2021-01-02: News Headlines

teleSUR, CE (2021-01-02). Taekwondo or Ballot Box: President Maduro Ready to Battle Opposition. telesurenglish.net The President of Venezuela is opting for prudence as the transition of power prepares to take place in the United States and as lobbying by extremists aims to continue the policies of hate and genocide towards Venezuela, namely the cruel economic sanctions (unilateral coercive measures) affecting all of the Venezuelan people in many areas of daily life. | RELATED: | President Nicolas Maduro joined Spanish journalist and professor, Ignacio Ramonet for…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-02). Erika Farías on strengthening the Bolivarian Revolution amid the blockade. peoplesdispatch.org Erika Farías, mayor of Caracas, Venezuela, spoke to Peoples Dispatch about the challenges of sustaining the Bolivarian process amid the blockade and the efforts by the Venezuelan government to further build the revolution…

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-02). Iran, Cuba to co-produce COVID-19 vaccine. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 02 (MNA) — Iran is cooperating with Cuba in producing a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a senior official at the Iranian Health Ministry.

Dorothy E Roberts (2021-01-02). [Perspectives] Abolish race correction. thelancet.com Several years ago my daughter sent me an alarming text. She copied the results of her routine blood work and wrote, "Look at eGFR!". Under the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were listed two numbers—one for non-African Americans and a higher one for African Americans. I was floored. Did this automatic adjustment mean the doctor interpreted my daughter's eGFR differently based simply on her racial identity? The test's categories themselves made no biological sense. "African American", like all racialised populations, is a socially constructed grouping.

Online News Editor (2021-01-01). Muted New Year's celebrations bid farewell to 2020. laprensalatina.com Madrid Desk, Jan 1 (EPA-EFE).- The coronavirus pandemic has forced traditional New Year's Eve celebrations to be cancelled as millions of people around the world said goodbye to 2020 from behind closed doors, away from large crowds. With most of the world's population under some form of restrictions to fight Covid-19, including lockdowns and bans …

teleSUR (2021-01-01). Venezuela: Opposition-Controlled Parliament To Fade Next Week. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's new Parliament will elect its Board of Directors on January 5, thus renewing the Legislative branch that has promoted foreign aggression and economic sanctions against the country over the last five years. | RELATED: | Since its installation in Jan. 2016, the outgoing opposition-controlled National Assembly advanced an agenda aimed at delegitimizing President Nicolas Maduro's administration and supporting for…

Eds. (2021-01-01). Don't You Mess With Cuba — video. mronline.org World Premiere!!!..üòâüòâüòâ…subtitled version of the video clip "Don't You Mess With Cuba"

Gloria La Riva (2021-01-01). Cuba welcomes 2021 in victory, introduces new monetary policy. liberationnews.org Today, January 1, the 62nd anniversary of Cuba's revolutionary victory, the government is implementing a sweeping economic policy with reorganization of the monetary system to promote more efficiency and greater production.

Staff (2021-01-01). People's Vaccine: Calls Grow for Equal Access to Coronavirus Vaccine as Rich Countries Hoard Supply. democracynow.org While the United States, Britain and other wealthy countries race to vaccinate their populations against the coronavirus, a new report finds that as much as 90% of the population in dozens of poorer countries could be forced to wait until at least 2022 because wealthy countries are hoarding so much of the vaccine supply. A growing movement is calling for the development of a people's vaccine and the suspension of intellectual property rights to expand access. We speak with Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni, a policy adviser to the People's Vaccine Alliance, and Achal Prabhala, a public health advocate and coordinator of the…

teleSUR (2021-01-01). Venezuela Announces Return of 7+7 Quarantine. telesurenglish.net Venezuelans are resuming, as of this Monday, the conscious and voluntary quarantine under the 7+7 scheme, according to an announcement from today by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez. | RELATED: | A total of 437 new cases of COVID-19, all of which were community transmitted, were detected in the last 24 hours of 2020 by Venezuelan health authorities, bringing the total number of infections to 113,558, while the rate…

teleSUR (2021-01-01). Two Dormant Volcanoes Raise Eruption Alarms in the Caribbean. telesurenglish.net Two Caribbean volcanoes that had been dormant for decades in suddenly awoke, triggering eruption alerts in Martinique and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. | RELATED: | Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency informed that La Soufriere volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines could erupt within 24 hours. | "People living nearby should leave their homes immediately," authorities urged as they asked inhabitants to ke…

teleSUR (2021-01-01). Cuban Revolution Marks 62 Years of Heroic Resistance. telesurenglish.net The Cuban Revolution Friday marked 62nd years of resistance to the U.S. blockade, which was intensified during President Donald Trump's administration. | RELATED: | On New Year's Eve, President Miguel Diaz-Canel congratulated the people and called for unity, the only possible way for the Revolution to keep moving forward. | "We went through a year of challenges, tensions, and aggressions. I extend my gratitude to the Cu…

teleSUR (2021-01-01). Implementation of New Monetary System Begins in Cuba. telesurenglish.net The so-called Restructuring Task, promoted by the government, implies unifying the current exchange rates, the cessation of the circulation of the convertible peso, and a general reform of salaries and prices, with the gradual elimination of excessive subsidies and undue gratuities. | RELATED: | These procedures find legal backing in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba in its extraordinary edition number…

Dr. Birsen Filip (2021-01-01). The 62nd Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution: An Unprecedented Chapter in World History. globalresearch.ca January 2019: Cubans are commemorating the 60th anniversary of their independence. On this day in 1959, the Cuban Revolution was successfully conducted by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement[i] and became an enduring symbol of resistance to neo-colonialism, capitalism, and hegemony.

_____ (2021-01-01). UK MPs Nominate Cuban Doctors For Nobel Peace Prize. popularresistance.org The Cuba Solidarity Campaign in the United Kingdom announced Thursday that four more members of the British Parliament have nominated the Cuban doctors for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. | According to a message spread through Twitter, MPs from Liverpool Paula Barker, Ian Byrne, Kim Johnson and Dan Carden joined other MPs and academics from the UK who had previously formally nominated the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade from Cuba for the award. | The online petition, published by the solidarity campaign on its website, had accumulated by November's end, more than 6,400 signatures of legislators, academics,…

sputniknews (2021-01-01). US Sanctions Cuban Bank for Alleged Ties With Military, Pompeo Says. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States has added Cuban Banco Financiero International to its list of sanctioned entities, saying it is controlled by the country's military, State Secretary Mike Pompeo said Friday.

Michael Klundt (2021-01-01). Corona Measures: When children are the ones who suffer (I and II). indybay.org The government seems to be abdicating its responsibility by 1) not supplying the population with masks, 2) not compensating people so they can stay away from workplaces, 3) eliminating school meals for hundreds of millions of children and 5) not including children in decision-making.

WSWS (2020-12-31). Best films and television of the year and the devastation of cultural life. wsws.org It is not possible to discuss any aspect of artistic life, or life in general, in 2020 without central reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, which the various ruling elites have permitted to ravage the world's population.

teleSUR (2020-12-31). Putin Highlights Strategic Partnership with Venezuela in 2020. telesurenglish.net The Foreign Ministry of the Eurasian country highlighted the Russian-Venezuelan strategic partnership, thanks to the interest of Presidents Nicolas Maduro and Vladimir Putin. | The Russian Head of State expressed his hope to continue the joint work, the development of bilateral relations and to coordinate efforts in the international arena. | RELATED: | In early December 2020, President Nicolas Maduro…

teleSUR (2020-12-31). Venezuela: Top Court Supports New Parliament's Inauguration. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Supreme Court (TSJ) Wednesday ruled to void a legislative reform submitted by opposition lawmakers of the outgoing Parliament, which sought to prevent the inauguration of a new legislative period set to begin on January 5. | RELATED: | The TSJ ruling responds to an appeal requesting a mandate extension of the 2015 Parliament which is currently in contempt and is set to end with the installation in…

teleSUR (2020-12-31). Cuba To Keep Subsidies for 162 Basic Drugs Amid US Blockade. telesurenglish.net Cuban authorities announced that 46 percent of the items in the 2021 Basic Medicine Chart (BMC) will be subsidized to avoid affecting the population amid the U.S. blockade and the economic reforms starting on January 1st. | RELATED: | Health Ministry representative Emilio Delgado informed that the new BMC is made up of 619 products gathered in three main groups. | Placed in groups number 1 and 2, medicines associated with c…

teleSUR (2020-12-31). Dominican Congress Passes Law Banning Child Marriage. telesurenglish.net Dominican Republic's Congress Wednesday passed a bill to prohibit child marriage in the Caribbean nation. | RELATED: | The document catalogs early marriage as "a harmful practice that limits children's s opportunities for development and access to education." | The Executive Branch will discuss the norm that states that "a man or woman may not marry before reaching the age of 18." President Luis Abinader will be in ch…

_____ (2020-12-31). US Blockade Prevents Venezuela From Funding COVAX. popularresistance.org Venezuela's Health Minister Carlos Alvarado on Sunday said that the economic blockade imposed by the United States is preventing his country from funding the COVAX initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO). | He recalled that his country offered to place US$18 million into the COVAX fund, but as a result of the U.S. blockade, Venezuela has not "been able to free those resources to pay the fund." | Alvarado added that the U.S. sanctions have affected other vaccination programs previously conducted through the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) revolving fund. | "We have not been able to pay the re…

Mehr News Agency (2020-12-31). Rouhani congratulates Cuba on Liberation Day. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Dec. 31 (MNA) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani felicitates Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on the country's Liberation Day, hoping for further expansion of relations between the two nations.

Anya Parampil (2020-12-30). An exclusive look inside Iran's supermarket in Venezuela. thegrayzone.com Red Lines host Anya Parampil visits Megasis, an Iranian supermarket which recently opened in Caracas, Venezuela, and explores cooperation between Tehran and Caracas against the US economic blockade. The Grayzone's Anya Parampil provides an exclusive look inside a superstore which the US government and corporate media have condemned and attempted to link to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. She also speaks with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza about how increased cooperation between Tehran and Caracas is improving the material …

_____ (2020-12-30). 'We Demand Tomorrow': Marxist Documentary On The Climate Crisis. popularresistance.org Kudos to Patreon for this brilliant production, well worth seeing, with its deep analysis of capitalism though I have some reservations to be noted below. I particularly applaud the presentation of Cuba's socialist solutions in this current pandemic, in contrast to capitalist Britain, with Cuba being on the cutting edge of global ecosocialism. "We Demand Tomorrow" should trigger a lot of debate, and be a useful resource for wide-ranging discussion. I agree with the video's support for a two-stage path out of capitalism. I have long argued that socialism in our epoch must confront the climate/ecological crisis wit…

teleSUR, CE (2020-12-30). Legislator Nicolas Maduro Guerra Receives Second Sputnik V Dose. telesurenglish.net Deputy-elect to the National Assembly, and legislator of the National Constituent Assembly Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, received his second dose of the Russian vaccine against COVID-19, Sputnik V on Wednesday. | RELATED: | The son of the Venezuelan President was one of the first citizens in his country to be administered the initial doses of Sputnik V as part of the third phase of the clinical trial, which has hundreds of vol…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-12-30). To reflect, to breathe, to hope and to stay human: Review of Hybrid War poster exhibition. peoplesdispatch.org The Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and International Week of Anti-Imperialist Struggle organized four poster exhibitions over the last year on different themes related to imperialism…

RT (2020-12-30). Three-quarters of English population being placed under Tier 4 restrictions as UK health secretary extends Covid-19 curbs. rt.com Britain's health secretary has announced that an additional 20 million people in England will be subjected to Tier 4 restrictions as a new and highly contagious virus strain spreads throughout the UK. | Speaking to Parliament on Wednesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the rising Covid-19 cases numbers and hospitalisations "demonstrate the need to act where the virus is spreading." | Hancock announced that it had become necessary to expand the Tier 4 measures to a wider area, including the remaining parts of the South East of England, as well as large parts of the Midlands, north-east and south-west of t…

teleSUR (2020-12-30). US Backs Guaido's Farce Extending Protection on CITGO. telesurenglish.net New York Court Tuesday accepted a request from the Venezuelan opposition to protect Citgo Petroleum Corporation, a decision that shows Washington's support for Juan Guaido. | RELATED: | Citgo is a subsidiary of the state-owned Oil of Venezuela (PDVSA) and the leading supplier of gasoline, lubricants, and petrochemicals in the U.S. | U.S. Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled in favor of the measure that bars Bono PDVSA…

teleSUR, CE (2020-12-30). The Answer to Covid is Caricom: Incoming Chairman Dr. Keith Rowley. telesurenglish.net The incoming chairman of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago, is channeling the regional integration movement towards stronger outcomes in the year ahead. | RELATED: | In his message to mark the start of 2021, Rowley pointed to the Caribbean Community's relatively successful management of the health aspects of COVID-19 in 2020 and says the light of the end of the t…

teleSUR, CE (2020-12-30). Puebla Group's Plea to US & EU: Release Venezuela's Funds. telesurenglish.net The Puebla Group (Grupo de Puebla) has penned a statement demanding the release of Venezuela's financial resources by the U.S., EU and European countries to ensure that citizens have access to the vaccine against COVID-19. | RELATED: | The statement signed by 32 progressive political leaders of Latin America and Spain notes the retention of billions of dollars in assets belonging to the Venezuelan people. While th…

teleSUR (2020-12-30). St. Vincent: Orange Alert After Magma Expulsion From Volcano. telesurenglish.net Authorities in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines set an "orange alert" after La Soufriere volcano began releasing magma on Tuesday. | RELATED: | Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves warned the inhabitants of the north of the Caribbean island to prepare for an eventual evacuation in areas ranging from Georgetown to Fancy. | The Seismic Research Unit (SRU) of the University of the East Indies (UWI) requested to avoid tourist…

teleSUR (2020-12-30). Puerto Rico: Governor-Elect Pierluisi Appoints New Officials. telesurenglish.net Puerto Rico's Governor-elect Pedro Pierluisi Tuesday presented his latest cabinet appointments ahead of his inauguration in…

teleSUR (2020-12-30). Bolivia Will Acquire 5.2 Million Doses of the Sputnik V Vaccine. telesurenglish.net Bolivia becomes the third country in the region to acquire the Russian vaccine Sputnik V for free in its population. | The Government of Bolivia signed this Wednesday an agreement with Russia to acquire 5.2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus. | RELATED: | During the signing ceremony of the agreement, carried out via videoconference, President Luis Arce stated that the acquisition of the…

Prensa Latina (2020-12-29). Cuban doctors will begin treating COVID-19 patients in Panama. mronline.org The dozen of Cuban medical brigades recently arrived in Panama will be deployed to the places assigned to fight COVID-19.