Daily Archives: February 5, 2021

2021-02-05: News Headlines

Ralph Nader (2021-02-05). The Struggle Inside Senator Mitch McConnell's Brain. counterpunch.org Since 2015, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has ruled the Senate with an iron hand, describing himself as "the Guardian of Gridlock." He was Senator "NO," except for confirming over 200 mostly corporatist federal judges. Now comes a new challenge for Mitch McConnell as he leads 49 other Republican Senators, twenty of whom are up

Vijay Prashad (2021-02-05). How ExxonMobil Uses Divide and Rule to Get Its Way in South America. counterpunch.org Guyana's government used money from ExxonMobil "to meet the estimated cost in 2018 of presenting Guyana/Venezuela controversy at the International Court of Justice including payment of legal fees." In mid-2020, the Guyanese paper Kaieteur News' senior reporter Kiana Wilburg broke the story that the World Bank had paid $1.2 million to Hunton Andrews Kurth, a law firm long associated with ExxonMobil, to revise Guyana's petroleum laws.

W. T. Whitney Jr. (2021-02-04). Cuba develops COVID-19 vaccines, takes socialist approach. peoplesworld.org Cuba's socialist approach to developing vaccines against Covid-19 differs strikingly from that of capitalist nations of the world developing vaccines. Socialist Cuba's production of four vaccines is grounded in science, in a dedication to saving the lives of all Cubans, and in international solidarity. Cuba is the only vaccine manufacturer in Latin America; there are …

Daniel Chaitin (2021-02-04). Biden's COVID Guy Says Doubling Face Diapers Could Increase Virus Spread. anti-empire.com An infectious disease expert says wearing two face masks may increase the chances of getting infected by COVID-19. | Michael Osterholm, who was a member of the Biden Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, gave a second opinion after Dr. "When we talk about double masking, remember what we're really talking about is just trying to prevent th…

_____ (2021-02-04). 111 NGOs Call On Biden To Close Guantánamo. popularresistance.org On February 2, more than a hundred non-governmental organizations joined a letter led by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Center for Victims of Torture, urging President Joe Biden to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba and end indefinite military detention. The letter is signed by organizations ranging from those working to end anti-Muslim discrimination and torture to immigrant rights organizations and organizations working broadly on civil rights, civil liberties, and racial justice at the national and local level. It emphasizes the devastating and ongoing consequences of the prison, including…

_____ (2021-02-04). How ExxonMobil Uses Divide And Rule To Get Its Way. popularresistance.org Tensions rise between neighboring Guyana and Venezuela over a piece of land that has been disputed since at least 1835. Both Guyana's President Irfaan Ali and Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro have exchanged sharp words about the status of the Essequibo region, which both countries claim. Since 1990, the two countries have pursued their claims through a United Nations "good offices" process; as recently as 2013, President Maduro and Guyana's then-President Donald Ramotar said that the discussions over Essequibo were "going well" under this UN framework. | Everything changed in 2015, and since then the tensions…

Tortilla con Sal (2021-02-04). Indigenous People and Justice in Nicaragua's North Caribbean Coast. telesurenglish.net Nicaragua's Revista Tortilla con Sal spoke with Loyda Martinez, Sole Local Judicial Authority of the Municipality of Waspam, Rio Coco, to learn how the Indigenous community of the Autonomous Region of the Northern Caribbean Coast (RACCN) is defending itself against the usurpation of its lands. TeleSUR shares the full interview. | RELATED: | – We would like you to explain the Indigenous people's property remediation process and about the cases you have…

yenisafak (2021-02-04). Ethiopia plans to vaccinate 20% population in 2021. yenisafak.com Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Muluken Yohannes, a senior adviser to the Health Ministry, said a national coordinating committee and a task force have been set up for the purpose to ensure vaccination.Further, the country is actively engaged in a unique global alliance representing more than two-thirds of the world, to ensure that developing nations get vaccines equitably in terms both of access and cost.The alliance includes the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the Gates Foundation, and 191 countries to…

yenisafak (2021-02-04). Turkey's population tops 83.6M in 2020. yenisafak.com Turkey's population exceeded 83.6 million as of 2020-end, with a 0.55% rise on an annual basis, the Turkish statistical authority said on Thursday.The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed that the population residing in Turkey last year increased by 459,365 people compared to the previous year."Male population was 41,915,985 people and female population was 41,698,377 people," the institute said.The share of men in the total population was 50.1%, while women made up 49.9%, according to TurkStat.Official data said annual population growth rate was 0.55% in 2020, down from 1.39% in 2019.

Susan Price (2021-02-04). President vows to cling to power as Haiti 'on the verge of explosion'. greenleft.org.au The usually clogged and bustling streets were empty in Port-au-Prince, writes Kim Ives, as a general strike called by Haiti's unions and supported by the opposition brought the nation to a standstill on February 1-2.

Susan Price (2021-02-04). Inventing reality: Venezuela's parliamentary election. greenleft.org.au The bare minimum the Western mainstream media could do is report accurately on Venezuela's recent parliamentary election, writes Rodrigo Acuna. Once again they have failed.

Ricardo Vaz (2021-02-04). Venezuela: Opposition, Colombian Leaders Allegedly Involved in Foiled Terror Plot. globalresearch.ca All Global Research articles can be read in 27 languages by activating the "Translate Website" drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). | *** | Venezuelan authorities have reportedly dismantled a terrorist plan. | National Assembly President …

teleSUR (2021-02-04). Venezuela Frees Guyanese Who Fished Illegally in Its Territory. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Ministry (MPPRE) on Wednesday announced the release of 12 Guyanese fishermen who were arrested on Jan. 23 for illegal fishing in Venezuelan waters. | RELATED: | The decision comes after the mediation of Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago governments and it is a sign of Venezuela's commitment to regional stability and good coexistence. | MPPRE reite…

teleSUR (2021-02-04). Cuba Appoints Ambassador To the Eurasian Economic Union. telesurenglish.net Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla on Thursday appointed a permanent Ambassador to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). | RELATED: | The appointment was preceded by the acceptance of Cuba as an observer member on last Dec. 11, which proved that the country's application was positively received by the EEU countries. | Russian President Vladimir Putin considered Cuba's designation a very positive develop…

teleSUR (2021-02-04). Namibian Government Nominates Cuban Doctors for Nobel Prize. telesurenglish.net In line with this decision, last December 15, the Namibian Foreign Ministry sent to the Norwegian Nobel Committee all the necessary requirements to support the Nomination. | RELATED: | MIRCO highlighted the work carried out by the Cuban medical contingent in different countries around the world. "While the Brigade has been extensively involved in providing support to countries around the world since the beginning…

teleSUR (2021-02-04). Haiti: Political and Social Organizations Call for More Strikes. telesurenglish.net Haiti's opposition and social organizations Thursday reiterated the calls for general mobilizations to demand the end of President Jovenal Moise's mandate. | RELATED: | The Pitit Dessalines party leader Moise Jean-Charles called for protests in the run-up to Feb. 7 when the President is due to finish his term. | He also proposed opposition parties establish a common position to define the next two-year transitional period while asking the international community not to inter…

Ralph Nader (2021-02-03). The Struggle Inside Senator Mitch McConnell's Brain. commondreams.org Allowing the Trumpian half of his brain to overpower his judgment and vote to acquit Dangerous Donald would spell disaster for the Republican Party (assuming the Democratic Party doesn't go to sleep as it did after Obama's win in 2008). | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/mcconnell_biden_0.jpg

Online News Editor (2021-02-03). Chile kicks off mass vaccination campaign. laprensalatina.com Santiago, Feb 3 (efe-epa).- Chile on Wednesday kicked off a mass inoculation campaign after receiving a shipment of nearly 4 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech. The government's plan is to vaccinate the country's at-risk population — nearly 5 million people — between February and March and the …

Pierre-Paul Bermingham (2021-02-03). France, Sweden, Poland, Germany, France: Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine Not for Elderly. anti-empire.com The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine should be prioritized for people younger than 65, according to recommendations by government advisory bodies in France and Sweden on Tuesday, while Poland set its threshold at 60. | "Currently available data for people aged 65 and over are limited by a small sample size and don't allow for a conclusion on the safety and the efficacy of the [AstraZeneca] vaccine for this population," the French national authority for health (HAS) said. "The [AstraZeneca] vaccine is therefore recommended preferentially for health professionals under 65 and people under 65." | The three countries join…

Mette Nà∏rgaard, Erzsébet Horváth-Puhó, Priscila Corraini, Henrik Toft Sà∏rensen, Victor W. Henderson (2021-02-03). [Research Paper] Sleep disruption and Alzheimer's disease risk: Inferences from men with benign prostatic hyperplasia. thelancet.com During up to 21 years of follow-up, men with BPH had persistently higher risk of AD and all-cause dementia compared with men in the general population. Our results identify BPH as a common, potentially remediable disorder associated with dementia risk.

_____ (2021-02-03). Minority Rule Always Destined For Collapse. strategic-culture.org Governments that rely on support from a minority of their nation's population are doomed to fail. | The Republican Party of the United States has reconstructed itself as the party of Donald Trump and, as such, has become no different than the minority rule political parties of Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa. | By seizing de facto control of the Republican Party, once a center-right party, and moving it to the conspiratorial far-right fringe of the political spectrum, Trump and his supporters have established themselves and their revisionist party as representing a minority of Americans. Because the U.S. Sen…

news.un (2021-02-03). Urgent steps needed to alleviate suffering in Ethiopia's Tigray region: Guterres. news.un.org The United Nations Secretary-General, on Tuesday, voiced grave concerns over the crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray region and underscored the need for urgent efforts to protect populations at risk.

Yves Engler (2021-02-03). Guyana, Venezuela & Exxon. counterpunch.org Why is Canada pushing Guyana, an impoverished nation of 800,000, into conflict with Venezuela while helping multinationals grab its oil? Recently Canadian officials criticized Venezuela's position regarding its territorial dispute with Guyana, which sits on the northeastern tip of South America. Soon after the US put out a statement on the century-old dispute, the Canadian High Commission declared "Venezuela's recent

CounterPunch News Service (2021-02-03). Guardians Seeks Endangered Species Listing Protection for 80 Remaining Texas Ocelots. counterpunch.org WASHINGTON, D.C. WildEarth Guardians has just petitioned for the listing of the Texas population of ocelot—the only existing population in the United States—under the Endangered Species Act, separate from the species as a whole. In recent years, the small population of ocelots found in Texas, estimated to be around 80 wild cats, has been separated

Rosa Miriam Elizalde (2021-02-03). The US Is Trying to Provoke a Soft Coup in Cuba. peoplesdispatch.org We are in the era of soft coups. Old-fashioned coups d'état and invasions get terrible press. The images of US troops invading the

The Xerces Society (2021-02-03). Western Monarch Population Closer to Extinction; Still no Federal or State Protection in Sight. indybay.org Population that winters along the California coast hit a low of less than 2,000 butterflies—a 99.9% decline since the 1980s. We must take action now to save the western monarch migration.

Wachterman MW, Sommers BD. (2021-02-02). Dying Poor in the US—Disparities in End-of-Life Care. jamanetwork.com The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has focused attention on stark disparities in the US, with higher rates of infections and deaths among lower-income populations and communities of color. Illness and death rates are not the only sources of health inequity in this country. There are also substantial differences in the care that patients with serious illnesses receive near the end of life that are based on race or socioeconomic status. Although pandemic-related efforts to improve equity rightfully focus on preventing death, in this and numerous other contexts, policy makers and clinicians should also…

The Conversation (2021-02-02). Israel faces legal — and practical — obligations for including Palestinians in vaccine success. juancole.com By Yara M. Asi | — As nations scramble to vaccinate populations against COVID-19, one country has been ahead of the rest: Israel. By late January, Israel had vaccinated more than 30% of its population — more than double or triple the rate of other high-income states like the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany. …

Ramona Wadi (2021-02-02). Aboriginal Historical Memory and 'Australia Day'. thealtworld.com The symbolic "Australia Day" celebrations should be juxtaposed against the normalised violations occurring against indigenous populations and their terrain, Ramona Wadi writes. | January 26 marks Australia Day in colonial narratives, when the British First Fleet arrived in 1788 to establish a penal colony on indigenous land. For the Aboriginal people, the annual commemoration is a reminder of the colonial invasion and its ramifications — the historical massacres, heritage theft, exploitation of history and a political system which to date discriminates against the indigenous. | Defying Covid restrictions, A…

Peter Koenig (2021-02-02). Bill Gates and the Depopulation Agenda. Robert F. Kennedy Junior Calls for an Investigation. globalresearch.ca Robert F Kennedy Jr, an avid Defender of Children's Rights and anti-vaccination activist, has launched a petition sent to the White House, calling for "Investigations into the 'Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation' for Medical Malpractice & Crimes Against Humanity"

Eds. (2021-02-02). We are Cuba Viva, the country that insists on resisting and emerging victorious. mronline.org During 2019 and 2020 Cuba suffered the greatest impact ever from the blockade, with losses estimated at more than 5 billion dollars.

RT (2021-02-02). Bill Gates calls for global alert system and 'pandemic fire squads' for post-Covid-19 world. rt.com Social media users are recoiling at Bill Gates' call for a global disease alert system, questioning why a tech billionaire with no medical expertise or elected office is plotting what they fear could become a platform for tyranny. | The Microsoft co-founder, who ranks as the world's third-richest person, took to Twitter on Monday to make his pitch for a new system that he said would help prevent future pandemics. This would include "mega testing diagnostic platforms" that could test 20 percent of the population every week, Gates said in a video promoting his plans. He added that future treatments, such as mono…

Guirguis-Blake JM, Webber EM, Coppola EL. (2021-02-02). Screening for Asymptomatic Carotid Artery Stenosis in the General Population. jamanetwork.com This systematic review to support the 2021 US Preventive Services Task Force Reaffirmation Recommendation Statement on screening for carotid artery stenosis summarizes published evidence on the benefits and harms of screening and treatment of asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis in the general population.

WSWS (2021-02-02). Workers Struggles: The Americas. wsws.org Workers in Haiti carried out a general strike February 1 and 2 against the increasingly authoritarian regime of President Jovenel MoàØse while teachers in Brazil's largest city have supported strike action against attempts to re-open schools.

Robert Inlakesh (2021-02-02). Does Iran's Government Persecute Its Christian Population? thelastamericanvagabond.com A report published last year by experts working at the United Nations has been repeatedly cited, especially throughout Right-Wing press in the United States, as proof that Iran persecutes its Christian population for practicing their faith. But are these charges true, or is there more to the story? Iran's constitution unequivocally protects the rights of

Jin J. (2021-02-02). USPSTF Recommendation: Screening for Carotid Artery Stenosis. jamanetwork.com This JAMA Patient Page summarizes the US Preventive Services Task Force's 2021 recommendation not to screen for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis in the general population.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-02). Haitians continue struggle against US-backed MoàØse regime. peoplesdispatch.org A new wave of protests began in Haiti on January 10 against US backed president Jovenel MoàØse and his attempt to extend his term in office till Feb 2022.

Ren R, Zhang Y, Li Q, et al. (2021-02-02). Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections Among Persons Entering China From April 16 to October 12, 2020. jamanetwork.com This population epidemiology study characterizes trends in the prevalence of asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among international entrants testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 at Chinese border checkpoints between mid-April and mid-October 2020.

, Krist AH, Davidson KW, et al. (2021-02-02). USPSTF Recommendation: Screening for Asymptomatic Carotid Artery Stenosis. jamanetwork.com This 2021 US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement recommends against screening for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis in the general adult population (D recommendation).

Khatana SM, Venkataramani AS, Nathan AS, et al. (2021-02-02). Association Between Changes in Economic Prosperity and Cardiovascular Mortality Among Middle-aged US Adults. jamanetwork.com This population epidemiology study estimates the association between changes in county-level economic prosperity and changes in cardiovascular mortality in US adults aged 40 to 64 years between 2007-2011 and 2012-2016.

Grant Molen (2021-02-02). White or Wealth Supremacy? realprogressives.org The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 authorized the dissemination of US state department propaganda to foreign nations deemed a threat to American democracy. This act has been a useful tool for intelligence operatives who have repeatedly sought to stamp out populist revolutions in countries with access to valuable natural resources. Through the spread of propaganda and the arming of US aligned insurgency groups, the US has been able to foment confusion and discord in foreign populations resulting in unwinnable political battles, power struggles and weak leadership representing the working people's interests. In the pow…