5: Exclusive: Chelsea Manning says she’s shocked her gender reassignment surgery was approved
Chelsea Manning said she’s “shocked” that her doctor’s recommendation of gender-reassignment surgery was approved by the US Army.
“This is a big deal,” Manning said in response to emailed questions from VICE News. Manning dictated her answers by phone to a volunteer who manages her Twitter page. “For my whole life I have fought for dignity, respect, and adequate medical care,” she said from prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Knowing that she’ll be able to transition while serving her 35-year sentence in military prison, she added, is a “huge weight off my shoulders.”
After receiving the news, the imprisoned ex-army intelligence analyst and whistleblower ended the hunger strike she began five days ago to demand treatment for her gender dysphoria. The surgery was recommended to her in April.
Vice News
4: US covering up opposition breaches of Syria ceasefire, Russia claims
Russia accused the US of covering up opposition violations in Syria on Thursday as the three-day old ceasefire came under increasing strain.
The Russian defence ministry said that Syrian regime forces had pulled back from the Castello road, a key access route into Aleppo, but that opposition groups had not withdrawn.
The Russian foreign ministry also complained of opposition shelling. “Only the Syrian army has been observing the ceasefire regime, while the US-led ‘moderate opposition’ has been increasing the number of shellings of residential quarters,” the ministry statement said. “Moreover, it appears that the ‘verbal curtain’ of Washington is aimed at hiding the non-fulfilment of the US obligations.”
The Guardian
3: The FBI’s Own Watchdog Signs Off on Agents Impersonating Journalists
A NEW REPORT from the Justice Department’s inspector general concludes that FBI agents can go undercover and impersonate journalists, as long as they sufficiently consult FBI headquarters.
The inspector general’s office investigated a case from 2007 where undercover FBI agents impersonated a journalist from the Associated Press. FBI regulations at the time “did not prohibit agents from impersonating journalists or from posing as a member of a news organization,” the report concluded.
And such tactics would still be permissible today under new guidelines issued in 2016, the report said, as long as agents sought various high-level approvals.
The Intercept
2: What Would Happen to NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden If He Is Tried Under the Espionage Act?
In Part 2 of our debate about whether National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden should be pardoned, we examine whether he could get a fair trial if he returns to the United States to be tried for violating the Espionage Act. Snowden has said the Espionage Act does not allow a whistleblower or public interest defense, which means his motivations would not be considered in court. Under the act, “it would literally be inadmissible for [Snowden] to tell the jury his motivations,” argues Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Meanwhile, Bradley Moss, a national security attorney who has represented whistleblowers, says Snowden “could have gone to the intelligence committees” with his revelations and stayed within legal guidelines.
Democracy Now
1: Syria’s war: UN appeals for passage of Aleppo aid
The UN has called on the Syrian government to “immediately” allow life-saving aid into eastern Aleppo, where about 300,000 people are living under siege.
Speaking in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday, Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy, said there were 20 aid lorries ready to cross the border from Turkey into Syria, and make it to Aleppo city where a cessation of hostilities was holding “by and large”.
“The Syrian government promised permits for UN aid convoys before the ceasefire … they have not been received,” de Mistura said. “This is something that is required to happen immediately.”
Aljazeera
