(2020-04-01). Afghanistan to begin prisoner exchange with Taliban amid lockdown — officials. rt.com 
The Afghan government will release some Taliban prisoners this week as part of a confidence building measure, officials said on Wednesday. The move is crucial for the success of the peace deal signed between the US and the Taliban to end nearly two decades of war. | A three-member Taliban team arrived in Kabul on Tuesday to begin a prisoner exchange process and met with Afghan officials despite a nationwide lockdown implemented to curb the spread of the coronavirus. | US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo termed the developments as "good news." The statement came a week after he had visited both government leaders…
(2020-04-01). 'Ask the government': Former Celtics star claims NBA season could resume at classified US Air Force site Area 51. rt.com 
Having held the 2019 Summer League at the University of Nevada, NBA chiefs could find a novel solution to ending the season at a less conventional base in the state — with Area 51 suggested by former champion Paul Pierce. | Area 51, the US Air Force base which is notorious among conspiracy theorists and UFO enthusiasts, could become the home of the NBA as a makeshift setting for the conclusion of the season, former All-Star Paul Pierce has suggested. | Responding to a proposal by former rival Jay Williams that the remainder of the campaign could be played on cruise ships, Boston Celtics icon Pierce named…
(2020-04-01). India's Top Court Holds Govt Accountable Over Migrant Crisis. telesurenglish.net India's top court on Monday sought a report from the government over the steps taken for tens of thousands of migrant laborers as they try to return home after losing jobs following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak. | RELATED: | The Supreme Court was hearing two petitions through a video-conferencing as the situation turned grim amid reports of more than 20 migrant laborer…
(2020-03-31). DOJ audit prompted by FBI spying on Americans finds errors in EVERY sample FISA application. rt.com 
A review of 29 FBI applications to spy on US citizens or residents found mistakes in every single one, and four cases of proper documentation missing entirely, the Justice Department inspector general has revealed. | From a dataset of more than 700 applications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) submitted by eight FBI field offices, Inspector General Michael Horowitz and his team selected a sample of 29, made between October 2014 and September 2019, pertaining to US citizens or "green card" holders. | They found an average of 20 errors in each one. | Remember when the newly beloved liberal…
(2020-03-31). Coup plan B! US tells Guaido he may renounce his Venezuela 'presidency' claim — but they'll still support him. rt.com 
The US State Department magnanimously agreed that opposition politician Juan Guaido may not actually be president of Venezuela, but insisted he still has to be part of a transition government if Caracas wants sanctions relief. | Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put forth a "democratic transition framework" on Tuesday, under which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would set up a power-sharing interim government with Guaido, that would arrange for elections in six months to a year. | According to Pompeo, the proposal "protects the interests and equities of all Venezuelan people who desperately seek a resolution…
(2020-03-31). COVID-19 proves workers, not bosses, are essential. mronline.org 
The Marxist argument that it's the labour of workers, and not the supposed intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit of bosses, that keeps society running, has long been ridiculed by defenders of capitalism. In the conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the truth of Marx's claim has been brought into sharp relief.
(2020-03-31). Has America Reached Its Endgame in Afghanistan? counterpunch.org In an extraordinary statement titled "On the Political Impasse in Afghanistan," Washington has admitted to the failure of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's mission to Kabul on March 23, which was taken up to heal the political rift among Afghan politicians and to urge them to form an inclusive government so as to implement the
(2020-03-31). On the Need for Dissent and Debate in These Urgent Times. thenation.com On the Need for Dissent and Debate in These Urgent Times…
(2020-03-30). Israel's Shin Bet Slaps PLC Member with Administrative Detention. imemc.org The Shin Bet, Israel's intelligence agency, on Sunday, decided to renew the detention of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member and Hamas leader, Hasan Yousuf, for four months, under administrative detention. Sheikh Hasan Yousuf, 65, was scheduled for release on March 31, 2020, and just two days before his release, …
(2020-03-28). Barbaric Decisions: Coronavirus, Refusing Bail and Julian Assange. dissidentvoice.org To expose another human being to serious illness, and to the threat of losing their life, is grotesque and quite unnecessary. This is not justice, it is a barbaric decision. — Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, March 26, 2020 Social distancing is not a word that seems to have reached certain parts of the British …
(2020-03-28). [Obituary] Aron Goldhirsch. thelancet.com Medical oncologist specialising in breast cancer. Born on April 25, 1946, in Landsberg am Lech, Germany, he died on Feb 26, 2020, in Lugano, Switzerland, aged 73 years.
(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…
(2020-03-24). Arbitrary & excessive: Marijuana trafficking sentences in Alabama. splcenter.org Alabama resident Lee Carroll Brooker garnered national attention in 2016 when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the marijuana trafficking case that put Brooker, in his 70s at the time, in prison for life.
(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 …
(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…
(2020-02-27). [Comment] COVID-19: combining antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatments. thelancet.com Both coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) are characterised by an overexuberant inflammatory response and, for SARS, viral load is not correlated with the worsening of symptoms.1,2 In our previous Correspondence to The Lancet,3 we described how BenevolentAI's proprietary artificial intelligence (AI)-derived knowledge graph,4 queried by a suite of algorithms, enabled identification of a target and a potential therapeutic against SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; the causative organism in COVID-19).