(2021-01-11). Detention of Venezuelan Abortion Activist Prompts Continental Pressure Campaign. venezuelanalysis.com Vannesa Rosales is facing charges for counselling a pregnant 13-year-old rape victim.
(2021-01-11). Syrian Refugees Excluded from Lebanese Labor Market. counterpunch.org 
When the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, many Syrians fled across the western border to Lebanon. Thousands now live in Arsal, a remote town in the Bekaa valley, not far from the Syrian border. Lebanon, a country of 6 million, hosts a large refugee population estimated at 1.5 million. As the economic
(2021-01-11). European Union drops fictional claim that Juan Guaidó is president of Venezuela. peoplesworld.org 
The European Union has de-recognized Juan Guaidó as the "Interim President" of Venezuela as of Wednesday, Jan. 6. The move came after Guaidó lost his position as the head of the Venezuelan National Assembly following the December 2020 parliamentary elections. The European Commission declared that this was the will of all EU governments. Commission spokesman …
(2021-01-11). 'Despicable': Outgoing Trump Administration to Designate Cuba a 'State Sponsor of Terrorism'. commondreams.org "Cuba has been sending doctors around the world to combat Covid-19," one observer pointed out, while another said the "Trump administration should add itself as a state sponsor of terrorism." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/cuba_medical_brigade.jpg …
(2021-01-11). Cuban Abdala Vaccine to End Its First Phase of Clinical Trial. telesurenglish.net Abdala, one of the four Cuban COVID-19 vaccines, will finish its first phase of clinical trials with scarce adverse reactions and an adequate security profile. | RELATED: | "So far, the volunteers only manifest discomfort in the area of vaccine administration," Saturnino Lora Hospital's director Rafael Suarez said. | The first phase of the clinical trial started in a hospital in Santiago de Cuba province in December. I…
(2021-01-11). Get COVID-19 vaccinations for 'high-risk' populations underway within 100 days worldwide, Tedros urges. news.un.org There needs to be a "collective commitment" to get vaccinations underway worldwide for health workers and others who are at high risk of catching COVID-19, within the next 100 days, said the UN health agency chief on Monday.
(2021-01-11). Venezuela Accuses the US of Backing ExxonMobil in the Essequibo. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza on Sunday accused the United States of protecting ExxonMobil in the Essequibo, an area that has been in dispute between his country and Guyana since the 19th century. | RELATED: | "This is how the U.S. confesses its complicit participation in the conspiracy that intends to seize the territory of Guayana Esequiba from Venezuela. It protects the predatory interests of the tran…
(2021-01-11). Haiti: Opposition Rejects Call for Referendum and Elections. telesurenglish.net Opposition politicians Sunday rejected the announcement by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Committee (CEP) regarding the holding of a Constitutional referendum and general elections to take place this year. | RELATED: | Haiti in Action party (HA) Coordinator and former Senator Youri Latortue described the electoral process as "unserious" and "absurd" while reiterating the calls on President Jovenel Moise to resig…
(2021-01-10). Algeria becomes first African nation to approve Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. rt.com 
Algeria is going to vaccinate its population against the coronavirus with Sputnik V after the Russian drug received official approval from the North African country's health authorities. | A registration certificate for Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) vaccine was shared by the country's Ministry of Pharmaceutical Industry on Facebook. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which finances the development of the vaccine, also confirmed the news, saying that it was approved under the emergency use authorization. | Algiers and Moscow inked a deal for Sputnik V shortly before the New Year. The supplies of Russian…
(2021-01-09). Tribes Mount Organized Responses To COVID-19. popularresistance.org As the months roll by, the pandemic continues to hit Indigenous nations hard. But this phenomenon is not new. Epidemics have been part of colonialism since settlers arrived. Health inequities tell us that illnesses have different outcomes on different populations; however, leading medical professionals warn the general public of the dangers of oversimplifying health data. They don't tell the whole story. And, in the case of Indigenous nations, the story of inequity is imbued with dispossession of lands and is met with organizing from the inside: two crucial points for untangling and responding to COVID-19.
(2021-01-09). 'Our people won't be a testing device': Tehran bans trials of foreign vaccines on Iranians. rt.com 
Tehran has rejected attempts by foreign companies to test their coronavirus vaccines on Iranians, President Hassan Rouhani said, adding that the country will purchase safe immunization for its population. | "Foreign companies wanted to give us vaccines so they would be tested on the Iranian people. But the health ministry prevented it," Rouhani told state TV, without naming the producers that tried contacting the government in Tehran. | Our people won't be a testing device for vaccine manufacturing companies. | The Iranian authorities will purchase foreign vaccines — without naming them — that hav…
(2021-01-09). [Articles] Immunogenicity and safety of fractional doses of yellow fever vaccines: a randomised, double-blind, non-inferiority trial. thelancet.com Fractional doses of all WHO-prequalified yellow fever vaccines were non-inferior to the standard dose in inducing seroconversion 28 days after vaccination, with no major safety concerns. These results support the use of fractional dosage in the general adult population for outbreak response in situations of vaccine shortage.
(2021-01-09). For a borderless pragmatism. Outline of a Progressive Migration Policy. indybay.org Immigration leads to stronger economic growth, which in turn creates jobs, Without migration, we would all be sitting in Olduvia in East Africa, as we were 100,000 years ago. About 3% of the world's population, about 215 million people, live in a state other than the one in which they were born. Migration has always existed. Not everything has become more right-wing in the last 50 years.
(2021-01-09). The Shortwave Report 01/08/21 Listen Globally! indybay.org A weekly 30 minute review of international news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio and the internet. With times, frequencies, and websites for listening at home. 3 files- Highest quality broadcast, regular broadcast, and slow-modem streaming. Radio Deutsche-Welle, Radio Havana Cuba, and NHK Japan.
(2021-01-08). Plunge in Restaurant Jobs Due to COVID Leads to First Job Loss Since April. truthout.org The economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, all of which can be attributed to a plunge in restaurant employment of 372,000. Other sectors highly sensitive to the pandemic, such as hotels and recreation, also lost jobs. The unemployment rate and employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) were both unchanged at 6.7 percent and 57.4 percent, respectively. | The resurgence of the pandemic further heightened the two-track nature of this recession. Construction and manufacturing, two sectors normally hard…
(2021-01-08). Cuban Doctors To Arrive in Mexico Once Again. telesurenglish.net Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) announced the upcoming arrival of the second group of Cuban doctors made up of 200 professionals who will support the fight against the pandemic in the country. | RELATED: | The group will be assisted by the Navy and the Armed forces given the alarming health situation in the country, which has recorded a caseload of over 1.4 million cases and over 131,031 related fatalitie…
(2021-01-08). Pandemic-Caused Plunge in Restaurant Jobs Leads to First Job Loss Since April. cepr.net The pain from the recession is heavily concentrated among the long-term unemployed. The economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, all of which can be attributed to a plunge in restaurant employment of 372,000. Other sectors highly sensitive to the pandemic, such as hotels and recreation, also lost jobs. The unemployment rate and employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) …
(2021-01-08). Venezuela Rejects ICJ Ruling, Reaffirms Claim Over Essequibo Strip. venezuelanalysis.com The Maduro government called on the UN Secretary General to mediate the territorial conflict.
(2021-01-08). Long live the Haitian Revolution! workers.org 
January 1 marked the 217th year of independence for the Republic of Haiti. The Haitian Revolution was led by formerly enslaved Black revolutionary Franàßois-Dominique Toussaint Louverture and later by Jean-Jacques Dessalines. A majority of Louverture's army had been born in Africa. The Haitian Revolution began in 1791 after a Vodou . . . |
(2021-01-08). Venezuela Reaffirms Its Sovereign Rights Over the Essequibo. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro Thursday signed a presidential decree setting the country's maritime and territorial borders in order to protect national jurisdiction rights, especially on the disputed Essequibo territory. | RELATED: | He informed that the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was notified about his government rejections over the recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling…
(2021-01-08). Open Society Tries To Stage A Counterrevolution In Cuba. popularresistance.org On November 28, 2020 Cuban Television abruptly ended the Cuban State media's reluctance to publicly expose the U.S. attempts to fund and organize a new counterrevolution to bring about a soft coup in the island nation. The TV special was followed by episodes on Mesa Redonda, segments on NTV, news programs, articles in Granma and Cubadebate, as well as follow-up in various government-run media outlets. The ins and outs of this new counterrevolution, including the use of social media and digital outlets, acts of terrorist vandalism carried out to destabilize Cuban society, and the web of connections behind it, had…
(2021-01-08). Haiti To Hold Elections and Constitutional Referendum This Year. telesurenglish.net Provisional Electoral Committee (CEP) President Guylande Mesadieu on Thursday announced the dates for a constitutional referendum and general elections to take place in Haiti this year. | RELATED: | The referendum on the Constitution is scheduled for April 25, while the first round of presidential and legislative elections will be held on September 19. Subnational elections will be also held on November 21. | "I wan…