Editor (2020-04-21). The viral debt trap. workers.org The International Monetary Fund is giving itself a pat on the back for approving "immediate debt service relief" to 25 of the poorest countries in the world because of the coronavirus pandemic. It made the announcement on April 13. But don't cheer for the imperialist bankers. What these impoverished countries . . . |

Workers World staff (2020-04-21). A prescription for health care justice. workers.org After much discussion, the health care workers caucus — comprised of Workers World Party members working in various areas of medicine and patient care — has developed a 10-point program, or prescription, to address some of the ailments in the U.S. health care system. We intend to elaborate on each . . . |

Betsey Piette (2020-04-21). Mumia Abu-Jamal supporters respond quickly to prison hoax. workers.org When a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections spokesperson callously claimed that Mumia Abu-Jamal was being hospitalized with COVID-19 at 5 p.m. on April 15, the news was shared worldwide in minutes. Supporters, who have been misled by DOC statements in the past, immediately flooded the institution with calls demanding confirmation from . . . |

John Catalinotto (2020-04-21). Unemployment explosion reveals class conflict. workers.org April 19 — The explosion of unemployment applications during the COVID-19 crisis underscored the vicious class contradictions in the United States and showed that the billionaire ruling class has the upper hand in the government apparatus and in directing the economy. Not even in the 1930s Great Depression did such . . . |

Editor (2020-04-21). Fighting for health, for us and the planet. workers.org Workers World celebrates the historic 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Launched by a mass outpouring of demonstrators in 1970, this day continues to mobilize scientific and coordinated efforts to defend the health of our planet and of us who live here. Earth Day is still urgently needed as a call . . . |

Ben Norton (2020-04-20). Human Rights Watch cabildea por sanciones letales contra Nicaragua y Venezuela, mientras arrecia la crisis de Covid-19. thegrayzone.com Human Rights Watch está orgullosamente asumiendo el crédito por sanciones devastadoras contra Nicaragua, mientras busca escalar la guerra económica en…

Max Blumenthal (2020-04-20). How a Trump media dump mainstreamed Chinese lab coronavirus conspiracy theory. thegrayzone.com A conspiracy theory about Covid-19 escaping from the Wuhan Institute of Virology is the Trump administration's Iraqi WMD. And the…

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-04-20). Fake Coronavirus Data, Fear Campaign. Spread of the COVID-19 Infection. globalresearch.ca Do not let yourself be misled by the fear campaign, pointing to a Worldwide coronavirus calamity with repeated "predictions" that hundreds of thousands of people are going to die. | According to the WHO, the death rate pertaining to Seasonal Influenza globally is between 6 to 12 times higher than COVID-19.

Prof. Vijay Prashad (2020-04-20). Colombia, the Oligarchs and Washington. globalresearch.ca Last year, on November 21, the Colombian people took to the streets in massive numbers to reject the policies of the government led by President Iván Duque. In particular, the people

Alan Macleod (2020-04-20). Man Who Filmed Police Murder of Eric Garner Says Prison Guards Threatened to Give Him COVID-19. mintpressnews.com WeCopwatch, an activist organization dedicated to the nonviolent observation of police, says that corrections officers threatened to deliberately infect Ramsey Orta for weeks before he tested positive.

Brian Terrell (2020-04-20). COVID-19 and the Wasting Disease of Normalcy. counterpunch.org "But what of the price of peace?" asked Jesuit priest and war resister Daniel Berrigan, writing from federal prison in 1969, doing time for his part in the destruction of draft records. "I think of the good, decent, peace-loving people I have known by the thousands, and I wonder. How many of them are so

Global Research News (2020-04-20). Selected Articles: A Universal Basic Income Is Essential and Will Work. globalresearch.ca A future without independent media leaves us with an upside down reality where according to the corporate media "NATO deserves a Nobel Peace Prize", and where "nuclear weapons and wars make us safer" | | | If, like us, this is a …

Staff (2020-04-20). Headlines for April 20, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Fatalities Top 40,000; Nursing Homes Hit Hard as Death Tolls Soar | , Trump and Governors at Odds over Coronavirus Testing as Uneven Reopening of States Commences, Right-Wing Groups Organize Anti-Lockdown Protests Around the Country | , New Deal on Relief for Small Businesses Could Be Imminent But May Lack Key Democratic Provisions, Immigrant Prisoners at Otay Mesa Launch Hunger Strike, Denounce Inhumane Treatment | , Michael Cohen to Be Released from Federal Detention as Prisoners Nationwide Face Mounting Coronavirus Risk, Italy Records Lowest Daily Death Toll in a Week; Spain & France Also Show Signs of Pr…

RT (2020-04-20). Protesters clog Buffalo, demanding Cuomo lift the lockdown in New York, worst hit by Covid-19 (PHOTOS, VIDEOS). rt.com A motorcade of protesters has jammed up Niagara Square in Buffalo, New York. The demonstrators want lockdown measures lifted in their corner of the Empire State, but their defiance has angered some citizens. | Sticking to their cars to maintain social distance, a crowd of protesters blocked the streets of central Buffalo on Monday, calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to reopen the economy of New York State. While New York City has seen more than 130,000 cases of coronavirus and 10,000 deaths, Erie County, where Buffalo is located, has seen 2,200 cases and 143 fatalities. | Despite the discrepancy, Cuomo's stay-at…

Michael Snyder (2020-04-20). What Will You Do if They Try to Extend Coronavirus Lockdowns into Next Year? globalresearch.ca We are seeing a massive backlash against the coronavirus lockdowns all over the United States, and it is likely that the protests against these lockdowns will only intensify in the days ahead. But some elected officials are doubling down and …

RT (2020-04-20). Anti-quarantine protesters inspired by Covid-19-denying former opera singer hurl stones, clash with police in Vladikavkaz. rt.com A group of protesters neglected social distancing and surrounded the local government's office in Vladikavkaz in Russia's south. They demanded the coronavirus quarantine to be lifted and scuffled with the police. | Videos from the Svoboda (Freedom) Square in the capital of Russia's Republic of North Ossetia showed the demonstrators trying to break police cordons and tossing stones at officers in full riot gear. | The unsanctioned rally began at noon on Monday with a group of people gathering outside the administration, with only a few wearing face masks and staying very close to each other. They were quite…

Staff (2020-04-20). Trump's Praise for Astroturf Protests Is a Divisive Reelection Strategy. truthout.org President Trump's daily coronavirus briefing rallies aren't even attempting to be relevant to the ongoing pandemic anymore. To the extent it even comes up, it's entirely Trump bragging about anything that's gone right and blaming others for everything that's gone wrong. If you want to know the latest information about the emergency, you'll need to look elsewhere. These are Trump campaign rallies done for the strict purpose of energizing his base. | If you're reading this, you have probably read and…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-04-20). Israelis condemn Netanyahu's anti-democratic COVID-19 measures. peoplesdispatch.org Scores of Israeli citizens gathered at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on April 19, Sunday, to participate in a 'Black Flag' protest against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's measures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Protesters claim these measures are anti-democratic and violate privacy. Protesters also opposed Netanyahu's continuing as prime minister. Negotiations between Netanyahu's Likud party and the main opposition — Benny Gantz's Blue and White Alliance — reached a stalemate after no final decision could be reached regarding a potential power-sharing deal between the two. | Protesters on Sunday w…

Liberation Staff (2020-04-20). Massachusetts #FreeHer car protest demands the release of incarcerated women during COVID-19. liberationnews.org COVID-19 is spreading in Massachusetts prisons and jails. As reported by WBUR, five incarcerated people have already died of the virus in Massachusetts, and over 150 cases of the virus have been confirmed among prisoners and prison staff.

William Stroock (2020-04-20). And so, It's Biden. globalresearch.ca Last week the socialist pest from Vermont, Senator Bernie Sanders, formally endorsed former vice president Biden in an awkward livestream in which the two septuagenarians told one another how wonderful they are and how awful Trump is. As of …

Staff (2020-04-20). Yemen's Civil War and Coronavirus: A Perfect Storm. therealnews.com As the first cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed in war-torn Yemen, the sides agreed to a ceasefire which didn't last one day. Information from the war-torn land is hard to come by, and yet arms dealers continue to fuel the war for profit.

Staff (2020-04-20). Essential or Expendable? Gig Workers at Instacart & Grocery Stores Demand Safety Gear & Hazard Pay. democracynow.org Grocery stores are one of the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, with store workers and gig economy shoppers often working without protection, as demand for groceries soars and millions of Americans stay home. "At first, when the adrenaline was still there, we were essential. We were prideful. And now, as we get more into it, that's wearing off, and it's seeming more like expendable," says Matthew Telles, a member of the Gig Workers Collective, who is a personal shopper who helped organize a strike by Instacart workers in March to demand the company implement appropriate safety measures and give them hazard…

Staff (2020-04-20). Finding Hope During The COVID-19 Pandemic. therealnews.com Dr. Gerald Horne says workers organizing and fighting for basic rights offer hope during the coronavirus pandemic, increasingly catastrophic government response, dire economic outlook, and two unappealing options at the ballot box in November.

Alan Macleod (2020-04-20). Experts Warn: Years of US Intervention Have Set the Stage for a Deadly Coronavirus Outbreak in Haiti. mintpressnews.com Since 2004, successive administrations have partnered with Washington to loot Haiti, stripping away its assets to the point of collapse and leaving it woefully unprepared to face the coming pandemic.

RT (2020-04-20). Will US troops stop guarding Syrian oil fields? Negative oil prices provide that extra bit of coronavirus surrealism. rt.com US benchmark oil futures plummeted to negative numbers on Monday, as if the coronavirus epidemic hadn't already pushed the world into the Twilight Zone. Social media took time to appreciate the icing on a very surreal cake. | Futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) — the US oil benchmark fuel — plunged over 100 percent on Monday to a record-breaking -$37.63, the first time going negative in history and a bizarre event by any measure. Even if it hadn't happened in the midst of a pandemic that has laid waste to the US and many other countries' economies, it would be a shock. | Also on rt.co…

The Canary (2020-04-20). Hospital workers angry at PPE delays as death toll tops 16,500. thecanary.co Anger over lack of supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS workers is growing as a desperately needed consignment of 400,000 gowns was delayed.The government has been under increasing pressure to ensure the safety of frontline health staff and one leading NHS figure revealed his "bitter experience" of the lack of basic items such as gowns in recent weeks.The number of hospital deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) passed 16,500. The figure does not include those who died in care homes. | The government scheme for workers who have been furloughed — given a temporary l…

RT (2020-04-20). US/UK media promotes evergreen Russian boozing stereotypes, but latest data shows alcohol sales down during Covid-19 pandemic. rt.com Western media is a funny beast. While demanding balanced and sensible coverage of their own state's internal affairs, stories about Russia seem to be treated as the follies of bonkers, backward people in a far-flung freakshow. | If all you knew about this country came from the likes of the Washington Post and the Guardian, you'd be forgiven for thinking Russian streets were teeming with balalaika-playing bears, AK-47-wielding communists, and KGB officers Cossack-dancing in the snow. By now, you'd have thought such caricatures would have gotten old, yet despite the current trend towards wokeness, lazy and hackn…

The Canary (2020-04-20). Reports suggest many have had coronavirus with no symptoms. thecanary.co New research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms, fuelling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared.Based on known cases, health officials have said the virus usually causes mild or moderate flu-like illness.Now evidence is growing that a substantial number of people may have no symptoms at all.Scientists in Iceland screened 6% of its population to see how many had previously undetected infections and found that about 0.7% tested positive.So did 13% of a group at higher risk because of recent travel or exposure to someone sick.Aboard the airc…

Staff (2020-04-20). Bank Stops Seizing Stimulus Checks After Exposé. therealnews.com The American Prospect's David Dayen says the feds allowed banks to seize customer's coronavirus stimulus checks to payoff outstanding debt.

RT (2020-04-20). 'Hungary to have plan by May 3': Orban speaks on gradual return to normal life. rt.com Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday he expected to present a plan early next month for a gradual return to normal life from the coronavirus lockdown. | The prime minister said in an interview with Catholic station Radio Maria that by May 3 Hungary would be prepared to handle any rise in infections. From that point onwards, the country could afford to seek ways to get back to normal life, step by step, MTI quoted him as saying. | Hungary has 1,984 confirmed infections and 199 deaths, according to Reuters. The country, which has a population of just under 10 million, has done 48,057 tests so far…

RT (2020-04-20). UK nurses' anti-coronavirus haka denounced by Maori as 'racist' and 'cultural appropriation'. rt.com A viral video of a group of British nurses dancing and chanting against Covid-19 was deleted from Twitter after complaints that it amounted to mockery of a sacred tradition of the Maori natives of New Zealand. | Over 600,000 people viewed the video, posted on Saturday by nurses working at Tavistock Hospital in Devon, England. It shows them attempting to do a 'Ka Mate' haka while wearing headbands and face paint. | "This is the message we wish to affirm, you'll never beat us — we hate you, you germ," one of the nurses can be seen chanting. "Together we'll triumph with the strength from within. Mankind w…

RT (2020-04-20). Blood tests by video and suspect social media chats: Are drug cheats & match-fixers winning as sport remains stuck in shutdown? rt.com As some players and fixers desperately try to restore their incomes and athletes risk the temptation of performance enhancers and other drugs while sport stands still, anti-doping and governing bodies are feeling the pressure. | With little sport to bet on and few serious contests taking place, the issue of organized cheating has perhaps never been further from public consciousness than now. | While betting companies have been forced to focus on obscure competitions and eSports, the only athletic records that are there for the taking in the foreseeable future are those for the longest periods spent indoors by…

The Canary (2020-04-20). Privacy must be at the heart of Covid-19 contact tracing apps, governments told. thecanary.co Contact tracing apps must be made with privacy at their heart and only keep data as long as necessary, governments have been told.Countries including the UK are looking to contact tracing technologies in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and a possible way to help end lockdown.As already seen in places like Singapore, this would use Bluetooth to keep an anonymous log of every person an individual has been in close contact with and alert them if one should test positive for Covid-19.While the technology has been welcomed as one potential solution to ease in a return to normality, it has also been met with…

Brian Perez-Canto (2020-04-20). The coronavirus crisis in Southwest Georgia exposes a broken system. liberationnews.org The mainstream media has decided to blame the outbreak in Albany on individual actions.

Arlene Mejorado (2020-04-20). Putting Food on the Table During a Pandemic. thenation.com Photos from the grassroots food distribution networks that are keeping Los Angeles's undocumented communities afloat.

RT (2020-04-20). Negative-value oil futures prices provide that extra bit of coronavirus surrealism no one knew they needed. rt.com US benchmark oil futures plummeted to negative numbers on Monday, as if the coronavirus epidemic hadn't already pushed the world into the Twilight Zone. Social media took time to appreciate the icing on a very surreal cake. | Futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) — the US oil benchmark fuel — plunged over 100 percent on Monday to a record-breaking -$37.63, the first time going negative in history and a bizarre event by any measure. Even if it hadn't happened in the midst of a pandemic that has laid waste to the US and many other countries' economies, it would be a shock. | Also on rt.co…

RT (2020-04-20). Historic oil plunge: Massive bailouts in US inevitable but recovery still a distant dream, industry figures tell RT. rt.com As US oil prices suffered a historic collapse, industry insiders told RT that the unprecedented fall in demand will lead to bankruptcies and bailouts, with the coronavirus pandemic crippling the market's chance of recovery. | West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil prices dropped into negative territory on Monday, with vanishing demand and a glut in supply slashing prices to -$37.63 a barrel, the first time crude oil futures dropped below zero since the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) began trading them in 1983. | "If the WTI is at zero, it means that there's no place to pour into left in America anymore," econ…

RT (2020-04-20). Serbia to let some businesses, markets reopen in partial easing of lockdown. rt.com The Serbian government said on Monday it would allow some businesses and markets to reopen, in a cautious easing of its nationwide lockdown following signs of a fall in the rate of coronavirus infections. | Businesses allowed to reopen from Tuesday include food markets, small retail stores, car mechanics, tailors, cobblers and dry cleaners. The government also shortened a night curfew by one hour and said a 24-hour lockdown for people aged 65 and above would be eased, allowing them to leave their homes for 30 minutes on three evenings a week. | Authorities called on employers in the construction industry to re…

RT (2020-04-20). Scientists reveal 'dramatically different' discovery about first interstellar comet 'Oumuamua. rt.com A strangely-shaped rocky object that journeyed into our solar system last year is emitting an unexpected amount of carbon monoxide, according to a team of experts — up to 26 times higher than that of the average comet. | Scientists turned the hugely powerful Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) onto the first known interstellar visitor dubbed 'Oumuamua (the Hawaiian word for messenger) in mid-December 2019, shortly after it was first spotted, in order to closely study its composition and properties. | "This is the first time we've ever looked inside a comet from outside our solar system,"

Staff (2020-04-20). Handcuffed: Black Miami Doctor Who Works with Homeless Says He Was Racially Profiled by Police. democracynow.org We continue our conversation with Dr. Armen Henderson, an African-American doctor in Miami who was handcuffed outside his home while preparing for a volunteer shift to help protect homeless people from the spread of COVID-19. The encounter has sparked widespread outrage, and Miami's police chief has now tested positive for COVID-19 and is in self-isolation. Dr Henderson has taken a test himself and is waiting for results — and accountability.

Staff (2020-04-20). Climate Crisis: KXL Roadblock, BP Spill at 10, and Dems Stand Down on Green Stimulus. therealnews.com Keystone XL has hit a new major roadblock, there's oil industry infighting in Texas over production cuts. Meanwhile, the BP offshore oil spill happened 10 years ago and lessons from it have gone unheeded, while Democrats have chosen not to fight for a green stimulus in COVID-19 recovery talks.

RT (2020-04-20). 'Biden Loves Kids': Trump attacks Biden with meme video of his swimming pool gaffe. rt.com President Donald Trump has shared a meme featuring Joe Biden rambling about children touching him in a swimming pool. Fresh from sparring with Biden over China, Trump may be previewing a new line of attack on his handsy opponent. | Posted by Trump on Monday, the meme is a send-up of an Allstate Insurance ad, and features a visibly embarrassed Barack Obama — his head pasted onto an actor's body — squirming as Biden talks about some perplexing encounters with children at a Delaware swimming pool. |

RT (2020-04-20). Breathtaking VIDEO recreates enormous smash-up between two black holes. rt.com A colossal collision of two black holes 2.4 billion light years away was detected by astronomers last year, but fresh developments show that the reverberations — both figurative and literal — have been felt ever since. | The galactic smash was not between two equally sized black holes, as initially thought, but was instead the violent coming together of one black hole weighing in at 29.7 solar masses and another weighing just 8.4 solar masses — a bit of a mismatch, by anyone's calculations. A new video below shows the discrepancy in weight class between these two gravitational giants. | As…

RT (2020-04-20). 'PR posturing': Richard Branson savaged after offering Caribbean island to secure UK govt bailout as Covid-19 knocks airline. rt.com British billionaire Richard Branson has incited a furious backlash after trying to tempt the UK government to agree to a major bailout of Virgin Atlantic airlines by offering up his Necker Island in the Caribbean as collateral. | The 69-year-old business magnate — who has an

RT (2020-04-20). More Shake Shacks are sitting quiet on small business Covid-19 bailout money, aided & abetted by big banks while mom & pops suffer. rt.com Restaurant chain Shake Shack has dutifully returned bailout money small businesses should have gotten as the US government's bailout fund for mom-and-pops runs dry. But their virtue signaling doesn't fix an institutional problem. | Shake Shack

Janine Jackson (2020-04-20). 'The US Reaction to Pressure to Ease Sanctions Was to Double Down' – CounterSpin interview with Joe Emersberger on sanctions under Covid-19. fair.org "If there were an opposition movement in countries like Canada and the United States and Europe, the demand wouldn't just be, 'You gotta stop this'; the demand would actually be, 'Hey, we've got to prosecute the people involved with this. This is killing people. This is a crime. People should be facing legal consequences for this.'"

Adriaan Alsema (2020-04-20). Duque's most damning scandal to date left 1.8 million Colombians starving: report. colombiareports.com Some 1.8 of 3 million people who were promised emergency aid by President Ivan Duque to make it through a quarantine never received a peso, weekly Semana reported Sunday. Not…

The Canary (2020-04-20). Shooting rampage in Nova Scotia leaves 16 dead. thecanary.co At least 16 people have been killed after a 51-year-old man went on a shooting rampage across the northern part of Nova Scotia over the weekend, Canadian police said.It is the deadliest such attack in Canadian history.The man was identified as Gabriel Wortman and authorities said he disguised himself as a police officer in uniform at one point and mocked up a car to make it seem like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) vehicle.He was arrested by the RCMP in a petrol station in Enfield, north west of capital Halifax. Police later announced that he had died."In excess of 10 people have been killed," RCMP Chief S…

RT (2020-04-20). Trump says US will add 75mn barrels of oil to national reserve amid 'record-low' prices. rt.com US President Donald Trump said that up to 75 million barrels of oil will be added to the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, citing rock-bottom prices that only continue to plunge downward, in some cases into the negatives. | "Based on the record-low price of oil … we're filling up our national petroleum reserves, the strategic reserves," Trump said at a White House press briefing on Monday. "We're looking to put as many as 75 million barrels into the reserves themselves, that would top it out." | West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures prices hit an unprecedented low on Monday, falling from over $18 per ba…

RT (2020-04-20). It's a storage problem, not a market problem that is driving down oil prices to historic lows. rt.com US oil was cheaper then dirt on Monday, with futures trading below zero for the first time in history. But where is this cheap oil to be stored? That's the real problem. | West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery, which expire on April 21, plunged more than 100 percent to -$37.63 a barrel as no traders were willing to take delivery of the oil as there is no storage for it. Brent crude oil prices, which have already rolled over to June-delivery contracts, fell 8.9 percent to settle at $25.57 per barrel. Russia's Urals blend was trading at $24.55 on the same day. | Not all oil prices have crashed. It is…