(2021-08-28). [Articles] Global, regional, and national estimates and trends in stillbirths from 2000 to 2019: a systematic assessment. thelancet.com Progress in reducing the rate of stillbirths has been slow compared with decreases in the mortality rate of children younger than 5 years. Accelerated improvements are most needed in the regions and countries with high stillbirth rates, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Future prevention of stillbirths needs increased efforts to raise public awareness, improve data collection, assess progress, and understand public health priorities locally, all of which require investment.
(2021-08-28). Venezuelan Diplomat Alex Saab Fights Latest US Extradition Maneuvers. orinocotribune.com By Roger D. Harris — Aug 27, 2021 | Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab remains defiant after over 14 months under US-ordered arrest in the African archipelago country of Cabo Verde. A special envoy of the Venezuelan government, he is fighting extradition to the US for the "crime" of trying to procure humanitarian supplies of food, fuel, and medicine from Iran in violation of illegal US sanctions. To date, Saab's legal appeals for freedom have been either denied, rejected, or ignored as his extradition to the US is becoming increasingly imminent. | The legal case | Saab continues to fight this flagrant attempt of…
(2021-08-28). [Comment] Inadequate evidence on stillbirths: rethinking public health. thelancet.com Rates of stillbirths are an indicator of the quality of care around pregnancy and birth. They are increasingly a matter of global health concern, falling within the remit of the Sustainable Development Goal 3 (maternal health), which aims to end preventable deaths of newborn babies and children younger than 5 years by 2030. However, stillbirths continue to be a particular challenge in most low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially in sub-Saharan Africa,1 where more than 0 ∑8 million deaths have been estimated to occur annually.
(2021-08-28). Has the World Been Ignoring an Almost Decade-Long 'African Spring'? strategic-culture.org The announcement that Algerian President Bouteflika won't run for re-election but will instead postpone the upcoming vote until the conclusion of his recently decreed comprehensive constitutional reform process represented the eighth non-electoral regime change in Africa in as many years, making one wonder whether the world has been ignoring an almost decade-long "African Spring" or if something else entirely is going on across the continent.
(2021-08-28). Colombians Resume Protests against Duque's Far-Right Government. libya360.wordpress.com Peoples Dispatch On August 26, thousands of Colombians took to the streets in main cities of the country in rejection of a new tax reform bill promoted by the far-right national government. Photo: Gustavo Torrijos Zuluaga/El Espectador This Thursday, as a part of a new national strike, thousands of Colombians took to the streets across…
(2021-08-28). Brazil: On the Road to Dictatorship? libya360.wordpress.com Frei Betto The military has published 13 manifestos in favor of Bolsonaro in the last two weeks. Where there is smoke, there is fire, goes the popular saying. Most Brazilians and world public opinion know that Brazil is governed by a man of fascist convictions. Bolsonaro always praises the torturers of the military dictatorship implanted…
(2021-08-28). [Perspectives] Ana Mocumbi: cardiologist tracking NCDs of poverty. thelancet.com When Ana Mocumbi graduated with an MD from Eduardo Mondlane University, in Maputo, Mozambique, in 1992, she could not train in cardiology, her specialty of choice. At the time, it was compulsory for medical graduates in the country to take up a rural post to address the scarcity of doctors and to pay back their years of initial training to the state. Mocumbi went to the Sofala province, which was badly affected by Mozambique's civil war, and worked as a general practitioner in its capital, Beira.
(2021-08-27). US Supreme Court Strikes Down Latest Eviction Ban, Placing 6.5 Million Households at Risk. libya360.wordpress.com Peoples Dispatch Flyers put during a Cancel The Rents campaign against evictions in Washington DC. (Photo: Zeb Habash/Twitter) The United States supreme court on Thursday, August 26, struck down the latest federal eviction moratorium put in place by the administration of president Joe Biden. In a 6-3 decision, the conservative supermajority in the supreme court…
(2021-08-27). US Empire Reacts to Afghanistan Loss With Brutality & Terror. orinocotribune.com By Rainer Shea — Aug 25, 2021 | As imperialism has run its machinations within the different conditions of the world, it's turned these places into different types of tools for innovating in necro-politics. Israel is the U.S. empire's laboratory in repression, with the brutal anti-Palestinian tactics of the Zionist forces being used to train police in the U.S. and Colombia. Latin America is the empire's laboratory in the paramilitary facets of this repression, with the death squads in countries like Colombia being replicated in domestic U.S. militias like the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters. And Africa i…
(2021-08-27). Palestine's Africa Dichotomy: Is Israel Really 'Winning' Africa? counterpunch.org The decision by the African Union Commission, on July 22, to grant Israel observer status membership in the AU was the culmination of years of relentless Israeli efforts aimed at co-opting Africa's largest political institution. Why is Israel so keen on penetrating Africa? What made African countries finally succumb to Israeli pressure and lobbying? To
(2021-08-27). Amazon's Drive Into Africa. counterpunch.org Since 2004, Amazon has been building a foothold on the African continent. In Cape Town, it already employs thousands in a global call centre and a range of data hubs. Its South African career portal is a busy place, with the vast majority of advertised jobs located in Cape Town. In April, as part of
(2021-08-27). Zambian Election Could Be Turning Point in Supercharging World's Transition to Clean Energy—But May Destroy the Zambian People. libya360.wordpress.com Jeremy Kuzmarov Residents go about their daily routine with the pollution caused by the Mopani copper mines in the background. [Source: trendsnafrica.com] As Zambia's huge copper deposits—a key component in clean energy electric vehicles and batteries—make the country richer and richer, its people are poised to become poorer and poorer as their new millionaire president…
(2021-08-27). Vaccine rollout in North Africa and West Asia: inequities rampant as conflict-hit regions suffer. peoplesdispatch.org Vaccination rates remain low in West Asia and North Africa even as these regions see an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases. As the health emergency deepens, sluggish vaccination campaigns and extreme disparities within the region remain a challenge…
(2021-08-27). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Danish government announces bill to break nurses' pay strike with support of Socialist People's Party; Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency staff in Swansea, Wales in fourth week of month-long strike, the only union sanctioned UK dispute over Covid safety; strike by more than 300,000 Nigerian doctors over pay arrears enters fourth week.
(2021-08-27). Ethiopian Government Claims Ethnic Massacre Took Place Earlier In August. southfront.org Click to see full-size image | The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission says it has received reports from residents that some 150 people were killed earlier this month in an alleged attack by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). | A statement by the government-created rights group said the killings in East Wollega in the Oromia region on August 18 were followed by a revenge attack the next day that left another 60 people dead. | The statement said the first attack occurred a day after security forces stationed in the area left. The c…
(2021-08-27). Dental, Insurance Lobbyists Quietly Target Democrats' Medicare Expansion Plan. commondreams.org I wouldn't be here today, raising my children in comfort without the generosity of the Kenyan people, the tireless efforts of UN workers and the welcoming spirit of the American people who gave me and my family a second chance at life.
(2021-08-27). US Deploys Mercenaries for Surveillance and Physical Assault of Activists. libya360.wordpress.com Rainer SheaMore keeps getting revealed about the contractors from the mysterious mercenary company—or, as we've found out, companies—that have shown up in Minneapolis during this summer's Black Lives Matter protests. The most widely recognized of these companies, whose contractors have been reported to profile, inflict head trauma upon, grab, and surveil peaceful demonstrators, initially didn't…
(2021-08-27). Peru: Born to Be Servants, Now Ruling the Bicentennial Nation. libya360.wordpress.com Ollantay Itzamná Quechua peasants. Peru. Less than a month into the administration of the first peasant President in the bicentennial Creole Republic of Peru, cultural and political events are taking place that are upsetting the certainties of the bicentennial "national identity". The Peruvian electorate, last June 6, by means of an unprecedented uprising at the…
(2021-08-27). 10 Messages from the Indigenous Peoples in Brazil to the World. libya360.wordpress.com Brasil de Fato In Brasilia, indigenous people light the Square of the Three Powers on Tuesday (25) in support of the Brazil's Supreme Federal Court and against the "timeframe limitation". — APIB On the day the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court resumed the judgment that can define the future of indigenous peoples in the country, these…
(2021-08-27). Mostly Unnoticed August 12 Zambian Election Could Be Turning Point in Supercharging World's Transition To Clean Energy—But May Well Destroy the Zambian People. covertactionmagazine.com As Zambia's huge copper deposits—a key component in clean energy electric vehicles and batteries—make the country richer and richer, its …