Count Dankula, real name Mark Meechan, was found guilty last week of posting an “anti-Semitic and racist” video after he filmed his girlfriend’s pug responding to statements including “Gas the Jews” and “Sieg Heil.” The video was viewed more than three million times after being uploaded two years ago.

The case has sparked a massive debate over free speech, with high-profile figures such as Ricky Gervais also weighing in.

Comedian David Baddiel joined the ranks of those speaking out against the controversial conviction. He cited ‘Borat,’ the title character in a spoof film about an anti-Semitic Kazakh journalist who travels to the US.

In a video on his YouTube channel, Pie, a one-time RT employee who rose to fame for his satirical reporting, hit back at the court’s judgement that Dankula’s content had been “grossly offensive,” stressing that it was “just a joke.” He backed his claims by highlighting the fact that many viewers found the video funny as they left comments such as “LOL,” before adding that “offence and humour are subjective.”

Pie also hit out at the court for ruling that context and intent was “irrelevant” in Dankula’s case. He noted that if the video had been placed in context, they would have seen that the performance was actually making light of the Nazi leader, meaning it would indeed have been offensive, but to “a f****** Nazi.” That prompted Linehan to wade in.

Pie insisted he was not a “Nazi apologist” but that didn’t stop Linehan. He hit back and took aim at RT in the process, suggesting that having an anti-Nazi outlook was “interesting” given Pie’s former employers.

One user following the thread added this clip from ‘Father Ted,’ which was co-written by Linehan himself: 

The incident prompted claims freedom of speech is being eroded in the UK. MP Philip Davies called for an immediate debate on the case, and said in the Commons last week: “We guard our freedom of speech in this House very dearly indeed… but we don’t often allow our constituents the same freedoms.”

If you like this story, share it with a friend!

Not only did Trump’s order affect more than twice as many diplomats as the March 14 move by London, it accounts for more than half of the total Russian diplomats expelled by various US allies on Monday. Monday’s action is the biggest expulsion of alleged “intelligence officers” since the Cold War and the largest in US history, according to US ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman.

Though Trump campaigned on the “America First” foreign policy, openly critical of the nation-building and “humanitarian” interventions his predecessors engaged in, little of that remains after the first year of his presidency. The media and the opposition Democrats appear to have buttonholed the president with never-ending accusations that he is somehow “soft” on Russia.

In reality, the current administration has taken the hostility toward Moscow, inherited from Barack Obama’s second term, and turned it up a notch, from pressuring Russian media to register as foreign agents and approving the sale of anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, to expelling more Russian diplomats and shutting down consulates.

In addition to expelling the diplomats, Trump ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle, Washington. The decision cited the consulate’s proximity to a US submarine base and to Boeing production facilities, implying the diplomats were really intelligence operatives.

That was echoed by White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah, who told reporters the expulsion is aimed at “significantly degrading their intelligence capabilities around the world, not just in the US.”

Shah said the move was “coordinated with NATO allies,” and represented a US response to Russia’s “brazen and reckless” actions, namely, the alleged nerve agent attack that reportedly injured former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, UK, three weeks ago.

British authorities have asserted that Russia was “highly likely” to have been behind the incident, but have refused to provide any evidence to back up Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Minister Boris Johnson’s words. Johnson even went so far as to compare Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler – twice! – though it was Russia that carried the disproportionate burden in defeating Hitler’s “Thousand-year Reich” in the Second World War.

On March 14, May ordered the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats. Russia retaliated by expelling the same number of British diplomats, as well as shutting down the consulate in St. Petersburg and British Council operations in Russia.

Seasoned observers of international relations might note that it is usually Britain that follows the US lead – whether in the 1999 attack on Yugoslavia, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, or the 2011 regime change operation in Libya – and not the other way around. Yet, according to White House’s Shah, the US is “joined at the hip” with the UK on this. What gives?

America’s first president, George Washington, warned way back in 1796 of the danger of “entangling alliances,” which would draw the newly created country into foreign wars on behalf of allied governments. Such alliances would also lead to poor relations with other nations and distort US policies to favor the wishes of its allies over the will of the American people.

Yet today’s US policymakers, from the highest officials of the Trump administration to the NeverTrump think-tanks, treat it as an article of faith that the US is strong because it has entangling alliances with countries all over the world, and a military presence all over the planet.

Washington and other allies of London “blindly follow the principle of Euro-Atlantic unity at the expense of common sense, the rules of civilized state-to-state dialogue and the principles of international law,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, condemning the expulsions.

Shah’s comments, that the US relationship with Russia is entirely “up to the Russian government and up to Putin,” as if Washington had no agency in the matter, certainly seems to suggest that Trump is all tangled up in the “special relationship” with London.

However, there is also the possibility that Trump or some of his advisers are pursuing hostility towards Moscow in order to counter the narrative of ‘Russian collusion’ – which originated from the Hillary Clinton campaign after the humiliating loss in the 2016 election, and continues to be pushed by many in the US media and the Democratic party.

“What we are witnessing now is part of a long-term program of unbridled Russophobia,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Rossiya-1 TV.

Reporters covering the White House presented a good example on Monday. In the rare moments when they digressed from discussing Trump’s alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, reporters mostly wanted to know “what took so long” to expel the diplomats and why more is not being done against Russia. CNN’s Jim Sciutto finally got a question, only to demand more sanctions against “Russian oligarchs” and Putin personally.

No matter what Trump does against Russia, it fails to mollify his critics, who see evidence of his “collusion” with Moscow in absolutely everything.

Whatever the intent behind Monday’s decision, its timing and execution were certainly problematic. The expulsion of diplomats came as Russia was collectively mourning the deaths of 64 people, many of them children, in a mall fire in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. Adding insult to injury sounds like really poor diplomacy, no matter who’s behind it.

Then again, as the former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali noted in his 1999 memoir, Washington sees no need for diplomacy when power will do.

“The Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States,” wrote Boutros-Ghali.

Nebojsa Malic for RT

The 71-year-old, who is serving 20 life sentences for murdering 13 women and attempting to kill another seven, has been left in need of a white cane for assistance after an injection which was supposed to improve the sight in his right eye ended up blinding him completely. Sutcliffe had already lost the sight in his left eye in 1997, due to an altercation with a fellow inmate.

The Ripper told a friend: “They have f***** up my eyesight. They bodged it and I can’t see at all. I can’t watch the TV or read letters and emails. I made a cuppa but missed the cup with the milk — it’s awful,” the Sun reports. A “buddy” is now supposedly pushing the serial killer’s wheelchair around Frankland Prison, County Durham.

It comes after tens of thousands of taxpayers’ money have been spent trying to improve the Ripper’s right eye, which had worsened over recent years because of his diabetes. In August he reportedly underwent a £2,000 laser surgery operation in a bid to clear his vision. That was on top of a two-year eye treatment that had cost UK taxpayers thousands.

Neil Jackson, whose mother Emily was Sutcliffe’s second victim in 1976, said he was angry and horrified that the killer had been granted the treatment, the Sun reports. Jackson, 59, said: “They should have let him go blind. He never had any pity on anyone so why should society bend over backwards to make him happy.”

READ MORE: Yorkshire Ripper ‘no longer mentally ill, should return to regular prison’ – psychiatrists

Sutcliffe committed his murders – perpetrated mainly against prostitutes – between 1957 and 1980. Police caught him when they realized he was using false number plates. The day after catching Sutcliffe, police returned to the arrest scene, where they found a rope, knife and hammer that he had dumped there. Sutcliffe admitted to his crimes two days later.

If you like this story, share it with a friend!

Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, has his doubts about Washington’s justification behind the expulsion of dozens of the Russian diplomatic staff.

The US alone accounted for over half of all the diplomats that have been forced to leave for Russia. In addition, Washington closed the Russian Consulate in Seattle, citing its proximity to a US naval base and Boeing facilities.

Pointing out that such an explanation leaves no room for the Skripals, Antonov argued that the decision was waiting for a convenient pretext to materialize.

“The scale of inflicted damage and the preceding information campaign speak of the fact that it had been planned beforehand – simply postponed for the right moment,” Antonov told media on Tuesday.

The expulsions coincided with the mall fire tragedy in Russia’s Kemerovo, which claimed the lives of at least 64 people, many of them children. Antonov says Washington showed “emotional deafness, indifference and callousness” in adding insult to injury by coming out with reprisals on that day, the diplomat said.

“Well, gloat all you want. Especially when ordinary Americans share our grief and send their condolences. Thank you, friends,” Antonov said. While the timing of Washington’s decision was at the very least off-beat, the ambassador said Russia will not let itself be carried away by emotion when preparing a response.

“Truth will always prevail. We shall not be provoked into an emotional outburst. But there will be a response,” he vowed.

While Washington claims the expelled diplomats were all covert intelligence operatives posing a danger to US national security, according to Antonov, they were actually in charge of the fields in which the US and Russia still occasionally find common ground.

“The people who are being expelled were in charge for those few areas, which barely keep our mutually beneficial cooperation afloat: space, science, trade, culture and archival searches for POW and MIA. Restoration of relations and search for points of contact have been set back,” Antonov lamented.

Speaking of the inherent causes of the UK’s and the US’s growing alienation from Moscow, Antonov suggested that the “Russian threat” is needed to distract people from pressing issues at home.

“Our opponents hate to see a strong and powerful Russia, which has recently demonstrated its capabilities,” he stressed, adding that the internal problems of countries will not slip away with more Russia-bashing.

Early hopes that the Trump administration might opt out of the hostile policy conducted by the Obama administration have been quashed, as Trump’s White House has failed to deliver on his own call for cooperation.

“Words of readiness to cooperate have gone completely separate ways with actual actions. Despite the promises, the current Administration takes the course of its predecessor,” the diplomat said.

Pfizer, Viagra’s manufacturer, is struggling itself –with a downward sales trend. While statistics show many men face the problem – experts say it could be as many as one in five men in Britain – Pfizer has faced stiff competition from generic manufacturers.

According to Pfizer more than a fifth of UK adult males aged over 18 suffer from but few seek treatment. “There’s a clear unmet need,” Paul Rose, the general manager for Pfizer’s UK consumer healthcare division, told the Daily Telegraph. The US giant’s new product Viagra Connect should be give the company a much-needed circulation boost, it is hoped. Global sales were $1.2 billion (£850 million) last year, down almost half on the $2.1 billion of five years earlier.

The over-the-counter product has high hopes pinned on it, as men will no longer need a prescription for the drug. Pfizer has trained thousands of pharmacists on how to consult people interested in buying Viagra Connect. The drug will be available in 14,000 stores across Britain and via pharmacy websites.

The new product could also prove an asset for Pfizer’s consumer healthcare division, which it has trouble selling after both GSK and Reckitt Benckiser pulled out of the $20 billion contest to buy it last week. The decision to sell the product was made last year by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Mick Foy, the MHRA’s group manager in vigilance and risk management of medicines, said: “Erectile dysfunction can be a debilitating condition, so it’s important men feel they have fast access to quality and legitimate care, and do not feel they need to turn to counterfeit online supplies which could have potentially serious side-effects.”

Counterfeit or not, all drugs carry a risk of side-effects. Viagra Connect will not be sold to men in certain high-risk groups, notably those with severe cardiovascular disorders.

If you like this story, share it with a friend!

The 93-year-old former President has echoed the concerns of Democratic lawmakers that have been sounding the alarm over Trump’s decision to sack Gen. HR McMaster from his national security adviser post and replace him with the former US envoy to the UN.

Bolton, known for beating the drums of war against North Korea and Iran, and pushing for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is set to formally take office on April 9, ahead of Trump’s planned talks with Kim Jong-un.

Carter, who last year volunteered to travel to North Korea on behalf of the Trump administration together with McMaster, said that Bolton’s appointment is “the worst mistake [Trump] made”, speaking to CBS This Morning on Monday. 

 “I have been concerned at some of the things he’s decided. I think his last choice for national security adviser was very ill-advised,” the veteran Democrat, who served as the US President from 1977 to 1981, said.

In an interview with USA Today, Carter did not mince his words, calling Bolton’s promotion “a disaster for our country,” noting that the new national security adviser has been a long-time advocate of war with North Korea, a preemptive strike on Iran and was one of the driving forces behind the Iraq invasion, which was based on flawed intelligence.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has recently revealed that Bolton, when he was a US envoy to the UN, tried to convince him that Israel must launch an attack on Iran, advice that Mofaz was reluctant to heed.

Bolton will assume his post shortly after Mike Pompeo, who mirrors Trump’s hardline stance on Iran and North Korea, will be sworn in as Secretary of State. What seems like the US leader’s intent to encircle himself with yes-men is particularly troubling, Carter argued.

“I am concerned as a matter of fact about his deliberate moves to get into the key positions of government just people who agree with him,” the veteran politician told USA Today, noting that Bolton’s “influence on President Trump will be deleterious to our country.”

When asked what advice he would give to the 45th President on how to deal with North Korea, Carter quipped: “You mean, other than fire John Bolton?”

With the formal date for the much-anticipated talks between Washington DC and Pyongyang yet to be set, Carter advised Trump to “listen very carefully” to what North Korea wants to convey. Citing his record of dealing with the crisis on the Peninsula, which has been in limbo for years, Carter argued that what North Korea seeks is a guarantee, confirmed by the participants of Six Party talks, including China and Russia, that it would not be attacked by the US if it relinquishes its aggressive stance towards the US allies in the region. The former president stressed that it would require a trade-off, with the US potentially phasing out its military presence or canceling wargames that are “deliberately designed to antagonize” the North.

While the Democrats denounced Trump for creating a “war cabinet” with his new hires like the “discredited architect of the Iraq war” Bolton, Republicans have sprung to his defense, heaping praise on the new hawkish addition to the administration.

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) called him a “very underrated, amazing American” and “an extraordinary talented pick,” while Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) labeled him “an excellent choice who will do a great job.”

The visibly pale Davis reportedly vomited right before he went on air while eagle-eyed viewers spotted a glass of water, tissues and a sick bucket next to him just in case disaster struck on live television. The Brexit Secretary was determined to keep calm and carry on, chatting with Marr about the Irish border issue after Brexit.

Other viewers kept watching in the hope another spasm would befall the polarising MP. There were plenty of clever quips on social media about being sick over the Brexit issue, while some praised Davis for soldiering on despite being so violently ill.

On the show, Davis told Marr that it was “incredibly probable” that the UK would reach a final deal with the European Union, adding that “you can never stop making arrangements” if a deal isn’t reached.

He likened it to having home insurance, pointing out that “you don’t expect your house to burn down, it’s less than a one in 100,000 chance, but you have house insurance anyway.” He also said physical checks at the Irish border could be avoided with “a whole lot of technology.”

Davis said the Conservative Government will protect the Good Friday Agreement “at all costs,” adding that they will not “allow a return to the borders of the past.” The ill Brexit sec told the BBC program that “there is a risk in trying to focus just on the downsides because the real likely outcome – the overwhelmingly likely outcome – is option A. Option A is that we get a free-trade agreement, we get a customs agreement, all of those make the Northern Ireland issue much, much easier to solve.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

“The expulsion of Russian diplomats as well as other recent unfriendly steps, such as restriction of access to Russian diplomatic property, visa denials to mission staff and other [meaures], can be viewed as the US abusing its rights and privileges as the hosting country,” Vassily Nebenzia said.

Nebenzia pointed out that the status of the staff at the permanent representations of the countries at the United Nations are regulated by UN conventions, namely the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations of 1946 and the Agreement Between the United Nations and the US Regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed in 1947.

The US announced earlier on Monday that it was expelling 48 Russian diplomats from the US and declaring 12 Russian diplomats at the UN seat in New York ‘persona non grata’. Washington followed the lead of the UK in their retaliation over the Sergei Skripal poisoning in Salisbury, which London blames on Russia without providing any evidence. The UK is also refusing to cooperate with Moscow in the investigation.
In a statement on the expulsion of the 12 UN staffers, US ambassador at the UN Nikki Haley accused them of having “engaged in espionage activities that are adverse to our national security.” 

These allegations were dismissed by Nebenzia, who said that the US had no right to interfere with the work of the UN.
“The employees of Russia’s mission at the UN present their credentials to the UN and perform their functions exclusively within the UN,” he stressed, noting that, as the host country, the US has a special obligation to preserve the privileges and immunity of the staff of the UN member countries, as well as the employees at the UN administrative bodies.

“This is an extremely inappropriate and unfriendly step,” Nebenzia said, adding that he “doesn’t think” that kicking out Russian UN diplomats from US territory is in line with the agreements the US has with the UN.

Johnson, 21, was found dead on railway tracks in Bedfordshire after making allegations of bullying and intimidation by senior figures within the Conservative Party. In the months that followed Johnson’s death, Tory figures came under pressure after it emerged that the party had failed to act on the complaints.

READ MORE: ‘No 10 outed me over Brexit electoral fraud allegations,’ says former Leave campaigner

“It’s been two and a half years now and we are still fighting for the truth. We have hired a lawyer and a barrister now to help us get justice for Elliott,” Ray Johnson, Elliot’s father, told the Evening Standard.  

An inquest into Johnson’s death heard that Mark Clarke, a former Conservative parliamentary candidate, had acted in an intimidating and “potentially criminal” manner toward young volunteers, causing one female volunteer to have a nervous breakdown, according to The Telegraph.

The coroner also heard that Johnson had written to his employers, the think tank Conservative Way Forward, with details of an alleged altercation with Clarke in August 2015, during which his superior is said to have pinned him to a chair and threatened to destroy his career. Clarke, who has now been expelled from the party, has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

READ MORE: May ambushed in parliament over Tories’ extensive links to shady research firm Cambridge Analytica

Johnson’s parents have repeatedly complained about the Conservative Party’s handling of an internal party report into bullying, which identified 13 alleged victims of Clarke’s behavior, and six accusations of “sexually inappropriate behavior.” Johnson’s parents say they have not been provided with access to the report.

“We will be taking civil action against certain individuals and organizations as part of that legal action,” Ray Johnson said. “We will again be demanding access to the report.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

The watchdog group has filed legal complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Department of Justice, accusing Cambridge Analytica of violating federal laws which prohibit foreigners from direct or indirect participation in US political campaigning.

Cambridge Analytica, which worked with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election, is accused of mining the data of 50 million Facebook users, without their explicit knowledge or consent, and then attempting to use it to influence voters.

The Trump campaign is reported to have paid the British firm more than $5 million for its services. Records also show that seventeen other Republican campaigns and political groups paid the firm $16 million for similar services.

The legal complaints against Cambridge Analytica refer to a memo in which lawyer Laurence Levy warns company CEO Alexander Nix that foreign nationals “may not play strategic roles” in US campaigns but that they can “act as functionaries that collect and process data” so long as the final analysis of the data is done by American citizens.

Levy suggested in the alleged memo that Nix, as a foreign national, should recuse himself from “substantive management” of clients involved with American elections, but that advice was ignored by Cambridge Analytica, the complaints say. The defendants in the case are all non-US citizens.

Common Cause has called for the FEC and the Department of Justice to investigate and impose appropriate sanctions on Cambridge Analytica for election law violations.

The watchdog’s vice president for policy and litigation, Paul S. Ryan, said it “defies belief” that, even after their own lawyer warned them they would be violating federal law, they did so anyway.

“A full investigation must be conducted, and if Cambridge Analytica and its staff did in fact repeatedly violate our laws, then there must be punishment levied sufficient to deter similar lawbreaking in future,” Ryan said.

READ MORE: Antitrust: Majority of Americans don’t trust Facebook to protect their data – poll

Cambridge Analytica has denied any wrongdoing, but said it takes recent allegations of unethical practices “very seriously”.
“As anyone who is familiar with our staff and work can testify, we in no way resemble the politically-motivated and unethical company that some have sought to portray,” acting CEO Alexander Taylor said in a statement.

Earlier today, the Federal Trade Commission confirmed it was investigating Facebook over its privacy practices.

In a statement, the FTC said it took recent reports raising concerns over the social media giant’s privacy policies “very seriously” and that there was an “open, non-public” investigation into those practices.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologised for the social media platform allowing Cambridge Analtyica to access its users’ personal data. The political consulting firm reportedly obtained data through a program designed by an ex-employee, Cambridge University researcher Aleksandr Kogan.

Billions were wiped off the stock share price in the wake of the revelations and news sites rushed to cover the rapidly-unfolding story. However, BBC show Panorama has been accused of killing the story by Guardian and Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr.

The second story being referred to by the British newspaper journalist is the scandal involving the Vote Leave team in the British referendum on European Union (EU) membership. Cadwalladr, whose breaking of the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook story has prompted legal action against the Observer, said the BBC was refusing to report the details of a Google Drive account which was set up between Vote Leave and BeLeave.

Vote Leave is accused of breaking campaign spending rules by a former campaigner for BeLeave. Shahmir Sanni said he had “evidence” of how Vote Leave used a Canadian company to funnel cash to BeLeave, and also controlled their output – thereby dodging spending caps.

The Prime Minister’s political aide Stephen Parkinson said he was in a relationship with Sanni which has ended, and that is why he came forward. The BBC, Cadwalladr says, is ignoring documents which show BeLeave and Vote Leave working together illegally.

Social media users also said the Cambridge Analytica scandal was prominent on many sites, but not the BBC.

A user on Reddit said: “BBC no longer has anything regarding Cambridge Analytica on its front page while all (most – haven’t checked every site) other news sites do. Quite interesting considering the public interest in this.”

However, many said the news was not that interesting to them and all news sites select what they believe are the best stories.

The BBC told RT that: “The BBC has covered the Cambridge Analytica story and related developments extensively across its output. Carole Cadwalladr has appeared on BBC programmes to discuss her story. While BBC Panorama doesn’t comment on its investigations, the programme is, and has always been, completely editorially independent.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

McConnell (R-Kentucky) announced a bill on Monday that would legalize the growing of hemp as an agricultural product. The Hemp Farming Act of 2018 would legalize hemp as an agricultural commodity.

“Hemp has played a foundational role in Kentucky’s agricultural heritage, and I believe that it can be an important part of our future,” McConnell said at a conference in Frankfort, Kentucky, accompanied by the state Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles.

A non-flowering variant of the cannabis plant, hemp has hundreds of potential commercial uses, including food, fuel, biodegradable plastic, paint and clothing.

“Here in Kentucky, we have built the best Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program in the country and have established a model for how other states can do the same with buy-in from growers, processors, and law enforcement,” Quarles said. “I want to thank Leader McConnell for introducing this legislation which allows us to harness the economic viability of this crop and presents the best opportunity to put hemp on a path to commercialization.”

The US government prohibited the cultivation of hemp in 1937, and reaffirmed the decision in the 1971 Controlled Substances Act. The Obama administration carved out an exemption for cultivation for research purposes in 2014, however.

If approved, McConnell’s bill would lift the federal restrictions on hemp and allow states to set their own hemp laws. The act would also give hemp researchers the chance to apply for competitive federal grants from the US Department of Agriculture, according to a press release from the senator’s office.

A team at the University of Louisville has already been harvesting hemp since 2016, to study its potential as a biofuel.

McConnell plans to bring the bill to the senate with senators Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) as co-sponsors.

The British Government has confirmed they are considering tougher sanctions and announced a June deadline for a report for the EU Council. The UK has been attempting to punish Russia deeming them as “culpable” for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former double agent, and his daughter Yulia.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said that more than 130 people could have been exposed to the nerve agent, identified by the UK as A-234 – also known as ‘Novichok’. “We assess that more than 130 people in Salisbury could have been potentially exposed to this nerve agent,” May said in a statement delivered to parliament on Monday. The PM also accused Russia of covering up the use of chemical weapons in Syria by the Assad government, a claim the Kremlin refutes. 

Moscow denies responsibility for the exposure of the pair and a policeman to nerve agent The Kremlin has been directly accused, without publicly presented evidence, and 23 diplomats have been subsequently expelled from the UK. Britain also called on its allies to expel Russian officials.

In turn, the US kicked out 60 diplomats, 12 of whom formed part of the Russian mission to the United Nations. In a statement, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the 12 Russians in question had “abused their privilege of residence” in the US and had “engaged in espionage activities that are adverse to our national security.”

And other European nations have followed suit. During a summit in Brussels last week, the 28 EU leaders agreed with Britain’s assertion that it is “highly likely” that Russia was responsible for the attack on Skripal.

Members of the EU have expelled Russian diplomats following Britain’s lead. Canada has also jumped on the bandwagon, announcing that it will expel four Russian diplomats “in solidarity” with the UK.

Germany, France and Poland have expelled four diplomats each, respective foreign ministries confirmed on Monday. The Netherlands and Denmark will expel two diplomats each, their foreign ministries said.

Italy is expelling two Russian diplomats, while Lithuania has expelled three, according to that country’s foreign minister. The Czech Republic will expel the same number. Meanwhile, Latvia is expelling one diplomat and an Aeroflot employee, and Estonia’s foreign minister has confirmed the country is expelling a military attaché at the Russian embassy. Finland, Sweden, Romania, and Croatia are expelling one each.

Ukraine announced it is expelling as many as 13 diplomats. Albania is expelling two, an official confirmed.

“We are stating that this is quite unprecedented – international affairs bordering, maybe, on banditry,” a Kremlin spokesperson said Sunday.

Moscow has always denied playing any role in the attack, and offered to cooperate with the investigation into the incident. Britain has declined, however, to send samples of the chemical agent used on Skripal and his daughter to Moscow. They have sent their samples to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPWC) for analysis, the results of which are yet to be released.

If you like this story, share it with a friend!

The bill allocated $700 billion to the Department of Defense, a $61 billion hike since last year, and the largest military spending increase in 15 years. Trump’s wall, however, received only $1.6 billion, a fraction of the $25 billion for which he had previously asked.

“There was only one guy who said at every speech, at every rally, for two years that he would build the wall,” conservative commentator Ann Coulter wrote on Saturday. “He has now signed a bill to prohibit building the wall.”

While the bill grants a windfall to the military, Coulter argued, “there is no more crucial attack on our national defense than the fact that we don’t have a wall.”

Trump appeared to have signed the bill reluctantly, putting his name to  the 2,200-page document to avert a government shutdown.

The president’s explanation wasn’t enough for some of his former supporters. In an op-ed on fellow conservative Steven Crowder’s website, author Courtney Kirchoff called the bill a slap in the face for Trump’s supporters.

“He didn’t drain the swamp,” Kirchoff wrote. “He gave the swamp creatures exactly what they wanted: more frivolous government spending to feed a bloated government, while not funding the wall. Another oft-touted campaign promise.”

Even hardcore Trump supporters voiced their concerns on Twitter.

Despite the criticism, Trump insists the wall will be built. In a tweet after the signing, Trump alluded to using the military to build the wall, which he said is “all about national defense.”

Images have emerged on social media of cars with Saudi number plates being sprayed with words such as “war” and “Ya Ali,” a common expression used by Shia Muslims. It comes as a protest is due to be held in Central London on Monday evening to mark the third anniversary of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s bombing of Yemen.

In one video, a man can be heard saying: “I parked the car for a minute in Sloane (Square), look what the son of a b***h did,” the New Arab reports.

In another video, the passenger of a 4×4 vehicle appears to be hit with a spray can as he confronted a man vandalizing another car.

Saudi Arabia has led a bloody aerial campaign in support of the Yemeni government and against the Iranian-backed Zaydi-Shia Houthi rebels since March 26, 2015. Some 10,000 people are estimated to have died in the conflict, with more than 50,000 injured and millions in need of humanitarian assistance. Save the Children has estimated that more than 50,000 minors may have died in 2017 as a result of the conflict.

The UK has been accused of being “complicit” in the mass killings as it licensed £4.6 billion ($6.5 billion) worth of fighter jets and bombs to the Saudi regime since the bombing of Yemen began.

Campaign Against Arms Trade’s Andrew Smith said the UK is still colluding with the Saudi’s human-rights abuses. Despite international criticism and mass protests, the UK announced earlier this month that it was close to confirming a new deal to sell the regime 48 more Typhoon jets.

“Yemen has endured three years of destruction, but the arms sales haven’t stopped. The war is entering its fourth year, and the humanitarian crisis is only getting worse,” Smith said in a statement on Monday.

“Theresa May and her colleagues must end their shameful complicity in the destruction. If the government wants to do the right thing for the people of Yemen then it must stop arming and supporting the brutal Saudi regime.”

The new arms deal was announced just after a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman – considered to be the “chief architect” of the Yemen war – sparked mass protests outside Downing Street earlier this month.

If you like this story, share it with a friend!

The rapper, whose real name is Michael Render, called activists taking part in the marches “lackeys of the progressive movement,” who need to think for themselves. Render leveled the same accusations at celebrities taking part in the march. “Celebrities often don’t know what to do. They’re told what to do,” he said.

Celebrities like Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey and Julianne Moore voiced their support for the marches, while George Clooney went one step further and pledged $500,000 to anti-gun causes.

Render’s defense of the second amendment also drew support from some twitter users.

Others were more critical of the fact that he chose to air his views through the NRA.

Following the social media backlash, Render posted two videos on his Twitter page, in which he apologized for disparaging marchers.

“That interview was filmed a week earlier to disparage a very noble campaign which I actually support,” he said. “I respect their leadership.”

While Render apologized for the context of the interview, he did not retract any of his beliefs on the second amendment.

Some 500,000 people attended the March For Our Lives rally in Washington DC on Saturday. At the rally, survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting gave impassioned speeches against gun violence, and celebrity singers performed for the crowd.

Several hundred coinciding events were held in cities around the world on the same day.

Cambridge Analytica has been the scandal on everybody’s lips in the last week – they stand accused of collecting the personal data of millions of Facebook users and exploiting it for political goals. Since the news broke, it has been revealed that the Ministry of Defense paid Cambridge Analytica’s (CA) parent company nearly £200,000 ($284,000) for two MoD projects.

During the two contracts, CA’s parent company SCL Group were given ‘List X’ status by the Ministry of Defense until 2013. They were allowed to keep secret defense files on their premises. At the time, MoD officials raised issues with SCL’s data management about the “rudimentary security mechanisms in place” to protect the secret files, although no data breaches were ever recorded.

Internet law and social media expert Yair Cohen told RT’s Polly Boiko how data harvesting can impact the average person. “If political parties are allowed to use companies like Cambridge Analytica, there’s always a risk that people’s data could be sold on,” Cohen said. “People should be concerned.”

“There is always the risk that our data could be sold on to other companies for other illegitimate reasons. Imagine somebody inserting a camera right into your brain and they analyzing every feeling, emotion, love, hate, everything you do or want to do… then once you’re asleep, they use this info in order to reprogram your brain.

“They know what you like… so they can start inserting messages.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

The move follows major diplomatic pressure by the UK on its allies to follow their lead in expelling Russian diplomats. The Russian embassy in Washington had previously urged Trump not to heed the “fake news” on Skripal’s poisoning.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has accused Moscow of being behind the poisoning of the former spy Skripal and his daughter in the town of Salisbury in early March.

Of the 60 diplomats expelled, 12 formed part of the Russian mission to the United Nations. In a statement, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the 12 Russians in question had “abused their privilege of residence” in the US and had “engaged in espionage activities that are adverse to our national security.”

READ MORE: At least 60 US diplomats to be expelled from Russia, move against UN mission ‘illegal’ – senator

Haley said that the Russian diplomats had used the UN as “a safe haven for dangerous activities within our own borders.”

During a summit in Brussels last week, the 28 EU leaders agreed with Britain’s assertion that it is “highly likely” that Russia was responsible for the attack on Skripal.

Members of the EU numbering 14 have also decided to expel Russian diplomats following Britain’s lead. Moscow has always denied playing any role in the attack, and offered to cooperate with the investigation into the incident. Britain has declined, however, to send samples of the chemical agent used on Skripal and his daughter to Moscow.

Two dozen former U.S. intelligence officers urge President Trump to rescind Gina Haspel’s nomination to lead the CIA, citing torture that she oversaw while supervising a black site prison, as well as her role in destroying evidence. 

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

SUBJECT: Request to Withdraw Nomination of Gina Haspel

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With respect, we veteran intelligence officers from CIA and other agencies urge you to withdraw the nomination of Gina Haspel for CIA director. From what is already known of her leading role in CIA torture 16 years ago, she has disqualified herself.

In 2002 Haspel supervised the first CIA “black site” for interrogation, where cruel and bizarre forms of torture were applied to suspected terrorists. And when the existence of 92 videotapes of those torture sessions was revealed, Haspel signed a cable ordering their destruction, against the advice of legal counsel at CIA and the White House.

Does Torture ‘Work?’

We are confident that if you set aside some time to read the unredacted portions of the Senate Intelligence Committee report of 2014 on the torture ordered and supervised by Haspel and other CIA managers, you will change your mind about her nomination. The five-year Senate investigation was based primarily on original CIA cables and other sensitive documents.

In addition to revealing clear violations of the UN Convention Against Torture, the Senate investigation shows that claims by senior CIA officials that torture is effective are far from true. The US Army — in which many of us have served — has been aware of the ineffectiveness of torture for decades.

General John Kimmons, head of Army Intelligence, drove home that point on September 6, 2006 — approximately an hour before President George W. Bush publicly extolled the virtues of torture methods that became known as “enhanced interrogation techniques.”  Gen. Kimmons stated: “No good intelligence is going to come from abusive practices. I think history tells us that. I think the empirical evidence of the last five years — hard years — tell us that.”

We believe that Defense Secretary James Mattis’ lack of enthusiasm for torture reflects lessons drawn from the historical experience of the Marine Corps, as well. Not to mention the twin reality that torture brutalizes the brutalizer, and that US use of torture puts our own troops in serious jeopardy when captured. Moreover, there is no more effective recruitment tool than torture to attract more terrorists.

International and Domestic Law

Please also be aware that many signatories to the UN Convention Against Torture take seriously their obligations under the principle of “universal jurisdiction,” which applies when those who authorize or practice torture are not brought to justice by authorities in their home countries.

George W. Bush experienced a precarious brush with this reality in 2011, when he had to abruptly cancel a visit to Geneva, Switzerland, after discovering that plans were in place to arrest him as soon as he stepped onto Swiss soil. [See “America’s Stay-at-Home Ex-President”] The widely respected European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights already has made no secret of its intention to proceed quickly against Haspel, should she set foot in Europe.

We believe that CIA’s activities and general focus have become severely unbalanced, with the lion’s share of funding and energy going to the paramilitary-prone operational side — where the potential for human rights abuses is not given sufficient consideration.

That trend has gone on steroids in more recent decades, and it is a safe bet that Gina Haspel would accelerate it. We would also observe that if most of the talent and funding goes to CIA paramilitary operations, then the by-products will necessarily include a tendency to engage in politically motivated — and therefore shabby — analysis. That means that senior policymakers like you will be poorly informed, particularly with respect to complex world issues — including biased perspectives on Russia and its newly re-elected president, Vladimir Putin.

* * *

We Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) are extremely concerned at the possibility that Gina Haspel might become the next Director of the CIA. Haspel actually supervised a CIA “black site” codenamed “Cat’s Eye” in Thailand where a number of suspected terrorists were tortured. She subsequently collaborated in destroying all 92 videotapes of the torture sessions, effectively covering up what were likely serious war crimes.

There should be no question about the illegality of torture. It has been universally condemned and banned by both the Geneva Conventions and United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which was signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and ratified by the Senate in 1994.

The UN Convention defines torture “as any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession…” and makes clear that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.”

The Convention’s Article 2 requires signatories to take effective measures to prevent torture in any territory under their jurisdiction. The complete prohibition of torture is absolute.  Under international law, officials cannot receive immunity in cases involving torture and governments that have signed the Convention are obligated to bring torturers to justice.  US domestic law was brought in line with the Convention once the US became a signatory and ratified it.

In the wake of the Abu Ghraib revelations, torture, to include its variations that have been euphemistically described as “enhanced interrogation techniques” (EIT), is now explicitly banned by the US military in its training manuals. A number of soldiers were tried and imprisoned in the wake of Abu Ghraib, although the “upper ranks” — in civilian as well as military spheres — who approved torture managed to escape serious consequences.

Some in the Pentagon clearly took seriously allegations of torture and were willing to file criminal charges against those involved, though Department of Defense leadership never saw fit to assume responsibility for having set up a policy environment that quite clearly condoned EIT.

There is also another significant historical and legal precedent that demonstrates that the United States government has by its own actions agreed that what is today being called “enhanced interrogation” is a war crime. In 1946-1948, Japanese officers who tortured Allied soldiers — including what is now referred to as waterboarding — were tried at the Tokyo post-war tribunals for that crime, found guilty, and executed.

Heinous

More recently, the meticulously documented unclassified 528 page Executive Summary of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) report on the CIA’s secret Rendition, Detention and Interrogation (RDI) program is remarkable for its candor. That five-year investigation was based on original CIA cables and other documents.

In blunt language, the Senate report describes the horrors of the black site secret prisons and the efforts that were made to get terrorist suspects to talk. It demonstrates that the interrogations were brutal — worse than anyone had been led to believe — and also that they did not produce any information that might not have been developed otherwise or, in many cases, any actionable intelligence whatsoever. The full classified text of the report — which names names of the actual torture perpetrators redacted in the summary — runs to almost 7,000 pages.

Moreover, coercive interrogation frequently produced misleading or fabricated intelligence that wasted resources by having to be meticulously checked before being used.  This conclusion was also arrived at by former FBI interrogator Ali Soufan — who deplored CIA methods — as well as by a review conducted by CIA’s then-Inspector General (IG), John Helgerson, in 2004. The “Helgerson Report” condemned both CIA leadership and Langley’s on-the-ground management of questionable programs driven by “analytical assessments that were unsupported by credible intelligence” — programs which quickly became abusive.

It is our collective judgment that the loathsome physical abuses that included beatings, repeated waterboardings and anal violations referred to as “rectal feeding” — as well as physical threats to family members — cannot be whitewashed with the convenient euphemism of “enhanced interrogation.” All of those are acts of torture — plain and simple.

And while there are undoubtedly many good moral arguments against torture, there are practical considerations as well. Despite what the media would have Americans believe, torture does not work.

We recall the unambiguous remarks of then-commander of Army intelligence, Gen. John Kimmons, who held a Pentagon press conference on Sept. 6, 2006 — the same day President George W. Bush announced what he called “an alternative set of procedures” for interrogation (which later morphed into the term “enhanced interrogation techniques”). Anticipating that Bush would claim the EITS to be necessary and effective, Gen. Kimmons told the media: “No good intelligence is going to come from abusive practices. I think history tells us that. I think the empirical evidence of the last five years — hard years —tells us that.”

Colin Powell Mousetrapped by ‘Intelligence’ From Torture

Worse still, intelligence officials have used information, which they knew was gained from torture, to mislead the most senior US officials on issues of war and peace. One of the signatories below was eyewitness to how CIA Director George Tenet persuaded Secretary of State Colin Powell to tell the UN of a “sinister nexus” between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.

Tenet did not tell Powell that this “intelligence” came from a source, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who had been “rendered” to, and waterboarded by, Egyptian intelligence. The Defense Intelligence Agency had deemed this intelligence unreliable, but Tenet chose to ignore DIA and never informed Powell.  Al-Libi recanted less than a year later, admitting that he fabricated the story about Saddam and al-Qaeda in order to stop his torture.

Moreover, when you wink at torture, you motivate enemies of the United States to do the same to captured US soldiers, diplomats and travelers while also providing a propaganda bonanza for terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Indeed, the only reason why CIA torturers have not been tried and sentenced to prison for the damage they have done to the nation is that an intimidated President Barack Obama — who once proclaimed that “nobody is above the law” — balked at allowing the judicial process to run its course, thereby whitewashing the Bush Administration’s many crimes related to the so-called “global war on terror.” Obama attempted to justify his inaction as looking forward rather than backward, but it is more likely that he feared opening up a Pandora’s Box of shameful government secrets that no doubt would have emerged.

Promoting Haspel in spite of her tainted record would send a message to both intelligence and military personnel that embracing practices like torture — indisputably a war crime — can be a path to promotion.

Haspel’s involvement with torture began when she accepted the assignment to go to Thailand — which she could have turned down — to run the “black site” where the interrogations were being conducted. She was, at the time, the deputy in CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center (CTC), working for Jose Rodriguez.

She was in charge of the secret Thailand base in late 2002 while Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and possibly more suspects were being tortured in a process that included slamming victims’ heads against walls, subjecting them to painful stress positions, regularly depriving them of sleep, confining them to small, coffin-like boxes, and waterboarding.

The “confinement boxes” were of two types; one was coffin-sized, and the other was smaller and less than waist-high. Both had strong claustrophobic effects. A prisoner would be forced into the smaller box as an extreme form of stress positioning, creating excruciating pain. To maximize psychological distress and exploit phobias, insects were sometimes placed in the pitch-black “coffin” alongside the victim.

Destroying the Evidence

In 2005, after returning to CIA headquarters at Langley, she acted on instructions from Rodriguez and drafted the order to destroy the 92 videotapes that had been made of the interrogations. It has been reported that she was a “strong advocate” for the destruction. This was contrary to instructions provided by CIA Counsel John Rizzo and the White House.  Thus, her act may have constituted destruction of evidence — a felony.

Jose Rodriguez was investigated for destruction of evidence by a Special Prosecutor who eventually ruled against charging him. An aide to CIA Executive Director Kyle “Dusty” Foggo later revealed Rodriguez’s rationale for shredding the tapes, writing in an email that “the heat from destroying [them] is nothing compared with what it would be if the tapes ever got into public domain – he [Rodriguez] said that they would make us look terrible; it would be devastating to us.” Gina Haspel ensured that these tapes — important, damning evidence of US government torture — would never see the light of day.

Haspel’s defenders claim that she was not the creator of the torture program and only served as a willing executor of a government initiative that she believed to be legal. That may be true as no one has access to the CTC documents that might prove otherwise. Nevertheless, it does not provide her a free pass under international law, where it is generally referred to as the “Nuremberg Defense” — a thoroughly discredited “defense” that harkens back to the era of Nazi atrocities and those who attempted to justify them by claiming perpetrators were “just following orders.”

‘Nuremberg Defense’ Didn’t Work at Nuremberg

Several former CIA leaders have supported her, saying that she was “implementing the legal orders of the president,” but many of them may be concerned about their own reputations or questionable decisions they may have made in the name of the “war on terror.” And the UN’s International Law Commission says something quite different in its codification of the legal options surrounding torture, writing that “the fact that a person acted pursuant to an order of his government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”

It is also claimed that Gina Haspel was working for the CIA Chief of Station (COS) in Bangkok and acting under the COS’s orders, but those of us who have worked in and led CIA bases would dispute that that type of tight control was common, particularly since in this case, she was reporting directly to the Counterterrorism Center at Langley. Haspel would have been the boss and would have had independence in the field in executing directives from CIA Headquarters and the Counterterrorism Center — some of which she herself had a hand in drafting.

If Haspel is confirmed and wishes to travel abroad, she may have to restrict herself to countries not party to the UN Convention Against Torture because of her widely known involvement in the “black site” in Thailand. The 42 countries that have signed and ratified the Convention include the US and most of its allies. All take on a legal obligation to enforce the prohibition against torture, based on the principle of “universal jurisdiction,” when necessary.  In other words, they are empowered to act when the accused’s home country refuses to do so.

Not Too Late to Do the Right Thing

If you do not withdraw the nomination of Gina Haspel and she is confirmed, this will cast a moral stain on the vast numbers of patriotic and ethically upright Americans who serve their country in the field of national security. It will also be a continuation of the steady erosion of human rights standards and rule of law post-9/11.

Apparent widespread support for torture among the US public — enabled largely by the false message of Hollywood, the media and the Cheney family that it “works” — is deplorable. It might have been headed off by the prosecutions of Haspel, Rodriguez and others by former President Obama, together with graphic exposure of the evidence. You have an opportunity to reverse this wrong.

Withdrawing Haspel’s nomination now would be a step in the right direction. Confirming her as Director of CIA would signal that Washington embraces what then-Vice President Dick Cheney referred to as the “dark side.” Regrettably, torture was once part of US policy. Indeed, one of this Memorandum’s signatories spent nearly two years in federal prison because he revealed that.  But torture cannot be relied upon to yield accurate intelligence. It remains an internationally condemned malignancy that must be excised, never to return.

* * *

For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

Jean Maria Arrigo, PhD, member of 2005 American Psychological Association task force evaluating the role of psychologists in U.S. intelligence and military interrogations of detainees (associate VIPS)

William Binney, former NSA Technical Director for World Geopolitical & Military Analysis; Co-founder of NSA’s Signals Intelligence Automation Research Center (ret.)

Richard H. Black, Senator of Virginia, 13th District; Colonel US Army (ret.); Former Chief, Criminal Law Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General, the Pentagon (associate VIPS)

Bogdan Dzakovic, former Team Leader of Federal Air Marshals and Red Team, FAA Security (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)

George Hunsinger, Professor, Princeton Theological Seminary; Founder, National Religious Campaign Against Torture (associate VIPS)

Michael S. Kearns, Captain, USAF (ret.), Intelligence Officer & ex-Master SERE Instructor

John Kiriakou, Former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and former senior investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col., USAF (ret.)

Linda Lewis, WMD preparedness policy analyst, USDA (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Edward Loomis, NSA Cryptologic Computer Scientist, ret.

Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst; CIA Presidential briefer (ret.)

Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council & CIA political analyst (ret.)

Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (ret.)

Valerie Plame, former operations officer, CIA (associate VIPS)

Diane Roark, Republican Professional Staff, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 1985-2002 (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.)

Greg Thielmann, former Director, Office of Strategic, Political, and Military Affairs, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, State Department; Former staff member, Senate Intelligence Committee

Peter Van Buren, US Department of State, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Kirk Wiebe, former Senior Analyst, SIGINT Automation Research Center, NSA

Lawrence Wilkerson, Colonel, US Army (ret.), former Chief of Staff for Secretary of State; Distinguished Visiting Professor, College of William and Mary (associate VIPS)

Sarah G. Wilton, CDR, USNR, (ret.); Defense Intelligence Agency (ret.)

Robert Wing, former Foreign Service Officer (associate VIPS)

Ann Wright, Colonel, US Army (ret.); also Foreign Service Officer who resigned in opposition to the US war on Iraq

The 22-year-old Canadian was filmed handing out racist flyers emblazoned with messages like “Allah is a gay God” and “Allah is trans” in Luton earlier this year. The political campaigner said the stunt was a “social experiment.” Police shut it down after getting multiple complaints from locals.

In a video posted by Southern, police can be seen telling her that the “Allah is a gay God” project could lead to violence. They can also be heard telling her that, if she did not dismantle the stall and clear off, she could be arrested for a public order offence.

She was not arrested at the time of the Luton stunt. However, she was blocked from entering the UK on March 13. She was held under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act and was banned from entering the country. A notice of refusal to enter stated that Southern’s actions in Luton presented “a threat to the fundamental interests of society and public policy of the United Kingdom.”

Southern was set to meet with other far-right figures, American Brittany Pettibone and Austrian co-founder of Generation Identity Martin Sellner, who were also refused entry into the UK. Sellner was set to give a speech at Speaker’s Corner, which was instead read out by controversial far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

READ MORE: Far-right ‘Identitarian’ movement aiming to launch UK branch, but who are they?

Now the trio have vowed to sue the UK over the refusal. In a video posted to YouTube on March 17, Sellner announced to the world that the group “don’t want to let the UK get away with this, and we’re going to sue the UK.”

READ MORE: Free speech or hate speech? Right-wing activists ‘banned’ from Britain (VIDEOS)

Speaking on YouTube to air her grievances, Southern said she has now been banned completely from the UK for the Luton stunt. “Why does (sic) the rights of Muslims to be homophobic trump the rights of gay people to have their self-expression?” she asked. She then had a dig at the United Kingdom, stating that the country “needs to have a conversation about this before they’re no longer able to have a conversation at all.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

Statistics released by the National Crime Agency (NCA) show the number of potential victims of slavery has increased by 35 percent to 5,145 since 2016. That is the highest since records began in 2009, but investigators warn that it will continue to rise.

The NCA said most victims are being used for sex or as drug mules by “county lines” groups, which use vulnerable children as couriers to transfer drugs from the city to rural areas.

British nationals comprised the largest group, followed by people from Albania and Vietnam. UK children accounted for 819 referrals, while 777 were Albanians, and 739 were Vietnamese.

Liam Vernon, a senior manager in the NCA’s modern slavery and human trafficking unit, said the figure is “shocking.” The reality is that there isn’t a region in the UK that isn’t affected,” he told The Independent. “The number is shocking and our assessment is that this is an underreported crime.”

Nearly half of the referrals were linked to labour exploitation, while other cases were connected to sexual exploitation (1,744) and domestic servitude (488).

The NCA said the increase in referrals was due to a “greater awareness” of the problem, but warned that figures “almost certainly represent an underestimate of the true scale” of the problem in the UK.

Will Kerr, director of the NCA, said the rising phenomenon was a “particular concern.”

READ MORE: 100 suspected sex slaves stopped & turned back at Scottish airport

“We are now dealing with an evolving threat,” he said. “The criminals involved in these types of exploitation are going into online spaces, particularly adult services website, to enable their criminality.”

Other common countries of origin include China, Nigeria, Romania, Sudan, Eritrea, India, Poland and Pakistan; but 116 different nationalities are known to have been affected.

Victoria Atkins, Home Office minister for crime, safeguarding and vulnerability, said the figures showed that more potential victims were being “identified and protected” because of an “improved understanding of modern slavery.”
She told the BBC that the government is “leading the world in our response to this horrendous crime.”

If you like this story, share it with a friend!

The bomb on Sunday may have been triggered by a tripwire, according to police. The latest explosions showed “a different level of skill above what we were already concerned that this suspect or suspects may possess,” interim police chief Brian Manley said Monday.

Initial reports suggested there had been two explosions, but police have only confirmed one “Bomb Hotshot” call, and county Emergency Medical Service (EMS) say a “critical incident” has left two people injured. The injuries are serious, but not expected to be life-threatening.

“It’s obvious that there has been an explosion, and it’s obvious that is has caused significant injuries to two people,” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told journalists following the incident.

The area is still a “very active scene right now,” Manley added, noting that police have been checking another suspicious item that they discovered in the same area.
“We do have a second item in the area, a backpack, that we are clearing right now to ensure that it is safe,” he said.

Officials have not yet said whether they believe the blast is connected to the three explosions that took place in Austin earlier this month.

The new explosion comes a week after two package bombs went off in the city on Monday morning, killing a 17-year-old local and injuring two women. The teenager inadvertently triggered the device by opening the box after finding it on the steps of his home in a northeast Austin neighborhood, police said.

In a separate incident, a 75-year-old woman was “significantly injured” after she opened a box in front of her home in another part of the city, police said on Monday.

Both of Monday’s incidents are being linked to an even earlier explosion on March, 2, which killed 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House in the Harris Ridge neighborhood.

Police believe the three attacks earlier in March were likely carried out by a single serial bomber. With the hunt for the suspect proving unsuccessful so far, Austin police appealed to the bomber to reach out to them and possibly lay out their demands on Sunday.

“We assure you, we are listening and we want to understand what brought you to this point, and we want to listen to you, so please call us,” Manley said at a press conference earlier on Sunday. A bounty of $115,000 is being offered for information on the suspect.

The explosive devices in all the previous cases were planted in cardboard boxes, prompting police to warn citizens against approaching suspicious-looking packages of unknown origin that were brought to their doorstep.

Scores of police officers have been combing through more than 400 leads, with some 200 interviews being carried out over the course of the investigation. However, the attacker’s motives are still unclear.

On Sunday, Manley said that the bombings were “meant to send a message.” There has been speculation that the attacks were potentially racially motivated. Victims in the first two explosions, 17-year-old Draylen Mason and House, 39, were black, while the third victim was an elderly Hispanic woman.
While police said that they did not rule out the possibility that the bombings were hate crimes, they did not want to limit the scope of the investigation to only one possible explanation.

The company has been besieged by privacy complaints following recent revelations that the data of 50 million Facebook users was leaked to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm accused of using the data to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election. The latest Reuters/IPSOS poll, taken last week, found that the American public trust Facebook less than other tech giants, such as Apple and Google, with their personal data.

READ MORE: #DeleteFacebook? Assange never had account with ‘giant intel database controlled by megalomaniac’

The poll, conducted online throughout the US, found that 41 percent of Americans trust Facebook to obey laws designed to protect users’ personal information. This is compared to the 66 percent who said they trust Amazon. Some 62 percent said they trust Google, 60 percent for Microsoft and 47 percent for Yahoo.

Facebook has been left reeling, after more than $50 billion was wiped off its value following the scandal. The company have since taken a number of steps to try and regain public confidence.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg placed full-page ads in a number of British Sunday newspapers, apologizing for the leak and vowing to investigate which companies took advantage of the data.

“We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t, we don’t deserve it,” the advert read.

Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg also made an appearance on US television last Thursday. “We know this is an issue of trust. We know this is a critical moment for our company,” Sandberg said in an interview with CNBC.  

READ MORE: Facebook data downloads highlight what the social network knows about you

Concerns have risen about the information Facebook collects on its users, including phone calls, text messages and other non-Facebook activity. New Zealand software developer Dylan McKay highlighted the issue on his Twitter feed last Wednesday, after he requested his data from the firm and then found that it had records of his texts and calls.

 READ MORE: WhatsApp co-founder calls on users to #DeleteFacebook

The controversy has given rise to the #DeleteFacebook movement, to which even WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton has lent his support. The social media giant bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

“This is about the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her, to threaten her, and to put her under their thumb. It is thuggish behavior from people in power. And it has no place in American democracy.” —Michael Avenatti, attorneyIn a long-awaited interview on CBS‘s “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, adult film star Stormy Daniels detailed a brief sexual relationship she says she had with President Donald Trump and potentially-illegal efforts and threats made by Trump and his associates to keep her quiet about the affair.

Five years after Daniels’s single sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, she was offered $15,000 to tell her story to In Touch magazine. The story never ran because Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, threatened legal action against the publication—and weeks later, Daniels was threatened with physical harm by someone she had never met.

Not long after the magazine story was killed, Stormy Daniels says she was threatened by a man who approached her in Las Vegas. “A guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘leave Trump alone. Forget the story.’” pic.twitter.com/JMskKQiYCi

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 25, 2018

“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter,” she told Anderson Cooper. “And a guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.’ And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.”

The encounter left Daniels shaken. She said it caused her to deny that the affair took place when a gossip website published a story about it later that year, and when various outlets offered her money to go public when Trump announced his run for president, she refused.

Daniels said she was later relieved to be offered $130,000 by Trump’s lawyer in October 2016, just before the presidential election, in order to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) promising to keep quiet about the story.

“I turned down a large payday multiple times…I didn’t wanna take away from the legitimate and legal, I’d like to point out, career that I’ve worked very hard to establish. I did not want my family and my child exposed to all the things that she’s being exposed to right now,” she said.

After the Wall Street Journal published a bombshell story  alleging her affair with Trump this past January, Daniels said she was again pressured by Trump’s team to deny that it had ever happened. Daniels also says she was  warned “they” could make her “life hell in many different ways,” if she didn’t sign a statement refuting the Journal‘s story.

“I felt intimidated and honestly bullied,” said Daniels. “And I didn’t know what to do. And so I signed it.”

“This is about the cover-up,” said Daniels’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, in the “60 Minutes” segment. “This is about the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her, to threaten her, and to put her under their thumb. It is thuggish behavior from people in power. And it has no place in American democracy.”

Attorney Michael Avenatti disputes the notion that Michael Cohen was working in a purely personal capacity when he arranged the hush money for Stormy Daniels. pic.twitter.com/91T0ofMnjt

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 25, 2018

Former FEC chairman Trevor Potter noted that Daniels’s story is also about the $130,000 payment made to Daniels just before the election. Cohen has claimed the money came from his personal funds and that he paid it due to his concern for Trump, and not to influence the election. Avenatti calls the claim “laughable,” while Potter and watchdog groups argue that the payment could still be a major ethics violation.

“It’s a $130,000 in-kind contribution by Cohen to the Trump campaign, which is about $126,500 above what he’s allowed to give,” said Potter, now president of the Campaign Legal Center. “And if he does this on behalf of his client, the candidate, that is a coordinated, illegal, in-kind contribution by Cohen for the purpose of influencing the election, of benefiting the candidate by keeping this secret.”

Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was investigating “episodes involving Michael Cohen,” leading to speculation that the payment he made to Daniels could have implications for Mueller’s probe of the Trump campaign.

On Friday, reports began to emerge that President Donald Trump is close to expelling a number of Russian diplomats as a response to the Skripal poisoning. The move, which could allegedly happen as early as Monday, follows major diplomatic pressure by the UK on Washington. Before the administration takes any decision on the case, the Russian Embassy in Washington urged Donald Trump not to give in to fake reportage of the Skripal case.

“In these troubled days the smaller partner requires help and guidance based on wise restraint more than ever,” Russia’s Embassy in the US said on Sunday, urging Washington, “being the number one ally of Downing Street,” to help London to calm down.

Embassy staff reiterated that the UK leadership’s accusations against Russia are being levied without even a “hint of evidence,” reminding the White House that UN experts are currently in the process of determining the origin of the nerve agent, which was allegedly used to poison Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury on March 4.

“They have already put all the blame on us while the investigation is still ongoing and the results are yet to be published… Moreover, they go the extra mile and suggest to punish Russia,” the embassy said. “Time after time we keep proving that every lunge against us will be parried tit-for-tat. Every suggestion to ‘punish Russia’ is a suggestion to at least self-inflict a wound.”

While Russia-US relations are “multilayered” and difficult at the time, the remaining constructive cooperation between the states should not become a hostage of “fake news,” the Russian mission added, emphasizing that the “strategic stability of the entire world depends on it.”

CNN had first reported the story of possible expulsion of the Russian diplomats, claiming that presidential advisers are trying to force Trump’s hand in taking tough action against Moscow. More reports followed. On Sunday, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source, that expulsion could happen as early as Monday.

“The United States stands firmly with the United Kingdom in condemning Russia’s outrageous action. The president is always considering options to hold Russia accountable in response to its malign activities,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Raj Shah told Bloomberg on Saturday. Earlier, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert admitted that Washington is considering a “range of options” to respond to Russia’s “outrageous actions” out of “solidarity with our ally.”

If you like this story, share it with a friend!

The book, which is set to be released on April 17, titled ‘A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership,’ took Amazon by storm over the weekend, surging from number 15 on the bestseller list on Saturday to number one on Sunday morning. The meteoric rise in interest of the book, a month before it is set to become available to readers, was helped by a very public spat unfolding between Comey and US President Donald Trump on Twitter.

Even before his firing in May, Comey became a target of Trump’s continuous attacks over his supposedly lackluster approach to the handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure at the State Department. The row was exacerbated when Comey leaked what he claims is a detailed record of his conversations with the President to the media, prompting the appointing of FBI special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Trump’s alleged obstruction of justice and ties to Russia.

In his memos, Comey alleged that Trump asked him to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a claim that Trump has categorically denied, dismissing all the allegations as “lies.” The new episode in the war of words between Comey and Trump came on Saturday, triggered by the dismissal of Comey’s former deputy Andrew McCabe, who Trump has since branded as Comey’s “choirboy.” 

“Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not,” Comey said on Twitter in response. Trump, apparently unfazed by the warning, kept on digging at the former FBI chief, accusing him of lying under oath on Sunday.

Comey is not the first to cash in with an ‘explosive’ tell-all book featuring the president as the lead character. It is set to follow the example of ‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,’ written by Michael Wolff, which also soared to the number one spot on Amazon on January 5.

Decried by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders as “trashy tabloid fiction,” the bombshell book casts Trump as “no more than semi-literate,” moody and generally incapable of running the country.

Hillary Clinton’s book, ‘What happened,’ which purported to explain her stunning defeat in the 2016 presidential elections, became the best selling hardcover non-fiction book since 2012 when released in September, selling some 300,000 copies in the first week.