The Italian war-like measures to fight coronavirus spreading: Re-open closed hospitals now
Alessandro Miani, Ernesto Burgio, Prisco Piscitelli, Renato Lauro, Annamaria Colao | thelancet.com | 2020-03-27
As recently highlighted by The Lancet, the Covid-19 outbreak started in Northern Italy has shocked Europe, while it has been questioned if China benefits from an authoritarian advantage in disease response [1,2]. In Italy, after the shutdown of the educational system (schools and Universities will remain closed at least for one month) and the collapse of the touristic sector (90% of travels and reservations cancelled), the Government officially locked down residents of all the region of Milan (Lombardia) and other 11 provinces.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PI…(20)30064-X/fulltext?rss=yes

"There's such a cruelty about the situation": New York City hospitals overwhelmed by coronavirus surge
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
New York hospitals confront skyrocketing numbers of patients, a rising death toll, medical staff falling ill and critical shortages of Personal Protective Equipment and ventilators.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/nych…

Migrants in California Are Unprotected Against Covid-19 Effects
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-27
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) Friday denounced that migrants in California are at greater risk of contracting Covid-19 because they lack legal protections. | RELATED: | US Senate Passes $2 Trillion Bill to Front COVID-19 Crisis | A survey of 1,222 Latin Americans, which this NGO carried out between March 12 and 14, revealed that the Covid-19 has worsened the situation of immigrants. | For this reason, CHIRLA asked the Californian authorities to include immigran…
telesurenglish.net/news/us–immigrants-i…

Coronavirus in Gaza: Just 40 ICU Beds for Two Million People Under Siege
David Hearst | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Hospitals all over the western world are bracing for a tsunami of intensely ill patients suffering from breathing difficulties due to the Coronavirus. | In Britain, car companies are scrambling to produce ventilators. Plans are being laid for the army …
globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-gaza-40-ic…

BJP and Israel: Hindu Nationalism is Ravaging India's Democracy
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
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

Mary Grant on Water & Covid-19, David Cay Johnston on the Last Bailout
CounterSpin | fair.org | 2020-03-27
Media…
fair.org/home/mary-grant-on-water-covid-…

COVID-19 and Circuits of Capital
Rob Wallace | mronline.org | 2020-03-27
COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the second severe acute respiratory syndrome virus since 2002, is now officially a pandemic. As of late March, whole cities are sheltered in place and, one by one, hospitals are lighting up in medical gridlock brought about by surges in patients.
mronline.org/2020/03/27/covid-19-and-cir…

To Fight This Pandemic, We Need to Take Over the Military's Resources
Phyllis Bennis | zcomm.org | 2020-03-27
–Not the Other Way Around…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/to-fight-this-pand…

We won't go back to normal, because normal was the problem
Vijay Prashad | mronline.org | 2020-03-27
It is hard to remember that just a few weeks ago, the planet was in motion. There were protests in Delhi (India) and Quito (Ecuador), eruptions against the old order that ranged from anger at the economic policies of austerity and neoliberalism to frustration with the cultural policies of misogyny and racism. Ingeniously, in Santiago …
mronline.org/2020/03/27/we-wont-go-back-…

Bailouts for the Rich, the Virus for the Rest of Us
Rob Urie | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
For the second time in a generation, the President and Congress are creating an economy under the guise of 'saving the economy.' Through bailouts for the executives of corporations and institutions whose coffers have been emptied for their own personal enrichment, a corporate kleptocracy is having its class power secured. And through token payments and…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/bailouts-for…

Why is the U.S. so Exceptionally Vulnerable to Covid-19?
Nicolas J.S. Davies | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-27
The United States has become the new center of the global coronavirus pandemic, with over 86,000 cases, more than China or Italy. More than a thousand Americans have already died, but this is surely only the very beginning of this deadly collision between the U.S.'s uniquely inadequate public healthcare system and a real pandemic. On …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/why-is-the-u-…

Doctors "Strongly Condemn" UK Decision to Keep Assange Imprisoned During COVID-19 Pandemic
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-27
Assange's treatment in the UK's Belmarsh Prison has been so poor that convicted murderers and other high-security inmates had to stage a mass protest to secure his transfer to the hospital wing.
mintpressnews.com/doctors-condemn-uk-dec…

The Coronavirus and the Real Threats to American Safety and Freedom
Andrew Bacevich | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Americans are facing "A Spring Unlike Any Before." So warned a front-page headline in the March 13th New York Times. That headline, however hyperbolic, was all too apt. The coming of spring has always promised relief from the discomforts of winter. Yet, far too often, it also brings its own calamities and afflictions. According to the…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/the-coronavi…

What Trump is Doing in the Middle East While You are Distracted by COVID-19
Robert Fisk | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
And still the virus shrouds Donald Trump's mischief in the Middle East. First it was his sly retreat from Iraq; now it's his cosy military exercises with the United Arab Emirates

A Message For America from Brazil's First Indigenous Congresswoman
Ruth Hopkins | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Last year, we all watched in horror as the Amazon rainforest burned at an unprecedented rate. We cannot afford to lose it, especially amid a climate emergency. It's vast greenery releases oxygen and stores carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas that causes of global warming. The death of the Amazon would mean the end of life…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/a-message-fo…

Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
Amazon workers in France, metalworkers in Italy, postal workers in Britain and doctors in Zimbabwe are among those taking job action to protest lack of adequate safety measures in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/work…

Rep. Omar Blasts Trump's "American Exceptionalism" as US Leads in COVID-19 Cases
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-27
As much of the United States is under lockdown, the House votes today on a $2 trillion emergency relief package to address the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. It will generate payments to most Americans and includes protections for workers, but it is also a massive bailout for a number of industries and corporations, and the vote comes as a record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits. We speak with Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, the first Somali American electe…
truthout.org/video/rep-omar-blasts-trump…

How austerity and anti-immigrant politics left Italy exposed to viral blitzkrieg
Conn Hallinan | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-27
As the viral blitzkrieg rolls across one European border after another, it seems to have a particular enmity for Italy. The country's death toll has far surpassed China's, and scenes from its hospitals look like something out of Dante's imagination. Why? Italy has the fourth-largest economy in the European Union, and in terms of health …
peoplesworld.org/article/how-austerity-a…

Migrants in Hawaii care for the elderly, the aloha way
news.un.org | 2020-03-27
Migrants are playing an increasingly important role in the provision of health care around the world. The number of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who move from developing countries to take up posts in developed countries is expected to rise as the global population of older persons and children continues to grow.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/03/1…

Media Repeat Phony Trump Regime Narco-Terrorism Charges against Maduro
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Establishment media never miss an opportunity to set the record straight on major issues. | Instead they consistently proliferate state-sponsored Big Lies about designed US adversaries. | The latest exercise in Trump regime mass deception is directed against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro…
globalresearch.ca/media-repeat-phony-tru…

Tulsi Gabbard Falls on Her Sword: America's Leading Antiwar Voice Is Destroyed by Hillary
Philip Giraldi | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
In American politics, it is not often that one sees an assassination carried out in public, but that is exactly what the Democratic Party establishment did to peace candidate Tulsi Gabbard. She was sidelined right from the beginning of …
globalresearch.ca/tulsi-gabbard-falls-he…

Trump admin's $15 million bounty on Maduro triggers explosive confession of violent Guaidó plot
Leonardo Flores | thegrayzone.com | 2020-03-27
The Trump administration's deception-laden indictment of President Nicolas Maduro and members of his inner circle has badly backfired, resulting in…
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/27/trump-bounty-…

Uruguay: Cuts in Public Wages to Finance the 'Coronavirus Fund'
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-27
Uruguay's President Luis Lacalle Thursday announced cuts to public officials' cuts and pensions to finance the "Coronavirus Fund", which is intended to pay for the treatment of Covid-19 patients and medical supplies. | RELATED: | Uruguay: Educators Protest Against President Lacalle's Bill | That decision implies a cut of 20 percent of the salaries of the president and his ministers. | The remuneration of legislators and directors of public institutions will be reduced in equal magnitude.
telesurenglish.net/news/Uruguay-lacalle-…

Australia's imprisoned refugees plead for release as coronavirus risk increases
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
Detainees have protested at being held "in a potential death trap in which we have no option or means to protect ourselves."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/aref…

Lockerbie's Only Convict May be Exonerated Posthumously
Dr. Mustafa Fetouri | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
The only man to be convicted of the infamous Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, died in 2012 and protested his innocence until his final breath. His fellow Libyan and co-defendant, Lamin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted and is still living …
globalresearch.ca/lockerbie-only-convict…

Venezuela Dismisses US Justice Department 'Narco-terrorism' Accusations
Lucas Koerner | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro rejected US drug trafficking accusations against his person and senior members of his government. | In a televised address Thursday evening, Maduro blasted the State Department's "racist cowboy methods" of offering money for information leading to his …
globalresearch.ca/venezuela-dismisses-us…

Whither Coronavirus? When Will It End and What Will Happen Along the Way
Philip Giraldi | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
The coronavirus story has generated a number of major subplots. | First is the origin of the virus. Did it occur naturally or was it created in a Chinese, American or Israeli weapons lab? If bioengineered, did it somehow escape or …
globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-when-end-w…

Bolsonaro Needs Help to Overcome Coronavirus Pandemic Despite Loyalty to Trump
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro after weeks of downplaying the potential seriousness of the coronavirus is beginning to lose popularity for his irrationality, especially since describing the coronavirus as a "fantasy" and a "minor flu." While all South American countries, with …
globalresearch.ca/bolsonaro-needs-help-o…

Montenegro Being Accelerated to the European Union in a Face-saving Regime
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Italians furious at the lack of help and solidarity from the European Union began removing flags of the Union throughout the country and replaced them with Chinese and Russian ones. As this is happening in a long-time member of the …
globalresearch.ca/montenegro-accelerated…

Russia Is Responding Better Than Everyone Else to World War C
Andrew Korybko | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
The largest country in the world is faring surprisingly well when it comes to surviving World War C, which is greatly attributable to Russia's proactive measures in taking COVID-19 as serious as possible, including through border closures and the forthcoming …
globalresearch.ca/russia-responding-bett…

Corona culture: Europe and the new normal
Dennis Broe | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-27
PARIS–After its outbreak in China, Europe had been called the new epicenter of the disease, and particularly Western Europe, where the responses have varied from the new Socialist-Podemos coalition in Spain nationalizing the country's industry to a total quarantine in France by the neoliberal Macron, criticized for being three weeks too late. Some predict that …
peoplesworld.org/article/corona-culture-…

"I Will Not Kill My Mother for Your Stock Portfolio"
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
despite his repeated reference to the battle against COVID-19 as a "war" against a "vicious invisible enemy," Trump has so far refused to follow the pleas of public health experts, mayors, and governors for him to invoke the Defense Production Act. The legislation empowers the White House to order corporations to convert production over to manufacture of items needed to fight the war: masks, medical gowns, ventilators, respirators, test-kits, hospital beds and the like.
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/i-will-not-k…

Western Media Focusses On Big Pharma's Search for a Coronavirus Vaccine While Suppressing Coverage of High Dose Intravenus Vitamin C to Save Lives in China
Dr. Leon Tressell | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Not a day passes without some hyped up media story of how big-pharma is racing to the rescue of humanity with its search for a coronavirus vaccine. There are over 40 companies now searching for a vaccine. Collectively they are …
globalresearch.ca/western-media-talks-bi…

With a Quarter of the World's Population Under US Sanctions, Countries Appeal to UN to Intervene
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-27
Eight countries, representing around one-quarter of all humanity, say that Washington's actions are undermining their response to the COVID–19 pandemic sweeping the planet.
mintpressnews.com/coronavirus-quarter-wo…

The Senate's Coronavirus Relief Package Must be Stopped!
Mike Whitney | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
The Senate's $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package is not fiscal stimulus and it's not a lifeline for the tens of millions of working people who have suddenly lost their jobs. It's a fundamental restructuring of the US economy designed to …
globalresearch.ca/senate-coronavirus-rel…

Nationalize the Airlines
Paris Marx | zcomm.org | 2020-03-27
The airline industry will not survive the coronavirus. Now is the time to nationalize it

The Covid-19 Bailout: Another Failed Opportunity at Structural Change
David Schultz | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
The Covid-19 bailout is yet another opportunity at a structural transformation of the American state, economy, and society that will be lost. Instead, it will be another short-term patch that will fail to alter the trajectory of Neo-liberal capitalism in America, if not across the globe. There are two basic types of reform–ordinary and structural.
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/the-covid-19…

Life and Death in the Epicenter
Louis Proyect | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
When it comes to warding off COVID-19, I've been ahead of the curve. Last October, after a bout with acute bronchitis that lasted most of the month, I resolved never to go through such an ordeal again. I started using hand sanitizer and avoided touching my face. Like my glaucoma, it is a geriatric illness. When I checked the New York Times archives for tips on dealing with bronchitis, I was shocked to discover how many well-known and powerful geezers came down with it: Konrad Adenauer, Boris Yeltsin, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Paul Robeson. None died from bronchitis, but around half were hospitali…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/life-and-dea…

COVID-19: Health or Wealth?
Daniel Warner | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Can the pandemic be separated from the economy? As the pandemic continues in Europe and the United States but seems to be subsiding in Asia, more and more questions are being raised about how to relaunch the economy. The importance of public health is being opposed to opening for business. The battle in the U.S.
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/covid-19-hea…

Alexander Cockburn meets Charles Bukowski at a Sushi Bar in San Pedro
James Preston Allen | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
I was reminded the other day about a funny incident that happened years ago when the noted Nation Magazine columnist Alexander Cockburn was introduced to the famous American poet Charles Bukowski. My memory of this was sparked by the appearance of Laura Flanders, radio journalist in her own right and the niece of Cockburn came…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/alexander-co…

Neither Biden Nor Trump: Imagine Cuomo
Andrew Levine | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
The Trump presidency is mainly about enriching and glorifying Donald Trump. To that end, and in accord with his attitudes and dispositions, he has set about making America hate again

Coronavirus and the Collapse of Our Imaginations
Jonathan Carp | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Right now, millions of people throughout North America and Europe are living through an unprecedented situation and making unprecedented demands. Formerly meek white-collar workers content to schlep to and from the office every day are demanding the right to telecommute. Blue-collar workers told they are essential are demanding raises- here in Washington, our grocery workers…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/coronavirus-…

Politics, Pandemics and Trumpism
Ron Jacobs | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Since early March 2020, the US election process has taken a backseat to the COVID-19 pandemonium and panic. My day job gave me a unique perspective on the reaction to this situation. I work in a public library, one of the few places in the US where people of every class, skin tone and origin…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/politics-pan…

Somebody Else's World: An Interview with Kelly Reichardt
Edward Leer | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Kelly Reichardt has slowly been building a reputation in American independent cinema as one of the most rigorous and profound working filmmakers in a rapidly receding artistic landscape. Her first film, River of Grass (1994), starring her producer and horror director Larry Fessenden, is a crafty and incisive feminist subversion of the…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/somebody-els…

Misinformation and the Coronavirus: On the Dangers of Depoliticization and Social Media
Anthony DiMaggio | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Bill Gates created the coronavirus. China secretly developed it in a lab as a biological weapon. A cure exists and the government controls it, but won't release it to the public. The virus is no more dangerous than the seasonal flu. Coronavirus is a "fake news" hoax manufactured by the news. You can use hand…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/misinformati…

Stimulus Bill Allows Federal Reserve to Conduct Meetings in Secret; Gives Fed $454 Billion Slush Fund for Wall Street Bailouts
Pam Martens, Russ Martens | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
The U.S. Senate voted 96-0 late yesterday on a massive bailout of Wall Street banks versus a short-term survival plan for American workers thrown out of their jobs

COVID-19, the Exponential Function and Human the Survival
Peter Cohen | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
It's time for us all to understand the Exponential Function. One of the hallmarks of COVID-19 is its exponential nature, with numbers of infected currently doubling about every 4 days in the US. This growth rate, plus the at least 14-day lag time, make it particularly difficult to fight, as efforts to respond tend to…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/covid-19-the…

Could the Death of the National Security State be a Silver Lining of COVID-19?
Jefferson Morley | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Could something good come from the catastrophe of COVID-19? Might the epic insecurity of a plague teach us something about national security? Political scientist Micah Zenko calls the current pandemic "the worst intelligence failure in U.S. history." Former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman sees "the urgent need to redefine national security." Ilan Goldenberg, a former defense…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/could-the-de…

Letter From Catalonia: Alarming Measures
Chris Gilbert | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
I'm in a small city in Catalonia called Olot, not far from the Pyrenees. I came here because I knew the coronavirus lockdown would be much rougher in Barcelona. Still, people walk around with masks and keep social distances, barely going out. There are three of us in a two-bedroom apartment. We read the news…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/letter-from-…

The End of the Parasite Paradigm
Kathleen Wallace | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Politicians like Lindsey Graham have been worried that some individuals might get a few cents extra during this crisis if the relief bills are too "generous". The concern does not extend to corporations that bloat and have essentially no stipulations put upon them from the trough of taxpayer largess. This is the clearest indication that…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/the-end-of-t…

God's Vengeance: the Christian Right and the Coronavirus
David Rosen | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Steven Andrew is pastor of the USA Christian Church in San Jose (CA) who warns, "Obeying God protects the USA from diseases, such as the coronavirus." He goes on, Bible thumping,…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/gods-vengean…

Russia-gate: the Dead But Undead
Richard Moser | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Attention all Russia-gaters! Under the cover of pandemic, the US finally dropped charges against those dastardly Russian meme-bombers! Just in case you think this is yet another conspiracy led by Trump's Department of Justice to hide something, the case against the troll farm fell apart 2 years ago when Mueller was still in charge. It's…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/russia-gate-…

Seven Rules for the Boeing Bailout
Richard Eskow | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Call it the "Boeing bailout." As the world struggles with the pandemic, Boeing should be seen as the vector for a parallel epidemic. It's Patient Zero in an epidemic of corporate failure. As we change the way we live our lives, corporations like Boeing should change the way they are run. Corporate mismanagement made this…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/seven-rules-…

Manufactured Pandemic: Testing People for Any Strain of a Coronavirus, Not Specifically for COVID-19
Julian Rose | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
The following is from a medical forum. The writer, who is a widely respected professional scientist in the US, prefers to stay anonymous, because presenting any narrative different than the official one can cause you a lot of stress in …
globalresearch.ca/manufactured-pandemic-…

Australian unions and employers demand workers stay on building sites despite pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
The unions are determined to utilise the coronavirus crisis to prove themselves indispensible to big business.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/aubu…

"Shelter in Place" Is Putting Domestic Violence Survivors in a Dire Situation
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-27
As schools shut, public spaces close, and all but essential workers are ordered to stay indoors under shelter-in-place orders across the U.S. and globe, domestic violence services are scrambling to help vulnerable people navigate home lives that they say are increasingly unsafe during the pandemic. What happens when you're trapped at home with your abuser? "This is really a dire situation for a lot of victims across the country," says Katie Ray-Jones, chief executive officer of the National Domes…
truthout.org/video/shelter-in-place-is-p…

US Senators Request to Ease Sanctions Against Venezuela, Iran
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-27
U.S. Senator Christopher Murphy and 10 other lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin urging them to alleviate the sanctions that the U.S. keeps against Iran and Venezuela amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | The U.S. Harasses Venezuela Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic | "We are writing to express…
telesurenglish.net/news/US-Senators-Requ…

The Politics of the Coronavirus
John Feffer | zcomm.org | 2020-03-27
For the far right, the pandemic is a chance to enact border controls and erode the rule of law. It could also expose their utter incompetence…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-politics-of-th…

Recognizing and Resisting the "Hasbara Pandemic"
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Steady media reports on the rising number of the novel Coronavirus infections and its human toll have contributed to a global psychology of fear where entire populations are succumbing their free will to those in positions of authority, elected and …
globalresearch.ca/recognizing-resisting-…

Canada: Vancouver homeless left to fend for themselves amid coronavirus pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
The Canadian ruling elite's policy of malign neglect in the face of the lethal coronavirus pandemic is exemplified by the failure of all levels of government to do anything to protect homeless people.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/vanh…

The Tories' latest coronavirus response is peak hypocrisy
Steve Topple | thecanary.co | 2020-03-27
The UK government has announced measures to try and protect rough sleepers from the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. In doing so, it has effectively solved rough sleeping, albeit temporarily. But this move begs the question: why the hell haven't the Tories done this before? | Coronavirus: more UK government action: | Sky News tweeted on Friday 27 March: | The Government has written to all local authorities in England asking them to house all people sleeping rough,those in hostels and night shelters by the w…
thecanary.co/trending/2020/03/27/the-tor…

Trump's "Get back to work" demagogy aids the spread of the pandemic
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
Amidst an expanding pandemic, which is still in its early stages, the Trump administration is intensifying its efforts to force a return to work, which would endanger the lives of millions of workers.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/pers…

COVID-19 pandemic: Doctors sue French government for criminal negligence
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
Lawyers representing hundreds of health-care professionals are filing a suit charging Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and other top officials with criminal negligence.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/fran…

New US unemployment claims hit 3.28 million as pandemic produces economic catastrophe
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
The number of new weekly claims for state unemployment benefits reached the staggering total of 3.28 million, an increase of 1,000 percent over the previous week, and the largest such total in history.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/unem…

Police and security firm evict people onto the streets in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic
Eliza Egret | thecanary.co | 2020-03-27
Police and security guards have evicted a squatted homeless shelter, throwing people onto the streets as the coronavirus pandemic takes over the UK. The unbelievable eviction came one day after the government announced that people will be fined for not observing orders to stay at home. | The eviction also took place just before the government announced that it has asked all local authorities to house rough sleepers. | The eviction:…
thecanary.co/discovery/analysis-discover…

MLB Opening Day 2020 at home; baseball jerseys material for PPE
Al Neal | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-27
There was an air of emptiness Thursday. With the entire world amiss during the Covid-19 pandemic, yesterday seemed even stranger–if you're a baseball fan that is. There were no crowds gathered at stadiums, no shimmering sunlight reflecting off players' sunglasses, and the fulfilling sounds of a wooden bat cracking, a ball sailing beyond second base, …
peoplesworld.org/article/mlb-opening-day…

COVID-19 Puts Capitalism on a Ventilator. No More Bank and Corporate Bailouts!
Prof. Anthony A. Gabb | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warned that a global recession, "perhaps of record dimensions", was a near certainty…"We are in an unprecedented situation and the normal rules no longer apply." | The aftershock of previous pandemics was catastrophic. The fourteenth century …
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-puts-capitali…

Real Virus, Fake Shock
Mark Taliano | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
The coronavirus is real, but the shock is a fabrication. | The WHO proclaimed a "pandemic" prematurely, without sufficient evidence, no doubt influenced by "vested interests". | How do we know this? | The UK government recently proclaimed that | …
globalresearch.ca/real-virus-fake-shock/…

Veteran Chicano leader Carlos Montes blasts Trump response to crisis
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-03-27
Los Angeles, CA – Long time Chicano leader Carlos Montes blasted the Trump administration's mishandling of the pandemic, March 25, stating, "President Trump's irrational and disjointed response to this COVID-19 pandemic is causing major harm to working people." | Montes continued, "Especially hard-hit are non-unionized workers in the lower sectors of the economy that who have little to no benefits. They are primarily Black and brown workers who lack health insurance, sick leave, vacations and access to unemployment benefits. This pandemic with the economic crash is causing extreme hardships to Black and brown com…
fightbacknews.org/2020/3/26/veteran-chic…

Video: Perspectives on the COV-19 Pandemic, A Fiasco in the Making: Dr. John Ioannidis, Stanford University
John P.A. Ioannidis | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Perspectives on the Pandemic: | Dealing with Coronavirus, a fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data. | Dr John P.A. Ioannidis is a professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology and population …
globalresearch.ca/video-perspectives-pan…

Why Is the U.S. So Exceptionally Vulnerable to Covid-19?
Nicolas J. S. Davies | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
The United States has become the new center of the global coronavirus pandemic, with over 86,000 cases, more than China or Italy. More than a thousand Americans have already died, but this is surely only the very beginning of this …
globalresearch.ca/why-us-exceptionally-v…

In light of the Global pandemic, focus attention on the people
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-03-27
SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, now declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation, has begun to wreak havoc in large parts of the world, with other parts waiting in anticipation. We are in a real struggle, which needs total mobilisation; a struggle that needs to put life before profit.
mronline.org/2020/03/26/in-light-of-the-…

Lancet Chief Skewers Johnson Government for Its Disastrous Covid-19 Failure
True Publica | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
An editorial piece in The Lancet

The War on Death
C. J. Hopkins | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-27
OK, I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. The good news is mainly for authoritarians who missed all the fun during the War on Terror. The news is … welcome to the War on Death! Yes, that's right, global capitalism (a/k/a "the world") is now at war with Death … which …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/the-war-on-de…

Detroit hospitals warn many "extremely sick" patients will be denied lifesaving treatment
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
As COVID-19 cases throughout the metro Detroit area soared, the Henry Ford Health system has warned patients that "because of shortages," patients who are "extremely sick" may be "ineligible for ICU or ventilator care."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/detr…

Horn of Africa and East Africa face coronavirus and locust swarm
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
Some 80 percent of the population in the Horn, a region long synonymous with famine, conflicts and refugees, relies on agriculture for subsistence, meaning that the consequences will be devastating for the already vulnerable population.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/locu…

Bipartisan corporate bailout gives $17 billion to Boeing
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
The top executives who oversaw the cost-cutting, layoffs and cover-ups that resulted in two crashes and the deaths of 346 people are being rewarded with billions in taxpayer money.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/boei…

Brazil's Bolsonaro threatens dictatorship over COVID-19 crisis
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
Leading Brazilian businessmen have terrorized workers with threats of "40 million unemployed" unless state quarantines are lifted.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/braz…

Democracy in Brazil would not be normal, Bolsonaro threatens
teleSUR Desk | mronline.org | 2020-03-27
The far-right president hints that a regime more authoritarian than Chile's Augusto Pinochet dictatorship could be the "price to pay" due to the "chaos" that the "small flu" triggers.
mronline.org/2020/03/27/democracy-in-bra…

Trump White House Objects to $1 Billion Price Tag for 80,000 Ventilators
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-27
President Donald Trump is expected as early as the end of this week to sign legislation that would establish a $4.5 trillion bailout fund for large corporations, but the prospect of spending around a billion dollars for the production of tens of thousands of much-needed ventilators amid the coronavirus crisis is apparently a bridge too far for the White House.
truthout.org/articles/trump-white-house-…

Coronavirus: After the EU Failed to Deliver, Italy Looks to Russia for Help
Steven Sahiounie | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-27
The current global political scene is changing rapidly as a result of the coronavirus. New super-powers are emerging and former power-houses are weakening in the face of the crisis.
mintpressnews.com/coronavirus-after-eu-f…

Covid-19: The Panic Is Worse Than the Pathogen
Tony Cartalucci | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
The Corona Virus Disease 2019 or "Covid-19" is a coronavirus similar to the virus that causes pneumonia. Covid-19 is a danger to at-risk groups including the elderly and the chronically ill. | If you are not elderly and if you are …
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-panic-worse-p…

Governments Say "Stay at Home," But Thousands Don't Have a Home
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-27
In December, she moved into The Sophia Way, an all-women's homeless shelter in Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle and roughly 6 miles from the suburban nursing home that was the site of the first known COVID-19 outbreak in the country. | Living spaces in the shelter were already tight, but they have become even tighter as managers have sought to implement social distancing and head off infection among the 80 women who are served by the shelter's programs and the 35 people who work there. | "We're kind of coop…
truthout.org/articles/governments-say-st…

Over 45 Countries Ask Cuba for Interferon to Treat Covid-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-27
Outlet Granma reported that over 45 nations have requested Cuba for Interferon Alpha 2b Human Recombinant supplies given that this drug is effective in treating Covid-19 patients. | RELATED: | Cuba: FM Denounces US Defamation of Cuban Medical Collaboration | Interferon is produced by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), a Cuban institution that enjoys prestige in the international scientific community. | Created in the 1980s, this drug ha…
telesurenglish.net/news/more-than-40-nat…

California cities, counties act to protect renters, homeowners, and unsheltered residents
Marilyn Bechtel | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-27
OAKLAND, Calif.–As COVID-19 infections soar and economic activity is increasingly disrupted, communities across California are acting to keep the most sharply impacted people in their homes, and to shelter the most vulnerable of all–more than 100,000 unsheltered Californians. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced March 26 that he had reached agreement with four nationwide banks–Citi, JPMorgan Chase, …
peoplesworld.org/article/california-citi…

Frontline NY Nurses Lack Protective Masks & Ventilators
Sean Petty & Kelley Cabrera | zcomm.org | 2020-03-27
Say Worst Yet to Come as COVID-19 Spreads…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/1031175/

Europe's COVID-19 death toll reaches over 16,000
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
Years of slashing health and social care budgets, together with government inaction, have taken a grim toll, with health workers forced to make decisions as to who lives and dies.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/euro…

Total coronavirus cases in United States surge past Italy, China
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US has risen tenfold in a week, to 85,594.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/usco…

Why France Is Hiding a Cheap and Tested Virus Cure
Pepe Escobar | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
What's going on in the fifth largest economy in the world arguably points to a major collusion scandal in which the French government is helping Big Pharma to profit from the expansion of Covid-19. Informed French citizens are absolutely furious …
globalresearch.ca/france-hiding-cheap-te…

Higher Education in the Time of COVID-19
Peter Mayo | zcomm.org | 2020-03-27
The history of education is full of episodes whereby necessity, through crises in the form of occupation, led to ingenuity…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/higher-education-i…

Covid-19: Lithuania on the Brink of a Catastrophe
Lucas Leiroz de Almeida | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
COVID-19 expands in Lithuania. Having registered its first official case in February, the country currently has almost 300 infected people and four confirmed deaths. Taking into account that the official numbers tend to differ from the real ones due to …
globalresearch.ca/lithuania-brink-catast…

Reported COVID-19 cases exceed 1,200 in Washington, D.C. region as public health disaster looms
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
The coronavirus has exposed the fragility of the social infrastructure throughout the region surrounding the United States' capitol city.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/wash…

UK sees its biggest day-on-day jump in coronavirus deaths
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-03-27
The UK has seen its biggest day-on-day rise in deaths since the Covid-19 outbreak began.A total of 759 people have now died in UK hospitals after being diagnosed with coronavirus, while 113,777 have tested positive, the Department of Health and Social Care said.Many more people are thought to be infected.(PA Graphics)It took 13 days for the number of deaths in the UK to go from one to just above 100.It took a further eight days to reach the latest total of 759, analysis by the PA news agency shows.The jump in coronavirus-related deaths in the UK from 578 to 759 is an increase of 181

Profits before lives: German parliament passes emergency package for large corporations and the rich
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
All parties in parliament, from the Left Party to the extreme right AfD, are working together to defend capitalism and to shift the burden of the COVID-19 crisis onto the working class.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/germ…

UK: Corbyn's pathetic exit as Labour leader amid coronavirus crisis
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
Corbyn strained every sinew to appear responsible and supportive at a time of national emergency, stressing that he did not want to appear to be "relentlessly negative."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/corb…

Italian workers strike in Lombardy over coronavirus safety issues
Steve Sweeney | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-27
Italian workers took strike action over coronavirus safety issues Wednesday with the government accused of putting lives at risk by deeming almost 60% of the country's workforce as "essential." Metalworkers' unions called the action on Monday, raising concerns that non-essential companies, including call centers and weapons factories, had been exempted from government orders to close …
peoplesworld.org/article/italian-workers…

Australian school system in chaos after coronavirus semi-closures
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's insistence that schools remain open as usual reflected economic, not health, considerations.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/aued…

Lots of cash, including pro-worker cash; very little pro-worker policy
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-27
WASHINGTON–The $2.2 trillion coronavirus economic impact bill Congress President Donald Trump says he will sign contains a lot of pro-worker cash

The Dangers of Depoliticization and Social Media
Anthony Dimaggio | zcomm.org | 2020-03-27
Misinformation and the Coronavirus…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-dangers-of-dep…

What the coronavirus calamity means for intellectual and cultural life
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
A Rubicon has been crossed. The existing order, in the eyes of tens of millions, will be seen from now on as illegitimate and an immediate threat to their continued existence.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/coro…

Australian teachers use social media to speak out on coronavirus danger, unions collaboration with government
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
One teacher wrote: "The world is screaming at us to see what happens when governments are too slow to act. Strike now!"
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/ausc…

From Electoral Politics to Coronavirus Response: In Israel, Apartheid Mentality Reigns
Miko Peled | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-27
Israel's longstanding political crisis didn't end due to some altruistic desire to pull together in a time of crisis, it ended because Israelis were faced with a choice, work with Arabs or throw it all away, writes Miko Peled.
mintpressnews.com/electoral-politics-cor…

Gilead Sciences Backs Off Monopoly Claim for Promising Coronavirus Drug
Sharon Lerner | zcomm.org | 2020-03-27
"Gilead is notorious for price gouging. Gilead holds the key to bringing down and ending both HIV and hep C epidemics, and in both cases, prices have played a real factor in our inability to stop both epidemics. And that's terrifying."
zcomm.org/znetarticle/gilead-sciences-ba…

Letter from Catalonia: Alarming measures
Chris Gilbert | mronline.org | 2020-03-27
I'm in a small city in Catalonia called Olot, not far from the Pyrenees. I came here because I knew the coronavirus lockdown would be much rougher in Barcelona. Still, people walk around with masks and keep social distances, barely going out.
mronline.org/2020/03/27/letter-from-cata…

Coronavirus and capitalist crisis: The struggle of (and for) our lives
Joe Sims | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-27
Joe Sims is a national co-chair of the Communist Party USA. This article is adapted from a report he delivered to a meeting of the CPUSA's National Board on March 25, 2020. In a new and dangerous twist to the coronavirus crisis, Donald Trump is now calling for an end to social distancing perhaps as …
peoplesworld.org/article/coronavirus-and…

Wall Street rise continues as coronavirus infections accelerate
wsws.org | 2020-03-27
The extreme volatility of the markets is such that the Dow, having entered a bear market–defined as a fall of 20 percent–has now returned to bull market status, all in the space of just six weeks.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/27/mark…

As coronavirus rages worldwide, U.S. now first in infections
John Wojcik | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-27
In denial, Donald Trump continues to insist that America go back to work at the very moment that the U.S. tops the world in the number of coronavirus infections. He is hot to trot on doing what he calls a "county by county risk assessment" to determine allegedly "unaffected areas of the country" that can …
peoplesworld.org/article/as-coronavirus-…

'Big Win': Caving to Pressure Campaign, Gilead Sciences Relinquishes Monopoly Claim for Promising Coronavirus Treatment
Julia Conley | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Government watchdog Public Citizen celebrated Wednesday afternoon as pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences backed off a monopoly claim for its drug that may treat the coronavirus which has sickened more than 487,000 people worldwide. Gilead, Public Citizen said, must now commit …
globalresearch.ca/gilead-sciences-relinq…

Doctors, Not Bombs… "Educated in the Idea of Saving Lives"
Fidel Castro | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
Excerpts from Fidel's 2003 speech in Buenos Aires: | "Our country does not drop bombs on other peoples… our country does not possess nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, or biological weapons. Our country's tens of thousands of scientists and doctors have been …
globalresearch.ca/doctors-not-bombs-educ…

911 Truth: WTC 7 Not Destroyed by Fire, Concludes Final University of Alaska Fairbanks Report
AE911Truth | globalresearch.ca | 2020-03-27
The destruction of the 47-story World Trade Center Building 7 in New York City late in the afternoon of September 11, 2001, was not a result of fires, according to the much-anticipated final report issued today by researchers at the …
globalresearch.ca/wtc-7-not-destroyed-fi…

Incarcerated Anti-Fascists Report Targeted Beatings by Guards
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-27
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is targeting Eric King, an unapologetically vocal anti-fascist, yogi and poet who has been incarcerated since September 2014, for his political beliefs. King was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after being charged with attempting to set fire to a government official's empty office building in support of the Ferguson, Missouri, upr…
truthout.org/articles/incarcerated-anti-…

Iran records 144 new Covid-19 deaths as military sets up emergency 2,000-bed hospital in Tehran
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Iran saw nearly 150 new fatalities from coronavirus, health officials disclosed on Friday. The country's military has deployed a makeshift hospital in Tehran as the Islamic Republic continues to battle the respiratory illness. | A health ministry official confirmed that Iran suffered 144 deaths from the previous day, pushing its death toll to 2,378. The Islamic Republic currently has 32,332 confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to a government tally. | The latest figures coincide with the creation of a makeshift hospital in the nation's capital. The Iranian military reportedly converted an exhibition center i…
rt.com/news/484265-iran-coronavirus-deat…

Cat contracts coronavirus FROM sick owner in new case of human-to-animal transition
rt.com | 2020-03-27
As scientists around the world battle for a cure or vaccine to Covid-19, a new case of human-to-animal transmission has arisen in Belgium, where health experts say a cat contracted the disease from its coronavirus-stricken owner. | Just one week after the pet owner in Liege, Belgium was diagnosed with Covid-19, their cat also started showing symptoms of the disease, including respiratory problems and diarrhea. | As panic over the outbreak keeps gaining ground, spokesman for Belgium's coronavirus crisis center, Emmanuel Andre, tried to reassure the public that the infected animal was an "isolated case." | "Ther…
rt.com/news/484280-cat-belgium-coronavir…

'Are those who bomb towns going to accuse us of terrorism?' Maduro rips US over 'narco-terrorism' charge
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro fired back at the US, which is offering a $15 million bounty for information leading to his arrest, dismissing the narco-terrorism charge as a smear to deflect attention from its coronavirus woes. | Maduro came out swinging after the US Justice Department, in an almost unprecedented move, indicted the president of the Latin American nation on "narco-terrorism" charges, claiming that Maduro and over a dozen Venezuelan political and military leaders plotted to "flood the Unite…
rt.com/news/484219-venezuela-maduro-terr…

Turkey evacuates hundreds of migrants from Greek border amid virus pandemic
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Ankara has sent some 6,000 migrants waiting at the Turkish-Greek border to cross into the European Union to cities inside the country, Reuters reported on Friday, citing the Interior Ministry. The move was part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. | Migrants waiting at the border crossing in Edirne province were transported in buses to state guest houses where they would be quarantined, Anadolu news agency reported. They would be moved to other regions in Turkey at the end of the quarantine, it added. | Thousands of migrants had massed at a border crossing with European Union-member Greece after T…
rt.com/newsline/484320-turkey-evacuates-…

US quietly seeks out foreign doctors to fight Covid-19 pandemic
rt.com | 2020-03-27
As the entire world has become the frontline of the fight against the Covid-19 coronavirus, the US State Department is headhunting foreign doctors to assist the US, promising they can skip to the front of the immigration queue. | In a message posted on its website on Thursday night, Foggy Bottom encouraged medical professionals who have already applied for US visas

France's coronavirus death toll nears 2,000 as 300 more die in Covid-19 pandemic
rt.com | 2020-03-27
The death toll from the Covid-19 outbreak has reached 1,996 in France after the country's health authorities confirmed that 299 more people have died there in a 24-hour period. | Announcing the latest fatalities on Friday evening, France's director-general of health also said that there have been a total of 32,964 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the state, up from 29,155 a day prior. | Earlier Friday, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe warned of "very difficult" days ahead as the country sees a rise in cases, and said the government would extend a raft of nationwide restrictions aimed at curbing the s…
rt.com/news/484323-france-coronavirus-de…

European stocks sink as spread of coronavirus explodes across continent
rt.com | 2020-03-27
European markets opened significantly lower on Friday, ignoring all the stimulus pledges by governments this week, as the deadly Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread. Europe now accounts for more than half of global infections. | Britain's FTSE 100 is plummeting more than three percent during early trading in London. Stock markets in Germany and France are down over two percent. | The market fall comes as EU leaders fail to come to an agreement over the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic. During a video conference summit on Thursday, the leaders of the 27-member bloc argued over how to pull their e…
rt.com/business/484235-european-markets-…

Fighting resumes in Libya amid efforts to stop coronavirus pandemic
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Battles raged on several fronts in Libya on Friday after a night of heavy bombardment in Tripoli, Reuters reported, citing combatants and residents. After a comparative lull, serious warfare resumed this week despite international calls for calm to allow Libya's fragmented health system to prepare for any spread of the coronavirus. Libya confirmed its first case of the infectious disease on Monday. | The Libyan National Army (LNA) of eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar has been assaulting Tripoli for nearly a year, hoping to capture the capital in the northwest where the internationally recognized Governmen…
rt.com/newsline/484282-fighting-resumes-…

Italy yet to reach coronavirus contagion peak, national health chief warns, as 712 die in one day
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Italy has yet to see the worst of the coronavirus pandemic spreading through the country, a senior health official has warned, a day after more than 700 people died in a single 24-hour period. | "We haven't reached the peak and we haven't passed it," the head of the Superior Health Institute, Silvio Brusaferro, told a press conference on Friday. He noted, however, that there were "signs of a slowdown" in the number of infections, suggesting that the health crisis could turn a corner soon. | Figures released on Thursday showed 712 new Covid-19 deaths, bringing the nationwide total to 8,215. | Brusaferro said th…
rt.com/news/484278-italy-coronavirus-pea…

Italy's WORST day: Coronavirus death rate highest since start of outbreak with 900+ fatalities
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Italy has experienced its worst day yet in the country's devastating coronavirus epidemic, with 919 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours

Sinking global economy & cheap crude take big bite out of Russia's forex reserves
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Russian gold and foreign currency holdings have shed almost $30 billion or more than five percent in one week in the biggest drop since the global financial crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic and crashing oil prices. | According to the latest data released by the country's central bank, the reserves stood at $551.2 billion as of March 20, down from $581 billion a week earlier. The regulator explained the decline with negative revaluation. | The nation's forex holdings faced almost a similar drop in October 2008, when the reserves shrank by $30.6 billion to $487 billion. Another steep decline occurred in the…
rt.com/business/484229-russia-forex-rese…

'Disgrace we needed global pandemic': UK govt requests ALL homeless people be housed by weekend
rt.com | 2020-03-27
The UK government has urged all local authorities in England to house all rough sleepers, those in hostels and night shelters by the weekend

Washington cancels major Philippines maneuvers
rt.com | 2020-03-27
The US military has canceled a large-scale exercise involving thousands of troops in the Philippines because of the coronavirus pandemic. | The decision to scrap Balikatan 2020 was taken "in light of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic and in the best interest of the health and safety of both countries' forces," AFP quoted US Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Phil Davidson as saying. | The war games, scheduled for May 4-15, would have involved more than 10,000 troops from the two long standing allies and a smaller contingent from Australia. | The US troops who take part in Balika…
rt.com/newsline/484241-us-cancels-philip…

2 Florida poll workers test positive for coronavirus, elections office urges in-person voters to 'seek medical advice'
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Local officials in Florida have advised some residents who cast ballots in the state's primary to see their doctors after two poll workers tested positive for Covid-19, despite authorities insisting there was no risk to voters. | The two election staffers manned separate polling stations in Broward County

'Open your STUPIDLY abandoned plant': Trump lashes out at GM & Ford over ventilator delay
rt.com | 2020-03-27
President Donald Trump has lost his patience with automakers who promised to produce ventilators to treat Covid-19 patients, threatening to invoke his emergency powers to force General Motors and Ford to live up to their pledge. | "They said they were going to give us 40,000 much needed Ventilators, 'very quickly,'" Trump tweeted on Friday. "Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar." | He added that it's "always a mess" with GM CEO Mary Barra, and that he will invoke the Defense Production Act, a piece of wartime legislation giving the president the power to order manuf…
rt.com/usa/484308-trump-gm-coronavirus-v…

Coronavirus creeps closer to Putin as Kremlin staffer diagnosed with Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-03-27
With news of Boris Johnson's coronavirus infection and Justin Trudeau's self isolation, it's clear that jobs which involve lots of meetings and shaking hands aren't the safest occupations at present. | Now, in Russia, fears are growing that the disease might have already infiltrated President Putin's closest circle. The anxiety has been fueled by confirmation on Friday that at least one employee of the presidential administration has contracted Covid-19. | Putin's spokesman told reporters he was aware of the situation. However, Dmitry Peskov said the individual concerned did not have direct contact with Putin.
rt.com/russia/484291-kremlin-staffer-cov…

Trump invokes Defense Production Act, accusing General Motors of 'wasting time' on producing ventilators
rt.com | 2020-03-27
President Donald Trump has invoked wartime powers, ordering General Motors to produce ventilators to treat Covid-19 patients. The move comes after Trump unloaded on the automaker for delaying production. | Trump's order, signed on Friday, requires General Motors to "accept, perform, and prioritize Federal contracts for ventilators," per a White House statement. Previously, Trump had touted GM's commitment to producing 40,000 ventilators in partnership with Ventec Life Systems, but after GM supposedly revised that number down to 6,000, Trump accused them on Friday of "wasting time." | "Our negotiations with GM…
rt.com/usa/484326-trump-defense-producti…

'Crocodile tears': Sports Direct billionaire Ashley 'deeply apologetic' over coronavirus blunders
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Billionaire and retail giant Mike Ashley has apologized profusely for his company's handling of the coronavirus and subsequent government-mandated lockdown. But many aren't convinced by the attempted atonement. | When the British government announced a nationwide lockdown Monday, which included the closure of all non-essential shops, Ashley's athletics retail company Sports Direct struck a defiant tone, seeking clarification from the government, and tagging Prime Minister Boris Johnson directly, as to the stat…
rt.com/uk/484246-sportsdirect-billionair…

Surveying the virus battlefield: Russian military medics inspect Covid-19 health facilities in Bergamo, Italy (VIDEO)
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Russian military medics carried out reconnaissance at health facilities in Bergamo, where the elderly are being treated for the coronavirus, before engaging in the fight against the disease on Italian soil. | The Russian experts, sporting full protective gear, inspected four hospitals with their Italian colleagues on Friday. They examined the layout of the buildings and talked to staff to come up with a list of urgent measures needed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and establish the scope of disinfection activities. | The Russian contingent of around 100 servicemen and 22 Kamaz trucks arrived in Italy on…
rt.com/news/484271-russia-military-medic…

Russia records third coronavirus patient death as number infected surpasses 1,000
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Another person diagnosed with Covid-19 has died in Moscow, bringing the overall death toll in Russia to three people. 196 new cases were announced on Friday, which means the nationwide number of infected now stands at 1,036. | The latest victim was a 70-year-old woman with a number of underlying conditions. She had suffered from diabetes for 20 years and also had terminal renal failure and other diseases. | The two other Russian deaths, announced on Wednesday, also involved elderly patients, aged 88 and 73 respectively. Last week, a 79-year-old woman was initially thought to have succumbed to coronavirus, but…
rt.com/russia/484237-coronavirus-patient…

Poll: Russians split down the middle on presidential terms reset as Putin's approval rating falls
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Following a few months of political shocks in Russia, voters have become used to surprises. But opinion seems to be divided on whether restarting the clock on time spent in the Kremlin is worth supporting, says a new survey. | Pollsters at the Levada Center report that 48 percent of their respondents support the nullification of terms, and 47 percent are against, with 5 percent undecided. | Levada also revealed that Putin's approval rating is on the decline: It stood at 69 percent in February but decreased to 63 percent in March. | Named for its founder, the late Yuri Levada, the polling company is regarded by…
rt.com/russia/484284-putin-terms-reset-s…

'The answer is no': Trump says WSJ story on suspending tariffs is 'just more fake news'
rt.com | 2020-03-27
US President Donald Trump swiftly shut down the suggestion that Washington would suspend import tariffs for a quarter of a year amid the Covid-19 crisis, dubbing recent source-based reporting on the question as "fake news." | Asked about a new 'scoop' in the Wall Street Journal blaring from its headline: "US plans to stop collecting import tariffs for three months," the president dismissed the idea immediately, insisting it was not even on the table, and ch…
rt.com/usa/484334-tariffs-coronavirus-su…

Europe coronavirus cases dramatically SURGE as worldwide death toll surpasses 25,000
rt.com | 2020-03-27
The worldwide death toll from Covid-19 has surpassed 25,000 and researchers have detected a huge spike in Europe with Spain, Germany and the UK reporting thousands of fresh cases. | The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center noted that the grim milestone had been reached on Friday. Professor Steve Hanke from the university said that Europe has seen a "massive surge" in cases over a 16 hour period with Spain recording over 6,000 fresh diagnoses, Germany racking up over 5,400 and the UK seeing nearly 3,000 new cases. | #BREAKING:…
rt.com/news/484302-world-death-toll-coro…

Wall Street stocks tumble as US overtakes China in highest number of Covid-19 infections
rt.com | 2020-03-27
US markets dropped on Friday as the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a $2 trillion stimulus bill to contain the coronavirus spread. The US is now the worst-hit nation with more than 85,000 people infected. | The Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked more than 900 points at the opening, ending a three-day rally on Wall Street. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are also down around three percent. | The US Labor Department reported on Thursday a record number of jobless claims which surged to 3.28 million. The number eclipsed the Great Recession peak of 665,000 in March 2009 and the all-time…
rt.com/business/484289-us-stocks-tumble-…

Wall Street stocks tumble as US overtakes China in highest number of Covid-19 infections
rt.com | 2020-03-27
US markets dropped on Friday as the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a $2 trillion stimulus bill to contain the coronavirus spread. Almost 86,000 Americans have now contracted the virus, the most in the world. | The Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked more than 900 points at the opening, ending a three-day rally on Wall Street. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are also down around three percent. | The US Labor Department reported on Thursday a record number of jobless claims which surged to 3.28 million. The number eclipsed the Great Recession peak of 665,000 in March 2009 and the all-t…
rt.com/business/484289-us-stocks-tumble-…

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tests POSITIVE for Covid-19 infection
rt.com | 2020-03-27
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for Covid-19 infection, experiencing mild symptoms. He will self-isolate in Downing Street but will remain in charge of the government. | "Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus," Johnson said. "I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-conference as we fight this virus." | Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. | I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-confe…
rt.com/uk/484272-boris-johnson-positive-…

Serbian PM: 'Fake news' that we don't appreciate EU help, but Covid-19 aid came from China
rt.com | 2020-03-27
After a former Swedish prime minister accused Serbia of hyping coronavirus aid that it received from China but ignoring 'far more substantial' help from the European Union, Serbian PM Ana Brnabic moved to set the record straight. | "When China sent an aircraft with help to Serbia President [Aleksandar] Vucic made a great show of it," Carl Bildt tweeted on Friday morning, "But when far more substantial [EU] aid arrives there is no fanfare and no President in sight." | When China üá®üá≥ sent an aircraft with help to Serbia üá∑ü&a…
rt.com/news/484322-serbia-coronavirus-eu…

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tests POSITIVE for Covid-19 infection
rt.com | 2020-03-27
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for Covid-19 infection, experiencing mild symptoms. He will self-isolate in Downing Street but will remain in charge of the government. | "Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus," Johnson said. "I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-conference as we fight this virus." | It was not immediately clear when the prime minister was tested but various members of his staff had been working elsewhere when the news first emerged that he had tested positive. | #Sta…
rt.com/uk/484272-boris-johnson-positive-…

Number of US Covid-19 cases smashes past 90,000
rt.com | 2020-03-27
The number of people infected with the coronavirus in the United States has surged to nearly 93,000, as the country reclaims its position of having the most cases of Covid-19 in the world. | The tally from Johns Hopkins University indicates that the number of cases in the US hit 92,932 on Friday, a dramatic one-day surge of 7,576 cases on its previous figure. | The increase saw it overtake Italy, which briefly had the most confirmed cases of any country in the world when its official count of infections reached 86,498 on Friday. | Fri…
rt.com/usa/484316-us-coronavirus-case-su…

China registers first local Covid-19 infection in 3 days as Beijing curbs international travel in hopes of halting imported cases
rt.com | 2020-03-27
China reported its first locally transmitted coronavirus infection in half a week as officials continue to struggle with cases coming from abroad. Beijing has cut the number of flights allowed in and out of the country. | Fifty-five new Covid-19 cases were reported across mainland China on Thursday, according to the latest figures from the country's National Health Commission. All but one of the infections involved imported cases. | While China has been largely successful in stopping the spread of the virus, the country has wrestled with cases arriving from abroad. Beijing announced on Thursday that Chinese ai…
rt.com/news/484222-china-coronavirus-loc…

UK health secretary Hancock follows PM Johnson in testing POSITIVE for Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-03-27
The UK's health secretary Matt Hancock has tested positive for coronavirus just hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed that he is carrying the disease. | In a video posted on Twitter, a nasally Hancock said that he had been working from home in recent days because he was displaying "mild symptoms" of the Covid-19 infection. He said that doctors told him to get tested and the test came back positive so he will be self-isolating until next Thursday. | Following medical advice, I was advised to test for #Coronavirus. | I…
rt.com/uk/484285-health-secretary-matt-h…

ÔªøÔªøIsrael to deploy army to help enforce Covid-19 lockdown
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Israel will deploy its army to help police enforce the coronavirus lockdown in the country, as people are told to stay at home and businesses are closed down. | A partial lockdown that was already in place was made even stricter earlier this week, with people being required to stay within 100 meters of their homes and to stay at home as much as possible, with the threat of fines or prosecution for violating the rules. | In line with many other countries, gatherings have also been banned and schools shut down. | Now the army will come in to help enforce the rules. | We are preparing to allocate 500 soldiers to…
rt.com/news/484236-israel-troops-covid-l…

#PrayForBoris trends after PM Johnson contracts Covid-19, sparking fierce debate on Twitter
rt.com | 2020-03-27
In the aftermath of British PM Boris Johnson revealing that he has coronavirus, #PrayForBoris started to trend online, infuriating many who claim less high-profile figures such as NHS workers deserve just as much attention. | Johnson tweeted a video on Friday morning saying that he had "developed mild symptoms" over the last 24 hours and had "tested positive for coronavirus." He is self-isolating in Downing Street, but insists he'll continue to lead the UK government. | News that the deadly virus had hit at…
rt.com/uk/484296-prayforboris-trends-cor…

UK medical chief in ISOLATION after experiencing Covid-19 symptoms
rt.com | 2020-03-27
England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has gone into self-isolation in his home after experiencing symptoms that are compatible with Covid-19. | Professor Whitty, who is the top medical adviser to the UK government, said on Friday that he began experiencing symptoms on Thursday night and he would be in isolation for seven days. | The health official's announcement caps a remarkable day in the UK in which the prime minister and the health secretary both revealed that they have contracted the disease. | Whitty has worked closely with Prime Minister Boris Johnson in recent days. The professor said he will c…
rt.com/uk/484311-uk-medical-chief-corona…

'I read same reports as you': US State Dept accuses China of putting conditions on Covid-19 aid, cites media when pressed on proof
rt.com | 2020-03-27
The US State Department has accused Beijing of attaching '"strings" to aid given to countries battling Covid-19, but was unable to name specifics, only citing press reports, while also invoking a Chinese "coverup." | Senior State Department official James Richardson

Spain's Covid-19 death toll SPIKES again as 769 die in new single day record
rt.com | 2020-03-27
Spain's health ministry has announced that it has suffered another record breaking day for Covid-19 deaths as 769 people fell victim to the disease in one day. | Health officials revealed on Friday morning that the number of fatalities jumped to 4,858, while the number of confirmed infections in the country has risen from 56,188 to 64,059. | The rate of infection has seemingly slowed, however, with the 7,871 jump in new cases making a 14 percent increase on the previous day. That compares favorably to the 18 percent increase announced on Thursday and Wednesday's 20 percent surge. | Worryingly, however, the mor…
rt.com/news/484266-spain-coronavirus-dea…

Six months in jail for standing too close to strangers? Countries worldwide roll out draconian measures to fight Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-03-27
New regulations in Singapore which threaten prison time for anyone found violating "social distancing" protocols exemplify the harsh rules being imposed around the world in the fight against coronavirus. | According to a press release from the Ministry of Health, Singaporeans who fail to maintain a distance of one meter from other people in "non-transient" public interactions can be fined up to 10,000 Singapore dollars ($6,985) and even risk a six-month jail sentence. | The strict measures come as nations around the world adopt similarly extreme provisions to halt the spread of coronavirus. | Jordan
rt.com/news/484234-coronavirus-authorita…

Trump greenlights call-up of one MILLION reservists to battle Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-03-27
To help with the Covid-19 coronavirus emergency, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order authorizing the call-up of up to a million reserve military personnel in the army, navy, air force and coast guard. | Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security

'This is low, even for you': Hillary Clinton uses record coronavirus deaths to bash Trump, gets virtual punches herself
rt.com | 2020-03-27
As the US recorded more cases of Covid-19 than any other country in the world, Hillary Clinton used the opportunity to crack jokes about President Trump. The failed presidential candidate was savaged online for her insensitivity. | As of Friday, the United States has recorded more than 94,000 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, passing out China and Italy. More than 1,400 Americans have died, hospitals are approaching capacity, and a record 3.3 million workers have filed for unemployment. | As the US passed this grim milestone, former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took the o…
rt.com/usa/484325-hillary-clinton-corona…