2021-01-07: News Headlines

Jackie Fox (2021-01-08). How to Make a COVID-19 Vaccine @Home. realprogressives.org This is a script of the video embedded below. | Hello Internet, I'm Jackie Fox and I have a new idea I want to bring you in the final hours of a dark year. This may be a very bright light at the end of the tunnel. It combines video games, community, scientific research, and even vaccines and medical treatments. In some ways it's a follow up to cover new info about vaccines in general I learned since the last series, but the core concept is about this project called Folding@Home. | See, back in 2007, I bought a PlayStation 3, and after a few updates, there was a mysterious app added called "Folding@Home" and I…

Makasi Motema (2021-01-08). Comentario: øEnfrenta EE.UU. una situación revolucionaria? workers.org El deber ineludible de un socialista revolucionario es percibir los cambios que se están produciendo en la sociedad y que agudizan la lucha de clases y actuar sobre esos cambios sin vacilar. Cualquier organización socialista o persona socialista que no lo haga no puede ser considerada una defensora del proletariado . . . |

Minnie Bruce Pratt (2021-01-08). Cuba's revolution continues during the pandemic. workers.org During the first week of January, Cubans celebrated the 61st anniversary of their great Revolution, marking the day when Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and the revolutionary forces entered Havana and ousted the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Since the victory in 1959, Cuba has resisted attack after attack by . . . |

news.un (2021-01-07). WHO warns of COVID-19 'tipping point' as cases rise across Europe. news.un.org The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a "tipping point" in the fight against COVID-19, amid surging cases in Europe and the fresh challenge of a mutating virus.

_____ (2021-01-07). A New Book Analyzes The Impact Of COVID-19 On The US And China. popularresistance.org The COVID-19 pandemic has placed China and the United States on the opposite ends of human progress. In the U.S., massive casualties of the pandemic have been coupled with the worst capitalist crash since the Great Depression. The story is much different in China. China began re-opening its economy as early as April of 2020. Deaths due to COVID-19 are virtually non-existent, and economists now predict that China's economy will surpass the U.S. economy in GDP terms two years ahead of schedule. Capitalism on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China and the U.S. is an anthology comprised of more than fifty cont…

Tanya Wadhwa (2021-01-07). Bolivia approves emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. peoplesdispatch.org Bolivia hopes to vaccinate up to 20% of its population in the first quarter of this year. The health ministry has endorsed Russia's Sputnik V and China's CoronaVac vaccines against COVID-19…

WSWS (2021-01-07). Nebraska governor says undocumented meatpacking workers will not receive vaccine. wsws.org Governor Ricketts said during a press conference that undocumented immigrants in the meat processing industry will not receive the COVID-19 vaccine and his spokesman said its distribution will be prioritized by citizenship status.

The Canary (2021-01-07). 'There's only so much you can see' — heartbreaking words from hospital staff on the pandemic frontline. thecanary.co Hospital staff on the coronavirus frontline have described how there is "very little joy" in the job during the second wave, with some in intensive care units resigning and managers concerned over the long-term mental health impact on employees.Tori Cooper, head of nursing in the Emergency Department at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south-west London, said the usually good staff morale had been chipped away during the Covid-19 pandemic.Cooper told the PA news agency: "There is very little joy in our work at the moment."It's hard to find that joy when you come into work — you're scared for your colleagues,…

Mwangi Githahu (2021-01-07). Invermectin: South Africa Bans 'Miracle' COVID-19 Treatment as "Unsafe" globalresearch.ca The import into South Africa of ivermectin, a drug that has made international headlines recently as a so-called "miracle cure" for Covid-19, has been declared illegal by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra). | Ivermectin, which has been used …

Dr. Saeed A. Qureshi (2021-01-07). COVID-19: "Virus Isolation". Does the Virus Exist? globalresearch.ca Editor's Note | This is a controversial issue which has been raised by several prominent scientists. | On January 7, 2020 the Chinese authorities "identify a new type of virus" which was "isolated". The CDC also confirmed that the virus had been …

Tracy Rosenberg (2021-01-07). COVID-19 Contact Tracing and State Surveillance. globalresearch.ca The US remains wholly incapable of tracing Covid-19 contagion, but if it tried, we might wind up with "the worst of both worlds" — a horror of coercion and confusion that still failed to stop the epidemic. | "Low income communities, …

Mwangi Githahu (2021-01-07). Ivermectin: South Africa Bans 'Miracle' COVID-19 Treatment as "Unsafe" globalresearch.ca The import into South Africa of ivermectin, a drug that has made international headlines recently as a so-called "miracle cure" for Covid-19, has been declared illegal by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra). | Ivermectin, which has been used …

WSWS (2021-01-07). German teachers' union backs in-person learning as COVID-19 deaths soar. wsws.org In enforcing their inhumane pandemic policies, the federal and state governments, consisting of a broad range of political coalitions, can rely on the close cooperation of Germany's trade unions.

_____ (2021-01-07). University Of Michigan Strike Showed The Power Of Student Organizing. popularresistance.org As the winter university semester is set to begin, the coronavirus is surging. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, like many universities reliant on tuition dollars, tried to reopen in September with a "public health-informed" semester, as the university called it. That meant a mix of in-person and remote classes and dormitories operating at about 70 percent capacity. | Throughout the summer, the graduate workers union at the University of Michigan, the Graduate Employees Organization, or GEO, and Local 3550 of the American Federation of Teachers, had also been preparing for the fall semester by organizing a…

Global Research News (2021-01-07). Selected Articles: A Pandemic of Insanity. globalresearch.ca By This is a controversial issue which has been raised by several prominent scientists. On January 7, 2020 the Chinese authorities "identify a new type …

Dean Baker (2021-01-07). What to Look for in the December Jobs Report. counterpunch.org 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

Matthew Rozsa (2021-01-07). Why vaccines are being wasted in the United States. salon.com The US needs to vaccinate 9 million people a week to end the pandemic by July 1. We're very far from that goal…

WSWS (2021-01-07). Hundreds of thousands in UK spend Christmas and New Year homeless as pandemic worsens. wsws.org A third lockdown is now underway and the Conservative government has committed no more funding to deal with the homeless crisis and consigned its Everyone In scheme to the scrapheap.

Arthur Firstenberg (2021-01-07). A Pandemic of Insanity. globalresearch.ca You see them everywhere. Men and women walking down the street, all of them with masks on their faces and cell phones in their hands. People jogging, with masks covering their faces and cell phones in their hands. Mothers wheeling …

Danica Jorden (2021-01-07). France Grants Citizenship to Immigrant Essential Workers as Protests Against Racist "Security" Laws Grow. globalresearch.ca The government of France has decided to recognize the contributions of essential workers from other countries working within its borders during the pandemic by offering them French citizenship. On 22 December 2020, the day of the announcement, 74 immigrants were …

Frank Scott (2021-01-07). Defund the Pentagon: Refund the People. dissidentvoice.org When profit determines every outcome of social and economic life, the minority politics of lesser evil wins again, and again, and again. — Anonymous The pandemic has heightened public awareness of the injustice of a political economic system that profits private wealth at massive loss to the public good. All talk of change that simply …

imperial.ac.uk (2021-01-07). Vaccine collaboration could overcome cold chain issues for RNA-based vaccines. imperial.ac.uk Imperial vaccine researchers are collaborating with industry partners to develop RNA vaccines stable at temperatures up to 40C.

Antonietta Gatti (2021-01-07). The Side Effects of Vaccines. 2017 Study in the International Journal of Vaccines and Vaccination. globalresearch.ca This article was first published in January 2017 by the International Journal of Vaccines and Vaccination | Abstract | Vaccines are being under investigation for the possible side effects they can cause. In order to supply new information, an electron-microscopy investigation method …

_____ (2021-01-07). UK Judge Justifies CIA Spying On Assange. popularresistance.org The British judge ruling in the US government's extradition case against journalist Julian Assange justified a CIA spying operation targeting both the WikiLeaks publisher and the Ecuadorian government by pointing to debunked accusations published by CNN. Yet in a self-referential loop, the American media outlet's dubious claims about Assange themselves originated with a security firm that was spying on Assange for the CIA — and which is now facing prosecution in Spain for illegal activity. | While the UK judge ultimately decided not to extradite Assange, citing his deteriorating mental health and the likeli…

George Wuerthner (2021-01-07). Deceptions for Logging the Ochoco National Forest. counterpunch.org The Ochoco National Forest proposes what they call a "dry forest restoration" on approximately 23,015 acres in the Mill Creek Dry Forest Restoration Project area east of Prineville, Oregon. As with almost everything the Forest Service does these days, the Mill Creek "Restoration" is emblematic of the agency's narrow perspective on what constitutes a healthy

Shaun Danielli, Tom Coffey, Hutan Ashrafian, Ara Darzi (2021-01-07). [Research Paper] Systematic review into city interventions to address obesity. thelancet.com Multi-level and multi-component interventions, at the individual, community and city level, done in concert, are needed to address obesity. A composite of interventions that cities can utilise to address obesity is provided. These interventions will also be beneficial to the environment and make the case that personal health and planetary health are inextricably linked and should be considered as one.

_____ (2021-01-07). We Are Living In An Emergency That Requires Urgent Action. popularresistance.org 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 Organisation and by scientific organisations reveals their malicious practice. Anything less than focusing attention to managing the virus by testing, contact tracing, and isolation — and if this does not suffice, then imposing a temporary lockdown — is foolhardy. It is equally distressing that these…

Narendra Kumar, Shafeeq K. Shahul Hameed, Giridhara R. Babu, Manjunatha M. Venkataswamy, Prameela Dinesh, Prakash Kumar BG, Daisy A. John, Anita Desai, Vasanthapuram Ravi (2021-01-06). [Research Paper] Descriptive epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Karnataka state, South India: Transmission dynamics of symptomatic vs. asymptomatic infections. thelancet.com Our findings indicate that both asymptomatic and symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 cases transmit the infection, although symptomatic cases were the main driving force within the state during the beginning of the pandemic. Considering the large proportion of asymptomatic cases, their ability to spread infection cannot be overlooked. Notwithstanding the limitations and bias in identifying asymptomatic cases, the findings have major implications for testing policies. Active search, early testing and treatment of symptomatic elderly patients with comorbidities should be prioritized for containing the spread of COVID-19 and red…

Philip Bittihn, Lukas Hupe, Jonas Isensee, Ramin Golestanian (2021-01-06). [Research Paper] Local measures enable COVID-19 containment with fewer restrictions due to cooperative effects. thelancet.com The leakiness, i.e. the proportion of cross-regional contacts, and the regional structure itself were crucial parameters for the performance of the regional strategy. Therefore, regional strategies could offer an adaptive way to contain the epidemic with fewer overall restrictions, if cross-regional infections can be kept below the critical level, which could be achieved without affecting local socioeconomic freedom. Maintaining general hygiene and contact tracing, testing should be intensified to ensure regional measures can be initiated at low infection thresholds, preventing the spread of the disease to other…

RT (2021-01-06). Covid hospitalizations in UK surpass 30,000 for first time in pandemic, amid record surge in infections. rt.com The UK has recorded its highest ever daily increase in new Covid-19 cases, as it also emerged that more people are currently hospitalised with the virus than at any other point in the pandemic, according to new official data. | On Wednesday Britain reported a record 62,322 new infections, as well as a further 1,041 deaths, taking the total number of people to have died within 28 days of a positive test to 77,346. | The stark figures are part of a 42.6 percent increase in cases and 37.2 percent jump in deaths across the last week compared to the previous seven days, government figures show. | The number of Covi…

RT (2021-01-06). Stanford researchers developing single-dose nanoparticle Covid-19 vaccine that doesn't need cold storage. rt.com Researchers have successfully tested a nanoparticle Covid-19 vaccine which, as yet, doesn't appear to have any of the side effects or distribution issues plaguing the current generation of vaccines in use. | The scientists at the lab of Stanford University biochemist Peter S. Kim were already working on vaccines for the likes of Ebola, HIV and pandemic influenza when the coronavirus pandemic hit, and they quickly channeled all of their efforts into fighting the new scourge. | The team has already produced and tested a promising new vaccine which could provide the solution to many of the issues frustrating glob…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-06). COVID-19 vaccines: Differences, costs, and challenges. peoplesdispatch.org 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.

Adam Khalil (2021-01-06). Covid-19: Palestinians left in limbo as Israel vaccinates. middleeasteye.net 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 | 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…

The Canary (2021-01-06). Welsh NHS chief warns Covid-19 patient numbers could double from first wave. thecanary.co 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…

WSWS (2021-01-06). Germany's federal and state governments keep workplaces open despite surging COVID deaths. wsws.org Government officials are ignoring the recommendations of scientists and risking an intensification of the pandemic.

Fight Back (2021-01-06). Chicago teachers confronting serious health risks refuse to work in-person. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – Thousands of rank-and-file educators, clinicians and support staff want the right to continue working remotely because they or a family member are at higher risk of illness and death should they contract COVID-19. Chicago Public Schools' response has been to refuse to allow educators to ask for an accommodation if family members at risk and to deny members with serious personal health risks like brain cancer the right to work remotely. | Half of the pre-K and special education cluster teachers in elementary and high schools scheduled to start teaching from school buildings refused to work in-person…

Helen Buyniski (2021-01-06). Civil War, Medical Discrimination, Spy Satellites and Cyborgs! How 2021 Could Make Us Yearn for 2020. globalresearch.ca People everywhere are eager to bid farewell to 2020, a year in which our lives were turned upside down by power-mad elites who seized the Covid-19 pandemic as a chance to go full police state. But be careful what you …

Dr. David Halpin (2021-01-06). COVID-19 and Induced Insanity in the UK, the Global Lab Rat. globalresearch.ca 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 …

Editor (2021-01-06). Why is the world's richest country so unprepared? workers.org 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 . . . |

Project Censored (2021-01-06). Aaron Good and Adam Bessie. projectcensored.org In the first half of the program, scholar Aaron Good summarizes a recent article he co-authored with Peter Dale Scott about the September 9, 2001 murder of Afghan militia leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, its connection to the subsequent September 11th attacks, and the ongoing US occupation of Afghanistan. Then English professor and author Adam Bessie examines the implications of the massive change from in-person to remote instruction at community colleges, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. | Notes: | Aaron Good earned his Ph.D. from Temple University and is a history instructor in the Philadelphia area. His arti…

_____ (2021-01-06). Eldercide In The United States. popularresistance.org Contrary to what many believe, the tens of thousands of deaths of those living in long-term care (LTC) were no inevitable biological catastrophe. Their grieving, angry family members know better: they know the conditions that prematurely deprived their loved ones of the remainder of their lives. By December, just as vaccine distribution started, nearly 110,000 residents and staffers had died. The extra deaths among our elders constitute an appalling percentage of the 1.4 million Americans who were living in nursing homes before the pandemic. These older adults were of all races, genders, ethnicities, religions, a…

_____ (2021-01-06). 40% Of Chicago Teachers And Staff Didn't Report To Schools As Ordered. popularresistance.org 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…

Hector Rios-Jara (2021-01-06). Lessons from a decade of student activism in the UK. zcomm.org The pandemic has exposed the disgraceful failures of market reforms in the British higher education sector. But the resistance of students continues…

WSWS (2021-01-06). Turkish government sets minimum wage at hunger level. wsws.org While big business rakes in billions in profits during the pandemic, the Erdogan government has slashed living standards, with millions left unemployed.

Sacha Stone (2021-01-06). Video: Focus on Fauci. "This is Not A Vaccine" globalresearch.ca Clarion Call Outlining the Crimes Against Humanity with host Sacha Stone | and guests Dr Judy Mikovits, David Martin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Rocco Galati. … | TRANSCRIPT | The bombshell revelation: | " Let's make sure we are clear… This is not …

The Canary (2021-01-06). WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange must be released after 'inhumane' bail refusal. thecanary.co 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…

Zhilin Zeng, Juan Zhan, Liyuan Chen, Huilong Chen, Sheng Cheng (2021-01-06). [Research Paper] Global, regional, and national dengue burden from 1990 to 2017: A systematic analysis based on the global burden of disease study 2017. thelancet.com Dengue is a major public health challenge worldwide. While there is remarkable international variation in its incidence, the dengue burden is increasing globally. The results of this study could be useful for policy makers to implement cost-effective interventions and reduce the dengue burden, particularly in countries with high incidence or increasing burden.

commondreams (2021-01-05). 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 ______________________________…

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2021-01-05). New Study Reveals Flawed Predictions of Runaway Costs and Usage Under Medicare for All. commondreams.org "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…

news.un (2021-01-05). WHO chief begins 2021 with plea for 'less politicking' over health. news.un.org 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.