(2020-05-04). Russia-China entente deepens in the shadow of the pandemic. mronline.org 
The Russian-Chinese entente emerged as one of the most significant templates of international politics in the recent period since the hugely consequential developments in Ukraine in 2014 that led to western sanctions against Moscow, which in turn galvanised the latter's 'pivot to Asia'.
(2020-05-04). Mashpee Wampanoag tribe's trust status threatened by Department of Interior. liberationnews.org 
"This is a violation of our rights…"
(2020-05-04). Iran promises 'appropriate and decisive' response as US calls for arms embargo to be prolonged. rt.com 
Tehran's Foreign Ministry spokesman accused Washington of acting "illegally" in their efforts to influence the UN Security Council, adding Iran would not be "seeking to exit the 2015 nuclear deal" the US pulled out of in 2018. | Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran's response would be "proportionate" after the US said last week it was "hopeful" the UN Security Council would extend the arms embargo on Iran before it expires in October. | The Trump administration has taken a harder line against the Islamic Republic after withdrawing from the deal, which relaxed economic sanctions in exchange for Te…
(2020-05-04). Cuomo wants to fine people not wearing Covid-19 masks because they could 'literally kill someone'. rt.com 
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has called people who don't wear masks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus "cruel and irresponsible," adding that he supports authorities fining them over it. | Wearing masks in public has been mandatory in New York since mid-April, but enforcement of the measure falls to local governments — and is something Cuomo wants to see happening. | "Do I think local government should be enforcing it? And should there be sanctions? Yes, because it is a public health emergency," Cuomo said at a press conference on Monday when asked about fining citizens for being in public witho…
(2020-05-04). May Day Protests at SF City Hall. Anti Shutdowners Also Demonstrate. indybay.org Labor and human rights groups demand rent and mortgage strike. Others want country "reopened".
(2020-05-04). US' anti-human rights actions posed challenges to Iran's fight against coronavirus. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 04 (MNA) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the US anti-human rights measures have posed challenges to Iran's purposeful plan to counter the spread of coronavirus.
(2020-05-04). Trump, Pence, G W Bush, Hannity and Sen. Rick Scott's best sheriff fried under DOJ investi. indybay.org The Justice Department and Florida Department of Health are investigating Sheriff Carmine Marceno for civil rights abuses, human rights abuses, ADA violations and felony abuse of a disabled adult.
(2020-05-04). Iran to overcome sanctions and become more powerful: Emile Lahoud. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 04 (MNA) — The 15th President of Lebanon Emile Lahoud maintains that new powers will emerge in the aftermath of coronavirus and a fundamental change in the balance of power will occur during this era, adding Iran will overcome the sanctions and become more powerful.
(2020-05-03). Pompeo Demands Countries Block Airspace to Iran's Sanctions-Busting Air Bridge to Venezuela. anti-empire.com 
The US is going on the offensive once again against Venezuela, this time attempting to break up growing Iranian cooperation and assistance to Caracas. The two so-called 'rogue states' recently targeted for US-imposed regime change are helping each other fight coronavirus as well as Washington-led sanctions. Specifically Tehran has ramped up cargo deliveries related getting Venezuela's derelict oil refineries fully operational. | Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in new statements has called on international allies to block airspace specifically for Iran's Mahan Air, currently under US sanctions, and which has in…
(2020-05-03). Washingtonians Play Dumb — Take Advantage of a State-Sanctioned Military Worship to Get Fresh Air. anti-empire.com 
Editor's note: The Imperial military sidelined by the Covid craze trying to get in on some of that action by engaging in public health worker worship, which has temporarily displaced the cult of the military and of the police. Washingtonians similarly taking advantage of the military and health worker worship event to get out and rub shoulders and get some sunshine (without the risk of police, informants or social media condemnation). |
| If there was a stay-at-home order in place for Washington, D.C., you certainly wouldn't have thought so this morning. | Despite orders from local leaders to not gather i…
(2020-05-03). Venezuela thwarts invasion attempt by mercenaries. peoplesdispatch.org 
The National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) and the National Bolivarian Police repelled an attempted invasion by a group of mercenaries early on May 3, Sunday. The group of mercenaries attempted to enter Venezuela on the coast of the La Guaira State. They arrived in speed boats from Colombia, according to the GPS system of the boats. | In the confrontation, eight mercenaries were killed and two were detained, one of whom has confessed to being an agent of the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States. Venezuelan security forces also seized large amounts of weaponry, including assault rifles and ammunition, as…
(2020-05-03). Greek refugee camps 'beyond breaking point' as UK government continues its racist policies. thecanary.co Human rights campaigners on the Greek island of Samos have told The Canary that the situation for refugees is "beyond breaking point". Since the Europe Must A…
(2020-05-03). This Weekend We Mark "Press Freedom Day". But Whose Freedom? globalresearch.ca Global human rights organisations and press freedom groups will today hold events across the world to mark International Press Freedom day, held annually on May 3. | It was established by the United Nations in 1993 on the second anniversary of …
(2020-05-03). Female Genital Mutilation Finally Banned in Sudan. telesurenglish.net In a significant victory for women and girls' rights in Sudan, the country's transitional government banned on April 22 and reported by The Guardian on Friday, the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), making it punishable by three years in jail and a fine. | RELATED: | Women's rights groups praised the move saying it would help to end FGM but warned about the difficulty of changing mentalities as the practice is deeply…
(2020-05-03). Sacramento: May Day Car Caravan for Immigrant & Worker Rights. indybay.org Car Caravan: Southside Park, Sacramento…
(2020-05-03). Challenging the Narrative: Media Propaganda Launches Conspiracy Theories Against Covid-19 Skeptics. globalresearch.ca Following the September 11th attacks in New York City, it instantaneously changed everything, from expanding US wars abroad against Afghanistan and Iraq, the dismantling of whatever civil rights you had left to the increased use of drones for surveillance and …
(2020-05-02). [Editorial] COVID-19: remaking the social contract. thelancet.com "Allegiance, after all, has to work two ways; and one can grow weary of an allegiance which is not reciprocal." The British playwright David Hare quoted this line by the American writer James Baldwin in his recent reflections on the UK Government's response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Baldwin's reminder and warning in the context of civil rights in the mid-20th century USA speak now in the pandemic to communities the world over who are unsure of their governments' allegiances to them.
(2020-05-02). PA prisoners tortured for protesting racist policies. workers.org Eric McGill was locked up in Lebanon County Correctional Facility in Lebanon, Pa., on Jan. 19, 2019. For 15 months now he has been held there, not because he has been convicted of a crime, but because he cannot afford the preposterous $1 million bail the judge set. And during . . . |
(2020-05-02). To impose further sanctions on Iran, the US rewrites history and engages in semantic gymnastics. thealtworld.com On May 8, 2018, President Trump withdrew from the Iran Nuclear deal. In an effort to enact crippling "snap-back" sanctions, his administration is now pretending it did no such thing. | "All our words", the American-Lebanese poet-philosopher Kahlil Gibran observed, "are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind." If words are judged by their intellectual weight and adherence to integrity, the statements issued by the Trump administration in relation to its standing as a "participating nation" in the context of the agreement (known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA,) is more famine than…
(2020-05-01). Podcast: Dan Kovalik on How Sanctions and Humanitarian Interventions are Used to Plunder Nations. mintpressnews.com 
Dan Kovalik discusses the history of Washington's policy of sanctions and humanitarian intervention, a policy that provides the framework for the mass pillaging of foreign nations on behalf of the U.S. establishment.
(2020-05-01). A County Jail Battles COVID-19 and the Opioid Crisis—At the Same Time. progressive.org The pandemic and an increase in immigration detainees create a double whammy for the rural Ohio jail.
(2020-05-04). Tamil detainee speaks out from Christmas Island. greenleft.org.au 
Until 26 months ago, Priya live…
(2020-05-03). Iran Bashing, a US Media Specialty. iranian.com Operating as imperial mouthpieces, US establishment media are hostile toward all sovereign independent nations on its target list for regime change. They're countries unwilling to sacrifice their sovereign rights to US interests. Iran tops the list of Middle East nations Washington wants transformed into a vassal state — to gain control over its vast hydrocarbon …
(2020-05-03). Iran Under Siege from Humanitarian Imperialism amid Pandemic. iranian.com Iran is once again under siege from humanitarian imperialism. The United Nations (UN) has released multiple reports in recent weeks criticizing the Iranian government for supposed human rights violations in relation to the treatment of prisoners and its lockdown procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nazanin Boniadi, a board of director at the Center for Human …
(2020-05-01). Pompeo Demands Countries Block Airspace To Iran's 'Terrorist Airline' After Venezuela Deliveries. iranian.com The US is going on the offensive once again against Venezuela, this time attempting to break up growing Iranian cooperation and assistance to Caracas. The two so-called 'rogue states' recently targeted for US-imposed regime change are helping each other fight coronavirus as well as Washington-led sanctions. Specifically, Tehran has ramped up cargo deliveries related getting Venezuela's …
(2020-05-04). Citing 'Vein of Toxicity' and Firing of Whistleblowers, Amazon VP Resigns in Disgust. commondreams.org Now-former Amazon engineer Tim Bray won praise from labor rights advocates on Monday after resigning from his high-ranking position over the company's treatment of whistleblowers during the Covid-19 pandemic, publishing a "scathing" letter on his personal blog. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2020-05-03). Syrian tycoon Makhlouf says security forces are arresting his employees. yenisafak.com Sanctions-hit Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf on Sunday said that security forces are arresting employees at his diversified companies in what he said were "mounting pressures" on him days after Syrian authorities asked him to repay hefty taxes."Today pressures began in an unacceptable ways and the security forces, in an inhumane way, are arresting our employees," Makhlouf said in a video.Makhlouf, a maternal cousin of President Bashar al-Assad and widely considered part of the president's inner circle, has a business empire that ranges from telecoms and real estate to construction and oil trading. He had played a bi…
(2020-05-04). Russian-German Board Chair Calls for Reconsidering Sanctions Against Russia Amid COVID-19. sputniknews.com BERLIN (Sputnik) – The COVID-19 pandemic could be the basis for considering the issue of lifting European sanctions against Russia, Matthias Platzeck, the board chairman of the German-Russian Forum and a former minister-president of Germany's Brandenburg, said on Monday during a video conference in Berlin.
(2020-05-03). Ex-German Chancellor Urges Lifting 'Senseless' Anti-Russian Sanctions Amid COVID-19 Pandemic. sputniknews.com Crimea rejoined Russia in March 2014 as a result of a referendum which saw over 96 per cent of the peninsula's residents backing the option. However, the move was opposed by Ukraine and a majority of Western countries, including EU members, with several rounds of sanctions slapped on Moscow.
(2020-05-03). Iran Nuclear Deal Will 'Die Forever' If US Uses 'Sanctions Virus' to Extend Arms Embargo — Tehran. sputniknews.com The Trump administration has been searching for options to try to extend the United Nations ban on the sale of conventional weapons to Iran beyond October, proposing sanctions and even considering making the argument that the US is still effectively a party to the Iran nuclear deal, despite its decision to walk out of the agreement in 2018.
(2020-05-01). Germany: Working Class Protests Against Unemployment in May Day. telesurenglish.net On International Workers' Day, Germany's trade unions protested over the collapse of labor rights and the significant increase of unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | According to forecasts by Angela Merkel's administration, Germany will experience the worst recession since World War II this year. | Recent unemployment figures have soared despite the economic aid that Germany's authorities have set up to prevent mass layoffs. | In Apr…
(2020-05-01). In India, lockdown is being used to attack workers' rights. peoplesdispatch.org On the occasion of International Workers' Day, president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions K. Hemalatha talks about the conditions of Indian workers who are bearing the brunt of the lockdown…
(2020-05-01). 'Rights and dignity' of older people must be respected during COVID-19 and beyond. news.un.org The COVID-19 fatality rate for people over 80-years-old, is five times the global average, the UN Secretary-General said on Friday, launching a new policy initiative to address this and many other challenges faced by the elderly, during and after the biggest public health crisis to hit the world in a century.
(2020-04-30). How the ACLU is Responding to the Pandemic, Visualized. aclu.org 
The COVID-19 pandemic has closed down many businesses, but the ACLU's work of defending and expanding civil liberties and civil rights continues, essential as ever. At the ACLU, our most immediate focus has been on issues arising from the government's response — or lack thereof — to the pandemic., , Since the start of the outbreak, we've filed over 90 legal actions and have seen thousands of people released from prisons, jails, and immigration detention. | We and ACLU offices across the country are working in nearly every state to save lives, advocate for vulnerable communities, safeguard the r…
(2020-04-30). Greta Thunberg launches campaign to support UNICEF protection efforts against COVID-19. news.un.org Climate activist Greta Thunberg along with Danish NGO Human Act, on Thursday launched a child rights-driven campaign to support the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in protecting young lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(2020-04-30). Coronavirus and human rights: New guidance highlights support for persons with disabilities. news.un.org New guidance issued on Thursday sets out key actions, to counter what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called the "double risk" faced by persons with disabilities in the COVID-19 pandemic.
(2020-04-30). Lift Cuba embargo or risk many lives lost to COVID-19, UN rights experts warn US. news.un.org The United States must urgently lift its blockade on Cuba to save lives amid the expanding COVID-19 crisis, UN human rights experts stressed on Thursday, emphasizing that the more than six-decades-old sanctions are impeding the supply of medicine, medical equipment, food and other goods essential to surviving the pandemic.
(2020-04-30). PCHR: Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (23 — 29 April 2020). imemc.org Summary of Israeli violations of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (23 — 29 April 2020) Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continued to violate Palestinians' human rights and commit crimes against civilians and their properties, conducting raids into Palestinian cities without regard to the state of emergency declared across the …
(2020-04-30). In ICE Detention, Forced to Pay for Soap. thenation.com In ICE Detention, Forced to Pay for Soap…
(2020-04-30). Cuba is Ready to Aid the U.S. in its Fight Against COVID-19. progressive.org Despite Trump's sanctions, Cuba advocates international solidarity as the only way to overcome this pandemic.
(2020-04-30). BRICS Members Ask for Removal of US Sanctions on Iran. iranian.com Members of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) stressed the need for Washington to lift sanctions that have impeded the targeted countries' efforts to fight against the coronavirus epidemic, including Iran. "Such restrictive measures violate international law, interfere with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and cause significant damage to the …
(2020-04-30). Four Myths About Trans Athletes, Debunked. aclu.org For years state lawmakers have pushed legislation attempting to shut trans people out of public spaces. In 2020, lawmakers zeroed in on sports and introduced
(2020-04-29). Chomsky: COVID-19 strikes, solidarity can help defeat Trump and the neoliberal assault. thegrayzone.com Noam Chomsky on COVID-19 workers' strikes; Trump's attacks on China and the WHO; "lesser evil" voting; bipartisan war-mongering/sanctions; & what…