Daily Archives: February 2, 2021

2021-02-02: News Headlines

Staff (2021-02-02). Latinx COVID Deaths Rise by 1,000 Percent in Los Angeles as Vaccine Rollout Lags. truthout.org Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Black and Latinx people in the United States have died at higher rates, and new data shows that they are getting vaccinated at much lower rates than white people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 60% of those vaccinated were white, while just 11.5% were Latinx, 6% were Asian, and just over 5% were Black. The CDC data is based on details gathered during the first month of the U.S. vaccination campaign that saw nearly 13 million…

Staff (2021-02-02). Latinx COVID Deaths Soar 1,000% in Los Angeles as Communities of Color Lag Behind in Vaccine Rollout. democracynow.org Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Black and Latinx people in the United States have died at higher rates, and new data shows that they are getting vaccinated at much lower rates than white people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 60% of those vaccinated were white, while just 11.5% were Latinx, 6% were Asian, and just over 5% were Black. The CDC data is based on details gathered during the first month of the U.S. vaccination campaign that saw nearly 13 million Americans get a shot, though race and ethnicity was only known for about half of the recipients. Black and Latinx people…

Lily Galili (2021-02-02). Covid-19: Netanyahu basks in vaccine success as Israelis suffer his pandemic failures. middleeasteye.net Covid-19: Netanyahu basks in vaccine success as Israelis suffer his pandemic failures | Coronavirus is running amok in Israel, but the prime minister won't let you hear it as he embarks on yet another election campaign | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 14: 22 | Benjamin Netanyahu receives a Covid-19 vaccine injection at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv (Reuters) | Muslims pray five times a day; observant Jews thre…

Staff (2021-02-02). Russia's Sputnik V Is Found to Be 91.6% Effective, Providing Boost for Global Vaccination Effort. democracynow.org Russia has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, recording about 73,000 deaths and over 3.8 million infections over the past year. Meanwhile, there is widespread skepticism over the domestically developed Sputnik V vaccine, with many Russians reluctant to get the shot. Now a peer-reviewed study published in the respected Lancet medical journal has confirmed the vaccine's 91.6% efficacy, as developers of the shot have long maintained. "That's good news for the developers of the vaccine in Russia. That's good news for Russia writ large, which certainly has plenty of geopolitical ambitions surroundi…

Vijay Prashad (2021-02-02). Outrage Is Not a Strong Enough Word. socialistproject.ca Someday the world will be free of the coronavirus. Then, we will glance backward at these years of misery inflicted by virions with spike proteins that have struck down millions of people and held social life in its grip. Much will be debated about the origins of the virus and the rapidity of its spread …

WSWS (2021-02-02). Defend Boƒüaziàßi University students against police state repression! wsws.org The Socialist Equality Group in Turkey condemns the police attacks and detention of more than 150 students yesterday at Boƒüaziàßi University and in ƒ∞zmir.

James O'Neill (2021-02-02). The Biden Government Running True to Form. dissidentvoice.org The least surprising news item in the past week was that the United States government under President Biden had decided that American troops would after all, despite Ex- President Trump's order, remain in Afghanistan. This breaks an agreement that had been reached by the Trump administration and the Taliban that US troops would all be …

Johanna Kichton (2021-02-02). People's Action Announces New Deep Canvass Campaign for COVID Relief. peoplesaction.org After Deep Canvass Successes in Presidential Election and Georgia Runoffs, People's Action to Engage People Around Recurring Cash Payments in West Virginia, Arizona, and Missouri Contact: Johanna Kichton, 240.206.1145, press@peoplesaction.org WASHINGTON, D.C.—People's Action today announced a new deep canvassing campaign to help secure recurring cash payments in the next COVID relief bill. People's Action will …

The Conversation (2021-02-02). Israel faces legal — and practical — obligations for including Palestinians in vaccine success. juancole.com By Yara M. Asi | — As nations scramble to vaccinate populations against COVID-19, one country has been ahead of the rest: Israel. By late January, Israel had vaccinated more than 30% of its population — more than double or triple the rate of other high-income states like the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany. …

MEE staff (2021-02-02). Palestinian political activist and analyst Abdel Sattar Qassem dies of Covid-19. middleeasteye.net Palestinian political activist and analyst Abdel Sattar Qassem dies of Covid-19 | Qassem, 72, had announced in January that he would be running as an independent candidate for the presidency in the upcoming Palestinian election | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 11: 33 | Qassem was born in the village of Deir al-Ghusun in 1948, in the present-day occupied West Bank (social media) | Prominent Palestinian academic and politica…

Dr. Binoy Kampmark (2021-02-02). Cowardly History: Australia Day and Invasion. asia-pacificresearch.com

Brian Whitaker (2021-02-02). Ending the crisis in Yemen is a priority for Biden administration. juancole.com ( Al-Bab.com) — Secretary of State Blinken: "It's vitally important that we do everything we can to get humanitarian assistance to the people of Yemen." Photo: State Dept When Antony Blinken, the newly-appointed US Secretary of State, gave his first press briefing last Wednesday the first topic to come up was the war in Yemen. …

Staff (2021-02-02). Alexei Navalny Faces "Kafkaesque" Charges in Russia for Breaking Parole While in Poison-Induced Coma. democracynow.org Russian authorities have arrested thousands of people during anti-government protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been held in jail since returning to Russia on January 17 after recovering in Germany from an attempt on his life in August using the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the poisoning that nearly killed him. While Navalny has emerged as Russia's leading opposition figure and anti-corruption campaigner, his political roots have links to right-wing nationalist and anti-immigrant causes. Joshua Yaffa, Moscow corresp…

MEE and agencies (2021-02-02). Bangladesh purchased Israel-made surveillance equipment, says report. middleeasteye.net Bangladesh purchased Israel-made surveillance equipment, says report | Dhaka, which denies the claims made by Al Jazeera, has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 11: 18 | Bangladesh's foreign minister has denied that his government had purchased the Israeli-made surveillance equipment (AFP) | Bangladesh has been accused of buying Israeli-made surveillance equipme…

Deirdre Griswold (2021-02-02). Electric cars and China: Another great leap forward. workers.org China is now the world's biggest market for automobiles, accounting for a third of global car sales. "It is bigger than the American and Japanese auto markets combined. GM and Volkswagen both sell more cars through joint ventures in China than in their home markets." (NY Times Business Section, Jan. . . . |

H.I. Sutton (2021-02-02). China's New Aircraft Carrier Killer Is World's Largest Air-Launched Missile. anti-empire.com Navies are racing to develop hypersonic missiles which may change the pace of naval warfare. Russia will deploy the Zircon hypersonic missile aboard warships and submarines. The US Navy has started down the path of the common hypersonic glide body (c-HGB) for its destroyers. Meanwhile China's latest hypersonic weapon is something completely different; it is air launched. | The massive new missile, labelled CH-AS-X-13, is probably the largest air-launched missile in the world. | The missile was first reported by Ankit Panda, the Stanton Senior Fellow at the Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for Internatio…

MEE staff (2021-02-02). UAE confident F-35 jets sale will go through despite Biden review, says ambassador. middleeasteye.net UAE confident F-35 jets sale will go through despite Biden review, says ambassador | UAE ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, says if US plans to pivot from Middle East to China it cannot 'take tools away from your partners' | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 15: 52 | The US agreed to sale of F-35 jets to Abu Dhabi following normalisation agreement between UAE and Israel (AFP) | The United Arab Emirates is confident t…

Dianne Mathiowetz (2021-02-02). Capitalist greed kills six poultry workers in Georgia. workers.org Atlanta, Ga. Jan. 31 — Prior to Jan. 28, most of us were likely unaware of the death-rendering results of exposure to liquid nitrogen, including the low-wage workers at Foundation Food Group in Gainesville, Ga. It is used in food processing plants across the country to rapidly freeze products for . . . |

Steve Sweeney (2021-02-02). 'Slow-motion genocide': West Papuan liberation leader describes Indonesian occupation. peoplesworld.org This article was first published in Morning Star on Jan. 29, 2021. It has been an incredible journey for exiled West Papuan leader Benny Wenda. From a childhood spent living in poverty in the mountains where he witnessed his auntie being raped by Indonesian soldiers to a daring escape from prison in 2002, his "long …

IMEMC News (2021-02-02). Israeli Soldiers Injure Three Palestinians, Abduct Another, Near Jenin. imemc.org Israeli soldiers injured, Monday, three Palestinians, and abducted one, in Jenin governorate, in northern West Bank. Medical sources have confirmed that the soldiers shot, on Monday evening, a young man, from Sielet al-Harithiya town, northwest of Jenin, while he was walking near the Annexation Wall near Barta'a town, southwest of Jenin. They added that the …

Ali Salam (2021-02-02). Settlers Damage 15 Palestinian-owned Vehicles, 3 Homes near Salfit. imemc.org Fifteen Palestinian-owned vehicles and three homes were vandalized, on Monday, by illegal Israeli settlers in Kifl Hares town, west of Salfit, in the northern occupied West Bank, Palestinian WAFA News Agency reported. Issam Abu Yacoub, the mayor of Kifl Hares said that illegal settlers stormed the town, under the cover of the Israeli army, adding …

Ali Salam (2021-02-02). Israeli Forces Demolish Residential Tents in the Northern Jordan Valley. imemc.org Israeli occupation soldiers, on Monday, dismantled residential tents and agricultural structures, and seized a vehicle in the northern Jordan Valley, Quds News Network has reported. Israeli forces stormed the northern occupied West Bank village of Khirbet Humsa al-Fouqa, sealing off the area, before demolishing Palestinian-owned residential tents and farming structures, according to QNN correspondent. He …

Monica Moorehead (2021-02-02). An appreciation of the magnificent Cicely Tyson. workers.org Harriet Tubman in "A Woman Called Moses," "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," as Coretta Scott King in "King," Rebecca in "Sounder" and the mother of Rosa Parks in "The Rosa Parks Story" — these are just some of the roles and movies that the great Cicely Tyson either portrayed . . . |

NDR (2021-02-02). Facility for 'Quarantine Objectors' in Germany Ready for Inmates. anti-empire.com Machine translated from German | Today is the official start, but so far the rooms have not been used. Until Friday afternoon it was not foreseeable that the districts would already make use of the accommodation, said a spokeswoman for the district assembly. In the building on the grounds of the Moltsfelde juvenile detention center in Neumàºnster, there is space for up to six quarantine objectors. The cells are each twelve square meters in size and the facility is closed from the outside. The operator is the Segeberg district and makes them available to the other districts and independent cities. | Housi…

AFP (2021-02-02). Germany Rejects French Call to Scrap Russia Gas Pipeline Over Navalny. anti-empire.com France on Monday urged Germany to scrap a major gas pipeline project with Russia in protest over the detention in Moscow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but the plea fell on deaf ears in Berlin. | "We have always said we have the greatest doubts on this project in this context," European Affairs minister Clement Beaune told France Inter radio. | Asked specifically if France wanted Berlin to drop the project, Beaune said: "Indeed, we have already said this." | Nord Stream 2 is a 10 billion euro ($11 billion) pipeline that will run beneath the Baltic Sea and is set to double Russian natural-gas shipments to Ge…

Ragip Soylu (2021-02-02). Turkey held talks with UK to purchase aircraft carrier. middleeasteye.net Turkey held talks with UK to purchase aircraft carrier | Britain last year offered to help Ankara locally produce vessel after declining to sell one | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 13: 55 | Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan launches a locally produced Turkish warship into the water in Istanbul, Turkey on 23 January 2021 (Turkish Presidency) | The Turkish government held consultations with the UK to procure a new or s…

MEE and agencies (2021-02-02). Bogazici protests: Police arrest more than a hundred protesters at top Turkish university. middleeasteye.net Bogazici protests: Police arrest more than a hundred protesters at top Turkish university | Students have been protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector of Bogazici University by President Erdogan for nearly a month | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 07: 32 | Bulu is the first rector of a university to be appointed from outside a university since a military coup in 1950 (Reuters) | Turkish polic…

Amiad Horowitz (2021-02-02). Vietnamese Communists close their 13th National Congress. peoplesworld.org The Communist Party of Vietnam has ended its 13th National Congress. The National Congress which is the highest governing body of the CPV meets every five years to decide on a direction for the country and to elect new party leadership. Among the more important decisions to come out of the 13th Congress was the …

yenisafak (2021-02-02). Pakistan kicks off COVID-19 vaccination drive. yenisafak.com In line with the priority list, a doctor was the first person to be inoculated at a ceremony also attended by Prime Minister Imran Khan in the capital Islamabad.The premier in his address assured fair distribution of vaccines, and thanked Beijing for the support. He urged the masses to follow safety precautions, i.e. wearing a mask and social distancing, to contain the pandemic, which has claimed nearly 12,000 lives across the country. The overall caseload has reached 547,648.After health care workers, those above age 65 will be vaccinated, as another 1.1 million doses from China are expected to arrive later this…

Ali Harb (2021-02-02). Covid-19: Jamaal Bowman calls on Israel to vaccinate Palestinians. middleeasteye.net Covid-19: Jamaal Bowman calls on Israel to vaccinate Palestinians | US congressman likens racial disparities in US and his own experiences as Black man to 'hopelessness' Palestinians face | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 18: 53 | Jamaal Bowman defeated staunch Israel supporter Eliot Engel, a senior Democrat, last year (AFP/File photo) | Congressman Jamaal Bowman, a first-term progressive Democrat, has called on the Israeli go…

MEE and agencies (2021-02-02). Iran allows crew of seized South Korean oil tanker to leave in 'humanitarian move'. middleeasteye.net Iran allows crew of seized South Korean oil tanker to leave in 'humanitarian move' | Development comes as Tehran urges Seoul to release Iranian assets frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions
| Tue, 02/02/2021 – 16: 06 | South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun (L) meets his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi (R) in Tehran on 10 January, after the seizure of a South Korean-fl…

RT (2021-02-02). Google agrees to $3.8 million payout to settle US discrimination lawsuit. rt.com Tech giant Google has agreed to a $3.8 million settlement with the US Department of Labor after a lawsuit accusing the company of "systemic compensation and hiring discrimination" with thousands of women and Asian applicants. | The Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs investigated Google's actions between September 1, 2014 and August 31, 2017, finding differences in the company's hiring rates between female and Asian individuals and other potential employees. | Google will distribute $1.3 million in backdated pay to 2,565 employees, and $1.2mn to over 3,000 applicants, as part o…

RT (2021-02-02). Democrats seek to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of House committee assignments to negate 'future harm' from 'QAnon Congresswoman'. rt.com Democrats are demanding the GOP purge Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from two House committees over her supposed "inflammatory and false statements," apparently with support of some Republicans. | Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), Ted Deutch (D-Florida) and Jahana Hayes (D-Connecticut) submitted a resolution on Monday demanding Greene be removed from the House Education & Labor Committee and the House Budget Committee. | "Reducing the future harm that she can cause in Congress, and denying her a seat at committee tables where fact-based policies will be drafted, is both a suit…

RT (2021-02-02). Marjorie Greene Taylor hits back after Mitch McConnell dubs her 'GOP cancer,' says 'weak Republicans' will doom party & country. rt.com Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has responded to a scathing attack by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — who dubbed her a "cancer" for the GOP — insisting that "weak" Republicans would be the country's downfall. | "The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully," the freshman GOP congresswoman wrote in a tweet on Monday night. | This is why we are losing our country. | The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. | This is why we are losing our country.— Marjorie Taylor Greene &#…

MEE staff (2021-02-02). Biden urged to publicly support rights of citizens to boycott Israel. middleeasteye.net Biden urged to publicly support rights of citizens to boycott Israel | Human Rights Watch calls on Biden administration to renounce Trump-era policy that labelled BDS movement as antisemitic | Tue, 02/02/2021 – 16: 47 | The BDS movement was founded in 2005 and modelled after a similar campaign credited with ending apartheid in South Africa (AFP/File photo) | A leading human rights group has called on US Presid…

yenisafak (2021-02-02). Russia's Sputnik V vaccine 'safe, effective': Study. yenisafak.com The Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine developed in Russia has shown "a consistent strong protective effect across all participant age groups," according to a study published in medical journal The Lancet.Interim results from a Phase 3 trial that included some 20,000 people showed 91.6% efficacy of a two-dose regimen of the adenovirus-based vaccine."No serious adverse events were deemed to be associated with vaccination, and most reported adverse events were mild, including flu-like symptoms, pain at the injection site, and weakness or low energy," the article said.Serious complications, such as requiring hospital ad…

yenisafak (2021-02-02). Two PKK terrorists surrender to security forces in Turkey. yenisafak.com Two more PKK terrorists have surrendered to Turkish security forces as a result of persuasion efforts, the country's Interior Ministry announced Tuesday.After fleeing from the separatist PKK terror organization, the terrorists surrendered thanks to the persuasion efforts by the police and gendarmerie, the ministry said in a written statement.The terrorists joined the PKK between years 2010 and 2014, and had been active in Iraq, it added.With the latest additions, the number of terrorists who have laid down their arms through persuasion efforts this year has reached 16, it said.In its more than 30-year terror cam…

yenisafak (2021-02-02). General strike in Israeli city after two Arabs killed. yenisafak.com A general strike was staged in the Israel's Arab city of Tamra on Tuesday after the killing of two Arabs by Israeli police a day earlier.Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that all stores and markets in the city closed amid a state of anger over the killing. | Israeli police said the two Arabs were shot dead while confronting armed suspects."Policemen noticed four suspects firing at a home in the city and when they tried to arrest them, fire was opened at the policemen," a police statement read.Media reports said later that one of the dead was not involved in the incident.The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation networ…

yenisafak (2021-02-02). Iran less than 2 years away from nuke weapons: Israel. yenisafak.com Israel's Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz warned on Tuesday that Iran needs a year or two to acquire a "nuclear weapon".Speaking to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, Steinitz claimed that Iran needs "around half a year" to produce enough uranium for a nuclear weapon."As for nuclear weaponry, the range is around one or two years", he said.Steinitz also credited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US President Donald Trump for weakening Iran's goal of acquiring nuclear weapons."The withdrawal [of Trump] from the nuclear deal has weakened Iran," he said.Senior Israeli officials, including…

yenisafak (2021-02-02). Google agrees to pay over $2.5M for job discrimination. yenisafak.com American tech firm Google has agreed to pay over $2.5 million in total in a job discrimination case to more than 5,500 female employees and overlooked Asian applicants.In a case against the US Department of Labor, the California-based firm will pay a total settlement amount of $2.58 million, according to the document released by the department on Monday.The settlement includes payments of over $1.3 million to 2,565 female engineers, and more than $1.2 million to 1,757 female engineering applicants along with 1,219 Asian engineering applicants for "engineering positions not hired."The company will also set more th…

yenisafak (2021-02-02). 'Sovereign equality required to resolve Cyprus issue'. yenisafak.com The Turkish foreign minister on Tuesday stressed the importance of negotiations based on sovereign equality to resolve the Cyprus issue.Negotiation on sovereign equality is required in resolving the Cyprus issue, "if there is sovereign equality, then there can be two states," Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint news conference with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar in Lefkosa.Cavusoglu said that half of the Eastern Mediterranean issue would be solved if they can find a solution for sharing revenues of natural resources in Cyprus.On Monday, Cavusoglu met with Turkish Cypriot authorities as…

Mehr News Agency (2021-02-02). Cleaning, documenting project of Salt Men in Zanjan. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Feb. 02 (MNA) — The following is the video of documenting and cleaning 3 ancient salt men and their belonging at an archaeology museum in the Zanjan province of Iran.

Mehr News Agency (2021-02-02). Iran-India relations enjoy of paramount importance: MoD. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Feb. 02 (MNA) — Iranian Minister of Defense Brigadier General Amir Hatami said that the relationship between Islamic Republic of Iran and India is of special significance.

Mehr News Agency (2021-02-02). Indonesia studying case of Iranian ship independently. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Feb. 02 (MNA) — On Jan. 25, the Indonesian Coast Guard announced that it had seized two Iranian and Panamanian-flagged tankers in its territorial waters and intends to release both ships by the end of the week if there is no solid evidence.

Mehr News Agency (2021-02-02). Parliament's open session on Tuesday. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Feb. 02 (MNA) — Iranian lawmakers held an open session chaired by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Tuesday.

RT (2021-02-02). Explosive Video Exposes MI6 Links to Alexei Navalny. dissidentvoice.org RT's Murad Gazdiev reports on new evidence of links between MI6 and Russian opposition figure and activist Alexei Navalny. Then author and professor of international human rights Dan Kovalik joins Rick Sanchez to discuss the role of the US and UK in fomenting political discord in Russia and other countries.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-02). Kosovo establishes diplomatic relations with Israel, will open embassy in Jerusalem. peoplesdispatch.org Kosovo is the latest in a line of countries which have decided to normalize their relations with Israel, while being only the third to open its embassy in Jerusalem…

UC Berkeley Nikkei Student Union (2021-02-02). Friday 2/19: UC Berkeley Day of Remembrance of E.O. 9066 Japanese American Prison Camps WWII. indybay.org Virtual event…

Jeff J. Brown (2021-02-02). China's Economy, Technology, and Military Is Racing Past the West? globalresearch.ca All Global Research articles can be read in 27 languages by activating the "Translate Website" drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). | *** | The administration of former US President Donald Trump, escalated tensions …

oneworld.press (2021-02-02). Kabul Must Identify The Perpetrators Of The Terrorist Attack Against The Russian Embassy. oneworld.press Based on the statement of the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Kabul should investigate all the circumstances of the terrorist attack as soon as possible and identify the persons involved in its implementation.