(2020-03-30). Tokyo could announce new Olympics date this week, organizers say. rt.com 
A decision on a new date for Japan's Olympics could come as early as this week, the president of the Tokyo organizing committee Yoshiro Mori said on Monday. The Games had been postponed because of a coronavirus pandemic. | Last week's decision was a huge blow to Japan, which invested $13 billion in the run-up to the Games. However, financial markets were initially cheered by the decision, with some investors having anticipated cancellation, Reuters said. | "We need to swiftly decide on the new date," Mori said at the start of a committee meeting, its first since the move to delay the Games. Mori added that he…
(2020-03-30). Iran's Covid-19 death toll reaches 2,757 with almost 41,500 identified cases. rt.com 
There are 41,495 Covid-19 cases in Iran, the country's health officials reported in the latest update. The death toll from the pandemic has reached 2,757 in the Islamic Republic, a nation hit hard by the viral disease.
(2020-03-30). Minister in one of Germany's wealthiest states commits suicide 'over coronavirus worries'. rt.com 
The finance minister in the German state of Hesse, Thomas Schaefer, has taken his own life. His colleagues said he was pushed over the edge by an inability to cope with the harsh economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. | Schaefer's body was discovered near the speed railway track line in the town of Hochheim am Main on Saturday. Prosecutors said that the cause of his death was most likely suicide. | "We are in shock; we are in disbelief and above all we are immensely sad," Volker Bouffier, head of the Hesse regional government, said of the passing of his close associate and fellow member of Angela Merkel'
(2020-03-30). Global number of Covid-19 cases smashes past 700,000. rt.com 
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases around the world has soared past the 700,000 milestone, according to tallies carried out by Johns Hopkins University and the AFP news agency. | The total number of cases worldwide now stands at over 724,000, as several regional outbreaks have led to major spikes in the numbers, most notably in the United States. | Authorities in the US are now reporting upwards of 143,000 cases, followed by Italy with 97,600 and China, the original epicentre of the pandemic, with 82,000 cases. | As of early Monday, the total number of deaths from the disease now stands at 34,026. More tha…
(2020-03-30). Morrisons to give foodbanks £10m during coronavirus outbreak. thecanary.co 
Supermarket chain Morrisons is to give away £10m worth of goods to foodbanks across the country during the Covid-19 pandemic.David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said its bakery, egg and fruit & vegetable departments will run for an extra hour every day to make, prepare and pack food required to restock the services.It will also be sending deliveries of ambient food — such as canned goods and pasta — to local foodbanks via "community champions".The move comes after foodbanks across the UK were forced to close or reduce hours after the virus led to a decline in volunteers and a shortage in do…
(2020-03-30). City at centre of China's virus outbreak gradually revives. thecanary.co 
Shopkeepers in the city at the centre of the virus outbreak in China were reopening on Monday but customers were scarce after authorities lifted more of the anti-virus controls that kept tens of millions of people at home for two months."I'm so excited, I want to cry," said a woman in the Chuhe Hanjie pedestrian shopping area.She said she was a teacher in the eastern city of Nanjing visiting her family in Wuhan when the government locked down the city in late January to stem the spread of the coronavirus.Some 70% to 80% of shops on the retail street were open but many imposed limits on how many people could enter…
(2020-03-30). Beijing boasts 93% recovery rate & NO new cases in Hubei for sixth day after saying local Covid-19 spread 'STOPPED'. rt.com 
No new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in China's central Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan, where the outbreak originally began, the National Health Commission (NHC) told reporters during a press briefing on Monday. | Overall, 81,470 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in mainland China since the beginning of the outbreak, and 75,770 of them have subsequently recovered and were discharged from the hospitals, a health official said. This makes the recovery rate in the country close to 93 percent. | Chinese doctors have recorded 31 new cases and four deaths in the past 24 hours, with all but…
(2020-03-30). Twitter REMOVES posts by Brazil's Bolsonaro in crackdown on information that 'may increase risk' of Covid-19 spread. rt.com 
In an unprecedented move, Twitter has yanked two posts by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in which he took aim at coronavirus lockdowns as part of his controversial campaign to avoid a shutdown of the economy. | Bolsonaro has become the first ever head of state to have his tweets censored by the platform under recently-updated guidelines, requiring users to remove content that defies "global or local health authorities recommendations" aimed at halting the spread of the deadly disease that has already taken hold in the Latin American country. | I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure these two tweets from…
(2020-03-30). 'New way of life' in Iran likely to be prolonged — President Rouhani. rt.com 
The Iranian president has warned that "the new way of life" in Iran was likely to be prolonged. The Islamic republic is one of the countries worst-hit by the virus. "We must prepare to live with this virus until a treatment or vaccine is discovered, which has not yet happened to date," Hassan Rouhani said in a cabinet meeting on Sunday. "The new way of life we have adopted" is to everyone's benefit, he said, adding that "these changes will likely have to stay in place for some time." | After weeks of refraining from imposing lockdown or quarantine measures, Tehran decided on Wednesday to ban all intercity trav…
(2020-03-30). 'No such plan': Modi govt dismisses report it's considering extension of coronavirus lockdown beyond April 14. rt.com 
New Delhi has denied that it has been considering an extension of the 21-day lockdown for a week, with fears mounting that a massive migrant exodus is bound to undermine the effect of the measure. | India has been in a state of a complete lockdown since March 25, after Indian PM Narendra Modi announced sweeping restrictions on movement and ordered all non-essential commerce to shut down. | Public transport came to a screeching halt, with most states banning inter-state bus routes, railway lines and, in some cases, private transport, including buses and auto-rickshaws. While the measure was aimed at emptying th…
(2020-03-30). Germany sees coronavirus cases rise by 4,751 in one day as death toll nears 500. rt.com 
The number of Covid-19 cases in Germany has hit 57,298, with 4,751 more people testing positive for the virus, as well as 66 new deaths, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported on Monday. | The new data brings the total nationwide death toll from Covid-19 to 455, the RKI said. | Doctors have recorded 4,751 more cases over the past 24 hours, which is a slight increase from the 3,965 new cases reported on Sunday. | Germany still has a lower death rate from the coronavirus compared to Italy and France, where more than 10,700 and 2,600 people have died respectively. | The government had banned all public gatherin…
(2020-03-30). Covid-19 stretches NYC ambulances more than 9/11, exhausted FDNY lieutenant tells RT. rt.com 
First responders in coronavirus-stricken New York have to deal with record-breaking numbers of calls, a shortage of equipment and a constant fear of getting the virus and bringing it home to their loved ones. | The Covid-19 epidemic in America's largest city has stretched the resources of its ambulances service worse than on the day of the country's worst terrorist attack in 2001, Anthony Almojera, a Fire Department lieutenant and supervisor, told RT. | "In the last few days we've done over 44,000 calls. Just to give you some perspective, we normally do only about 4,000 calls a day," he explained. "9/11, which…
(2020-03-30). EasyJet grounds entire fleet as Covid-19 hammers global travel industry. rt.com 
UK budget carrier EasyJet said on Monday that it has parked its entire fleet after completing repatriation flights. The coronavirus health crisis is bringing the global travel industry to a halt. | According to the company, it has worked out an agreement with cabin crew, who will get 80 percent of their pay under a government program. EasyJet said it is looking for ways to increase its access to cash, adding that the company has a strong balance sheet and no maturities until 2022. | "We are in ongoing discussions with liquidity providers who recognize our strength of balance sheet and business model," said Eur…
(2020-03-30). Deteriorating economic conditions sink global stock markets. rt.com 
Stocks in Asia and Europe suffered fresh losses on Monday due to unrelenting pressure from the worsening global spread of Covid-19. The virus has already infected more than 724,000 people worldwide and caused 34,017 deaths. | Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped almost four percent at the opening, Hong Kong's Hang Sang Index slid 1.9 percent and China's Shanghai Composite fell about 1.4 percent. | All the European stocks also tanked in early trading, with shares in France off the most. The CAC 40 was down 2.6 percent while London's FTSE 100 nosedived two percent. Germany's DAX was lower by 1.5 percent and the pan-Europe…
(2020-03-30). North Korea says it used 'super-large multiple rocket launcher' in latest missile test. rt.com 
Pyongyang has confirmed it conducted yet another test of a new "super-large multiple rocket launcher" a day after Seoul reported that North Korea had fired two short-range missiles towards the Sea of Japan amid ongoing drills. | The launch, carried out early on Sunday morning, went off without a hitch, North Korean state media reported, saying that it was conducted to "verify strategic and technical characteristics" of the novel launcher, which has featured in a series of recent tests by the reclusive country. | It's unclear whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the drill to oversee the launch in pe…
(2020-03-30). Majority of new Covid-19 patients in Moscow are between 18 and 40 — disease response team. rt.com 
There were 212 new Covid-19 cases in Moscow over the past 24 hours, with 102 patients between the ages of 18 and 40, the city's disease response team said Monday. | Out of the newly recorded 212 cases in the Russian capital, 102 patients are between 18 and 40, and 58 are between 40 and 65. The health officials added that 17 patients are children. | The new cases include 43 people who recently returned from Europe. Moscow officials have earlier reported that a sizable portion of the confirmed Covid-19 patients were young people, with many of them undergoing artificial lung ventilation. | Also on rt.com | | <...
(2020-03-30). Trump administration and Mexican government collaborate to deny life-saving care to refugees with HIV. wsws.org HIV-positive immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, who face a growing shortage of key medication in Mexico to maintain their compromised immune systems, must now also contend with a growing coronavirus epidemic.
(2020-03-30). Peace is the New Priority for Planet Earth after CoVid19 Crisis. indybay.org For decades Peace activists have been clamoring that the misplaced US priority on Militarism(wasting Trillions of dollars and narrowly focusing on imagined foreign enemies and/or real terrorists spawned by US policies)will decisively harm the health of citizens and the Planet itself. Sadly, 60 years after President Eisenhower warned of the danger of the Military Industrial Complex overshadowing the health and welfare of our society, the Peace agenda is still being sidelined to near extinction, both by the political ruling elite of Pentagon-Wall Street hucksters, and the compliant mainstream media outlets.
(2020-03-30). What's Wrong with Ranked Choice Voting. counterpunch.org An electoral reform popular with many political activists and commentators is ranked choice voting, also called cumulative or preferential voting. Instead of voting for just one candidate from a list, as we normally do, ranked choice voting allows each of us to vote for two or more candidates, ranking them respectively as first choice, second
(2020-03-30). China: COVID-19 hospital construction worker's protest blog goes viral before being deleted. wsws.org The worker described the wage theft and repressive conditions suffered by thousands of construction employees who build hospitals in Wuhan at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
(2020-03-30). My Dead French Grandfather Helped Me with COVID-19. counterpunch.org After my mother died on February 7th I gathered her valuables and photo albums drove home to New York. But there wasn't enough room in the car for everything I wanted to keep. There were tchotchkes like a silly white ceramic salt and pepper shaker in the shape of Arab kings. It wasn't my taste
(2020-03-30). Trump's Narcoterrorism Indictment of Maduro Already Backfires. zcomm.org The indictments are another brick in the foundation for a pretext for either a direct U.S. military invasion or a proxy war…
(2020-03-30). To Fix the Looming Supply Chain Crisis, Nationalize Amazon. zcomm.org Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic demands a novel solution: placing the e-commerce giant under public control…
(2020-03-30). The coronavirus pandemic and the perspective of socialism. wsws.org On Sunday, March 29, the World Socialist Web Site and the Socialist Equality Party held an online forum, "The COVID-19 pandemic: Capitalism and the making of a social and economic catastrophe."
(2020-03-30). Mehring Yayƒ±ncƒ±lƒ±k publishes Turkish-language edition of The struggle against imperialism and for workers' power in Iran. wsws.org First published by the WSWS in February 2018, The Struggle against Imperialism and for Workers' Power in Iran—A Reply to a Proponent of "Iranian Islamic Socialism" advances a socialist strategy for the working class in a country that has been the target of US imperialist aggression for decades.
(2020-03-30). The World's Major Military and Economic Powers Find Happiness Elusive. counterpunch.org Long before the advent of the coronavirus pandemic left people around the world desperate for survival, a popular assumption emerged that national governments are also supposed to promote the happiness and well-being of their citizens. This idea was expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed that governments are instituted to secure humanity's "unalienable
(2020-03-30). Reclaiming Vacant Homes in the COVID-19 Pandemic. counterpunch.org There are homes without people. More visible are the people without homes. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, homeless and housing insecure folks in the Los Angeles area moved into publicly owned vacant homes as politicians and public health experts told people to take precautions to avoid infection. One precaution was for people to stay
(2020-03-30). The New World of Coronavirus. counterpunch.org The tragedy of September 11, 2001, and the coronavirus pandemic have one thing in common: both caused a seismic change in the world. And that change, in general, is for the worse. The present pandemic has, and will have, negative effects on how people work, live, and use their free time. This huge public health
(2020-03-30). Racial Profiling Disorder: the All-American Pandemic. counterpunch.org Please, please help me. No, I don't want to put handcuffs on. No! Don't put handcuffs on! No, I want to stay in school, I just got here. Let go of me. No, please let me go…I don't wanna go in a police car. No, please give me a second chance! — Pleas of 6-year-old
(2020-03-30). Oakland passes coronavirus rent freeze & eviction ban. indybay.org Because of the coronavirus pandemic, on March 27, 2020, the Oakland City Council passed an emergency ordinance prohibiting landlords from evicting residential and commercial tenants. The emergency ordinance which includes a freeze on rents took effect immediately, and will last at least until May 31!
(2020-03-30). Australian governments pour billions more into big business as pandemic spreads. wsws.org The stark discrepancy between the "economic" and "health" packages epitomises the response of Australia's bipartisan "national cabinet."
(2020-03-30). Hungary's Orbán government seizes on coronavirus pandemic to establish dictatorship. wsws.org Following the declaration of a state of emergency on March 11, the country's parliament is to be effectively abolished with the introduction of an "Emergency Ordinance Act."
(2020-03-30). Washington Uses the Pandemic to Create a $2 Trillion Slush Fund for Its Cronies. counterpunch.org When historians look back on our current government's response to a public health emergency and resultant economic depression, there won't be many paeans to profiles in courage. It may seem impressive that Congress has approved legislation worth $2 trillion to help sustain the American economy, but it's no New Deal. Rather it's a massive economic slush fund
(2020-03-30). UK government sources speak of "blood on our hands" over coronavirus due to NHS cuts. wsws.org The Telegraph article makes clear the NHS was unable to deal with the outbreak of a pandemic because of the decade long and ongoing austerity programme designed to make the working class pay for the trillion-pound bailout of the banks in 2008.
(2020-03-30). Instacart workers in US begin nationwide walkout as Whole Foods workers plan sickout Tuesday. wsws.org Instacart workers vowed not to return to work until the company provides basic protections and improves compensation during the coronavirus pandemic, while Whole Foods workers plan a sickout tomorrow.
(2020-03-30). Japanese government planning attacks on democratic rights on pretext of pandemic. wsws.org Health experts are warning that Japan could see a wider COVID-19 outbreak, in part due to the complete lack of preparation by the Abe government.
(2020-03-30). Duterte reacts to COVID-19 with military repression. wsws.org The Duterte administration has responded to the pandemic not with the deployment of masks, testing and treatment, but heavily-armed military checkpoints, armored personnel carriers and police state repression.
(2020-03-30). No Pandemic-Related Pause? zcomm.org VA Privatization Leaves Veterans Waist Deep in Another Big Muddy…
(2020-03-30). Working Behind the Scenes in the Pandemic. thenation.com Peter van Agtmael, The Nation, The Magnum Foundation Working Behind the Scenes in the Pandemic…
(2020-03-30). How My Dad Predicted the Decline of America. counterpunch.org My dad was born in 1917. Somehow, he survived the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919, but an outbreak of whooping cough in 1923 claimed his baby sister, Clementina. One of my dad's first memories was seeing his sister's tiny white casket. Another sister was permanently marked by scarlet fever. In 1923, my dad was hit
(2020-03-30). Leading epidemiologist says Detroit is facing a coronavirus "tsunami" wsws.org The coronavirus pandemic is exploding in Detroit and surrounding communities as Michigan overtook Washington as the state with the fourth most confirmed cases of the infection.
(2020-03-30). As COVID-19 Reaches Santa Rita Jail, Decarceration Becomes More Urgent. indybay.org Oakland, CA — According to Alameda County jail officials, a nurse in Santa Rita Jail has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the first positive test in the jail. The positive case follows at least one confirmed exposure and several possible exposures at the jail by an arrestee and sheriff deputy. For the last two weeks, advocates with the Audit Ahern Coalition and healthcare labor unions have been calling for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office (ACSO), Alameda County District Attorney's Office, and Alameda County Board of Supervisors to reduce the risk of this pandemic for those incarcerated at Santa…
(2020-03-30). UN warns that COVID-19 pandemic could trigger global food shortage. wsws.org The hardest hit will be the world's most vulnerable people, including 300 million children who rely on school meals as their one reliable meal of the day.
(2020-03-30). Know Your Rights during COVID-19 (Coronavirus). indybay.org While the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates public health measures to reduce the impact of the virus on our communities and health care systems, we must be vigilant and resist authoritarian and violent tendencies.
(2020-03-30). Four deaths over the weekend raise COVID-19 death toll among US autoworkers to nine. wsws.org The primary and immediate responsibility for these deaths lies with the Detroit automakers and their lackeys in the United Auto Workers, which conspired to keep workers on the line as long as possible during the pandemic, without even minimal sanitation and safety measures…
(2020-03-30). COVID-19 Proves It: We Need Medicare-for-All. counterpunch.org For decades, critics of single-payer health care have raised the menace of rationed care, long waits, and "death panels." Now, in our collective national effort to "flatten the curve" — to slow the spread of coronavirus to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed — we are seeing all three of these rumored pitfalls of "socialized medicine"
(2020-03-30). The "How Will You Pay For It?" Question Is Tossed in the Trash. zcomm.org Because the coronavirus is a threat to all of us — not just the poor — we are choosing to act in ways we always could have acted…
(2020-03-30). Dying Planet and a Virus Unleashed. counterpunch.org If the coronavirus is life-threatening, and the whole of the USA is in lockdown, the speed of its arrival and impact should at least remind us of the fragility of life — not just for our own species but on the planet itself. Of course, Donald Trump disbanded the White House's National Security Council Directorate
(2020-03-30). China must stimulate the economy sustainably after coronavirus. zcomm.org Government spending should incentivize consumption of public goods and services, not big infrastructure and heavy industry…
(2020-03-30). ACSO Requests $255M in New Funding; COVID-19 Reaches Santa Rita Without Plans in Place. indybay.org Just over a week into the "shelter in place" directive that is now statewide, COVID-19 has reached Santa Rita Jail. The County confirmed on March 26 that a nurse working in one of the jail's housing units has tested positive for the virus. In response, that pod as well as one other in Santa Rita were placed under quarantine on Friday, March 27. The second pod was quarantined allegedly in response to a case of pneumonia or other similar medical condition. All transportation of detainees between the jail and the federal courthouse has been suspended, according to a federal court notice. Community advocates warn tha…