2020-03-25: News Headlines

WSWS (2020-03-26). Johnson's "herd immunity" strategy and the London Conference on Intelligence whitewash: Britain's ruling class and eugenics. wsws.org Innumerable posts on social media have drawn the connection between the reactionary ideology of eugenics and the British government's criminally delayed and negligent response to the pandemic.

RT (2020-03-25). Julian Assange denied bail by London court. rt.com WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been denied bail by a London court after his lawyers argued that the Covid-19 pandemic posed a serious threat to his health in light of his pre-existing conditions. | Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that the global pandemic "does not provide grounds" for Assange's release. | Also on rt.com | | The judge also cited Assange's "past conduct" which she said "shows the lengths he is prepared to go to avoid extradition…

Staff (2020-03-25). Calls Grow for Sen. Burr to Resign After He Sold $1.7 Million in Stocks & Downplayed COVID-19 Risks. democracynow.org Calls are growing for Republican Senator Richard Burr to resign after he reportedly sold up to $1.7 million worth of stocks after receiving privileged briefings about the coronavirus's threat to the global economy. ProPublica reports Burr, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, unloaded his holdings on February 13 in 33 separate transactions. At the time, he had access to classified information about the coronavirus and was receiving daily intelligence briefings. The stock market began plummeting a week after Burr's sales and has since lost about 30% of its value. We speak with Derek Willis of ProPublica…

RT (2020-03-25). Pompeo's focus on blaming China for coronavirus derails joint G-7 statement. rt.com G-7 leaders reportedly balked at US insistence that Covid-19 be called the 'Wuhan virus' and blaming China for a "disinformation campaign" about it, letting the group's conference call end without a joint statement. | Following the hours-long teleconference with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK — since the physical meeting of the group has been canceled due to the pandemic — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured reporters that everyone was on board with his view of things. | "Every one of the nations that were at that meeting this morning was deeply aware of the di…

Yanis Varoufakis (2020-03-25). Last night Julian Assange called me. Here is what we talked about. zcomm.org Whether the epidemic helps deliver the good or the most evil society will depend, of course, on us — on whether progressives manage to band together…

teleSUR (2020-03-25). British Court Refuses Julian Assange's Bail Plea. telesurenglish.net The founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange will not be let out of a London Prison amid the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the British court announced on Wednesday. | RELATED: | The Westminster Magistrates' Court in London has rejected a plea from the Assange defense team that called on the British authorities to release the Wikileaks founder from the high-security Belmarsh prison. | Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who is overlooking the Assang…

teleSUR (2020-03-25). Turkey Prosecutor Indicts Saudi Suspects for Khashoggi Killing. telesurenglish.net Istanbul prosecutors said Wednesday they had prepared an indictment against 20 suspects over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, including a close aide to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and a former deputy head of general intelligence. | RELATED: | The indictment accuses former deputy head of Saudi Arabia's general intelligence Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani…

Scott Ritter (2020-03-25). The Staggering Collapse of U.S. Intelligence on the Coronavirus. globalresearch.ca The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the United States unlike any other event in recent history, proving to be far more disruptive to American society, and far most damaging to the U.S. economy, than even the events of 9/11. | The U.S. …

yenisafak (2020-03-25). Knesset speaker announces sudden resignation in Israel. yenisafak.com Speaker of the Knesset (Israel's parliament) Yuli Edelstein announced a sudden resignation on Wednesday, hours before a deadline set by the Supreme Court for him to elect a successor. | "I hereby resign from my position as speaker of the Knesset," Edelstein, a prominent member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, said in a resignation speech to the Knesset. | Edelstein argued that the court decision "destroys the work of the Knesset". | "The Supreme Court decision constitutes a gross and arrogant intervention of the judiciary in the affairs of the elected legislature. The Supreme Court decision inf…

Zero Hedge (2020-03-25). Deflection: Pompeo Issues '5 Facts' Claiming Iran Exported COVID-19 To "At Least 5 Countries" iranian.com As even Britain is urging its close US ally to moderate its stance on Iran sanctions as the Mideast country's death toll surges from the coronavirus pandemic, the Washington-Tehran tit-for-tat exchanges and blame game over Covid-19 continues unabated. Yesterday Pompeo issued a new list of five allegations of how Iran's leaders have handled the outbreak. Notably, this featured the …

teleSUR (2020-03-24). Assange Could Be Released on Bail Over the COVID-19 Outbreak. telesurenglish.net Defense lawyers for Australian journalist Julian Assange will apply for bail on Wednesday as they believe he is vulnerable to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the British prison where he is being held. | RELATED: | The application will be presented to the Westminster Court in London, United Kingdom, because "overcrowded prisons facilitate the spread of the virus," Assange's team of lawyers said in a statement. | "The lives of inmates, p…

RT (2020-03-23). Pompeo to meet Taliban in Doha in bid to shore up faltering Afghanistan peace deal. rt.com US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to meet with Taliban officials in Doha, Qatar, in an effort to revive the collapsing peace deal between the two parties, despite failure to reach a separate deal with the Afghan government. | Pompeo is set to sit down with chief Taliban negotiator Mullah Baradar and other officials from the militant group on Monday in order "to press the Taliban to continue to comply with the agreement signed last month," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. | While the US and Taliban reached an agreement last month to begin drawing down American forces in exchan…

Ben Norton (2020-03-20). US government threatens families of Int'l Criminal Court staff if they try Americans for war crimes. thegrayzone.com The International Criminal Court approved an investigation into US war crimes in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by…

Gareth Porter (2020-03-20). Pompeo and Netanyahu paved a path to war with Iran, and they're pushing Trump again. thegrayzone.com Though it narrowly averted war with Iran this January, the Trump administration is still pushing for all-out military conflict. The…

Staff (2020-03-20). Senator Dumped Up to $1.7 Million of Stock After Reassuring Public About Coronavirus Preparedness. truthdig.com Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 33 separate transactions. As the head of the intelligence …

Marjorie Cohn (2020-03-02). Extradition of Assange Would Set a Dangerous Precedent. zcomm.org The Trump administration is seeking extradition of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, to the United States for trial on charges carrying 175 years in prison…

Jason Ditz (2020-02-17). DOJ Investigating Former CIA Director's Role in Russiagate. theantimedia.com The Justice Department is investigating the role of John Brennan in the assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

CounterSpin (2020-01-17). Chip Gibbons on FBI vs. 1st Amendment. fair.org Media…