WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s legal team spent the second morning of a major extradition hearing focusing a magistrate court judge’s attention on United States torture and war crimes that Assange helped to expose.Defense attorney Mark Summers called Clive Stafford Smith, a human rights attorney who has represented prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, to the witness stand. He was asked about human rights cases he pursued, which were bolstered by revelations in documents WikiLeaks published.For example, Stafford Smith told Judge Vanessa Baraitser that U.S. State Department cables helped those impacted by U.S. drone killings in Pakistan. It contributed to “court findings that US…

JOE BIDEN’S INVOCATION of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, in the opening words of his convention acceptance speech, offered a flash of hope that, in broad terms, the Democratic nominee has grasped the scale of the Covid-19 crisis. Yet before Biden even spoke, the head of his transition team, former Sen. Ted Kaufman, undercut that hope, telling the Wall Street Journal that, in effect, Biden didn’t mean it. “When we get in, the pantry is going to be bare,” Kaufman said. “When you see what Trump’s done to the deficit … forget about Covid-19, all the deficits that he built with…

Indian and Chinese military commanders have held talks for a second day as rival soldiers confront each other at their contested Himalayan border in Ladakh, bringing fears of a military escalation. Both of the Asian giants have accused the other of fresh provocations, including allegations of soldiers crossing into each other's territory, months after their deadliest standoff in decades. Details of the talks which resumed on Tuesday morning weren't immediately disclosed. China and India have been holding dialogue to negotiate a Chinese withdrawal from the border since May when the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) troops transgressed into the Indian side…

Good evening, it seems like just yesterday that we were at our first convention, where my husband accepted the Republican nomination and then became our 45th president of the United States. He had the energy and enthusiasm for (someone) who should lead this nation. It's real today as it was four years ago. I know I speak for my husband and the entire family when I say we have not forgotten the incredible people who were willing to take a chance on the businessman who has never worked in politics. We know it was you who elected him to be…

Institutional racism and systemic racism are terms bandied about these days without much clarity. Being 84 years of age, I have seen and lived through what might be called institutional racism or systemic racism. Both operate under the assumption that one race is superior to another. It involves the practice of treating a person or group of people differently based on their race. Negroes, as we proudly called ourselves back then, were denied entry to hotels, restaurants and other establishments all over the nation, including the north. Certain jobs were entirely off-limits to Negroes. What school a child attended was…