en.mehrnews (2020-04-29). Iranian scientist in US jail contracts coronavirus. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 29 (MNA) — An Iranian scientist who has been pleading for weeks to be released from a US immigration jail due to his fragile health has contracted Covid-19, according to his family and attorneys.

Adriaan Alsema (2020-04-29). Colombia's great coronavirus exodus. colombiareports.com After years of receiving foreigners, from tourists and immigrants to refugees, the coronavirus pandemic abruptly reversed this trend and triggered a mass exodus from Colombia. The most dramatic migration is…

Vijay Prashad (2020-04-29). Why Did the World Health Organization Wait Until March to Declare a Global Pandemic? zcomm.org The 2005 regulations pushed on the World Health Organization by the United States and the Europeans hampered the WHO's ability to declare an emergency and a pandemic…

Vijay Prashad (2020-04-29). Why did the World Health Organization wait until March to declare a global pandemic? peoplesdispatch.org The 2005 regulations pushed on the World Health Organization by the United States and the Europeans hampered the WHO's ability to declare an emergency and a pandemic…

Adriaan Alsema (2020-04-29). 'Coronavirus used as excuse to roll back Colombia's peace process and democracy'. colombiareports.com President Ivan Duque and his far-right party are using the coronavirus to cover up "assaults" on Colombia's peace process while promoting authoritarianism, the country's peace movement told the United Nations…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-04-29). Chilean police repress a peaceful protest in Santiago, detain 30. peoplesdispatch.org On April 27, the Chilean national police force, the Carabineros, violently repressed a peaceful protest at the Dignity Plaza in the capital Santiago. The protest was called for by several social organizations against the Carabineros on their 93rd anniversary and against the right-wing government led by President Sebastián Piñera. | Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of Chileans, wearing face masks and maintaining social distance, gathered at the iconic Dignity Plaza, to express their rejection of the Carabineros, on their 93rd anniversary. The protesters expressed their repudiation of the police force by banging…

Jesse Jackson (2020-04-29). Let Prisoners Go During COVID-19 pandemic. counterpunch.org Across the United States and across the world, prisoners are among the most vulnerable to the coronavirus. Overcrowded facilities, shortages of food and medicine, and totally inadequate testing expose prisoners who are disproportionately poor and afflicted with prior conditions that render them vulnerable to the disease. Prisoners increasingly are protesting their conditions, objecting to being

en.mehrnews (2020-04-29). Turkey's lack of coop. with Iran in road transport sector criticized. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 29 (MNA) — Turkey's lack of cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in international road transport sector was protested amid the outbreak of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

Nick Pemberton (2020-04-29). A Different Kind of COVID-19 Protest. counterpunch.org Amidst a deadly pandemic set to kill millions of people it is hard not to become reactionary and short-sighted. The coronavirus for all intents and purposes is the new Trump for the libs. On the one hand a force that remains criminally underrated in its capacity for destruction despite its overwhelming popularity and attention from

Repost (2020-04-29). April 25, 2020: Nationwide Cancel Rents Protests. indybay.org We face a second rent day, May 1, when at least one third of renters nationwide will not be able to pay the rent due to the pandemic lockdown. Yet no governor, Democrat or Republican, has demanded that the rent be cancelled since the renters who live from paycheck to paycheck face immediate eviction when the lockdown ends as they cannot pay any back rent.

Ron Jacobs (2020-04-29). Wild in the Streets? Mayday 1971. counterpunch.org During the last week of April and the first few days of May in 1971, tens of thousands of US residents protested in the streets of Washington, DC. Their goal was to force an immediate and complete withdrawal of all US forces from Southeast Asia. Although they did not accomplish their goal, they did force

John W. Whitehead (2020-04-29). Your Freedoms Don't Have to be Muzzled Just Because You're Wearing a Mask. globalresearch.ca "If 2019 was the year of the street protest, of tear gas and rubber bullets, Despite all appearances …

RT (2020-04-29). China's parliament to begin annual meeting on May 22 as 'epidemic situation improves'. rt.com The parliament of China will start its annual meeting on May 22, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday. The session will be held over two months later than originally planned, owing to the fallout from the Covid-19 outbreak. | Conditions for holding the annual meeting of parliament have been met, now that the coronavirus epidemic situation has improved in the country, officials at the top decision-making body of the Chinese parliament were quoted as saying. | The top political consultative body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has also proposed to start its annual sessio…

Ian Miles Cheong (2020-04-29). New Zealand Government Bans Online Book Purchases as 'Non-Essential'. anti-empire.com Besides video games and Netflix, books are the only things any of us have left to keep us sane besides conversations with our significant others on Facetime. Yes, there's plenty to do—plenty of options to fill the time in between trips to the grocery store and reading news about the Chinese coronavirus, and books fill a void that otherwise goes unfilled, leaving only anxiety to take its place. | Books are essential in lockdown, but the New Zealand government doesn't think so. Under the onerous orders of Jacinda Ardern, a leader praised for her ability to lead the country through this global struggle unde…

The Canary (2020-04-29). Mike Pence tours medical clinic without a face mask. thecanary.co US vice president Mike Pence chose not to wear a face mask during a tour of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on Tuesday, an apparent violation of the world-renowned medical centre's policy requiring them.Video feeds show Pence did not wear a mask when he met with a Mayo employee who has recovered from Covid-19 and is now donating plasma, even though all other people in the room appeared to be wearing one.He was also without a mask when he visited a lab where Mayo conducts coronavirus tests.Vice President Mike Pence visits the molecular testing lab at Mayo Clinic (Jim Mone/AP) | And Pence was the only participant not…

RT (2020-04-29). 'Impossible' to hold Olympics unless pandemic is contained, Japan's PM Abe says. rt.com It will be impossible to host the Tokyo Olympic Games next year unless the coronavirus pandemic is contained, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday. | "The Olympic Games must be held in a way that shows the world has won its battle against the coronavirus pandemic," Abe told parliament. "Otherwise, it will be hard to hold the Games," Reuters quoted him as saying. | The prime minister was replying to a query from an opposition lawmaker whether Tokyo could host the Games next year, after this year's delay caused by the pandemic.

RT (2020-04-29). Czech MPs back emergency extension until May 17 as lockdown could be ended early. rt.com The lower house of the Czech parliament has voted to extend a state of emergency until May 17 — a week less than the government had sought. The development comes as the country charts a course to emerge from a coronavirus lockdown earlier than forecast. PM Andrej Babis had asked for an extension until May 25 to be able to keep restrictions on business in place. The state of emergency was due to expire on April 30. | The government is reluctant to end the emergency early, even though it has already reopened some shops and services over the past week as the pace of new infections has declined. It now expect…

RT (2020-04-29). Not kitten around: Cat that Putin gifted to Japanese governor placed in isolation over coronavirus. rt.com A Siberian cat named Mir that Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted to the Governor of Japan's Akita prefecture has been placed in quarantine over the paw-sibility that it could catch Covid-19. | President Putin gave Norihisa Satake the 11-month-old gray kitten back in 2012, after the governor gifted him an Akita Inu puppy called Yume ('Dream'). The governor's gift was in gratitude for Russia helping Japan deal with the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011. | | President Putin and Yume. © Global Look Press | Mir quickly became a be…

Staff (2020-04-29). CARES Act Funding For Native Tribes Reveals Continued US Colonization. therealnews.com The recent CARES Act is another example of the continued effort to dismiss Indigenous peoples' sovereignty, and doesn't provide adequate funding to fight COVID-19.

RT (2020-04-29). NYC mayor blasted for 'anti-Semitism' after threatening to arrest Jews for flouting Covid-19 distancing rules at rabbi's funeral. rt.com A tightly-packed funeral procession of Orthodox Jews attracted the ire of Bill de Blasio, but netizens had something to say about the mayor's own distancing policy and said his outburst had "invited anti-Semitism." | The New York City mayor tweeted his anger at members of Brooklyn's Jewish community who gathered on Tuesday night for the funeral of Rabbi Chaim Mertz. "My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed," he wrote. | Photos of the procession were circulated in the media, with many of the participants visibly defying social distancing rules, w…

Andy Sullivan (2020-04-29). True Number of Americans Run Out of Work by Virus Maoists So Far Could Be 10 Million Higher at 36 Million. anti-empire.com Millions of Americans who have been thrown out of work during the coronavirus pandemic have been unable to register for unemployment benefits since the U.S. economy entered a free fall, according to a poll released on Tuesday. | The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found in an online poll that for every 10 people who have successfully filed unemployment claims, three or four people have been unable to register and another two people have not tried to apply at a time of acute economic crisis. | Official U.S. statistics show that 26.5 million people have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March, w…

RT (2020-04-29). 'You misspelled censorship!' YouTube expands 'fact checks' to protect Americans from coronavirus 'misinformation'. rt.com YouTube will now "fact check" US search queries, expanding a feature tried in other countries last year in an effort to eradicate "misinformation" about Covid-19 — but some netizens are seeing hints of Orwell in the project. | The video-sharing giant rolled out the new feature on Tuesday, announcing that its "fact check information panels" will now appear on American searches, in which "authoritative sources" will show up below the search bar to correct claims that YouTube deems suspect. | "We're now using these panels to help address an additional challenge: misinformation that comes up quickly as part…

RT (2020-04-29). Turkey extends closure of schools to end of May — minister. rt.com Turkey has extended the closure of schools until the end of May as part of its measures to combat the spread of coronavirus, Education Minister Ziya Selcuk said on Wednesday. | Ankara announced the initial closure of schools on March 12 after it reported its first case of Covid-19. It now has almost 115,000 cases with a death toll of nearly 3,000, Reuters reported. | The government aims to begin reviving the economy in late May after a sharp slowdown due to measures to contain the outbreak, while minimizing the risk of a second wave of infections, a senior official said on Tuesday. | A group of Turkish malls s…

Eds. (2020-04-29). Declaring victory too soon: Lessons from Europe's different responses to coronavirus. mronline.org But do these assumptions hold up to the test? To find out, we must first take a quick look at some recent history.

yenisafak (2020-04-29). Turkey's TIKA donates personal care items for Rohingya. yenisafak.com The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), a state-run aid body, donated 5,000 personal care packages for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh's camps.The distribution run through Wednesday starting on Saturday in various camps set up in the southern Cox's Bazar district, TIKA's Dhaka office said in a statement on Wednesday."COVID-19 affects Rohingya refugees just as it affects the whole world. TIKA has also not forgotten the Rohingya refugees and has distributed cleaning supplies to help them fight the coronavirus," said Ismail Gundogdu, the agency's Bangladesh coordinator.The package included produ…

yenisafak (2020-04-29). Riot erupts at coronavirus-hit prison in Sierra Leone. yenisafak.com Smoke billowed from the central prison in Sierra Leone's capital and gunfire could be heard from nearby streets on Wednesday after a riot broke out following the confirmation of a coronavirus case there, a Reuters reporter said.Inmates at Pademba Road Prison had earlier set some buildings on fire in a protest that police and security forces were subsequently able to quell, Information Minister Mohamed Rahman Swaray told reporters."There are casualties, but these are early days. When the dust settles we will be able to give you a more comprehensive account," Swaray said in a video streamed online.The prison was r…

yenisafak (2020-04-29). US teachers' unions vow action against early reopening. yenisafak.com Major teachers' unions in the US are gearing up to call for strikes or major protests if states reopen schools without taking proper precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic.The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and The National Education Association (NEA), the nation's two biggest teachers' unions, told Politico news outlet Tuesday that they will not remain silent when it comes to student safety.AFT President Randi Weingarten said schools need funding to implement public health measures, including personal protective equipment, to prevent possible exposure to the virus.If schools reopen without proper safet…

yenisafak (2020-04-29). Arab League warns against escalation in Lebanon. yenisafak.com The Arab League on Wednesday warned of Lebanon's "slide into the unknown" following bloody clashes between the army and protesters. | At least one protestor died and a dozen others injured in clashes in Tripoli, the country's second largest city, late Monday.Anger over the crash of Lebanon's national currency that sent food prices soaring led to street violence. Protests were witnessed in the capital Beirut, and the city of Sidon as well. The Arab League, in a statement, expressed its deep concern regarding "the accelerating developments on the Lebanese scene.""There is a hope that the wisdom of the army's leader…

sputniknews (2020-04-29). Two Policemen Injured in Stone Pelting by Migrant Workers at Top Indian IT Institute in Hyderabad. sputniknews.com New Delhi (Sputnik): In March, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of poor migrants left bigger cities on foot to return to their homes. States were instructed to take care of daily wagers wherever they were stuck.

Stuart Munckton (2020-04-29). New book gives eyewitness acount of Hong Kong protests. greenleft.org.au By Anthony Daripan
| Scribe Publications, 2020
| 320pp, $35 | "Heung gong jan, gaa jau!" (Hong Kongers, add oil) is a rallying cry that could be translated to mean "Go…

RT (2020-04-29). Almost 18,000 EXTRA cancer patients could die in England within year while nation focuses on treating Covid-19 — study. rt.com While the UK has put all efforts into battling the epidemic of the novel coronavirus, cancer could claim up to 18,000 additional lives in England due to lack of diagnostics and treatment, a new study warns. | Delays in diagnosing and treating cancer could hurt the survival chances of thousands of people across England, joint research by University College London (UCL) and the Health Data Research Hub for Cancer (DATA-CAN) suggests. Scientists analyzed data from more than 3.5 million patients and discovered that the Covid-19 outbreak could indirectly lead to more than 17,900 extra cancer deaths within a year, i…

Staff (2020-04-29). How Can Oil Be Worth Less Than Zero? therealnews.com Dan Dicker traded oil futures for 25 years on the NYSE. He explains how COVID-19 created a perfect storm for oil markets, and why it still doesn't make green energy inevitable.

The Canary (2020-04-29). Testing tsar 'confident' government will hit 100,000 target for Covid-19. thecanary.co The government's testing tsar has said he is confident the 100,000 daily target for coronavirus tests will be met on Thursday.Professor John Newton, director of public health improvement for Public Health England (PHE), said: "We are pretty confident we will hit that target. It puts us really right up there with countries like Germany, so we need that now but we need that for the future as well."There will be a lag in receiving the data but "by the end of the week we will know whether we have reached that target", he added.The government has been under pressure over the target, with health secretary Matt Hancock…

RT (2020-04-29). WATCH Russian Tu-160 bombers shadowed by NATO jets in cat-and-mouse game over Baltic Sea. rt.com Flying a routine mission over neutral Baltic waters, a pair of Tu-160s were approached by NATO fighter jets which swarmed so close to the Russian planes that their crew could easily see the small roundels on their chasers' wings. | A one-minute video clip, released by Russia's Defense Ministry, shows the two Tupolev Tu-160 supersonic bombers — painted in identical white nuclear heat-resistant livery — setting off for their eight-hour patrol over the Baltic Sea. | Shrinking civilian traffic has left the skies over Europe empty on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic, but air forces across the continent…

RT (2020-04-29). Poland to reopen hotels, shopping malls on May 4. rt.com Polish hotels and shopping malls will reopen on May 4 and pre-schools will have the option to open on May 6, PM Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday. The largest economy in the European Union's eastern wing started relaxing some of its curbs on public life earlier in April, alongside other countries keen to prop up industry damaged by the pandemic. | Morawiecki also reaffirmed the government's plan to hold a presidential election as scheduled on May 10, or with a delay of a couple of weeks at most, despite calls from opposition parties and others for a much longer delay. | Further steps to unfreeze the economy…

RT (2020-04-29). Go battle Covid-19 at home! Chinese Navy 'expels US warship from territorial waters'. rt.com A US warship was "expelled" from disputed South China Sea waters after Beijing's navy scrambled fighter jets and naval assets to escort it away, accusing Washington of "provocative" actions at sea. | The USS 'Barry,' a guided missile destroyer, "trespassed" into Beijing's territorial waters near the disputed Xisha Islands — also known as the Paracel Islands — on Tuesday, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy said in a statement. The incident marks the first time the navy "actively announced" an illegal trespass in the area, according to the Global Times. | A US warship trespassing into Chinese terr…

George Wuerthner (2020-04-29). Are "Temporary Roads" Ecologically Invisible? counterpunch.org I recently had a representative of one of the "conservation groups" in the Greater Yellowstone area tell me that they supported logging/thinning on the Custer Gallatin National Forest because the agency was mostly accessing the timber by way of "temporary" roads. What this fellow conservationist appears to ignore or is unaware of is that

Eds. (2020-04-29). How to explain climate change? With comic books. mronline.org If you are reading this, you probably already know a lot about climate change. But what images come to mind if I asked you to visualize climate change?>

John Kelly (2020-04-29). Washington Post: 'The Key to Escaping Lockdown? Sleep in Your Guest Room and Pretend It's a Trip'. anti-empire.com Surely our headline was satire? | We wish, it's actually Nice view. I'm sure that's standard for locked-down Americans.

pip.hinman (2020-04-29). Greta: 'We need to tackle two crises at once'. greenleft.org.au

Paul Street (2020-04-29). Coronavirus Capitalism and "Exceptional" America. counterpunch.org United States capitalism system was already on the verge of a major recession before COVID-19 hit. All the classic signs were there: absurdly inflated P/E ratios s (an absurdly inflated stock market), massively deb-leveraged corporations, giant consumer and student debt, savage economic inequality (so extreme that the top tenth of the U.S. upper 1 percent had more wealth than the nation's bottom percent), tens of millions living just one inadequate paycheck away from being unable to meet basic living expenses , and more. If the virus hadn't broken that camel's back, something else would have done the job, albeit…

James L Cowan (2020-04-29). Bernie Sanders and the Future of the Movement. indybay.org Online…

Labor Video Project (2020-04-29). Controversies About Covid-19, Biotech Safety & US China Rivalry with Sam Husseini. indybay.org ournalist Sam Husseini with The Institute of Public Accuracy discusses the growing controversies about where Covid-19 came from, what it is and the issue of bio-tech safety and biological warfare.

Ramzy Baroud, Romana Rubeo (2020-04-29). Will the Coronavirus Change the World? On Gramsci's 'Interregnum' and Zizek's Ethnocentric Philosophy. counterpunch.org The prophecies are here and it is a foregone conclusion:…

newsnetwork.mayoclinic (2020-04-29). Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Abuse at home – safety planning during COVID-19. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org People around the world have been under stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of coronavirus. While this situation isn't ideal, it can be dangerous for some. For people in abusive situations, home may not be a safe environment. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Amanda Kubista Owen, a Mayo Clinic social worker, discusses services available …

WSWS (2020-04-29). COVID-19's devastating impact on artists. wsws.org Ninety-five percent of arts workers in the US have lost income due to the coronavirus pandemic, with 62 percent now unemployed, according to a recently published survey by Americans for the Arts.

newsnetwork.mayoclinic (2020-04-29). Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Skin care for your hands, face during COVID-19. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org Your best defense against the spread of coronavirus is hand-washing, but frequent hand-washing can deplete the skin of its natural moisture and oils, causing dry and cracked skin. Recommendations to wear face masks also are taking a toll on the skin. Face masks may rub across the nose and behind the ears, which can irritate …

WSWS (2020-04-29). Trump orders meatpacking plants to remain open, as coronavirus sickens thousands of workers. wsws.org Trump's executive order is aimed squarely at shielding the profits of Tyson Foods and other corporate firms, not at defending the food supply chain or the safety of workers.

Michael T. Klare (2020-04-29). Covid-19 Is Forcing Us to Rethink How We Consume Energy. thenation.com Covid-19 Is Forcing Us to Rethink How We Consume Energy…

Daniel A. Medina (2020-04-29). Essential Workers Plan Unprecedented Strike. zcomm.org Workers from Amazon, Instacart, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, and FedEx are slated to walk out on work, citing what they say is their employers' record profits at the expense of workers' health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic…