(2020-03-04). 'They came with MASK of compassion': Rouhani blasts Trump's offer to battle Covid-19, tells US to lift sanctions first. rt.com 
If Trump was genuine in offering help to virus-hit Iran, he should at the very least have lifted the sanctions on imports of drugs and food, Iran's president has said, bashing US officials for wearing a "mask of compassion." | "Those who even imposed drugs and food sanctions on people have done the most vicious act against the Iranian people in these two years," President Hassan Rouhani He said that relief from economic sanctions would be more useful under the circumstances. | They came up with a mask of compassion…
(2020-03-04). Kaia Rolle, Handcuffed and Arrested at 6: How Many More, and for How Long Will This Happen in America? counterpunch.org While fretting over refugee children in freezing tents along Turkey's border, or Nargis Fazili's family fleeing Afghanistan across Asia to Europe, or lone migrant children caged in U.S. detention centers, we may barely register what happens to American children like Kaia Rolle; she's a 6-year-old student at a not unusual neighborhood school in Florida. I
(2020-03-04). Honesty Isn't Just a Campaign Attribute, It's a Prerequisite for Change. counterpunch.org Last week, after Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' victory in the Nevada caucus, long time human rights activist Brian Concannon wrote: The Democratic candidates missed the opportunity last week in Nevada—a state with a 30 percent Latino population—to address the root causes of our immigration crisis. They predictably criticized the worst Trump administration immigration policies, such
(2020-03-04). Trump's Afghanistan Deal Prioritizes Bragging Rights Over Lasting Peace. truthout.org It's true that the Trump administration signed a "peace deal" with the Taliban — something that eluded both George W. Bush and Barack Obama — but a closer look at the agreement reveals it to be riddled with conditions that are fraught with obstacles. | The terms of the deal suggest that Trump is more interested in boasting that he's fulfilling his campaign promise to bring the troops home than he is committed to achieving real peace in Afghanistan. This fact has also been noted by Trump…
(2020-03-04). Chile: Total Arrests Rise to 283 After Day of Protests. telesurenglish.net The protests in Chile gained force on Monday, March 2, when the repressive forces of President Sebastian Piñera's government left 283 people in detention after 28 cases of "very serious" violence, according to local media. | RELATED: | During the protests, which took place in a town south of the capital, there were very violent episodes, clashes between demonstrators and security forces, barricades and attac…
(2020-03-04). Eyewitness Venezuela: Sanctions kill but Venezuelans stand strong. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – Over 40 people gathered March 1 to hear Brad Sigal and Sarah Martin talk about their experience at the third World Anti-Imperialist Congress in Venezuela. This Congress was attended by over 1500 delegates from 73 countries in January, included a delegation from Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). The delegates were able to bring their organizational and individual experience to Caracas to work with each other on resisting imperialism. | Since Nicolás Maduro was elected president, the U.S. has ratcheted up sanctions, currency manipulation, and backed coup attempts to destabilize Venezuela…
(2020-03-04). Palestine Slams Pompeo's Support of Illegal Israeli Settlements. telesurenglish.net Palestine on Wednesday slammed senior U.S. officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for remarks supporting settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. | RELATED: | During the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Monday, Pompeo said that the U.S. will take action against the UN Human Rights Council "blacklist" of the businesses working in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
(2020-03-04). UN Observer to Present Report on Colombia's Human Rights. telesurenglish.net The United Nations Special Rapporteur, Michel Forst, presented his report on Wednesday regarding the human rights issues in Colombia. | The international organization's representative, who visited the South American nation in the late months of 2018 after a governmental invitation, highlig…
(2020-03-04). From Monroe to Trump. US Sponsored Military Coups in Latin America. globalresearch.ca The current U.S. President again threatens military action against Venezuela and continues sanctioning governments and companies with ties to the Bolivarian Republic and Cuba | *** | More than 200 years have passed since James Monroe became the fifth president of the …
(2020-03-04). Child Rights — Britain Plunges from 11th to 170th in Just Two Years. globalresearch.ca Britain is circling the plughole. So many things are wrong on so many levels it's difficult to know where to start. After the banks crashed the economy, austerity followed. One £trillion was added to the national debt. Half was thrown …
(2020-03-04). US embassy in Libya to put sanctions on those who threaten peace. yenisafak.com In a Facebook post, the embassy pledged to work with Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), saying they held a meeting Monday with Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha and National Security Advisor Taj al-Din al-Rezagi.At the meeting, Charge d'Affaires Joshua Harris stressed "the U.S. embassy will work with Minister Bashagha to ensure implementation of U.S. Executive Order 13726, which allows for sanctions against individuals that threaten the peace, security and stability of Libya".A day after the meeting, Bashagha said the GNA will shift from a defensive to an offensive stance against the militi…
(2020-03-04). French Police Say Detain Armed Man Holding Wife, 5 Children Hostage. sputniknews.com PARIS (Sputnik) – The hostage situation in France's Troyes has ended after police arrested the armed man who was holding his pregnant wife and five children captive, police said Wednesday.
(2020-03-03). People's World Black history event in Connecticut: Voting rights worth the fight. peoplesworld.org 
NEW HAVEN, Conn.—As the 55th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala., brings the historic fight for voting rights to the fore, a movement is sweeping the country today to overcome white supremacist laws aimed at suppressing the Black vote and votes of people of color and low-income people in the 2020 elections. "Dump Trump" …
(2020-03-03). Former Nobel Peace Prize Nominates Morales for 2020 Distinction. telesurenglish.net The Argentinian activist and human rights defender Adolfo Perez Esquivel announced Tuesday that he nominated the former Bolivian president, Evo Morales, for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. | RELATED: | Perez received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 thanks to his commitment to defending democracy and human rights against the region's military dictatorships. | "It is an honor for me to inform you that I have nominated comra…
(2020-03-03). The US-Taliban 'Peace Deal'? Imperial State Criminality and Terrorism, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and "Restorative Justice" globalresearch.ca March 2nd, was the birthday of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. People may be forgiven (should they be?) for forgetting about Aafia since these seventeen birthdays of hers have gone by with her incarcerated, humiliated, tortured, and God knows what in …
(2020-03-03). TRAP Laws are the Threat to Abortion Rights You Don't Know About. aclu.org This week, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case | that will have wide-reaching consequences for reproductive freedom and abortion | rights in America. It's the first time the Court has weighed those rights since | gaining a new conservative majority with the appointments of Justices Neil | Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. And the stakes are high. | The case that the court will | hear, June Medical Services LLC v. Russo, | is being argued by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CCR), and it involves a | law in Louisiana known as a "TRAP" — Targeted Restriction on Abortion | Providers. The detai…
(2020-03-03). No country is free from child sexual abuse, exploitation, UN's top rights forum hears. news.un.org Child sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and the use of children in prostitution "are a reality in all parts of the world", the Human Rights Council heard on Tuesday.
(2020-03-03). World remains a 'violent, highly discriminatory place' for girls. news.un.org Twenty-five years after the historic Beijing women's conference in China — a milestone in advancing equal rights — violence against women and girls is not only common, but widely accepted, a new UN report revealed on Wednesday.
(2020-03-03). Scotland becomes first country to end 'period poverty' with the offering of free menstrual hygiene products. nationofchange.org "This is so often characterized as a women's issue, but it is not. It is a social justice issue, an equalities issue, and a rights issue."
(2020-03-03). Sanders and Warren Earn Highest Grades on Immigration Justice Scorecard by Texas-Based Rights Group. commondreams.org As Texans and voters in 13 other states headed to the polls Tuesday in the Democratic primary election, the Texas-based immigrant rights group RAICES Action Fund determined that Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are best-suited to enact a fair immigration justice agenda. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2020-03-02). Death Toll Rises in Iran, Middle East Epicenter of Coronavirus, Amid U.S. Sanctions & Gov't Negligence. democracynow.org 
The official coronavirus death toll in Iran, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East, has risen to at least 54 — the highest number of fatalities outside of China, where the outbreak began. Experts say the real number of people who died from the disease may be as high as 200. This comes after Iran's deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, posted a video on social media last week acknowledging he contracted coronavirus. Just one day before, he seemed ill at a press conference, where he downplayed the spread of coronavirus in the city of Qom and said mass quarantines were unnecessary. Iran…
(2020-03-02). Refugee rights supporters rally for freedom outside detention hotel. greenleft.org.au 
(2020-03-02). Use of religious beliefs to justify rights violations must be outlawed says UN expert. news.un.org Laws underpinned by religious conviction that discriminate against women and the LGBT+ community should be repealed, and gender-based violence carried out in the name of religion by non-State groups must be addressed, an independent UN expert said on Monday in a report presented to the Human Rights Council.
(2020-03-01). Why are 1000s of Americans Being Detained for Dissent? dissidentvoice.org Author and civil rights attorney John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute joins Rick Sanchez to discuss the enduring effects of the PATRIOT Act and erosion of civil liberties in the US. He also explains "Operation Vigilant Eagle," a surveillance program to keep tabs on US veterans and track what they say online.
(2020-02-29). Protest demands reversal of decision in Chicago police torture survivor case. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – In an attack on the human rights movement to stop police torture in Chicago, a Cook County judge ordered a torture survivor back to prison for life on February 14. In doing so, Judge Thomas Hennelly ignored irrefutable X-ray evidence of Gerald Reed's torture at the hands of the infamous Jon Burge "midnight crew," flouted the findings of the governor-appointed Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission — which affirmed Gerald's claim of torture — and overturned the ruling of the judge formerly assigned to the case, who vacated Reed's original conviction before retiring. | In response to Hennel…
(2020-02-29). Fighting discrimination against women is key to beating AIDS. news.un.org "The struggle to beat AIDS is inseparable from the struggle for women's rights and from the struggle against all forms of discrimination". This is the message from Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, on Zero Discrimination Day, which falls on Sunday March 1. The theme of this year's Day is the fight against discrimination faced by women and girls, and the organization aims to raise awareness, mobilize action, and promote equality.
(2020-02-28). Weekend Read: 55 years after 'Bloody Sunday,' voting rights are still under attack. splcenter.org When they looked over the steel-arched crest of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, the voting rights activists knew there would be trouble.
(2020-02-28). Connecticut prison warning: Prolonged solitary confinement may 'amount to torture', UN expert warns. news.un.org The "excessive use" of solitary confinement by the prison service in the US state of Connecticut, prompted an independent UN human rights expert to voice alarm on Friday.
(2020-02-28). How Kevin DeAnna Orchestrated the Alt-Right's Approach to Conservative Institutions. splcenter.org Months after the loosely bound white nationalist movement known as the "alt-right" began to coalesce around then-candidate Donald Trump, Kevin DeAnna won the attention he felt he long deserved.
(2020-02-28). Prominent Iranian physician clears up misconceptions about outbreak & impact of sanctions. iranian.com Prominent Iranian physician & member of the Health Ministry Minoo Mohraz has for her part defended the health ministry's data but has also said the number of people infected has been underreported because sanctions had blocked access to diagnostic kits: twitter.com/SinaToossi/status/1233409214… twitter.com/SinaToossi/status/1233409467… twitter.com/SinaToossi/status/1233409591… twitter.com/SinaToossi/status/1233409679… twitter.com/SinaToossi/status/1233409919… twitter.com/SinaToossi/status/1233410030… twitter.co…
(2020-02-27). Headlines for February 27, 2020. democracynow.org Fears of Coronavirus Pandemic Grow as U.S. Cites First "Community Spread" of Pathogen, Trump Blames "Caronavirus" Fears on Democrats and Fake News Reporting, Trump Taps VP Mike Pence, Who's Blamed for Indiana HIV Outbreak, to Lead Coronavirus Response, Gunman Kills 5 at Molson Coors Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Physicians Group Calls U.S. Migrant Family Separations "Torture", U.S. Drops Charge Against Scott Warren, Who Aided Migrants Crossing Desert, House Approves Emmett Till Act to Make Lynching a Federal Hate Crime, Feds Arrest Five Neo-Nazis for Threatening Journalists and Activists, ABC Suspends David Wr…
(2020-02-27). Myanmar: 'Multidimensional and long-standing' root causes behind rights minority abuses, says Bachelet. news.un.org The Human Rights Council on Thursday held an interactive dialogue with UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, on the root causes of violations and abuses suffered by the Rohingya mainly-Muslim minority and other minorities in Myanmar. She said the Government now has a historic opportunity to counteract systematic violations, "by bringing its people together, as one".
(2020-02-27). Defending Immigrants' Rights and Reproductive Freedom in the U.S. Supreme Court. aclu.org The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a number of cases this term that will have a crucial impact on civil rights and civil liberties — from LGBTQ equality to reproductive freedom and immigrants' rights. Earlier in the term, the ACLU had two cases asking whether workers can be fired for being LGBTQ. On March 2, we will be arguing a case on immigrants' rights, and we have filed or will file friend-of-the-court briefs in major cases involving reproductive freedom, contraceptive access, and religious freedom. | We sat down with David | Cole, the ACLU's national legal director, to discuss what's in store for the…
(2020-02-27). America's Iran Policy Backed Into a Corner By MEK in Albania. iranian.com Since well before President Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, the U.S. and Iran have been in a de facto state of non-military warfare with sanctions, economic sabotage, cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns and social media attacks the weapons of choice. Both countries have exploited conflict in the region, especially after the rise …
(2020-02-26). Family Separation, Two Years After Ms. L. aclu.org When the ACLU filed
(2020-02-26). Stopping the Anti-Abortion Ordinances of East Texas. aclu.org Waskom. | Naples. Joaquin. Tenaha. Rusk. Gary. Wells. These names might sound unfamiliar | now, but you'll be hearing more about them soon enough. | They | are seven cities in East Texas that, within the last several months, each | passed so-called "sanctuary city for the unborn" ordinances — moves that are | blatantly unconstitutional. | Waskom, Texas was the
(2020-02-24). From Being Tortured in Sri Lanka to the U.S. Supreme Court. aclu.org 
On a frigid day in early February, Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam | stands under an awning on a street corner in lower Manhattan along with one of | his attorneys, Celso Perez of the ACLU. Both are bundled in heavy winter | jackets. Perez is holding his phone up and squinting as he concentrates on the | tinny voice of a translator emanating from its speaker. | "I want them to be aware that you're traveling," Perez says | into the phone. | The voice on the other line translates what Perez said into | Tamil, the native language of Sri Lanka's largest ethnic minority. Thuraissigiam, | heavyset in his late 40s with a…
(2020-02-21). Weekend Read: SPLC files civil rights complaints as asylum seekers wage hunger strikes. splcenter.org …
(2020-02-20). We won a major victory for voting rights. splcenter.org …
(2020-02-08). Iraq and Russia Prepare to Boost Military Ties as US Threatens Sanctions. theantimedia.com Iraq and Russia are preparing for deepening military coordination.
(2019-06-25). Peace Action Endorses Ilhan Omar for Congress. peaceaction.org Washington, DC — June 25, 2019 — Peace Action has announced its endorsement of Ilhan Omar for Congress in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District. Peace Action is a national grassroots organization working to advance nuclear disarmament, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights, and support nonmilitary …
(2019-06-24). Peace Action Endorses Kara Eastman for Congress. peaceaction.org Washington, DC — June 24, 2019 — Peace Action has announced its endorsement of Kara Eastman for Congress in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. Peace Action is a national grassroots organization working to advance nuclear disarmament, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights, and support nonmilitary …