2020-05-28: News Headlines

Melvin Goodman (2020-05-28). Trump's War on Arms Control and Disarmament. counterpunch.org A successor to the Trump administration will have to rebuild the credibility of the Department of Justice and the effectiveness of such regulatory agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Finance Protection Agency. It will have to rebuild the intelligence community, which has been heavily politicized, and the Department of State, which has

Peoples Dispatch (2020-05-28). US announces end of sanction waivers under nuclear deal to Iran. peoplesdispatch.org US secretary of state Mike Pompeo announced the end of exemptions provided under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to some foreign companies to work on certain Iranian nuclear sites. The waiver was renewed every 60 days despite the unilateral US withdrawal from the deal in 2018…

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.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-05-27). Costa Rica becomes a first Central American country to legalize same-sex marriages. peoplesdispatch.org Costa Rica became the first Central American country to recognize same sex marriage yesterday, on May 26. | In August 2018 the Supreme Court had asked the parliament to amend country's Family Code which bans gay marriages by May 26, 2020 failing which same sex marriage will automatically be legal. The Costa Rician parliament did not vote to amend the law nor did it allow the request of some of its conservative members, including the President of the Legislative Assembly pastor Eduardo Cruickshank, that asked the court to delay it. | President Carlos Alvarado tweeted "Costa Rica officially recognizes equal marriag…

RT (2020-05-28). Iran slams 'desperate attempt' by US to ramp up 'maximum pressure' campaign by ending sanctions waivers. rt.com Tehran has dismissed the Trump administration's "desperate attempt" to increase pressure on Iran by ending sanctions waivers that had allowed Russian, Chinese and European firms to keep working at civilian Iranian nuclear sites. | Washington will give foreign governments 60 days to wind down operations on the facilities or face new sanctions of their own, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday. The waivers had been in place since President Donald Trump tore up the 2015 nuclear deal two years ago. | The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said Washington was engaging in a "desperate attempt to distr…

RT (2020-05-27). US ends ALL BUT ONE sanctions waivers for Iran nuclear facilities. rt.com The US is giving foreign governments 60 days to wrap up work on Iranian nuclear facilities — 90 days for the civilian reactor in Bushehr — or face Washington's sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced. | Washington has offered waivers for its sanctions against Tehran in connection with several civilian facilities since President Donald Trump unilaterally exited a nuclear deal with Iran in 2018. Now those waivers are being phased out entirely, Pompeo said on Wednesday. | European, Chinese and Russian companies working on nuclear projects in Iran will have two months to wrap up their o…