Covid-19's attacks on the down-and-out in ultra-unequal South Africa
Patrick Bond | zcomm.org | 2020-03-31
Lacking linkages to the necessary street-heat that should accompany all the new policy demands, most pro-poor advocacy has been directed at meekly persuading a Presidency, Treasury and Reserve Bank to reverse course…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/covid-19s-attacks-on-the-down-and-out-in-ultra-unequal-south-africa/

Expanding California African Trade in this New Era
CA Pan African Trade | indybay.org | 2020-03-31
California, the fifth largest economy on earth, will embrace a positive new way forward in partnership with the African Continental Free Trade Area…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/03/29/18831921.php

Trump, Erdogan speak by phone, 'stress need' for ceasefires in Syria & Libya
rt.com | 2020-03-31
US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan underlined on Tuesday the need for ceasefires in Syria and Libya during the coronavirus pandemic, the White House said. The two spoke by phone on efforts to "defeat the virus and bolster the global economy," according to its statement. | They "agreed it is more important now than ever for countries in conflict, particularly Syria and Libya, to adhere to ceasefires and work toward resolution," it said. | Syria's government has so far reported only a handful of Covid-19 cases. Health experts warn that the country, torn apart by years of c…
rt.com/newsline/484616-trump-erdogan-syria-libya/

Papua New Guinea: 4,000 nurses to strike over COVID-19 readiness
wsws.org | 2020-03-31
The strike comes as the COVID-19 pandemic escalates across the Pacific with the region's first fatality reported in Guam.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/31/paci-m31.html

Trump, Erdogan Stress Need for Ceasefire in Syria, Libya During COVID-19 Pandemic – White House
sputniknews.com | 2020-03-31
In January, an international conference on Libya took place in the German capital, counting Russia, the United States, the European Union, Turkey, and Egypt among its participants. The sides agreed to a ceasefire and for third parties not to be involved in the conflict.
sputniknews.com/world/202003311078778123-trump-erdogan-stress-need-for-ceasefire-in-syria-libya/

EU launches Libya military mission
yenisafak.com | 2020-03-31
EU foreign ministers approved on Tuesday the launch of a new military mission, Operation IRINI, to monitor the UN arms embargo on Libya.The new mission will operate in the air, sea, and through satellites to ensure that all countries respect the ban on providing arms for the parties involved in the Libyan conflict."Even in the time of coronavirus, the EU shows determination to promote peace on our neighborhood," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell pointed out at a press conference on Tuesday.The EU forces will also watch for the illegal oil exports, prevent human trafficking and contribute to the training of th…
yenisafak.com/en/world/eu-launches-libya-military-mission-3515565

World Suffering Less from Coronavirus Crisis & More from an America Crisis
John Wight | iranian.com | 2020-03-31
In his 1948 classic novel "The Plague," which tells the story of the fictional outbreak of a rat-borne plague in the Algerian port city of Oran under French colonialism, French writer and thinker Albert Camus explores the way the plague and ensuing crisis taps into the very best and worst of the human condition. The current …
iranian.com/2020/03/30/world-suffering-less-from-coronavirus-crisis-more-from-an-america-crisis/

Cuba: La mano extendida que el Caribe estrecha
Granma | peoplesworld.org | 2020-03-30
Grabma

Africa's confirmed cases of COVID-19 approaching 5,000
wsws.org | 2020-03-30
The need for an internationally coordinated response to stop the spread of the coronavirus on the African continent is urgent.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/afri-m30.html

Expanding California African Trade in this New Era
CA Pan African Trade | indybay.org | 2020-03-30
California, the fifth largest economy on earth, will embrace a positive new way forward in partnership with the African Continental Free Trade Area…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/03/29/18831921.php

First Person: False promises in Mauritania
news.un.org | 2020-03-28
Women and girls face particular challenges as migrants, whatever their reason for leaving their country of origin. UN agencies are learning more about these difficulties, and how to address them.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/03/1060592

COVID-19 Prevention Measures Turn Violent in Parts of Africa
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-28
COVID-19 prevention measures have taken a violent turn in parts of Africa as countries impose lockdowns and curfews or seal off major cities. | RELATED: | Africa, Latin America Fragile Targets for Coronavirus Spread | Police fired tear gas at a crowd of Kenyan ferry commuters as the country's first day of a coronavirus curfew slid into chaos. At the same time, elsewhere, officers were captured in mobile phone footage whacking people with batons. | Minutes after South Africa's thre…
telesurenglish.net/news/COVID-19-Prevention-Measures-Turn-Violent-in-Parts-of-Africa-20200328-0011.html

U.S. Is #1 in Pandemic: Rep. Omar Blasts Trump for "Wrong Kind of American Exceptionalism"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-03-27
As much of the United States is under lockdown, the House votes today on a $2 trillion emergency relief package to address the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. It will generate payments to most Americans and includes protections for workers, but it is also a massive bailout for a number of industries and corporations, and the vote comes as a record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits. We speak with Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, the first Somali American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and one of the first Muslim women in Congress, about the bill, Trump's response t…
www.democracynow.org/2020/3/27/rep_ilhan_omar_coronavirus_relief_bill

Peacekeeping radio stations provide COVID-19 information to vulnerable communities in conflict-affected countries
news.un.org | 2020-03-27
UN Peacekeeping radio stations have in recent decades helped build support for peace process in a dozen countries around the world including Cambodia, Croatia, Namibia and Timor-Leste.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/03/1060542

Debt relief milestone in Somalia, as World Bank, IMF, call for global payment suspension in light of COVID-19
news.un.org | 2020-03-25
The top United Nations official in Somalia congratulated the Horn of Africa nation on Wednesday for achieving the benchmark set by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), confirming its eligibility for debt relief.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/03/1060292

Doctor: As Coronavirus Cases Spike Worldwide, We Need Global Cooperation to Halt Spread
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-03-20
As the worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has topped 10,000, with over 250,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, we speak with Stanford University's global health expert Dr. Michele Barry, an infectious disease doctor. Italy has surpassed China in coronavirus deaths, and cases are rising in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, as the governor of California has ordered all 40 million residents to shelter in place.
www.democracynow.org/2020/3/20/coronavirus_dr_michele_barry

[Research Paper] A phase 1b randomized study of the safety and immunological responses to vaccination with H4:IC31, H56:IC31, and BCG revaccination in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-uninfected adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa
Linda-Gail Bekker, One Dintwe, Andrew Fiore-Gartland, Keren Middelkoop, Julia Hutter, Anthony Williams, April K. Randhawa, Morten Ruhwald, Ingrid Kromann, Peter L. Andersen, Carlos A. DiazGranados, Kathryn T. Rutkowski, Dereck Tait, Maurine D. Miner, Erica Andersen-Nissen, Stephen C. De Rosa, Kelly E. Seaton, Georgia D. Tomaras, M. Juliana McElrath, Ann Ginsberg, James G. Kublin, HVTN 602 | thelancet.com | 2020-03-18
BCG revaccination administered as a single dose ID and both H4: IC31 and H56: IC31 administered as 2 doses IM had acceptable safety profiles in healthy, QFT-negative, previously BCG-vaccinated adolescents. Characterization of the assays and the immunogenicity of these vaccines may help to identify valuable markers of protection for upcoming immune correlates analyses of C-040-404 and future TB vaccine efficacy trials.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30057-2/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] COVID-19: towards controlling of a pandemic
Juliet Bedford, Delia Enria, Johan Giesecke, David L Heymann, Chikwe Ihekweazu, Gary Kobinger, H Clifford Lane, Ziad Memish, Myoung-don Oh, Amadou Alpha Sall, Anne Schuchat, Kumnuan Ungchusak, Lothar H Wieler, WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Infectious Hazards | thelancet.com | 2020-03-17
During the past 3 weeks, new major epidemic foci of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), some without traceable origin, have been identified and are rapidly expanding in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East, with the first confirmed cases being identified in African and Latin American countries. By March 16, 2020, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China had increased drastically and the number of affected countries, states, or territories reporting infections to WHO was 143.1 On the basis of "alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction", on March 11, 2020, the…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30673-5/fulltext?rss=yes