"Capitalism is incapable of responding to a crisis of this kind"
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-04-13
The lockdown in South Africa has been extended till the end of April. However, the government's execution of the lockdown, along with decades of under-investment in health, has left the country unprepared.
mronline.org/2020/04/13/capitalism-is-incapable-of-responding-to-a-crisis-of-this-kind/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=capitalism-is-incapable-of-responding-to-a-crisis-of-this-kind

China denies discriminating against 'African brothers' & says accusations by US govt are attempt at diplomatic sabotage
rt.com | 2020-04-13
Beijing has rejected allegations that it had enacted prejudiced anti-coronavirus policies against Africans in China, describing the accusations as a ploy by Washington to undermine its standing on the world stage. | China values its strong relationship with its "brothers" in Africa, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Monday, adding that reports of discriminatory acts against foreigners living in the city of Guangzhou were an attempt by the United States to damage Beijing's relations with African nations. | The Chinese diplomat stressed in a statement released on Sunday that local officials "attach…
rt.com/news/485644-africa-china-guangzhou-brothers-discrimination/

What is behind the high percentage of COVID-19 deaths among African Americans?
wsws.org | 2020-04-13
The data shows the deadly impact of the virus on the entire working class, especially the most vulnerable workers of all races.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/13/race-a13.html

Libya's UN-recognized govt says 2 strategic cities retaken from forces backing Haftar
rt.com | 2020-04-13
The UN-recognized government in Libya said on Monday that its forces had seized two western cities on the coast between Tripoli and the Tunisian border from troops backing eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, AFP reported. | "Our forces took control of Sorman and Sabratha and are pursuing [Haftar's forces]," said a statement by Mohammed Gnunu, spokesman for the forces of the UN-recognized Government of National Accord. | Since 2014, Libya has been split between competing governments and military alliances based in Tripoli and the east. For the past year, the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Ha…
rt.com/newsline/485699-libya-tripoli-cities-haftar/

Indigenous celebrate victory against Dakota Access Pipeline, but remain wary of Judge Boasberg
Albert Bender | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-13
On March 25, tribal nations won a notable victory in their long-standing war with the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) when U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg for the District of Columbia ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must develop a full environmental review of the much-maligned project. This was a historic triumph for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which with the support …
peoplesworld.org/article/indigenous-celebrate-victory-against-dakota-access-pipeline-but-remain-wary-of-judge-boasberg/

We Need a Riot of Empathy
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-13
Kelly Hayes talks with Tanuja Jagernauth about collective grief and resisting the normalization of mass death. | Note: This a rush transcript and has been lightly edited for clarity. | Copy may not be in its final form. | Kelly Hayes: In a peak moment of tragedy in the COVID-19 crisis, our collective losses are mounting, and with each week, more and more of us know someone who's been lost to this illness, including people we love. Today, we're going to talk about how we can help each other survive these times while not becoming desensitized to t…
truthout.org/audio/we-need-a-riot-of-empathy/

Wash Your Hands? Despite Pandemic, Thousands Still Have No Water in Detroit, a Coronavirus Hot Spot
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-13
Water shutoffs continue amid the coronavirus pandemic in Detroit, despite a moratorium and a program to help thousands of residents restore service last month. The lack of water access comes as nearly 1,500 people in Michigan have died from COVID-19, and 40% of those who have died are African-American, despite making up just 14% of the state's population. We speak with community pastor and activist Rev. Roslyn Bouier, who has been working with residents to restore their water.
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/13/detroit_michigan_water_shut_offs

Thousands Still Have No Water in Detroit, a COVID-19 Hot Spot
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-13
Water shutoffs continue amid the coronavirus pandemic in Detroit, despite a moratorium and a program to help thousands of residents restore service last month. The lack of water access comes as nearly 1,500 people in Michigan have died from COVID-19, and 40% of those who have died are African-American, despite making up just 14% of the state's population. We speak with community pastor and activist Rev. Roslyn Bouier, who has been working with residents to restore their water. | TRANSCRIPT: | AMY GOODMA…
truthout.org/video/thousands-still-have-no-water-in-detroit-a-covid-19-hot-spot/

US: African-Americans Are More Vulnerable to COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-13
The U.S.' African-American population is more vulnerable to COVID-19, according to social and demographic studies on the virus. | RELATED: | New York City Tops US With Over 100,000 Coronavirus Cases | The reason for this exposure of the African-American population is not its genetics or physical conditions, but the systemic discrimination it suffers. Many of the non-white citizens of the United States are lacking health insurance, so they may also have underlying health problems tha…
telesurenglish.net/news/us-african-descendants-are-more-vulnerable-to-covid19-20200413-0005.html

Thousands Still Have No Water in Detroit, a COVID-19 Hot Spot
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-13
Water shutoffs continue amid the coronavirus pandemic in Detroit, despite a moratorium and a program to help thousands of residents restore service last month. The lack of water access comes as nearly 1,500 people in Michigan have died from COVID-19, and 40% of those who have died are African-American, despite making up just 14% of the state's population. We speak with community pastor and activist Rev. Roslyn Bouier, who has been working with residents to restore their water. | Please check back later for full…
truthout.org/video/thousands-still-have-no-water-in-detroit-a-covid-19-hot-spot/

WHO sets up Ebola vaccination sites in DR Congo
yenisafak.com | 2020-04-13
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday it has set up Ebola vaccination centers in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a day after a second virus-linked death in the country's northeastern region.Pop-up vaccination sites were rapidly set up in Beni to vaccinate contacts linked to recent Ebola deaths in the area, the WHO African Region said on Twitter.It said that the WHO and other partners were working to overcome resistance, and break the chain of transmission within the community.For the last few weeks, no new case had been reported until last Friday when a 26-year-old man died of Ebola in the cit…
yenisafak.com/en/world/who-sets-up-ebola-vaccination-sites-in-dr-congo-3516780

Burundi launches mass measles vaccination initiative
yenisafak.com | 2020-04-13
Burundi on Monday launched a measles vaccination initiative aiming to immunize more than 17,000 children in the northwest of the country.The initiative hopes to reach children between nine months and 15 years old in Cibitoke province, local medical officer Dr. Norbert Mugabo told reporters.He added that the vaccination effort would continue until April 17, following a measles outbreak that has infected more than 300 children in the province.Mugabo appealed to parents to embrace the vaccination for their children and ignore people seeking to dissuade them on false claims."This vaccination comes during unusual circ…
yenisafak.com/en/world/burundi-launches-mass-measles-vaccination-initiative-3516779

Death toll from coronavirus rises in Morocco, Kuwait
yenisafak.com | 2020-04-13
The death toll from the coronavirus rose Monday to 120 in Morocco, and two in Kuwait, according to health officials.Morocco confirmed two more fatalities, raising the tally to 120, while the number of cases in the country reached 1,746, including 85 additional patients, while 196 recoveries have been registered so far, according to Rabat's Health Ministry.Morocco declared the medical emergency on March 19, and a lockdown till April 20.The government has created a special fund of 10 billion dirhams ($1 billion) to cover expenses related to the rehabilitation of health infrastructure.Kuwaiti Health Ministry announc…
yenisafak.com/en/world/death-toll-from-coronavirus-rises-in-morocco-kuwait-3516775

Libya: Haftar's Forces Target Tripoli Hospital Again
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-12
Forces loyal to eastern-based Libyan General Khalifa Haftar attacked Sunday medical warehouses belonging to the Al-Khadra Hospital in the capital Tripoli for the third time in less than a week, according to the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). | RELATED: | Tripoli Hospital Shelled for 2nd Day, UN Condemns Attacks | A barrage of Grad rockets hit medical depots from the Al-Khadra General hospital, where over 300 patients were being treated, including two f…
telesurenglish.net/news/Libya-Haftars-Forces-Target-Tripoli-Hospital-Again-20200412-0008.html

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

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/

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/

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

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