COVID-19 breaks out in Taiwan, with daily case numbers above 100
wsws.org | 2021-05-24
Despite the resurgence of the pandemic globally, Taipei continued to ease restrictions, leading to what is now a dangerous outbreak.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/05/24/taiw-m24.html

Rivers are Key to Restoring the World's Biodiversity
Alessandra Korap Munduruku, Darryl Knudsen, Irikefe V. Dafe | counterpunch.org | 2021-05-24
Alessandra Korap Munduruku is a Munduruku Indigenous woman leader from Indigenous Reserve Praia do Ândio in the Brazilian Amazon. She is a member of Pariri, a local Munduruku association, as well as the Munduruku Wakoborûn Women's Association. In 2020, Alessandra won the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for her work defending the culture, livelihoods and rights of Indigenous peoples in Brazil. | Darryl Knudsen is the executive director of International Rivers. He has 20 years' experience channeling the power of civil society movements to create enduring, positive change toward social and environmental justice…
counterpunch.org/2021/05/24/rivers-are-key-to-restoring-the-worlds-biodiversity/

Olympic sized Covid problems for Japan ahead of the Summer Games
Al Neal | peoplesworld.org | 2021-05-24
The 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games are now two months away, and the situation does not look good. Current polls show over 80 per cent of the population want the games cancelled. The results are not surprising following the extension of a Covid-19 state of emergency in Tokyo and nine other major cities. Still, there have been no calls by …
peoplesworld.org/article/olympic-sized-covid-problems-for-japan-ahead-of-the-summer-games/

Let Lebanon be Lebanon: Paris should Stop Threatening Beirut with EU Sanctions
John Hickman | juancole.com | 2021-05-24
John Hickman "Governing Lebanon is surely more daunting than governing France."[1] That pearl of wisdom in an essay defending consociational democracy by University of Pennsylvania political scientist Brendan O'Leary has never been more accurate. A delicate balance of domestic interests with institutional vetoes at the best of times, Lebanese politics has been stalemated for months …
juancole.com/2021/05/lebanon-threatening-sanctions.html

Syrian Refugees and Residents Abroad Vote Massively in Presidential Elections
Saheli Chowdhury | orinocotribune.com | 2021-05-24
May 23 (Special for OrinocoTribune.com)–On Thursday, May 20, Syrian refugees and residents in different countries around the world voted in massive numbers at Syrian diplomatic missions that were turned into polling centers for the presidential elections. This was the first day of voting in a two-day process–within Syria, citizens will go to polls on May 26. | The generally peaceful electoral process was only marred by xenophobic attacks against Syrian voters in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed one voter, reported Syria News. | The first country to open the polling centers was Australia, where Syrians reg…
orinocotribune.com/syrian-refugees-and-residents-abroad-vote-massively-in-presidential-elections/

Time for a New Toolbox
John Hawkins | dissidentvoice.org | 2021-05-24
Though his story has been widely disseminated by now, before Edward Snowden fled to Hong Kong he sent a box of classified documents by snail mail from Hawaii (marked mysteriously "from B. Manning") to a writer in New York, which made its way, unopened, from person to person until it reached journalists Laura Poitras and …
dissidentvoice.org/2021/05/time-for-a-new-toolbox/

Ruralist's Lament: It's Alive!
Richard Rhames | counterpunch.org | 2021-05-24
We've been farming this plot of land for going on half a century. The fields lay between the ledges and the glacial erratics, and we're only the most recent tillers since "Robert Cole, Yeoman" established a homestead here in 1769. The farm buildings Cole erected were obliterated in a great fire that burned much of…
counterpunch.org/2021/05/24/ruralists-lament-its-alive/

Belarus Scrambles Fighter Jet, Forces Civilian Plane To Land And Arrests Opposition Figure
Anonymous007 | southfront.org | 2021-05-24
Click to see full-size image | On May 23rd, Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land. | When the civilian plane landed, authorities arrested an opposition figure who was on board, drawing condemnation from Europe and the United States. | Roman Pratasevich was arrested after the flight in which he was traveling was diverted to Belarus, allegedly after a bomb threat, in what the opposition and Western officials…
southfront.org/belarus-scrambles-fighter-forces-civilian-plane-to-land-and-arrests-opposition-figure/

Syrians Abroad Vote for a Return to Stability
Steven Sahiounie | globalresearch.ca | 2021-05-23
Syrians went to | …
globalresearch.ca/syrians-abroad-vote-return-stability/5745967

Iraqi PMU Carried Out 'Special Operation' To Neutralize ISIS Supplies In Kirkuk (Photos)
Anonymous669 | southfront.org | 2021-05-23
Click to see full-size image. Source: al-hashed.net | On May 22, the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) announced that they had neutralized the supplies of ISIS cells in Kirkuk during a special operation in the province's southwestern region. | In an official statement, deputy commander of the PMU's 1st Special Missions Regiment, Khalil al-Hajami, said that the operation was carried out in the towns of Ziklabana, Jiam, Dabbagh and Al Bouzerga after receiving intelligence about ISIS activities and supplies there. | "The fo…
southfront.org/iraqi-pmu-carried-out-special-operation-to-neutralize-isis-supplies-in-kirkuk-photos/

Central Syria Insurgency: ISIS Cells Attacked Syrian Army Post In Aleppo, Oil Tankers In Raqqa
Anonymous669 | southfront.org | 2021-05-23
Illustrative image. | Despite sustaining heavy losses in the last few months, ISIS cells in central Syria continue to launch attacks against Syrian government forces and civilians. | On May 20, the group's terrorists raided a position of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in Durihim desert in the southern countryside of Aleppo. | According to ISIS news agency Amaq, heavy clashes broke out during the raid. The terrorists destroyed two artillery pieces before withdrawing. No Syrian service members were killed or injured. | Two days ea…
southfront.org/central-syria-insurgency-isis-cells-attacked-syrian-army-post-in-aleppo-oil-tankers-in-raqqa/