[Editorial] COVID-19 will not leave behind refugees and migrants
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Never has the “leave no one behind” pledge felt more urgent. As nations around the world implement measures to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, including lockdowns and restrictions on individuals’ movements, they must heed their global commitments. When member states adopted the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, they promised to ensure no one will be left behind. Chief among the world’s most vulnerable people are refugees and migrants. The COVID-19 crisis puts these groups at enormous risk.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30758-3/fulltext?rss=yes
[Correspondence] Mass drug administration: time to consider drug pollution?
Gorka Orive, Unax Lertxundi | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Mass drug administration is the strategy recommended by WHO to control or eliminate many neglected tropical diseases that cause devastating consequences worldwide. This strategic approach, which has produced unquestionable benefits, consists of treating every person, infected or not, living in a defined geographical area at approximately the same time.1 In 2017, more than 1 ∑7 billion treatments (mainly albendazole, mebendazole, ivermectin, azithromycin, and praziquantel) were delivered to 1 ∑04 billion individuals.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30053-2/fulltext?rss=yes
[Comment] The COVID-19 pandemic in the USA: what might we expect?
Gerardo Chowell, Kenji Mizumoto | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
As of March 19, 2020, 191‚Äà127 cases of, including 7807 deaths attributed to, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been reported worldwide.1 The incidence of reported cases in China has dramatically reduced to tens per day as a result of strict social distancing measures; however, the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is now generating sustained transmission in many countries including the USA. In The Lancet, Isaac Ghinai, Tristan D McPherson, and colleagues2 report details of the first known human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the USA, which was…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30743-1/fulltext?rss=yes
[World Report] Developing antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2
Anna Petherick | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Laboratories and diagnostic companies are racing to produce antibody tests, a key part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anna Petherick reports.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30788-1/fulltext?rss=yes
[Comment] A planetary health perspective on COVID-19: a call for papers
Alastair Brown, Richard Horton | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
It is natural during the unfolding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to focus on emergency response planning, including containment, treatment procedures, and vaccine development, and nobody would doubt the need for these measures. However, an emergency can also open a window of opportunity for reflection and learning. We live in increasingly global, interdependent, and environmentally constrained societies and the COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies these aspects of our world. We would therefore be wise to take a broad integrated perspective on this disease, the impacts of which are already spilling over in…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30742-X/fulltext?rss=yes
[Editorial] Redefining vulnerability in the era of COVID-19
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
What does it mean to be vulnerable? Vulnerable groups of people are those that are disproportionally exposed to risk, but who is included in these groups can change dynamically. A person not considered vulnerable at the outset of a pandemic can become vulnerable depending on the policy response. The risks of sudden loss of income or access to social support have consequences that are difficult to estimate and constitute a challenge in identifying all those who might become vulnerable. Certainly, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable groups are not only elderly people, those with ill health and comorbidities, or…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30757-1/fulltext?rss=yes
[Perspectives] Face transplants as surgical acts and psychosocial processes
Fay Bound Alberti | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
In 2017 the face of Katie Stubblefield made headlines. Not the face she was born with or the face that emerged after 22 reconstructive surgeries. This was another face altogether: a transplant that Stubblefield would receive from Adrea Schneider. There have been 46 recorded face transplants in history. Katie’s was the 40th–only the third to have taken place at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which also undertook the first face transplant in the USA, on Connie Culp, in 2008. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it took 11 surgeons and staff from 15 specialties more than 31 hours to transplant Stubblefield’s new…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30684-X/fulltext?rss=yes
[Correspondence] Authoritarianism and the threat of infectious diseases
Juan M Pericà s | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Punitive social policy, encompassing the dismantling of the welfare state with the expansion of the penal state and its associated institutions, as nicely stated by Elias Nosrati and Michael Marmot in their Perspective,1 might indeed be considered an upstream social determinant of health. Nosrati and Marmot’s analysis relates to the findings described by Navarro and colleagues,2 linking political ideology with policies aimed at reducing social inequalities such as welfare state and labour market policies.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(19)32595-4/fulltext?rss=yes
[World Report] 2020 Canada Gairdner Award winners announced
Talha Burki | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
On March 31, the Gairdner Foundation announced the winners of its annual prizes in biomedical science and global health. Talha Burki spoke with the laureates.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30789-3/fulltext?rss=yes
[Correspondence] Chagas disease: still a neglected emergency?
Renato D Lopes, Claudio Gimpelewicz, John J V McMurray | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
10 years after highlighting the health consequences for millions of people infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, a 2019 report from the Pan American Health Organization concluded that there has been little progress in the prevention and treatment of Chagas disease, a problem that now extends beyond Latin America.1…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30171-9/fulltext?rss=yes
[Department of Error] Department of Error
thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Biswal S, Borja-Tabora C, Martinez Vargas L, et al. Efficacy of a tetravalent dengue vaccine in healthy children aged 4–16 years: a randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet 2020; published online March 17. dox.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30414-… appendix of this Article has been corrected as of April 2, 2020.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30682-6/fulltext?rss=yes
[Correspondence] Education and research are essential for lasting peace in Yemen
Fathiah Zakham, Olli Vapalahti, Hilal A Lashual | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Yemen, known to many as the land of Sheba, and Manhattan of the desert, is now referred to only as one of the poorest countries on Earth. The name Yemen has become synonymous with cholera, famine, death, instability, and war. The war continues to erase the lives, history, and the future of Yemenis, and meaningful aid and peace have yet to reach Yemen.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30162-8/fulltext?rss=yes
[Department of Error] Department of Error
thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Mease PJ, Rahman P, Gottlieb AB, et al. Guselkumab in biologic-naive patients with active psoriatic arthritis (DISCOVER-2): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Lancet 2020; 395: 1126–36–In this Article, the following sentence from the Participants section has been corrected as follows: “Patients were permitted, but not required, to continue stable use of selected standard treatments, including NSAIDs or other analgesics up to the regional marketed dose approved; oral corticosteroids (‚â§10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent dose); or non-biologic DMARDs (limi…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30741-8/fulltext?rss=yes
[Editorial] Open versus endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms
The Lancet | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
When the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released draft guidelines on the diagnosis and management of abdominal aortic aneurysms in May, 2018, it caused outcry. By recommending that endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of unruptured aneurysms should not be offered–even in patients for whom open surgical repair was contraindicated–critics said that many patients would be denied life-saving treatment and that the guidelines were unworkable.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30759-5/fulltext?rss=yes
[Obituary] Philip Leder
Geoff Watts | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Molecular geneticist and genetic code breaker. He was born in Washington, DC, USA, on Nov 19, 1934, and died from complications of Parkinson’s disease in Chestnut Hill, MA, USA, on Feb 2, 2020, aged 85 years.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30685-1/fulltext?rss=yes
Bodies of Covid-19 victims pile up in streets of Ecuador as residents beg authorities for help
rt.com | 2020-04-04
As the coronavirus pandemic rips through Ecuador, some cities are struggling to cope with a deluge of fatalities, pushing residents to make harrowing pleas for help as the bodies of loved ones accumulate in the streets. | The port city of Guayaquil, some 260 miles south of the capital of Quito, has been hit especially hard in the outbreak, leaving hospitals and morgues utterly overwhelmed in a flood of new patients and deaths. With local authorities unable to keep up with the influx of casualties, President Lenin Moreno has created a task force to tackle the problem, tapping Jorge Wated, board chairman at BanE…
rt.com/news/484944-ecuador-coronavirus-b…
US reports record 1,300+ Covid-19 deaths & over 30,000 new cases in 24-hours as De Blasio warns of looming ‘D-Day’ in New York
rt.com | 2020-04-04
rt.com/usa/484946-coronavirus-new-cases-…
Tariffs ALWAYS an option! Trump hopes Russia & Saudis reach oil deal ‘fair’ for US as Putin seeks cooperation from ALL sides
rt.com | 2020-04-04
US President Donald Trump hinted at the possibility of imposing tariffs on oil imports, due to a ‘massive excess’ supply on the global market created by the Saudi-Russian price war and exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. | “There’s too much oil, there’s a glut,” Trump said at a White House press conference on Friday, when asked what he discussed with oil industry executives earlier in the day. While lower gas prices at the pump were a good thing for Americans impacted by the economic shutdown over the pandemic, they were also hurting the US energy sector, he said. | It’s a free market, they’ll figure it out.
rt.com/business/484943-trump-russia-saud…
[Comment] Offline: COVID-19–what countries must do now
Richard Horton | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
How should countries plan for the approaching health crisis caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, himself struck down with infection, has written to every household warning that, “we know things will get worse before they get better”. The UK Government is right to prepare the public for the coming human catastrophe. All governments have a responsibility to do the same. But this advice does not go far enough. Here are five critical actions that need to be considered immediately.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30787-X/fulltext?rss=yes
[Perspectives] Man up
Tom Shakespeare | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Masculinities: Liberation through Photography explores half a century of photographic representations of men–their bodies, their identities, and their social roles. Contemporary politics is full of powerful men–Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Vladimir Putin, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan–behaving in stereotypically dominant ways. You could be forgiven for thinking that the more things change, the more things remain the same. But #MeToo is here to say it can’t go on like this, in the wake of the conviction of Harvey Weinstein.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30683-8/fulltext?rss=yes
[Correspondence] Obsolete medical law in Japan harms doctors’ health
Genichi Sugihara, Nori Takei | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Japan has achieved one of the most successful health-care systems in the world.1 Under the nation’s insurance scheme, Japanese citizens have taken for granted that anyone can choose any health-care facility and receive the most advanced medical care across the nation. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that such a health system is supported by dedicated and self-sacrificing medical professionals. Such overloaded expectation is especially high in rural areas where the number of doctors remains low.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)30176-8/fulltext?rss=yes
‘We Will Not Sit Back and Let Transit Workers Be Treated Like Cannon Fodder’
John Nichols | thenation.com | 2020-04-04
‘We Will Not Sit Back and Let Transit Workers Be Treated Like Cannon Fodder’…
thenation.com/article/activism/public-tr…
Julian Assange still held on remand as coronavirus spreads through UK prisons
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
The WikiLeaks founder, held in Belmarsh prison and facing extradition to the US for exposing war crimes, has a chronic lung condition and has had his health destroyed by a decade of mistreatment by the British state…
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/assa…
Gaza’s New Conflict: COVID-19
Omar Shaban | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
At a time when everyone was celebrating the arrival of a new decade, a rare once-in-a-100-year event took the world by surprise: a major global pandemic named COVID-19. Governments around the world struggled to fight the virus, taking extreme measures to contain it with nearly one billion people now living in confinement. At first, Palestinians…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/gazas-new-co…
Gaza’s New Conflict: COVID-19
Omar Shaban | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
At a time when everyone was celebrating the arrival of a new decade, a rare once-in-a-100-year event took the world by surprise: a major global pandemic named COVID-19. Governments around the world struggled to fight the virus, taking extreme measures to contain it with nearly one billion people now living in confinement. At first, Palestinians…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/gazas-new-co…
Colombia: Floods Affect 150 Families in the Choco Region
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
In the Choco department, the Bojaya Mayor Edilfredo Machado reported that 150 families were affected by the Bojaya river’s overflow caused by heavy rains on Wednesday. | RELATED: | FARC Party Denounces Murder of Another Ex-Combatant in Colombia | He also said that 80 families from the Santa Lucia Indigenous community and 70 families from Pogue had to abandon their houses because the river’s overflow continues to grow. | Mainly women, children and older adults live in this region; s…
telesurenglish.net/news/colombia-150-fam…
Puebla’s Group Condemns US Military Move To Venezuelan Coast
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
The Puebla Group denounced on Friday the deployment of military forces at the Venezuelan maritime borders by the United States under the pretext of the war on drugs. | RELATED: | The US Transition Plan for Venezuela Is a Mockery, Russia Says | The group of leftist leaders rejected the use of force and threat against Venezuela, saying the U.S. move vi…
telesurenglish.net/news/Pueblas-Group-Co…
The U.S. Continues Deporting Guatemalans Amid the Pandemic
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
Guatemala continues to receive flights with migrants deported from the United States, despite the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations to restrain passenger traffic. | RELATED: | Guatemala Suspends All US Deportation Flights Over COVID-19 | On March 17, President Alejandro Giammattei administration suspended flights from the U.S., Honduras,…
telesurenglish.net/news/guatemala-deport…
Mexico: Chiapas Natives Vulnerable to COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
Mexican native communities in the southern state of Chiapas lack of potable water while facing the sanitary crisis due to COVID-19. | RELATED: | Mexico: Migrant Population Vulnerable to the COVID-19 | The National Humans Rights Commission in Mexico informed about this situation and referred to the precarious sanitation services in the region. According to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), Chiapas is one of the poorest Mexican states. | In the…
telesurenglish.net/news/-mexico-chiapas-…
Detained immigrants across Deep South feel like ‘sitting ducks’ as ICE ignores their safety amid global pandemic
splcenter.org | 2020-04-03
COVID-19 began to infect the nation at rapid speed in March, reaching every corner of the country and taking the lives of more than 6,000 people by April 3. The United Nations has dubbed the coronavirus the “most challenging” crisis the globe has witnessed since World War II.
splcenter.org/news/2020/04/03/detained-i…
COVID-19: from conflict to pandemic, migrants in Bosnia face a new challenge
news.un.org | 2020-04-03
Migrants and refugees hosted at UN-run reception centres in Bosnia-Herzegovina, are learning to cope with the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/04/1…
More refugees attempt Channel crossing as covid-19 reaches Calais camps
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-04-03
At least 52 refugees, including five children, risked their lives to cross the Channel on 2 April.They were intercepted by Border Force travelling across the Dover straits in four inflatable boats, the Home Office confirmed late on Thursday.It comes as two cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the Calais refugee community and another in a refugee camp in Dunkirk.Border Force officers bring to shore men thought to be migrants in Dover (Gareth Fuller/PA)Despite pictures taken in Dover appearing to show Border Force officials not wearing protective gear, the Home Office reiterated that all operational staff have…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/20…
Germany marked an increase in violent attacks on refugees in 2019
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
The Left Party has been instrumental, along with the country’s other political parties, in creating a hostile climate and the corresponding explosion of violence against refugees and immigrants.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/germ…
These Migrant Workers Did Not Suddenly Fall From the Sky
Vijay Prashad | zcomm.org | 2020-04-03
They have not benefited from their work, but they have certainly enriched the few who are now hiding with their wealth behind their curtains, afraid of the reality that made them rich…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/these-migrant-work…
These migrant workers did not suddenly fall from the sky
Vijay Prashad | mronline.org | 2020-04-03
Madness engulfs the planet. Hundreds of millions of people are in lockdown in their homes, millions of people who work in essential jobs–or who cannot afford to stay home without state assistance–continue to go to work, thousands of people lie in intensive-care beds taken care of by tens of thousands of medical professionals and caregivers …
mronline.org/2020/04/03/these-migrant-wo…
Ex UN anti-narcotics chief & mob expert says US Treasury running ‘mafia racket’ against Venezuela
Anya Parampil | thegrayzone.com | 2020-04-03
Pino Arlacchi, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Prevention, says US is behaving…
thegrayzone.com/2020/04/03/un-narcotics-…
Duterte Threatens to Kill Citizens Who Disobey COVID-19 Lockdown in Philippines
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-03
In the Philippines, authoritarian President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he’s ordered soldiers to shoot to kill residents if they resist a strict lockdown on the island of Luzon. His order came after residents of Manila’s Quezon City shanty town staged a protest, saying they’ve gone hungry without food promised when the lockdown began more than two weeks ago. The Philippines death toll is 136 with more than 3,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. As those numbers grow, nurses and doctors report a d…
truthout.org/video/duterte-threatens-to-…
NYC Nurses Demand Protective Gear as COVID-19 Death Toll Skyrockets
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-03
Nurses in California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada and Texas are protesting one of the nation’s largest hospital chains for a “lack of preparedness” amid the coronavirus pandemic. They’re calling on HCA Healthcare to provide optimal personal protective equipment, or PPE, for nurses and other staff. In New York, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, nurses and doctors at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx protested Thursday over the lack of PPE. Today another protest is underway…
truthout.org/video/nyc-nurses-demand-pro…
Mounting protests in Canada’s construction industry over lack of safety measures to counter COVID-19
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
A petition launched by a construction worker in Ontario calling for the shutdown of the entire industry quickly secured over 50,000 signatures.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/cons…
“He’s Got Eight Numbers, Just Like Everybody Else”
Kathy Kelly | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-04-03
On April 4, 2020, my friend Steve Kelly will begin a third year of imprisonment in Georgia’s Glynn County jail. He turned 70 while in prison, and while he has served multiple prison sentences for protesting nuclear weapons, spending two years in a county jail is unusual even for him. Yet he adamantly urges supporters …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/04/hes-got-eight…
Why is the World Socialist Web Site banned from the subreddit r/coronavirus?
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
The subreddit r/coronavirus has banned content from the World Socialist Web Site from being shared among its 1.8 million reader-members. We are demanding that the moderators explain why this decision has been made and immediately reverse this act of political censorship.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/redd…
Silver Linings Amidst the Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
The COVID-19 crisis is confronting U.S.-Americans with yet more undeniable evidence of the complete craziness and cruelty of American capitalism and class rule more broadly. The demented viciousness of the possessing class’s parasitic profits regime and many elite professionals’ privileged status are being exposed in graphic ways. It is absurd that the nation’s economic system…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/silver-linin…
Silver Linings Amidst the Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
The COVID-19 crisis is confronting U.S.-Americans with yet more undeniable evidence of the complete craziness and cruelty of American capitalism and class rule more broadly. The demented viciousness of the possessing class’s parasitic profits regime and many elite professionals’ privileged status are being exposed in graphic ways. It is absurd that the nation’s economic system…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/silver-linin…
Tunisia Leads the Way: New Report Exposes Israel’s False Democracy
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
Tunisia is the Middle East’s greatest success story, according to the findings of the V-Dem Annual Democracy Report 2019. One of the world’s most regarded annual reports on democracy and good governance, the V-Dem Report is produced by the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. While Tunisians can be…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/tunisia-lead…
Anti-war leaders condemn Trump’s war moves against Venezuela
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-04-03
Minneapolis, MN
Coronavirus and Georgia’s Kemp: How the GOP Stupidocracy will Kill us All
Juan Cole | zcomm.org | 2020-04-03
I don’t think Kemp is stupid in the sense of lacking intelligence. I think he is stupid in the sense of letting things get in the way of his intelligence– whether they be ridiculous ideological commitments or slavish obedience to campaign donors or fear of angering Donald Trump…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/coronavirus-and-ge…
Pandemic and Bernie Sanders: “Still Ahead of His Time”
RootsAction | zcomm.org | 2020-04-03
Progressive Advocates Release Video Illustrating Senator Bernie Sanders’ Career-Long Support for a System Able to Solve Healthcare Crises…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/pandemic-and-berni…
How the US is using coronavirus to push regime change in Venezuela
Peter Bolton | thecanary.co | 2020-04-03
Ever since the Trump administration launched a coup attempt against the democratically-elected government of Venezuela in January 2019, the country’s civilian population has been suffering under a brutal sanctions regime. Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, Venezuelans are now at even greater risk given that the government is hamstrung by what has essentially morphed into a full-blown economic blockade. | But having so far failed in its ‘regime change’ effort, the Trump administration has now…
thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2020/…
As a nurse dies fighting coronavirus, Matt Hancock drops a bombshell about the monitoring of their deaths
Tracy Keeling | thecanary.co | 2020-04-03
A nurse fighting coronavirus (covid-19) has tragically died due to the disease. Areema Nasreen worked at Walsall Manor Hospital. | pic.twitter.com/ZJOFSvI1fo |
In one stunning sentence, Noam Chomsky nails the most overlooked element of the pandemic
Tracy Keeling | thecanary.co | 2020-04-03
Renowned US intellectual, author, and commentator Noam Chomsky addressed the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in a recent interview. Amid a global panic over the disease, he nailed the most overlooked element of the emergency. | Crucially, he pointed out that though coronavirus “can have terrifying consequences” there “will be recovery”. But there are other threats
Brazil Supreme Court asks to suspend Bolsonaro for 180 days
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-04-03
Marco Aurélio Mello, a Minister of Brazil’s Supreme Court, sent the Attorney General’s Office a request to suspend President Jair Bolsonaro from his post for 180 days for committing various actions that have put the country at risk in the face of the covid-19 health emergency, according to a Telesur report.
mronline.org/2020/04/03/brazil-supreme-c…
Inmates at Privately-Run ICE Camp Go on Hunger Strike Amid COVID-19 Outbreak, Deteriorating Conditions
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-03
ICA Farmville already has a reputation for overcrowding and poor sanitation. Last year the private ICE prison was hit with an outbreak of mumps, a classic disease of overcrowding and poor sanitation.
mintpressnews.com/inmates-ice-camp-go-hu…
US Leads Global Wave of Nations Stealing, Seizing and Diverting Coronavirus Equipment
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-03
Governments have resorted to seizing, diverting, outbidding and outright stealing equipment from each other in a desperate bid to stem the tide of the coronavirus epidemic.
mintpressnews.com/united-states-leads-na…
Banks set to make billions from stimulus measures
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
Banks, lobby groups, major legal firms and hedge funds are all striving to get their slice of the largest corporate and financial bailout in history.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/econ…
Spain: Bio-Engineers Find Drug That Blocks Effects of COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), together with international collaborators from Canada, Sweden and Germany, have identified a drug capable of blocking the effects of the novel coronavirus which leads to the COVID-19 disease, the institute said on Friday. | RELATED: | Bolsonaro to Heal Brazil From COVID-19 With Religious Rituals | “We have been able to develop cell cultures that resemble the kidney, what we call micro-kidneys, in order to inves…
telesurenglish.net/news/Spain-Bio-Engine…
Bolsonaro to Heal Brazil From COVID-19 With Religious Rituals
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
After lashing out at his health minister because he does not have a “humble attitude,” Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro Thursday announced that he and other religious leaders will perform a fast as a form of sacrifice to rid Brazil of the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | Facebook Removes Bolsonaro Videos for ‘Misinformation’ | “I am a Catholic, my wife is an evangelical. These people request a fast day for those who have faith. Soon, together with the pastors, priests and religious, we w…
telesurenglish.net/news/Bolsonaro-to-Hea…
General Motors imposes wage cuts and layoffs on Brazilian workers with aid of unions
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
GM announced mass layoffs along with a wage cut of up to 25 percent in wages at all its Brazilian plants.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/braz…
US Economy Lost 701,000 Jobs in March, Figures Will Rise
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
The U.S. economy lost 701,000 jobs in March, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4 percent amid the new coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Friday. | RELATED: | ILO: Impact of COVID-19 on Economy Could Affect 25 Million Jobs | This is the most significant job loss since March 2009, when the financial crisis sank the world’s economies. | In February, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, the lowest level in almost 50 years. | The m…
telesurenglish.net/news/US-Economy-Lost-…
Bill Withers, Soulful Singer of ‘Ain’t No Sunshine,’ Dead at 81
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
Bill Withers, who wrote and sang a string of soulful songs in the 1970s that have stood the test of time, including “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” has died from heart complications, his family said in a statement to The Associated Press. He was 81. | RELATED: | Hip Hop Museum To Open in its Birthplace in the Bronx | Withers produced nine albums, most of them written and recorded in the 1970s, starting with “Just As I Am,” which included “Ain’t No Sunshine,” which wo…
telesurenglish.net/news/Bill-Withers-Sou…
The United States to Lose 7 Percent of Its Domestic Product
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts that the United States might experience a 12 percent unemployment rate and a 7 percent loss of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the end of this year’s second quarter. | RELATED: | The US Transition Plan for Venezuela Is a Mockery, Russia Says | …
telesurenglish.net/news/The-United-State…
U.S. Captain Who Reported COVID-19 Outbreak Dismissed
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier Captain Brett Crozier was removed from office on April 2 after requesting the disembarkation of his crew due to a COVID-19 outbreak‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã. | RELATED: | The United States to Lose 7 Percent of Its Domestic Product | In a letter addressed to the command of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, Crozier ‚&Aum…
telesurenglish.net/news/us-captain-who-r…
Russia Extends Paid Leave Nationwide to End of April
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Thursday an extension of paid leave for all Russians to April 30 due to COVID-19. | RELATED: | Russia Sends Medical Supplies for Fighting COVID-19 in the U.S. | “If the situation allows, we will adjust the announced period of forced non-working days in the direction of its reduction,” Putin said in a televised address to the nation. | The country’s regions, depending on the objective situation, would decide which institutions and organ…
telesurenglish.net/news/Russia-Extends-P…
United Nations Warns of COVID-19 Effects on the EU Food Chain
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Friday warned that increased border controls and the stoppage of daily activities are affecting the supply and prices of fruits and vegetables in Europe. | RELATED: | Africa to Face the COVID-19 Pandemic Amid a Food Crisis | “Supermarket sales continue. However, following an initial surge in demand, the fruit and vegetable market has weakened and prices may start to fall as customers shop less often than before,” the UNECE spok…
telesurenglish.net/news/United-Nations-W…
Yes, Carbon Emissions Are Falling, But It Won’t Save the Planet
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-03
Carbon dioxide emissions could fall by the most significant amount since World War Two this year as the coronavirus outbreak brings economies to a virtual standstill, according to the chair of a network of scientists providing benchmark emissions data. | RELATED: | The United States to Lose 7 Percent of Its Domestic Product | Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, which produces widely-watched annual emissions estimat…
telesurenglish.net/news/Yes-Carbon-Emiss…
Right-Wing Austerity Set New Orleans Up to Be a Coronavirus Disaster Zone
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-03
New Orleans
Fauci and Most Americans Want Federal “Stay Home” Order, But Trump Refuses
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-03
President Donald Trump has so far resisted calls for issuing a national “stay-at-home” order for all Americans (with exceptions for essential travels, such as forgetting food or medicine) in order to combat the spread of coronavirus. | On Wednesday, Trump expressed the desire to give governors “flexibility” in their response to the pandemic. By far, most states i…
truthout.org/articles/fauci-and-most-ame…
How Do People Living in a Food Desert Feed Themselves Amid a Pandemic?
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-03
In Mississippian Richard Wright’s ferocious short story Hunger, an overworked, time-pressed mother sends her young son to the grocery story with a list, a basket and a few dollars. When he returns with no groceries, having been relieved of his money by a gaggle of neighborhood boys, she sends him out again, this time with a stick as a weapon, which he’s forced to use
Hannity Threatens to Sue Media Outlets for Criticizing Fox’s COVID-19 Coverage
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-03
Fox News host Sean Hannity threatened to sue a purported “media mob” during a Wednesday night segment, in which he addressed criticisms who rebuked the right-wing network’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic as dangerous. | “What they are doing is repulsive,” Hannity claimed. “It is ugly. It hurts the country. It shouldn’t surprise us, because they have…
truthout.org/articles/hannity-threatens-…
One million infected with coronavirus worldwide, more than 50,000 dead
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
None of the governments of the major capitalist powers has carried out any effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/coro…
COVID-19 and the “Just-in-Time” Supply Chain: Why Hospitals Ran Out of Ventilators and Grocery Stores Ran Out of Toilet Paper
Louis Proyect | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
On March 25th, N.Y. Times op-ed columnist Farhad Manjoo wrote about “How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of a 75-Cent Face Mask.” The subtitle certainly went against the grain of what you’d read from a page dominated by Thomas Friedman: “A very American story about capitalism consuming our national preparedness and resiliency.” Manjoo identified…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/covid-19-and…
Europe: Over 520,000 coronavirus cases and almost 38,000 deaths
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
With 4,199 new deaths yesterday, 37,864 have already perished in Europe from COVID-19.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/euro…
Austria’s ‘Unsozial’ Capitalists in a Time of Crisis
Kevin Potter | mronline.org | 2020-04-03
In a move seemingly reserved only for cartoonish villains, one of Austria’s best-known millionaires, Attila Doƒüudan, CEO of DO &CO–one of the largest culinary companies in Austria, and who employs over 11,000 people worldwide–has used the COVID-19 crisis to orchestrate a widespread layoff campaign against all restaurant employees within Austria.
mronline.org/2020/04/03/austrias-unsozia…
An interview with four Chinese physicians at the epicenter of the pandemic in Wuhan
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
Four doctors who went through the worst of the COVID-19 epidemic in China recently spoke with the WSWS about their experiences and the lessons for the wider world.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/wuha…
For emergency action against the destruction of jobs! Full financial and social support for all working people impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic!
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
All sections of the working class must be fully compensated for the economic consequences of the pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/pers…
Covid-19 Attacks the Down-and-Out in Ultra-Unequal South Africa
Patrick Bond | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
It’s hard to imagine a more worrying place to watch Covid-19 hit a society than Johannesburg, South Africa. This is, after all, the world’s most unequal major city, serving as economic headquarters for the most unequal country. In spite of a poverty rate (at $2.80/day) of more than 60 percent and a national unemployment rate of 40…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/covid-19-att…
Avenger Planet: Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Mother Nature’s Response to Human Transgression?
Michael T. Klare | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
As the coronavirus sweeps across the planet, leaving death and mayhem in its wake, many theories are being expounded to explain its ferocity. One, widely circulated within right-wing conspiracy circles, is that it originated as a biological weapon developed at a secret Chinese military lab in the city of Wuhan that somehow (perhaps intentionally?) escaped…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/avenger-plan…
Why a Race is Not a Virus and a Virus is Not a Race
J.P. Linstroth | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
It is dangerous rhetoric indeed when President Donald J. Trump calls the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the “Chinese Virus”. Even if the intent was political and meant to communicate to Beijing that the United States military was not responsible for the spread of the disease within China, contrary to a conspiracy theory there. By the president naming…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/why-a-race-i…
The Tories are probably hoping we’re too distracted to notice the investigation into EU election spending
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-04-03
The Conservative Party is probably hoping that we’re all too distracted by the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic to notice the party is under investigation over their campaign spending during the European Parliament elections.The Electoral Commission said five parties are being examined after submitting spending reports which were missing information that would give voters a “complete picture of their campaign spending”.It added that parties are required by law to provide complete lists of all campaign payments and supporting invoices or receipts for payments of more than £200.It confirmed two investigations…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/04/03/the-tori…
The Highly Contagious Idea
Kathleen Wallace | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid waste to the notions of American Exceptionalism (other than perhaps an exceptional level of infection) and the unsustainable practice from the last couple of decades that reality is essentially what you force it to be. It’s the magical thinking that if you manufacture enough consent, eventually that square peg will…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/the-highly-c…
Capitalism vs. Humanity
Eve Ottenberg | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
From today’s perspective of Covid-19 mass death, the virtues of left-wing policies like Medicare for All are abundantly clear. Especially at the capitalist core, where, in the U.S., a stripped down, for profit, privatized, price-gouging, neoliberal health-care system has been proven wholly inadequate and been quickly swamped. Tens of millions cannot afford health insurance. They…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/capitalism-v…
Coronavirus hits Seattle, Washington homeless shelters
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
As the pandemic rips across the United States, COVID-19 cases are beginning to be reported among the homeless population in Seattle.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/seah…
The COVID-19 crisis in the Spanish state
Dick Nichols | zcomm.org | 2020-04-03
“We can’t go on living as per usual”
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-covid-19-crisi…
Navy fires captain who warned of COVID-19 spread on aircraft carrier
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
The move is a clear statement that saving lives in the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be allowed to interfere with the war aims of US imperialism.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/navy…
Experts criticise Swedish government for failing to prevent COVID-19 spread
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
As the government refuses to issue shelter-at-home orders, medical personnel are asking how many lives it intends to sacrifice to keep up production and profits.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/swed…
Michigan’s confirmed COVID-19 cases surge past 10,000 as Democratic officials attempt to deflect responsibility
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan have offered demagogic appeals for unity as the state has solidified its position as one of the epicenters of the pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/detr…
If government asks for a COVID-19 war economy, let’s do it right
Art Perlo | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-03
President Trump is portraying himself as a “wartime president” in the battle against COVID-19, saying the pandemic will require a response unseen since World War II. “We must sacrifice together because we are all in this together,” he said. Instead of Trump’s reality show, a real war on COVID-19 is needed, including strong economic measures. …
peoplesworld.org/article/if-government-a…
COVID-19 and the Forgotten Working Class
Jack Rasmus | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
We hear a lot these days about providing benefits and income for the tens of millions of workers who are being laid off, required to ‘stay in place’ by government orders, or out of necessity have to stay home with young children now that schools have shut down. The recent passed CARES ACT provides some…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/covid-19-and…
What is the Defense Production Act and why should Trump use it?
Mike Gold | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-03
The COVID-19 crisis has led to a collapse of the “just-in-time” global supply chain, resulting in mass shortages of medical and consumer goods needed to fight and defend against the spread of the coronavirus. In response, President Trump announced he would invoke the Defense Production Act, which was modeled after the war powers President Franklin D. Roosevelt was …
peoplesworld.org/article/what-is-the-def…
Bama Athreya on Gig Economy & Covid-19
CounterSpin | fair.org | 2020-04-03
Media…
fair.org/home/bama-athreya-on-gig-econom…
Despite pandemic, U.S. government threatens intervention in Venezuela
W. T. Whitney Jr. | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-03
peoplesworld.org/article/despite-pandemi…
Democracy Dies in Blah Blah Blah
Janine Jackson | fair.org | 2020-04-03
In a live appearance on the Fox News network ( 3/30/20), Donald Trump said it was good that Democratic proposals for increased voting protections and ballot access–including vote-by-mail, same-day registration and early voting, as well equipment and staffing to make voting safe during the pandemic–were not included in the coronavirus relief package. | “The things they had in there were crazy,” Trump said. “They had things–levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this co…
fair.org/home/democracy-dies-in-blah-bla…
Democracy in America: Sorry, But You Can’t Get There from Here
Andrew Levine | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
There was a time, just a few weeks ago, when hardly anyone thought it literally true that, as he boasted, Donald Trump could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and become more popular for having done so. Whatever Trump himself had in mind, most of the people who would repeat that claim approvingly, as many have…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/democracy-in…
News Guild, journalists’ union, sets out to save newspapers
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-03
WASHINGTON–Emphasizing their role in getting reliable information out to the public, the News Guild is setting out to save endangered newspapers across the country. The coronavirus pandemic has only added to the danger of extinction faced by many newspapers, the union says. While social media has exploded
Slumlord Capitalism v. Global Pandemic
John Whitlow | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
The poet Langston Hughes once wrote, “I wish the rent was heaven sent.” With 10 million Americans filing for unemployment benefits in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Hughes’ words resonate now more than ever. As we hurtle toward a public health and economic catastrophe, we must reckon with the sobering fact that our federal government is helmed by landlords, real estate developers, and financiers whose fortunes have been made
Louisiana ranks fourth in the US for coronavirus deaths
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
Governor John Bel Edwards used his daily press conference Thursday to announce an extension of stay-at-home orders through the end of April.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/loui…
Thousands face coronavirus disaster on cruise ships as governments close their ports
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
In addition to the approximately ten thousand cruise ship customers still stranded worldwide, there are many more ships with just their crews on board being denied entry into ports of call due to coronavirus outbreaks.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/crui…
Trump’s “blame China” campaign is an effort to dodge responsibility
Ian Goodrum | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-03
First, China was doing too much to stop the coronavirus. Now, United States media and government officials are saying it didn’t do enough. I’d ask them to make up their minds, but that would require a degree of rationality I’m not sure they have–assuming they ever did. The latest feint in the “blame China” crusade …
peoplesworld.org/article/trumps-blame-ch…
The Madness of More Nukes and Less Rights in Pandemic Times
Werner Lange | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
Another perilous pandemic is sweeping the country in the midst of the coronavirus one, and it has been lurking in the shadows for years just itching for a fear-ridden moment like this to break out forcefully. Right-wing repressive forces are using this unprecedented crisis to impose unconstitutional denials of abortion rights; to drastically lower voter…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/the-madness-…
Coronavirus and the State-of-Emergency Pandemic
David Rosen | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that [is] it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not before.
South Australian teacher speaks out against governments keeping schools open
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
Amidst the mounting coronavirus danger, teachers are demanding the closure of schools.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/teac…
Strike for Your Life
Jeremy Brecher | zcomm.org | 2020-04-03
There have been more than a dozen strikes in the past two weeks by workers striking to protect themselves against infection by the coronavirus. They have already won increased protection. What do they portend for the future?>…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/strike-for-your-li…
The Military Knew Years Ago That a Coronavirus Was Coming
Ken Klippenstein | zcomm.org | 2020-04-03
The Pentagon warned the White House about a shortage of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds in 2017–but the Trump administration did nothing…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-military-knew-…
Is the Pandemic Patriarchal?
John Grant | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
Newsflash, The New York Times, March 31, 2020: As the coronavirus pandemic brings the world to a juddering halt and anxious citizens demand action, leaders across the globe are invoking executive powers and seizing virtually dictatorial authority with scant resistance. . . . As the new laws broaden state surveillance, allow governments to detain people indefinitely…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/is-the-pande…
Australian governments threaten the safety and lives of thousands of cruise ship workers
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
Labor and Liberal-National governments are blocking thousands of workers at risk of contracting coronavirus from disembarking the vessels.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/aucr…
Honduran doctor warns of “collapsed health care system” as coronavirus toll grows
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/hodr…
Coronavirus: why resisting ‘domestic extremist’ labels for campaigners is more important than ever
Kevin Blowe | thecanary.co | 2020-04-03
People in lockdown Britain find ourselves living in a ‘state of exception’
Polish government insists on holding presidential elections in May despite coronavirus lockdown
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
In polls taken last week, 73 percent opposed holding the elections as planned.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/pola…
Work, Crisis and Pandemic
Rob Urie | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
As the depth of the crises resulting from the coronavirus pandemic sink in, millions of the most vulnerable citizens will be facing eviction, hunger and the ravages of illness. America has always been a brutal place for workers and the socially marginalized. Recently enacted economic stimulus and corporate bailouts will demonstrate both the bluntness of…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/work-crisis-…
El-Sisi uses coronavirus pandemic to tighten grip on Egypt
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
Egypt did nothing to prepare for the onset of the virus, despite being identified in early February, along with Algeria and South Africa, as one of the African countries most at risk.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/egyp…
Marist and SUNY Geneseo students face homelessness
wsws.org | 2020-04-03
The crisis that has emerged at schools and colleges around the country in the face of the pandemic has laid bare the harsh realities of life for millions of youth and students.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/03/mari…
We’re in the middle of a pandemic. All evictions need to stop right now
Tom Anderson | thecanary.co | 2020-04-03
Another eviction has taken place of homeless people self-organising to keep a roof over their heads. According to squatters website Squat.net: Yesterday (1 April) the DiY Kodak Collective… were again illegally evicted from a building. This is the second time in a week. This time it was a squatted basement flat, part of the complex which used to be the Hostelpoint at Pool Valley coach station in central Brighton. | A c…
thecanary.co/opinion/2020/04/03/were-in-…
A Zombie Love Story
George Monbiot | zcomm.org | 2020-04-03
All over the world, mutual aid groups have blossomed where governments have failed, as people support each other through the pandemic…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/a-zombie-love-stor…
Permanent Pandemic on Public Lands: Welfare Sheep Ranchers and Their Enablers Hold the West’s Bighorns Hostage
Katie Fite | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/permanent-pa…
The Bigger Picture is Hiding Behind a Virus
Jonathan Cook | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
Things often look the way they do because someone claiming authority tells us they look that way. If that sounds too cynical, pause for a moment and reflect on what seemed most important to you just a year ago, or even a few weeks ago. Then, you may have been thinking that Russian interference in…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/the-bigger-p…
Erdogan’s Idlib Misadventure: Reality Checks and Hard Lessons for Turkey
Agha Hussain | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-03
Turkey has found itself as a historic diplomatic crossroads following its military blunder in Syria. Now, wounded and humiliated, it faces a choice between neighborly detente or escalating its NATO-backed aggression in Syria.
mintpressnews.com/erdogans-idlib-misadve…
Will Trump Cancel the Election? Will the Democrats Dump Joe?
Matthew Stevenson | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
With there being no campaign left to trail, I reached out with my questions to someone on the inside, and got the following email: Trump doesn’t care if three million Americans die from the virus as long as he can appear on nightly television, basking in the limelight with either immunologists or the CEO of…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/will-trump-c…
The Apartheid Wars: Non-Accountability and Freedom for Perpetrators
Kenneth Good | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a vital means to save the country from unending civil war. These had raged with increasing intensity since 1960, and in 1994 the forces of oppression were militarily intact. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu, soon to be chair of the Commission observed in 1995, “Nuremberg trials” were not for…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/the-aparthei…
The Control of Nature
Evaggelos Vallianatos | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
I started the day (Sunday, March 29, 2020) in relatively good spirits. The Sun was bathing nature in light and pleasant warmth. Spring and flowers were everywhere. My wife and I were walking in our beautiful neighborhood in Claremont, California. Poisoning the Wind But, suddenly, a man holding a sprayer was furiously drenching his front…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/the-control-…
The Control of Nature
Evaggelos Vallianatos | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
I started the day (Sunday, March 29, 2020) in relatively good spirits. The Sun was bathing nature in light and pleasant warmth. Spring and flowers were everywhere. My wife and I were walking in our beautiful neighborhood in Claremont, California. Poisoning the Wind But, suddenly, a man holding a sprayer was furiously drenching his front…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/the-control-…
Corona and What Then?
Victor Grossman | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
Berlin, like many of your hometowns, is a ghost city. Except for those offering groceries, medicines or medical care, everything is shut tight. Luckily, no-one here has to stay inside, we can stroll around outside but, aside from families, we may not “assemble” in groups of more than two (if any cops are around). On…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/corona-and-w…
“New Corona Cases”: the Ultimate Floating Signifier
Thomas S. Harrington | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-03
If there is one thing that Saussure’s revolution in linguistic thinking taught us it is that all semantic meaning is relational, that is, that words or terms seldom have a fixed meaning. Rather, they gather their meaning in any given moment through their relationship with the other words or terms with which they are deployed.
counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/new-corona-c…
The bigger picture is hiding behind a virus
Jonathan Cook | zcomm.org | 2020-04-03
First, that our attention rarely belongs to us; it is the plaything of others. And second, that the “real world”, as it is presented to us, rarely reflects anything we might usefully be able to label as objective reality…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-bigger-picture…
Russian declaration aimed at stopping sanctions amid coronavirus crisis REJECTED at UN General Assembly
rt.com | 2020-04-03
The US, UK, and EU, as well as Ukraine and Georgia, rejected a Russian draft declaration calling for unilateral sanctions to be lifted to fight Covid-19. | Moscow’s permanent mission to the UN issued a statement on Thursday questioning why Ukraine, Georgia, the UK, US, and EU had shot down its proposal, arguing that these nations “refused to cast aside politicized approaches and interests,” and that their decision could negatively affect “a great number of people”
Amazon executives conspired to smear fired worker who led protest over Covid-19 safety conditions
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Amazon’s top lawyer crafted a strategy to scapegoat the man who organized a protest at a New York warehouse, calling the African-American ex-employee ‘not smart, or articulate.’ President Obama’s ex-spokesman helped carry it out. | Chris Smalls was fired on Monday, after he led up to 50 of his colleagues at a Staten Island warehouse to walk out in protest over what they described as unsafe working conditions at the mammoth facility, including the lack of protective gear for the workers. A number of political and media figures, including Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), condemned…
rt.com/usa/484843-amazon-smears-protest-…
AOC slammed for blaming coronavirus deaths on inequality…after championing shutdown that accelerated it
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has demanded minority-focused “reparations” for coronavirus, insisting “inequality is a comorbidity” exacerbating the deaths
UN chief warns ‘worst yet to come’ for countries in conflict, renews call for ceasefire
rt.com | 2020-04-03
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his call on Friday for a global ceasefire. He urged all parties in conflict to lay down arms and allow war-torn nations to combat the coronavirus pandemic. | “The worst is yet to come,” Guterres said, referring to countries beset with fighting, such as Syria, Libya and Yemen. “The Covid-19 storm is now coming to all these theaters of conflict.” | Guterres said there had been some progress following his March 23 call for peace, but that fighting still rages in a number of countries, hampering efforts to put into place plans to combat the virus, AFP reported. | The U…
rt.com/newsline/484926-un-countries-conf…
France cancels ‘bac’ exam for first time since Napoleon
rt.com | 2020-04-03
French high-school school students will not sit the traditional ‘baccalaureat’ (bac) exam this summer due to the coronavirus, the education minister said on Friday. This is an unprecedented move that highlights the scale of disruption caused by the pandemic. | It is the first time since its inception in 1808 under Napoleon Bonaparte that the ‘bac’ exam will not take place in its traditional form. Even the sweeping student and labor protests of May 1968 did not prevent the exam going ahead. | Instead, students will receive an average score in each subject calculated from marks given for tests and homework throu…
rt.com/newsline/484886-france-cancels-ba…
Long-term customers shocked as Bank of America restricts coronavirus bailout loans to businesses who’ve borrowed before
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Bank of America customers trying to apply for their piece of the $350 billion small business bailout were appalled to learn the bank was restricting loans to businesses who’d borrowed previously
‘Hats off to him’: Internet in shock as ex-F1 chief & Putin pal Bernie Ecclestone confirms he’s becoming dad again… at age 89
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Billionaire businessman and former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has proved he’s still got plenty of gas in the tank even at age 89 after revealing he is set to become a father for the fourth time. | British magnate Ecclestone, who presided over the F1 empire as chief executive for 40 years before stepping down in 2017, confirmed reports in news outlet Blick that he and third wife Fabiana Flosi, 44, are expecting a baby boy in July. | “Yes, it is…
rt.com/sport/484879-reaction-bernie-eccl…
Isn’t that ‘Medicare for all’? Trump administration rolls out interesting plan for funding Covid-19 treatments in US
rt.com | 2020-04-03
The Trump administration has said it intends to pay providers treating coronavirus patients at ‘Medicare rates’ and prohibit additional billing
Nationwide lockdown could cost Indian economy over $4 BILLION A DAY
rt.com | 2020-04-03
The 21-day complete shutdown across India which was triggered by the rapid spread of the coronavirus outbreak will result in a gross domestic product (GDP) loss of almost $98 billion, according to Acuite Ratings & Research. | “While the countrywide shutdown is scheduled to be lifted from April 15, 2020, the risks of prolonged disruption in economic activities exist depending on the intensity of the outbreak,” the credit rating agency said, adding that the ongoing disruption will have significant economic consequences across the world as well as in India. | Acuite Ratings has warned there is a risk of a contrac…
rt.com/business/484857-nationwide-lockdo…
Brazil cannot take ‘months of isolation,’ warns President Bolsonaro
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Brazilian society will not be able to withstand two or three months of shutdowns to fight the new coronavirus, President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday, denouncing social distancing measures enforced by states and municipalities across the country. | “You know my stance. It will bring massive unemployment,” he told supporters outside the presidential residence in Brasilia. | Health Ministry figures released on Thursday showed that the number of deaths jumped 23 percent from the previous day to 299 and the number of confirmed cases rose by 15 percent to 7,910, Reuters reports.
rt.com/newsline/484884-brazil-months-iso…
‘Leningrad’ singer claims Russians buying extra vodka to drink, Putin ally Matviyenko says it’s for antiseptic
rt.com | 2020-04-03
First, what they agree on. There is no doubt that vodka sales have sharply risen in Russia since Vladimir Putin called a national “non-working” holiday last week to combat the spread of Covid-19. | However, two of Russia’s most prominent public figures disagree on the reason behind the sudden renewed interest in the hard stuff. Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko insists Russians are buying vodka for external use and not because “they began to drink more.” She says the purchases are to make antiseptic at home, due to a shortage in supermarkets and drugstores. | | The leader of the musical group ”
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Brussels to the rescue? Ursula von der Leyen pushes for Covid-19 ‘Marshall Plan’ as bloc is far from united
rt.com | 2020-04-03
The head of the European Commission is advocating for measures to drive Europe out of the coronavirus crisis stronger than it was before, but the cracks inside the bloc’s relations may cast a shadow on her bright projects. | Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that member states had begun discussions about what to do with closed borders, which were shuttered in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus. | “We are in consultation with member states on how to proceed beyond Easter,” she told Europe 1 radio. | She also advocated for using the European Union’s next budget as a way to create a ‘Marshall Plan…
rt.com/news/484866-leyen-eu-borders-mars…
Record US jobless claims not a surprise, just ‘artificial numbers’, chief strategist tells Boom Bust
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Unemployment in the United States hit a record high of 10 million this week. Many economists expect those numbers to rise even further due to the rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. | However, Todd Horwitz of Bubba Trading says the numbers are “worthless and meaningless because we know it’s going to happen, this is not a surprise.” | He explained to Boom Bust that the figures are “not because of a major economic slowdown” but because companies have to close and many businesses will never come back. There’s going to be a problem in the supply chain, he notes. | The strategist continues: “I mean, I felt th…
rt.com/business/484880-us-record-jobless…
New grim record: US becomes 1st country to report 1,000+ Covid-19 deaths in single day as global infections top 1 million
rt.com | 2020-04-03
The United States has reached yet another dark milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, counting over 1,000 fatalities in the span of 24 hours and shattering the global record for daily deaths as worldwide cases soar past 1 million. | Surpassing both its own one-day record
Spain surpasses Italy in confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 7,000+ people reported ill on Friday
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Spain now has more confirmed cases of Covid-19 than Italy, with the number of infections soaring to over 117,000 on Friday
Resistance was in vain: Sweden postpones massive Aurora 20 military drills due to Covid-19 crisis
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Sweden has decided to indefinitely delay its Aurora 20 military drills, after allies reportedly pulled out over the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. The Scandinavian nation’s troops initially said it was against canceling the exercises. | The country’s military announced on Friday that it would postpone the war games in response to the ongoing health crisis in Sweden and around the world. The drills, scheduled to be held from May 11 through June 4, were supposed to involve 25,000 participants, including 3,000 troops from twelve of Sweden’s allies. | The decision to push back the exercises comes after, according to loc…
rt.com/news/484875-sweden-military-drill…
‘Missing in action’: Trump savages Schumer in scathing letter after criticism of Covid-19 response
rt.com | 2020-04-03
US President Donald Trump penned a blistering letter slamming Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) as “missing in action” during the Covid-19 pandemic, firing back after the lawmaker attacked the federal response to the crisis. | “Thank you for your Democrat public relations letter and incorrect sound bites, which are wrong in every way,” the missive begins, responding to the Senate minority leader’s appeal earlier on Thursday for the appointment of a coronavirus “czar” amid what he c…
rt.com/usa/484842-trump-schumer-letter-c…
US employers cut 700,000 jobs in March & that’s before Covid-19 turned really nasty
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Payrolls in the US plunged by 701,000 in March, according to a US Labor Department report released on Friday. While the figures are much higher than forecast, economists say the worst is yet to come. | The unemployment rate rose to 4.4 percent, up from 3.5 percent in February. The decline in payrolls has become the first since September 2010. | Economists surveyed by Dow Jones earlier predicted that the payroll will be down at least 10,000, and also expected the unemployment rate to hit 3.7 percent. Meanwhile consensus forecasts put job losses at 100,000, while those expecting the worst said that we may see up…
rt.com/business/484883-us-payrolls-fall-…
Help is here: Russian military medics arrive in Serbia to assist in Covid-19 battle
rt.com | 2020-04-03
After providing coronavirus aid to Italy and the US, Russia has sent its military medics to Serbia. The first plane with virologists and equipment has already landed near Belgrade, with 10 more flights to come. | Eight teams of doctors and nurses with state-of-the-art equipment as well as a unit of nuclear, biological and chemical protection (NBC) troops to carry out disinfection have been assigned by the Defense Ministry for the mission. | The first Il-76 cargo plane took off from the Chkalovsky airfield outside Moscow and landed at Batajnica Airport near Belgrade. | The flight between the Russian capital and…
rt.com/news/484872-russia-serbia-coronav…
Turkey imposes coronavirus curfew on under-20s, locks down dozens of cities
rt.com | 2020-04-03
A raft of new restrictions to limit the continuing spread of Covid-19 have been announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including shutting the borders of 31 cities to vehicles
‘Not even a little bit!’ Trump sees no witch-hunt in US Navy firing Covid-19 whistleblower captain
rt.com | 2020-04-03
US President Donald Trump rejected claims that a recently sacked Navy captain was unfairly persecuted for blowing the whistle on an inadequate response to a Covid-19 outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, calling for evacuation. | Asked whether the aircraft carrier commander, Captain Brett Cozier, was being “punished” for sending a letter directly to senior officials urging them to save the lives of his crewmen, the president was dismissive. | “No, I don’t agree with that at all. We’re going to wait for a little while… but I don’t agree with that at all,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing on Th…
rt.com/usa/484846-trump-navy-captain-wit…
Poland’s deputy PM wants to extend Duda’s term by TWO YEARS amid Covid-19 crisis, but would the president be happy?
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Poland’s deputy PM Jaroslaw Gowin has suggested extending current President Andrzej Duda’s term to deal with the coronavirus crisis
Are NYC cops contributing to coronavirus epidemic by sending people to packed jails for violating social distancing?
rt.com | 2020-04-03
As Covid-19 lockdowns keep three-quarters of Americans indoors and see crime rates drop, New York police are arresting people for social distancing violations in a move that flies in the face of safety advisory and public policy. | New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has released hundreds of low-level offenders from city jails, including the notoriously overcrowded Rikers Island, citing the risk of uncontrollable coronavirus contagion. New Yorkers are being told
Adding insult to injury? Paris police chief says seriously-ill Covid-19 patients ignored lockdown
rt.com | 2020-04-03
With France reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic, the head of the Paris police force has been rebuked for suggesting that the worst-affected patients have only themselves to blame for their illness. | France has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus outbreak. The country has confirmed nearly 60,000 cases as of Friday, and more than 5,000 people have died. With a strict nationwide lockdown in force and healthcare workers struggling to allocate hospital beds, more than 6,000 patients in France are in critical condition. | But Paris’ police chief, Didier Lallement, expressed little sympathy for the afflicted.
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Spanish parking lot converted into huge makeshift morgue as Covid-19 deaths surge (VIDEO)
rt.com | 2020-04-03
An indoor parking lot in Barcelona has been converted into a makeshift extension of the morgue, as the city struggles to cope with the death toll from the novel coronavirus. | Memora funeral home will be the largest field morgue in Spain, with the capacity for almost 2,000 coffins. | Fernando Sanchez, the director of communications for the facility in Barcelona, said on Thursday, “We have the possibility to increase the capacity here and in other big funeral homes we have around the city, so the capacity will be very, very high.” | In comparison, two new morgues set up in Madrid combined only have the capac…
rt.com/news/484863-spain-car-park-morgue…
‘Dark day’ in Prague: Czech authorities use sham ‘no mask’ Covid-19 excuse to tear down monument to Soviet liberator
rt.com | 2020-04-03
A monument to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev, who commanded the forces that liberated Prague from the Nazis in 1945, has been removed and mocked for ‘not having a mask’ by one local official, in what Russia has condemned as an insult. | …
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Carrier captain fired over coronavirus letter becomes latest Resistance icon
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Videos of the crew of USS Theodore Roosevelt cheering their captain, relieved of command by the Navy amid a Covid-19 controversy, have become a surprise hit among the critics of President Donald Trump, who is getting the blame. | Hundreds of sailors gathered on the deck of the Roosevelt on Thursday night to bid farewell to Captain Brett Crozier, cheering him and chanting his name as he walked off the ship. They showed no sign of concern that doing so might expose them to the coronavirus
Russian authorities announce temporary halt on flights bringing citizens back from abroad over coronavirus fears
rt.com | 2020-04-03
Amid fears that returnees may be responsible for spreading Covid-19 more widely, Russia has decided to halt repatriation airlifts for the time being, the government’s task force to fight the virus has confirmed. | The suspension comes after regular and charter flights were halted last month and goes into effect at midnight on Saturday. The task force said the move is needed “in order to maximize the protection of the health of our citizens and to limit the new wave of imported cases of coronavirus infection.” | Any Russians still abroad who wish to return home will have to fill out a special form available on…
rt.com/russia/484925-russia-halts-fights…