Norwegian parties grant government emergency powers as coronavirus leads to record rise in unemployment
wsws.org | 2020-03-26
The agreement, which suspends parliament for up to six months, means the right-wing coalition can make changes to laws without consulting deputies.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/norw…

Peru deploys army in the streets to enforce COVID-19 curfew
wsws.org | 2020-03-26
The quarantine and curfew imposed by President Vizcarra are aimed at protecting the interests of the wealthy and preparing the repression of a likely social explosion.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/26/peru…

Johnson’s “herd immunity” strategy and the London Conference on Intelligence whitewash: Britain’s ruling class and eugenics
wsws.org | 2020-03-26
Innumerable posts on social media have drawn the connection between the reactionary ideology of eugenics and the British government’s criminally delayed and negligent response to the pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/26/euge…

Sanders threatens to hold up $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus over ‘anti-worker’ bias
rt.com | 2020-03-26
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says he is willing to stall the already much-delayed coronavirus stimulus plan if more restrictions are not placed on the “$500 million corporate welfare fund.” | Sanders says the “anti-worker objections” from several Republicans over proposed unemployment benefits in the bill have him ready to delay the whole process. | “Unless these Republican Senators drop their objections, I am prepared to put a hold on this bill until stronger conditions are imposed on the $500 billion corporate welfare fund,” Sanders said in a statement on Wednesday, responding to several GOP lawmakers who…
rt.com/usa/484108-sanders-stimulus-senat…

‘Covid-19 could be seasonal’: Fauci warns coronavirus is likely to return in ‘CYCLES’, stresses need for vaccine
rt.com | 2020-03-26
Even if the US and other nations battling Covid-19 succeed in beating it back, the illness may return in yearly cycles, warned Anthony Fauci, a top expert on the US coronavirus task force, urging for the fast rollout of a vaccine. | …
rt.com/usa/484116-fauci-coronavirus-seas…

Donald Trump says America’s ventilator shortage was “unforeseen.” Nothing could be further from the truth
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-03-25
IN RECENT DAYS, President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended his administration against the suggestion that the government is failing to secure enough ventilators

As more workers test positive for COVID-19, Amazon ignores demands to close warehouses
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
At least three Amazon workers in Shepherdsville, Kentucky tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday, following the discovery of COVID-19 cases in New York, Florida and Michigan warehouses.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/amaz…

COVID-19 begins to rip through homeless population as 30 test positive in New York City shelters
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
The homeless are at heightened risk of infection and death from the coronavirus.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/home…

Poland Sabotages Russian Coronavirus Relief Efforts for Italy
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
Russia has encountered problems in delivering humanitarian aid to Italy, with assistance struggling to be reached quickly due to the hostilities of many European Union/NATO countries towards Russia. Yesterday it was revealed that Poland did not let Russian planes pass …
globalresearch.ca/poland-sabotages-russi…

Depression USA: Dueling Dems and Republicans “Stimulus Plans” and Fed Shenanigans
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
First the Fed. Key is understanding that it’s not federal. | It’s owned and operated by major Wall Street banks, their interests its top priority. | Its dual mandate is supposed to be maximum employment and price stability. How it operates is …
globalresearch.ca/dueling-dem-gop-stimul…

Brazil: ‘Covid-19 Can Decimate Indigenous Peoples’ Doctor Warns
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
The Sao Paulo Federal University (UNIFESP) researcher Sofia Mendonca Wednesday warned that Brazilian Indigenous peoples can be decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic if there are no forceful containment actions. | RELATED: | Radical Missionaries in the Amazon Put Isolated Tribes at Risk | “There is an incredible risk that the virus will spread through communities and cause genocide,” says Mendonca, who is the coordinator of Xingu, a health promotion project that UNIFESP has been ca…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazil-Covid-19-…

British Court Refuses Julian Assange’s Bail Plea
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
The founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange will not be let out of a London Prison amid the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the British court announced on Wednesday. | RELATED: | Assange Could Be Released on Bail Over the COVID-19 Outbreak | The Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London has rejected a plea from the Assange defense team that called on the British authorities to release the Wikileaks founder from the high-security Belmarsh prison. | Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who is overlooking the Assang…
telesurenglish.net/news/British-Court-Re…

Last night Julian Assange called me. Here is what we talked about
Yanis Varoufakis | zcomm.org | 2020-03-25
Whether the epidemic helps deliver the good or the most evil society will depend, of course, on us

Ecuadorian-Colombian Indigenous Alone Against COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
Indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian-Colombian region are implementing autonomous actions to prevent Covid-19 from spreading. The natives do not have government support in this health-risk situation. | RELATED: | Colombia: Two More Indigenous Leaders Murdered Amid Quarantine | The National Organization of the Arhuaco people, which is part of the Tayrona Indigenous Confederation (CIT) in Colombia, announced on March 23 that they have taken several measures to prevent the spr…
telesurenglish.net/news/ecuadoriancolomb…

Another Migrant Domestic Worker Found Dead in Lebanon
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
The lifeless body of Faustina Tay, 23, a domestic worker from Ghana was found on March 14 in a car park under the fourth-story home of her employers in Beirut, Lebanon, according to a report by Al Jazeera. | RELATED: | Kafala System to Be Abolished in Qatar: UN | Some hours before her death, Tay had sent a last hopeless message to This Is Lebanon, a Canada-based activist group, she had contacted about the abuse she was enduring at the hands of her employer…
telesurenglish.net/news/Another-Migrant-…

Arrest the virus, free the prisoners!
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-03-25
We cannot allow the capitalist ruling class to turn a blind eye to the plight of the incarcerated population

Overlooked Region of India a Beacon to the World for Taking on Coronavirus
Vijay Prashad | zcomm.org | 2020-03-25
In a pandemic, a rational person would much rather live in a society governed by the norms of socialism than of capitalism, a society where people rally together to overcome a virus; than to live in a society where fear pervades…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/overlooked-region-…

SPLC and allies seek federal court injunction in system-wide suit to protect people detained by ICE from contracting COVID-19
splcenter.org | 2020-03-25
The SPLC and its allies asked a federal court today to issue a preliminary injunction requiring that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) take immediate steps to protect people in its custody, particularly those who have medical conditions making them more susceptible to serious illness and death from COVID-19.
splcenter.org/news/2020/03/25/splc-and-a…

The Decade Of Transformation Is Here: Remaking Health Care
Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-25
We’ve been writing for a while that the 2020’s would be a decade when multiple crises would come to a head and we would have an opportunity for major transformations if we were organized to mobilize and demand them. The current coronavirus pandemic, economic collapse, and falling oil prices are three events that are creating …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/the-decade-of…

Iran: Campaign to Lift US Sanctions Gets Around 100K Signatures
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
Iran’s international campaign calling for the United States to lift illegal sanctions will soon reach 100,000 signatures, the state’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported Wednesday. | RELATED: | EU Supports Iran, Venezuela Bids for IMF COVID-19 Funds | The signatures of the campaign have passed 97,500 and will reach 100,000 in no time, Abolfazl Fateh, an Iranian media activist wh…
telesurenglish.net/news/Iran-Campaign-to…

Transitioning ‘Ontologically’ Pt II: Building Counter-(Oc)Culture
Kim C. Domenico | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
Beyond being “disrespectful,” the modern Western insistence on a mechanical universe delimits the radical imaginary in general. To refrain from telling the [spiritually-based] activist they are wrong (while continuing to think they are) simply because he or she is a person of color, is altogether different than deconstructing one’s colonial mentality, which treats the religious…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/transitionin…

Like Freedom? Then You Won’t Like the FREEDOM Act
Rep. Ron Paul | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
Last Monday, a bipartisan group of Senators and a coalition including libertarian and progressive activists thwarted a scheme to ram through the Senate legislation renewing three provisions of the USA FREEDOM Act (previously known as the USA PATRIOT Act). The …
globalresearch.ca/like-freedom-freedom-a…

MN shows solidarity with Palestine during COVID-19 pandemic
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-03-25
Minneapolis, MN – The MN Anti-War Committee (AWC) wanted to be a part of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network’s global week of action for Palestinian Land Day but they couldn’t do it as a protest the way they had originally planned. Instead on March 24 the MN AWC reorganized their protest as a call-in day, and then did a five-person social distancing bannering protest. | In 1976, Land Day marked a turning point as the first mass mobilization by Palestinians within Israel against colonialism and land theft. Israeli police shot and killed six Palestinian citizens of Israel for protesting the Israeli go…
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/3/25/mn-shows…

BJP and Israel: Hindu Nationalism is Ravaging India’s Democracy
Ramzy Baroud | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-25
It was only a matter of time before the anti-Muslim sentiment in India turned violent. A country that has historically prided itself on its diversity and tolerance, and for being ‘the largest democracy in the world’ has, in recent years, exhibited the exact opposite qualities

Palestine Demands Israel Release Prisoners Amid Virus Outbreak
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
Palestine on Wednesday urged Israel to immediately release over 5,000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails amidst an outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. | RELATED: | Israel Controls 95 Percent of Occupied Jordan Valley: Official | In a press statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Israeli Prisons Service (IPS) is not providing proper health protection to Palestinian prisoners, despite an alarming increase of coronavirus cases in Israel. | “Israel is in…
telesurenglish.net/news/Palestine-Demand…

As Governments Struggle to Contain Coronavirus, Doctors Get Inventive
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-25
From “full-on MacGyver” ventilators to homemade test kits, doctors – and even some governments – are turning to ingenious solutions in the face of a faltering global response.
mintpressnews.com/governments-grapple-co…

Coronavirus: What Newsweek Failed to Mention About “Continuity of Government”
Whitney Webb | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
Though often discussed in relation to nuclear war or a similarly chaotic scenario, “continuity of government” plans can be triggered even by popular, nonviolent opposition to an unpopular war abroad. It exists solely to keep the current system in place, …
globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-newsweek-f…

The US and China Are Intensely Competing to Shape the Outcome of “World War C”
Andrew Korybko | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
While everyone was worried of what they believed would inevitably be World War III, mankind suddenly found itself fighting World War C against COVID-19 instead, which has since become the single most globally disruptive event in human history. | The entire | …
globalresearch.ca/us-china-competing-sha…

FRSO online forum: A people’s response to the coronavirus crisis
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-03-25
Minneapolis, MN – The world is the midst of a once-in-a-century disease pandemic. COVID-19 is a natural phenomenon that is quickly becoming a human disaster. | Steff Yorek, political secretary of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) states, “We know that all the politicians serve the interests of the rich. We need to demand and win concessions that benefit poor and working people. This will be literally a life or death situation and will fall on those with the least resources the most.” | Join us for an on-line forum addressing how capitalism fails to address the public health crisis, brings impending e…
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/3/24/frso-onl…

Socialist Alternative town hall injects racial politics into COVID-19 pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
The event was an attempt to cover over the conventional Democratic Party politics of Socialist Alternative and the DSA with anti-capitalist rhetoric and empty slogans. This was combined with the foul injection of racial politics, a hallmark of the Democratic Party.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/salt…

Media Struggle to Defend Washington’s Cruelty Toward Venezuela and Iran as Coronavirus Spreads
Joe Emersberger | fair.org | 2020-03-25
AP (New York Times, 3/17/20) accepts the IMF’s excuse that lack of “clarity” over Venezuela’s “rightful leader” prevents it from giving the country coronavirus aid–even though in 2002, the IMF rapidly offered aid to a short-lived coup government. | An Associated Press article (New York Times, 3/17/20) headlined “IMF Rejects Maduro’s Bid for Emergency Loan to Fight Virus” declared: The r…
fair.org/home/media-struggle-to-defend-w…

The World’s Major Military and Economic Powers Find Happiness Elusive
Lawrence Wittner | zcomm.org | 2020-03-25
Long before the advent of the coronavirus pandemic left people around the world desperate for survival, a popular assumption emerged that national governments are also supposed to promote the happiness and well-being of their citizens. This idea was expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed that governments are instituted to secure humanity’s…
zcomm.org/zblogs/the-worlds-major-milita…

Venezuela’s Coronavirus Response Might Surprise You
Leonardo Flores | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-25
Unlike in the United States where coronavirus treatment can cost up to $35,000 and where Trump seems more concerned about the economy than about peoples’ lives, Venezuela is handling the crisis by placing value in health over profits.
mintpressnews.com/venezuelas-coronavirus…

Venezuela’s Coronavirus Response Might Surprise You
Leonardo Flores | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
Within a few hours of being launched, over 800 Venezuelans in the U.S. registered for an emergency flight from Miami to Caracas through a website run by the Venezuelan government. This flight, offered at no cost, was proposed by President …
globalresearch.ca/venezuelas-coronavirus…

France to Withdraw Forces From Iraq Due to COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
UPDATE 4: 00 pm | France will withdraw all stationed troops in Iraq until further notice due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Armed Forces Ministry said Wednesday. | “France has taken the decision to repatriate until further notice its personnel deployed in operation Chammal in Iraq,” the ministry said, adding about 100 hundred soldiers were concerned. | The army said it would continue air operations against Islamic State. | The Iraqi military said Wednesday that the French forces within the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) militant group had withdrawn from Iraq, official Iraqi News Agency (I…
telesurenglish.net/news/France-to-Withdr…

The Message of COVID-19
Kenn Orphan | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
At the end of the first World War, as civilians and soldiers returning home were celebrating the end of a senseless and cruel carnage, another terror was lurking in the microscopic shadows. The 1918 flu pandemic, most commonly referred to as the Spanish Flu, would end up taking the lives of anywhere from 50 to…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/the-message-…

War-Torn Libya Announces Its First Case of Coronavirus
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
The Health Minister of the United Nations (U.N.)-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya, Ahmed Ben Omar, confirmed Tuesday Libya’s first case of coronavirus in a brief statement. | RELATED: Libya: Before and After Muammar Gaddafi | “The necessary measures have been taken to treat [the patient],” Ben Omar said. | The National Centre for Disease Control said the patient is a 73-year-old man who came back from a trip to Saudi Arabia via Tunisia on March 5. He is now being treated in…
telesurenglish.net/news/War-Torn-Libya-A…

Pregnant? Here’s What to Expect While Giving Birth Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-25
Over the next three months, nearly a million women in the United States will give birth to nearly a million babies

New Stimulus Bill Bans Trump-Owned Companies From Receiving Bailout Cash
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-25
A massive coronavirus stimulus plan that the Senate and White House agreed to in the early hours of Wednesday morning would bar any companies owned or controlled by President Donald Trump, the president’s children, Vice President Mike Pence, or members of Congress from receiving any taxpayer bailout money, according to a summary of the legislation circulated by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. | The sprawling $2 trillion bill, which has not yet been released in full, would “prohibit business…
truthout.org/articles/new-stimulus-bill-…

The COVID-19 Crisis Won’t Be Over by Easter, and $2 Trillion Is Not Enough
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-25
Trump wants the country open by Easter because Jesus is coming, see, and He’ll be pissed if we’re all sitting on our asses at home. “Wouldn’t it be great to have all the churches full?” Trump asked Fox News yesterday. “You’ll have packed churches all over our country. I think it’ll be a beautiful time.” Fox News host Bill Hemmer described Trump’s Easter resolution scenario as “a great Amer…
truthout.org/articles/the-covid-19-crisi…

Nurses in New York Still Lack Masks and Ventilators as COVID-19 Spreads
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-25
As the New York metro area has 60% of all the new coronavirus cases in the United States and is responsible for half the cases all over the country, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday the number of hospitalizations is expected to peak in the next 40 days as hospitals are already encountering shortages of equipment needed to protect medical workers and to keep patients alive when the city’s COVID-19 cases peak in the coming weeks. We’re joined by two people on the front-lines of the pandemic:…
truthout.org/video/nurses-in-new-york-st…

Vets Say We Need a Strong VA to Combat Coronavirus and Win Medicare for All
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-25
Not many know about the Department of Veterans Affairs’s (VA) so-called “fourth mission.” In 1982, Congress expanded the VA’s role beyond providing care, benefits and burial services to the nearly 9 million veterans it currently serves. Its additional role is to provide a backup health care system in a national emergency

Pregnant? Here’s What to Expect While Giving Birth Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-25
Over the next three months, nearly a million women in the United States will give birth to nearly a million babies

To Confront Coronavirus, We Need an Emergency Wealth Tax
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-25
It’s very hard to predict how long the coronavirus is going to be with us and how much money is going to be needed to defeat it. | The number of confirmed cases in Italy, Spain, the U.K., the United States and Iran are all on the same exponential growth trajectory; they have just started their first infections on different dates. | The easiest way to describe how steeply cases are accelerating is to say that, generally speaking, each country at least doubles its number of cases every four days. | In the early day…
truthout.org/articles/to-confront-corona…

Madrid’s Ice Rink Turned Into Morgue as Spain Exceeds China in COVID-19 Deaths
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-25
We go to Madrid, Spain, one of the epicenters of the pandemic in Europe, where health workers account for nearly 14% of the country’s infections. Many face limited availability of protective equipment. So many people have died that Madrid’s municipal funeral home has stopped collecting bodies. A large ice rink is now being used as a makeshift morgue, and the government plans to extend the state of emergency by another 15 days in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus. “If Madrid was a countr…
truthout.org/video/madrids-ice-rink-turn…

Russia Suspends Constitutional Referendum to Fight Covid-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin Wednesday postponed the referendum on the amendments to the constitution and called on the people to stay home to quickly curb the Covid-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | Russia’s Top Court Deems Legal Constitutional Amendments | “It is now extremely important to abort the threat of a rapid spread of the disease,” Putin said in a televised message to the nation. | Although Russia closed its border with China in late January, the coronavirus has managed to sne…
telesurenglish.net/news/Russia-Suspends-…

The Coronavirus and the Urgent Need to Redefine National Security
Melvin Goodman | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
For far too long, the United States has been wastefully spending its precious budgetary resources on a nineteenth-century military strategy and a strategic arms policy that has brought no advantages to the American people. For the past three decades, our national security policies have been ineffectual and irrelevant to the genuine threats we face today. These threats do not emanate from Russia or China. Rather, they stem from an underfunded and highly vulnerable public health system, a cyber world that is out of control, and a crumbling infrastructure. In 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave a grad…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/the-coronavi…

A tale of two surges: Wall Street soars amid New York City’s coronavirus toll
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
As billionaires gorged themselves on the prospect of trillions more being poured into the financial markets, the pandemic has wrought havoc in America’s largest city.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/pers…

Defense Production Act Needs $75 Billion Infusion in Coronavirus Stimulus
Matthew Cunningham-Cook | zcomm.org | 2020-03-25
“President Trump should be using the DPA to ensure we have enough ventilators and other medical equipment to deal with this crisis”
zcomm.org/znetarticle/defense-production…

German government’s coronavirus bailout: Billions for the rich, rations for the poor
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
It is a continuation of the policy of enriching the wealthy at the expense of the poor that the grand coalition has been pursuing for years.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/coge…

Modi places India’s 1.3 billion people under lockdown
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
Modi’s speech provided no details about basic questions, such as how the population would be able to procure food, and, in India’s villages, even water.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/indi…

Death toll over 12,000 in Europe as coronavirus infections escalate
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom insisted it was still possible to “change the trajectory,” but warned that governments were failing to devote the necessary resources to the crisis.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/euco…

‘Imperative to take proactive steps’ to ensure farm worker safety
Jocelyn Sherman | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-25
After carefully monitoring developments over coronavirus COVID-19, the United Farm Workers has sent an open letter to all agricultural employers and organizations urging them to take “proactive steps to ensure the safety of farm workers, protect buyers and safeguard consumers.” Those steps include extending “state-required sick pay to 40 hours or more,” removing “caps on …
peoplesworld.org/article/imperative-to-t…

Canada’s trade unions back Liberal “coronavirus plan” to bail out big business, place workers on rations
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
The government has responded to the pandemic with policies predicated on the subordination of society to corporate profit that will have a devastating impact on working people, including multiplying many times over the pandemic’s cost in human lives.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/unio…

170,000 people sign up to be NHS volunteers
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-03-25
A total of 170,000 people have signed up to be volunteers for the NHS in an “astonishing” response to the coronavirus crisis, according to a senior doctor. | The mass sign-up follows health secretary Matt Hancock’s request for 250,000 people to donate their time to help the 1.5 million people isolating for 12 weeks in an attempt to slow the spread of Covid-19. | Stephen Powis, NHS England medical director, said: “Overnight 170,000 people have signed up

Coronavirus spreading at faster rate in Louisiana than anywhere in the world
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
The number of confirmed cases has grown by 73.9 percent per day since the first case was identified, even faster than New York City which is one of the main epicenters of the pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/loui…

Coronavirus and the Death of ‘Connectivity’
Walden Bello | zcomm.org | 2020-03-25
The Great Recession could have killed globalization, but China emerged as the champion of a new global “connectivity.” With the coronavirus, that phase is finished…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/coronavirus-and-th…

Detroit-area hospitals reach capacity with coronavirus patients as number of confirmed infections in Michigan surges past 2,000
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
The escalating number of COVID-19 cases in Michigan are concentrated in the tri-county area around and especially within the city of Detroit as the region’s major hospital systems report they have reached the limit on facilities to care for patients with the coronavirus.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/26/detr…

Are We Our Brothers’ and Sisters’ Keepers?
John K. White | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
We in the West have been caught unaware and unprepared for a disaster in the making. Think The Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, and Jaws all rolled into one, despite the obvious warnings about coronavirus from Hubei Province, China, since the start of 2020. The next few weeks, months, even years will show how Christian and enlightened our civilisation is.
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/are-we-our-b…

Pentagon: 60-Day Freeze on Overseas US Forces Over COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper issued an order to stop movements of overseas U.S. forces for up to 60 days to curb the spread of the coronavirus among military, according to media reports. | In a Wednesday interview with Reuters, the Pentagon chief said the order applied to all U.S. forces, civilian personnel, and families while noting that there would be some exceptions. | RELATED: | Iran: Campaign to Lift US Sanctions Gets Around 100K Signatures | Esper said that the U.
telesurenglish.net/news/Pentagon-60-Day-…

Boris Now Has to Play at Being Serious
Kenneth Surin | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
In the current Coronavirus crisis, Donald Trump is under little pressure to play at being serious, given the way an American “post-political” politics, and its embodiments in the media, are presently constituted–unless riling-up his base is equated with being serious. The situation in the UK is for now somewhat different. The alchemical quality known in…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/boris-now-ha…

East Timor records first confirmed coronavirus case
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
A Dili worker told the WSWS: “With the inadequate condition of public hospitals, I fear that the spreading of the virus… could be like a wildfire.”
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/timo…

The coronavirus crisis is proving our current economic system to be a death cult
Peter Bolton | thecanary.co | 2020-03-25
In the weeks since the new coronavirus (Covid-19) has spread around the globe, the stock market has been going haywire with abrupt ups and downs. In the midst of the chaos, the US government has been on the fence about how to respond. The reason is simple

Sides agree on $2 trillion coronavirus aid bill
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-25
WASHINGTON–The GOP-run U.S. Senate was on the verge today of finally approving a $2 trillion economic aid bill for workers and firms hard hit by closings, shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders due to the spreading coronavirus pandemic. As of mid-day March 26, 60,854 people had tested positive for the coronavirus in the U.S., with one-third of …
peoplesworld.org/article/sides-agree-on-…

A US high-school student has set up an authoritative resource on the global spread of coronavirus
Tom Anderson | thecanary.co | 2020-03-25
A high-school student in the US has developed an authoritative website tracking the spread of the new coronavirus (Covid-19). The website draws from government sources and international organisations around the world to track the spread of the virus. | The site also gives up-to-the-minute
thecanary.co/global/world-news/2020/03/2…

Italian workers to strike after bosses put profits over health with coronavirus loopholes
Steve Sweeney | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-25
Metalworkers in Italy’s Lombardy region are set to walk out for 24 hours on Wednesday. The region’s three main metalworker unions–FIOM, FIM, and UILM–warned that bosses are exploiting loopholes and exceptions in a government decree that forces businesses to close due to the coronavirus. They said that the government list “has been excessively extended, covering …
peoplesworld.org/article/italian-workers…

40-year-old coronavirus patient sends warning to the world from his intensive care bed
Kerry-anne Mendoza | thecanary.co | 2020-03-25
A coronavirus (Covid-19) patient has sent a powerful warning to the world from his intensive care bed in the north of Ireland. Struggling to speak while on oxygen support, he pleads with people around the world to self-isolate and social-distance, saying: This coronavirus is deadly, and it’s dangerous. Coronavirus wants to kill you. It wants to take all the life out of your lungs.He also stressed: Don’t think this won’t touch you. Don’t think for a moment that this is just a cough and a cold you will get.He added in a second video: If you get coronavirus, and you have to go into the ICU, that means you’re gonna stru…
thecanary.co/trending/2020/03/25/40-year…

Chilean government seizes on COVID-19 pandemic to declare state of catastrophe
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
Far from fighting the coronavirus, the measure is aimed at militarizing Chile in the face of the mass demonstrations and strikes that have rocked the country.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/chil…

Coronavirus spreads across the Balkans
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
The number of victims affected by the COVID-19 virus is rising rapidly in the countries of Southeast Europe.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/balk…

Experts Explain Why COVID-19 Seems More Fatal in Men Than Women
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
Existing data show the novel coronavirus has caused higher mortality in men than women. Besides general poor health and habits like smoking and drinking for men that may cause damage to the lungs, leading experts told Xinhua hormonal influences on the immune response may also play a vital role in this phenomenon. | RELATED: | Spain’s COVID-19 Death Toll Overtakes China’s | While addressing a White House daily briefing, Dr. Deborah Birx, White House COVID-19 task force director, said a report from…
telesurenglish.net/news/Experts-Explain-…

Some basic lessons from the pandemic
Prabhat Patnaik | mronline.org | 2020-03-25
The coronavirus attack has so far been much less deadly than the Spanish flu of a century ago. That had affected 500 million people worldwide, about 27 per cent of the world’s population of the time, and had a death rate of about 10 per cent among those affected.
mronline.org/2020/03/25/some-basic-lesso…

VIDEO: Coronavirus vs. H1N1: Spanish Nun Speaks out on the 2009 Swine Flu H1N1 Pandemic: “Crimes and Abuses of the Pharmaceutical Industry”
Gaspar Hernández | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
VIDEO: Coronavirus vs. H1N1: Spanish Nun Speaks out on the 2009 Swine Flu H1N1 Pandemic: “Crimes and Abuses of the Pharmaceutical Industry” appeared first on Global Research.
globalresearch.ca/a-nun-speaks-out-on-th…

Timeline: Early testing failures and Trump inaction crippled U.S. coronavirus response
Michael Biesecker, Mike Stobbe, Matthew Perrone | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-25
WASHINGTON (AP)–A series of missteps at the nation’s top public health agency caused a critical shortage of reliable laboratory tests for the coronavirus, hobbling the federal response as the pandemic spread across the country like wildfire, an Associated Press review found. President Donald Trump assured Americans early this month that the COVID-19 test developed by the …
peoplesworld.org/article/timeline-early-…

Please Hand-Sanitize All Pitchforks and Torches: Tips For a Safe Coronavirus Riot
John Eskow | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
Ain’t nobody slowing down no way Everybody’s stepping on their accelerator Don’t matter where you are Everybody’s gonna need a ventilator… –Mick Jagger/Keith Richards, “Ventilator Blues” Oh, those prescient Stones. And I’m not even talking about their Ventilator Blues. Rich as they were, sheltered as they were, back at the height of the Viet Nam…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/please-hand-…

The coronavirus crisis shows it’s time to abolish the family
Sophie Lewis | zcomm.org | 2020-03-25
What does the pandemic tell us about the nuclear family and private household?
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-coronavirus-cr…

Coronavirus and Wildfire?
Ron Jacobs | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
To govern is to forsee, to quote Simone de Beauvoir. It is an adage that others have uses and is entirely correct: like in agriculture, what’s important in government is not rhetoric but being ready for what’s to come. The coronavirus was national news for weeks before a single politician in California has a public…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/coronavirus-…

Over 12,000 people die in Europe as coronavirus infections escalate
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom insisted it was still possible to “change the trajectory,” but warned that governments were failing to devote the necessary resources to the crisis.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/euco…

Coronavirus and the Prison Industrial Complex
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
The legacy of the coronavirus pandemic, at least in so far as responses are concerned, is thickening by the day. Behavioural changes are being urged, language is rapidly evolving (spot the “covidiot” amongst you) and the policy of health surveillance …
globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-prison-ind…

Nurses launch campaign against CDC’s OK of bandannas and scarves
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-25
WASHINGTON–National Nurses United launched a scathing social media campaign, centered around a serious–but comic–graphic denouncing the federal government’s recommendation that nurses wear bandannas and scarves around their faces if they can’t find masks and respirators to wear while testing and treating coronavirus victims. CDC issued the recommendation, which is not mandatory, because the U.S. faces …
peoplesworld.org/article/nurses-launch-c…

Spain’s COVID-19 Death Toll Overtakes China’s
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
Spain’s coronavirus death toll surpassed Wednesday that of China, where the disease originated, as the country struggles to cope with an accelerating health crisis. | RELATED: | Spain Takes Sweeping Measures as COVID-19 Escalates | With 3,445 deaths, Spain now has the second-highest number of deaths globally after Italy’s 7,503. The country has reported over 47,000 cases, with Madrid and the semi-autonomous region of Catalonia becoming the hotspots of the virus. | “There has been a 20 pe…
telesurenglish.net/news/Spains-COVID-19-…

12 Experts Questioning the Coronavirus Panic
OffGuardian | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
Below is our list of twelve medical experts whose opinions on the Coronavirus outbreak contradict the official narratives of the MSM, and the memes so prevalent on social media. | *** | Dr Sucharit Bhakdi is a specialist in microbiology. He was …
globalresearch.ca/12-experts-questioning…

The Staggering Collapse of U.S. Intelligence on the Coronavirus
Scott Ritter | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the United States unlike any other event in recent history, proving to be far more disruptive to American society, and far most damaging to the U.S. economy, than even the events of 9/11. | The U.S. …
globalresearch.ca/staggering-collapse-u-…

Coronavirus and the Rise and Fall of Humanism
Joshua Sperber | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
It is a truism that the Black Death helped produce the age of humanism. Through making death ever-present, the plague undermined a system of religious authority in which the church and the church alone claimed to have answers to the fundamental questions of human existence; the priests naturally still asserted that this was the case…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/coronavirus-…

Nepal declares one-week coronavirus lockdown
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
The coronavirus pandemic will have dire consequences in Nepal, one of the poorest countries in Asia.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/nepl…

Our leaders are terrified. Not of the virus, of us!
Jonathan Cook | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-25
You can almost smell the fear-laden sweat oozing from the pores of television broadcasts and social media posts as it finally dawns on our political and media establishments what the coronavirus actually means. And I am not talking about the threat posed to our health. A worldview that has crowded out all other thinking for …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/our-leaders-a…

Federated Cooperatives uses virus to demand concessions from locked-out Saskatchewan refinery workers
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
FCL has rejected the procompany recommendations of a government-appointed mediator and is now demanding even bigger concessions on pensions, work rules, benefits and staffing levels.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/sask…

A Brady Bond Solution for America’s Unpayable Corporate Debt
Michael Hudson | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
Even before the Covid-19 crisis has slashed stock prices nearly in half since it erupted in January, financial markets were in an inherently unstable condition. Years of quantitative easing had loaded so much credit into stock and bond prices that stock price/earnings multiples were far too high and bond yields far too low by any normal and reasonable historical standards. Risk premiums have disappeared, with only a few basis points separating U.S. Treasury bills and corporate bonds.
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/a-brady-bond…

Palpitations of the Pulps
Martin Billheimer | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
“Space is not only high, it’s low. It’s a bottomless pit.” ‚Äï Sun Ra The latest volume in Wakefield Press’ epochal Jean Ray translation project, 1932’s Cruise of Shadows, comprises both his biggest publishing flop and his best-known tales (The Gloomy Alley and The Mainz Psalter). Ray wrote the kind of cobbled-together eccentric pulp we…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/palpitations…

COVID-19 and the Death of Connectivity
Walden Bello | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
The Covid 19 pandemic is the second major crisis of globalization in a decade. The first was the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, from which the global economy took years to reach a semblance of recovery. We did not learn our lessons from the first, and this is perhaps why the impact of the second…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/covid-19-and…

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Do as the Vietnamese Do
Mark Ashwill | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
As I wrote in a recent essay for international education colleagues, Viet Nam has overcome steep odds in many contemporary arenas and throughout its millennia-long history. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Viet Nam is doing all of the right things, placing the health and well-being of its people and foreign visitors, i.e., all…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/during-the-c…

Joe Biden’s Opinion-Shaping Machine And Race
John O’Kane | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
Wall Street broke out its checkbooks for Joe Biden in the wake of Super Tuesday, no surprise since his campaign is already its major recipient. Plus, he was the VP for an administration greatly indebted to it. Transparency. His campaign is awash in cash from the interests that Sanders is challenging as the very source…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/joe-bidens-o…

Save the Great Burn Wilderness
George Wuerthner | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
The 275,000-acre Great Burn proposed wilderness lies west of Missoula on the Idaho-Montana divide. The 1910 Burn, which over ran 3 million acres of northern Idaho and western Montana, gives this wildland its name. The Burn left a legacy of snags and beautiful vistas from ridgelines cleared by the blaze. Alpine lakes, like a string…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/save-the-gre…

Looking Past the Pandemic
Manuel García, Jr. | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
This morning there was a Red-Tailed Hawk perched low in the woods outside my window for a least forty minutes. It was a large very calm bird perched not too high up in the trees that were downhill from my window, so binocular viewing was good, but it was too difficult to take a picture…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/25/looking-past…

Rethinking Commander-in-Chief in American Leadership
B. Nimri Aziz | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-25
Ask Americans who’s commander-in-chief, most will respond: our president. Citizens only think about this just before a presidential election every four years when their final, ‘supreme criteria’ of U.S. leadership is raised: “Does she or he have it:

NHS staff contract COVID-19 as UK government refuses to provide testing and protective equipment
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
In London, three junior doctors have been taken into critical care and are on ventilators. In the West Midlands, a staff nurse is in intensive care and on a ventilator.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/couk…

Two Fiat Chrysler workers die from COVID-19 in US
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
The deaths, at FCA Sterling Heights Assembly in the Detroit area and at Kokomo Transmission in Indiana, are the predictable outcome of the combined effort by the auto companies and the UAW to keep the plants running up until last week.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/auto…

Caribbean Governments Join Forces Against COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
The Health and Foreign Ministers of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) held Tuesday the first extraordinary meeting of the regional bloc on COVID-19, during which the delegations proposed joint actions to confront the pandemic. | RELATED: | COVID-19 in the Caribbean: Overview of the Situation, Outbreak | More than 33 countries, territories, and regional organizations participated in what was called the First Extraordinary Meeting of Health and Foreign Ministers of the ACS, wh…
telesurenglish.net/news/-Caribbean-Gover…

COVID-19: Misinformation, Education and the Need for Clarity
Hassanal Noor Rashid | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
The recent explosion of COVID-19 cases in the South East Asian region has contributed to the globally growing pandemic that has impacted our global social order and may have many dramatic unforeseen consequences to come. | It has exposed the fragility …
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-misinformatio…

Settling equal pay lawsuit a top priority for new U.S. Soccer leadership
Al Neal | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-25
Slow weeks are the new normal (what is ‘normal’ anyway?). The slow drag of time is also reinforced by the lack of sports–except for golf, which is not at all surprising. But it doesn’t mean there can’t be a bit of good sports news tucked behind all the Covid-19 pandemic bad news. The newly minted president …
peoplesworld.org/article/settling-equal-…

Video: Medical Martial Law and the Nuremberg Code in the Age of COVID-19
Insight History | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown up an array of questions, yet one question that has been given little attention pertains to how much state power and suspension of civil liberties is justified in the face of a global pandemic? This …
globalresearch.ca/medical-martial-law-nu…

The politics of Covid-19: government contempt for disabled people
Jamie Hale | zcomm.org | 2020-03-25
The challenges facing disabled people – and their demands of the British government…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-politics-of-co…

Police called to disperse Georgia meat processing workers who walked off the job Monday over concerns about the spread of COVID-19
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
The walkout of Perdue workers follows a Monday report that a slaughterhouse worker in Mississippi was sent home after testing positive for COVID-19.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/perd…

Twitter Censors Official Prensa Latina Account
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina (PL) denounced the blocking of its official profile on the social network Twitter and three of its reporters’ accounts. The press agency qualifies it as part of the hostile policy of the U.S. against Cuba. | RELATED: | Cuba Implements Important Measures to Confront COVID-19 | The blocked accounts were those of editors Luisa M. González (@luisamgg) and Fausto Triana (@prensalatinaft), Prensa Latina’s president Luis E. González (@LuisEGonzalezA3 ) and…
telesurenglish.net/news/twitter-censors-…

Trump calls for lifting COVID-19 restrictions by Easter
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
With the US death toll from COVID-19 nearing 700 and infections surging, President Trump on Tuesday pledged to “open up” the country and force workers back to work by Easter.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/bail…

Fight for Immediate Solutions; Fight for the Future
Max Elbaum | zcomm.org | 2020-03-25
COVID-19 is heightening the life-and-death consequences of economic, racial and other forms of inequality…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/fight-for-immediat…

Despite White House claims, Roche CEO says US COVID-19 testing capacity continues to be limited
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
Swiss diagnostics company Roche says that broad testing capacity for COVID-19 infection in the US remains limited due to the rapid spread and growth of the contagion.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/test…

Latest Australian COVID-19 measures driven by concern about profits, not health
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
Prime Minister Morrison channeled Donald Trump and insisted on keeping “the economy” going, regardless of the mounting danger to the health and lives of millions of people.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/auvi…

Wildflowers moving north as climate changes, citizen survey shows
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-03-25
Wildflowers are moving northwards as temperatures rise, prompting calls to manage landscapes to make space for plants in the face of climate change.Results from the first five years of the government-funded National Plant Monitoring Scheme, using data from 15,000 surveys by volunteer citizen scientists, already shows the impact of a warming world on the UK’s plants.The data reveals that plants such as wild orchids are expanding their range northwards, experts said.The National Plant Monitoring Scheme looks at 30 different habitats, from woodland and hedgerows to blanket bogs and streams, with around 30 wild flowe…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/20…

How ‘Defense’ Contractors Lobbied for War in Yemen and Reaped the Profits from Death and Destruction
Ben Barbour | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
Lobbying firms like the McKeon Group, headed by lobbyist Buck McKeon (who was the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in the US Congress), represent both US defense contractors and countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, …
globalresearch.ca/how-defense-contractor…

Cuba to Send Doctors to Four Caribbean Countries and Argentina
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-25
Cuba’s health authorities announced that new brigades of doctors and nurses with experience in handling critical situations are heading to Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica on Wednesday and Thursday. | RELATED: | Twitter Censors Official Prensa Latina Account | The first group with 25 health workers left for Belize this morning from the Central Unit for Medical Cooperation in Havana. | “We are aware that the current situation is difficult, but we are…
telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-to-Send-Doc…

New York the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for U.S
John Wojcik | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-25
Doctors at New York hospitals are saying they fear that very soon they will have to make decisions about who lives and who dies because they do not have the equipment they need to treat all of their patients. In a desperate attempt to deal with an unprecedented pandemic, New York’s leaders are warning that …
peoplesworld.org/article/new-york-the-ca…

Feudal Japan’s Edo and the US Empire
Hiroyuki Hamada | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-25
After the warlord period of 15th century, Japan was united by a few families and then by a shogun family. The period is called the Edo period. They disarmed civilians and established a mild caste system. The country was closed except for a few ports controlled by the central government, travel restrictions were put in …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/feudal-japans…

Doctors’ union warns that both staff and patients will die without proper protection
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-03-25
Doctors and patients will die without adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) across the NHS, the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned.It said doctors are risking serious illness and death due to a lack of stock, and it warned many more could go off sick unless immediate steps are taken.The BMA said there is “growing evidence that thousands of GPs and hospital staff are still not being provided with the kit they need to properly protect themselves and their patients”, despite government assurances. The union said it has heard accounts of no stock, very small amounts of PPE, rationing and kit that doe…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/03/25/doctors-…

Aviation industry laying off thousands during pandemic while seeking bailouts
wsws.org | 2020-03-25
Holding the jobs of 750,000 airline workers for ransom, the group, representing ten major US airlines, threatened that they will be “forced to take draconian measures” unless the funds are disbursed “immediately.”
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/25/air-…

No return to normal: for a post-pandemic liberation
Max Haiven | zcomm.org | 2020-03-25
Today, new forms of solidarity, mutual aid, and common struggle are emerging in the pandemic. How will they shape tomorrow’s struggles for a post-capitalist world?>…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/no-return-to-norma…

Suspending the US Constitution: Police State Uses Crises to Expand Its Lockdown Powers
John W. Whitehead | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
“That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn’t even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn’t even an enemy you could put …
globalresearch.ca/suspending-constitutio…

21 Years Since the Beginning of NATO Aggression against Yugoslavia
Živadin Jovanović | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-25
On the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the beginning of NATO’s armed aggression against Serbia (the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), representatives of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals and the Club of Generals and Admirals of …
globalresearch.ca/21-years-since-beginni…

Gunmen attack Sikh religious gathering in Afghan capital, Kabul, 25 people reportedly killed
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a Sikh gathering in the heart of the Afghan capital’s old city Wednesday morning. The Afghan interior ministry reports at least 25 people were killed and eight others injured in the attack. | One attacker has been shot and three others are still fighting with security forces, according to reports. | “People are stuck inside the building and [security forces] are trying to rescue them,” Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said. | Defense forces arrived at the scene, blocked off the place of worship, known as a ‘Gurdwara’, and engaged in a gun battle with the attackers. | ”
rt.com/news/484019-sikh-kabul-attack-dea…

White House and US senators reach late night deal on massive coronavirus stimulus package after days of talks
rt.com | 2020-03-25
US senators and the Trump administration have finally reached an agreement on a massive rescue plan to help stem the impact Covid-19 is having on the country’s economy. | The compromise bill directs around $2 trillion to help keep the economy afloat amid the massive shutdown of businesses in a bid to curb the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. | Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the proposal “the largest rescue package in American history.” | Schumer said that the bill is “far from perfect, but we believe the legislation has been improved significantly to warrant its quick consideration…
rt.com/usa/484014-white-house-senators-c…

Julian Assange denied bail by London court
rt.com | 2020-03-25
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been denied bail by a London court after his lawyers argued that the Covid-19 pandemic posed a serious threat to his health in light of his pre-existing conditions. | Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that the global pandemic “does not provide grounds” for Assange’s release. | Also on rt.com | | Julian Assange’s lawyers to apply for release on bail, citing risk of Covid-19

WATCH stranded Russian tourists PROTEST at Dubai airport after UAE denies entry to evacuation flight
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Over 1,000 Russian tourists remain stranded in the UAE after cancellation of four FlyDubai flights. Some of them turned to protesting after Dubai denied entry to an evacuation flight

France recalling troops from Iraq over coronavirus
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Paris will remove all of its troops currently stationed in Iraq for the time being over concerns about the spread of Covid-19, the French military announced. | “France has taken the decision to repatriate until further notice its personnel deployed in operation Chammal in Iraq,” the Armed Forces Ministry said on Wednesday, adding that around 100 troops were in the country, and that air strikes against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) would continue. | Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the spokesman for the caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi told the newspaper Al-Sabah on Wednesday that the French troops have alr…
rt.com/news/484110-france-iraq-troops-wi…

US defense secretary issues order halting all travel & movement overseas for up to 60 days, Afghanistan withdrawal will proceed
rt.com | 2020-03-25
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper has put forth a stop movement order halting all travel overseas for officials, but he insists the Afghanistan withdrawal will continue as planned. | Esper has told Reuters the stop movement order is in place for US troops, civilian personnel and their families, but Afghanistan movements will be an exception. The order is meant to help stop the spread…
rt.com/usa/484107-stop-movement-pentagon…

Bolsonaro wants economy, jobs prioritized in Brazil’s fight against coronavirus
rt.com | 2020-03-25
President Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday some of Brazil’s governors and mayors were guilty of crimes for organizing coronavirus shutdowns that threaten to “destroy” the economy. The president also urged businesses to reopen to survive the crisis. | Bolsonaro has increasingly taken the view, shared by US President Donald Trump, that jobs must be prioritized over the economically damaging shutdowns favored by public health experts, Reuters said. They both know any major downturn could be catastrophic for their chances of re-election. | “If companies don’t produce, they won’t pay salaries. If the economy collap…
rt.com/newsline/484047-bolsonaro-economy…

Watch Russian Su-57 fire missile during NEAR-VERTICAL CLIMB as pilots master new jet’s capabilities (VIDEO)
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Russian combat pilots have mastered the new capabilities of the fifth-gen Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jets, the Defense Ministry reported. Footage of the test flights includes a rare firing of a missile while in a near-vertical climb. | The Su-57 is an advanced warplane which can speed straight up into the sky immediately after take-off, thanks to powerful engines and state-of-art controls needed to maintain stability during such a maneuver. | The extreme climb can be accompanied by a barrage of missiles launched at the enemy. A video released by Russia’s Defense Ministry includes such a deployment among other act…
rt.com/russia/484022-vertical-climb-miss…

Russians could face up to SEVEN YEARS in prison for violating coronavirus quarantine rules
rt.com | 2020-03-25
At first glance, it either looks like a staggeringly severe punishment or a sign Moscow is taking the Covid-19 pandemic seriously, depending on who you ask. But experts say its bark will likely be far worse than its bite. | On Wednesday, a draft law on criminal punishment for the violation of quarantine restrictions was submitted to the national parliament, the State Duma. Offenders face between three and seven years imprisonment if found guilty. The bill was co-authored by the body’s Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin and the head of the committee on state building and legislation, Pavel Krasheninnikov. Both are mem…
rt.com/russia/484056-russia-coronavirus-…

7.2-magnitude earthquake rocks Russia’s Far East, sparks tsunami alert
rt.com | 2020-03-25
A 7.2-magnitude quake has struck Russia’s Far East region, striking off the Kuril Islands and prompting a tsunami warning for the sparsely populated region. | The quake was felt across the region on Wednesday afternoon local time, with a depth of 56.7km (35 miles). There are no reports of damage or casualties as of yet. | The earthquake triggered a tsunami alert in Hawaii, 5,600 kilometers away, but it was soon called off, with the US National Tsunami Warning Center concluding there was no danger to the small Pacific island chain. | Tsunami Info Stmt 2: M7.5 East Of Kuril Islands 1949PDT Mar 24: Tsunami NOT ex…
rt.com/russia/484012-kuril-islands-quake…

‘Nepo-leonic’ overture: Vachier-Lagrave crushes Nepomniatchi’s French Defence, joins him as co-leader in World Chess Candidates
rt.com | 2020-03-25
France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave produced a classical masterpiece to defeat Russia’s Ian Nepomniatchi in a complex French Defence in Round 7 of the World Chess Candidates. | The crucial win creates a two-way race between the pair, who now both lead the field by a full point. | The Candidates tournament in Ekaterinburg reached the halfway mark with the Frenchman

ÔªøPutin proposes mortgage & loan holidays, new payments for families with children to tackle aftershocks of Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has proposed a package of social and economic benefits, aimed at providing relief for citizens as the coronavirus outbreak keeps hammering the economy. | “I suggest loan and mortgage holidays,” Putin said Wednesday addressing the nation in a televised speech. The said steps also include new payments for families with children. | Families that have children aged three and younger will be eligible for an additional monthly payment of 5,000 rubles (some $63) per child for the next three months starting from April. | “The Russian economy, like the economies of other countries,…
rt.com/russia/484062-social-benefits-cov…

WATCH Russian military infection specialists heading for coronavirus-plagued northern Italy
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Russian military specialists who arrived in Italy to help with the fight against coronavirus are heading towards the north of the country, which has been affected by the deadly epidemic the worst. | The convoy, composed of 22 trucks and other vehicles, set off for the northern Italian city of Bergamo early on Wednesday. The convoy, escorted by the Italian Carabinieri, has reached Florence, making a brief stop there, the Russian military says. | One hundred Russian military medics and disease specialists were airlifted to Italy over the weekend, landing at Pratica di Mare Air Base 30km (18.6 miles) from Rome…
rt.com/news/484054-russian-military-ital…

Putin calls for 15% tax on offshore funds as part of plan to stabilize Russian economy
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined a range of measures on Wednesday to tackle the economic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. They included making sure that everyone pays their fair share of taxes. | According to the Russian president, all income payments (as interest and dividends) leaving the country should be taxed adequately. Putin called on increasing tax on offshore funds to 15 percent. | “Currently two-thirds of such funds, and, in fact, this is the income of specific individuals (as a result of various kinds of schemes of the so-called optimization), are subject to a real tax rate of only 2 percen…
rt.com/business/484070-putin-russian-eco…

Holiday week, financial support for affected & taxes for rich: Putin lays out coronavirus emergency plan
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Russians will get a week of paid leave and a boost to benefits for those most in need, while the wealthiest will have to pay more revenue taxes, the Russian president said as he presented his plan to deal with the coronavirus. | …
rt.com/news/484073-putin-coronavirus-eme…

Putin forced to delay key vote to reset presidential term limits due to Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-03-25
The planned national vote on constitutional amendments in Russia will be postponed from April to a later date, President Vladimir Putin said, citing the threat of Covid-19. | Speaking in a televised address on Wednesday, Putin announced a number of measures to support the Russian people during the increasingly serious threat of coronavirus in the country. | The Russian government will postpone the vote on the constitution, which was scheduled for April 22. The changes involve, among other things, empowering Russia’s Upper House, creating a new government body

Paramushir Island in Russia’s Kuril Islands evacuated after 7.2 earthquake causes small tsunami wave
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Residents of Severo-Kurilsk, a small Russian town with a population of just over 2,500 on the northern end of the Kuril Islands, were evacuated to safety after an earthquake triggered a tsunami warning. | “The safety of the people is the most important for us. It is necessary to make sure that there are no people in the area that may be affected by the wave,” Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko said as he announced the evacuation on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after the earthquake shook the town. | Residents of the town, which is 30m (100ft) above sea level, were led to higher ground. Students and st…
rt.com/russia/484013-tsunami-evacuation-…

‘Whole of humanity’ at stake in Covid-19 pandemic, UN chief warns in urgent plea to ‘fight back’
rt.com | 2020-03-25
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that the “whole of humanity” is in danger of the coronavirus crisis, and we must all fight against it. | “Global action and solidarity are crucial. Individual country responses are not going to be enough,” Guterres said on Wednesday. | The secretary general said the Covid-19 crisis is unlike anything the UN has faced in its 75-year history and is pleading with the developed world to raise trillions of dollars to help poorer countries fight off the deadly viral scourge. | The UN is launching a $2 billion program to help the world’s poor fight against the coronavi…
rt.com/news/484075-coronavirus-threatens…

Is there a doctor in the house? Nevada state medical team that banned malaria drug for coronavirus lacks qualification
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Nevada’s top health officials lack the qualifications one might expect in leaders making public health recommendations for the US, but that hasn’t stopped them from attacking a potential Covid-19 treatment. | Trump’s detractors in the Nevada state health department have moved heaven and earth to stop doctors in the state from prescribing two drugs the president deemed promising for treatment of coronavirus, insisting he’s not qualified enough for his opinion to outweigh a lack of medical consensus. However, a few Twitter detectives discovered on Wednesday that these “professionals” don’t seem to have all the n…
rt.com/usa/484111-nevada-doctors-unlicen…

UK government’s WhatsApp ‘chatbot’ service aimed at countering Covid-19 ‘misinformation’ suffers launch malfunction
rt.com | 2020-03-25
The launch of the UK government’s new WhatsApp ‘chatbot’ service designed to “combat the spread of coronavirus misinformation” got off to an embarrassing start, with claims that it “didn’t seem to work.” | Billed as a simple, free way to receive official government advice on the Covid-19 outbreak through the popular chat app

Boeing shuts down Washington state factories due to coronavirus threat
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Operations at Boeing factories in the state of Washington were suspended on Wednesday for two weeks in order to reduce Covid-19 risks after several workers contracted the virus. | The measure affects up to 70,000 employees in the Puget Sound region, who the company said would receive paid leave during the halt. | Boeing explained that the decision was made in order “to ensure the well-being of employees, their families and the local community.” It said it will be conducting additional deep cleaning activities at impacted sites and establishing rigorous criteria for the return to work. | Also on rt.com | |
rt.com/business/484024-boeing-operations…

‘I’m so happy I can barely speak’: Trump responds to Romney’s negative coronavirus, gets bashed for ‘sarcasm’
rt.com | 2020-03-25
President Donald Trump says Senator Mitt Romney not having coronavirus is “really great news,” but he followed that up by slamming him as a “RINO” and “terrible presidential candidate.” | Romney announced this week he has tested negative for Covid-19 following a move into self-isolation in Utah after he discovered Senator Rand Paul

Merkel, Xi agree on close Germany-China cooperation on coronavirus
rt.com | 2020-03-25
German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the coronavirus crisis in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday. | The two leaders agreed to stay in close contact regarding the coronavirus pandemic, the German government said in a statement. | “They agreed that the current crisis can only be resolved through close international cooperation,” the statement read. | A government spokesman in Berlin said earlier on Wednesday that Merkel “is well, in close contact with her cabinet and holding international talks from home,” where she is self-quarantining after coming into contact with an infected do…
rt.com/newsline/484084-merkel-xi-coopera…

‘It’s mostly just talking’: Berlin police raise eyebrows with response to Tinder social distancing question
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Groups of more than two people have been banned from gathering on German streets. However, there is no law against meeting with a total stranger, as Berlin police have clarified. | The ban imposed on Monday is meant to restrict contact to immediate families (which are exempt from the rule) with the goal of limiting the transmission of the deadly coronavirus. But there are some personal goals that require you to meet with new people: finding your one true love, for example

New York closing streets, opening to pedestrian traffic to fight ‘problem’ parks where social distancing rules not being followed
rt.com | 2020-03-25
As New York continues to deal with a daily rise in coronavirus cases, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to fight social density issues by closing streets and banning contact sports. | Cuomo announced New York City will soon be “piloting” a program that will see the closure of some streets to cars. The streets would then be open to pedestrian traffic. | The governor said the program is in direct response to city parks, which he admitted have become a “problem,” as many individuals are not following social distancing rules, and the density of people puts them and others at greater risk of contracting the co…
rt.com/usa/484087-new-york-streets-cuomo…

No corona for you: French local authority bans ALCOHOL sales amid virus lockdown
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Residents of the French department of Aisne are heading for a truly harsh coronavirus lockdown, as local authorities have imposed a blanket ban on alcohol sales. The move is for their own good, officials argue. | Announcing the decision on Tuesday, Prefect of the department Ziad Khoury pointed out that alcohol abuse often goes hand in hand with domestic violence – which, many fear, is bound to surge under the lockdown. | Excessive consumption of alcohol is likely to create increased disturbances and violence, especially within the family. | Khoury also banned shops from working past 8pm

Singapore ‘not ruling out’ holding general election during Covid-19 outbreak
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Singapore’s government said on Wednesday it was not ruling out holding a general election during the coronavirus outbreak in the city-state, saying strong leadership was needed in a crisis. | Singapore, which must hold a ballot by early 2021, revised its electoral boundaries earlier this month, in a move typically seen as a precursor to calling a vote. Some opposition parties have urged against an election due to health risks. | Speaking in parliament, senior minister Teo Chee Hean said “the present situation is not ideal” but added that because the outbreak could go on for some time, the country could go for…
rt.com/newsline/484029-singapore-governm…

India BANS export of anti-malaria drug touted by Trump as potential Covid-19 cure
rt.com | 2020-03-25
New Delhi has outlawed the export of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that some believe to be effective in treating coronavirus, save for certain exceptions. The drug has been talked up by US President Donald Trump. | The guidance for Indian companies to halt, without delay, the export of the medicine and its components came from the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry late Tuesday. The export ban appears to be a response to both a national and a global spike in demand for the drugs, after anecdotal evidence suggested they might be effective at fighting Covid-19, though the evidence is far from c…
rt.com/news/484010-india-drug-export-ban…

Volkswagen reaches for brass ring of coronavirus virtue-signaling with ‘social distancing’ ad (but no cars)
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Volkswagen has coopted “social distancing” for an ad, complete with a cutesy “distant” VW logo. Struggling to sell cars amid coronavirus-related factory shutdowns, the company seems to hope corporate virtue will find more buyers. | Appealing to its customers to “follow the rules of conduct and hygiene with a lot of discipline,” the car company posted a 55-second spot earlier this week, glossing over exactly whose rules the viewer ought to follow in the spartan-looking ad. The company began shutting down its factories in Europe last week, and its Chinese plants are only now coming back online, so it’s not clear…
rt.com/usa/484099-vw-corporate-virtue-so…

Prince Charles tests positive for coronavirus
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Prince Charles has tested positive for coronavirus, suffering mild symptoms. He is self-isolating at his home in Scotland with the Duchess of Cornwall, who does not have the virus, Clarence House has confirmed. | A statement released on Wednesday morning, said that it was “not possible to ascertain” from whom His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales had caught the virus, but that he had been continuing to work from home “throughout the last few days as usual.” | The 71 year-old Prince – along with his 72 year-old wife Camilla – were tested for the deadly virus by the National Health Service (NHS) in Aberdeenshi…
rt.com/uk/484042-prince-charles-positive…

US stocks whipsawed after Washington reaches historic rescue deal
rt.com | 2020-03-25
Wall Street was up and down on Wednesday after a historic surge in the previous session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring more than 2,000 points in its best one-day percentage gain since 1933. | The Dow jumped 700 points from the opening bell before retreating into negative territory. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also traded lower. | On Wednesday, the US Senate and the White House reached a deal on a massive $2 trillion relief bill to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. | “At last we have a deal,” said Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell following the agree…
rt.com/business/484057-us-stock-markets-…

How lethal is Covid-19 REALLY? Why massive fatality rates from Italy are MISLEADING
rt.com | 2020-03-25
In Italy, the proportion of infected people dying from the novel coronavirus

Macron drafts in French army to help with ‘health & logistics’ in coronavirus crisis
rt.com | 2020-03-25
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the launch of a military operation called ‘Resilience’ to help with “health, logistics and protection” as the country battles an increasing level of coronavirus infections. | During a visit to a military hospital on Wednesday, Macron revealed the plan, saying it “will be entirely devoted to helping and supporting the population, as well as supporting public service to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic.” | The news comes after French health authorities confirmed an additional 231 deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the state’s total to 1,331. The tally so far has o…
rt.com/news/484104-france-military-opera…