2020-03-30: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these ‘POSTEES’ on social media!

Growing xenophobia against China in the midst of CoronaShock
Vijay Prashad | mronline.org | 2020-03-31
Violent attacks against Asians in the United States has spiked as a consequence of the stigma driven by the Trump administration.
mronline.org/2020/03/30/growing-xenophob…

Southcom boosts US military presence in Latin America, citing China, Russia ‘threats’
Ben Norton | thegrayzone.com | 2020-03-31
Southern Command is ramping up the US military presence in Latin America to counter China, Russia, and Venezuela, after signing…
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/30/southcom-lati…

Brazil’s ex-President Lula on Venezuela: Maduro is democratic, Guaidó should be in prison, US blockade kills civilians
Ben Norton | thegrayzone.com | 2020-03-31
In comments ignored by English language media, Lula da Silva slammed the US coup attempt against Venezuela, calling Nicolás Maduro…
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/30/brazil-lula-m…

Our nativist freakout about China hides the real origin of the coronavirus. It’s political, global, and made in the USA
Yasha Levine | thegrayzone.com | 2020-03-31
We’re facing something that’s more difficult than a medical emergency. We’re facing a political fight against the most powerful corporations…
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/30/china-origin-…

The Federal Reserve’s Coronavirus crisis actions, explained (Part 3)
Nathan Tankus | mronline.org | 2020-03-31
The International Aspects…
mronline.org/2020/03/30/the-federal-rese…

As Israel’s Netanyahu uses Coronavirus to Consolidate Power, his Chief Rival Caves In
Jonathan Cook | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-31
Benny Gantz, the former Israeli general turned party leader, agreed late last week to join his rival Benjamin Netanyahu in an “emergency government” to deal with the coronavirus epidemic. Two weeks ago he had won a wafer-thin majority vote in the parliament that gave him first shot at trying to put together a coalition government. …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/as-israels-ne…

COVID-19 Proves It: We Need Medicare-for-All
Ashar Foley | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
For decades, critics of single-payer health care have raised the menace of rationed care, long waits, and “death panels.” Now, in our collective national effort to “flatten the curve”

Covid-19: Our Health Crisis is Born of Bigotry
Laura Flanders | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
“A bridge is no stronger than its weakest part.” Former slave turned educator Anna Julia Cooper uttered those very contemporary-sounding words back in 1892. The US didn’t heed them then; we haven’t heeded them yet. The big question, brought home to us one more time by the Covid-19 crisis, is why not? What does American…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/covid-19-our…

To Fix the Looming Supply Chain Crisis, Nationalize Amazon
Paris Marx | zcomm.org | 2020-03-30
Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic demands a novel solution: placing the e-commerce giant under public control…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/to-fix-the-looming…

Instacart workers in US begin nationwide walkout as Whole Foods workers plan sickout Tuesday
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
Instacart workers vowed not to return to work until the company provides basic protections and improves compensation during the coronavirus pandemic, while Whole Foods workers plan a sickout tomorrow.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/inst…

Brazil: Opposition Unites Against President, Demands His Removal
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
Brazilian leaders of opposition parties came together in an unprecedented effort and launched a petition urging for the removal of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro from office, due to his poor and dangerous management of the new coronavirus crisis. | RELATED: | Radical Missionaries in the Amazon Put Isolated Tribes at Risk | …
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazil-Oppositio…

Chinese Specialists Arrive in Venezuela to Combat Coronavirus
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
On Monday morning, a HAINAN Airlines flight from Beijing arrived in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to deliver aid and transport several medical specialists to help fight the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. | RELATED: | China Gradually Back to Normal After the COVID-19 Pandemic | According to reports, the HAINAN Airlines aircraft arrived in Caracas at 2: 30 A.M. (local time) on Monday. The aircraft reportedly transported a large amount of humanitarian aid and eight specialist. | ”
telesurenglish.net/news/Chinese-Speciali…

Colombia: ELN Announces Ceasefire Over COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
The National Liberation Army (ELN) announced a unilateral ceasefire in Colombia for the month of April. This is a humanitarian gesture by the organization facing the diffiult situation caused by Covid-19 in the South American nation. | RELATED: | Colombia: Two COVID-19 Cases Among Native Population | In the communique, the paramilitary group denounced the lack of response in resources and action by the state concerning the virus spreading. It also criticizes Colombian President…
telesurenglish.net/news/colombia-eln-ann…

Outcry as Migrants in India Are Sprayed With Disinfectant
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
Health workers in India caused outrage Monday on social media after spraying a group of migrant workers with chemical disinfectant, amid fears that a massive displacement of people from cities to the countryside could spread the novel coronavirus. | RELATED: | India’s PM Asks Poor to ‘Forgive Him’ Over COVID-19 Lockdown | A video that circulated online showed a group of migrant workers in a district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh being doused in disinfectant by health offic…
telesurenglish.net/news/Outcry-as-Migran…

As the World Tackles the COVID-19 Pandemic, the U.S. Raises the Pressure on Venezuela
Vijay Prashad, Paola Estrada, Ana Maldonado, and Zoe PC | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
In a press conference on March 26, it was almost comical how little evidence the U.S. Department of Justice provided when it accused Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and several of the leaders of his government of narco-trafficking. The U.S. offered $15 million for the arrest of Maduro and $10 million for the others. Maduro, U.S.
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/as-the-world…

The Decade Of Transformation Is Here: Remaking The Economy For The People
Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-30
The pandemic, economic collapse and the government’s response to them are going to not only determine the 2020 election but define the future for this decade and beyond. People are seeing the failure of the US healthcare nonsystem and the economy. The government was able to provide trillions for big business and Wall Street without …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/the-decade-of…

As Washington privatized pandemic preparation, the national security state left Americans defenseless against coronavirus
Gareth Porter | thegrayzone.com | 2020-03-30
Responsibility for pandemic preparation was privatized under the Obama and Trump administrations. It’s time to face down the national security…
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-p…

Haiti on the precipice as coronavirus and US-imposed leadership take their toll
Nazaire St. Fort | thegrayzone.com | 2020-03-30
While Haiti’s widely despised, US-backed government officially promotes social distancing to suppress Covid-19, the stark reality is that most of…
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/30/haiti-disaste…

China: COVID-19 hospital construction worker’s protest blog goes viral before being deleted
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The worker described the wage theft and repressive conditions suffered by thousands of construction employees who build hospitals in Wuhan at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/chin…

Chile: Young Fighter’s Day Protests Begin Despite Curfew
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
Chilean police forces violently repressed protesters on Sunday night and early Monday as protesters took to the streets to commemorate Young Fighter’s Day. | RELATED: | Chile: Govt Allows Employers Not to Pay Wages During Quarantine | Social organizations decided to commemorate the date trough social networks due to Covid-19 prevention measures. Despite that, several groups of marchers started bonfires in barricades, cut the power and other disruptive actions. | The curfew,…
telesurenglish.net/news/chile-young-figh…

The World’s Major Military and Economic Powers Find Happiness Elusive
Lawrence Wittner | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
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…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/the-worlds-m…

IMF Conditions Emergency COVID-19 Loan to Venezuela on Regime Change
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-30
Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) blocked a request from Venezuela for an emergency loan to deal with the COVID–19 pandemic on the grounds that President Nicolas Maduro “lacked recognition.” “IMF engagement with member countries is predicated on official government recognition by the international community, as reflected in the IMF’s membership. There is no clarity on recognition at this time,” a spokesperson for the international banking organization said. In…
mintpressnews.com/imf-conditions-emergen…

My Dead French Grandfather Helped Me with COVID-19
Ted Rall | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
After my mother died on February 7th I gathered her valuables and photo albums drove home to New York. But there wasn’t enough room in the car for everything I wanted to keep. There were tchotchkes like a silly white ceramic salt and pepper shaker in the shape of Arab kings. It wasn’t my taste…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/my-dead-fren…

Mehring Yayƒ±ncƒ±lƒ±k publishes Turkish-language edition of The struggle against imperialism and for workers’ power in Iran
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
First published by the WSWS in February 2018, The Struggle against Imperialism and for Workers’ Power in Iran–A Reply to a Proponent of “Iranian Islamic Socialism” advances a socialist strategy for the working class in a country that has been the target of US imperialist aggression for decades.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/irpm…

The coronavirus pandemic and the perspective of socialism
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
On Sunday, March 29, the World Socialist Web Site and the Socialist Equality Party held an online forum, “The COVID-19 pandemic: Capitalism and the making of a social and economic catastrophe.”
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/pers…

Lee Camp: Nationalism is Making the Coronavirus Outbreak Much Worse
Lee Camp | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-30
We act like nations are a given

Biden’s Foreign Policy Teams Hints at War with China, Conflict with Russia
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-30
An analysis by the Brookings Institute based on interviews with Biden’s foreign policy teams hints at a foreign policy that closely mirrors that of the Pentagon under President Trump.
mintpressnews.com/joe-biden-foreign-poli…

Chewed Up and Spit Out: What Happens to Veterans When They Retire?
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-30
22 million Americans have served in the armed forces. While the military is constantly glamorized in public life, the reality for many is that, once they are no longer of use, they are dumped like trash on a curb.
mintpressnews.com/chewed-up-spit-out-wha…

Amid a global pandemic, Palestine has been wiped from the map. Again
Fréa Lockley | thecanary.co | 2020-03-30
Amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Palestine has been removed from the map. The global tracker for cases from Johns Hopkins University no longer lists Palestine. This couldn’t come at a more poignant time. Because 30 March is Land Day in Palestine. This has been an important date since 1976 which honours six Palestinians shot dead by Israeli police that year and the ongoing apartheid and violence Palestinian people suffer as a result of the illegal Israeli occupation. | Where is Palestin…
thecanary.co/trending/2020/03/30/amid-a-…

Going After Maduro
Ron Jacobs | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
The recent indictments of Nicolas Maduro and other Venezuelan government officials on drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges is a sham. It is a politically motivated and hypocritical attack on the elected government of Venezuela. Obviously, it is another front in the ongoing US low-intensity war on the majority of Venezuelans. It is cynical in that Venezuela’s neighbor Colombia has been literally governed by drug traffickers for most of the past thirty years, if not longer. | …
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/going-after-…

Trump’s Narcoterrorism Indictment of Maduro Already Backfires
Leonardo Flores | zcomm.org | 2020-03-30
The indictments are another brick in the foundation for a pretext for either a direct U.S. military invasion or a proxy war…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/trumps-narcoterror…

US Accused of Using Food Aid to Smuggle Weapons to Militants in Syria’s Rukban Refugee Camp
Steven Sahiounie | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-30
UN aid trucks, according to Russian military sources, are being used to deliver not only food and supplies to the suffering civilians but also arms and ammunition to Maghawir Al-Thawra.
mintpressnews.com/smuggling-weapons-magh…

Saudi-UAE Coalition Carries out Airstrikes on Yemen’s Sanaa
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
The Saudi-United Arab Emirates coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen carried out Monday around 19 air raids on the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, according to Al Masirah TV. | RELATED: | Yemen Cancels UN Work in Country Amid Growing Armed Conflict | The Houthi-run Tv station reported that a man was killed and two others injured in the first such attacks on the city in months. | A number of sensitive sites including the presidential palace compound, a school and an airbase close to Sa…
telesurenglish.net/news/Saudi-UAE-Coalit…

Beyond Chutzpah: the Hypocrisy of US Nacroterrorism Charges Against Venezuela
Roger D. Harris | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-30
This latest escalation of the US hybrid war against Venezuela takes place amid a global pandemic, which the US apparently sees as an opportunity to further attack a people made more vulnerable by the health crisis.
mintpressnews.com/hypocrisy-nacroterrori…

Australian governments pour billions more into big business as pandemic spreads
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The stark discrepancy between the “economic” and “health” packages epitomises the response of Australia’s bipartisan “national cabinet.”
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/aust…

How My Dad Predicted the Decline of America
William Astore | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
My dad was born in 1917. Somehow, he survived the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919, but an outbreak of whooping cough in 1923 claimed his baby sister, Clementina. One of my dad’s first memories was seeing his sister’s tiny white casket. Another sister was permanently marked by scarlet fever. In 1923, my dad was hit…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/how-my-dad-p…

Racial Profiling Disorder: the All-American Pandemic
John G. Russell | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
Please, please help me. No, I don’t want to put handcuffs on. No! Don’t put handcuffs on! No, I want to stay in school, I just got here. Let go of me. No, please let me go…I don’t wanna go in a police car. No, please give me a second chance!

The Virus is Our Teacher
Robert Koehler | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
Last Sunday at 11 a.m. I went for a walk. Even if it’s nothing special, a walk isn’t a normal thing to do these days. But this brief walk

A Citizens’ Call to Invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment
Rob Okun | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/a-citizens-c…

Dying Planet and a Virus Unleashed
Arshad Khan, Meena Miriam Yust | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
If the coronavirus is life-threatening, and the whole of the USA is in lockdown, the speed of its arrival and impact should at least remind us of the fragility of life

The New World of Coronavirus
Cesar Chelala | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
The tragedy of September 11, 2001, and the coronavirus pandemic have one thing in common: both caused a seismic change in the world. And that change, in general, is for the worse. The present pandemic has, and will have, negative effects on how people work, live, and use their free time. This huge public health…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/the-new-worl…

Stay Home, Stay Angry
Jill Richardson | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
Social distancing is hard, and it’s not fun. I don’t question that we are doing what is necessary. Until better testing, treatment, and prevention are available, it is. But quarantining us in our homes separates us at a time when we need connection. And you know what? It’s okay to feel angry about that. It’s…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/stay-home-st…

Reclaiming Vacant Homes in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Seth Sandronsky | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
There are homes without people. More visible are the people without homes. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, homeless and housing insecure folks in the Los Angeles area moved into publicly owned vacant homes as politicians and public health experts told people to take precautions to avoid infection. One precaution was for people to stay…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/reclaiming-v…

Are You Prepared to Needlessly Die for Your Country?
Wim Laven | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
When I was a young boy, I used to play war, and watch movies that celebrated violence. Rambo showed the awesome potential for a single devoted patriot to turn the tables on evil. I had a glamorous account of war, and as an 8-year-old I did not understand why my father cried when we went…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/are-you-prep…

Decarceration: COVID-19 is Opportunity Knocking
Thomas Knapp | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
On March 23, 14 US Senators from both major political parties asked US Attorney General William Barr and Michael Carvajal, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to “transfer non-violent offenders who are at high risk for suffering complications from COVID-19 to home confinement.” It’s a smart idea, and one local jails and state prisons…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/decarceratio…

Alliance for the Wild Rockies Sues Trump’s Bureau of Reclamation for Bull Trout Fatalities in Saint Mary-Milk River Irrigation Project on the east Side of Glacier National Park
Mike Garrity | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-30
Bull trout are one of the largest native salmonids in Montana, capable of reaching three feet long and 25 pounds or more. A spectacularly beautiful fish, they once occupied an enormous range from the Rockies to the Pacific coast to the Yukon. But due to habitat destruction, dams, and irrigation dewatering, they were listed as…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/30/alliance-for…

As transit systems shut down workers battle virus and job loss
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-30
SILVER SPRING, Md.–As transit systems nationwide cut down trips, mothball buses and close stations to help combat the coronavirus pandemic nationwide, the nation’s mass transit workers face two threats. One is lack of a paycheck, something the $2 trillion anti-coronavirus economic package now moving through Congress is supposed to at least partially counteract, through expansion …
peoplesworld.org/article/as-transit-syst…

UK government sources speak of “blood on our hands” over coronavirus due to NHS cuts
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The Telegraph article makes clear the NHS was unable to deal with the outbreak of a pandemic because of the decade long and ongoing austerity programme designed to make the working class pay for the trillion-pound bailout of the banks in 2008.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/cygn…

UK government source speaks of “blood on our hands” over coronavirus due to NHS cuts
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The Telegraph article makes clear the NHS was unable to deal with the outbreak of a pandemic because of the decade long and ongoing austerity programme designed to make the working class pay for the trillion-pound bailout of the banks in 2008.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/cygn…

Prominent organizations and individuals urge Gov. Pritzker to free Gerald Reed
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-03-30
Chicago, IL – Two dozen prominent organizations and individuals have urged Gov. J. B. Pritzker in a letter to use “the powers of [his] office to provide long overdue justice to Gerald Reed.” Reed’s deteriorating health puts him at extreme risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has heart failure, and late last year while awaiting a new trial at Cook County jail he had a heart attack. | Reed was wrongfully convicted 29 years ago based on a confession extracted through torture by subordinates of Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge. His conviction was vacated on December 18, 2019 by Judge Thomas V. Gainer, who ordered…
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/3/30/prominen…

Duterte reacts to COVID-19 with military repression
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The Duterte administration has responded to the pandemic not with the deployment of masks, testing and treatment, but heavily-armed military checkpoints, armored personnel carriers and police state repression.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/phil…

How to Fight Fascism While Surviving a Plague
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-30
How can we fight fascism as public health restrictions tighten? Kelly talks with Shane Burley about organizing for survival and the analysis of state power we need right now. | Note: This a rush transcript and has been lightly edited for clarity. | Copy may not be in its final form. | Kelly Hayes: Last week we talked a bit about organizing during a pandemic and what we ought to be doing with ourselves. Even for people who have been doing the work of activism and organizing for quite a while, this is a moment of uncertainty an…
truthout.org/audio/how-to-fight-fascism-…

COVID-19 exposes austerity attacks on Canada’s public health system in Ontario
Drew Garvie | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-30
TORONTO–Ontario will likely be one of the Canadian provinces hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. The province has the most confirmed cases of COVID-19, while it is last in the country when it comes to per capita expenditures on hospitals. Almost three decades of a corporate austerity agenda has decimated health care and opened up …
peoplesworld.org/article/covid-19-expose…

UN warns that COVID-19 pandemic could trigger global food shortage
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The hardest hit will be the world’s most vulnerable people, including 300 million children who rely on school meals as their one reliable meal of the day.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/unit…

Neoliberal Austerity and Private Health Care Has Worsened US Pandemic
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-30
It’s been described as the public health failure of the century. As the United States leads the world in coronavirus infections, a record number of Americans file for unemployment. Gasping for air, gasping for care; what does global health justice look like? We speak with two Yale professors who say decades of neoliberal austerity make it harder to fight the pandemic. They propose a New Deal for public health. Gregg Gonsalves is assistant professor in epidemiology of microbial diseases at Yale Schoo…
truthout.org/video/neoliberal-austerity-…

Insurance Companies Could Hike Premiums by 40 Percent Amid Pandemic
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-30
A new analysis warning that U.S. health insurance companies could hike already exorbitant premiums by 40 percent or more next year amid the coronavirus pandemic was received by Medicare for All advocates as further confirmation that America’s healthcare system

Hate Crimes Against Asians Surge in US Amid COVID-19: FBI
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned of an increase in hate crimes against Asian-U.S nationals as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the country, according to a new analysis obtained by ABC News Friday. | RELATED: | Xenophobia and Racism Spreads As Coronavirus Outbreak Continues | “The FBI assesses hate crime incidents against Asian Americans likely will surge across the United States, due to the spread of coronavirus disease ..
telesurenglish.net/news/Hate-Crimes-Agai…

Limiting US COVID-19 Deaths to 100,000 Is Trump’s Idea of Doing a “Good Job”
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-30
Just over a month after proclaiming that the number of coronavirus cases in the United States would soon “be down to close to zero,” President Donald Trump said during a press briefing on the White House lawn Sunday that limiting U.S. deaths from the pandemic to between 100,000 and 200,000 people would mean his administration and the country as a whole did “a very good job.”
truthout.org/articles/limiting-us-covid-…

Cuba sends doctors, nurses worldwide in COVID-19 fight
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-03-30
Cuba on March 28 sent a team of 39 doctors and nurses to Andorra, the thirteenth medical brigade the country has dispatched overseas to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
mronline.org/2020/03/30/cuba-sends-docto…

As deaths occur and coronavirus cases start to rise in British prisons, campaigners express their concerns
Peadar O’Cearnaigh | thecanary.co | 2020-03-30
As British prisons experienced their first deaths from coronavirus (Covid-19), justice campaigners have warned this might just be the beginning. A former prison officer and justice campaigners speak exclusively to The Canary about conditions on the inside. They say prisons are in urgent need of change, especially in the midst of this pandemic. | One of these campaigners told The Canary sh…
thecanary.co/exclusive/2020/03/30/as-dea…

A niggardly response to an extraordinary crisis
C.P. Chandrasekhar | mronline.org | 2020-03-30
In a show of solidarity, some of India’s opposition leaders have declared the much-delayed relief package (titled Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana) announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 to mitigate the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the poor as a welcome “first step”.
mronline.org/2020/03/30/a-niggardly-resp…

Hungary’s Orbán government seizes on coronavirus pandemic to establish dictatorship
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
Following the declaration of a state of emergency on March 11, the country’s parliament is to be effectively abolished with the introduction of an “Emergency Ordinance Act.”
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/hung…

“Please Take This, Because I Love You and I Might Die”: A COVID Tale
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-30
Walking sticks are a big thing for my daughter these days, because of our Mighty Adventures. I write it like that, with the capital letters, because that’s how we say it. “Come, my dear, we must embark upon one of our Mighty Adventures,” I announce in portentous tones, one hand gesturing toward the great beyond on the far side of the front door. All of her seven years leap to their feet, graceful as water in her enthusiasm

No Pandemic-Related Pause?
Steve Early | zcomm.org | 2020-03-30
VA Privatization Leaves Veterans Waist Deep in Another Big Muddy…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/no-pandemic-relate…

Amid coronavirus crisis, China demonstrates that an alternative to the US-led, neoliberal order is possible
Ajit Singh | mronline.org | 2020-03-30
The bankruptcy of neoliberalism has been highlighted by the vastly different responses of the world’s two most powerful countries to the coronavirus pandemic.
mronline.org/2020/03/30/amid-coronavirus…

Neo-Confederate Group Moves Ahead with Conference Amid Covid-19 Outbreak
Hatewatch Staff | splcenter.org | 2020-03-30
Michael Hill has no intention of letting a global pandemic cancel plans for the League of the South’s annual conference.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/03/30/neo-c…

US to be Included on Foreign Entry Ban in Japan
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
Japan plans to extend its ban on foreign entrants to cover those who have recently been to the United States, China and South Korea and most parts of Europe in bid to curb the import and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, state sources said on Monday. | RE;LATED: | Olympics in Tokyo to Be Held in 2021 Due to Covid-19 Pandemic | The entry ban will be applicable to foreigners who have stayed in the countries within two weeks of arriving in Japan, the sources said, adding that both J…
telesurenglish.net/news/US-to-be-Include…

Gig workers forced to strike over lack of coronavirus protection
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-30
Upset by their companies’ refusal to protect them as they do vital jobs of delivering supplies during the coronavirus pandemic, gig economy workers, especially on the West Coast, were forced to strike March 30 against Instacart and DoorDash. The thousands of drivers walked out because the two delivery services were not providing them with protective …
peoplesworld.org/article/gig-workers-for…

It’s Time to Rethink US Militarism in the Midst of COVID-19
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-30
My dad was born in 1917. Somehow, he survived the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919, but an outbreak of whooping cough in 1923 claimed his baby sister, Clementina. One of my dad’s first memories was seeing his sister’s tiny white casket. Another sister was permanently marked by scarlet fever. In 1923, my dad was hit by…
truthout.org/articles/its-time-to-rethin…

Morrisons to give foodbanks £10m during coronavirus outbreak
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-03-30
Supermarket chain Morrisons is to give away £10m worth of goods to foodbanks across the country during the Covid-19 pandemic.David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said its bakery, egg and fruit & vegetable departments will run for an extra hour every day to make, prepare and pack food required to restock the services.It will also be sending deliveries of ambient food

Four deaths over the weekend raise COVID-19 death toll among US autoworkers to nine
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The primary and immediate responsibility for these deaths lies with the Detroit automakers and their lackeys in the United Auto Workers, which conspired to keep workers on the line as long as possible during the pandemic, without even minimal sanitation and safety measures…
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/ford…

Amid Pandemic, Homeless New Yorkers Demand Refuge in Vacant Apartments, Hotels
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-30
More than 100 million people across the United States have been ordered to stay home to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but what about people who are homeless? Tens of thousands of homeless people in New York City shelters and on the streets have been left with no way to safely shelter in place. We hear from people who are homeless, and speak with Kiana Davis, advocate and policy analyst with the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center. | TRANSCRIPT: | AMY GOODMAN: This is Demo…
truthout.org/video/amid-pandemic-homeles…

Undemocratic Elections Have Citizens Reinventing Self-Governance Worldwide
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-30
One of the problems that the coronavirus pandemic is exposing in the U.S. is a decades-long erosion of trust in civil society. The effect is like a loss of the civic antibodies that keep self-governance healthy. In the political vacuum, the work of containing the outbreak falls nearly 100 percent on elected leaders and corporations with minimal popular credibility. As journalist David M. Sh…
truthout.org/articles/undemocratic-elect…

Leading epidemiologist says Detroit is facing a coronavirus “tsunami”
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The coronavirus pandemic is exploding in Detroit and surrounding communities as Michigan overtook Washington as the state with the fourth most confirmed cases of the infection.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/lead…

All the craziest things about America are being highlighted by this virus
Caitlin A. Johnstone | mronline.org | 2020-03-30
“Corona is a black light and America is a cum-stained hotel room,” comedian Megan Amram colorfully tweeted a couple of weeks ago. Her observation has only grown more accurate since.
mronline.org/2020/03/30/all-the-craziest…

Canada’s doctors issue dire warnings over lack of preparedness for surge of COVID-19 patients
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
Were 30 percent of Ontario’s 14 million residents to become infected with the coronavirus, with 5 percent of these requiring intensive care treatment, each of the province’s intensive care doctors would have the impossible task of treating 500 patients per day.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/came…

Top US health adviser predicts millions will contract COVID-19 and 100,000–200,000 will die
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
As Trump’s top health advisers warn of a rapid escalation of infections and deaths across the country, the White House, visibly in crisis, shifts from one stop-gap policy to another.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/covi…

What not to believe: coronavirus myths you should ignore
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-03-30
Britons have been facing a flood of myths about the new coronavirus (Covid-19), according to new research. | No, vodka isn’t a good hand sanitiser: | The most widely believed false claim is that vodka can be used as hand sanitiser, according to a YouGov survey of 2,099 adults. In reality, there is not enough alcohol in vodka to effectively kill microbes. But 32% of Britons felt it was probably true that the spirit could help them tackle the virus. | The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, recently suggested that his fellow citizens should drink 50ml of vodka a day to ward off the virus. | Othe…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/20…

EU divisions erupt as anger mounts among workers over COVID-19 response
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
Open conflicts are emerging between the EU powers after the collapse of Thursday’s COVID-19 summit in Brussels, as top officials warn of a disintegration of the EU.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/euro…

China must stimulate the economy sustainably after coronavirus
Yao Zhe & Wu Yixiu | zcomm.org | 2020-03-30
Government spending should incentivize consumption of public goods and services, not big infrastructure and heavy industry…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/china-must-stimula…

City at centre of China’s virus outbreak gradually revives
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-03-30
Shopkeepers in the city at the centre of the virus outbreak in China were reopening on Monday but customers were scarce after authorities lifted more of the anti-virus controls that kept tens of millions of people at home for two months.”I’m so excited, I want to cry,” said a woman in the Chuhe Hanjie pedestrian shopping area.She said she was a teacher in the eastern city of Nanjing visiting her family in Wuhan when the government locked down the city in late January to stem the spread of the coronavirus.Some 70% to 80% of shops on the retail street were open but many imposed limits on how many people could enter…
thecanary.co/global/world-news/2020/03/3…

St. Kitts and Nevis Thanks Cuba for Its Aid Against COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
The government of Saint Kitts and Nevis expressed Saturday its appreciation and gratitude for the assistance Cuban authorities are providing to the Caribbean island to help it handle the novel coronavirus outbreak. | RELATED: | Caribbean Governments Join Forces Against COVID-19 | In a message published on Twitter, Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris announced that a Cuban medical team is arriving at the country to help cure the COVID-19 cases and prevent their increase.
telesurenglish.net/news/St-Kitts-and-Nev…

Colombia: Violence Against Social Leaders Continues
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
Harassment and violence against social leaders in Colombia has continued, despite the ongoing quarantine that has been imposed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. | RELATED: Colombia: ELN Announces Ceasefire Over COVID-19 | Social and agricultural leaders comply with isolation in their homes as part of the restrictive measures for the spread of the virus. Because of this circumstance, they are easy targets for violent acts. | The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said on Twitter this week that the aggression against John Restrep…
telesurenglish.net/news/colombia-violenc…

Bolivia: Health Minister Reports First Death Due to Covid-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-30
Bolivia’s Health Minister Anibal announced on Sunday the first death due to Covid-19 in the Andean nation. So far, Bolivia registered 96 positive cases and 3 deaths. The, authorities have not offered information about the other two victims. | RELATED: | Bolivia: TSE Gives Possible Date for Presidential Elections | The deceased patient was an adult woman of 78-years-old from the Patacamaya municipality, in the region of Santa Cruz. The victim contracted the virus from a relative wh…
telesurenglish.net/news/bolivia-health-m…

India’s calamitous lockdown, punishes poor while undermining efforts to halt spread of coronavirus
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The Modi government’s ill-prepared, three-week lockdown has resulted in chaos, including large disorganized movements of desperate poor people, thereby providing conditions conducive to the rapid spread of COVID-19.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/inco…

Coronavirus cases surge in Turkey as anger grows among workers at government response
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
Turkey’s death toll from the coronavirus increased by 23 to 131 yesterday, as the number of confirmed cases rose 1,815 to 9,217.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/turk…

‘For common benefit of all,’ Ireland nationalizes hospitals for duration of Coronavirus crisis, sparking demand for U.S. to follow suit
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-03-30
“How wonderful is this. A beautiful silver lining.”
mronline.org/2020/03/30/for-common-benef…

Africa’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 approaching 5,000
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The need for an internationally coordinated response to stop the spread of the coronavirus on the African continent is urgent.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/afri…

Tokyo: Infection spike after Olympic delay sparks questions
Mari Yamaguchi | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-30
TOKYO (AP)

Love in the time of coronavirus and the internet
| peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-30
Introductory note: The capitalist economy has produced a type of human being who, in moments of crisis such as these times impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19), is capable of buying everything, leaving others who need the same items with nothing. –Dagoberto Gutiérrez No one was prepared for these difficult and complicated times. Overnight, not just one …
peoplesworld.org/article/love-in-the-tim…

The “How Will You Pay For It?” Question Is Tossed in the Trash
Stephanie Kelton | zcomm.org | 2020-03-30
Because the coronavirus is a threat to all of us

The Corona Virus and the Limits of the Market
Jonathan Michael Feldman | zcomm.org | 2020-03-30
Convert Defense and Other Industries to Fight New Security Threats…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-corona-virus-a…

Germany: IG Metall union exploiting COVID-19 crisis to cut more jobs at Thyssenkrupp
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The union and its works council representatives have agreed to increased job cuts and are also sending workers onto the production lines, despite heightened health risks, to achieve ever-higher productivity.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/igme…

Media Need to Scrutinize Andrew Cuomo’s Record, Not Crush on His Words
Julie Hollar | fair.org | 2020-03-30
As Donald Trump emits streams of false statements about the Covid-19 crisis and makes decisions that will lead to a tremendous number of unnecessary deaths in this country, New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo has emerged as something of a national media darling. | The right-wing tabloid New York Post ( 3/21/20) reported that “New York Women Ar…
fair.org/home/media-need-to-scrutinize-a…

‘Bad Banks’: Global misbehavior in the German financial system; and ‘Nancy Drew’
Dennis Broe | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-30
Most presciently these days, with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the collapse of the markets, the German powerhouse series Bad Banks opened its first season with a run on Germany’s third-largest bank. Equally prescient was the opening of season three of the other powerhouse German series Babylon Berlin, which begins with the 1929 stock market …
peoplesworld.org/article/bad-banks-globa…

This Novel Flu-nancial Crisis: COVID-1984?
Todd Smith | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-30
All this I was told, for while the operation was performing, I lay in a profound sleep, by the force of that soporiferous medicine infused into my liquor.

Spanish police assault steelworkers striking against COVID-19 “back-to-work” order
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The police assault on the Sidenor steel factory in the Basque Country was carried out under the authority of the pseudo-left Podemos party and the Spanish social-democrats.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/spai…

Tom Perez Put Corporate Lobbyists in Charge of the DNC’s Budget
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-30
This article was produced by Sludge, an independent, ad-free investigative news site covering money in politics. Click here to support Sludge. | Last week, Mike Bloomberg transferred the leftover $18 million from his presidential campaign to the Democratic National Committee to use in the general election

Global number of Covid-19 cases smashes past 700,000
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases around the world has soared past the 700,000 milestone, according to tallies carried out by Johns Hopkins University and the AFP news agency. | The total number of cases worldwide now stands at over 724,000, as several regional outbreaks have led to major spikes in the numbers, most notably in the United States. | Authorities in the US are now reporting upwards of 143,000 cases, followed by Italy with 97,600 and China, the original epicentre of the pandemic, with 82,000 cases. | As of early Monday, the total number of deaths from the disease now stands at 34,026. More tha…
rt.com/news/484454-worldwide-coronavirus…

WATCH: Migrant workers & their families forced to take open-air CHEMICAL BATH in Indian city
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Horrifying video has emerged online showing migrant workers entering the Indian city of Bareilly being forced to undergo a humiliating public disinfection in which authorities doused entire groups with sanitizer solution. | The migrants were fully clothed and had their luggage with them when they were asked to keep their eyes closed while officials in biohazard protection suits hosed them down with chlorine mixed with water at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city. | Who r u trying to kill, Corona or humans? Migrant labourers and their families were forced to take bath in chemical solution upon their entry…
rt.com/news/484462-indian-authorities-sp…

‘No such plan’: Modi govt dismisses report it’s considering extension of coronavirus lockdown beyond April 14
rt.com | 2020-03-30
New Delhi has denied that it has been considering an extension of the 21-day lockdown for a week, with fears mounting that a massive migrant exodus is bound to undermine the effect of the measure. | India has been in a state of a complete lockdown since March 25, after Indian PM Narendra Modi announced sweeping restrictions on movement and ordered all non-essential commerce to shut down. | Public transport came to a screeching halt, with most states banning inter-state bus routes, railway lines and, in some cases, private transport, including buses and auto-rickshaws. While the measure was aimed at emptying th…
rt.com/news/484442-india-lockdown-extens…

European Commission urges states to open borders to seasonal farm workers
rt.com | 2020-03-30
EU countries should allow the hundreds of thousands of seasonal migrant workers who plant or harvest crops to cross borders despite national measures to contain the coronavirus, the European Commission said on Monday. | States across the 27-nation European Union have set up border controls to stem the spread of the virus, but with the side effect of delaying food and medical supplies, as well as cross-border workers. | The EU executive last week urged EU countries to limit to 15 minutes the time it takes for goods traffic to cross a border. However, some crossings into and out of Hungary had jams of up to 4km…
rt.com/newsline/484467-eu-borders-farm-w…

Pompeo behind corona? Iran’s foreign ministry employs PHOTOSHOP to take a not-so-subtle jab at US sanctions (PHOTO)
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Iranian diplomats have yet again taken aim at ongoing US sanctions which are hampering the country’s efforts to battle the coronavirus outbreak, this time showing off decent photo-editing skills. | The image, posted by the ministry on Twitter, is a call to “stop aiding war crimes” and “obeying immoral and illegal US sanctions,” echoing earlier comments by the country’s top diplomat Javad Zarif. | The picture features “sanction” written in large right in the center, its letter “O” stylized as coronavirus with a tran…
rt.com/news/484509-iran-pompeo-coronavir…

St. Petersburg adopts strict measures to fight Covid-19: Russia’s second city goes into partial lockdown
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Following Moscow’s lead, authorities in Russia’s cultural capital Saint Petersburg have imposed strict limits on movement, preventing most residents from leaving their homes except in emergencies or to do essential shopping. | Governor Aleksandr Beglov rolled out the measures on Monday evening, the day after Moscow introduced a similar regime, as Russian efforts to stymie the spread of Covid-19 intensify. The Baltic Sea city is one of Europe’s largest, with a population of 5.4 million. The surrounding Leningrad Region, home to another 1.9 million people, has also put general travel restrictions in place. | Als…
rt.com/russia/484520-saint-petersburg-se…

Mandatory self-isolation: With Moscow in partial lockdown, Russian PM urges rest of country to follow suit
rt.com | 2020-03-30
As Covid-19 spreads, enforcing a nationwide shutdown across the world’s largest country isn’t easily done, in practical terms. With this in mind, it seems the Russian government has reached for the carrot rather than the stick. | After all, there’s a considerable difference between enforcing rules in Moscow’s tightly packed metropolitan area (population over 20 million) and attempting the same trick in the wilderness of Chukotka, separated by the Bering Straits from Alaska. Also, the fact that the capital has recorded about two-thirds of the known 1,836 Russian infections has helped to concentrate minds. | Thu…
rt.com/russia/484484-self-isolation-russ…

Covid-19 stretches NYC ambulances more than 9/11, exhausted FDNY lieutenant tells RT
rt.com | 2020-03-30
First responders in coronavirus-stricken New York have to deal with record-breaking numbers of calls, a shortage of equipment and a constant fear of getting the virus and bringing it home to their loved ones. | The Covid-19 epidemic in America’s largest city has stretched the resources of its ambulances service worse than on the day of the country’s worst terrorist attack in 2001, Anthony Almojera, a Fire Department lieutenant and supervisor, told RT. | “In the last few days we’ve done over 44,000 calls. Just to give you some perspective, we normally do only about 4,000 calls a day,” he explained. “9/11, which…
rt.com/usa/484446-new-york-ambulances-co…

Tokyo could announce new Olympics date this week, organizers say
rt.com | 2020-03-30
A decision on a new date for Japan’s Olympics could come as early as this week, the president of the Tokyo organizing committee Yoshiro Mori said on Monday. The Games had been postponed because of a coronavirus pandemic. | Last week’s decision was a huge blow to Japan, which invested $13 billion in the run-up to the Games. However, financial markets were initially cheered by the decision, with some investors having anticipated cancellation, Reuters said. | “We need to swiftly decide on the new date,” Mori said at the start of a committee meeting, its first since the move to delay the Games. Mori added that he…
rt.com/newsline/484452-tokyo-new-olympic…

Astronomers observe jet-firing SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE from the early universe
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Astronomers have managed to capture a supermassive black hole firing out streaking jets of plasma after hungrily devouring matter in its vicinity, in a development that promises to cast light on early galaxies. | The observation is made even more impressive by the fact that the supermassive black hole sits in the heart of a galaxy a staggering 11 billion light-years away. So, the light the boffins observed dates back to the early days of the Universe, when it was a mere three billion years old. | The breakthrough was possible thanks to the peculiar process of gravitational lensing. Because another massive gala…
rt.com/news/484518-supermassive-black-ho…

Iran’s Covid-19 death toll reaches 2,757 with almost 41,500 identified cases
rt.com | 2020-03-30
There are 41,495 Covid-19 cases in Iran, the country’s health officials reported in the latest update. The death toll from the pandemic has reached 2,757 in the Islamic Republic, a nation hit hard by the viral disease. | …
rt.com/news/484464-iran-covid19-death-to…

Trump threatens to ‘take over’ San Francisco from ‘sick puppy’ Pelosi in fiery reply to her Covid-19 response bashing
rt.com | 2020-03-30
President Donald Trump slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on ‘Fox and Friends,’ suggesting the federal government could take over her “slum” district San Francisco, as the two locked horns on the coronavirus pandemic response. | “Look, she’s a sick puppy in my opinion,” the president said when asked about Pelosi criticizing his response to the coronavirus outbreak. “She really is. She’s got a lot of problems.” | Trump continued his fuming against Pelosi later when he slammed her for “playing the impeachment game” and being controlled by “the radical left,” including freshman New York Congresswoman and Green Ne…
rt.com/usa/484508-trump-pelosi-san-franc…

‘We’ll go our own way’: North Korea says it ‘dropped interest’ in talks with US after Pompeo’s call for more pressure
rt.com | 2020-03-30
North Korea said it has lost faith in dialogue with Washington after “reckless” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for more pressure on Pyongyang. | In statement published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Monday, an unnamed North Korean diplomat in charge of the talks with the US warned that the country will continue working on “our important planned projects aimed to repay the US with actual horror and unrest for the sufferings it has inflicted upon our people.” | “We will go our own way. We want the US not to bother us,” the official said. | Hearing Pompeo’s reckless remarks, we dropped t…
rt.com/news/484495-north-korea-pompeo-ta…

US military will send ‘MORTUARY services’ staff to New York to cope with Covid-19 deaths as FEMA deploys mobile morgue trucks
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The Pentagon will station a team of mortuary workers in New York to deal with the state’s fast-climbing coronavirus death toll, while FEMA plans to send some 85 trucks to free up space in its crowded morgues. | With nearly 7,000 new cases of the virus and 155 deaths on Monday alone, New York is by far America’s hardest-hit state in the Covid-19 pandemic, counting over 66,000 infections and more than 1,200 fatalities in total. The massive influx of patients and deaths has reportedly overwhelmed the state’s hospitals and morgues, prompting federal agencies

Death toll from Covid-19 in Europe breaks 25,000 milestone
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Europe surpassed the grim milestone of 25,000 on Monday, as the number of people carrying the virus surged to nearly 400,000. | A tally of official figures, compiled by the AFP news agency, revealed that the total number of deaths on the continent climbed to 25,037 on Monday and the number of confirmed cases hit 399,381, as many countries struggle to wrestle the virus under control. | Italy and Spain are the countries worst affected by the pandemic, racking up more than three quarters of the deaths in Europe between them. The virus has claimed a total of 10,779 l…
rt.com/news/484486-europe-death-toll-pas…

Oil price drops to 18-year low on crashing global demand
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The global economic slowdown has caused oil prices to fall to the lowest since 2002, with Brent crude sliding more than seven percent on Monday to just $22 a barrel. The industry is facing its largest demand drop in history. | US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) hit a low of $19 per barrel overnight, before picking up slightly to over $20 per barrel as of 11: 50 GMT. | Oil prices have tanked by more than half in the past month, with companies cutting back and closing production as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the OPEC+ disagreement over production cuts. Traders expect global sur…
rt.com/business/484465-oil-plunge-lowest…

Minister in one of Germany’s wealthiest states commits suicide ‘over coronavirus worries’
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The finance minister in the German state of Hesse, Thomas Schaefer, has taken his own life. His colleagues said he was pushed over the edge by an inability to cope with the harsh economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. | Schaefer’s body was discovered near the speed railway track line in the town of Hochheim am Main on Saturday. Prosecutors said that the cause of his death was most likely suicide. | “We are in shock; we are in disbelief and above all we are immensely sad,” Volker Bouffier, head of the Hesse regional government, said of the passing of his close associate and fellow member of Angela Merkel’…
rt.com/news/484437-germany-hesse-ministe…

Canadian drillers face nightmare scenario as oil crashes to $5
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The US shale patch laments oil prices in the low $20s crippling companies with already weakened debt and liquidity profiles. But further north, the outlook for Canada’s oil patch is even gloomier. | Hit by the pandemic-driven demand shock and the price war-induced supply shock, Canadian oil prices have already crashed to below $10 a barrel. | This year’s oil price crash will hit Canada’s oil patch harder than the 2014 price collapse, analysts say. | Following the double supply-demand shock of the past weeks, the industry had to quickly switch back to survival mode, just as it was expecting an uptick in upstre…
rt.com/business/484470-canadian-drillers…

People who brand China a ‘dictatorship’ are jealous that Beijing beat the pandemic, embassy claims
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Commentators refusing to give China credit for containing the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan and citing ‘Asian democracies’ as better examples simply envy Beijing’s efficiency, the Chinese embassy in France has said. | China, from which the coronavirus spread throughout the world, has largely succeeded in containing the disease, according to official updates. Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, has recorded no new cases in a week and has been lifting the restrictions that helped quash the pandemic. | Beijing sees the outcome as a success story and finds it irritating when commentators in countries currently over…
rt.com/news/484490-china-coronavirus-env…

Coronavirus death toll surpasses 3,000 in France, with 418 deaths in one day
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The Covid-19 pandemic has killed 3,024 people in France, the country’s director-general of health said on Monday. A total of 44,550 confirmed cases have been registered in France since the start of the outbreak. | The latest figures mark France’s worst day to date of coronavirus fatalities. | So far, the French government tally only covers coronavirus sufferers who died in hospital, and the figure is expected to increase much more, once deaths in retirement homes are added in. | Last week, French authorities announced an extension to current restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the deadly virus, as the…
rt.com/news/484519-france-coronavirus-de…

US stocks rise despite growing risks to global economy from coronavirus outbreak
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Another wild week kicked off on Wall Street, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 200 points on Monday. Investors remain focused on the slowing global economy, amid the growing number of COVID-19 infections around the world. | The Dow opened 227 points higher before giving up most of its early gains. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.5 percent during early trading. | Asian and European stocks sank earlier in the day as the global coronavirus pandemic situation worsened. Oil prices continued to tank, crashing to their lowest level since 2002 amid falling demand. | Last week the Dow poste…
rt.com/business/484489-us-stocks-fall-gl…

Deteriorating economic conditions sink global stock markets
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Stocks in Asia and Europe suffered fresh losses on Monday due to unrelenting pressure from the worsening global spread of Covid-19. The virus has already infected more than 724,000 people worldwide and caused 34,017 deaths. | Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped almost four percent at the opening, Hong Kong’s Hang Sang Index slid 1.9 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite fell about 1.4 percent. | All the European stocks also tanked in early trading, with shares in France off the most. The CAC 40 was down 2.6 percent while London’s FTSE 100 nosedived two percent. Germany’s DAX was lower by 1.5 percent and the pan-Europe…
rt.com/business/484447-global-stock-mark…

Twitter REMOVES posts by Brazil’s Bolsonaro in crackdown on information that ‘may increase risk’ of Covid-19 spread
rt.com | 2020-03-30
In an unprecedented move, Twitter has yanked two posts by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in which he took aim at coronavirus lockdowns as part of his controversial campaign to avoid a shutdown of the economy. | Bolsonaro has become the first ever head of state to have his tweets censored by the platform under recently-updated guidelines, requiring users to remove content that defies “global or local health authorities recommendations” aimed at halting the spread of the deadly disease that has already taken hold in the Latin American country. | I could be mistaken but I’m pretty sure these two tweets from…
rt.com/news/484441-bolsonaro-coronavirus…

Megachurch pastor who promised to cure the US of coronavirus ARRESTED for service flouting social distancing
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Tampa Bay pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, a religious confidante of President Donald Trump, has been arrested for refusing to obey social distancing orders at his church services. Last month, he vowed to cure coronavirus nationwide. | Howard-Browne turned himself in on Monday to Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies, who charged him with unlawful assembly and violating public health rules for continuing to hold his theatrical church services in violation of coronavirus-related ordnances. | The pastor, who personally “laid hands” on Trump at the White House in 2017 and who vowed earlier this month to keep his chu…
rt.com/usa/484530-pastor-arrested-corona…

North Korea says it used ‘super-large multiple rocket launcher’ in latest missile test
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Pyongyang has confirmed it conducted yet another test of a new “super-large multiple rocket launcher” a day after Seoul reported that North Korea had fired two short-range missiles towards the Sea of Japan amid ongoing drills. | The launch, carried out early on Sunday morning, went off without a hitch, North Korean state media reported, saying that it was conducted to “verify strategic and technical characteristics” of the novel launcher, which has featured in a series of recent tests by the reclusive country. | It’s unclear whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the drill to oversee the launch in pe…
rt.com/news/484439-north-korea-large-mis…

Beijing boasts 93% recovery rate & NO new cases in Hubei for sixth day after saying local Covid-19 spread ‘STOPPED’
rt.com | 2020-03-30
No new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in China’s central Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan, where the outbreak originally began, the National Health Commission (NHC) told reporters during a press briefing on Monday. | Overall, 81,470 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in mainland China since the beginning of the outbreak, and 75,770 of them have subsequently recovered and were discharged from the hospitals, a health official said. This makes the recovery rate in the country close to 93 percent. | Chinese doctors have recorded 31 new cases and four deaths in the past 24 hours, with all but…
rt.com/news/484450-china-covid19-recover…

‘Standing together by staying apart’: Denmark eyes gradual reopening after Easter if Covid-19 numbers stabilize
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Denmark may gradually lift its lockdown after Easter if the numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths remain stable, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday. | The Nordic country has reported 77 coronavirus-related deaths, Reuters reported. Last week, Copenhagen extended until after Easter a two-week lockdown to limit physical contact between its citizens; it began on March 11. | “Over the past week the number of hospital admissions has risen slightly slower than the week before and without the explosion in the numbers that we have seen in other countries,” Frederiksen told reporters. | “If we over the n…
rt.com/newsline/484498-denmark-lockdown-…

PM Orban secures open-ended emergency powers from parliament to fight coronavirus in Hungary
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday secured the right to rule by decree to fight the coronavirus outbreak. His Fidesz party passed a law in parliament granting the PM open-ended extra powers. | The legislation extending a state of emergency has triggered criticism from opposition parties, human rights groups and the Council of Europe, as it contains no timeframe, Reuters reports. The law also imposes jail time of up to five years on those hindering measures aimed at containing the spread of the virus and on those spreading false information related to the crisis. | The government said the law would…
rt.com/newsline/484497-orban-emergency-p…

‘Incredibly selfish’: Labour MP who broke Covid-19 travel rules to wish elderly father happy birthday leaves people divided
rt.com | 2020-03-30
A UK lawmaker who traveled miles to celebrate the birthday of his father

WATCH: Jerusalem’s Church of Holy Sepulchre closes for first time since BLACK DEATH
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre has closed its doors to the public for the first time since the Black Death ravaged the city in 1349, as authorities try and get to grips with the modern coronavirus plague. | The custodians of one of the holiest buildings in Christianity were forced to lock the highly carved wooden doors after the Israeli government shut down places of worship in a bid to contain the spread of the Covid-19 illness. | The restrictions ban residents from leaving their homes, except to buy food and medicine, to seek medical treatment or for essential work. The clergy at the extraordinary…
rt.com/news/484512-church-holy-sepulchre…

Billy Joe Saunders’ boxing license suspended following controversial video
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The British Boxing Board of Control has suspended WBO super-middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders after he released video in which he appeared to condone men engaging in domestic violence during coronavirus isolation. | Undefeated Saunders, 30, released the video to social media showing him striking a punching bag and offering advice on techniques to use on one’s spouse or girlfriend should tempers begin to fray during the current period of social distancing. | Saunders issued an apology following a social media backlash, saying that he “would never condone” domestic violence and implied that the video was…
rt.com/sport/484496-billy-joe-saunders-s…

Number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Netherlands surpasses 11,000 as death toll nears 900
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Dutch authorities have registered 884 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of infected nationwide to 11,750. The grim tally linked to the dreaded virus has jumped by 93 to 864. | The number of coronavirus hospitalizations in the Netherlands has almost reached 4,000, the national RTL broadcaster reported, as 507 new patients were admitted to hospitals over the last 24 hours. The Netherlands’ National Institute for Health (RIVM) confirmed the numbers in its official Twitter account. | Sinds gisteren zijn er in Nederland: | – 93 mensen overleden aan COVID-19 gemeld (Totaal 864) | – 507 mensen opgenome…
rt.com/news/484485-netherlands-covid-19-…

EasyJet grounds entire fleet as Covid-19 hammers global travel industry
rt.com | 2020-03-30
UK budget carrier EasyJet said on Monday that it has parked its entire fleet after completing repatriation flights. The coronavirus health crisis is bringing the global travel industry to a halt. | According to the company, it has worked out an agreement with cabin crew, who will get 80 percent of their pay under a government program. EasyJet said it is looking for ways to increase its access to cash, adding that the company has a strong balance sheet and no maturities until 2022. | “We are in ongoing discussions with liquidity providers who recognize our strength of balance sheet and business model,” said Eur…
rt.com/business/484448-easyjet-grounded-…

Congresswoman with ‘presumed coronavirus infection’ was on House floor & next to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (PHOTO)
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-New York) announced she may have a presumed case of Covid-19, which could put many other members of Congress at risk, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. | Velázquez said in a statement on Monday that she reached out to the House attending physician on Sunday after feeling “the abrupt onset of muscle aches, fevers, nasal congestion and stomach upset,” all symptoms other positive coronavirus victims have reported. She had also lost her sense of smell and taste. | After hearing the congresswoman’s symptoms, the physician diagnosed her with a “presumed coronavirus infect…
rt.com/usa/484531-velasquez-coronavirus-…

UK’s Prince Charles ‘out of isolation’ after Covid-19 diagnosis
rt.com | 2020-03-30
Heir to the British throne Prince Charles has come out of self-isolation and his health is improving, after having tested positive for the Covid-19 virus last week, Clarence House has confirmed. | “Having consulted with his doctor, the Prince of Wales is now out of self-isolation,” a spokesman for the royal said on Monday. | Charles, 71, spent seven days in self-isolation at his home in Scotland having tested positive for the virus after suffering mild symptoms. | His wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, 72, tes…
rt.com/uk/484479-prince-charles-coronavi…

Czech govt extends restrictions on movement until April 11
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The Czech government is extending measures that limit people’s movement by another 10 days to April 11, to help curb the coronavirus outbreak. Travel to work or to visit family is allowed. The measures have been in place since March 14 and were set to end on April 1. They still allow grocery stores, pharmacies, drugstores, gas stations and some other businesses to operate. | The Czech Republic has been relatively quick in Europe to enforce drastic measures to limit the spread of the virus. The country reported its first infections on March 1 and as of Monday evening it had recorded 2,942 cases and 23 deaths, R…
rt.com/newsline/484522-czechs-extend-res…

US coronavirus cases near 150,000, with over 2,500 dead
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US is approaching the 150,000 mark, according to the latest figures by Johns Hopkins University. At least 2,513 people have already died from the disease across the country. | As of Monday morning, some 143 055 Covid-19 cases have been registered across the US. New York remains the worst-affected state, with about 60,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. | Confirmed cases of the virus in the country have increased by nearly 100,000 over the past week, and now the US has the largest number of coronavirus-infected in the world. | Italy, the worst-affected European coun…
rt.com/usa/484483-coronavirus-cases-amer…

Pentagon confirms first US Army death from Covid-19
rt.com | 2020-03-30
A New Jersey Army National Guardsman is the first member of the US military to die of the Covid-19 coronavirus, the US Department of Defense has confirmed. | “Today is a sad day for the Department of Defense as we have lost our first American service member

Germany sees coronavirus cases rise by 4,751 in one day as death toll nears 500
rt.com | 2020-03-30
The number of Covid-19 cases in Germany has hit 57,298, with 4,751 more people testing positive for the virus, as well as 66 new deaths, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported on Monday. | The new data brings the total nationwide death toll from Covid-19 to 455, the RKI said. | Doctors have recorded 4,751 more cases over the past 24 hours, which is a slight increase from the 3,965 new cases reported on Sunday. | Germany still has a lower death rate from the coronavirus compared to Italy and France, where more than 10,700 and 2,600 people have died respectively. | The government had banned all public gatherin…
rt.com/news/484443-germany-sees-coronavi…

Corona heist? Van Gogh painting stolen overnight from Dutch museum
rt.com | 2020-03-30
A painting by Dutch master Vincent van Gogh has been stolen from a museum in the Netherlands closed due to Covid-19. The piece was on temporary loan, with officials of both museums expressing exasperation over the theft. | Painted in 1884, “Lentetuin,” or “Spring Garden,” was snatched from the Singer Laren Museum on Sunday evening, according to the Dutch media. At around 3: 15 a.m. a glass door of the museum was shattered, triggering the alarm. Police rushed to the scene, but found no trace of the painting or the perpetrators. | Spring Garden, the rectory garden in Nuenen in the spring, 1884, Vincent van Gogh,…
rt.com/news/484506-van-gogh-painting-sto…

‘Need Our Help?’ Iran’s IRGC Mocks US For Now Leading World In COVID-19 Cases
Zero Hedge | iranian.com | 2020-03-30
On the same day the United States leveled yet more sanctions against the Islamic Republic, blacklisting 20 Iran- and Iraq-based companies, officials and individuals for supporting terrorism, leaders in Tehran took to publicly mocking the US for now being the global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. As of Friday evening numbers of US confirmed cases …
iranian.com/2020/03/29/need-our-help-ira…

Origins of COVID-19: Russia quizzes US on coronavirus’ parentage
M. K. Bhadrakumar | iranian.com | 2020-03-30
All through the recent weeks since US President Donald Trump coined the epithet “China virus” to rename Coronavirus, Moscow kept a deafening silence. Finally, on Sunday, March 29, Moscow broke that silence. That the first Russian statement came at the level of the Russian foreign ministry makes this particularly significant. In an exclusive remark, a …
iranian.com/2020/03/29/origins-of-covid-…

Photos: Tehran In Silence As It Fights COVID-19
IRNA | iranian.com | 2020-03-30
The Iranian authorities announced the launch of a one-week social distancing plan amid the coronavirus epidemic across the country. Tehran residents respect the social distancing rules due to the serious outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.
iranian.com/2020/03/29/photos-tehran-in-…

Sex Workers Hit By Gov’t Austerity Now Face Client Shortages In Coronavirus Crisis – Campaign Group
sputniknews.com | 2020-03-30
Sex workers are facing severe income shortages and becoming homeless after struggling with fewer clients amid the coronavirus pandemic and severe lockdown measures, campaigners said on Monday.
sputniknews.com/uk/202003301078759314-se…

‘The Strike Wave Is in Full Swing’: Amazon, Whole Foods Workers Walk Off Job to Protest Unjust and Unsafe Labor Practices
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-30
Labor rights advocates on Monday urged support and solidarity with Amazon employees who walked off the job in the company’s warehouse on Staten Island following what the workers said was an unacceptable response by Amazon to at least one case of coronavirus at the facility. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/strike-…

Facing Layoffs, General Electric Workers Demand Company Put Them to Work Producing Ventilators Instead
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-30
Workers at a jet engine factory in Lynn, Massachusetts stood six feet apart at a protest outside the facility, following social distancing guidelines while calling on General Electric (GE) to put the employees to work building badly-needed ventilators for coronavirus patients. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/facing-…

Trump to Kneecap Obama-Era Fuel Efficiency Standards, Hurtling Nation ‘Toward a More Dangerous Climate’
Andrea Germanos, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-30
“Of all the bad things President Trump has done to the environment, this is the worst.” | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/trump-k…

DOJ Investigating Lawmakers’ Stock Dumps Ahead of Coronavirus Market Crash
Andrea Germanos, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-30
At least one lawmaker affected by the probe is Republican Sen. Richard Bur, who unloaded up to $1.7 million in stocks. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/doj-inv…

‘We Are Beyond Staggering,’ Warns Gov. Cuomo as Coronavirus Overwhelms New York
Jon Queally, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-30
“Situation is painfully clear,” said the New York governor, who warns that what his state is experiencing now should be a warning to the entire nation. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/we-are-…

‘Insulting’ Frontline Health Workers, Trump—Without Evidence—Accuses Hospital Staff in New York of Stealing Protective Gear
Eoin Higgins, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-30
“This man is a serious danger to the health and safety of every health care worker in the nation.” | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/insulti…

As Coronavirus Exposes Deep Flaws of For-Profit System, Biden Doubles Down on Opposition to Medicare for All
Eoin Higgins, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-30
commondreams.org/sites/default/files/sty…

Trump administration and Mexican government collaborate to deny life-saving care to refugees with HIV
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
HIV-positive immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, who face a growing shortage of key medication in Mexico to maintain their compromised immune systems, must now also contend with a growing coronavirus epidemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/mexi…