2021-03-14: News Headlines

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). British-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces new charges in Tehran court. middleeasteye.net British-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces new charges in Tehran court | A week after the end of a five-year sentence, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe attended a hearing over accusations of 'propaganda against the system' | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 09: 56 | Zaghari-Ratcliffe was recently released from a five-year sentence for espionage, a charge she has consistently denied (MEE/family handout) | British-I…

Sophian Aubin (2021-03-14). Syria war: Ten years on, Syrian Christians say Assad 'has taken us hostage'. middleeasteye.net Syria war: Ten years on, Syrian Christians say Assad 'has taken us hostage' | Members of Syria's Christian minority now in exile say president has manipulated the community while cracking down on dissent | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 14: 05 | An Assyrian Christian Syrian in the Assyrian Church of the Virgin Mary, destroyed by the Islamic State group, in the village of Tal Nasri, south of Tal Tamr in northeas…

RT (2021-03-14). US could reach 'certain' post-Covid 'degree of normality' by mid-summer, 'no exact date' for events like indoor weddings. rt.com White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci has expressed confidence in President Joe Biden's Covid-19 vaccination plan, but says he can give no timeline for a return to normal. | "There are two issues: getting enough doses, which we will have with the new contracts with the pharmaceutical companies. But once you get those doses, to get it into people's arms," Fauci told CNN on Sunday when discussing Covid-19 vaccine distribution plans. | Fauci expressed support for Biden's wish that the US would be able to mark "independence" from the pandemic by July 4 and gather without masks or social distancing for tradi…

RT (2021-03-14). Biden administration directs FEMA to help shelter child migrants amid claims it denied lawyers access to cramped border facility. rt.com As the number of migrant children in border detention facilities has swelled to a record high, the Biden administration has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help house them. | FEMA will help "safely receive, shelter and transfer" children who cross the southwestern border on their own, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced on Saturday, saying the assistance will last 90 days. | Today

Liberation Staff (2021-03-14). Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe wins against 'not in my backyard' racists. liberationnews.org The tribe's goal is to set a new precedent for the way our society deals with the problem of addiction with a clinic in Sequim, Washington.

The Conversation (2021-03-14). Against the odds, South Australia is a renewable energy powerhouse; and they're showing the world how to do it. juancole.com By Michael McGreevy and Fran Baum | — Less than two decades ago, South Australia generated all its electricity from fossil fuels. Last year, renewables provided a whopping 60% of the state's electricity supply. The remarkable progress came as national climate policy was gripped by paralysis — so how did it happen? Our research set …

Ben Debney (2021-03-14). Pathological Entitlement and the Supremacist Mindset. counterpunch.org In recent days, the CPAC conference has brought us a number of most unusual spectacles. It has brought us (1) the militantly tawdry respawning of Donald Trump, (2) the platform constructed using the serif odal rune shape of the SS, (3) the golden calf cult idol (and laughs for all eternity), and (4) the inclusion

Ahmed Diaa Dardir (2021-03-14). Barack Obama and the Cunning of American Exceptionalism. counterpunch.org Barack Obama's new memoir, A Promised Land, came out as the world was looking at the US with anticipation and mistrust. It was published as the world awaited the results of the US presidential elections, between the clownish Donald Trump and the visibly incompetent Joseph Biden. The book trumpets the American model as the "promised

Pete Dolack (2021-03-14). How the U.S. is Able to Dictate to the Rest of the World. counterpunch.org The United States government is able to impose its will on all the world's countries. The rest of the world, even some of the strongest imperialist countries of the Global North, lie prostrate at the feet of the U.S. What is the source of this seemingly impregnable power? Which of course leads to the next

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). Kosovo inaugurates embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. middleeasteye.net Kosovo inaugurates embassy to Israel in Jerusalem | Kosovo joins US and Guatemala as only countries with embassies in city whose status is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 16: 01 | Kosovo government officials stand in front of Kosovar and Israeli flags during a ceremony at the foreign ministry in Pristina on 1 February 2021 as the two countries establish…

Steve Topple (2021-03-14). Finally. The DWP £20 uplift is facing legal action. thecanary.co The Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) £20 uplift to Universal Credit is facing a legal challenge. It's from people on so-called legacy benefits. And the case may open the floodgates for thousands of other claimants. | DWP uplift: one rule for workers: | The £20 uplift for Universal Credit from chancellor Rishi Sunak and the DWP has been

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). Oman blocks Clubhouse, citing 'lack of proper authorisation'. middleeasteye.net Oman blocks Clubhouse, citing 'lack of proper authorisation' | Blocking the audio app has prompted a backlash by free-speech advocates online | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 10: 29 | The iOS-only app has been at the top of many national download lists in the Middle East (Illustration by Hossam Sarhan/MEE) | Oman blocked the audio app Clubhouse on Sunday, citing "lack of proper authorisation," accordin…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). Yemen: Houthi missile attack kills three children in Taiz. middleeasteye.net Yemen: Houthi missile attack kills three children in Taiz | A missile fired at a school where pro-government forces are based killed 15 soldiers and three children nearby | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 16: 04 | A Yemeni boy looks for bullet casings to sell as scrap metal in a Taiz street on 27 April 2019 (AFP) | Yemen's rebel Houthi forces fired a missile on Sunday at a school where pro-government fo…

MEE, agencies (2021-03-14). Palestinians condemn opening of Czech Jerusalem office. middleeasteye.net Palestinians condemn opening of Czech Jerusalem office | The Palestinian Authority and the Arab League accuse the Czech Republic of committing 'a flagrant violation of international law' | Sun, 03/14/2021 – 06: 30 | Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis hailed the new office as a "milestone in our co-operation" (AFP) | The Palestinian Authority and the Arab League on Saturday condemned the Cze…

Benjamin Wehrmann (2021-03-14). German Scientists: Without Drastic Climate Action, World could be headed to Dangerous 7.2 ∞ F. extra Heating. juancole.com By Benjamin Wehrmann | — ( Clean Energy Wire ) — Current emissions reduction efforts around the world are insufficient to limit global warming to up to 2 degrees Celsius in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, Germany's Meteorological Service (DWD) has said. Despite globally reduced mobility and depressed industrial production due to the coronavirus …

David Rovics (2021-03-14). Days of '49: Remembering Peekskill. dissidentvoice.org Tayo Aluko ∑ Paul Robeson's Love Song (trailer) A new radio play by Tayo Aluko based on events surrounding Paul Robeson's concert in Peekskill, New York in 1949, and the racist, anti-communist riots that came before and after it, drops on Paul Robeson's birthday — April 9th — and it seems more timely than ever. …

RT (2021-03-14). 'Get right before you get left, boomer': Marines backtrack after jumping into Fox host Tucker Carlson's row with Pentagon. rt.com The US Marine Corps is adjusting its aim after facing public backlash over suggesting that men critical of the Pentagon's mission creep towards wokeness should serve, get pregnant, and only then speak on the issue. | "What it looks like in today's armed forces [Tucker Carlson], Get right before you get left, boomer," the Marines tweeted on Friday, accompanying the tweet with an image of a smiling female officer carrying a fellow officer. | What it looks like in today's armed forces Get right before you get left, boomer | &sbqu…

RT (2021-03-14). Portland police confiscate guns, hammers & other weapons after corralling 100 protesters during violent demonstration. rt.com Portland police seized numerous weapons, including firearms, after kettling dozens of protesters during a night of unrest in the Oregon city. | Law enforcement intervened in a march on Friday when a group of demonstrators began breaking windows in the downtown area. Officers responded by establishing a perimeter around the crowd and announcing that the protesters were being detained. | According to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB), some of the demonstrators refused to comply and locked arms in an attempt to prevent officers from carrying out their orders. Around 100 people were identified and photographed as p…

RT (2021-03-14). 'Die-in' in NYC & vandalism in LA as protesters mark 1yr anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death (VIDEOS). rt.com Protesters took to the streets in America's two largest cities to mark the one-year anniversary of the police shooting that killed Breonna Taylor. Her death became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement. | Hundreds of people gathered in New York City's Times Square to participate in a 'die-in' to remember her killing. Footage from RT's video agency Ruptly shows people lying on the ground, with some holding signs reading "Black Lives Matter" and "Abolish the police." | Elsewhere in the city, demonstrators carrying signs and chanting Taylor's name shut down the Brooklyn Bridge. Similar protests were…

_____ (2021-03-14). Rallies And Marches Mark Anniversary Of Breonna Taylor's Killing. popularresistance.org Hundreds rallied in downtown Louisville, Kentucky and marched through the streets on Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of the killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was gunned down in her own home by city police officers—none of whom have been charged for her death. | "This is not a celebration. This is the anniversary of something that should not have happened," one speaker said at a Louisville event, where Taylor's family, racial justice activists, and ordinary members of the community gathered to mourn the loss of Breonna and demand action from lawmakers and police departments b…