(2020-04-15). Covid-19 'avalanche' in Africa & India could lead to FOUR waves of virus hitting Europe & US, health expert says. rt.com 
A WHO public health expert has warned that if the coronavirus is allowed to "march through" Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian sub-continent unarrested, the rest of the world risks being hit by repeated bouts of Covid-19. | Professor Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization's Center on Public Health and Human Rights, told BBC Radio 4's Today program on Wednesday that we are "only as safe as the weakest link in the global chain" on tackling coronavirus. | If you've got Covid rages in other parts of the world, in this interconnected society we live in, it will come back to Europe and the United…
(2020-04-15). UN Ceasefire Defines War As a Non-Essential Activity. zcomm.org Let's insist that the U.S. government call off its airstrikes, artillery and night raids in Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria and West Africa, and support ceasefires in Yemen, Libya and around the world…
(2020-04-15). 'My child is not a guinea pig' petition gets thousands of signatures as Denmark re-opens schools amid Covid-19 pandemic. rt.com 
Denmark has made the decision to reopen schools for younger children after a month-long lockdown, becoming the first country in Europe to relax coronavirus restrictions on education. | Schools have been given new guidelines around limiting the number of children in classrooms and rearranging the desks two meters apart from each other. The measure was welcomed by some parents. Caroline, a 38-year-old mother of two, told AFP that she feels "really good about the kids going back to school." | However, others are still worried that the easing of restrictions may be coming too soon. A petition titled 'My child is n…
(2020-04-15). NY gov Cuomo mandates masks after offering New Yorkers as GUINEA PIGS for coronavirus vaccine. rt.com 
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has volunteered his state as a "laboratory" for coronavirus vaccine testing as he contemplates reopening its economy. He has then ordered state residents to wear masks in public at all times. | "You want to use New York state as a laboratory? We are ready, willing and able," Cuomo gushed on Wednesday during his daily coronavirus press conference, addressing the Food and Drug Administration, which is conducting early-stage vaccine trials on a number of experimental coronavirus vaccine compounds. | .
(2020-04-15). "I Want an Apology": Black Doctor Who Tests Homeless for Coronavirus Handcuffed by Miami Police. democracynow.org 
We speak with Dr. Armen Henderson, an African-American doctor who was handcuffed and detained outside his home Friday as he was wearing a mask and preparing for a volunteer shift to test homeless people for COVID-19. "I want the officer held accountable. There's no way that you racially profile me and then you arrest me, detain me, during a pandemic, when you have no mask on, where hundreds of police officers throughout Miami-Dade County have tested positive," says Dr. Henderson, who is an internal medicine physician, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Miami and an organizer with Dream Defenders…
(2020-04-15). Sub-Saharan Africa Won't Be Spared in Health, Economic Crisis. telesurenglish.net Sub-Saharan African Countries are facing a health crisis and economic downturns with consequences that could last for years as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday, warning that no country would be spared. | RELATED: | So far, more than 16,000 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded across the region, including North Africa. In the Sub Saharian part of the continent,…
(2020-04-15). FAO scales up tech assistance to Iran on desert locust infestation. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 15 (MNA) — As desert locust infestations in East Africa and South-West Asia have intensified in recent months, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has provided an additional USD 200 000 to further strengthen Iran's technical capacity to control Desert Locust.
(2020-04-15). Ugandan government touts malarial drug chloroquine as a COVID-19 cure. wsws.org Uganda's government has taken a leaf from US President Donald Trump's playbook in promoting the untested drug as a potential lifesaver.
(2020-04-15). Why Did Our Permanent Emergency Government Fail to Face the Emergency? counterpunch.org Between 1978 and 2018, American presidents declared 58 national emergencies. Their targets ranged from "Transactions with Terrorists Who Threaten to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process" and "Transactions with Significant Narcotics Traffickers" to "the Anchorage and Movement of Vessels with Respect to Cuba" and "Persons Undermining Democratic Processes or Institutions in Zimbabwe." By the time
(2020-04-15). Black Doctor Who Tests Homeless for Coronavirus Handcuffed by Miami Police. truthout.org We speak with Dr. Armen Henderson, an African-American doctor who was handcuffed and detained outside his home Friday as he was wearing a mask and preparing for a volunteer shift to test homeless people for COVID-19. "I want the officer held accountable. There's no way that you racially profile me and then you arrest me, detain me, during a pandemic, when you have no mask on, where hundreds of police officers throughout Miami-Dade County have tested positive," says Dr. Henderson, who is an interna…
(2020-04-15). 'Bigger than winning the war': WWII vet, aged 99, survives coronavirus in Brazil. yenisafak.com World War Two veteran Ermando Piveta, aged 99, became the oldest Brazilian to recover from the coronavirus on Tuesday.Wearing an army cap and saluting from his wheelchair, Piveta left the Armed Forces Hospital in Brasilia to an ovation from medical staff and a soldier's trumpet homage."Winning this battle was for me bigger than winning the war," he said of his fight against an invisible enemy. "In war you kill or live. Here you have to fight to live," he added.Piveta was a second lieutenant in the Brazilian Army forces during World War Two and served in Africa.He tested positive for the coronavirus two weeks ago…
(2020-04-15). Kids aren't coronavirus 'guinea pigs': Danish mums rebel as schools reopen. yenisafak.com Denmark eased its coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday by reopening schools and day care centres, but concerns they might become breeding grounds for a second wave of cases convinced thousands of parents to keep their children at home.The rate of new cases is falling, but the government's decision has led to a heated debate over how to balance the needs of the economy and the safety of the population – in this case its youngest citizens."I won't be sending my children off no matter what," said Sandra Andersen, the founder of a Facebook group called 'My kid is not going to be a Guinea Pig' that has more than 40,000 f…
(2020-04-15). Africa Is Relying on its Own Forces in Fight Against Covid-19. commondreams.org A scientific staff member works in a secure laboratory, researching the coronavirus, at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar on February 3, 2020. (Photo: Seyllou / AFP / Getty images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/senegal_africa_covid.png …
(2020-04-14). COVID-19: Growth forecast at -3 per cent, as IMF offers debt relief to most vulnerable nations in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Caribbean. news.un.org Forecasting the "worst economic downturn since the Great Depression", the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that growth for the year was likely to end up at minus three per cent, with a dramatic change evident since the last World Economic Outlook report in January.
(2020-04-14). COVID-19: Major relief airlift will reach 'most vulnerable' African nations. news.un.org The first of the UN's "Solidarity Flights" carrying urgently needed medical equipment to Africa, has arrived in Addis Ababa, agencies said on Tuesday.
(2020-04-14). Africa's COVID-19 Death Toll Hits 816, 15,249 Confirmed Cases. telesurenglish.net The death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the African continent reached 816 as the number of confirmed cases hit 15,249 across the continent as of Tuesday, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. | RELATED: | The Africa CDC, a specialized agency of the 55-member African Union (AU) Commission, in its latest situation update issued on Tuesday also revealed that the number of confirmed positi…
(2020-04-13). Wash Your Hands? Despite Pandemic, Thousands Still Have No Water in Detroit, a Coronavirus Hot Spot. democracynow.org 
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.
(2020-04-13). "Capitalism is incapable of responding to a crisis of this kind" mronline.org 
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.
(2020-04-10). Saudi Arabia Violates its Own Ceasefire As Yemen Announces First Cases of Coronavirus. mintpressnews.com 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.
(2020-04-09). Fight against desert locust swarms goes on in East Africa despite coronavirus crisis measures. news.un.org 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.
(2020-04-08). Albert Woodfox: COVID-19 Offers Public a "Small Window" into What Prisoners Face in Solitary Confinement. democracynow.org 
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…
(2020-04-08). "A Systematic Issue of Disparity": Black People in Louisiana Account for 70% of COVID-19 Deaths. democracynow.org 
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 — known as Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the United States [mdas…
(2020-04-08). Headlines for April 8, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Daily Death Toll Nears 2,000 as Hundreds of COVID-19 Deaths Go Uncounted, Trump Threatens to Withhold U.S. Funding for World Health Organization, New WH Press Secretary Said Recently, "We Will Not See Diseases Like the Coronavirus Come Here", Trump Fires Inspector General Tasked with Overseeing $2 Trillion Stimulus, China Lifts Lockdown in Wuhan, Where Coronavirus Pandemic Began, EU Coronavirus Stimulus Talks Fail as Deaths Surge in Spain and France, Libyan Rebels Attack Hospital for COVID-19 Patients; Chadian Ex-Dictator Released from Prison, International Labour Organization: Pandemic Could Wipe Out 195 Mi…
(2020-04-07). Deaths of Inequality: AOC on Black and Latinx Communities at Epicenter of Epicenter of the Pandemic. democracynow.org 
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."