RT (2020-01-20). India successfully tests 3,500km range nuclear-capable missile from underwater platform — reports. rt.com India has tested its K-4 submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead off its southeastern coast. The launch reportedly went smoothly, and saw the missile being fired off a submerged platform. | The missile, which is set to equip India\'s first indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine, the INS Arihant, reportedly flew 2,200km after it blasted off from a \"submerged pontoon\" in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Visakhapatnam on Sunday afternoon. Local media, citing unnamed official sources, said the launch from a platform simulates the situation of a launch from a submarine. | T…

RT (2020-01-20). Iranian FM Zarif won\'t attend Davos forum as organizers \'changed agenda\'. rt.com Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will not attend the World Economic Forum\'s annual meeting in Davos this week. The forum\'s organizers have \"abruptly changed its agenda,\" Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi explained on Monday. | The minister \"was scheduled to attend… but they abruptly changed the schedule and it was not the schedule that we agreed upon,\" Mousavi told reporters. \"So he will not attend Davos.\" | Last week, Reuters reported that Zarif was no longer on the list of nearly 3,000 people due at the event. The forum is being held under the banner \'Stakeholders for a Sustainable and…

RT (2020-01-20). Iran will leave pact barring it from getting nukes if complaint over 2015 deal filed with UN — Zarif. rt.com Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that the country will ditch the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if EU states file a complaint over its nuclear commitments with the UN Security Council. | \"If the Europeans continue their improper behavior or send Iran\'s file to the Security Council, we will withdraw from the NPT,\" Zarif said on Monday, as quoted by IRNA. | Last week, France, Germany and Britain formally lodged a complaint that Tehran is violating the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran\'s nuclear program. The countries now have up to 60 days to resolve the dispute. Ot…

RT (2020-01-20). Richest 1% owns more than TWICE as much wealth as 6.9 billion people — Oxfam. rt.com A super-rich one percent of the world\'s population has accumulated twice as much wealth as the remaining 90 percent, global charity Oxfam said in a newly-released report. | The gap between the obscenely rich and the rest of humanity has reached grotesque proportions, according to the annual report by Oxfam, published on Monday on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos. | The new report, \'Time to Care\', which focuses on the largely unpaid care work many wo…

RT (2020-01-20). \'Berlin conference showed Moscow & Ankara have a huge role to play in solving Libya crisis\'. rt.com The Berlin peace summit shows that Russia and Turkey still have an important role to play as they are among the few countries that can really influence the situation in Libya, Yusuf Erim, a Turkish foreign policy expert, said. | The peace conference on Libya convened in Berlin succeeded in bringing together a host of world leaders to try and find a way out of the civil war plaguing the war-ravaged land for years, Erim told RT. However, it also clearly showed that very few nations can really move the Libyan peace process forward, as most lack a strategy and the will to translate words into action. | Also on rt.

RT (2020-01-20). Could renewables overtake coal in China? rt.com As China continues its long and painful move away from coal, solar and wind energy are becoming increasingly competitive. | In September of last year Oilprice reported an incredible milestone for renewable energy when solar and wind power became cheaper than coal in most of the world. Now, a new report released this week by Wood Mackenzie Power and Renewables has heralded another milestone: China will soon be added to that list of countries in which coa…

RT (2020-01-20). \'He\'s picking up his teeth\': NHL player Paul Stastny drips blood after taking puck to mouth in gruesome injury (DISTURBING VIDEO). rt.com Vegas Golden Knights center Paul Stastny was smashed in the face with a puck and picked his teeth off the blood-stained ice at Montreal\'s Bell Center as his team lost to the Canadians. | The 34-year-old was battered by an accidental high stick and a shot from Canadiens forward Joel Armia that left him sprawled on the ice with blood gushing from his mouth. | Stastny had been racing back towards his own goal in a bid to stop Armia, whose attempt came off Stastny\'s shoulder and left his face a gory mess. | Armia tried to comfort his combatant as he left the ice, but the veteran bravely shrugged off the horrific i…

RT (2020-01-20). Putin submits candidacy of Investigative Committee deputy head for post of prosecutor general. rt.com Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted for consideration by the Federation Council the candidacy of deputy head of the Investigative Committee Igor Krasnov for…

WSWS (2020-01-20). Chicago police to be deputized as federal immigration agents. wsws.org The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency says it will use the Chicago Police Department to enforce federal immigration laws.

Ben Norton (2020-01-20). Brazil\'s far-right government backed terror plot against Venezuela, top newspaper reveals. mronline.org Brazil\'s extreme Bolsonaro government backed an attack on Venezuela in a plot to overthrow its elected president. The shocking terror operation has received no coverage in mainstream U.S. media. | Source

Chris Hedges (2020-01-20). A Circus Then, a Circus Now. truthdig.com Chris Hedges has the week off. Here, in this reposted column from Jan. 7, 2019, are his thoughts about the then-nascent presidential election campaign. | It is January 2019. This signals the start of the 2020 election circus. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is the first big-name Democrat on stage. But we will soon be deluged with candidates, bizarre antics and endless commentary by fatuous TV and radio pundits. The hyperventilating, the constant polling, the updates on who has the largest campaign war chest, the hypothetical matches between this hopeful and that hopeful, the mocking tweets by Donald Trump, will, as we saw…

Fight Back (2020-01-20). Embassy Protectors speak out in Fort Lauderdale. fightbacknews.org Fort Lauderdale, FL — Over 60 people from South Florida\'s tri-county area gathered at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church of Fort Lauderdale to hear a panel and question-and-answer session featuring anti-war activists Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. Zeese and Flowers are two of the four Embassy Protector activists who spent 37 days protecting international law and peace within the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C. They are currently facing bogus federal charges brought by the Trump administration that, if convicted, would mean up to one year in prison and $100,000 fines each. | Also on th…

Staff (2020-01-20). Virginia Braces for Arrival of Pro-Gun Militias Amid State of Emergency. truthout.org Virginia-based gun control activist Catherine Koebel is intimately familiar with the reign of terror that the state\'s pro-gun forces attempt to maintain through threats and intimidation, despite the fact that a strong majority of Virginia residents support gun reforms. | Koebel, who grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia, and has been involved in gun control organizing in the state since the Virginia Tech shooting left 33 people dead in 2007, said she has faced vicious harassment and death threats for he…

Mark Harris (2020-01-20). Better Living Through Glyphosate? Spray Now, Ask Questions Later. counterpunch.org There\'s a lot of talk in the Trump era about the \"war on science.\" But this war, such as it is, extends far beyond uninformed Republican attacks on climate change science or Donald Trump\'s mocking insults of Greta Thunberg, the teen climate activist nearly 60 years the old bully\'s junior. This war involves not only More

R. Robertson (2020-01-20). San Mateo Peace Action — Rally for Women on the SF Peninsula. indybay.org Every Saturday, San Mateo Peace Action sponsors a protest at 3rd Ave and El Camino Real from 3pm… but one Saturday out of the year is extraordinary.

San Jose Peace & Justice Center (2020-01-20). Secular Traditions in Indian Music and Poetry. indybay.org San Jose Peace and Justice Center | 48 South 7th Street | San Jose, CA 95112 | Bus routes: 22, 522, 23, 523, 55, 64, 66, 68, 72, 73, 168, 181, 500, Hwy 17 Express, MST 55, LRT…

sputniknews (2020-01-20). Iran & US Relationships; Scottish Independence; and Protests in France. sputniknews.com Join George Galloway on the new home for the Mother of All Talk Shows – this week we discuss latest on Iran and US relationships; Scottish independence, and protests in France.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-01-20). Protesters in Lebanon marched towards parliament, faced police repression. peoplesdispatch.org Political forces in the country have failed to respond to the protesters\' demands for an overhaul of the political system in any credible way, even after three months of popular protests in the country…

Paul Street (2020-01-20). Trump Showed Us Who He Was Before He Became President. counterpunch.org The long record of this presidency\'s transgressions now includes the open dog-wagging assassination — on brazenly false pretexts — of a foreign military commander atop a state (Iran) with which the United States is not at war and without the permission of a government (Iraq) on whose soil the monumental war crime took place. In response to mild Democratic Party criticism of the timing and grounds for the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Trump has re-tweeted a right-wing lunatic\'s tweet depicting Democratic Congressional leaders Charles Schumer (Senate Minority Leader) and Nancy Pelosi (Hou…

Stephen Lendman (2020-01-20). Trump\'s Legal Team Responds to Dems Impeachment Scam. globalresearch.ca There\'s overwhelming just cause to impeach and remove Trump from office for legitimate high crimes. | The same is true for most of his predecessors, along with most current and former congressional members. | The Constitution\'s Article II, Section 4 states \"(t)he …

sputniknews (2020-01-20). Trump Wants to Deliver State of the Union Address \'With Impeachment Trial Behind Him\', Graham Says. sputniknews.com On Saturday, Donald Trump\'s legal team released a statement attempting to reject his impeachment by the House and characterising the charges against the US President as a \"dangerous attack\" on Americans and their right to vote.

WSWS (2020-01-20). As neo-Nazis head to Richmond, Trump boosts gun-rights rally. wsws.org The president\'s tweet is a declaration of solidarity with ultra-right forces on the eve of his impeachment trial.

Patrick T. Hiller (2020-01-20). Instead of Real-Time Commentary, Eight Common-Sense Reason for Not Going to War with Iran. counterpunch.org In the wake of the assassination of Iranian military leader Major General Qasem Soleimani and nine other people by a U.S. drone strike in Iraq, tensions between the United States and Iran are at their height. The immediate threat of war is real. Real-time news and expert commentary across the nationwide spectrum of media outlets More

Eric Mann (2020-01-20). Martin Luther King and the Black Revolutionary Tradition. counterpunch.org Every year, until The Revolution comes again, the counter-revolution manipulates the historic birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, that so many people fought for, as their symbol of Black \"integration\" into imperialism and \"non-violent\" acquiescence to, at best, Barack Obama\'s cynical negation of his dream. As Donald Trump has just assassinated Iranian General Quassem Soleimani—with More

sputniknews (2020-01-20). France Says Eight Nations Back European-Led Naval Mission in Strait of Hormuz. sputniknews.com Multiple European states began mulling a \'maritime security mission\' in the Persian Gulf last summer amid simmering tensions between the UK and Iran, but the initiative seemed to have been put on hold after London announced that it would be joining a US-led maritime coalition instead.

sputniknews (2020-01-20). US, UK \'Normalised\' Targeted Drone Killings in Blow to Human Rights, Study Shows. sputniknews.com The study was conducted before the assassination of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Qasem Soleimani who died in a US drone strike on the Baghdad International Airport on 3 January, ordered by President Donald Trump.

Jeff Mackler (2020-01-20). Worldwide Furor Sparked by U.S. Assassination of Iran\'s General Suleimani. counterpunch.org The Trump administration\'s January 3 drone missile assassination of Iran\'s Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani just outside Iraq\'s Baghdad airport brought the world to the brink of yet another catastrophic U.S. war. That the Iranian government would retaliate in a matter of days, if not hours, was unquestioned. But Iran\'s response stunned the world in its More

sputniknews (2020-01-20). India Launches Tax Raid on Luxury Hotel Chain Owner Jyotsna Suri and Her Close Aide. sputniknews.com New Delhi (Sputnik): In the current FY 2019 — 2020 , the government is likely to face a huge direct tax revenue gap. The last budget tabled by Finance Minister Sitharaman established a direct tax revenue collection target of $188 billion. In the first six months (April —September), the direct tax revenue collection could reach $77.46 billion.

sputniknews (2020-01-20). Indian Technophiles, Gear Up: Over 1 Mln Jobs Opportunities To Open Up in Data Science This Year. sputniknews.com New Delhi (Sputnik): Out of India\'s 1.37 billion population, over 630 million people are on the internet and more than 5 million work in the technology sector. According to data from Chinese tech company TCL, India has the highest \'new technology acceptance\' rate in the world.

sputniknews (2020-01-20). It Was Haftar Who Refused to Sign Agreement on Ceasefire in Berlin – Diplomatic Source. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – A conference on Libyan settlement was held on Sunday in Berlin, with representatives of Russia, the United States, Turkey, Egypt, the European Union, the United Nations and other countries invited to attend.

sputniknews (2020-01-20). Cyprus Dubs Turkey \'Pirate State\' as Mediterranean Gas Drilling Dispute Simmers. sputniknews.com Turkey resumed gas exploration drilling in the Mediterranean Sea off Cyprus\'s coast last week amid overlapping claims between Nicosia and the Turkish-backed de facto state of Northern Cyprus regarding the extent of their maritime economic zones.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-01-20). Assassination of Amílcar Cabral, one of Africa\'s foremost anti-colonial leaders. peoplesdispatch.org He was a prolific Marxian theorist who not only led the war of independence that toppled Portuguese rule in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde but influenced the fight for decolonization across the continent.

Pepe Escobar (2020-01-20). The Roots of American Demonization of Shi\'a Islam. globalresearch.ca The US targeted assassination, via drone strike, of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, apart from a torrent of crucial geopolitical ramifications, once again propels to center stage a quite inconvenient truth: the congenital incapacity of so-called US elites to even attempt …

WSWS (2020-01-20). US official delivers Trump\'s threatening message to Sri Lankan president. wsws.org Sri Lanka is a key focus of intensifying rivalry between US and India, on one hand, and China and Russia, on the other.

The Canary (2020-01-20). Malaysia refuses to become the plastic \'rubbish dump of the world\'. thecanary.co Malaysia has sent back 150 containers of plastic waste to more than a dozen countries as Kuala Lumpur said it will not become the world\'s rubbish bin. | The country has seen an increase in the number of shipments containing waste since China prohibited imports of refuse in 2018. | Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said the 150 containers have been sent back since the third quarter of last year and a further 110 are expected to be returned by mid-2020. | \"If people want to see us as the rubbish dump of the world, you dream on,\" Yeo told reporters during an inspection at a port in northern Penang state. | Yeo said t…

sputniknews (2020-01-20). China\'s President Xi Pledges to Curb Coronavirus Outbreak as Total 217 Cases Confirmed. sputniknews.com The new strain of coronavirus was first reported in China\'s city of Wuhan in early January. According to media reports, those infected displayed symptoms typical of pneumonia and other acute respiratory diseases.

Common Dreams staff (2020-01-20). Because \'I Can Feel Bernie Beating Trump,\' Pramila Jayapal Endorses Sanders for President. commondreams.org The co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus \"has led the fight against Trump's racism, sexism and xenophobia,\" Sanders said responding to the news. \"Together, we will defeat Trump and build a working class movement and transform this country so it works for all.\" | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/jayapal_1_0_0.jpg …

Mohamed Elmaazi (2020-01-20). Prevent programme must be abolished in order to tackle politically motivated violence, say experts. thecanary.co Britain\'s controversial surveillance/counter-extremism Prevent programme has come under fire once more, this time from over 100 academics, researchers, and campaigners calling on the government to radically overhaul its approach to tackling politically motivated violence. | The Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol), sociology professor David Miller, rapper Lowkey, and criminology expert…

Youth Vs Apocalypse (2020-01-20). ReclaimMLK: Youth Climate Strike & Resiliency Village. indybay.org Oscar Grant/ Frank Ogawa Plaza | Oakland, CA 94612…

Jill Richardson (2020-01-20). Why Do We Have School Lunch Debt at All? counterpunch.org A Google search for \"paying school lunch debt\" reveals a long list of recent news stories about good Samaritans paying off the school lunch debt of children whose families cannot afford it. A Fredonia, New York man paid off $2,000 in school lunch debt in his area, helping 140 families. A Rigby, Idaho tattoo shop More

Charles Andrews (2020-01-20). A Note on Carlos Ghosn and Global Capitalism. counterpunch.org The boss of world car maker Nissan — arrested and under intense surveillance around his luxury mansion, and charged with gorging himself with about $140 million of unauthorized pay — makes a daring escape from under the nose of Japanese authorities and across half the world. It will take months for details of how Carlos More

Ipek S. Burnett (2020-01-20). MLK and the Ghost of an Untrue Dream. counterpunch.org King\'s dream of economic justice and equality required America\'s power structures to change. It required America to take a critical look at the unbridled capitalist system that gave way to perpetual injustice. It required a radical and deep reconstruction of both politics and society, where the tangled roots of racism, poverty, militarism, and materialism would be exposed and eliminated. More

William deBuys (2020-01-20). The Humanitarian and Environmental Disaster of Trump\'s Border Wall. counterpunch.org A new Wild West has taken root not far from Tombstone, Arizona, known to many for its faux-historical reenactments of the old West. We\'re talking about a long, skinny territory — a geographic gerrymander — that stretches east across New Mexico and down the Texan Rio Grande to the Gulf of Mexico. It also runs More

Thomas Knapp (2020-01-20). A Loophole for the Lawless: \"Qualified Immunity\" Must Go. counterpunch.org On August 11, 2014, officers from the Caldwell, Idaho Police Department asked for Shaniz West\'s permission to enter and search her home. They were looking for her ex-boyfriend. West authorized the search and handed over her keys. Instead of entering and searching the home, though, the police brought in a SWAT team, surrounding the building. More

Katie Fite (2020-01-20). Owyhee Initiative Wilderness and Public Lands Deal Critique: Ten Years After. counterpunch.org The Owyhee Initiative (OI) wilderness and public lands legislation passed Congress in 2009 as the Owyhee Public Lands Management Act. Hoopla on the bill\'s ten-year anniversary generated a spate of articles extolling collaboration and idolizing individual cattlemen. OI collaboration talking points are being parroted by supporters of a new round of Quid Pro Quo wilderness More

WSWS (2020-01-20). Climate change \"spin\" as Davos gathering confronts mounting environmental and economic crisis. wsws.org The picture presented by the WEF\'s own analysis is of a socio-economic system heading for catastrophe on every front, for which the ruling elites have no answer.

WSWS (2020-01-20). Bushfire scientist warns that Australia\'s disaster is \"a wake-up call\" wsws.org \"If nothing is done to address climate change this wildfire season will be a preview into our future.\"

WSWS (2020-01-20). Lack of action on climate change leads to warmest decade ever recorded. wsws.org For all the proclamations by corporations and governments that they accept the need to reduce fossil fuel use, carbon emissions rose to the highest ever level in 2019.

sputniknews (2020-01-20). Erdogan Says Did Not Send Troops to Libya Yet, Only Military Advisers. sputniknews.com ANKARA (Sputnik) – On 5 January, Erdogan said Turkish troops were gradually departing to Libya to support the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), with which Ankara had signed a security memorandum in December.

sputniknews (2020-01-20). Putin\'s Weekly Schedule Includes No Meeting With Libya\'s Haftar – Kremlin. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian President Vladimir Putin does not have a meeting with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), scheduled for this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.