2020-03-22: News Headlines

teleSUR (2020-03-22). Cuba Comes to Italy's Aid by Sending Team of Doctors and Nurses. telesurenglish.net The island-nation of Cuba has dispatched a team of doctors and nurses to help Italy combat the coronavirus outbreak that killed over 4,000 people inside the country in the last month. | RELATED: | Cuba announced on Sunday that the team of doctors and nurses to Italy after the worst-affected region, Lombardy, asked the island-nation for immediate assistance in helping them fight the coronavirus. | The Caribbean i…

Nino Pagliccia (2020-03-22). The IMF Abandons Venezuelans to the Threat of the COVID-19 Pandemic on a Political Decision. globalresearch.ca No government that had to bow to the power of a financial institution like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) knows the harsh consequences to which it will have to submit. That includes the Venezuelan government. And yet last March 15 …

Pascual Serrano (2020-03-22). Cuba in the Time of the Coronavirus. zcomm.org The Cuban government, accustomed to natural disasters, noted that its 2014 legislation determines that when natural, technological and health disasters prevent employees from performing their jobs, workers shall receive their entire salaries for one month and 60% for the rest of the time their work is suspended.

RT (2020-03-21). 'Worst crisis since WWII': Italy shuts down ALL non-essential businesses in desperate bid to contain coronavirus spread. rt.com Italian PM Giuseppe Conte has ordered all business and activities that are not vital for providing basic necessities to be closed, extending the nationwide shutdown in the wake of the pandemic claiming record numbers of lives. | Calling the crisis the "most difficult" in Italy's post-war period, Conte announced that only "activities deemed vital for national production will be allowed" until at least April 3. | We are slowing down the country's production engine but we are not stopping it | The PM urged the population to keep calm, stay at home and resist hoarding supplies. He promised that all supermarkets an…

W. T. Whitney, Jr. (2020-03-21). Fighting COVID-19 in Cuba, China and the United States. mronline.org The pandemic has effectively provided a laboratory-like demonstration that people do better when states can plan ahead, apply national resources unequivocally to the public good, put science in the service of the people, and practice international solidarity. These are characteristics of socialist societies. |

Fight Back (2020-03-21). U.S. Teamsters get warm welcome at Venezuela's Canaima laptop plant. fightbacknews.org Caracas, Venezuela – A Freedom Road Socialist Organization labor delegation toured the Canaima laptops and tablets factory in Caracas, Venezuela on March 12. The Canaima plant is located within walking distance of the bridge where U.S. puppet Juan Guaido launched a failed coup d'état April 30, 2019. Upon arrival, leading representatives of the Canaima assembly plant greeted the American Teamsters with genuine smiles and warm handshakes. | A Venezuelan educator and Canaima spokesperson, Oscar Martinez, explained the assembly plant's purpose, "Our goal is to produce a laptop or tablet for every school-aged child i…

teleSUR (2020-03-21). Cuba Sends 144 Health Workers to Combat the Covid-19 in Jamaica. telesurenglish.net Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Saturday announced that his country is sending a medical brigade to combat the Covid-19 Pandemic in Jamaica, a Caribbean country that has been going through a severe economic and political crisis for the past years. | RELATED: | "For more than 60 years of revolution, Cuba and our people have defended solidarity as a principle. Evidence…

teleSUR (2020-03-21). COVID-19 Will Increase Poverty & Unemployment in LatAm: ECLAC. telesurenglish.net The executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena, said Friday that COVID-19 would directly impact the already weakened world economy. She claims increasing poverty in the region for 35 million people, as well as endangering an essential global public good: human health. | RELATED: | Barcena added that supply and demand will be affected, "either thr…

WSWS (2020-03-21). President Trump and Florida Governor DeSantis declare south Florida a COVID-19 epicenter. wsws.org While some Florida counties have been closed to nonessential business, concern grows over unemployment and a large prison population.

Peter Kornbluh (2020-03-21). Cuba's Welcome to a Covid-19-Stricken Cruise Ship Reflects a Long Pattern of Global Humanitarian Commitment. thenation.com Cuba's Welcome to a Covid-19-Stricken Cruise Ship Reflects a Long Pattern of Global Humanitarian Commitment…

RT (2020-03-20). California governor issues mandatory STAY AT HOME order, projects 56% of population infected with coronavirus in 8 weeks. rt.com California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a mandatory "stay at home" order to all residents, shuttering all businesses beyond "critical sectors" while suggesting the state's hospitals could soon hit their breaking point. | "Everyone is required to stay home except to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary health care, or go to an essential job," read a

W. T. Whitney Jr. (2020-03-20). Fighting COVID-19 in Cuba, China, and the United States. peoplesworld.org Governments, according to Thomas Jefferson, are supposed to guarantee people's rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." COVID-19 has put people's lives and health in the spotlight now. What kinds of tools do governments have at their disposal to protect lives and health? Cuba has the advantages of forward-looking leadership, well-orchestrated state planning, …

W. T. Whitney (2020-03-20). Fighting COVID 19 in Cuba, China and the United States. counterpunch.org Governments, according to Thomas Jefferson, are supposed to guarantee people's rights to "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness." COVID 19 has out people's lives and health in the spotlight now. What kind of tools do governments have at their disposal to protect lives and health? Cuba has the advantages of forward-looking leadership, well-orchestrated state

Aaron Maté (2020-03-20). Expert: US sanctions on Iran, Venezuela during pandemic could be genocidal. thegrayzone.com Intensified US sanctions on Iran, Venezuela during the COVID-19 pandemic could amount to genocide, a former UN expert warns. Iran…

Nino Pagliccia (2020-03-20). Sanctions: Unilateral Coercive Measures for Regime Change in Venezuela. globalresearch.ca In discussing the issue of "sanctions" there are two main points that need to be made. One is the use of the correct terminology when referring to the government actions that the US, Canada and the EU take in order …

Jeb Sprague (2020-03-20). The US government's 'divide and conquer' tactics in the Caribbean. thecanary.co Recent multilateral meetings in Kingston and Mar-a-Lago signal US attempts at intensifying divisions in the Caribbean. 'Shithole countries' (as president Donald Trump

teleSUR (2020-03-20). Venezuela Guarantees Medicines to Fight Coronavirus. telesurenglish.net The President of Venezuela, After the national social quarantine was decreed, the Venezuelan authorities have highlighted the importance of complying with this measure to prevent new cases of contagion in the territory, which so far has reported 42 infected people. | "We have the treatments, we have all the medicines we need for the treatments, we have…

teleSUR (2020-03-20). Cuba Restricts Entry of Foreigners Due to Coronavirus. telesurenglish.net The President of Cuba, RELATED: | The president reiterated that the world is currently experiencing an "unprecedented challenge" with the rapid increase in con…

teleSUR (2020-03-20). Bolivia: Coup-Born Regime Rejects Medical Cooperation From Cuba. telesurenglish.net Bolivia's coup-born president Jeanine Añez and her Health Minister Erwin Viruez rejected the Cuban health cooperation amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã | RELATED: | In an interview with local news media, Viruez affirmed that the Bolivian doctors have "the capacity to respond to this or any other contingency." | "Cuban doctors we…

Sputnik News (2020-03-19). Iranian Doctors Urge Neighbours to Liquidate Any US Biological Labs Amid Coronavirus Fears. iranian.com With over 17,300 cases and 1,135 deaths to date, Iran has been one of the countries hit hardest by COVID-19, with the virus affecting not only the population at large, but a big portion of the political elite as well. Last week, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said there was evidence that the pandemic may have …

Susan Price (2020-03-19). Cuban drug could save thousands of lives in COVID-19 pandemic. greenleft.org.au

Bill Hackwell (2020-03-18). Cuba and the Concept of Community of Nations. dissidentvoice.org Cuban Medical Brigade (Photo by Bill Hackwell) Some years ago I was talking to a Cuban doctor about what a remarkable achievement it was that Cuba was able to eliminate Malaria in 1973. He took the discussion in stride and said that it didn't mean much until we eradicate Malaria in the entire world. Today …

Alan Macleod (2020-03-18). Big Tech Firms are Using Automation to Censor News About the Coronavirus. mintpressnews.com Social media is awash with people angry that their posts have been removed for no legitimate reason. MintPress was no exception, with a story about Cuba's response to the coronavirus flagged and blocked.

Janine Jackson (2020-03-18). 'The US Has Played With Puerto Rico's Economy for the Last 122 Years' – CounterSpin interview with Julio López Varona on Puerto Rican debt. fair.org Janine Jackson interviewed the Center for Popular Democracy's Julio López Varona about Puerto Rican debt for the Media…

Susan Price (2020-03-18). Cuba shows a lead in solidarity amid COVID-19 crisis. greenleft.org.au

Ben Norton (2020-03-17). Italy and UK rely on help from Cuba, China, Venezuela to fight coronavirus — as US steps up brutal sanctions. thegrayzone.com Italy requested doctors from China, Cuba, and Venezuela to contain the coronavirus, while Cuba rescued a ship of British citizens….

Ben Norton (2020-03-17). Amid coronavirus pandemic, Bolsonaro's Brazil begs for Cuban doctors — after expelling them. thegrayzone.com Brazil's far-right government requested the return of thousands of Cuban doctors to help fight the coronavirus. Months ago, President Jair…

Leonardo Flores (2020-03-17). US ramps up sanctions devastating Venezuela's health sector as coronavirus spreads. thegrayzone.com Promising to "smash" Venezuela's government during a "maximum pressure March," Trump has imposed crushing sanctions that force Venezuela to spend…

Fight Back (2020-03-17). Venezuela: American Teamsters tour printing factory. fightbacknews.org Maracay, Venezuela — The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) labor delegation toured a large printing factory on March 13 in Maracay, Venezuela, about two hours outside Caracas. As the delegates bus pulled up to the factory gates, a huge sign welcomed them, "We don't speak ill of Chavez here!" The head of the factory and a group of workers excitedly gathered around to greet the American members of the Teamsters union. | In a bold and historic move, this factory was taken over by the workers themselves during the presidency of Hugo Chavez in 2005. The previously laid off workers formed a new team…

Lucas Koerner (2020-03-15). Corporate Media Condone Destruction of Venezuela's Voting Machines. fair.org The vast majority of Venezuela's voting machines were incinerated on March 7 in a fire that engulfed the main warehouse of the National Electoral Council. Corporate outlets followed the familiar script of blaming the victim, repeating the US State Department talking point that the Venezuelan electoral system is "rigged" and floating outlandish conspiracy theories.

CounterSpin (2020-03-13). Julio López Varona on Puerto Rico's Disaster Capitalism. fair.org Media…

Joe Emersberger (2020-03-13). No, Venezuela does not have a six child per family policy. zcomm.org I respect UK journalist Andrew Buncombe. As I noted for FAIR last year, he was one of the few corporate journalists who reported on a study linking Trump's financial sanctions on Venezuela to thousands of deaths by the end of 2018. Since 2018, Trump has repeatedly intensified the sanctions and threatened Venezuela with military action,

Dorothy Shaw (2020-03-09). [Comment] Patchy progress on the ICPD: are we asking the right questions? thelancet.com The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agenda, set in 1994 in Cairo and revisited 25 years later in Nairobi in 2019, included goals for equitable education of women, reduction of infant and child mortality, reduction of maternal mortality, and access to reproductive and sexual health services, including family planning, through its well known Programme of Action.1 The ICPD was ground-breaking in recognising the benefits that empowerment of women and girls would have for themselves, their families, and, ultimately, their countries.

Maria Morris (2020-03-06). Are Our Prisons and Jails Ready for COVID-19? aclu.org The | country and the world face a public health emergency in the new coronavirus | causing COVID-19. The media is filled with concerns about how we will respond. | Will we close schools? Cancel sporting events and other large gatherings? Work | from home? Avoid public transportation? | But | little has been said about one of the most vulnerable sectors of our | population: the people in our prisons and jails. Although people often think of | prisons and jails as closed environments, they are not. Medical staff, correctional | staff, and visitors come from the community into the facilities every day and | then…

Antoine Flahault (2020-03-04). [Correspondence] Has China faced only a herald wave of SARS-CoV-2? thelancet.com The attack rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) calculated by mathematical models, from estimates of the basic reproduction number, R0, of 2—3, suggests that 50—60% of the population should eventually be infected because the population seems to be entirely naive to the new virus.1 The observed attack rate on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship remained slightly below 20% (705 of 3711 passengers and crew members became infected).1 It is of upmost importance to know whether the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in China is subsiding, as local authorities and the entire international…

Kaja M Abbas, Kevin van Zandvoort, Marc Brisson, Mark Jit (2020-02-24). [Articles] Effects of updated demography, disability weights, and cervical cancer burden on estimates of human papillomavirus vaccination impact at the global, regional, and national levels: a PRIME modelling study. thelancet.com HPV vaccination provides greater health benefits and is more cost-effective than was previously estimated. The demography update, which incorporates population aging, has the largest effect on the health impact estimates. The WHO African region is expected to gain the greatest health benefits and should be prioritised for HPV vaccination.

Tuhin Biswas, James G. Scott, Kerim Munir, Hannah J. Thomas, M. Mamun Huda, Md. Mehedi Hasan, Tim David de Vries, Janeen Baxter, Abdullah A. Mamun (2020-02-17). [Research Paper] Global variation in the prevalence of bullying victimisation amongst adolescents: Role of peer and parental supports. thelancet.com Bullying victimisation is a global public health problem that has been predominantly studied in high income countries. This study aimed to estimate the population level prevalence of bullying victimisation and its association with peer and parental supports amongst adolescents across low and middle income to high income countries (LMICHICs).

Venezuela Analysis (2020-02-06). Embassy Protection Collective: "We Are Not the Ones Who Violated the Law" theantimedia.com In this exclusive interview, VA talks to the activists who defended the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC ahead of their trial.

Elizabeth Greig, Barth A. Green, Henri R. Ford, Didi Bertrand Farmer, Krista Marie Nottage, Zelde Espinel, James M. Shultz (2020-02-06). [Commentary] Extreme population exposure: Hurricane Dorian medical response in Great Abaco, Bahamas. thelancet.com Hurricane Dorian's ensemble of extreme winds, wave action, and pelting rains laid waste to exquisitely vulnerable human settlements throughout the Abaco islands in northwest Bahamas. Dorian, the strongest hurricane ever to impact the Bahamas, pulled a towering storm surge onshore. Combined with 20 inches of rain, vast expanses of Abaco islands were submerged. The system's forward movement slowed to near standstill, creating one of the longest-duration population exposures to a hurricane in history [1].

Claudio Ronco, Paolo Navalesi, Jean Louis Vincent (2020-02-06). [Spotlight] Coronavirus epidemic: preparing for extracorporeal organ support in intensive care. thelancet.com Zoonotic viral infections are more frequently crossing species to infect human populations. In 2003, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus was transmitted to humans from exotic animals in wet markets in China, and in 2015, the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus was transmitted from camels in Saudi Arabia. In both cases, and with the 2019 coronavirus outbreak in China, the original host of the virus is likely to be bats.

Nermin Diab, Matthew B Stanbrook, M Hashim Khan, Anju Anand (2020-02-05). [Correspondence] Nicotine patches with e-cigarettes for smoking cessation: Twitter discussion from a respirology journal club. thelancet.com On Dec 12, 2019, our Twitter-based University of Toronto Respirology and Sleep Journal Club1 discussed Walker and colleagues' pragmatic, randomised, parallel-arm trial designed to look at the effectiveness of combining nicotine patches with an e-cigarette (with and without nicotine) on 6-month smoking abstinence.2 Our discussions highlighted the challenges of studying populations of smokers in general, given the habitual nature of the exposure, challenges related to follow-up, and a need for reliable and valid objective measures of smoking abstinence (appendix).