Spain and Greece are to follow the example set by the Seychelles and implement a ‘vaccine passport’ system to allow those who have taken the COVID shot to enter the countries for holidays.

Greece has been lobbying the EU to introduce a bloc-wide standardised COVID passport, while Spain has announced that it fully supports the idea.

Speaking at at the meeting of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto described the move as “a sign of multilateral commitment,” adding “It could contribute to restoring mobility at European level.”

Maroto urged that while Spain will work toward “transforming and digitalising” its tourism industry, “a common framework” across the EU must be developed to allow tourists to “avoid indiscriminate measures, such as quarantines or travel restrictions.”

The request is set to be debated by the European Commission in the coming days.

“Reaching immunity is a key milestone to generate confidence to travel,” Maroto added, even though taking the vaccine has not been shown to provide immunity.

Spain’s tourism industry is one of the biggest of any country on the planet, so it comes as little surprise that it intends to adopt any means necessary to encourage tourists back as soon as possible.

COVID lockdown rulebreakers in Germany will be arrested and detained in refugee camps located across the country, it has been revealed.

Vaccine passports have previously been touted by the EU, with officials suggesting back in April that visa applicants would also be required to be vaccinated.

EU countries including Spain, Estonia, Iceland, Denmark, Poland, and Belgium have all indicated that they are open to some form of vaccine passports, as well as sharing the data across borders.

A slew of other countries have now indicated that they will introduce vaccination passports, despite concerns that it will create a two-tear society of those who have and have not been vaccinated.

Poland has become the latest European nation to introduce so called vaccine passports, which will allow those who have taken the COVID shot greater freedoms than those who have not.

Polish deputy Health Minister Anna Goławska announced that the ‘passports’ would be issued to all who get the jab.

Euractiv reports that the document will come in the form of a QR code, which can only be downloaded from citizens’ public health system account. An alternative printed version will be issued to those who do not have smart phones.

Goławska said that the document “will be the so-called passport of the vaccinated person, which will confirm that the person has been vaccinated and can use the rights to which vaccinated people are entitled.”

Poland has decreed that those who have been vaccinated will be able to use public health services without additional testing, and do not have to engage in social distancing, quarantine, or other restrictions that everyone else must abide by.

It is unclear whether the document will be used for cross border travel at this point. However, the fact that it is being labelled a ‘passport’ is a big indication.

In addition, the development comes on the heels of EU leaders demanding that the Commission should ‘standardise’ a vaccine passport across all member countries, and that it should be required for people to travel throughout the area.

Vaccine passports have previously been touted by the EU, with officials suggesting back in April that visa applicants would also be required to be vaccinated.

EU countries including Spain, Estonia, Iceland, and Belgium have all indicated that they are open to some form of vaccine passports, as well as sharing the data across borders.

This week, it was also revealed that Denmark will roll out a ‘Covid passport’, to allow those who have taken the vaccine to engage in society without any restrictions.

However, the EU’s data protection chief Wojciech Wiewiórowski recently labeled the idea of an immunity passport “extreme” and has repeatedly said it is alarming, and ‘disgusting’.

Gloria Guevara, CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), has also slammed the passports as “discriminatory”, saying “We should never require the vaccination to get a job or to travel.”

Speaking at a Reuters event, the head of the WTTC also condemned airline Qantas for their previous assertion that unvaccinated people would not be allowed on their aircraft.

 “It will take a significant amount of time to vaccinate the global population, particularly those in less advanced countries, or in different age groups, therefore we should not discriminate against those who wish to travel but have not been vaccinated,” Guevara noted.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will not be extradited to the US after a shock ruling in his favour at London’s Old Bailey courthouse.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that extradition at this point to the US to face 18 counts of espionage would worsen Assange’s already extremely fragile mental state.

“Faced with conditions of near total isolation … I am satisfied that the procedures (outline by U.S. authorities) will not prevent Mr. Assange from finding a way to commit suicide,” she said.

The rejection by the UK court of the US Govt's request to extradite Julian Assange to stand trial on espionage charges is obviously great news. But the judge endorsed most of the USG's theories, but ultimately found the US prison system too inhumane to permit extradition.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 4, 2021

This wasn't a victory for press freedom. Quite the contrary: the judge made clear she believed there are grounds to prosecute Assange in connection with the 2010 publication.

It was, instead, an indictment of the insanely oppressive US prison system for security "threats."

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 4, 2021

Ultimately, though, from a humanitarian *and* a political perspective, what matters most is that Assange be freed as soon as possible. The US Govt doesn't care what prison he's in, or why: they just want him silenced and in a cage.

He should be freed immediately.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 4, 2021

The full ruling is at the link. Savor the last, sweet paragraph.https://t.co/edZcOywXUE pic.twitter.com/KlspkGZNEd

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 4, 2021

The next step is that Assange's lawyers will apply for bail — while the US Govt appeals — based on the judge's ruling. The judge will then decide if he remains in prison while the appeal is resolved.

Trump could still end this travesty with a pardon, or the DOJ to stop.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 4, 2021

In September, psychiatrist Michael Kopelman testified that Assange has “begun making preparations to end his own life including confessing to a Catholic priest, drafting farewell letters to his family and drafting a will.”

Since his dramatic arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy in April 2019, Assange has been languishing in Belmarsh, a notoriously horrid maximum security prison housing murderers and terrorists. For much of the time Assange has been kept heavily medicated in solitary confinement.

To contrast UK prisons with the dystopian hellhole of the US, here's what the judge said about how relatively good Assange has it in Belmarsh. She may use this to keep him in.

Either way, Americans should reflect on how barbaric US "super-max" prison system is. It's repulsive. pic.twitter.com/QMXiVjNZOm

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 4, 2021

Cassandra Fairbanks of http://gatewaypundit.com joins guest host Owen Shroyer on The Alex Jones Show to call for Trump to take action on pardoning Julian Assange.

During the conclusion of today’s hearing, the judge ruled however that freedom of speech rights do not provide “unfettered discretion by Mr Assange to decide what he’s going to publish”.

The judge added Assanges activities went far beyond “encouraging a journalist,” and do constitute ‘conspiracy’ to hack US government computers.

The New York Times described the ruling as “…a major victory against the U.S. authorities who have accused him of conspiring to hack government computers and violating the Espionage Act with the release of confidential communications in 2010 and 2011.”

Assange supporters gathered outside the court celebrated the ruling:

The US now has 15 days to appeal the ruling. Given that the judge did validate the prosecution’s case against Assange, it is expected that the US legal team will now try to argue that Assange’s risk of suicide is not as heightened as the defence has suggested.