2020-10-17: News Headlines

Raul Diego (2020-10-16). David Price Takes on the CIA Over Its Secret Torture Program, But Is He Asking the Right Questions? mintpressnews.com A Congressman wrote to the CIA looking for answers about his state's role in an illegal program that unlawfully detained and tortured hundreds of Muslims, but his late and limited election-time appeal smacks of political showmanship.

MEE staff (2020-10-16). Amnesty urges participants at W20 Saudi summit to speak out for human rights. middleeasteye.net Amnesty urges participants at W20 Saudi summit to speak out for human rights | Rights groups says G20 women's summit is chance to hold Riyadh accountable for its treatment of women's rights activists | Fri, 10/16/2020 – 18: 17 | Loujain al-Hathloul, Nobel prize-nominated activist, has allegedly been tortured while in prison (AFP/File photo) | Amnesty International has urged participants at this year's Women 20…

Ian Cobain (2020-10-16). 'Don't get yourselves caught': How the British state allowed its secret agents to commit crime. middleeasteye.net 'Don't get yourselves caught': How the British state allowed its secret agents to commit crime | Fri, 10/16/2020 – 22: 39 | The Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill marks the UK government's latest attempt to permit its intelligence and security agencies to break the law lawfully | In the early months of 2011, as Muammar Gaddafi and the people around him fought for their lives, significant numbers of youn…

The Alternative World (2020-10-15). The Trial of Julian Assange featuring Roger Waters, John Pilger, Ray McGovern & hosted by Miko Peled. thealtworld.com Recently, U.S. prosecutors indicted WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange on seventeen espionage charges stemming from the disclosure of atrocities committed by the U.S. armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. With global consequences directly affecting the freedom of the press, Assange stands to be extradited from the UK to trial to the U.S. under the Espionage Act. In this upcoming online event, author and activist, Miko Peled, speaks with three prominent activists who have persistently advocated for Assange's release and freedom. | Roger Waters — Cofounder of Pink Floyd, Songwriter & Musician, Activist | John…

_____ (2020-10-15). Phone Hacking & Julian Assange. strategic-culture.org Catherine Brown explores how the wrong journalists escaped prosecution in one case while the wrong one is being subjected to it in the other. | Catherine BROWN | The U.K. phone hacking scandal started around 2005 and peaked in 2012. The journalistic malpractices and illegal practices on which it focused long pre-date 2005, however, and continue today. | It came to light through the testimony of victims and the investigative journalism of publications such as The Guardian that several newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International (U.K. subsidiary of News Corp), as well as others including Daily Mirror an…

RT (2020-10-15). Jobs, virtual reality & low carbon emissions! BAE makes PR blitz for Tempest fighter jet as UK military stares at budget crunch. rt.com Seeking to secure funding, BAE Systems claims its multi-billion-dollar Tempest jet program will be affordable, create many jobs, and boast cutting-edge software and eco-friendly tech. It sounds a lot like the US' F-35 fiasco. | Once the fifth-generation jet becomes operational in 2035, swarms of drones will accompany it into combat, while its pilot will have an AI "avatar" copilot helping them focus on commanding the mission, not flying the plane. Its radar will be 10,000 times more powerful. A "virtual cockpit" will eliminate buttons and enable flying by gesture. The program will pour £35.3 billion ($45…

news.un (2020-10-15). Rights experts urge UAE to halt repatriation of Yemeni nationals. news.un.org The repatriation of 18 Yemeni nationals previously held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, should be halted, as their lives could be in danger, UN-appointed human rights experts said on Thursday.

news.un (2020-10-15). Rape is wrong but death penalty, castration, not the answer: UN rights chief. news.un.org While perpetrators of rape and other forms of sexual violence must be held accountable, capital punishment and torture are not the answer, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday.

Jon Queally, staff writer (2020-10-15). Progressives Warn Against Accepting—Let Alone Applauding—Twitter Ban of "Garbage" NY Post Story. commondreams.org "Look carefully at what Twitter is saying to justify censoring the Biden story. If applied consistently, it'd mean that some of history's most consequential journalism—the Pentagon Papers, WikiLeaks' war logs, Snowden docs, Panama Papers, our Brazil Archive—would be banned." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/twitter_banning_ny_post.jpg

Megan Sherman (2020-10-14). The Show Trial of Julian Assange Is an Attack on the Right to Dissent. globalresearch.ca Wikileaks' ascendancy has led to a revolution in publishing and politics that has been felt across the world, and was synonymous with the hope of the Arab spring. But a crackdown is now in full swing. The sudden, shocking ascendancy …

_____ (2020-10-14). Ten Reasons Why The Assange Trial Threatens Freedom Of Speech. popularresistance.org At the end of the hearings that seek to extradite journalist Julian Assange to the United States, on October 1, his defense team should have felt triumphant. Because with more than 30 witnesses and testimonies, throughout the whole month of September, they gave a beating to the prosecution representing the U.S. | If the case in London were decided solely on justice, as it should in a state based on law, this battle would have been won by Assange. | However, this "trial of the century" is, above all, a political trial, and there remains the feeling that the ruling was made beforehand, regardless of the law.

MEE and agencies (2020-10-14). Azerbaijan bought $77m worth of arms from Turkey a month before fighting. middleeasteye.net Azerbaijan bought $77m worth of arms from Turkey a month before fighting | Export data shows Turkish arms sales to Azerbaijan rose sixfold in first nine months of 2020 | Wed, 10/14/2020 – 17: 43 | Turkish arms sold to Azerbaijan include drones, rocket launchers, ammunition and other weapons that arrived after July 2020 (Reuters) | Azerbaijan bought $77m worth of arms from Turkey a month be…

WSWS (2020-10-14). Whistleblowers: Colorado meatpacking plant used threats and lies to keep potentially infected workers on the job. wsws.org Two former health screeners at the JBS beef processing facility in Greeley, Colorado after a coronavirus outbreak have blown the whistle on flagrant violations of basic safety measures by management.