2021-01-12: News Headlines

Rayhan Uddin (2021-01-12). Palestinian activist wins legal battle to have name removed from World-Check 'terror list'. middleeasteye.net Palestinian activist wins legal battle to have name removed from World-Check 'terror list' | Zaher Birawi receives damages from financial database after it 'wrongly and unjustly' linked him to terrorism | Tue, 01/12/2021 – 16: 30 | Zaher Birawi, the chairman of London-based Palestine advocacy group Europal Forum, won a legal battle against World-Check financial database (Twitter/screenshot) | A Palest…

RT (2021-01-12). Facebook reinstates Press TV page with 4 million subscribers, hours after mysterious 'FINAL' deletion. rt.com Iranian news outlet PressTV has had its Facebook page restored after appealing the platform's decision to remove it. Boasting over four million followers, the page had been deleted without warning earlier on Tuesday. | The English-language outlet revealed its appeal to Facebook had been successful on Tuesday, just hours after the page had vanished without warning or explanation. | The platform had initially claimed the deletion was not only "final" but that it could not provide any more information than that the page had been removed for "safety and security reasons," Press TV reported earlier in the day. | Al…

Dr. Binoy Kampmark (2021-01-12). Twitter "Nukes Trump". Accuses POTUS of "Incitement of Violence" globalresearch.ca This was Twitter Safety's January 8

Jonathan Cook (2021-01-12). Twitter's Ban on Trump Will Deepen the US Tribal Divide. globalresearch.ca Anyone who believes locking President Donald Trump out of his social media accounts will serve as the first step on the path to healing the political divide in the United States is likely to be in for a bitter disappointment….

_____ (2021-01-12). Tehran Hits Back After Pompeo Makes Claims About Al Qaeda. popularresistance.org America's "declassifications" of information about Iran are "fictitious," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has tweeted. It followed US State Secretary Mike Pompeo accusing Iran, without proof, of harboring Al-Qaeda's base. | "Mr. 'we lie, cheat, steal' is pathetically ending his disastrous career with more warmongering lies," Zarif wrote in a fiery message in the wake of Pompeo's statement, referring to the US State Secretary by his infamous 2019 quote. Zarif denounced the Iran "declassifications" and the claims Pompeo made about its links to Al-Qaeda, calling them "fictitious." He also condemned the US' dec…

_____ (2021-01-12). US Designates Cuba As A 'Sponsor Of Terrorism'. popularresistance.org The United States announced on Monday January 11 that it will designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. The move came hours after Secretary of State of the Trump administration, Mike Pompeo, announced that the Yemeni militant group Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis, would be designated as a "foreign terrorist organization." The announcement has been met by widespread condemnation by authorities within Cuba and political leaders and movements worldwide. | Foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla wrote on Twitter, "We condemn the hypocritical and cynical announcement by the US to designate Cuba as a…

The Global Research Team (2021-01-12). Global Research: The Silencing of Independent Media. We Need Your Help. globalresearch.ca We are currently facing an unprecedented threat to the independent media and freedom on the Internet. An increasing number of search engines & social media implement algorithms which are negatively biased against independent news and analysis websites such as Global …

Editor (2021-01-11). Chris Hedges & Ramesh Srinivasan Debate Twitter & Facebook Banning Trump. scheerpost.com Twitter, Facebook and other social media companies have removed President Trump from their platforms, after years of debate about the disinformation he shared to millions of followers from his accounts. While many are applauding the bans, author Chris Hedges warns they could backfire on a new episode of DemocracyNow! "To allow these companies to essentially function as de facto platforms for… |

Robert Inlakesh (2021-01-11). Millions Of Palestinian Refugees Suffer As UN Aid Is Collapsing. thelastamericanvagabond.com This Saturday, rumours began to spread amongst Palestinians on social media of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) cutting aid to 400,000 refugees living in the Gaza Strip. This coupled with the lack of funds available to the UN Agency have sparked anxiety that the situation in the illegally besieged Gaza Strip will

Staff (2021-01-11). Republicans Can Say What They Want, But They Created This Monster. truthout.org The consequences of Wednesday's frontal assault on Congress continue to pile up in snowdrifts, but it is far too early to talk about "aftermath." In fact, Wednesday appears to be only the beginning. | Parler, the web platform that saw its user numbers surge after Facebook and Twitter increased restrictions on false stories of a stolen election,

RT (2021-01-11). Ukrainian neo-Nazi 'thought leader' fired from prestigious Vienna fellowship as outcry over far-right links goes viral. rt.com A prominent ultranationalist activist has lost her role at a prestigious Austrian research institute after evidence arose linking her with a far-right Ukrainian group, known for extremism and antisemitism. | Olena Semenyaka, who has been called "The First Lady of Ukrainian Nationalism," was due to take up a Junior Visiting Fellowship at the Vienna-based Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in January. | However, on Monday, the college told RT that the arrangement was now under review in response to allegations raised online. "The jury of the Ukraine in European Dialogue fellowship program has been requested by t…

Jonathan Cook (2021-01-11). Twitter's ban on Trump will only deepen the US tribal divide. dissidentvoice.org Anyone who believes locking President Donald Trump out of his social media accounts will serve as the first step on the path to healing the political divide in the United States is likely to be in for a bitter disappointment. The flaws in this reasoning need to be peeled away, like the layers of an …

Matthew Rozsa (2021-01-11). MAGA-approved social media platform Parler is taken down — but its demise may be short-lived. salon.com Hacked data from the (temporarily?) defunct site may help law enforcement identify perpetrators of the Capitol Riot…

commondreams (2021-01-11). Muslim Advocates Calls on Facebook's New Civil Rights VP to Ban Trump, Prioritize Anti-Muslim Hate. commondreams.org ______________________________…

David Rovics (2021-01-11). Questions n the Wake of the Beer Belly Putsch. counterpunch.org After seeing some very strange, amnesiac discussion threads on social media, I have a few words to consign to the screen. Naturally, social media and the media media are all going nuts since the more or less successful far right siege of the Capitol. There are a variety of talking points that I've been hearing

RT (2021-01-10). Algeria becomes first African nation to approve Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. rt.com Algeria is going to vaccinate its population against the coronavirus with Sputnik V after the Russian drug received official approval from the North African country's health authorities. | A registration certificate for Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) vaccine was shared by the country's Ministry of Pharmaceutical Industry on Facebook. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which finances the development of the vaccine, also confirmed the news, saying that it was approved under the emergency use authorization. | Algiers and Moscow inked a deal for Sputnik V shortly before the New Year. The supplies of Russian…

Andrew Korybko (2021-01-10). U.S. shouldn't have double standards on weaponized protest movements. thealtworld.com Russian Deputy Envoy to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy made a powerful point on Twitter earlier this week when he asked, "Why do you call storming by protesters of the U.S. Capitol 'domestic terrorism' and similar and much more bloody events in Kiev in 2014 'revolution of dignity'?" | Many remember how America praised the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, which overthrew President Viktor Yanukovich, in the aftermath of a run-off vote. | In fact, not only did the U.S. politically support that infamous governmental reshuffle which forever changed the face of European history by consequently leading to Crimea's…

RT (2021-01-10). Erdogan's press office ditches WhatsApp as Ankara urges Turks to use domestic apps in fight against 'digital fascism'. rt.com The media office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is reportedly shutting down its WhatsApp groups over privacy concerns. The move comes after Ankara called for a nationwide boycott of the Facebook-owned messaging app. | Starting on Monday, the office is switching over to encrypted messaging app BiP, which is developed by Turkish firm Turkcell, Bloomberg reported, citing internal messages posted to the WhatsApp groups. | The decision comes amid growing consternation over WhatsApp's plan to begin sharing personal data with its parent company, Facebook. The policy comes into effect on February 8, and use…

_____ (2021-01-10). Snowden Warns Against Trump Social Media Ban. popularresistance.org NSA whistleblower and internet freedom advocate Edward Snowden has cautioned the public against celebrating President Trump's recent social media ban. "I know a lot of folks in the comments [who] read this are like 'YAAAAS,' which, like — I get it. But imagine for a moment a world that exists for more than the next 13 days, and this becomes a milestone that will endure," he wrote on Twitter. Both Facebook and Twitter announced they would prevent the president from using their services in the light of his incitement of the storming of the Capitol Building on Wednesday. Twitter has since reversed its decision…

DON (2021-01-10). Free Speech is Under Attack. indybay.org As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech.

RR (2021-01-10). Outrage Over Coup Attempt Aired with Projections on Twitter HQ, Moscone Center and Federal Bldg in SF. indybay.org Projectionist @aemarling has "always advocated for protecting lives by banning [Trump's] white supremacist ass" from Twitter. Twitter headquarters in San Francisco was his first target for projections, but far from his last.

Helen Buyniski (2021-01-10). With Unilateral Censorship of a Sitting US President, Big Tech Has Proven It's More Powerful than Any Government. globalresearch.ca Big Tech's moves to muscle President Donald Trump off social media have been heralded by some as victory. But a corporate-run state with politicians serving as mere figureheads amounts to the very fascism they claim to oppose. | The smug, palpable …

MEE staff (2021-01-09). Twitter blocks China embassy tweet for 'dehumanising' Uighur women. middleeasteye.net Twitter blocks China embassy tweet for 'dehumanising' Uighur women | China's embassy in the United States claimed Uighur women were no longer "baby-making" machines | Sat, 01/09/2021 – 15: 41 | Thousands used the tweet to highlight reports of Uighur women going through 'forced sterilisations' (AFP) | Twitter blocked a tweet on Saturday made by China's embassy in the United States which claimed that Uighur wome…

Alex Newhouse (2021-01-09). Far-Right Activists on Social Media Telegraphed Violence Weeks in Advance of the Attack on the US Capitol. commondreams.org The siege was consistent with their openly expressed hopes and plans. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/weeks-advance-capitol-newhouse.jpg