2020-12-26: News Headlines

Online News Editor (2020-12-26). Beijing district declares emergency after new Covid-19 outbreak. laprensalatina.com Beijing, Dec 26 (efe-epa).- A district in northeastern Beijing has declared an emergency after five new Covid-19 cases were detected in the area, following two local infections on Christmas Day, health authorities said Saturday. Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention's deputy head Pang Xinghuo told reporters that five patients tested positive after 5,000 people …

Mehr News Agency (2020-12-26). Fatemieh mourning ceremony held in Tehran. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Dec. 26 (MNA) —The mourning ceremony of the martyrdom of Hazrat Zahra (SA), the daughter of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), was held on Friday night in Tehran's Husseiniyeh of Noor al-Reza through observing health protocols.

Dean Baker (2020-12-26). The New York Times Hasn't Heard About China's Vaccines. cepr.net That is the implication of a major piece on how the coronavirus vaccines are leading to greater worldwide inequality, since the rich countries have reserved the vast majority of the 2021 supplies of vaccines of the leading U.S.-European vaccines. While this is in fact a serious problem, as my co-authors and I have noted, China …

teleSUR (2020-12-25). Chile Begins COVID-19 Vaccination of Healthcare Workers. telesurenglish.net Chile on Thursday began to vaccinate against the new coronavirus, after the arrival of the first 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. | RELATED: | Chile's President Sebastian Pinera and Health Ministry officials were on hand for the vaccination of the first five healthcare workers from intensive care units in the capital Santiago, who were vaccinated at the city's Metropolitan Hospital. | Zulema Riquelme, a 46-year…

_____ (2020-12-25). US Airports Are Portals For Disease Spread. popularresistance.org I recently traveled to Venezuela to be an observer for its National Assembly election and was struck by a stark difference between the ways Venezuela and the United States are handling the COVID-19 pandemic. | My experience at the airport in Caracas, Venezuela, gave me a taste of what a coordinated public health approach looks like in practice, compared to the disjointed politicized approach in the United States. Airports in the United States are currently serving as uncontrolled portals of disease spread. Venezuela demonstrates it doesn't have to be this way and that mitigating the spread of infection can be don…

Staff (2020-12-25). Indigenous Nations Handle COVID as Federal and State Governments Fall Short. truthout.org As the months roll by, the pandemic continues to hit Indigenous nations hard. But this phenomenon is not new. Epidemics have been part of colonialism since

Andrew Moss (2020-12-25). Justice for All Essential Workers. counterpunch.org Each day the pandemic brings new mixtures of hope and dread: new reports on the vaccine rollout, new and dire accounts of surging cases and deaths. And threading through this skein of news reports is an ongoing story of persisting injustice: economic and racial inequality, deep inequalities of risk. You don't need to look far

Judy Greenspan (2020-12-25). Demonstrators besiege California prison HQ: 'Mass releases now!'. workers.org Sacramento, Calif. Dec. 17 — Under the banner "From Balloons to Bullhorns," an angry group of protesters converged on the steps of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to demand mass releases of incarcerated people due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The vigil and rally organized by Sistas With Voices . . . |

RT (2020-12-25). Instant immunity? UK scientists test drug to prevent people exposed to Covid-19 from catching disease via rapid antibodies boost. rt.com British scientists have started testing a new drug that they claim gives instant immunity to Covid-19 and could save many lives by being administered as emergency treatment to those exposed to coronavirus. | "The advantage of this medicine is that it gives you immediate antibodies," while vaccines against the coronavirus take around a month to fully kick in," Dr Catherine Houlihan, a virologist at University College London Hospitals NHS trust (UCLH), told the Guardian. | The antibody therapy, which UCLH has developed together with AstraZeneca — the maker of the yet-to-be-approved British vaccine against C…

Workers World Party (2020-12-25). PDF of December 24 issue. workers.org Download the 12-page PDF. Georgia Senate runoff Redbaiting derails people's needs Youth in vanguard; Russell Maroon Shoatz; The real 2020 heroes; Amazon union drive in Ala.; Five hottest years; Vaccine chaos; Editorial: Too little, too late GLOBAL: Amauta in Peru; 'Soft coup' attempt in Cuba; BLM in France. TEAR DOWN . . . |

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2020-12-25). 'Holidays Can't Be Jolly If Your Family Is Not Safely Housed': Progressives Urge CDC to Extend Eviction Moratorium. commondreams.org "Allowing tens of millions of people to be evicted in the dead of winter in the middle of a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and deaths is unconscionable." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Peter Koenig (2020-12-25). WARNING: Covid Vaccines! dissidentvoice.org Did you know that the US Government since 1988 paid as of 1 December 2020 more than 4.4 billion dollars to vaccine-injury victims? It's your money,Taxpayers money. This is Health Services and Service Administration Vaccine Injury Compensation Data The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), was set up in 1988 to compensate for the National …

Jill Richardson (2020-12-25). The Coming Battle Over Vaccines. counterpunch.org With the new COVID-19 vaccine available, Dr. Anthony Fauci says Americans can begin to achieve herd immunity by next summer. Herd immunity occurs when so many people are immune to the virus that it can't spread, because an infected person won't have anyone left to spread it to. Yet as of November, four in ten

F. William Engdahl (2020-12-25). What's Not Being Said About the Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine. "Human Guinea Pigs"? globalresearch.ca The Pharma giant Pfizer use an experimental technology known as gene editing, specifically mRNA gene-editing, something never before used in vaccines. Before we rush to get jabbed in hopes of some immunity, we should know more about the radical experimental technology and its lack of precision.

André Carrilho (2020-12-25). New Year Vaccine. thenation.com New Year Vaccine…

2020 news (2020-12-25). Dr. Wodarg and Dr. Yeadon File Application for Suspension of All SARS CoV-2 Vaccine Studies and Call for Co-signing the Petition. globalresearch.ca On December 1, 2020, the ex-Pfizer head of respiratory research Dr. Michael Yeadon and the lung specialist and former head of the public health department Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg

WSWS (2020-12-24). Reject the SEIU sellout: Mobilize the working class to defend HCA nurses in southern California! wsws.org With the pandemic spreading out of control and California hospitals strained beyond capacity by the flood of nearly 20,000 COVID-19 patients, including at least 3,500 in ICUs, nurses in Southern California have taken a stand to demand safe staffing levels and protections that are critical to save the lives of health care workers and patients alike.

Margaret Flowers (2020-12-24). US Airports Are Portals for Disease Spread. Venezuela Shows Another Way. zcomm.org People in the United States do have a lot to learn from Venezuelans and from people in many other countries that are handling the pandemic well…

Richard Lachmann (2020-12-24). No Co-Sponsor of 'Medicare for All' Has Lost Reelection in the Past Decade. zcomm.org Every single Congressional co-sponsor of these bills in the House and Senate who were up for reelection beat their Republican opponents in 2020. And in 2018. And in 2016…

Anand Naidoo (2020-12-24). The Heat: Climate Change Challenges for 2021. america.cgtn.com In 2020, the world reeled from the worst public health crisis in a century and extreme weather events brought on by climate change. So, what challenges lie ahead in 2021?>

Anthony D. Romero (2020-12-24). Incarcerated People Should Get Priority Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine. It's the Smart and Human Thing to Do. aclu.org Governor Jared Polis of Colorado — otherwise a trailblazer when it comes to criminal legal reform — recently

commondreams (2020-12-24). 'The Courts Are a Sham': New Hampshire Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Rights of Nature, Healthy Climate Arguments. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Malik Washington (2020-12-24). Racist practices at the SF Health Service System will no longer be tolerated: Remove Mitch. indybay.org SF Bay View Editor Malik Washington reports on systemic racism in the SF Health Service System…

Global Research News (2020-12-23). Selected Articles: Staff at Hospitals in DC, Texas Turn Down COVID-19 Vaccine. globalresearch.ca By A long and cruel siege, constant Israeli attacks resulting in the killing of countless civilians, destruction …

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-12-23). 'Our Kids Deserve Better': Despite Pandemic, Trump EPA Refuses to Strengthen Smog Standards. commondreams.org "In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans are more keenly aware than ever of the need to take care of our health." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Matt Bruenig (2020-12-23). Medicare for All Would Save Hundreds of Billions of Dollars Annually. zcomm.org The most exhaustive study on Medicare for All just came out. Its conclusion: a single-payer system would guarantee health insurance to all people while reducing overall health spending by hundreds of billions of dollars every year…

MEE and agencies (2020-12-23). Israel detects new Covid-19 strain, health ministry says. middleeasteye.net Israel detects new Covid-19 strain, health ministry says | Four people diagnosed with coronavirus variant that first emerged in the United Kingdom | Wed, 12/23/2020 – 16: 04 | An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man gets vaccinated against Covid-19 at Clalit Health Services Center in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, on 21 December 2020 (AFP) | Israel has detected four cases of a new Covid-19 strain, a highl…

Sara Flounders (2020-12-23). Las vacunas mundiales de China: un cambio revolucionario. workers.org En Estados Unidos, con menos del 5% de la población mundial, existe poca preocupación por el destino del otro 95% del mundo que se enfrenta a la pandemia. Cuándo, cómo y bajo qué condiciones se distribuirá una vacuna en los EE. UU. es la mayor preocupación de los EE.UU. Las . . . |

Tim Wheeler (2020-12-23). Labor creates all value, including vaccine value. peoplesworld.org As I watched the rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccines on television recently, I thought of that old line, "Labor creates all value." Above all, it is labor power—mental labor and muscle labor—that is producing safe, effective vaccines in quantities sufficient to vaccinate the 340 million people of the United States. People mistakenly credit Karl …

Newsclick (2020-12-23). How dangerous is the new COVID-19 strain? peoplesdispatch.org News of a new strain of the COVID-19 disease has stoked fears in the UK and the rest of the world. A number of countries, including India, have banned or restricted travel to the country. Immunologist Dr. Satyajit Rath and Newsclick's Prabir Purkayastha discuss the new strain and its implications.

sputniknews (2020-12-23). UK's NHS Frontline Doctors Express Concern Over Pace of COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution. sputniknews.com Medical staff members in the US and the UK are currently receiving the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, which is based on messenger RNA technology, a new type of treatment that works by providing instructions to healthy cells to generate antibodies for a certain antigen.

Ayla Ellison (2020-12-23). Staff at Hospitals in DC, Texas Turn Down COVID-19 Vaccine. globalresearch.ca Many employees at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., have reservations about taking the COVID-19 vaccine, and CEO Anita Jenkins is trying to get workers to follow her lead by getting vaccinated, according to The hospital, a major …

Stephen Lendman (2020-12-23). Worthless PCR Tests for COVID. "Almost all" PCR Tests Produce False Positives. globalresearch.ca PCR tests are a scam. They don't work as claimed. | Yet their widespread use provides a foundation for manipulating people to be vaxxed with experimental, hazardous to human health vaccines. | PCR tests produce false positive results up to 90% of …

Chelsea Tejada (2020-12-23). Arkansas Politicians' Relentless Push to End Abortion Access, and Humiliate and Shame Abortion Patients. aclu.org This week, the ACLU is back in court working to protect the constitutional right to abortion in Arkansas. In 2017, the state legislature passed four anti-abortion laws to severely restrict access to abortion. If allowed to take effect, these laws would ban the only method of abortion provided in Arkansas after approximately 14 weeks in pregnancy; require that patients' partners or others be notified of their abortion; force the health care center to report teenage patients' abortion to local police where there is no reason to suspect a crime; and force physicians to request a vast number of medical records for…

Sayedul Ashraf Kushal, Yahia Md Amin, Shusama Reza, Md Shajedur Rahman Shawon (2020-12-23). [Research Paper] Parent-adolescent relationships and their associations with adolescent suicidal behaviours: Secondary analysis of data from 52 countries using the Global School-based Health Survey. thelancet.com Despite the potential benefits of parents-adolescent relationships on suicidal behaviours among adolescents, research on these topics are importantly limited by lack of comprehensiveness, difficulties in cross-country comparisons, and limited generalisability, among others. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of various aspects of parents-adolescent relationships and suicidal behaviours by sex and region, and to investigate their associations.

Alejandro M. Hasslocher-Moreno, Roberto M. Saraiva, Luiz H.C. Sangenis, Sergio S. Xavier, Andrea S. de Sousa, Andrea R. Costa, Marcelo T. de Holanda, Henrique H. Veloso, Fernanda S.N.S. Mendes, Filipe A.C. Costa, Marcio N. Boia, Pedro E.A.A. Brasil, Fernanda M. Carneiro, Gilberto M.Sperandio da Silva, Mauro F.F. Mediano (2020-12-23). [Research Paper] Benznidazole decreases the risk of chronic Chagas disease progression and cardiovascular events: A long-term follow up study. thelancet.com In a long-term follow-up, BZN treatment was associated with a decreased incidence of CD progression from ICF to the cardiac form and also with a decreased risk of cardiovascular events. Therefore, our results indicate that BZN treatment for CD patients with ICF should be implemented into clinical practice.

Thomas Frank (2020-12-23). Populists and Experts. indybay.org Privilege versus equality. | "The central issue in the conflict between the government and doctors in Saskatchewan is not health insurance, but democracy," noted the Toronto-based newspaper The Globe and Mail after the strike began. "The experts, no matter what their specialty, must always ultimately be subordinate to the laity, or democracy can't work."

Steve Watson (2020-12-23). World Tourism Chief: Mandatory Vaccines Will "Kill" Travel Industry. globalresearch.ca The head of one of the world's most prominent tourism lobby groups has warned that if governments embrace "no jab, no fly" polices, it will kill the travel industry. | Gloria Guevara, head of the World Travel and Tourism Council, …