2020-08-07: News Headlines

news.un (2020-08-07). Countries urged to target smugglers after 27 migrants die at sea. news.un.org Two UN agencies are calling for greater action to dismantle smuggling and trafficking networks following the deaths of 27 migrants off the coast of Mauritania, northwest Africa.

teleSUR (2020-08-07). Migrants Die In The Atlantic Ocean Trying To Reach Spain. telesurenglish.net About 50 migrants Thursday died in the Atlantic Ocean after their barges sank while trying to reach the Canary Islands in Spain. | RELATED: | Spanish outlets revealed that one of the boats broke down off the coast of Mauritania, and at least 40 people died. Also, 10 migrants died after another vessel shipwrecked near to the coast of Western Sahara. The only survivor told AFP that their boat broke down. | "For a l…

South Front (2020-08-07). Video: Russian S-300 Air Defense System Spotted in Libya? globalresearch.ca Russia has deployed an advanced S-300 air defense system to Libya to support the forces of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar against the Turkish military and its proxies, local media reported on August 5. | According to photos surfacing online, the supposed …

Dr. Binoy Kampmark (2020-08-07). Death From the Sky: Hiroshima and Normalised Atrocities. globalresearch.ca When US President Harry S. Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by another on Nagasaki a few days later, he was not acting as an agent untethered from history. In …

_____ (2020-08-07). "A Lot Of People Really Don't Think We Should Be Working Right Now" popularresistance.org Last week saw the highest number of new recorded cases for the Kansas City metro area since the start of the pandemic. The ever-increasing level of confirmed cases takes place as infection levels are soaring across both Kansas and Missouri, which have been recording record-breaking highs on a near-daily basis. | The GM Fairfax Assembly Plant is a sprawling 4,900,000-square-foot facility located in the Fairfax Industrial District along the Missouri River. Beginning production in 1988, on the grounds of the former Fairfax Airport, the plant now employees 2,385 workers in the production of the Chevrolet Malibu and C…

_____ (2020-08-07). War and Pandemic Journalism: The Truth Can Disappear Fast. strategic-culture.org The polio epidemic in Cork supposedly ended abruptly in mid-September 1956 when the local press stopped reporting on it, but that was at least two weeks before many children like me caught it. In a similar fashion, right now, wars in the Middle East and north Africa like the ongoing disasters in Libya and Syria that once got significant coverage now barely get a mention much of the time.

yenisafak (2020-08-07). Coronavirus cases in Africa surpass 1 million mark. yenisafak.com Coronavirus cases in Africa exceeded the 1 million mark on Friday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday, as the continent recorded 14,656 new cases over the last 24 hours.The death toll from the virus in Africa reached 22,066, while recoveries rose to 690,436.Southern Africa has confirmed a total of 565,100 cases, of which South Africa alone took by far the greater proportion that stood at 538,200.North Africa has 170,200 cases, West Africa 136,800, East Africa 85,600 and Central Africa 49,600.At least 10,200 people lost their lives to the virus in Southern Africa, 7,000 in North A…

teleSUR (2020-08-06). 'Sea-Watch 4' to Resume Rescue Operations in the Mediterranean. telesurenglish.net The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Sea Watch charities will resume humanitarian rescue operations in the central Mediterranean using their new ship, the Sea-Watch 4. | RELATED: | This German-flagged vessel, which is a former oceanographic research vessel, is on Spanish territory preparing to sail from the Burriana Port on August 15. | It will leave for the coasts near Libya, an African country where the civil…

Justin Podur (2020-08-06). America's Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and the DR Congo. zcomm.org Joe Emersberger interviewed Justin Podur regarding his new book about a conflict few understand thanks to, among other things, "Africanist" scholars.

Brian Kelly (2020-08-06). Ireland and Slavery: Debating the 'Irish Slaves Myth'. counterpunch.org Over recent months, social media in Ireland and the United States has been saturated with claims and counterclaims about 'Irish slaves' and a broader controversy about Irish complicity in the transatlantic slave trade. The timing of the 'debate' is far from coincidental: a series of false and malicious assertions that the American far Right have

The Tricontinental (2020-08-06). Dossier 31: 'The Politic of Blood': Political Repression in South Africa. mronline.org In his famous speech from the dock in April 1964, Nelson Mandela spoke of 'revolutionary democracy' rooted in precolonial forms of collective deliberation and decision making.

RT (2020-08-06). Greece & Egypt sign deal on exclusive economic zone amid tensions with Turkey. rt.com Egypt and Greece signed an agreement on Thursday, designating an exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean between the two countries, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said. The area contains promising oil and gas reserves. | Shoukry made the announcement after meeting his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in Cairo, Reuters reports. The agreement is within the framework of international law and contributes to security and stability in the region, Dendias said. | Cairo and Athens are at odds with Turkey, which last year angered the two states by signing a maritime delimitation agreement with the…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-06). Artists, writers and human rights groups urge Egypt to release Sanaa Seif. peoplesdispatch.org Sanaa Seif has been held in pre-trial detention since June for protesting the illegal detention of her brother, activist Alaa Abdel Fattah. She was abducted from outside the prosecutor general's office where she had gone to file a complaint…

WSWS (2020-08-06). Germany: Right-wing terror in Erfurt. wsws.org On August 1, three Guineans were brutally attacked by neo-Nazis in Erfurt and had to be taken to hospital.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-06). Diaspora organization seeks action after hunger death of Lesotho national in South Africa. peoplesdispatch.org Thabiso Mokhele died allegedly of hunger on Wednesday. The Lesotho High Commission is accused of failing to respond despite repeated calls for help. A diaspora organization called for the removal of its officers…

Priyanka Singh — Sujeet Singh (2020-08-06). Time to Empower the Invisibles: India Awaits a Mental Health Revolution. counterpunch.org Mental health is an inherent and the most paramount aspect of our well being, without it a qualitative life is barren to imagine. These 'Covidnary Times' are extremely turbulent, where 'Normality' will be more sidelined with 'Abnormality.' The side-effects of Covid-19 will keep hunting our World for ages to come. Surging mass layoffs, transcendental change

teleSUR (2020-08-06). Nigeria: Government to Enforce a New Quarantine Extension. telesurenglish.net Nigeria Secretary of the Federation Boss Mustapha Thursday announced a quarantine extension for the next four weeks, in an attempt to restrain the contagion. | RELATED: | "I'm pleased to inform you that Mr. President has carefully considered the 5th Interim Report of the PTF and has accordingly approved that, except for some modifications to expatiate upon later, the Phase Two of the eased lockdown be extended b…

ML Kejera (2020-08-06). A Lethal Traffic Stop in Georgia. thenation.com A Lethal Traffic Stop in Georgia…

Combined Sources (2020-08-05). South African Communist Party celebrates 99 years, plans next stage of struggle. peoplesworld.org South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Blade Nzimande said it was critical to recall its "anti-imperialist foundations" in a televised address on Aug. 2 as the party celebrated its 99th anniversary. He said that the end of apartheid did not mean the end of imperialism, which he said instead had become "more arrogant and more …

news.un (2020-08-05). South Africa: UN health agency sends experts to help battle against COVID-19. news.un.org new "surge team" of leading UN health experts is on its way to South Africa to ramp up the COVID-19 response there, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

WSWS (2020-08-05). Zimbabwe: Government repression as social unrest mounts. wsws.org The crackdown gives the lie to the claims that Mnangagwa would bring an end to tyranny, corruption, and social misery.

_____ (2020-08-05). Water Wars and America's Fate. strategic-culture.org India versus China, Egypt versus Ethiopia, Israel versus the Palestinians — the Water Wars are already here with U.S., yet American and European policymakers remain disastrously blind to them. This is certain to have catastrophic consequences for the wealthy, arrogant and ludicrously complacent elites of the West. | The problem is particularly acute in the United States: Indeed, it has been growing for half a century but has reached such enormous dimensions in the 21st century that neocon imperialist Republican, neoliberal imperialist Democratic and Green policymakers are all oblivious to it. | How can this…

grants.gov (2020-08-05). Advancing Ethiopia's Capacity to meet International Health Regulations requirements. grants.gov CDC-RFA-GH20-2112 | Funding Opportunity ID: | 327719 | Opportunity Number: | CDC-RFA-GH20-2112 | Opportunity Title: | Advancing Ethiopia's Capacity to meet International Health Regulations requirements | Opportunity Category: | Discretionary | Opportunity Category Explanation: | Funding Instrument Type: | Cooperative Agreement | Category of Funding Activity: | Health | Category Explanation: | CFDA Number(s): | 93.318 | Eligible Applicants: | Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification) | Additional Information on Eligibility:…

RT (2020-08-04). Back to normality? With Covid-19 measures removed, Russian demand for cash falls to pre-crisis levels. rt.com When Russians saw the destructive potential of the Covid-19 pandemic, many rushed to the bank to take out their cash. Now, just a few months later, the demand for physical money is back to levels last seen before lockdown. | In July, about 179 billion rubles ($2.4 billion) were put into circulation — a steep drop from the whopping 700.9 billion ($9.5 billion) in March. | Banks began to experience a rapid outflow of customer funds in March after a collapse in oil prices, the Ruble exchange rate, and the first phase of Covid-19 measures. According to Russia's Central Bank, the combination of financial crisi…

WSWS (2020-08-04). COVID-19 takes hold in Papua New Guinea. wsws.org A surge of new COVID-19 cases has been recorded in the past 14 days, threatening to overwhelm the impoverished country's ill-equipped healthcare system.