Daily Archives: November 28, 2020

2020-11-28: News Headlines

Vijay Prashad (2020-11-28). We suffer from an incurable disease called hope. mronline.org The total level of global indebtedness now sits at an astronomical $277 trillion, an increase of $15 trillion since 2019. This amount is equivalent to 365% of the global gross domestic product.

The Canary (2020-11-28). Health experts fear rapid tests may distract from vaccine work. thecanary.co Ambitious rapid coronavirus testing plans for England threaten to become a distraction from other key goals such as the roll-out of a vaccine, prominent health officials have warned.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised the fast mass community testing systems conducted in Liverpool — which gave results in around 20 minutes without the need for a laboratory — will be replicated in all tier three areas after lockdown ends. This covers areas with a combined population of some 23 million people.Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Liverpool — where 300,000 people have been tested in the pilot scheme…

Johnnie Lewis (2020-11-28). "We did not sign up to be raped": Women veterans fight back against military sexual trauma. workers.org The writer is a U.S. Army veteran and was an organizer of the American Servicemen's Union, 1968-69. This month two veterans, represented by the Yale Law School Veterans Legal Service Clinic, won a lawsuit against the U.S. Army for giving "bad paper" discharges to veterans with mental health diagnoses. The . . . |

Sharmila Devi (2020-11-28). [World Report] Funding crisis threatens Palestinian refugee agency. thelancet.com UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East says that a $300 million shortfall is threatening health services. Sharmila Devi reports.

Sophie Cousins (2020-11-28). [World Report] Afghanistan braced for second wave of COVID-19. thelancet.com Afghan health workers predict a second wave of COVID-19 infections, but is the health system ready? Sophie Cousins reports from Afghanistan.

Darren Powell (2020-11-28). [Correspondence] Harmful marketing to children. thelancet.com The WHO—UNICEF—Lancet Commission1 identified an important threat to children's health and futures by stating that children across the globe are exposed to exploitative advertising and marketing by the private sector. Fast food and sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarettes, breastmilk substitutes, and gambling, were positioned as the key products that children are increasingly exposed to and harmed by. However, by focusing on the marketing of particular so-called unhealthy products, the Commission has made a critical oversight.

Tanya Wadhwa (2020-11-28). Chilean health workers hold an indefinite national strike. peoplesdispatch.org The healthcare professionals are demanding special bonuses for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic and a greater budget for the public health sector in 2021, among other measures…

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-28). COVID-19 daily deaths drop below 400 after nearly a month. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 28 (MNA) — According to the latest announced figures by the Iranian Health Ministry, daily death toll of the COVID-19 has dropped belowe 400 for the first time since Oct. 31.

The Lancet (2020-11-28). [Editorial] Maintaining the HIV response in a world shaped by COVID-19. thelancet.com Although global attention is dominated by COVID-19, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as it enters its fifth decade, is far from over. Since the early 1980s, 75 ∑7 million people have become infected with HIV. 32 ∑7 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses. HIV/AIDS remains a major public health crisis and only a few countries will meet the 90—90—90 treatment target for 2020. Much has been made of how information systems and service models in the HIV response have helped the COVID-19 response, but the COVID-19 pandemic could have knock-on effects on the HIV response and be devastating for com…

John Zarocostas (2020-11-28). [World Report] New international group on antimicrobial resistance. thelancet.com The One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance aims to raise awareness and political advocacy on antimicrobial resistance. John Zarocostas reports from Geneva.

Richard Horton (2020-11-28). [Comment] Offline: Europe and COVID-19—struggling with tragedy. thelancet.com The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, publishes weekly reports on progress to control the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. They make grim reading. The latest iteration, dated Nov 19, predicts that daily deaths from COVID-19 will continue to rise in the coming weeks, reaching a peak of over 7000 deaths per day around mid-January. Hospitals will be stretched to breaking point from December through to the end of February. COVID-19 is currently the second leading cause of death in the region—29‚Äà858 weekly deaths (ischaemic heart dis…

RT (2020-11-27). 'More information needed': WHO says it needs more than just press release to assess AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine. rt.com AstraZeneca's press release on its Covid-19 vaccine's efficacy is "certainly" not enough for the World Health Organization to draw any conclusion on the matter, the UN health watchdog said, calling for more data to be made public. | "What we have seen is a press release. And what is the next most important step is that the data really needs to be evaluated on [something] more than a press release," Katherine O'Brien, the WHO director of immunization vaccines and biologicals, told a press conference on Friday. | The pediatric infectious disease physician said that the statement released by the British-Swedish c…

John Pilger (2020-11-27). Britain's Class War on Children. counterpunch.org When I first reported on child poverty in Britain, I was struck by the faces of children I spoke to, especially the eyes. They were different: watchful, fearful. In Hackney, in 1975, I filmed Irene Brunsden's family. Irene told me she gave her two-year-old a plate of cornflakes. "She doesn't tell me she's hungry, she

Stephen Lendman (2020-11-27). No Thanks on Thanksgiving During US-Engineered Economic Collapse. globalresearch.ca On Thanksgiving day, throughout the year, with likely worsening times ahead, ordinary Americans are suffering through the hardest of hard times in US history. | For 36 straight weeks since March, over one million Americans sought unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. | It's …

_____ (2020-11-27). COVID-19 Economy: A Deliberate Disaster. popularresistance.org With nearly 12 million cases and a quarter million deaths in the US so far (over 55 million cases and 1.3 million deaths world-wide), the COVID 19 pandemic is ravaging civilization. The disease is on track to be the deadliest epidemic since 1918. | The economic fallout for the working class has been severe. In the US, unemployment has skyrocketed, with 45.4 million new unemployment claims since March 14. At least 1/6 of those with jobs before the pandemic are now out of work. According to The New York Times, "The economic downturn is shaping up to be particularly devastating for renters, who are more likely to be…

news.un (2020-11-27). COVID-19: Testing still vital even as vaccines roll out. news.un.org Testing will still be a critical tool against COVID-19, even as vaccines are deployed against the disease, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday during his regular briefing on the crisis.

teleSUR (2020-11-27). Cuba and Japan Sign First Memorandum on Health Cooperation. telesurenglish.net On Thursday afternoon, the signing ceremony of a cooperation memorandum between the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan and the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba (Minsap) took place, intending to collaborate to strengthen the public health and medical assistance system, as well as to share the experience in the treatment of the elderly.

teleSUR (2020-11-27). UN Warns of Famines in Madagascar After Years of Droughts. telesurenglish.net The UN World Food Program (WFP) warned of serious famines in Madagascar, a country which has been ravaged by three consecutive years of droughts. | RELATED: | Approximately 1.5 million people are experiencing extreme food emergency conditions. They are being forced to eat insects and sell kitchen utensils and other basic items. | The WFP warned that the number of people in need of help is three times higher than they forecast i…

teleSUR (2020-11-27). US: 90,000 People Hospitalized With COVID-19 Amid Thanksgiving. telesurenglish.net Nearly 90,000 COVID-19 patients are in hospitals across the United States as of Thursday, the Thanksgiving day, reaching a new all-time high for the 16th consecutive day, according to The COVID Tracking Project. | RELATED: | Wednesday's death toll climbed to 2,284 cases, the highest since May 7, also the 7th highest daily death total to data. | The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicted that t…

WSWS (2020-11-27). US CDC plans to reduce quarantine time after potential COVID-19 exposure. wsws.org The purpose of reducing the isolation period to as little as seven days is to ensure workers will be back on the job faster, even though the CDC admits this will increase the transmission of the virus.

Christopher Robertson (2020-11-27). Conservatives backed the ideas behind Obamacare, so how did they come to hate it?>. salon.com Republicans like Newt Gingrich were the ones who came up with the blueprint for the Affordable Care Act…

teleSUR (2020-11-27). Cuba: Researchers Develop 2 New COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates. telesurenglish.net Cuba's Center for Control of Drugs, Equipment, and Medical Devices (Cecmed) authorized the beginning of clinical trials of two new COVID-19 vaccine candidates, which were named Mambisa (CIGB-669) and Abdala (CIGB-66). | RELATED: | The Mambisa vaccine will be applied as a nasal spray and its clinical trials will be carried out in Havana, while Abdala will be administered as an intramuscular injection and will be res…

sputniknews (2020-11-27). WHO Wants to See 'More Than a Press Release' on AstraZeneca's Vaccine. sputniknews.com Doubts have emerged about the vaccine's efficiency after AstraZeneca released interim results of its candidate vaccine on Monday showing two different levels of efficacy depending on the dosing regimen.

WSWS (2020-11-27). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Youth and workers shut state-run phosphate plant in Tunisia demanding jobs; four-hour national public sector strike in Italy in protest at pandemic social and health catastrophe; months-long strike of nurses in Zimbabwe sold out by unions; community health workers continue stoppages and protests for pay rise and improved conditions…

news.un (2020-11-27). African nations 'far from ready' for COVID-19 vaccination drive, says UN health agency. news.un.org As efforts to find safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19 are showing increasing promise, the African continent is "far from ready" to roll out what will be its largest ever immunization drive, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

imperial.ac.uk (2020-11-27). Imperial engineer to develop AI clinician to help frontline health workers. imperial.ac.uk Professor Aldo Faisal has won a Turing AI Fellowship to develop AI that will help doctors make complex decisions.

_____ (2020-11-27). VIDEO: Zero Point: Our 4th Industrial Revolution Against Their Great Reset. strategic-culture.org Freedom of the Internet of any sort could drift forever into the past. But most importantly, why do we need to reset society because of the low-lethality plague? Watch the video and read more in the

Julia Conley, Common Dreams (2020-11-27). Atlas Welcomes Killing Loved Ones With Covid as This May Be 'Their Final Thanksgiving'. indybay.org Dr. Scott Atlas, a top White House coronavirus adviser, said that Americans should flout public health guidance and gather as normal for the holidays as this may be "the final Thanksgiving" for many. | Photo of Hoover Tower under Creative Commons via flicker. Scott Atlas is on leave from Stanford University's Hoover Institute while he serves under Trump.

teleSUR (2020-11-27). Germany: 12th Country to Surpass One Million COVID-19 Cases. telesurenglish.net The number of COVID-19 infections in Germany surpassed the one million mark. The daily death toll hit a record of 426, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday. | RELATED: | The figures reflected the reality that Germany was at best keeping new infections stable, which Chancellor Angela Merkel has said would not suffice to ease restrictions and eliminate the risk of ove…

RT (2020-11-26). Don't hug grandma this Christmas: UK public health chief's grim Covid advice as Britain readies for festive season. rt.com The UK is heading for a bleak winter as Prime Minister Boris Johnson's chief scientific adviser on Thursday warned Britons not to hug and kiss their elderly relatives at Christmas, in a bid to protect them from Covid-19. | "Would I encourage someone to hug and kiss their elderly relatives? No I would not," Professor Chris Whitty said, during a Downing Street coronavirus briefing and days after the PM had outlined He stressed that, while hugging grandparents is technically not "again…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-11-26). Greek working class unites, strikes for health, safety and rights amid COVID-19. peoplesdispatch.org Workers, teachers, doctors, students and youth groups in Greece observed a nationwide general strike on November 26, putting forward a set of urgent demands in sectors including health care, education, public transport, and other areas of employment…

RT (2020-11-26). Efficacy vs safety? AstraZeneca vaccine is 'busted flush' IF it cannot help elderly — but US jabs may be worse, UK doctor tells RT. rt.com AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine could be a lost cause if it turns out that it cannot protect the elderly against the disease, Malcolm Kendrick, an NHS GP, told RT. He warned that on the other hand, US vaccines could be dangerous. | "Realistically, it has got to work for the elderly, otherwise it is a busted flush," the Scottish doctor said, commenting on the recent media reports about the jab's potential efficacy. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the vaccine developed by the British-Swedish drug manufacturer might be much less effective for the elderly population than it is for younger people. | The reports…

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-26). Iran COVID-19 update: 482 deaths, 13,961 cases in 24 hours. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 26 (MNA) — The Iranian Health Ministry has confirmed 13,961 COVID-19 infections and 482 deaths due to the disease in the past 24 hours.

Dr. Gilbert Berdine (2020-11-26). What the COVID Vaccine Hype Fails to Mention. globalresearch.ca Pfizer recently announced that its covid vaccine was

Fight Back (2020-11-26). Chicago area nursing home workers' strike. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – 700 nursing home workers who are members SEIU Health Care Illinois/Indiana (HCII) began a second #StrikeForOurLives on November 23. Strikers walked out at 11 Infinity nursing homes across the state of Illinois. Members of SEIU have been denied adequate staffing, PPE and hazard pay.

Sam Pizzigati (2020-11-26). The Rain on Our Yes-We-Now-Have-a-Vaccine! Parade. zcomm.org What could be better than a drug that can stop Covid? A society that doesn't let some make billions off a drug millions can't access…

Jeremy Loffredo (2020-11-26). COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Widespread, Even Among Medical Professionals. globalresearch.ca Public health groups, including the World Health Organization, are making a concerted effort to reduce COVID vaccine hesitancy, as many medical professionals and minority groups remain doubtful about safety and efficacy. | *** | As details on the latest

sputniknews (2020-11-26). Whitty Says Judgement About AstraZeneca Vaccine Should Be 'In the Hands' of Drug Regulator. sputniknews.com Controversy is surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, with critics expressing concerns that it could be based on "shaky science".

Chris Walker (2020-11-26). 4 in 10 Americans Plan to Defy CDC Guidelines on Thanksgiving. zcomm.org As of Tuesday, more than 12.4 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, with close to 260,000 having died from the virus so far…

Peter Boyle (2020-11-26). Galilee Blockade targets Allianz. greenleft.org.au Coral Wynter reports on a campaign to pressure insurance company Allianz to withdraw all support for the controversial Adani-owned Carmichael coal mine.

Howard Mansfield (2020-11-26). The Covid-19 Pandemic Helps Tell the True Story of Thanksgiving. commondreams.org At the time the Pilgrims landed, the Wampanoags and their neighbors had been tested by the years they called the Great Dying. An epidemic from 1616 to 1619—which may have been smallpox (there are other theories)—had killed as many as 9 out of 10 coastal Indians. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

WSWS (2020-11-26). Greece's hospitals face collapse in the second coronavirus wave. wsws.org With death and infection figures skyrocketing, doctors and nurses are sounding the alarm over the crisis in Greece's health care system.

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2020-11-26). Amid Public Health and Employment Crises, New Survey Shows Poor Americans Agree on Policy Solutions. commondreams.org With over 262,000 Americans killed by Covid-19, millions jobless and at risk of soon losing unemployment aid, and families and friends warned against spending Thanksgiving together because of the dangers of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, new polling results revealed Thursday that people with low incomes agree upon a range of policy solutions to poverty and hunger. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Amanda Mills (2020-11-26). "It's going to be a billionaire Thanksgiving." Wealth of US richest just hit $1 trillion since the start of the pandemic. nationofchange.org "The increases in billionaire wealth continue to defy gravity in the real economy where millions have lost their jobs, health, and livelihoods."

sputniknews (2020-11-26). Trump Says COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery to Begin Next Week. sputniknews.com The US president previously said that the vaccine would be available before the 3 November presidential election, prompting criticism from Democrats who believed he was rushing its development.

teleSUR (2020-11-26). Panama: President Cortizo Calls for a National Dialogue. telesurenglish.net Panama's President Laurentino Cortizo is set to announce Thursday the Bicentennial Pact "Closing Gaps" which seeks to establish a national dialogue to promote economic, educational, social, and health development. | RELATED: | Representatives of private enterprises, political parties, workers unions, and civil society have been called upon to participate in the national dialogue. | Cortizo insisted that the process is diff…

Princess Harmony (2020-11-25). Living with addiction and COVID-19 — a WW commentary. workers.org In the countrywide COVID-19 epidemic, it is easy to forget that the most vulnerable among us include those with opioid addictions who use the medications methadone (Diskets, Methadose) and buprenorphine (Suboxone, Subutex, Sublocade, Zubsolv, Bunavail). These people, who are reliant on constant and steady dosing of their medicines to stave . . . |

Staff (2020-11-25). Thanksgiving is going to kill a lot of people, again. therealnews.com Amid a terrifying surge in COVID-19 cases, millions are defying public health warnings and traveling for Thanksgiving—a grimly fitting situation, given the central role of contagious diseases in the genocide of this continent's Native people.

RT (2020-11-25). Puzzling higher AstraZeneca vaccine efficacy for smaller dosage explained: It was reportedly tested on people only under 56. rt.com A seemingly strange phenomenon of a smaller dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine being more effective than a bigger one is reportedly explained by it first being tested on a younger group. | On Monday, the pharmacological company

Chauncey K. Robinson, Matt Bernico (2020-11-25). PW Podcast: U.S. imperialism hinders Cuban COVID-19 vaccine. peoplesworld.org Beyond the Page is a companion podcast to the award-winning publication People's World. With every episode, we'll take you deeper into the topics covered at PeoplesWorld.org. Our program brings you in-depth interviews with journalists and activists on the most pressing stories in progressive politics, labor, and the struggle for socialism in the United States. The …