Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin: A Certain Kind of Diversity
Editor | scheerpost.com | 2020-12-09
by Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.) / Original to ScheerPost America's first black presumptive secretary of defense grew up in the same town — Thomasville, GA — as the first black West Point graduate, Henry O. Flipper. I actually took select cadets from my civil rights history class to visit the southwest Georgia city on an academic trip in the summer of 2016. In fact, I vaguely remember the owner… | Source…
scheerpost.com/2020/12/09/secretary-of-defense-lloyd-austin-a-certain-kind-of-diversity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=secretary-of-defense-lloyd-austin-a-certain-kind-of-diversity

Assassination of social activists continues in Colombia
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-12-09
The assassination of social activists in Colombia continues at a horrifying rate. Community leaders, environmentalists, land defenders, human rights activists and former combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerilla group are relentlessly being targeted by illegal armed groups operating in the country. | Between November 30 and December 7, six Indigenous leaders, two Afro-descendant leaders, two environmentalists and one social leader were murdered. Additionally, in a massacre in Santander de Quilichao, on December 5, another Indigenous leader and one ex-combatant of the FARC were kille…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/12/09/assassination-of-social-activists-continues-in-colombia/

Venezuelan court convicts the CITGO Six
Lyn Neeley | workers.org | 2020-12-09
Venezuela's Supreme Court sentenced six top CITGO oil executives to prison for corruption, embezzlement, money laundering and conspiracy on Nov. 26. The former executives went behind the back of the Venezuelan state and signed an agreement with two U.S. based-international financial companies — for which they were detained in Nov. . . . | Continue reading Venezuelan court convicts the CITGO Six at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/12/53118/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=venezuelan-court-convicts-the-citgo-six

Beef, Banks and the Brazilian Amazon
Global Witness | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-09
Preserving tropical rainforests is critical to help stop climate breakdown and to safeguard the rights of the local communities and indigenous peoples who depend on and defend them. Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp relief the importance of …
globalresearch.ca/beef-banks-brazilian-amazon/5731672

Report: WWF Knew About Rights Abuses by Park Rangers, but Didn't Respond Effectively
Ashoka Mukpo | asia-pacificresearch.com | 2020-12-09
asia-pacificresearch.com/report-wwf-knew-about-rights-abuses-park-rangers-didnt-respond-effectively/5629549

Central Africa and South Asia: World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Knew About Rights Abuses by Park Rangers, but Didn't Respond Effectively
Ashoka Mukpo | asia-pacificresearch.com | 2020-12-09
asia-pacificresearch.com/report-wwf-knew-about-rights-abuses-park-rangers-didnt-respond-effectively/5629549

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Hold Hearing on Haiti
Jake Johnston | cepr.net | 2020-12-09
The follow is a guest post from the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. On Thursday, December 10, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hold a hearing on pervasive impunity and a lack of judicial independence in Haiti. The event will be broadcast live here. The Commission, a quasi‚Äêjudicial body of the …
cepr.net/inter-american-commission-on-human-rights-to-hold-hearing-on-haiti/

Iran Arrests People Involved in Killing of Nuclear Scientist
telesurenglish.net | 2020-12-09
The Special Aide to the President of the Parliament in International Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, claimed that Iranian authorities had arrested people involved in the murder of scientist nuclear Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on Nov. 27. | RELATED: | The US Imposes Sanctions on Iran's Ambassador to Yemen | "The perpetrators of this assassination, some of whom have been identified and even arrested by our security apparatus, will not escape justice and will be dealt with severely," Abdollahia…
telesurenglish.net/news/Iran-Arrests-People-Involved-in-Killing-of-Nuclear-Scientist-20201209-0008.html

Iran imposes sanctions on US envoy to Yemen
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2020-12-09
TEHRAN, Dec. 09 (MNA) — Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Wed., emphasizing pivotal role of US Ambassador to Yemen Christopher Hansel in humanitarian crisis in Yemen, and placed his name on Iran's sanctions list.
en.mehrnews.com/news/166996/Iran-imposes-sanctions-on-US-envoy-to-Yemen

Russia making constructive efforts to counter US sanctions
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2020-12-09
TEHRAN, Dec. 09 (MNA) — Iranian Parliament Speaker's Special Aide for International Affairs said that Russia and China are making constructive efforts to counter US unilateral sanctions.
en.mehrnews.com/news/166995/Russia-making-constructive-efforts-to-counter-US-sanctions

China reiterates call for lifting Iran sanctions
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2020-12-09
TEHRAN, Dec. 10 (MNA) — Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson once again called for lifting sanctions on Iran and return of US to Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
en.mehrnews.com/news/166988/China-reiterates-call-for-lifting-Iran-sanctions

ICC drops probe into alleged UK war crimes in Iraq
MEE staff | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-09
ICC drops probe into alleged UK war crimes in Iraq | Still, ICC prosecutor says there is 'reasonable basis' UK forces committed abuses, including willful killing and rape, in Iraq | MEE staff | Wed, 12/09/2020 – 19: 36 | Human Rights Watch voices disappointment about decision (AFP/File photo) | Despite finding "reasonable basis" for allegations of war crimes against British soldiers in Iraq, an International Criminal Cour…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-iraq-war-c…

Egypt: World Bank warned funding for Covid-19 is neglecting jailed doctors
Areeb Ullah | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-09
Egypt: World Bank warned funding for Covid-19 is neglecting jailed doctors | Human Rights Watch calls on the World Bank to condemn Egypt's arrest of medical workers who criticised Cairo's Covid-19 response | Areeb Ullah | Wed, 12/09/2020 – 10: 58 | Data collected by the Doctors' Syndicate shows Egypt to have one of the highest numbers of Covid-19 deaths among health workers in the world (AFP) | The World Bank was urge…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-world-b…