Why is the world's richest country so unprepared?
Editor | workers.org | 2021-01-06
The big question one must ask about the COVID-19 epidemic — which as of Jan. 2 has killed more than 1,850,000 people around the globe — is "Why was the United States so unprepared?" This is a highly developed and rich country. It has more than 600 billionaires, according to . . . | Continue reading Why is the world's richest country so unprepared? at Workers.org…
workers.org/2021/01/53604/?utm_source=rs…
COVID-19 and Induced Insanity in the UK, the Global Lab Rat
Dr. David Halpin | globalresearch.ca | 2021-01-06
There were several events typical of predictive programming. | The World Economic Forum October 21st 2020 meeting and the Great Reset was one (1). | Here in Britain the orchestration of central, NHS and local responses to a respiratory disease suggested …
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-induced-insanity-uk-global-lab-rat/5733347
82 deaths, 6,283 infections in past 24h: Health Ministry
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2021-01-06
TEHRAN, Jan. 06 (MNA) — The Iranian Health Ministry has confirmed 6,283 COVID-19 infections and 82 deaths due to respiratory disease in the past 24 hours.
en.mehrnews.com/news/168174/82-deaths-6-…
Iranians at forefront of science, vaccine production
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2021-01-06
TEHRAN, Jan. 06 (MNA) — Hailing that Iranian scientists are always at the forefront of science in the world, a parliament member said that therefore, Iran can rely on domestic capabilities in producing the Covid-19 vaccine.
en.mehrnews.com/news/168154/Iranians-at-…
Amnesty Intl. urges Zionists to give vaccine to Palestinians
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2021-01-06
TEHRAN, Jan. 06 (MNA) — Amnesty International called on the Zionist regime to stop its occupation and take immediate action to provide the Covid-19 vaccine to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
en.mehrnews.com/news/168180/Amnesty-Intl…
Record Covid infection numbers in Japan ahead of state of emergency
Online News Editor | laprensalatina.com | 2021-01-06
Tokyo, Jan 6 (efe-epa).- Japan reported more than 5,000 new daily Covid-19 infections for the first time on Wednesday, the majority of which were in Tokyo, which is also seeing record levels of infections. The central government is finalizing the declaration of a new state of health emergency amid the spiralling contagion. The number of …
laprensalatina.com/record-covid-infectio…
India's Covid-19 death toll crosses 150,000
Online News Editor | laprensalatina.com | 2021-01-06
New Delhi, Jan 6 (efe-epa).- India had by Wednesday registered 150,114 deaths due to the new coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, including 226 within the last 24 hours, although the rate of mortalities and fresh infections has been steadily declining in the country of over 1.3 billion people. India, which has registered over …
laprensalatina.com/indias-covid-19-death…
Covid-19: Palestinians left in limbo as Israel vaccinates
Adam Khalil | middleeasteye.net | 2021-01-06
Covid-19: Palestinians left in limbo as Israel vaccinates | As Israelis tout record numbers of jabs, the occupied territories are still scrambling to obtain the coronavirus vaccine | Adam Khalil | Wed, 01/06/2021 – 12: 48 | A Palestinian youth wearing a face mask rides his bicycle past a mural painting of a nurse injecting a vaccine to a COVID-19 virus in Gaza City, on 31 December 2020 (AFP) | Israel has boasted that…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/covid-palesti…
Welsh NHS chief warns Covid-19 patient numbers could double from first wave
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2021-01-06
The number of coronavirus (COVID-19) patients in Welsh hospitals could soon be double that seen during the first wave of the pandemic, the country's NHS chief executive has warned.Dr Andrew Goodall said Wales's health system was under "immense pressure", with critical care units operating at 140% of normal capacity. Two health boards are dedicating almost half their beds to patients with the virus.Almost 2,800 people are in Welsh hospitals with Covid-19-related illness. That's an increase of 4% in just a week, and the highest number on record following a surge in transmissions over the last fortnight.More dif…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/2021/01/06/welsh-nhs-chief-warns-covid-19-patient-numbers-could-double-from-first-wave/
COVID-19 vaccines: Differences, costs, and challenges
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2021-01-06
The beginning of the new year has brought with it some hope as different countries have started administering vaccinations against COVID-19. This has been the fastest development of a vaccine ever, with a number of research collaborations to make this feat possible. But many challenges also remain.
peoplesdispatch.org/2021/01/06/covid-19-…
Turkish government sets minimum wage at hunger level
wsws.org | 2021-01-06
While big business rakes in billions in profits during the pandemic, the Erdogan government has slashed living standards, with millions left unemployed.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/06/turk…
Lessons from a decade of student activism in the UK
Hector Rios-Jara | zcomm.org | 2021-01-06
The pandemic has exposed the disgraceful failures of market reforms in the British higher education sector. But the resistance of students continues…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/lessons-from-a-dec…
40% Of Chicago Teachers And Staff Didn't Report To Schools As Ordered
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2021-01-06
About 40% of Chicago Public Schools teachers and staff who were expected to report to schools Monday for the first time during the pandemic didn't show up for in-person work, officials said Tuesday, accusing the Chicago Teachers Union of pressuring its members to defy the district's orders. | In all, about half of teachers and three-quarters of school-based support staff in preschool and special education cluster programs returned to classrooms as expected, accounting for 60% of those 4,400 employees scheduled to go back to specific schools, the district announced. Officials didn't immediately provide data on ano…
popularresistance.org/40-of-chicago-teac…
Chomsky and Prashad: Three major threats to life on earth that we must address in 2021
Noam Chomsky | peoplesdispatch.org | 2021-01-06
Large parts of the world–outside of China and a few other countries–face a runaway virus, which has not been stopped because of criminal incompetence by governments. That these governments in wealthy countries cynically set aside the basic scientific protocols released by the World Health Organization and by scientific organizations reveals their malicious practice. Anything less than focused attention to managing the virus by testing, contact tracing, and isolation–and if this does not suffice, then…
peoplesdispatch.org/2021/01/06/chomsky-a…
WikiLeaks founder Assange denied bail by UK judge
Online News Editor | laprensalatina.com | 2021-01-06
London, Jan 6 (efe-epa).- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was denied bail on Wednesday after British judge Vanessa Baraitser deemed him a flight risk, despite having blocked his extradition to the United States on health grounds earlier this week. Baraitser ruled that Assange — who was born in Queensland, Australia — cannot be extradited to the …
laprensalatina.com/wikileaks-founder-ass…
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange must be released after 'inhumane' bail refusal
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2021-01-06
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's hopes for freedom have been dashed after a judge refused him bail despite a decision to block his extradition to the United States. | District judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected an application for Assange's release with strict conditionals over concern he would abscond. | It follows a decision that he should not be extradited to the US on mental health grounds due to the risk of suicide. | Assange will have to remain in custody as the US government is appealing against Monday's extradition ruling. | Announcing her bail decision at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Baraitser said: "A…
thecanary.co/breaking-news/2021/01/06/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-must-be-released-after-inhumane-bail-refusual/
Health Affairs Study Finds Previous Projections of Costs Under Single-Payer/Medicare for All Ignore Evidence That the Finite Supply of Beds, Nurses, and Physicians Will Prevent a Surge in Health Care Use and Costs
commondreams.org | 2021-01-05
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commondreams.org/newswire/2021/01/05/hea…
New Study Reveals Flawed Predictions of Runaway Costs and Usage Under Medicare for All
Kenny Stancil, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2021-01-05
"Analysts who've confidently projected a tsunami of healthcare use and costs after Medicare for All are ignoring history." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/news/2021/01/05/new-stu…
Draconian NY Police State Assembly Bill: Indefinite Detainment of "Disease Carriers"
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2021-01-05
Draconian NY State Assembly Bill A416 calls for indefinitely detainment of residents considered to be "disease carriers (sic)." | It's aimed at seasonal flu/influenza, diabolically disguised as covid. | It's all-about wanting to eliminate fundamental freedoms on the phony pretext of | …
globalresearch.ca/draconian-ny-police-state-assembly-bill-indefinite-detainment-of-disease-carriers/5733587
Social Issues and Homeownership for All
Beau Peters | dissidentvoice.org | 2021-01-05
Image source Homeownership is the traditional cornerstone of the American Dream. Yet for millions of people across the nation, who may have poor credit scores and earn less than a living wage, the possibility of homeownership has long been out of reach, even before the COVID pandemic. Today, with COVID serving as yet another barrier …
dissidentvoice.org/2021/01/social-issues…
The Art of Losing–3 Poems for the COVID-19 Pandemic
Campo R, New E. | jamanetwork.com | 2021-01-05
This Arts and Medicine essay features 3 poems–Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art," Marilyn Chin's "Hospital in Oregon," and Edward Hirsch's "What the Last Evening Will Be Like"–as sources of wisdom and insight in the turmoil and pain of the COVID-19 pandemic.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticl…
Beloved El Paso, Texas teacher dies from COVID-19 as Governor presses schools to reopen
wsws.org | 2021-01-05
The reopening of schools across Texas, enforced by Republican Governor Greg Abbott has been a major factor behind the surge of the pandemic in El Paso and throughout the state since August.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/06/paso…
Daily deaths turned two-digit after some 6 months
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2021-01-05
TEHRAN, Jan. 05 (MNA) — The Iranian Health Ministry reported double-digit Covid-19 deaths in the country, confirming 6,113 COVID-19 infections and 98 deaths due to respiratory disease in the past 24 hours.
en.mehrnews.com/news/168123/Daily-deaths…
Iran ready to test advanced generation of COVID-19 vaccine
Mehr News Agency | en.mehrnews.com | 2021-01-05
TEHRAN, Jan. 05 (MNA) — Virology Research Director of Pasteur Institute of Iran said the the country is ready to enter human test in advanced generation of coronavirus, COVID-19, vaccine.
en.mehrnews.com/news/168098/Iran-ready-t…
"Last Responders" Are Bracing for a Surge in COVID Deaths Across US
Staff | truthout.org | 2021-01-05
Funeral director Kevin Spitzer has been overwhelmed with covid-related deaths in the small city of Aberdeen, South Dakota. | He and his two colleagues at the Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home have been working 12-15 hours a day, seven days a week, to keep up with the demand in the community of 26,000. The funerals are sparsely attended, which would have been unthinkable before the pandemic. | "We had a funeral for a younger man one recent Saturday, and not 20 people came, because most everyone was just afraid…
truthout.org/articles/last-responders-ar…
Mexico receives 1st Pfizer vaccine shipment of 2021
Online News Editor | laprensalatina.com | 2021-01-05
Mexico City, Jan 5 (efe-epa).- The year's first shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech anti-Covid vaccine arrived in Mexico on Tuesday, 53,605 doses earmarked to immunize healthcare personnel in Mexico City and the northern state of Coahuila. "This brief ceremony, the first of the year, keeps us united with everyone, and I remind you: everyone will get …
laprensalatina.com/mexico-receives-1st-p…
Brazil Detects Its First Two Cases of the UK Coronavirus Strain
telesurenglish.net | 2021-01-05
Brazil's health authorities Monday confirmed in Sao Paulo the first two cases of patients infected by the new British COVID-19 strain. | RELATED: | Brazil to Import 2 Million Doses of AstraZeneca Vaccine | The state-owned Adolfo Lutz Institute's Strategic Laboratory confirmed the cases after performing the genetic sequencing of samples sent by Sao Paulo's DASA private laboratory. | A 25-year-old woman is one patient affected by the new strain. She was infected after having contact wi…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazil-Detects-F…
FROM THE FIELD: Weathering a tourist downturn in Kyrgyzstan
news.un.org | 2021-01-05
The residents of a small traditional village high in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, which once attracted a steady stream of visitors, are learning how to adapt to the reality of a world where the COVID-19 pandemic has all but frozen out the opportunities provided by tourism.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2021/01/1…
WHO chief begins 2021 with plea for 'less politicking' over health
news.un.org | 2021-01-05
In a race to "save lives, livelihoods and end this pandemic", the head of the UN heath agency said on Tuesday that it was important to remember COVID-19 was just one of a number of major disease outbreaks facing communities across the world.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2021/01/1…
US Congresswoman slams Israel's Covid-19 vaccination drive which excludes Palestinians
MEE staff | middleeasteye.net | 2021-01-05
US Congresswoman slams Israel's Covid-19 vaccination drive which excludes Palestinians | Democrat Marie Newman said Israel has 'humanitarian obligation' to ensure Palestinians living in occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are vaccinated | MEE staff | Tue, 01/05/2021 – 16: 33 | Marie Newman was sworn into her first term in Congress earlier this week (AFP) | US Congresswoman Marie Newman has hit out at Israel's Covid-19 vacci…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-congresswo…
Covid-19: Egypt health minister under fire for attending wedding amid pandemic
Nadda Osman | middleeasteye.net | 2021-01-05
Covid-19: Egypt health minister under fire for attending wedding amid pandemic | Social media users have contrasted the minister violating lockdown measures with the dire state of Egypt's overwhelmed hospitals | Nadda Osman | Tue, 01/05/2021 – 11: 47 | The large wedding was compared to scenes of hospitals and medical staff facing shortages in Egypt (Screengrab/Twitter) | Egypt's Health Minister Hala Zayed has come und…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-covid-h…
Police Chief Mills says New Homeless Camping Ordinance will go to City Council this Month
Santa Cruz News | indybay.org | 2021-01-05
In the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has the local homeless population scrambling for places to camp and shelter in place, Santa Cruz Police Chief Andrew Mills is soliciting support from the public for a new camping ordinance that he says will go before the City Council for approval in January. "It will need our support," Mills said. "We Have not had an ordinance to enforce due to a SCOTUS decision and council suspending our ordinance," he added. (Photo: Correspondence between Police Chief Mills and a member of the public concerning the homeless.)…
indybay.org/newsitems/2021/01/03/1883918…
Investigation launched as 2 people die in Norway nursing home days after receiving Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine
rt.com | 2021-01-05
The Norwegian Medicines Agency has announced that two nursing home residents passed away days after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, and that an investigation has been launched into the deaths. | "We have to assess whether the vaccine is the cause of death, or if it is a coincidence that it happened soon after vaccination," Medical Director Steiner Madsen said in a statement about the deaths. | He also noted that, because people of advanced age are receiving the vacci…
rt.com/news/511623-norway-covid19-vaccin…
Calls for PROBE as Germany's apparent failure to pre-order enough vaccines sparks rift within Merkel's govt coalition
rt.com | 2021-01-05
The bumpy start of Germany's vaccination campaign against Covid has sowed discord within Angela Merkel's coalition, as her party partners demand answers from her health minister and call for a special investigative commission. | Germany's mass vaccination against Covid-19 began just days ago but is already marred by Berlin's and the EU's failures, according to its critics. Of all issues with the Pfizer jab's distribution, the apparent lack of doses at hand has raised the most questions. | On Monday, the German Health Minister Jens Spahn was confronted with a four-page questionnaire on the vaccination campaign…
rt.com/news/511622-germany-vaccine-pre-o…
'Sooner than expected & DIFFERENT vaccine': Dutch PM explains Netherlands caught off guard by Pfizer jab approval amid criticism
rt.com | 2021-01-05
Dutch premier Mark Rutte has admitted his government wasn't ready to work with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine "so soon" and was preparing for an entirely "different" jab as he comes under fire over a delayed vaccination campaign. | Two weeks after the start of the EU-wide vaccination campaign, not a single person has received the jab in the Netherlands, the last EU state to launch its immunization effort. The first Dutch national is expected to receive a vaccine on Wednesday. | Some 288,000 vaccine doses have been delivered to the Dutch central storage site as of Tuesday. Unlike neighboring Germany, the Netherlan…
rt.com/news/511615-netherlands-pfizer-va…
One in 50 people in England has Covid-19, health chief reveals, also warning of further restrictions NEXT winter
rt.com | 2021-01-05
An average of one in 50 people in England has Covid-19, the government said on Tuesday, the country's first day of its new national lockdown in response to the rapidly spreading new virus variant driving record infection rates. | England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty revealed the grim data, as he warned that the new form of the virus discovered in London and the south of England is now "taking off" across the country, saying "one in 50 is really quite a large number indeed." | The figure is equivalent to about one million people. | In London, as many as one in 30 had the virus between December 27 and Ja…
rt.com/uk/511614-uk-covid-further-restri…
Conspiracy theorist pharmacist who sabotaged Covid-19 vaccines claims they're 'not safe for people' and could 'change their DNA'
rt.com | 2021-01-05
Wisconsin pharmacist Stephen Brandenburg is a self-confessed "conspiracy theorist" who destroyed over 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine as he thought they would change people's DNA, according to both the police and his wife. | Brandenburg was arrested on December 31 for allegedly sabotaging more than 500 doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, stored at the Advocate Aurora Health Hospital, believing they were unsafe for humans. | There is no evidence to suggest the vaccine alters human DNA in any way. Many vaccines use altered forms of viruses to train the immune system to fight off the real-life pathogens but d…
rt.com/news/511563-wisconsin-pharmacist-…
WHO chief 'disappointed' China still hasn't approved entry of Covid-19 experts investigating pandemic origins
rt.com | 2021-01-05
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) spoke on Tuesday of his disappointment that China had not yet authorized the entry of an international team of WHO scientists in order to trace the origins of coronavirus in Wuhan. | "Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalized the necessary permissions for the team's arrival in China. I am very disappointed with this news," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news briefing. | The WHO chief said two experts had already embarked on traveling to China, adding that he had spoken to senior Chinese officials and "once again m…
rt.com/news/511619-who-china-covid-origi…
Foodbanks at risk of closure due to new coronavirus strain
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2021-01-05
Independent foodbanks are at risk of closure due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus variant and are calling on the government to provide cash to hungry families to "protect public health". | The Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) has written to the prime minister calling on him to give struggling families money to reduce food bank reliance over the new year lockdown. | The letter says that distribution of emergency parcels "cannot address worsening poverty" and with the number of infections rising "could well contribute to the spread of Covid-19". | Meanwhile, the need to self-isolate could mean services reduc…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2021/01/05/foodbanks-at-risk-of-closure-due-to-new-coronavirus-strain/
The COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the US are proving to be a massive debacle
wsws.org | 2021-01-05
Despite the media hype that has accompanied the release of the COVID-19 vaccines, barely three million of the 20 million doses were administered by the end of the year.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/05/vacc…
"Medical Apartheid": Israeli Vaccine Drive Excludes Millions of Palestinians in Occupied Territories
Staff | democracynow.org | 2021-01-05
Israel has administered COVID-19 vaccines faster than any country in the world, with more than 14% of Israelis receiving vaccines so far. Despite the fast rollout, human rights groups are expressing alarm over Israel's decision not to vaccinate Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, where about 1,500 people have died during the pandemic. Israel has defended its actions citing the Oslo Peace Accords, which put Palestinian authorities in charge of healthcare in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian officials are facing a number of hurdles in launching their own vaccine campaign, including a shortage of mone…
www.democracynow.org/2021/1/5/israel_vac…
The GSK — Pfizer Multibillion Dollar Global Vaccine Monopoly
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2021-01-05
It's Big Pharma, It's Big Money. It's the multibillion dollar global vaccine market. | In August 2019, five months before the onslaught of the Covid-19 crisis, two of the largest Worldwide Pharma conglomerates decided to join hands in a strategic relationship …
globalresearch.ca/the-gsk-pfizer-multibillion-dollar-global-vaccine-monopoly/5733640
[Commentary] Vaccinating cassandra
Peter J Hotez | thelancet.com | 2021-01-05
Receiving the first of two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was a more emotional experience than I anticipated. I'm a vaccinologist co-leading a team of scientists developing a potential recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine for global health [1]. Vaccine production, manufacture, and distribution is led by Biological E (BioE) in India where it is being widely tested, with the aspirational goal that it might fill an urgently needed gap in low-cost COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries [2].
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PI…(20)30455-7/fulltext?rss=yes
Brazilian state governments push to reopen schools as COVID-19 deaths approach 200,000
wsws.org | 2021-01-05
Brazil's ruling elite is declaring education an essential service in order to reopen schools, even as the pandemic spirals out of control.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/05/braz…
Stillbirths During the COVID-19 Pandemic in England, April-June 2020
Stowe J, Smith H, Thurland K, et al. | jamanetwork.com | 2021-01-05
This study uses National Health Service data to compare the stillbirth rate overall and regionally during the initial April-June 2020 coronavirus lockdown vs the same period in 2019.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticl…
Mounting mental health crisis among US health care workers
wsws.org | 2021-01-05
With coronavirus infections and deaths rising to astronomical heights, frontline health care workers are experiencing acute mental and emotional distress.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/05/ment…
PREVIEW: What to Look for in the December Jobs Report
Karen Conner | cepr.net | 2021-01-05
(The monthly Employment Situation is scheduled for release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, January 8th at 8: 30 AM Eastern Time.) Soaring coronavirus infection rates are likely to be the main story in the employment report in December. Fear of the pandemic, coupled with new state and local restrictions, has led to a fall in …
cepr.net/preview-what-to-look-for-in-the…
Chicago coronavirus conflict: Parents vs. the school board
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2021-01-05
CHICAGO–The continuing nationwide conflict over reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic is pitting Chicago's parents, teachers, and students, who don't want to reopen for in-person learning until it's safe to do so, against the school system's big boss, Chancellor Janice Jackson, the Chicago Public Schools board and city Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who appointed both. But …
peoplesworld.org/article/chicago-coronav…
Tennessee confronted with surge in coronavirus cases
wsws.org | 2021-01-05
Nearly one percent of the state's 6.8 million people have contracted the disease, making Tennessee the fourth highest infection percentage in the country.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/05/tenn…
People's World dispatch from the coronavirus lockdown in the UK
Al Neal | peoplesworld.org | 2021-01-05
Editor's note: People's World's Al Neal is on lockdown now in the UK from where he will be covering life, work, and politics in England's pandemic era. This is the first of his dispatches. EAST SUSSEX, England–The early morning light greets with a burst of frigid sea air and sodden rooftops dotted across East Sussex. …
peoplesworld.org/article/peoples-world-d…