(2022-02-27). UK to Keep Secret Names of Thousands of Firms After Billions in COVID-19 Loans Lost – Report. sputniknews.com The UK government estimated recently that the bounce-back scheme, which granted loans up to 50,000 pounds ($67,000) to small firms during the COVID-19 pandemic, cost it approximately 4.9 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) in fraud.
(2022-02-27). Chinese FM calls for stronger vaccine support for developing countries. ecns.cn Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday said it is impossible to be completely safe as long as there is an immunization "gap" in the world, calling for stronger vaccine support for developing countries.
(2022-02-27). COVID-Hit Queen Elizabeth II Postpones Key Diplomatic Reception. sputniknews.com On 20 February, Buckingham Palace announced that UK Queen Elizabeth II had tested positive for coronavirus, but that she would continue performing some duties at her Windsor Palace home while receiving medical care.
(2022-02-27). Miami Beach Will Restrict Alcohol Sales to Prevent Last Spring's Calamity – Reports. sputniknews.com In March last year, Miami Beach, Florida authorities declare a state of emergency due to an influx of tourists who had been partying by the sea during the coronavirus pandemic.
(2022-02-26). Omicron surge in Indonesia tops record for daily cases. wsws.org The death toll is climbing fast, increasing to 257 COVID fatalities on Tuesday from single figures three weeks ago. Over 100 people died every day for the past two weeks, mostly in the capital.
(2022-02-26). New CDC mask guidelines lifts mandates for most regions in the US. wsws.org The new CDC masking guidelines declared most counties at low to moderate risk when just the day before these same regions had been listed at high or substantial risk for community transmission.
(2022-02-26). [Editorial] Our commitment to help accelerate progress against cancer. thelancet.com Cancer affects everyone, regardless of age, gender, or social status, and represents a tremendous burden for patients, families, and societies. In 2020, one in six deaths were caused by cancer, accounting for 10 million premature deaths worldwide. Cancer has been a leading cause of mortality since the 1970s, but only in 2016 did it become part of the UN global agenda, as part of Sustainable Development Goal target 3.4, aiming to reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases. This step has helped raise the profile of cancer worldwide and led to an increased political commitment to accelerate cancer res…
(2022-02-26). [Comment] Preventing relapse in schizophrenia needs better evidence. thelancet.com Given the considerable contribution of schizophrenia spectrum disorders to the global burden of disease, implementing evidence-based treatments is a global health priority.1,2 Building on a previous network meta-analysis of randomised trials of antipsychotics for acute symptoms of schizophrenia,3 Johannes Schneider-Thoma and colleagues4 assessed 32 oral and long-acting injectable antipsychotics for 14 different efficacy and tolerability outcomes in a systematic review and network meta-analysis published in The Lancet.
(2022-02-26). [Comment] Waning effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. thelancet.com In The Lancet, Peter Nordstrà∂m and colleagues1 report the effectiveness of several COVID-19 vaccines and different vaccine schedules against any documented SARS-CoV-2 infection and against severe COVID-19, for up to 9 months of follow-up. Data for 842‚Äà974 matched pairs of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in this retrospective cohort study were retrieved from the Swedish national registers. These registers track health outcomes for all registered individuals nationwide. Both cohorts had a median age of 52 ∑7 years (IQR 37 ∑0—67 ∑5) and included mostly women (500&s…
(2022-02-26). 'He's Got These Breasts, This Gut': Joe Rogan Rips 'Sick' Bill Gates For Giving Out 'Health Advice'. sputniknews.com Last year, while touting his book, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster", the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates advocated for citizens of the richest countries in the world to switch to diets of what he called "synthetic meat" in an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
(2022-02-26). US-Backed Fighters Occupied Syrian Government Building In Al-Qamishli. southfront.org 
Click to see full-size image, source: sdf-press.com | On February 26, fighters from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) occupied a building of the Damascus government in the northeastern Syrian town of al-Qamishli. | According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, SDF fighters took over the Social Insurance and Labor building in the town's center by force."A groups of SDF fighters took control of the three-story Social Security and Labor building after breaking the door locks then began to guard the main entranc…
(2022-02-26). [Comment] Offline: There is no right to lie. thelancet.com Perhaps the most curious aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the flourishing of anti-science movements, despite the demonstrable triumphs of science in producing life-saving antivirals and vaccines. Mistrust of science is spreading well beyond COVID-19. Political challenges to climate action, notably the goal of net zero emissions, are growing, especially as economic stress impoverishes millions. 5G remains a target for many science sceptics. And libertarian politicians condemn scientists as unelected threats to democratic freedoms.
(2022-02-26). Protest Canadian rulers' Emergencies Act attack on workers' protests, rights! themilitant.com 
MONTREAL — "The sweeping police operation carried out under the anti-working-class Emergencies Act against the three-week protest in Ottawa, Canada's capital, by truckers and others opposed to vaccine mandates is an assault on the political rights of all working people," said Philippe Tessier, Communist League candidate in a Quebec provincial by-election in the riding of Marie-Victorin. "It is one of the largest acts of police repression in modern Canadian history and should be opposed by all unions and supporters of democratic rights. | "As of today — Feb. 22 — even though the cops have shut do…
(2022-02-26). 'Queremos Vivir': The Workers Who Wouldn't Die For The Pentagon. popularresistance.org Workers in the Mexican border city of Mexicali, many of them young migrant women, were fighting for their lives. It was the deadliest point of the pandemic in 2020 in one of the hardest-hit states in Mexico, Baja California. | By May 2020, a local news outlet reported that 432 of the 519 Covid-19 fatalities to date had been workers in maquiladoras—assembly plants on the border that mostly supply the United States.
(2022-02-26). [World Report] The global COVID-19 treatment divide. thelancet.com Experts warn of huge global inequities in access to new treatments for COVID-19. Ann Danaiya Usher reports.
(2022-02-26). Túnez recibe donación de vacunas anticovid enviadas por China. telesurtv.net El 25 de marzo de 2021 llegó a Túnez el primer lote de vacunas enviadas por el país asiático.
(2022-02-26). Chile supera los 3 millones de contagios por Covid desde 2020. telesurtv.net El país suramericano reporta un total de 42.070 fallecidos a causa del virus.
(2022-02-26). ONU reflexiona sobre desigual acceso a la vacunación anticovid. telesurtv.net El presidente de la Asamblea de la ONU apostó por la defensa de la acción colectiva y en la solidaridad de los países.
(2022-02-26). German workers speak out on war in Ukraine: "The only war we need is the war against the Coronavirus!" wsws.org "Russians and Ukrainians have a common history. The vast majority of people certainly do not want a war, which at most will benefit the gas and oil magnates in West and East, the billionaires, arms dealers and oligarchs."