Assange's mother fact-checks media, as story of her son's previously hidden family published
rt.com | 2020-04-12
Julian Assange's mother has gone on the offensive against slanted reporting after her son's legal adviser revealed that she had two children with the WikiLeaks co-founder. | Stella Morris, a South African-born lawyer who helped Assange work on a legal bid to end extradition threats against him, revealed that the journalist fathered two sons with her during his years of political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. | In a video statement, Morris said she was coming forward because their lives were "on the brink" and she feared Assange could die in prison as he awaits a ruling over his extradition to the…
rt.com/news/485598-assange-sons-media-mother-facts/

'We must look out for ourselves': NFL veteran Malcolm Jenkins sparks race debate with coronavirus message
rt.com | 2020-04-12
NFL veteran Malcolm Jenkins has set off a race debate after calling on African Americans to "look out for ourselves" during the Covid-19 pandemic and claiming that the community has "never been prioritized" by the government. | The New Orleans Saints safety issued the message in a video posted to Twitter on Saturday, firstly thanking the nation's doctors, nurses and first responders before directly addressing black Americans. | "We must survive. This pandemic is real, and the damage that is left in wake of the coronavirus is realized mostly in our communities," said Jenkins, 32, who is dressed in a 'Dear Black…
rt.com/sport/485601-malcolm-jenkins-race-debate-coronavirus-comments/

Enemy of My Enemy? Israel Sells Missile System to UAE for Haftar's Libyan National Army – Report
sputniknews.com | 2020-04-12
The war-torn nation of Libya, which descended into a foreign-backed civil war in 2011 after NATO warplanes helped rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi, has faced a major escalation of fighting in the past year as Marshal Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) attempts a final push to drive the Government of National Accord (GNA) out of Tripoli.
sputniknews.com/military/202004121078928005-enemy-of-my-enemy-israel-sells-missile-system-to-uae-for-haftars-libyan-national-army—report/

'Unkillable' Android Malware May Provide Ongoing Access to Personal Info, Security Researchers Warn
sputniknews.com | 2020-04-12
Last October, several reports indicated that some malicious files were affecting around 45,000 Android devices. Not only is this malware almost impossible to get rid of, but as the time passes, it remains as active as ever.
sputniknews.com/science/202004121078925756-unkillable-android-malware-may-provide-ongoing-access-to-personal-info-security-researchers-warn/

Cuban Doctors Arrive in Angola to Train 1500 Health Technicians
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-11
Angola's Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta informed that 1,500 health technicians will be trained by Cuban doctors in matters of family medicine for community epidemiological surveillance. | RELATED: | Cuba: Government Implements New Measures to Prevent COVID-19 | "The training will take place at Girassol Hospital… because it has excellent simulators for practical classes, which is an indispensable condition," local outlet SAPO reported. | With that training, "Angolan doctors will…
telesurenglish.net/news/Cuban-Doctors-Arrive-in-Angola-to-Train-1500-Health-Technicians-20200411-0002.html

African economies in free fall as coronavirus pandemic worsens
wsws.org | 2020-04-11
An African Union study predicts that some 20 million jobs are at risk in Africa due to the impact of the pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/11/afri-a11.html

The Racial Politics of 'Return'
Edna Bonhomme | thenation.com | 2020-04-10
The Racial Politics of 'Return'…
thenation.com/article/world/slavery-tourism-ghana-africa/

Cuban Medical Science in the Service of Humanity
Helen Yaffe | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-10
By 21 March, Cuba had sent healthcare professionals to 37 countries to collaborate in combating the pandemic. Italy received 53 Cuban medics who had previously worked in West Africa during the deadly Ebola outbreak of 2014. Cuba also stepped into the breach in mid-March when a cruise ship with over 600 mostly British passengers and…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/10/cuban-medical-science-in-the-service-of-humanity/

Saudi Arabia Violates its Own Ceasefire As Yemen Announces First Cases of Coronavirus
Ahmed Abdulkareem | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-10
The Saudi regime has engaged in a number of questionable activities since the global outbreak of COVID-19, including moving masses of African refugees deported from areas with coronavirus to the Yemeni border.
mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-violates-ceasefire-yemen-announces-first-cases-coronavirus/266547/

Fight against desert locust swarms goes on in East Africa despite coronavirus crisis measures
news.un.org | 2020-04-09
Sustained efforts to contain East Africa's worst invasion of desert locusts in decades are forging ahead, despite limits on the flow of personnel and equipment stemming from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the UN food agency said Friday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/04/1061482

Albert Woodfox: COVID-19 Offers Public a "Small Window" into What Prisoners Face in Solitary Confinement
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-08
As millions shelter in place around the world, we speak with Albert Woodfox, who served the longest time in solitary confinement of any prisoner in the United States. Known as one of the Angola Three, along with Robert King and Herman Wallace, Woodfox was held in isolation for nearly 44 years at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. He was convicted of killing a guard in jail, but always maintained his innocence. He says he was targeted for co-founding the first Black Panther chapter in Angola. He was released in 2016 and is now 73 years old. His memoir is "Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solit…
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/8/albert_woodfox_solitary_confinement

"A Systematic Issue of Disparity": Black People in Louisiana Account for 70% of COVID-19 Deaths
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-08
Louisiana faces one of the worst outbreaks of the coronavirus in the United States. New data shows black people account for 70% of all the state's coronavirus deaths, though they comprise just 32% of the state's population. Louisiana also has the highest incarceration rate in the country, and more than 65% of the people in its jails and prisons are black. At least 28 people are infected, and 22 corrections staff have tested positive. State corrections officials are sending infected prisoners to the Louisiana State Penitentiary

If COVID-19 Doesn't Discriminate, Then Why Are Black People Dying at Higher Rates?
ReNika Moore | aclu.org | 2020-04-08
COVID-19 is ravaging many parts of the United States, but nowhere more than in Black communities. Early data from the Midwest and the South reveal that Black people are contracting and dying from the virus at far higher rates than whites. Louisiana just released data which shows that African Americans account for 70 percent of all deaths in the state. In Milwaukee…
aclu.org/news/racial-justice/if-covid-19-doesnt-discriminate-then-why-are-black-people-dying-at-higher-rates

Over 10,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa; Zimbabwe and South Sudan among most vulnerable
news.un.org | 2020-04-08
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday that the number of COVID-19 cases in Africa has now risen to more than 10,000, claiming more than 500 lives.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/04/1061352

Course of coronavirus pandemic across Libya, depends on silencing the guns
news.un.org | 2020-04-07
Fighting must stop immediately in Libya if it is to have any chance of staving off the COVID-19 outbreak, the top United Nations official in the North African country said on Tuesday as he condemned an attack on a major Tripoli hospital.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/04/1061272

Mali: UN mission fulfills mandate, aids battle against coronavirus
news.un.org | 2020-04-07
As the COVID-19 pandemic plagues the world, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali told the Security Council on Tuesday that the mission continues to fulfill its mandate while doing whatever it can to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from overrunning the country.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/04/1061312

Deaths of Inequality: AOC on Black and Latinx Communities at Epicenter of Epicenter of the Pandemic
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-07
As COVID-19 deaths spike in African-American and immigrant communities, almost a third of New York City's infections are in Queens, one of the most diverse places in the world, and many in the hardest-hit neighborhoods are undocumented and working-class. We speak with Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the neighborhoods at the epicenter of the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, about how the Trump administration's response to the pandemic is causing "deaths of incompetence," "deaths of science denial" and "deaths of inequality."
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/7/aoc_coronavirus_queens_bronx

Protect Immigrant Communities: Fear Mounts of Deadly COVID-19 Outbreak in U.S. Border Camps, ICE Jails
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-03
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has joined thousands of medical professionals and immigration rights groups to demand that Immigration and Customs Enforcement release all prisoners from immigration jails as the coronavirus continues to spread. Meanwhile, immigration advocates are working to prepare crowded encampments of asylum seekers across the U.S.-Mexico border for a potentially catastrophic outbreak of COVID-19. Since the implementation of the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" policy, tens of thousands of asylum seekers from regions like Central America and Africa have been stranded in Mexican bord…
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/3/covid_us_mexico_border_immigration_jails

[Correspondence] COVID-19 gives the lie to global health expertise
Sarah L Dalglish | thelancet.com | 2020-03-26
As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak began spreading in Europe and the USA, a chart started circulating online showing ratings from the 2019 Global Health Security Index, an assessment of 195 countries' capacity to face infectious disease outbreaks, compiled by the US-based Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health's Center for Health Security. The USA was ranked first, and the UK second; South Korea was ranked ninth, and China 51st; most African countries were at the bottom of the ranking.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30739-X/fulltext?rss=yes

[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