2020-07-22: News Headlines

RT (2020-07-22). 'Nothing lawful in those barracks': 7 Italian police officers arrested over drug trafficking & torture. rt.com Italy has been shocked by a massive scandal in the wake of the arrest of seven Carabinieri officers suspected of being involved in a series of crimes ranging from drug trafficking to unlawful arrests and torture. | In an unprecedented move, prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Piacenza closed down and sequestered the local Carabinieri barracks as part of an investigation against officers operating from it. Six local officers were taken into custody and one put under house arrest. | "Nothing that was going on in those barracks was legal," Piacenza Chief Prosecutor Grazia Pradella told journalists. Only o…

patrick maynard (2020-07-21). State Dept-funded Transparency International goes silent on jailed transparency activist Julian Assange. thegrayzone.com For over a year, the West's top anti-corruption NGO, Transparency International, has not said a word about the world's most…

Andrew Butler (2020-07-21). Vivienne Westwood is the canary in the coal mine for Julian Assange. thecanary.co This morning Vivienne Westwood took part in a bold demonstration as part of the campaign to prevent Julian Assange from being extradited to the United States. | To find out more about this issue, watch our film By

Jefferson Morley (2020-07-21). The Pro-Trump CIA Man: QAnon Madness and Upward Failure. counterpunch.org Michael Scheur is a pure product of the CIA. A career operations officer, he ran the first agency task force that hunted Osama bin Laden. Scheur authored the agency's rendition program, which kidnapped suspected terrorists (and sometimes innocent people) and tortured them. He combined a deep knowledge of Islamic jihadist movements with a willingness to use illegal methods to fight them. In that regard, he was in the mainstream of the CIA.

RT (2020-07-20). Italian police bust major 'psycho-sect' that practiced child sex abuse for over 30 YEARS. rt.com Police in Italy have raided what they called a "very powerful" sect, said to be entrenched in several cities across the country, which preyed on young women — many of whom were minors — subjecting them to sex abuse and torture.

Eoin Higgins, staff writer (2020-07-20). 'Moral and Intellectual Bankruptcy': Trump Seizes on Bush-Era Torture Memo Author John Yoo's Call for Extralegal Executive Authority. commondreams.org "There is a lot of continuity between the Bush and Trump administration, including an almost limitless view of executive power." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/yoo.jpg

WSWS (2020-07-18). UK MPs submit early day motion on Assange. wsws.org The signatories have all either hitherto kept a criminal silence over Assange's persecution, or, in the case of Corbyn, McDonnell, Abbott and Long-Bailey, found their voice only after losing leading positions in the Labour Party.

_____ (2020-07-18). Trade Unionists Back Campaign To Free Assange. popularresistance.org In Birmingham, Plymouth, and Newcastle trades councils have voted to join the campaign to halt the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States where he could face 175 years in jail. | In recent weeks the three metropolitan trades councils, which are attended by delegates from all the local unions, have voted overwhelmingly to support Assange. | Even in Plymouth where a similar motion was defeated last year the National Union of Journalists' inspired resolution sailed through last week. | Both Birmingham and Plymouth meetings invited a speaker from the Don't Extradite Assange campaign to a…