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-29
Catalonia's Regional Government president Quim Torra Wednesday said he planned to call a snap regional election, although he did not indicate the date, pending approval of the regional budgets for this year. | RELATED: | EU Congress Stops Recognizing Jailed Catalan MP as Lawmaker | "Once the budgets are approved in Parliament, I will announce the date of the regional elections," he said in an official announcement. | The Regional executive is currently formed by a coalition of tw…
telesurenglish.net/news/Spain-Catalonia-Gets-Set-for-Snap-Regional-Election-20200129-0010.html

'I have a tiny violin somewhere': Private schools roasted online after complaining about plans to get more poor students into uni
rt.com | 2020-01-29
Leading private schools in England have criticized plans to improve access to top universities for poorer students, saying it could lead to discrimination of rich kids based on "class," provoking ridicule on social media. | The Headmasters' & Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), an association that represents some of the UK's most expensive private schools, voiced concerns about proposals published on Wednesday by the Office for Students, the higher education regulator for Englan…
rt.com/uk/479471-private-schools-poor-students-universities/

Marital-Status Discrimination Reduces Fertility in China
Shawn Fremstad | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-29
Building on recent posts by Dean Baker (responding to NYT and Washington Post here and Ross Douthat here) that debunk the idea that there is a "demographic crisis" in China, there's also an important family justice aspect to fertility in China. Although Douthat attributes China's fertility rate (1.6 births per woman) to "cruel policy choices,"
counterpunch.org/2020/01/29/marital-status-discrimination-reduces-fertility-in-china/

Marital-Status Discrimination Reduces Fertility in China
Shawn Fremstad | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-29
Building on recent posts by Dean Baker (responding to NYT and Washington Post here and Ross Douthat here) that debunk the idea that there is a "demographic crisis" in China, there's also an important family justice aspect to fertility in China. Although Douthat attributes China's fertility rate (1.6 births per woman) to "cruel policy choices,"
counterpunch.org/2020/01/29/marital-status-discrimination-reduces-fertility-in-china/

Asylum-Seekers Are Being Abandoned in Guatemala in a New Policy Officials Call a "Total Disaster"
Ashoka Mukpo | aclu.org | 2020-01-28
In late November, U.S. immigration authorities began | deporting some Central American asylum-seekers to Guatemala under a new | policy that makes it nearly impossible for them to seek asylum in the U.S. | But Guatemalan human rights workers say that their country's | asylum system isn't capable of handling even the relatively small numbers that | have been sent there so far, and that asylum seekers' precarious status in the | country has already pushed many to leave. | "They're preferring to move on…
aclu.org/news/human-rights/asylum-seekers-are-being-abandoned-in-guatemala-in-a-new-policy-officials-call-a-total-disaster

What You Need to Know About the Coronavirus Outbreak: A Civil Liberties Perspective
Jay Stanley | aclu.org | 2020-01-28
The world is watching anxiously to see what happens with the | coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China. As scientists and public health | officials in the United States learn more about the virus, and as we all see | how bad the outbreak turns out to be, it is important that public policymaking | remain firmly centered around science. | Unfortunately, our history of reactions to infectious | disease outbreaks suggests that if this outbreak becomes severe, we're likely | to see strong pressure to the contrary. In particular, we can expect three | things: | We can expect some to | panic.: | Unfortu…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-coronavirus-outbreak-a-civil-liberties-perspective

Peru Court Orders Keiko Fujimori to Return to Prison
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-28
A Peruvian judge ordered Tuesday that Popular Force opposition leader Keiko Fujimori to return to prison for a further 15 months pre-trial detention as part of an open investigation into the Odebrecht corruption scandal. | RELATED: | Peru Elects a Highly Right-Wing Fragmented Congress | Justice Victor Zuñiga accepted the request from Attorney General Jose Domingo Perez on the grounds that the measure is "appropriate, necessary and proportionate" due to likely flight risk from Fujimori.
telesurenglish.net/news/Peru-Court-Orders-Keiko-Fujimori-to-Return-to-Prison-20200128-0019.html

Eden Place Arts Centre, Derry, Ireland
Staff | imemc.org | 2020-01-28
January 27, 2020, 7pm

Libya: UN report urges accountability for deadly attack against migrant centre
news.un.org | 2020-01-27
Warring parties in Libya, as well as foreign governments supporting them, are being urged to investigate deadly airstrikes last July which killed at least 53 migrants and refugees at a detention centre in the northwest of the country.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/01/1056052

French Yellow Vests hold large solidarity demo for Julian Assange at Belmarsh prison
Mohamed Elmaazi | thecanary.co | 2020-01-27
Members of the French Yellow Vest protest movement organised a demonstration outside of Belmarsh prison in solidarity with incarcerated publisher Julian Assange on 25 January. Two coaches with a hundred people from different French cities departed from Paris at 8pm on Friday evening and arrived the next morning in Woolwich, South East London. Corinne Henry, a Yellow Vest organiser, told The Canary that the move…
thecanary.co/feature/2020/01/27/french-yellow-vests-hold-large-solidarity-demo-for-julian-assange-at-belmarsh-prison/

French Yellow Vests hold large solidarity demo for Julian Assange at Belmarsh prison
Mohamed Elmaazi | thecanary.co | 2020-01-27
Members of the French Yellow Vest protest movement organised a demonstration outside of Belmarsh prison in solidarity with incarcerated publisher Julian Assange on 25 January. Two coaches with a hundred people from different French cities departed from Paris at 8pm on Friday evening and arrived the next morning in Woolwich, South East London. Corinne Henry, a Yellow Vest organiser, told The Canary that the move…
thecanary.co/feature/2020/01/27/french-yellow-vests-hold-large-solidarity-demo-for-julian-assange-at-belmarsh-prison/

End discrimination against women and children affected by leprosy
news.un.org | 2020-01-26
Governments must put an end to the informal segregation and institutionalized neglect of hundreds of thousands of women and children affected by leprosy, an independent UN human rights expert said on Sunday, World Leprosy Day.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/01/1056011

The Assange Extradition Case Drags on
Binoy Kampmark | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-01-25
It is being increasingly larded with heavy twists and turns, a form of state oppression in slow motion, but the Julian Assange extradition case now looks like it may well move into the middle of the year, dragged out, ironically enough, by the prosecution. Curiously, this is a point that both the prosecutors, fronted by …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/01/the-assange-extradition-case-drags-on/

Murdoch University drops suit against academic
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2020-01-24
freedom of speech Mark Tan & Alex SalmonIssue 1250 Australia Whistleblowers PerthJanuary 24, 2020Mudoch University's decision on January 13 to drop its lawsuit against Associate Professor Gerd S…
greenleft.org.au/content/murdoch-university-drops-suit-against-academic

Amendment 4 is Still on the Line. Here's What's New
Orion Danjuma | aclu.org | 2020-01-23
The right to vote cannot depend on how much money you have. That's what a federal court ruled in October, when it blocked Florida's attempt to force returning citizens

In Latest Encryption Battle with Apple, Justice Department Still Wrong
Jennifer Stisa Granick | aclu.org | 2020-01-23
The | federal government is once again trying to force Apple to weaken the security | of millions of iPhones. On Wednesday, President Trump issued a call from Davos, | Switzerland for Apple to assist law enforcement in unlocking iPhones. Last week, | Trump made the same demand of Apple, tweeting that the | company should unlock cell phones as a quid pro quo for any benefits it enjoys | as a result of favo…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/in-latest-encryption-battle-with-apple-doj-still-wrong

47 Years Later, We're Fighting to Make Roe a Reality Everywhere
Jessica Arons | aclu.org | 2020-01-22
Today we commemorate the 47th | anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the | landmark Supreme Court case that recognized a constitutional right to abortion. | In the nearly five decades since, the decision has weathered numerous storms | and faced plenty of erosion, leaving too many without meaningful access to | abortion care. But 2020 could be its most consequential year yet. | This spring, the Supreme Court will hear | arguments in June Medical | Services v. Gee and could uphold state abortion re…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/47-years-later-were-fighting-to-make-roe-a-reality-everywhere

The National Archives Doctored A Women's March Photo Critical of Trump. We're Demanding Answers
Louise Melling | aclu.org | 2020-01-22
"God hates Trump." | "If my vagina could shoot bullets, it'd be less REGULATED." | "Trump & GOP

CBP Deported an Iranian Student With Valid Visa, Defying Court Order
Carol Rose | aclu.org | 2020-01-21
Last night, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) deported an Iranian student with a valid visa, despite a federal court order prohibiting his removal. | Shahab Dehghani arrived at Boston Logan Airport on Sunday, January 19 to study at Northeastern University, where he was enrolled. Customs officials detained him and questioned him for hours, abruptly revoking his student visa, which the State Department granted after a year of intense vetting. | As CBP tried to put Shahab on the next available flight, supporters and friends gathered at night in the arrivals hall at Logan to demand that CBP stop deporting…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/cbp-deported-an-iranian-student-with-valid-visa-defying-court-order

"Fight of the Century" Looks at 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases
Ayelet Waldman | aclu.org | 2020-01-21
Liberty and equality are everywhere under attack. And that's why the work of the American Civil Liberties Union feels more precious to us than ever before. The ACLU lawyers and staff are the brave souls who suit up, blast off, and do what they can to divert and repel all those incoming meteors, or blow them right out of the sky. We admire them. We admire them the way you must admire people who devote themselves to doing, to the utmost of their ability, any thankless, impossible, and absolutely essential job. | Liberty and justice for all. We used to stand up with our classmates | every morning and timelessly…
aclu.org/news/free-speech/fight-of-the-century-looks-at-100-years-of-landmark-aclu-cases

Weekend Read: SPLC sues Trump administration over family separation policy
splcenter.org | 2020-01-10
The SPLC and its allies have filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration policy that has separated and traumatized thousands of migrant families.
splcenter.org/news/2020/01/11/weekend-read-splc-sues-trump-administration-over-family-separation-policy

Despite horrific prison stay, a mother comes to understand her addiction
splcenter.org | 2020-01-09
When Shanna Rainey was a mother to two young children, she began using methamphetamine.
splcenter.org/news/2020/01/15/despite-horrific-prison-stay-mother-comes-understand-her-addiction

Former Head of Identity Evropa Taken Into Custody for Contempt of Court
splcenter.org | 2020-01-06
Elliott Kline, the onetime leader of Identity Evropa, is in federal custody after being found in contempt of court for failing to cooperate in a civil lawsuit stemming from the violent "Unite the Right" rally.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/01/06/former-head-identity-evropa-taken-custody-contempt-court