The eyes of the world media audience are on Cornwall, a south-west England holiday destination, over the next couple of days as the powerful Group of Seven (G7) summit is going on there. The usual allies — the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US — are joined on this occasion by Australia, South Korea, India and South[Read More…]
In the eastern Asia region, Taiwan has become a sensitive topic, especially as Japan, the U.S. and some other U.S. allies move closer to Taipei. Relations with Taiwan is unofficial Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a regular news conference Friday that “Japan’s position is to maintain relations with Taiwan as those of practical and non-governmental” as stated in[Read More…]
Dozens of major websites — including The New York Times, CNN, Reddit, Spotify, Twitch, GitHub, gov.uk, Hulu, HBO Max, PayPal, Vimeo, Shopify — were beginning to return online Tuesday morning after crashing in an apparent massive internet outage. The cause of the outage was not immediately clear. Fastly, a popular content delivery network (CDN), confirmed it was experiencing an outage on its[Read More…]
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced that Saudi Arabia was no longer an oil-producing country. “Saudi Arabia is no longer an oil country, it’s an energy-producing country,” the Energy Minister told S&P Global Platts this week. But that does not mean Saudi Arabia is planning on producing any fewer barrels of oil. And it does not mean[Read More…]
U.S. state Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) issued a declaration on Thursday that urges residents to pray for rain as the state experiences record drought. At least 90% of the state is currently experiencing “extreme” to “exceptional” drought, the two worst categories, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. “I’ve already asked all Utahns to conserve water by avoiding long showers, fixing[Read More…]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO) and World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday made a rare and what they called “extraordinary” plea for international cooperation and investment. “By now it has become abundantly clear there will be no broad-based recovery without an end to the health crisis,” the four bodies said in a joint statement.[Read More…]
Monsoon rains are likely to hit India’s southern coast around June 3, largely in line with typical patterns, the state-run India Meteorological Department said in its latest revised forecast on Sunday. Earlier in the day, the weather office had said the start of the monsoon would be on May 31. The leading edge of the southwest monsoon advanced across central[Read More…]
At the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Colombia, Canada, remains of 215 children were found buried. Some of the children were as young as three years old when they died, the First Nation said. Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation hired a specialist in ground-penetrating radar to carry out the work and believes the deaths of the children are undocumented. Chief Rosanne[Read More…]
In the wake of U.S. and NATO troops withdrawal, foreign missions in Kabul are preparing for evacuation. Media reports said: The U.S. Defense Department and the State Department are drawing up plans for the possible evacuation of Afghans whose lives are in danger because of their work for the U.S. government, the U.S. military’s top officer said. Army Gen. Mark[Read More…]
IMAGE: Lakshadweep Administrator Praful K Patel, right, with Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi. Photograph: Kind courtesy @prafulkpatel/Twitter Praful K Patel , a hardcore RSS man, was appointed as the Administrator of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, where 99 per cent inhabitants are Muslims, in December 2020. He was allegedly given the task of “communalizing the island as soon as possible.”[Read More…]
Taking a critical view of the Centre’s present Covid-19 vaccination policy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on May 22 Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to halt supply of vaccines to private hospitals. In a two-page letter to Modi, Reddy requested that the entire available stock of Covid-19 vaccine to be made available only to the[Read More…]
An estimated $150 billion of stolen money has been smuggled out of Iraq in corrupt deals since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi President Barham Salih said Sunday. CNN and The New Arab reports said: “Of the close to a thousand billion dollars made from oil since 2003, an estimated $150 billion of stolen money has been smuggled[Read More…]
They demanded: Stop Central Vista project, give free doses to all “What numbs our senses daily is not just the cries of the citizenry for medical assistance and the death toll in its thousands but the manifestly casual attitude of your government to the magnitude of the crisis and its implications for the mental and physical health of the community[Read More…]
At least nine persons have become new billionaires since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, thanks to the excessive profits pharmaceutical corporations with monopolies on COVID vaccines are making, said the People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA), a group advocating turning vaccine receipts into a global public good. Between them, the nine new billionaires, have a combined net wealth of $19.3 billion,[Read More…]
Resounding victories for leftist and independent candidates saw rightwing politicians crash to dismal electoral defeats alongside those with links to Chile’s transition to democracy. Communist party members in Santiago celebrated victories in the constitutional assembly elections. The Chilean voters this weekend elected a progressive slate of delegates to the constituent assembly tasked with rewriting the country’s right-wing constitution, which was[Read More…]
The U.S. military is operating a 60,000-troop strong secret army without any Congressional oversight, spending at least $900 million on the program annually, claimed a Newsweek report. The Newsweek report cited the results of a two-year investigation. The magazine’s report, said to be based on dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests, the analysis of 1,600 resumes and job postings,[Read More…]
Israel’s Defense Minister expressed gratitude to the U.S. for blocking a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire for the third time in a row. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the western part of Gaza, according to the Jerusalem Post, while local reports suggested that an office for Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs was targeted, as well as agricultural lands. A recent[Read More…]
![The Al Jalaa Tower housing Al Jazeera and The Associated Press offices collapses after being hit by Israeli missile in Gaza City [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/International-Media-House-Gaza-200x150.jpg)
Israel has bombed the building that houses media offices including AP, Al Jazeera , AJEnglish and other international news organisations. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties in Saturday’s attack. Live Al Jazeera video showed the 11-storey Al-Jalaa building, which also houses a number of residences and other offices, crashing to the ground after being bombed as dust[Read More…]
UN head Antonio Guterres implored the warring parties in Israel and Gaza to halt the bloodshed, amid reports that Israeli officials rejected a ceasefire plan floated by Egypt. “Out of respect for the spirit of Eid, I appeal for an immediate de-escalation and cessation of hostilities in Gaza and Israel,” the UN secretary-general said in a tweet on Thursday night.[Read More…]
The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has topped 3.34 million and over 160.8 million cases of the infection have been detected, according to Baltimore, Maryland’s Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The U.S., India and Brazil are the top three countries in terms of the number of registered coronavirus infections, while the largest number of COVID-19-related deaths has been observed[Read More…]
With more anti-Asian hate crimes than 10 of the most populous U.S. cities combined in 2020, Vancouver has reportedly become the “Anti-Asian Hate Crime Capital of North America.” A report in Bloomberg looked into police figures collected by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) at Cal State San Bernardino. The Bloomberg report looks deeply, with historical[Read More…]
Gas (fuel) outages are spreading across the U.S. Southeast as motorists rush to fill up their cars days after the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline temporarily shut down following a cyberattack. Gas stations in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee were seeing some panic buying, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. Virginia and Florida declared a state of[Read More…]
An example of a DarkSide ransomware notice that appears on victims’ computer screens The U.S. government has issued emergency legislation on Sunday after the Colonial Pipeline, the country’s largest fuel pipeline, was hit by a ransomware cyber-attack. The Colonial Pipeline carries 2.5 million barrels a day, 45% of the U.S. East Coast’s supply of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. It[Read More…]
Over Fish, France and UK are having a quarrel. But it is not fish that has started the quarrel. Media reports said: France’s junior minister for European affairs Clement Beane threatened the UK on financial services if Britain failed to grant licenses to French fishermen. Clement Beane said France would retaliate in sectors like banking in the European Union to[Read More…]
A new research led by scientists at UC Irvine and Boston University, published in Nature Climate Change (Jonathan A. Wang, Alessandro Baccini, Mary Farina, James T. Randerson, Mark A. Friedl, Disturbance suppresses the aboveground carbon sink in North American boreal forests, Nature Climate Change, 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01027-4 ) suggests that all the new green biomass is not as large a[Read More…]
The recent pledges made by governments to limit carbon emissions will not be sufficient to meet the goal of keeping global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius, claims a new report. Instead, those nonbinding commitments will result in a rise in the average global temperature to a potentially catastrophic 2.4 degrees Celsius. The Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an independent[Read More…]
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) revealed new standards on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 for what an average or “normal” U.S. climate looks like, showing average temperatures in the U.S. rising significantly. Shifting the baseline for normal temperatures highlights just how quickly climate crisis is affecting conditions on Earth. Updating these standards is important for helping shape government[Read More…]
Partner with private firms to surveil domestic terrorists A May 3, 2021, Washington datelined CNN report said: The Biden administration is considering using outside firms to track extremist chatter by Americans online, an effort that would expand the government’s ability to gather intelligence but could draw criticism over surveillance of U.S. citizens. The Department of Homeland Security is limited in[Read More…]
U.S. general: Afghan forces could face ‘bad possible outcomes’ A May 2, 2021, Washington datelined AP report said: Afghan government forces face an uncertain future and, in a worst-case scenario, some “bad possible outcomes” against Taliban insurgents as the withdrawal of American and coalition troops accelerates in the coming weeks, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday. Gen. Mark Milley[Read More…]
In the most anticipated election results in recent times, Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC) retained West Bengal, Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) led left front retained Kerala, Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (DMK) won Tamil Nadu while BJP won Assam and the union territory of Puduchery. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is leading in 215 of Bengal’s 294 seats and[Read More…]
Military spending around the world has increased to unprecedented level since 1988 despite economic suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the U.S. was ahead of all the countries again, finds Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2020, the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In 2020, nations were struggling to support their economies through the times[Read More…]
An alliance of international health agencies has warned that up to 228 million people, mostly children, are at risk from serious disease after the Covid pandemic derailed around 60 mass immunization campaigns in 50 countries. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Gavi vaccines alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO) released a joint statement on Monday warning that “with[Read More…]
File Photo: China and the US have rediscovered a common interest in battling climate change. Photograph: Paul J Richards/AFP/Getty Images China’s Xi Jinping to attend Joe Biden’s climate summit is a major, welcome news that comes amid continued anti- China stance of the Biden administration. Virtual summit on April 22 Thursday will be the first meeting between the two leaders[Read More…]
Reports by media including AP and CNN said: In Portland, Oregon, about 70 demonstrators assembled outside Portland Police Bureau’s East Precinct Saturday night. When the group pushed two dumpsters into the street at around 10:30 p.m., police declared an unlawful assembly and officers moved in. There were no arrests and no reported injuries. The police called the demonstrators a “hostile[Read More…]
Reactions to the U.S. decision to withdraw troop from Afghanistan are mixed. A few are of disappointment. Media reports said: ‘Not what we’d hoped for’: UK military chief disappointed Britain’s military chief has expressed disappointment at president Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defense Staff, said it was “not[Read More…]
The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has topped 3 million people amid repeated setbacks in the worldwide vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in countries like Brazil, India and France. World Health Organization (WHO) says pandemic is at a critical point. The number of deaths, compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the population of metropolitan Lisbon, Portugal[Read More…]
Raul Castro, leader of the Communist Party of Cuba, has announced that he is stepping down and handing leadership to a younger generation “full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit.” Fidel Castro and Raul Castro have led the Communist Party of Cuba party since 1961. Ready to defend revolution “As I live I will be ready with my foot in the[Read More…]
A new poll has found a majority of Americans is blaming mass shootings in the U.S. on easy access to guns and racism, but a significant portion also put networks like Fox News and CNN at fault. Asked “how much do you blame each of the following for mass shootings?” in the wide-ranging Politico/Morning Consult poll, 69% and 67% pointed[Read More…]
Communities across the U.S. marched and mourned for the third consecutive night Tuesday in memory of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by a police officer after a traffic stop over the weekend. Meanwhile, the cities of Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis and St. Paul imposed 10 p.m. curfews. Wright’s death on Sunday has shaken a nation already[Read More…]
Contaminated wastewater at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant will be released into the ocean “in around two years,” the Japanese government has announced, despite calls from China and South Korea urging against the move. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced the move in Tokyo, on Tuesday. He had previously called the release “unavoidable” given the amount of accumulated water over[Read More…]
Flash-bangs and teargas were used to disperse the crowd gathered outside the Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police department, in violation of the curfew declared to stop the riots over the death of Daunte Wright. An hour and 45 minutes after the 7 pm curfew went into effect, police issued a final “unlawful assembly” warning and deployed crowd control weapons. Some of[Read More…]
Extreme drought may be going to hit across the Western U.S. Some scientists saying the region is on the precipice of permanent drought. In 2000, the Western U.S. entered the beginning of what scientists call a megadrought — the second worst in 1,200 years — triggered by a combination of a natural dry cycle and human-caused climate change. The U.S.[Read More…]
Coronavirus infections in the South Asia has surpassed the grim milestone of 15 million on Saturday, a Reuters tally shows. The surge is led by India’s record daily infections and vaccine shortages. South Asia — India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka — accounts for 11% of global cases and almost 6% of deaths. The region accounts for[Read More…]
Once again we see US and Europe on the basis of false information and misleading campaigns have a destructive influence and lacks understanding of the peace process in The Horn of Africa. For 80 years, the UN and the international community disregarded Eritrea’s rights. The peace agreement in 2018 between Ethiopia and Eritrea was a welcome development in a region,[Read More…]
Police in Belfast faced further disruption in Belfast on Thursday (April 8) night as crowds gathered again for the seventh night. Police blasted rioters with water cannon. Police officers were called in from other parts of Northern Ireland to help to deal with the rioting. More than 50 officers have been hurt in violence in several areas since the end[Read More…]
Pakistan rights campaigners have accused the country’s Prime Minister Imran Khan of “baffling ignorance” after the former cricketer linked how women dress to cause a rise in rape cases. In a weekend interview on live television, Oxford-educated Imran Khan said an increase in rapes indicated the “consequences in any society where vulgarity is on the rise.” “The incidents of rape[Read More…]
Police used rubber bullets against rioters as the rioters hurled bottles and Molotov cocktails in the northeastern Swiss city of St. Gallen on Saturday. More than 30 people were temporarily banned from entering the city. The riot broke out after around 1,000 young people gathered at the Roter Platz square in the city center. The agitated crowd attacked police and[Read More…]
Police have arrested 26 people following clashes in London as thousands of demonstrators attended numerous marches against a controversial UK government crackdown on protests. Demonstrators on Saturday marched and gave speeches while holding signs with slogans such as ‘Kill the Bill,’ referring to the controversial proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. The proposed legislation would give police more authority[Read More…]
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top adviser to the U.S. President on the coronavirus pandemic, said he did not believe that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory for studying pathogens. Dr. Fauci’s opinion appears to contradict controversial remarks made earlier on March 27, 2021 by the former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Robert[Read More…]
A new study projecting the amount of heat stress residents of the South Asia region will experience in the future finds with 2 degrees Celsius of warming, the population’s exposure to heat stress will nearly triple. Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will likely reduce that impact by half, but deadly heat stress will become commonplace across South Asia, according[Read More…]
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has pulled Turkey out of an international accord designed to protect women, according to an official notice. The Council of Europe accord, better known as the Istanbul Convention, pledged to prevent, prosecute and eliminate domestic violence and promote equality. Turkey signed it in 2011, but femicide has surged there regardless in recent years. No reason was[Read More…]
The U.S. and its allies – Canada, Britain and the European Union – on Monday announced sanctions on several Chinese officials alleged to have links to what U.S. officials say is a “genocidal” campaign against Uyghur Muslims. The U.S.-led multi-national, coordinated sanctions drew condemnation and some immediate retaliatory sanctions from China. The moves offered a glimpse into the growing divide[Read More…]
Australia’s east coast is being hit by record rainfall, with flood warnings issued and a natural disaster declared for parts of New South Wales (NSW), Australia’s most populous state with 8 million people. The flooding comes in stark contrast with the devastating bushfires that struck Australia in late 2019 and early 2020, when nearly 7% of NSW land was scorched.[Read More…]
“A nation at peace and a region in harmony are thus essential prerequisites for attainment of national security in the true spirit. No national leaders of today can ignore these factors,” said Army chief Gen Bajwa, marking a significant iteration of Pakistan’s latest security policy. “…, it is an almost universally acknowledged fact that the contemporary concept of national security[Read More…]
Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Thursday for arch rivals India and Pakistan to “bury the past” and move towards cooperation. He expressed that the U.S. had a role to play in ending regional conflict. The Pak general’s statement is an overture towards New Delhi that follows an unexpected joint ceasefire announcement last month between the two[Read More…]
Citing a new report from the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, media reports from the U.S. said there has been alarming increase of white supremacist propaganda in the U.S. Incidents of white supremacist propaganda hit an all-time high in 2020, according to the report. Anti-Semitic, racist and anti-LGBTQ+ posters, flyers and graffiti were recorded 5,125 times in 2020, according to[Read More…]
The UK prime minister Boris Johnson has said UK plans to increase its nuclear arsenal by 40%, but China should be brought into international efforts to reduce the world stockpile of nuclear weapons. Speaking on Tuesday, as the British government published its Integrated Review of Security, Defense, Development and Foreign Policy, the UK prime minister highlighted China as posing a[Read More…]
The slander campaign in India was meant to vitiate the atmosphere and undermine efforts for peace and friendship, and to aid the imperialists’ trade war against china, with India as a junior partner. The National Health Commission of China on March 15 released the full transcript of a joint China-WHO press conference on the WHO-convened Global Study of Origins of[Read More…]
Andrea Sahouri, the Iowa journalist who was arrested as she reported on racial justice protests last summer, was found not guilty in a case that drew widespread condemnation from journalism and free press organizations. Sahouri, a Des Moines Register reporter, was one of just a handful of journalists whose charges stemming from coverage of the protests in the wake[Read More…]
E A S Sarma, former secretary to the government of India, drew the attention of the finance minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman regarding the plight of 40 lakh workers who are getting a meagre sum as EPF pension. In a letter dated 22-9-2020 he clarified to the union finance minister, One of the sections of the people who seem to be[Read More…]
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey has refocused attention on the couple’s bid for financial independence, and exactly how much is needed to maintain and protect certain members of the royal court. Among other surprising disclosures, Prince Harry revealed that shortly after announcing their departure, the couple was cut off financially and lost their security detail.[Read More…]
The ongoing pandemic has deeply affected countries. The U.S. is no exception. Rather, impact of the pandemic on the U.S. is deeper than many countries. Three polls show a few aspects of the impact. Fewer than 10,000 A report said: One year ago, on the eve of the eventful day that signaled the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — March[Read More…]
A media report from the U.S. said: The trial of journalist Andrea Sahouri began Monday with a police officer stating that he had no choice but to arrest her during last year’s racial justice protests in Des Moines, Iowa, because she did not leave the area after he deployed pepper spray. Sahouri, a Des Moines Register public safety reporter, is[Read More…]
Following UK’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night, #AbolishTheMonarchy trended on Twitter. A headline in The Telegraph said on March 9, 2021: “Prince Harry has lit a slow burn stick of dynamite that will cause the greatest devastation of all.” The interview contained revelations that left viewers stunned. One of the biggest moments[Read More…]
Americans’ trust in the Black Lives Matter movement has fallen and their faith in local law enforcement has risen since protests demanding social justice swept the nation last year, finds an exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll. On many issues, the survey finds a chasm in the perspective between Black people and white people. A report by USA Today said: Last June,[Read More…]
The UN official who investigated the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi sharply criticized U.S. President Biden’s response to the killing, saying his administration’s failure to sanction Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent a “dangerous” message to world leaders that they could kill dissidents and journalists with impunity. “I found it to be shocking,” Agnes Callamard, the UN special[Read More…]
Hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans rose 150% in U.S.’s largest cities last year, even as overall hate crimes decreased, according to alarming new data released Tuesday. There were 122 hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans in 16 of the U.S.’s most populous cities in 2020, according to a study of police records by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at[Read More…]
China has said that the door to Xinjiang “is always open” for UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, after she claimed Muslim Uighurs are suffering arbitrary detention and ill-treatment in the area. The statement was made on Tuesday by the Chinese delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in response to comments by Bachelet claiming an independent investigation needs[Read More…]
Big companies are finding profit in carbon offsets market. “The value of the global market for carbon emissions offsets,” writes Frank Watson (Global carbon offsets market could be worth $200 billion by 2050: Berenberg, 13 May 2020 https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/051320-global-carbon-offsets-market-could-be-worth-200-bil-by-2050-berenberg) “could increase to $200 billion by 2050, German bank Berenberg said in a note”. Frank Watson writes: “Although now relatively small, the[Read More…]
‘Final Solution’ – an award winning, must watch documentary film by Rakesh Sharma made in 2004 is streaming on Vimeo for free until March 31. The film is about 2002 Gujarat carnage and the rise of the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The film maker keeps this film open for public view at Vimeo at free of charge till March[Read More…]
The U.S. wasted billions of dollars in war-torn Afghanistan on buildings and vehicles that were either abandoned or destroyed, said a report released Monday by a U.S. government watchdog. The agency said it reviewed $7.8 billion spent since 2008 on buildings and vehicles. Only $343.2 million worth of buildings and vehicles “were maintained in good condition,” said the Special Inspector[Read More…]
The U.S. forces deadly airstrikes in Syria sparked complaints from some of U.S. President Joe Biden’s Democratic allies that he overreached, while key Republicans applauded the move. The reactions came after the Feb. 25 airstrikes targeted facilities belonging to an Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group, reportedly killing one fighter. The strike could be a test of whether Congress, which fought to[Read More…]
The U.S. launched airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups. The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a Feb. 15 rocket attack in northern Iraq that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops. The airstrike was the first military action undertaken by the[Read More…]
Over half a million people have died of coronavirus in the U.S. Grasping the enormity — half a million people gone — is difficult to visualize. More people have died in the U.S. due to COVID-19 than any other country in the world. With 4% of the world’s population, the U.S. has 20% of all COVID deaths and one of[Read More…]
Media reports said: Erik Prince, the private security executive and supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump, “at the very least” helped evade an arms embargo on Libya, according to excerpts from a UN report. Independent UN sanctions monitors accused Prince of proposing a private military operation – known as ‘Project Opus’ – to Libya’s eastern-based commander General Khalifa Haftar[Read More…]
The U.S. President Joe Biden has declared that America is back. He was addressing a session of the Munich Security Conference from the White House Friday. Biden said: And I’m a man of my word — America is back. I speak to you today as president of the United States at the very start of my administration, and I’m sending[Read More…]
Media reports from U.S. said: The slow-moving winter disaster pummeling Texas that began with snow, ice and widespread blackouts is now moving into a new phase: A dire lack of food and fresh water. Millions do not have safe water at home, and residents looking for groceries or bottled water said they arrived to stores with bare shelves and long[Read More…]
Texas’s freeze entered a sixth day on Thursday. At least 31 people have died as of Wednesday afternoon as a result of the severe weather in Texas. But some media reports said, days of glacial weather have left at least 38 people dead in the U.S. The snow made many roads impassable, disrupted coronavirus vaccine distribution and blanketed nearly three-quarters[Read More…]
Amazon is in conflict with Indian retailers. A leading group of Indian retailers on Wednesday urged the government to ban the local operations of Amazon.com Inc, after Reuters reported the U.S. e-commerce giant has for years given preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its India platform and used them to circumvent the country’s strict foreign investment regulations.[Read More…]
Judiciary ramshackled, going to court is useless: Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi That was the title of a report in newindianexpress.com, published 14th February 2021. “Who goes to the court? You go to the court and regret,” Ranjan Gogoi said, adding that it is those who can afford to take chances, such as the big corporates, who approach the courts. Expressing concern over[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic’s economic collapse in the UK is severe, worst in three centuries. The economy contracted by 9.9 percent in 2020, initial estimates from the Office for National Statistics showed on February 12, 2021. A study of historical data by the Bank of England shows that recession to be the worst since 1709, the year known as the Great[Read More…]
FCI storage yards with wheat bought at MSP, scene across Punjab and Haryana. Water is sprinkled on wheat bags to let the grain rot, and is thrown out as waste. Sold to distilleries by “ 5-star farmers and their agents” now agitating on Delhi border. Rs 6000 to 7000 cr per year involved. Going on for 45 years. So the[Read More…]
Activist Rona Wilson’s computer was compromised for over 22 months before the Pune Police raided his home in New Delhi and arrested him as co-accused in Bhima Koregaon violence, claimed the Massachusetts-based digital forensics firm Arsenal Digital. The firm in its report said that the 10 letters used first by Pune Police and later the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as[Read More…]
NewsClick, a progressive website based out of Delhi has been raided by the Enforcement Directorate. The raid comes at a time when NewsClick has been bravely covering the farmers’ agitation and other issues of the marginalised when most of the mainstream media are keeping silent or toeing the line of the government. The raid on NewsClick is a continuation of[Read More…]
A Bloomberg report said: “Most of the world is yet to experience the benefits of a 5G network, but the geopolitical race for the next big thing in telecommunications technology is already heating up. “For companies and governments, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The first to develop and patent 6G will be the biggest winners in what some call the[Read More…]
Media reports said: Two U.S. carrier strike groups have conducted joint exercises in the South China Sea. This new muscle flexing comes days after the U.S. buzzed China-controlled islets in the disputed waters, prompting anger from China. The two groups, led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Nimitz aircraft carriers, trained in the South China Sea on Tuesday, the[Read More…]
The results of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), with Nguyen Phu Trong re-elected as General Secretary of the 13th Party Central Committee, have made headlines around Asia, according to Vietnam News Agency (VNA). It began on Jan 25 and concluded on February 1 after eight days of working. The congress fulfilled its agenda and[Read More…]
The rescue operations for the tragic glacier burst which killed 11 and triggered massive flooding in Dhauliganga and Alaknanda Rivers in Uttarakhand causing grave damage to houses and the nearby Rishiganga power project is still underway. Reportedly, over 203 people went missing after the tragedy. As per the latest reports, the rescue teams have been conducting non-stop operations and have[Read More…]
World food prices rose in January for the eighth consecutive month, led by cereals, vegetable oils and sugar, reports the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. A FAO report said that its food price index marked a 4.3 percent increase from December, reaching its highest level since July 2014. FAO’s Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes[Read More…]
Global COVID-19 cases topped 100 million Tuesday as virus mutations continue to create new concerns, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. Although the U.S. makes up just over 4 per cent of the world’s population, the country remains the leader in recorded cases of the COVID-19, also identified as coronavirus, with more than 25 million infections. India ranks[Read More…]
The world’s ice is melting so fast that sea level rise predictions cannot keep up. The ice melting is faster today than in the mid-1990s, new research suggests, as climate crisis nudges global temperatures ever higher. In the 1990s, the Earth’s ice was melting at a rate of about 760 billion tons per year. That has surged 60 percent to[Read More…]
India’s historic farmers’ tractor parade breached police barriers and briefly took control of the historic Red Fort. The agitating farmers climbed on a pole and foisted a flag sacred to Sikh religion. There were violent clashes between farmers and the police. One farmer died in the commotion in ITO. Police used tear gas on groups of farmers and resorted to[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in India made the rich richer said a report by Oxfam. The report – titled The Inequality Virus – said the wealth of the country’s billionaires increased by an estimated 35 per cent during the lockdown, while 84 per cent of households suffered varying degrees of income loss, and 1.7 lakh people lost[Read More…]
Tensions are rising in the South China Sea. A Taipei, January 24, 2021 datelined Reuters report said: A U.S. aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas”, the U.S. military said on Sunday, at a time when tensions between China and Taiwan have raised concern in Washington.[Read More…]
New data from Edelman shows that American trust in media is at all-time low. While 56% believe that journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead, 58% think news organizations are more interested in ideology than facts, and only 18% of Republicans trust the media versus 57% of Democrats. As a whole, 46% of Americans of all political stripes say they[Read More…]
The global death toll from COVID-19, identified also as coronavirus, pandemic topped 2 million on January 15, 2021. The number of dead, compiled by Johns Hopkins University, U.S., is about equal to the population of Brussels, Mecca, Minsk or Vienna. It is roughly equivalent to the population of the Cleveland metropolitan area in the U.S., or the entire U.S. state[Read More…]
A British judge on Monday rejected the United States’ request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges, saying he was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected allegations that Assange is being prosecuted for political reasons or would not receive a fair trial in the United States. But[Read More…]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the left parties did not implement APMC Act is firmly being refuted by Kerala government and farmer’s union. Prime Minister Narendra Modi while announcing PM-KISAN scheme questioned the opposition parties who have extended their support to the protesting farmers in Delhi but ignored the non-implementation of APMCs in states like Kerala. “The groups who[Read More…]
Although sea levels are rising due to the climate crisis and threatening near-coastal infrastructures, higher temperatures in other areas are having exactly the opposite effect. The water levels are falling and causing massive problems. The consequences are equally serious. But the declining water levels are receiving less attention according to Matthias Prange, Thomas Wilke of the Justus Liebig University in[Read More…]
Every one of the world’s coral reefs could bleach by the end of the century, unless there are drastic reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned. Coral reefs are incredibly important and sustain a wide variety of marine life. They also protect coastlines from erosions from waves and storms, sink carbon and nitrogen and help[Read More…]
The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) suffered a vertical split on December 23, 2020, with the rival factions of the party led by the two chairmen claiming their faction to be the authentic NCP in separate central committee meetings held in Kathmandu, the capital city. The faction led by Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal removed KP Sharma Oli from the post[Read More…]
As K P Sharma Oli, the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) chair and prime minister, in a bid to achieve a majority in the party Central Committee announced a 1,199-member general convention organizing committee a question looms over Nepal – is the Nepal Communist Party is heading towards a split? At a meeting of the Central Committee with the members close[Read More…]
The Japan government approved on December 21, 2020 a record defense budget for fiscal 2021 totaling ¥5.34 trillion ($51.7 billion), as it seeks to introduce new standoff missiles capable of attacking enemy vessels from outside their firing range amid growing threats from China. The draft budget is up 0.5% from fiscal 2020, including outlays linked to hosting the U.S.’ military[Read More…]
Media reports from Nepal said: In a dramatic turn of events, Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on December 20, 2020 decided to dissolve the House of Representatives (HoR) and call mid-term polls to be held in two phases. Oli, who has been mired in an intra-party feud with the rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), recommended[Read More…]
A phenomenon not seen for nearly 800 years will light up the sky next week. Two of the largest planets – Jupiter and Saturn – in the solar system will come together in “a great conjunction” right in time for Christmas, the U.S. space agency NASA reported. It is also the same day as the winter solstice. Jupiter and Saturn[Read More…]
With no dissolved oxygen to sustain animals or plants, ocean anoxic zones are areas where only microbes suited to the environment can live. These strange ecosystems are expanding, thanks to climate change – a development that is of concern for fisheries and anyone who relies on oxygen-rich oceans. Escaping predators, digestion and other animal activities — including those of humans[Read More…]
It has been estimated that up to a quarter of a million children, young people and vulnerable adults were abused in state and faith-based care between 1950 and 2019 in New Zealand. The Royal Commission into Abuse in Care has released the findings. Of 655,000 in care during the period, it is estimated up to 40 percent were abused. An[Read More…]
An advisor to the Iraqi parliament’s foreign affairs committee said: Iraq government is planning to lodge an international lawsuit against the U.S. for violating the country’s sovereignty and using internationally-banned munitions in civilian areas. Hatif al-Rikabi told Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency in an interview that Iraq is going to file the case at Swedish and German courts over appalling crimes that the U.S. has perpetrated[Read More…]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Dec 15 Tuesday said that a conspiracy is going around Delhi. The PM was speaking at the inauguration of mega energy projects in Kutch, in his home state Gujarat. The PM’s statement came even as the farmers’ agitation across the country entered its 20th day. Five rounds of talks between the government and the farmers[Read More…]
Dozens of leaked documents from Amazon’s Global Security Operations Center reveal the company’s reliance on Pinkerton operatives to spy on warehouse workers and the extensive monitoring of labor unions, environmental activists, and other social movements. A report by Lauren Kaori Gurley on 23.11.20 in Vice (https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp3yn/amazon-leaked-reports-expose-spying-warehouse-workers-labor-union-environmental-groups-social-movements) said: “A trove of more than two dozen internal Amazon reports reveal in stark[Read More…]
Americans’ trust in the federal government in handling major problems has fallen nearly to all-time lows, finds Gallup. Based on an annual poll conducted between August 31 and September 31, 2020, Gallup found: About 48% of Americans say they have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of confidence in the government to handle international problems and 41% on its[Read More…]
Denmark’s 16 pension funds have together invested almost 3 billion Danish kroner ($500 million) in foreign arms manufacturers supplying weapons to countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), finds a new research. Those weapons were most likely used in the war in Yemen, as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are heavily involved in the conflict there, said[Read More…]
The United Nations Environment Program’s (UNEP) emissions gap report – Emissions Gap Report 2020 – released on December 9 warns: Despite a brief dip in carbon dioxide emissions caused by the pandemic, the world is still heading for a temperature rise of 3.2°C this century. The report published at the end of every year measures national commitments to reduce emissions[Read More…]
In fact “these people ( the bureaucrats ) have even made the Prime Minister give wrong statements about the Acts,” says leader of BKS. It shows how the State functions and ruling politicians have to toe the line and sell it to the public. It bulldozes any dissent, even if it is from its own camp. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh[Read More…]
South Korea and Japan set to be the biggest winners in the Asian oil and chemicals markets as the world’s largest regional free-trade agreement paves the way for a gradual reduction in tariffs. Some analysts claim that China stands to gain most income from the pact. The China-backed agreement is seen as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a[Read More…]
The year coming within days, 2021, is shaping up to be a humanitarian catastrophe and rich countries must not trample poor countries in a “stampede for vaccines” to combat the coronavirus pandemic, top U.N. officials told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Friday. World Food Programme (WFP) chief David Beasley and World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke[Read More…]
Denmark has decided to end all oil and gas activities in the North Sea by 2050 and has cancelled its latest licensing round, saying the country is “now putting an end to the fossil fuel era.” “We are now putting a final end to the fossil era,” said Denmark’s climate minister Dan Joergensen, a Social Democrat. Greenpeace called it “a[Read More…]
About 15 percent of talc-based cosmetic products contain asbestos, finds a new study. The study, published on November 24, 2020 in the Environmental Health Insights journal, was commissioned by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and conducted by the Scientific Analytical Institute (SAI). In their research, the EWG identified more than 2,000 personal care products sold in the last three years[Read More…]
The speaker of French President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party has said the government is dropping part of the controversial bill curbing the right to film on-duty police, which drew huge public anger. The government leader said that the bill will be re-drafted. Christophe Castaner, president of La Republique en Marche in the National Assembly, told the press on Monday that[Read More…]
Thousands of people rallied against the controversial bill in more than 70 French cities on Saturday, with the organizers claiming over half a million participants and authorities estimating the number at around 150,000. The daytime rallies went off peacefully, but by early evening clashes erupted in multiple cities, including Marseilles, Lyon, Brest, Nice, Rennes, Lille, Bordeaux and in other cities.[Read More…]
India saw one of the biggest nationwide strikes by workers, joined by protesting farmers today. Several states saw a complete shutdown. Over 250 million workers across sectors participated in the strike, called by 10 central trade unions and hundreds of worker associations and federations. Kerala, Puducherry, Odisha, Assam and Telangana witnessed a complete shutdown while normal life was partially affected[Read More…]
Following public protest against the new Police Act which put curbs on free speech, the left ruled Kerala government has decided to put on hold the implementation of the act. It is not clear whether the government is going to repeal the act. In a statement, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said “the Government of Kerala will not go ahead with[Read More…]
In the Left ruled Kerala state of India, a very stringent amendment in the Kerala Police Act has been implemented from Saturday to curb the offensive and defamatory social media posts. The offenders will face five years in jail, Rs.10,000 fine, or both. The controversial Section 118A was added to Kerala Police Act through an ordinance two months ago and[Read More…]
The Hindu Nov 17 reported: “Supreme Court Justice U.U. Lalit who was to hear three petitions seeking action against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, has recused himself and has asked the Chief Justice to assign the cases to another Bench. Justice Lalit, who was heading the three-judge Bench hearing the petitions, gave the reason that he[Read More…]
Mammals, birds and amphibians worldwide have lost on average 18% of their natural habitat range as a result of changes in land use and climate change, finds a new study. The scientists estimate that species have lost an average of 18% of their natural habitat range sizes thus far, and may lose up to 23% by 2100. The study (Robert[Read More…]
Ahead of the polls opening on Tuesday, businesses in cities from Denver to Detroit to Washington, D.C., were boarding up their windows with plywood as they readied for the possibility of civil unrest. Some governors were readying the National Guard, said a report by The New York Times. The report said: “Everyone is starting to panic,” Fernando Casas, a construction[Read More…]
Mega-droughts, droughts that last two decades or longer, are tipped to increase, finds a new research. The finding came after an analysis of geological records from the Eemian Period – 129,000 to 116,000 years ago – which offered a proxy of what we could expect in a hotter, drier world. The research (Hamish McGowan, Micheline Campbell, John Nikolaus Callow, Andrew[Read More…]
Soil has the capacity to bind large quantities of carbon in the long term. An international team of researchers, including from the University of Bonn, is now advocating effective use of this potential. Experts estimate that this could reduce the increase of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by a third. At the same time, agricultural yields in[Read More…]
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), La Niña, linked to cooler sea temperatures, is back in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, after nearly a decade’s absence. This is expected to result in sea surface temperatures between two and three degrees Celsius cooler than average, said Dr. Maxx Dilley, Deputy Director in charge of Climate Services Department at[Read More…]
After two nights of protests and looting following the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. in West Philadelphia, a curfew has been imposed in the city. The curfew went into effect at 9 p.m. and will last until 6 a.m. Thursday. Meanwhile, Mayor Jim Kenney says the National Guard is deploying and the first troops are expected to arrive[Read More…]
Media reports from Philadelphia said: Looting and demonstrations continued for a second consecutive night Tuesday in Philadelphia following the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. in West Philadelphia. Police have made several arrests. Several hundred troops from the Pennsylvania National Guard have been mobilized in Philadelphia following a night of violent unrest over a fatal police shooting, as city[Read More…]
The WHO Director-General Tedros Adhahnom Ghebreyesus has warned: The northern hemisphere is at a critical juncture in the Covid pandemic, and some countries are on a dangerous track. “Too many countries are seeing an exponential increase in cases,” putting hospital capacities at risk, he said. He urged leaders to take quick action to contain the virus’s spread. Europe is again[Read More…]
The U.S. Coronavirus (officially, Covid-19) cases have hit a record daily high as more than 83,000 new cases were reported in the U.S. on Friday. At the same time, scientists have warned that the U.S. approach to fight the Coronavirus pandemic and the inconsistent use of masks to prevent virus spread could lead to the cumulative loss of more than[Read More…]
Amidst the increase in the numbers of massacres and murders of social leaders and former members of the then Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) a nation-wide strike has gripped Colombia since Wednesday. The strike has hit the country’s main cities. Supported by peasant organizations, women, Afro-descendant and LGBTI communities and student groups, the mobilizations will be peaceful[Read More…]
Jammu and Kashmir Estates Department today sealed the office of Kashmir Times in Srinagar that was allotted to it in a government building in Press Enclave that houses several other newspaper offices in similar buildings. The office was sealed late this afternoon without serving any cancellation or eviction notice to Kashmir Times or following any due process of law. Nothing[Read More…]
A year after former Bolivian president Evo Morales was ousted in a military coup that installed a far-right regime, Morales ally Luis Arce declared victory after exit polls showed the socialist candidate with a large advantage over his two main competitors. “Democracy has won,” Arce, who served as Morales’ finance minister, said in an address to the nation after one[Read More…]
Roughly 3 out of 4 American billionaires have seen a rise in their net worths. Elon Musk alone has tripled his net worth during the pandemic. Michael Hobbes, Senior Enterprise Reporter, The Huffington Post, wrote in The Huffington Post: “Other than Netflix, Andrew Cuomo and the virus itself, no one has benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic more than American billionaires.[Read More…]
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and an expert in infectious diseases for the last four decades, told CNBC’s Shepard Smith Monday evening that it was more critical than ever to do these five things: wear a mask, social distance, avoid crowded spaces, do things outdoors where possible, and wash your[Read More…]
China’s top diplomat has urged neighboring states to guard against Washington’s geopolitical ambitions in Asia and called for regional cooperation to thwart foreign provocations in the South China Sea. Media reports said: Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister, said during a joint news conference with his Malaysian counterpart that members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should work together[Read More…]
Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch’s son and daughter-in-law are two of the biggest backers of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign, federal filings show. James Murdoch and his wife Kathryn Murdoch each contributed $615,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in June, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The Biden Victory Fund splits donations between Biden’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee and[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against the idea of allowing Covid-19 to simply spread through society, calling this “herd immunity” approach to fighting the pandemic “unethical.” “Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding an outbreak, let alone a pandemic,” said WHO chief Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus said during a[Read More…]
A demonstration in Portland, Oregon, that included people breaking windows and taking down statues of former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln has been declared a riot by police. Media reports from Portland including reports by major international news agencies said: The protests were part of a “Day of Rage” declared over the celebration of Columbus Day on Monday. Organizers[Read More…]
International financial authorities and 20 of the world’s largest economies are establishing official standards for regulating and issuing sovereign digital currencies. The Group of Twenty (G20), an organization of finance ministers and central bank governors representing the European Union and 19 countries across every continent, said in a report today that it is working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF),[Read More…]
Flames from forest fire in Ras el-Harf village, in the Baabda district, Lebanon: An aerial picture. Hundreds of massive wildfires ravaged parts of the Middle East over the weekend, forcing thousands to flee their homes. The wildfires triggered by a heat wave hitting the region have killed three people, and detonated landmines along the Lebanon-Israel border. The areas hit by the[Read More…]
The majority of Britons do not trust the government, with confidence among the lowest levels ever recorded, a poll has revealed. The British Social Attitudes survey found that just 15 per cent of people said they have faith in Boris Johnson‘s government ‘most of the time’ or ‘always’. More than double, 34 per cent, instead said that they ‘almost never’ trust the[Read More…]
Media reports said: The aid circle has pledged to combat the scourge of sexual abuse within its ranks following shock revelations of alleged exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a report published in early-October, more than 50 women levelled accusations against aid workers from the World Health Organization (WHO), other UN agencies and major non-governmental organizations (NGO) during[Read More…]
Media reports from the U.S. said: President Donald Trump says he has authorized the release of “any and all” documents related to the Russiagate conspiracy theory and the Hillary Clinton email scandal, noting the material would be completely free of redactions. “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any and all documents pertaining to the single greatest political[Read More…]
Journalist Siddique Kappan who is working with the popular Malayalam website Azhimukham.com and three others who were arrested by the UP police on Monday in Mathura while on their way to Hathras have been booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and sedition. On Tuesday, they were remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody by a local court[Read More…]
Pope Francis has presented his blueprint for a post-COVID-19 world, covering a vast number of issues from fraternity and income inequality to immigration and social injustice. The Pope said the Covid-19 pandemic proved that free-market policies have failed to produce the societal benefits promised by their proponents. Pope Francis began writing the document early this year, with the aim of[Read More…]
Pakistan’s ailing former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday accused the country’s powerful military of political interference, saying in a televised speech from exile in London that the military had rigged the 2018 vote that brought the country’s current prime minister Imran Khan to power. An AP report by Munir Ahmed said: The 70-year-old Sharif has had a long uneasy[Read More…]
The coronavirus has claimed more than 1 million lives around the world, the latest dark ‘milestone’ for the worldwide pandemic first detected some 10 months ago, which continues to spread across several hotspots. Infecting more than 33 million since first emerging in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December, the global Covid-19 death toll surpassed the 1 million mark on[Read More…]
Protesters wreaked havoc in downtown Seattle, erecting barricades and setting them on fire to block police from moving in. Violence erupted in the heart of the former ‘autonomous zone’ created by Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters. At least 10 were arrested after a BLM protest in Seattle turned violent on Saturday night, and saw activists storming a boarded store and[Read More…]
An AP report from Kabul said: Afghanistan’s dwindling community of Sikhs and Hindus is shrinking to its lowest levels. With growing threats from the local Islamic State affiliate, many are choosing to leave the country of their birth to escape the insecurity and a once-thriving community of as many as 250,000 members now counts fewer than 700. The community’s numbers[Read More…]
Media reports from Yerevan and Baku said: Armenia declared martial law and mobilized its male population on Sunday after clashes with Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. Both sides reported fatalities. Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian region inside Azerbaijan which declared independence in 1991, also announced martial law and mobilized the male population after clashes, which the two[Read More…]
Protests were held across the country today after the nationwide ‘Bharat Bandh’ call by farmer organisations against the Farm Bills. The Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, have been passed by both Houses and await[Read More…]
Tens of thousands of people recently massed close to Thailand’s royal palace demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, a former army chief who led a coup in 2014. The protests took place on the anniversary of a 2006 coup that ousted ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra. A major rally calling for PM Chan-O-Cha to step down gathered outside the[Read More…]
Protesters took to the streets in cities across the U.S. after Kentucky grand jury indicted a former Louisville police detective involved in the March 13 shooting death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor. Louisville police said two officers have been shot and a suspect is in custody. Protesters took to the streets from Texas to Rhode Island Wednesday night as demonstrations honoring[Read More…]
Arctic sea ice reached a minimum extent of 3.74 million square kilometers on September 15, likely the annual low, and the second lowest minimum on record. The orange line represents average extent of sea ice from 1981 to 2010 on that day. (NSIDC) Arctic sea ice extent fell to the second-lowest annual minimum on record last week, a status that[Read More…]
Protesters attack businesses, burn flags and force motorists to pledge loyalty to BLM Several hundred people smashed up storefronts, torched American flags and harassed motorists in Portland, Oregon, following a brief lull in nearly nightly riots due to wildfires tearing through the state. Around 200 demonstrators marched through the city on Saturday night, with some individuals smashing windows and applying[Read More…]
Paramilitary groups continued to pose by far the biggest threat to Colombia’s community leaders and human rights defenders last year, says a newly released report. In its annual report, Somos Defensores (SD), a human rights organization, registered a drop in assassinations of social leaders from 155 in 2018 to 124 in 2019, but an increase in death threats that went[Read More…]
A new Arctic is emerging. The regions landscape is changing rapidly. Temperatures are skyrocketing, sea ice is dwindling and many experts believe the far north is quickly transforming into something unrecognizable. This week, new research confirms that a new Arctic climate system is emerging. A new Arctic will be warmer, rainier and substantially less frozen. Animals that used to be common may[Read More…]
Satellite images show that two important glaciers in the Antarctic are sustaining rapid damage at their most vulnerable points, leading to the breaking up of vital ice shelves with major consequences for global sea level rise. In recent years, the Pine Island Glacier and the Thwaites Glacier on West Antarctica has been undergoing rapid changes, with potentially major consequences for[Read More…]
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Foreign Ministers in Moscow, Russia, on September 10, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua) India and China have agreed to ratchet down tensions that have been building along the disputed Chinese-Indian border, leading[Read More…]
Most U.S. citizens believe their government, legislators and courts are corrupt and unaccountable to the public, according to a new poll. Strikingly, both Democrats and Republicans share this opinion. Seventy-three percent of the U.S. citizens say that elected officials do not face “serious consequences” for misconduct, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. Pew Research Center, the Washington, DC-based[Read More…]
Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor of Kabir Kala Manch, have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with Elgar Parishad – Bhima Koregaon case. Later today, NIA arrested Kabir Kala Manch activist Jyoti Jagtap in Bhima Koregaon case. With the arrest of Jyoti, the number of persons arrested in this case has risen to 15. Sagar Gorkhe[Read More…]
Many of us – the readers of Countercurrents – are eating plastic although we do not buy the plastic for eating. There are incidents of recalling of several food items, because there were traces of plastic in those foods items. Almost 60,000 pounds of Pilgrim’s Pride chicken nuggets were recalled back in June because they may contain plastic. Now, scientists have found[Read More…]
Peaceful protests were held in cities across Canada on Saturday as protesters urged governments to slash police funding and do more to tackle deep-rooted racism in this country. Rallies to defund the police were held in Calgary, Halifax, Fredericton, Toronto, Montreal and London, Ont., many of which were organized by the Coalition for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC)[Read More…]
Thousands of protestors seeking criminal justice reform gathered at the National Mall in Washington D.C., the capital city of the U.S., on Friday under the rallying cry “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks,” a reference to the manner in which George Floyd was killed while in police custody in May and reminiscent of the 1963 March on Washington. Capping a[Read More…]
Over the last three months in Portland, mass protests against police violence and racism gradually gave way to nightly often violent standoffs between a core of pro-Black Lives Matter (BLM) and anti-fascist protesters and law enforcement. The incidents are now part of a fact of life in the United States. In the past week the city has fallen back into[Read More…]
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has stepped up efforts to reassert his control after 10 days of street protests and strikes triggered by disputed elections. Lukashenko says he has given orders to end the unrest in the capital Minsk. The move signaled an escalation just as European Union (EU) leaders agreed to impose sanctions at a virtual summit. The President of[Read More…]
Kuwait has not enough cash to cover state salaries beyond October. And, Dubai again has loosened laws governing alcohol sales and possession of liquor. These developments are due to the coronavirus pandemic and the fall in oil price. A Bloomberg report – “Kuwait Can’t Pay Salaries Beyond October, Minister Tells Parliament” – on August 19, 2020 said: Kuwait has 2[Read More…]
Momentum for factory strikes is winding down. Only a few days ago Belarus was boiling with opposition led protests and strike while the Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s claims the opposition’s program has failed. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned against foreign interference in Belarus while the European Union has expressed concern with the situation in the[Read More…]
Greenland’s ice sheet, — the world’s second-largest ice body, would continue to lose ice even if global temperatures stop rising, and it may have passed a point of no return, setting it on an irreversible path to complete disappearance, according to scientists at Ohio State University. Snowfall that normally replenishes Greenland’s glaciers each year can no longer keep up with[Read More…]
Jared Kushner, the U.S. president Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, once again gave a bullish assessment of the U.S.s’ coronavirus response on television, despite the nation leading the world in cases and deaths. The president’s son-in-law and senior adviser doubled down on comments from April, where he called the U.S. administration’s efforts a “great success story” and that the[Read More…]
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park. Temperatures in Death Valley in the U.S. skyrocketed to a blistering 130°F (54.4-degree Celsius) on Sunday. Possibly, it is the highest mercury reading on Earth since 1913. If the National Weather Service’s recording is correct, it would also be among the top-three highest temperatures to have ever been measured in Death[Read More…]
Far-right demonstrators, counter-protesters and police clashed in a number of states in the U.S. The series of clashes between far-right militia, pro-Confederacy groups, and anti-fascist (Antifa) counter-protesters erupted across the U.S. on Saturday. Mostly peaceful protests against racial injustice have been ongoing for weeks following the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day. Clashes between opposing groups have also occurred.[Read More…]
Two million Californians experienced rolling blackouts Friday night after officials declared a Stage 3 energy emergency due to a statewide heat wave. The last time California was in a Stage 3 emergency was in 2001. At that time, the state was in the middle of a very different type of energy crisis – and the governor lost his job over[Read More…]
Our planet is not a lump of inanimate matter circling the sun every year, providing humans free lodging, boarding and endless resources to exploit recklessly. She is a living, breathing, sentient Being, to be treated with love, care and deep respect. Revered in all ancient cultures around the world as Pachamama, Gaia, Bhumi or Mother Earth – She gives us generously but her respect needs to be earned too.
Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, has released a foreword to his new book in which he calls the president “a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man,” and accuses him of cheating in the 2016 presidential election. Cohen also makes reference to “golden showers in a sex club in Vegas,” without specifically stating[Read More…]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened reprisals if anyone attacks the ship surveying disputed waters in the Mediterranean for oil and gas, after two French jets flew nearby during an exercise with the Greek fleet. “We said that if you attack our Oruc Reis you will pay a high price, and they got their first answer today,” Erdogan said[Read More…]
Record numbers of U.S. citizens are renouncing their citizenship according to numbers reported by a New York accountancy firm. Bambridge Accountants reports that 5,816 people gave up U.S. citizenship in the first half of 2020 — a 1,210 per cent increase on the previous six months in which only 444 cases were recorded. The first two quarters of 2020 also rank as having[Read More…]
Lebanon’s government stepped down on Monday night, less than a week after a massive explosion in Beirut killed more than 170 people and wounded more than 6000, sparking days of violent protests. Prime Minister Hassan Diab addressed the nation, announcing his resignation and that of his government in the wake of the blast, which he called a “disaster beyond measure.”[Read More…]
Citing the Israeli military media reports from Jerusalem said: Israeli fighter jets and attack helicopters struck military targets in southern Syria belonging to the Syrian army Monday night, hours after thwarting an infiltration attempt from Syria by suspected militants trying to plant explosives. In a rare statement acknowledging strikes in neighboring Syria, the Israeli army said the targets included “observation[Read More…]
Delhi University professor Apoorvanand was questioned on Monday by Delhi police in connection with Delhi riots. Apoorvanand said his phone was seized for investigation and he spent five hours with the police. Apoorvanand, who teaches Hindi at Delhi University, urged the police to conduct a thorough, just and fair investigation into the violence. This is the full text of Apoorvanand’s[Read More…]
Scientists and environmental groups have expressed alarm after new data revealed there were 28 percent more fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest this July compared with the same time last year. Satellite images released by INPE, Brazil’s space research agency, on Saturday revealed 6,803 fires in the Amazon last month. There were 5,318 in July 2019. Citing official data, a Reuters[Read More…]
An NBC News report by Ben Popken said on July 31, 2020: “A $600 per week lifeline is about to run out of rope, threatening to leave millions of American families at the end of theirs. “The pandemic unemployment assistance payments, which were approved in March as part of the government’s fiscal stimulus package, known as the CARES Act, are[Read More…]
In the U.S., the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits rose for the second consecutive week last week as coronavirus cases surged around the country. The number of people collecting jobless benefits also increased to 17 million, up from 16.2 million the week prior. More than a million people filed for unemployment benefits in the latest week, showed[Read More…]
Goldman Sachs has issued a bold warning Tuesday that the dollar is in danger of losing its status as the world’s reserve currency. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has put a spotlight on the suddenly growing concern over inflation in the U.S. With the U.S. Congress closing in on another round of fiscal stimulus to shore up the pandemic-ravaged economy, and[Read More…]
All around the world, the coronavirus and its restrictions are pushing already hungry communities over the edge, cutting off meager farms from markets and isolating villages from food and medical aid. Virus-linked hunger is leading to the deaths of 10,000 more children a month over the first year of the pandemic, according to an urgent call to action from the[Read More…]
A senior World Health Organization (WHO) official has said that coronavirus pandemic is likely to be “one big wave” as they warned people to remain vigilant despite lockdowns being eased. Margaret Harris, the WHO spokesperson, said the idea of a “second wave” is flawed since infection rates do not seem to be affected by the seasons. Instead, Harris said, people[Read More…]
Human-caused carbon emissions islikely to trigger irreversible damage to the planet, according to a comprehensive international study released Wednesday. Researchers studying one of the most important and vexing topics in climate science — how sensitive the Earth’s climate is to a doubling of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — found that warming is extremely unlikely to be[Read More…]
Libya is becoming a crucible for would-be regional powers. The intractable civil war that has carved apart the oil-rich North African country is in reality a multisided chess match between a variety of outside actors, from Turkey to the United Arab Emirates, France and Egypt. The battle involves thousands of Syrian militiamen and Sudanese mercenaries. Countries are deploying drones, fighter[Read More…]
Sudan says River Nile water levels have dropped as a reservoir behind Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance dam has filled up, hitting out at “any unilateral actions taken by any party.” Egypt has also demanded “quick official clarification” from Ethiopia. Sudan and Egypt are downstream, and fear the large dam will greatly reduce their access to water. Ethiopia sees the hydroelectric project[Read More…]
From some of the heaviest rains in a decade that has created monsoon flood, a third of Bangladesh is already underwater, and at least 1.5 million people are already affected, marooned or have left their homes for higher ground along with their cattle and other belongings with villages and roads flooded. Almost four million people have been hit by this[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic is set to get “worse and worse” if countries do not stick to strict healthcare guidelines, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. The disease has already killed more than half-a-million globally. Speaking on Monday during a press briefing from the WHO headquarters in Geneva via videolink, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave an alarming prognosis on[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic has caused an “unprecedented education emergency” with up to 9.7 million children affected by school closures at risk of never going back to class, warned Save the Children Monday. The British charity cited UNESCO data showing that in April, 1.6 billion young people were shut out of school and university due to measures to contain COVID-19 –[Read More…]
Japanese authorities have demanded answers from the U.S. after a large scale COVID-19 outbreak among U.S. Marines stationed in Japan’s southern prefecture of Okinawa. The U.S. military officials told the two bases have since been put in lockdown. In recent days, 61 U.S. Marines have been infected with the virus, spread across two bases in the archipelago — which[Read More…]
Torrential rainfall for the past three days has triggered floods and landslides in different parts of Nepal, claiming more than 40 lives and displacing thousands of families in western Nepal. Narayani and other major rivers have swollen due to the continuous downpour. Meteorological Department on Friday had forecast that the monsoon rains would last for another three days. Twenty-seven[Read More…]
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that about half of the land in Oklahoma is within a Native American reservation. The court ruling will have major consequences for both past and future criminal and civil cases in the U.S. The U.S. court’s ruling hinged on the question of whether the Creek reservation continued to exist after Oklahoma, one of the[Read More…]
COVID-19 pandemic is making the poor poorer and the rich richer. The following is such a story: An AP report said: “The U.S. government’s small business lending program has benefited millions of companies, with the goal of minimizing the number of layoffs Americans have suffered in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Yet the recipients include many you probably would[Read More…]
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has ordered National Guard troops to deploy in Atlanta, after rioters ransacked the state police headquarters. Shootings in the city have doubled in the wake of protests against police brutality. Some 1,000 soldiers will be deployed to protect the state Capitol, the governor’s mansion, and the Department of Public Safety building that was vandalized over the[Read More…]
Protesters pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus in Baltimore, U.S. They threw the statue into the city’s Inner Harbor. Statues of Columbus have also been toppled in cities including Miami; Columbus, Ohio; Richmond, Virginia; St Paul, Minnesota; and Boston, where one was decapitated. In Baltimore, Demonstrators used ropes to topple the monument on Saturday night near the Little Italy[Read More…]
A group of mainly Native American protesters blocked the road leading up to Mount Rushmore for three hours before President Donald Trump gave a speech at the national monument Friday night. When they refused to disband, the protesters faced off with the South Dakota National Guard, which shot close-range shells at their feet and sprayed some protesters with pepper spray,[Read More…]
A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that no matter how polarized they might be politically, Americans finally seem to agree on something: that everything about America is getting worse. In his 1989 farewell address, President Ronald Reagan famously described the United States as a “shining city on a hill” — a beacon of hope and a model for the rest[Read More…]
Two large blobs of dust blown off of Africa’s Sahara Desert – which some experts say could be the biggest and most intense Saharan plume in 50 years – are on their way to North America, driven by the same high-pressure system that pushes hurricanes across the same route. The largest is already over the Gulf of Mexico and parts[Read More…]
On June 24, 2020, an Arab News report from Riyadh said: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to greatly limit the number of Hajj pilgrims this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Kingdom said just 1,000 people, who are already living in Saudi Arabia, would be able to perform the pilgrimage. Last year almost[Read More…]
Using the coronavirus to score political points has only made the global health crisis worse, claimed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) director-general. Some observers have interpreted the WHO chief’s claim as a broadside against U.S. President Donald Trump. The politicization of the pandemic has “exacerbated” the effects of the disease, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during an online conference on Monday,[Read More…]
To observe a day of protest against the Super Emergency on 25 June 2020 https://marupakkamonlinefilmscreening.blogspot.com will conduct a one-day online film festival. They will be screening 1) “Ammi” – Dir: Sunil Kumar 90 min; Hindi with Eng subtitles; 2018 This is one woman’s two-year fight for justice. Battered by the police, having been told by the myriad government agencies who[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 on June 17, 2020 informed: The world has now recorded more than 8 million cases of COVID-19. In the first two months, 85,000 cases were reported. But in the past two months 6 million cases have been reported. There have been more[Read More…]
U.S. President Donald Trump thought it would be “cool” to invade Venezuela but was persuaded not to by “Soviet-style propaganda” from Moscow, claims Trump’s former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton in book excerpts leaked to the press. Trump said invading Venezuela would be “cool” and described the Latin American country as “really part of the United States,” according to[Read More…]
Over 44 million U.S. citizens lost jobs as authorities introduced lockdown measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, officially COVID-19, disease. The U.S. is finding a decline in the jobless rate. Lines in front of Food Banks are increasing. The U.S. Federal Reserve forecast on employment and the overall economic situation, which is said to be the most[Read More…]
Three Indian soldiers were killed during a “violent face-off” with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. The incident occurred during a “deescalation process” underway in the Galwan Valley in the disputed Aksai Chin-Ladakh area, where a large troop build up has reportedly been taking place for weeks now on both sides of the border, before[Read More…]
Jets from Turkey carried out cross-border airstrikes on Monday targeting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Turkish Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, announced Turkish authorities. A source in the area told Kurdistan 24 the Turkish fighter jets launched the attack at midnight, targeting several locations in the Shingal (Sinjar) district, and several locations close to the Makhmour refugee camp, which[Read More…]
The shape of carbonate sands. (a) 3D scans of the 18 Heron particles using a Hirox RH2000 microscope equipped with MXB2016Z. (b) Estimation of the projected area of the particles by considering the particles as different geometric shapes (squares, circles, rectangles, or ellipses). Source: Scientific Reports The method of accounting sand is important for understanding the way reefs, atolls and[Read More…]
When Super Cyclone Amphan hit West Bengal on May 20 this year, it devastated large parts of the state, including the capital city Kolkata, killing dozens, destroying thousands of homes and depriving lakhs of people of their livelihoods. Coming on top of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic the cyclone created a double disaster for West Bengal. However, the state is now[Read More…]
This is Part-5 of a series of articles on a crisis in India-Nepal relations. Part-4 was titled India-Nepal Border Dispute : The International Ramifications. It mainly dealt with attempts made in vain to topple a communist regime, the NCP-Oli-led Nepal govt, and the international context and import of the still unfolding controversy. This one, Part-5, focuses on US hegemonic role[Read More…]
Today, the Republic of India faces its gravest moment since it was born seventy years ago. What has hit the second most populous nation in the world – just in the last few months itself – is nothing short of a crisis of Biblical proportions. An untreatable viral epidemic, a debilitating lockdown, a collapsed economy, hunger stalking every corner of[Read More…]
This is Part-4 of a series of articles on a crisis in India-Nepal relations that led to mutual allegations of a cartographic war, and smacked of being a part of cold war against China. It is a still unfolding controversy, being reported and analysed exclusively for the readers of Countercurrent.org. Part-4 now being published, deals with the international context and[Read More…]
On the 3rd day – Thursday – of protest on the murder of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man, demonstrators broke into a Minneapolis police precinct station after the department abandoned it, setting it ablaze and igniting fireworks as three days of violent protests spread to cities across the U.S. Gov. Tim Walz late Wednesday called it an “extremely dangerous[Read More…]
The Parque Taruma cemetery during the coronavirus outbreak in Manaus, Brazil. Brazil now has the second-highest number of reported coronavirus cases, surpassing Russia. Blue, turquoise, and white crosses mark the dead in mass graves in Manaus, Brazil, a visual reminder of the toll the novel coronavirus has had on the country. The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and[Read More…]
In the second day of demonstration, protests against police violence have spread across the U.S. in response to the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody May 25. Thousands of people are decrying the killing by police. Among many places, protests spread in Los Angeles, Memphis, Minnesota, Houston, Chicago. In Minneapolis, protesters turned to violent confrontation as[Read More…]
U.S. Defense Department officials are reportedly planning to brief President Donald Trump on several options to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, that include an option to pull them out before the 2020 U.S. presidential election in November. Trump has expressed a desire to end the U.S.’s wars throughout the course of his presidency. In 2019, he abruptly ordered the[Read More…]
(This is Part-2 of a two-part Report; this one deals with various dimensions of the issue. Part-1 was published on May24, with the title, India-Nepal Border Issue Raked Up, Relations Strained Once Again.) Even as Covid-19 health crisis, and its cascading effect on the economic crisis — both are aggravating in India — are upsetting Modi Government’s claims and calculations[Read More…]
(This is Part-1 of a two-part article) “ We remain committed to resolving the border issue,” said Anurag Srivastava, India’s Official Spokesperson. “If the coronavirus was an obstacle for negotiations between friendly nations, then we were surprised that it wasn’t an obstacle for this decision (inauguration of the link road). ..This wasn’t the time to create unnecessary controversy which can[Read More…]
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has slashed its growth forecast for this financial year and warned of inflation uncertainties as India’s economy suffers due to the Covid-19, pandemic. While the country’s GDP growth is set to “remain in the negative territory with some pick up in second half” of the 2020-21 fiscal year, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das did not[Read More…]
The above is the title of news release by WHO. The two-day meeting of the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) was held in Geneva on May 18-19, discussed Covid-19 and how the world is coping with that. Even as the media in India is engaged 24×7 on Covid-19, this historic session was given poor coverage, and many of those that[Read More…]
Super cyclone Amphan has wrecked havoc in the Indian state of West Bengal, especially the state capital Kolkata, and the southwestern part of the neighboring country Bangladesh after the Amphan made landfall in West Bengal. The death toll, yet to be counted finally, in both the countries is over 20. The Amphan became the strongest storm ever recorded in the Bay of[Read More…]
The world’s progress in eliminating poverty is set to suffer a major setback due to the coronavirus pandemic, forcing more people to survive on less than $1.90 per day, the World Bank has said in a recent statement (Press release no.: 2020/193/EXC). “The pandemic and shutdown of advanced economies could push as many as 60 million people into extreme poverty[Read More…]
The world’s nuclear powers are increasingly streaming money into their nuclear arsenals, and the U.S. is leading the trend, says a new report. The U.S. has also exited a major arms control treaty and deployed a new tactical weapon. The report – Enough is Enough: 2019 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending (May 2020) – by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear[Read More…]
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla has accused the U.S. government of criminal negligence because the attack on Cuba’s embassy in Washington DC could have been avoided. He has asked that the attacker’s links with anti-Cuban, Florida-based groups be investigated. “Twelve days after the attack, the State Department is complicit in silence and does not condemn the incident,” Rodriguez said, recalling[Read More…]
U.S. President Donald Trump is culpable for thousands of deaths in the U.S. and beyond due to his Covid-19 pandemic response, from making states deal with the crisis individually to cutting the World Health Organization (WHO) funding, Professor Noam Chomsky has said. The radical intellectual has said: Donald Trump has done it to boost his electoral prospects and line the[Read More…]
In the absence of a vaccine, the increasingly discussed idea of beating the coronavirus pandemic through achieving so-called herd immunity could be a disastrous miscalculation, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official has warned. “This is a really dangerous, dangerous calculation,” Michael Ryan, head of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said at a briefing on Monday. “Humans are not herds,”[Read More…]
Three Indian photojournalists based in Jammu & Kashmir won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their coverage of the region during the clampdown that followed the Union government’s decision last August to divest the region of its special status and reorganise it into two Union Territories. Associated Press photographers Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan, and Channi Anand have been[Read More…]
Saudi Arabia announced a slew of austerity measures to cope with the fiscal impact of the coronavirus pandemic and oil price rout, tripling its value-added tax (VAT) and cutting allowances for government workers. The steps taken to shore up revenue and rationalize spending are valued at about 100 billion riyals ($26.6 billion) in total, according to the official Saudi Press[Read More…]
A shootout erupted on Saturday at a protest in western Afghanistan by residents demanding economic assistance, leading to the deaths of at least six people including a local reporter and two police officers, officials said. The reporter has been identified as local volunteer radio presenter Ahmadkhan Nawid, according to the Afghanistan Journalists’ Centre. The protesters were demanding relief after weeks[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic will plunge most of Europe into its worst recession since the 1930s, according to a grim forecast released by the European Commission (EC). Brussels has had to abandon any hope of growth for both the EU and euro area in 2020, as the economies are set to contract by 7.5 and 7.75 percent respectively, according to this[Read More…]
This is yet another news story underplayed by Big Media, and being reported by us. A Delhi HC judgment showed that ICMR agreed to pay 2.5 times the price for Corona rapid test kits, imported from China, to help private traders to loot the public exchequer. Public interest must outweigh private gain, the Court observed. And Justice Najmi Waziri slashed[Read More…]
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Virtual Summit “United against COVID-19” was held on Monday, May 4, via videoconference. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev chaired the NAM summit. The meeting took place in the format of the Contact Group, which includes regional representatives. The Republic of Azerbaijan convoked the meeting as president of the Movement for the period 2019-2022, given the need for[Read More…]
If global warming continues unchecked, the heat that is coming later this century in some parts of the world will bring “nearly unlivable” conditions for up to 3 billion people, a study released Monday said. Climate change could push 1.5 billion people to migrate to escape unlivable heat in the next 50 years even if global targets are reached, says the[Read More…]
Environmental activists delivered a petition to a special session of the Swiss parliament on Monday demanding that a government aid package should promote a “green recovery” from the coronavirus crisis. More than 22,000 people signed the petition demanding that support for companies in sectors with large greenhouse gas emissions like aviation be tied to reducing their environmental impact. Campaigners said[Read More…]
Venezuelan authorities have foiled a raid by “foreign mercenaries” trying to reach the anti-imperialist country. The first aim of the failed mercenary incursion into Venezuela was assassinating the country’s President Nicolas Maduro. The mercenaries tried to reach the Latin American country by sea to launch terrorist attacks and assassinate government officials. Venezuela’s Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said in a televised[Read More…]
Global coronavirus, officially COVID-19, cases has passed 3.5 million while deaths have topped 247,000. The U.S. has the most coronavirus deaths in the world at more 67,600, a number that rose 1,450 over the 24 hours to Sunday evening. Deliberately concealed outbreaks, low testing rates and the severe strain the disease has placed on health care systems mean the true[Read More…]
That is the title of a Report by business-standard.com, April 29, 2020. While the country is drowned in reports about Covid-19, this news did not so much attract the attention of people. We celebrate the World Press Freedom Day with a report on this issue. The Indian media, known for its sensationalism did not somehow highlight it, nor gave it[Read More…]
Attacks on Doctors and Media: A Few Case Studies was a Report published on April 27. This one is a sequel to that, and can be deemed as Part-2 of a two part report.The focus now is on Islamophobia, promoted by media, and abetted by State agencies. Tablighi Jamaat members spat on doctors, defecated in hospital wards, misbehaved with[Read More…]
USA Intelligence Community Statement on Origins of COVID-19 News Release, For Immediate Release ODNI News Release No. 11-20, April 30, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) today issued the following Intelligence Community (IC) statement: “The entire Intelligence Community has been consistently providing critical support to U.S. policymakers and those responding to the COVID-19 virus,[Read More…]
The number of global cases of coronavirus infection reached 3.22 Million while the global number of deaths reached 227,420. U.S. coronavirus deaths pass 60,000 The Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. has passed 60,000 on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The deaths are now above the figure predicted by the latest model used by Dr Anthony Fauci, U.S. President[Read More…]
President Donald Trump has ordered meat processing plants to stay open to protect the nation’s food supply amid the coronavirus pandemic — BBC Report dated April 29. An estimated 3,300 US meatpacking workers have been diagnosed with coronavirus and 20 have died. BBC reported: He invoked a Korean War-era law from the 1950s to mandate that the plants continue to[Read More…]
As more than three million cases of Covid-19 have been recorded worldwide, more than 210,000 people have died, and both the World Health Organization (WHO) and world leaders face criticism for mishandling the coronavirus, officially Covid-19, pandemic, the WHO director-general claimed: Countries that ignored the WHO’s advice at the end of January have been less successful in tackling the Covid-19[Read More…]
The Ordinance on punishing “miscreants” who attack healthcare personnel was issued on April 22. Whether it would really put an end to attacks etc is to be seen in practice. A few case studies of attacks on doctors and their media coverage will be useful in this connection. Hence this news analysis. Adarsh Pratap Singh, President of AIIMS Healthcare Professional[Read More…]
More than 206,000 people have died from the coronavirus pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than Over 2.9 million people worldwide have tested positive. In the U.S., more than 54,000 people have died, while there have been over 950,000 confirmed cases. U.S. President Trump’s economic adviser said the U.S. jobless rates from the coronavirus crisis would be[Read More…]
Syrian missile defenses responded to an attack by Israeli warplanes, intercepting several missiles over Damascus launched from Lebanese airspace, Syria’s SANA news agency reported. A video found online purportedly showed the Syrian missile shield being activated to shoot down missiles, reportedly fired by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from Lebanese airspace. There have been unconfirmed reports that at least three[Read More…]
On Friday, according to AFP, the number of people who have lost their lives to the COVID-19, passed 190,000 and continues to rise. There is some cause for hope that the tide may be about to turn as testing capabilities grow worldwide and human trials for a vaccine get underway. The AFP reports that a total of 190,089 people passed[Read More…]
This is Part-2 of a report. “ The Union Cabinet in its meeting held on 22nd April 2020 has approved promulgation of an Ordinance to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to protect healthcare service personnel and property including their living/working premises against violence during epidemics. The President has given his assent for promulgation of the Ordinance. The Ordinance provides for making[Read More…]
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot down and destroy” Iranian gunboats, should they harass American vessels at sea. His declaration comes after a confrontation in the Persian Gulf. “I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” the U.S. president[Read More…]
Ordinance to treat offences against doctors as non bailable and cognizable issued This is Part-1 of a two part report. Indian Medical Association (IMA) withdrew its protest,slated for today, April 22, after their meeting with the Home Minister and the Health Minister. Safety and dignity of our doctors at their work place is non-negotiable, Union Home Minister Amit Shah[Read More…]
As the world is dealing with the coronavirus, officially COVID-19, pandemic, the head of the UN food agency warned Tuesday that, the world is also “on the brink of a hunger pandemic” that could lead to “multiple famines of biblical proportions” within a few months if immediate action isn’t taken. World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley told the[Read More…]
U.S. oil market has crashed. The price of U.S. oil turned negative for the first time in history. The U.S. oil industry is facing a doomsday scenario. Hundreds of U.S. oil companies could go bankrupt. Many U.S. oil companies took on too much debt during the good times. Some of them will not be able to survive this historic downturn.[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic has created debates on many issues including church and similar institutions. A number of letters in Los Angeles Times is a show of that debate, which indicates the impact the pandemic is making on many parts of life. The “Letters to the Editor: Churches don’t have a 1st Amendment right to ruin public health” in Los Angeles[Read More…]
As demand dries down and storage runs out, the price of U.S. oil has fallen to a level not seen since 1999. Crude prices in U.S.’ oil capital are getting dangerously close to zero. The oil market has come under intense pressure during the coronavirus pandemic with a huge slump in demand. The price of a barrel of West Texas[Read More…]
Lockdown to counter coronavirus, officially Covid-19, in the U.S. has created political controversy in the country. Political leaders are exchanging tirades, threatening measures considered beyond constitution, and groups of people protesting while armed militiamen are joining the anti-lockdown protest. Cuomo extends New York lockdown in coordination with other states New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has extended his state’s social-distancing measures[Read More…]
Worldwide, more than two million people have contracted coronavirus, officially Covid-19, Wednesday since the lethal outbreak began last December, passing another dark milestone, and the worst hit country is the U.S. Globally, more than 132,000 people have died. And in this situation, the U.S. is continuing its war against the World Health organization (WHO) and China. According to data from[Read More…]
The United States is unleashing a war against the World Health organization (WHO) as U.S. cuts funding to probe its ‘China ties’. However, the UN Chief has said: “Now is not the time!” The UN chief says WHO is “critical” in global war against Covid-19. As the pandemic rages on in some 185 countries, the U.S. has escalated a rhetorical[Read More…]
This is Part-2 of a Report. Part-1 appeared with the title: 200 Million Indian Muslims Vilified, now in the name of Covid-19. “Coronavirus may die…but the virus of communal disharmony will be hard to kill when this is over.” — Khalid Rasheed, Chairman of Islamic Center of India The anti-Muslim tirade has become the new normal so much so that it[Read More…]
Covid-19 death toll in England and Wales have shot up dramatically, with one in every five now linked to the coronavirus, while the UK government has been accused of underreporting fatalities among the elderly in care homes. New data published on Tuesday by the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS), which detail all deaths in hospitals and out in the[Read More…]
Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked information on U.S. National Security Agency, has warned that governments may use the coronavirus to curtail freedoms. Snowden, in an exclusive interview with Vice, said that governments may take advantage of the pandemic to impose authoritarian rules on populations. Snowden said, “As authoritarianism spreads, as emergency laws proliferate, as we sacrifice our rights, we[Read More…]
(This is part-1 of a two part report) Let us begin with the latest news : “We cannot curb the freedom of press,” a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde said, on April 13 Monday. Very much welcome, but for the context. The very next day, April 14, BR Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, in compliance of[Read More…]
The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus, officially COVID-19, passed 119,000 on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 2 million people have tested positive for the virus. Germany saw its new coronavirus cases fall for the fifth consecutive day. The U.S. has had more than 23,000 deaths and 682,000 COVID-19 cases, leading the world in both[Read More…]
A vast ozone hole, probably the biggest on record in the north, has opened in the skies above the Arctic, on the other side of the planet from the infamous hole that forms each year above the Antarctica, better-known Antarctic ozone hole. It rivals the Antarctic ozone hole. Scientists from the European Space Agency said this week that this rare[Read More…]
South Asia is on course for its worst economic performance in 40 years, with decades of progress in the battle against poverty at risk, because of coronavirus, the World Bank (WB) said Sunday. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Pakistan and other countries in the region, which have 1.8 billion people and some of the planet’s most densely populated cities, have[Read More…]
by Mahboob A. Khawaja, Lambert Academic Publishing Germany: 12/2019: 537 Pages Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD in interdisciplinary Social Science (Syracuse University, New York, USA), an academia and international scholar believes in One Global Humanity living peacefully on One Earth and shares new ideas and vision for change and critical thinking action to transform the obsolete global systems of thinking and[Read More…]
Part of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone where the infamous power plant explosion occurred in 1986 is on fire, and radiation in the area is spiking- reported Live Science. The report said, The fire covers about 50 acres (20 hectares) near the abandoned village of Vladimirovka in Ukraine’s Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, according to CNN. In a Facebook post, Yegor Firsov, head of Ukraine’s ecological[Read More…]
Increased panic buying of food due to coronavirus lockdowns has led to price spikes for the world’s two staple grains – rice and wheat. Reuters data showed, rice prices are now the highest since late April 2013. Importers have rushed to stockpile the goods, while exporters have curbed shipments. The price of rice has hit seven-year highs, while wheat futures[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world will turn global economic growth “sharply negative” in 2020, triggering the worst fallout since the 1930s Great Depression, with only a partial recovery seen in 2021, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said. Georgieva painted a far bleaker picture of the social and economic impact of the new coronavirus than even[Read More…]
Confirmed cases of coronavirus, officially Covid-19, ticked to just over one and a half million worldwide on Wednesday, with the death toll now standing at over 87,000. Out of the worldwide cases, more than 319,000 patients are considered fully recovered. Worldwide cases of the coronavirus now stand at 1,500,830, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Fatalities from the[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic can wipe out 6.7 per cent of working hours globally in the second quarter of 2020, which is equivalent to 195 million full-time workers. This number far exceeds the effects of the 2008-09 financial crisis, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned on Tuesday. According to the ILO report “ILO Monitor 2nd edition: COVID-19 and the world of[Read More…]
Chomsky slams US’s handling of virus as he warns nuclear war, global warming threats will remain after pandemic is over. While the coronavirus can have “terrifying consequences, there will be recovery”, said Chomsky, but regarding the other threats, “there won’t be recovery, it’s finished” : threat of nuclear war … and the other of course is the growing threat of[Read More…]
Total confirmed coronavirus, officially COVID-19, cases in Africa was 10,427 while the number of recovered patients was 1,074, and the number of confirmed deaths was 519. The virus has spread to dozens of countries within weeks. Governments and health authorities across the continent are striving to limit widespread coronavirus infections. With few doctors and fewer ventilators, countries in Africa fear[Read More…]
Hydroxychloroquine: India agrees to release drug after Trump retaliation threat The above is the title of a report by BBC.com this morning (April 7). India has agreed to lift an export ban on a drug US President Donald Trump has called a “game-changer” in the fight against coronavirus, despite reservations from medical experts. The decision came after Mr Trump warned[Read More…]
China reports zero new fatalities from coronavirus, officially Covid-19, China’s National Health Commission said in a statement. This is the first such no case for China since the country was wracked with the coronavirus outbreak in December. Italy, which has the world’s highest Covid-19 mortality rate, has started to see its cases subside. Italy has reported its falling daily cases[Read More…]
There are over 1.2 million cases of the coronavirus worldwide, according to tracking from Johns Hopkins University. The number of global fatalities has passed 66,000 while the U.S. leads the world with more than 300,000 reported cases. U.S. President Trump warned Saturday that “it’s going to be really some very bad numbers” in the U.S., where the death toll reached[Read More…]
People thought Covid-19 has united the whole world, erasing borders and frictions. Indeed people – medical personnel, scientists, journalists and administrators across countries joined hands in educating and mobilizing people to face the calamity. But US acted erratically, promoted anti-China tirade and calumny, called it Chinese virus or Wuhan virus, despite WHO’s explicit appeal not call it that way. China[Read More…]
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC, the school’s medical center, are working on a possible vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Scientists announced news of the potential vaccine, which has now been tested successfully on mice, on Thursday. Several research groups around the world are racing to create a vaccine, including a temporary[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic will hit the global economy in a much bigger way than previously expected, warned the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has warned in its annual economic report – Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020. According to the gloomiest scenario presented by the bank, the impact of the “worst pandemic in a century” will be $4.1 trillion, or 4.8 percent[Read More…]
74 journalism professors and journalists signed an open letter addressed to Fox News’ Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch on Thursday, criticizing the network they oversee for its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. The letter stated, in part, “The Viewers of Fox News, including the president of the United States, have been regularly subjected to misinformation relayed by the network — false statements[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic has passed its landmark moment, as over one million people worldwide have tested positive for the disease, according to figures from multiple sources including news agency AFP and the John Hopkins University. More than 51,485 people have died worldwide from the virus. Now, the U.S. is the most-affected country, surpassing China. In Europe, Italy, Spain, Germany and[Read More…]
Cuba has slammed the U.S.’ “criminal blockade” of the country after the embargo stood in the way of the delivery of Covid-19 test kits and ventilators donated by Chinese e-commerce tycoon Jack Ma. “The criminal blockade of the imperial government violates the human rights of the Cuban people,” tweeted Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez on Wednesday. Cuba’s envoy to Beijing,[Read More…]
As the coronavirus wreaks havoc on the U.S. economy, more than 66 million jobs across sales, production, and food preparation services are at “high risk” of layoffs, finds Charles Gascon, a St. Louis Federal Reserve regional economist. Using 2018 occupational data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) detailing 808 occupations, Charles Gascon found that 66.8 million people —[Read More…]
Frustrated by what he considered inadequate answers about why some staff could telework while others had to show up to work, Lyndon B. Johnson Historic Park maintenance worker Trevor Wright took matters into his own hands — with an all-staff email. “No one has ever died because they were not able to see LBJ’s ranch or ancestral settlement on any[Read More…]
Authorities playing blame game over corona in Nizamuddin, Delhi, under scanner, Markaz Nizamuddin issues clarification At least 10 people, including 9 Indians, who attended the Markaz meet have died of coronavirus, with over 400 hospitalised with Covid-19 symptoms. Thousands of people had attended the Muslim religious meet at Delhi, and left. 1548 people were evacuated from Delhi, Times of India reported. Many[Read More…]
Tenants across California are organizing rent strikes for the month of April. The strikers’ argument: They will not be able to pay their landlords for the foreseeable future and that the minimal protections now in place fail to provide relief for vulnerable renters. As Covid-19 shelter-in-place orders have led to a surge in unemployment and slowed down the state’s economy,[Read More…]
Anti-China poison is spreading through (anti-) social media, with a role of pro-US lobbies, based on false info. See below realities: A report in THE PRINT, edited by Shekhar Gupta, dated 11th February, 2020 said : India is all set to dispatch emergency supplies of medical protective equipment such as masks, gloves, face shields, head and boot covers to coronavirus-hit[Read More…]
In view of some Asian countries slowing down the spread of the coronavirus, officially Covid-19, pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) experts have warned: No country should let its guard down. “Let me be clear. The epidemic is far from over in Asia and the Pacific,” said Takeshi Kasai, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. Takeshi Kasai was talking[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic is influencing the entire human world. The pandemic’s impact and the changes it will bring are searched. After the crisis is over, there will be many changes. The longer the pandemic lasts, the more people may embrace new aspects of lifestyle. The global oil industry has been hit hard. Oil prices have crushed. Long-term viability of many[Read More…]
According to Johns Hopkins University on Sunday, there are more than 721,000 coronavirus cases and 33,900 deaths worldwide. The U.S. now leads the world with more than 120,000 confirmed cases while the U.S. coronavirus deaths surge past 2,000. Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the U.S. could experience more than 100,000 deaths and millions of infections. Italy Coronavirus deaths in[Read More…]
They did not see the thousands of migrant labourers streaming out of Delhi because none of them got the promised food packet. They were hungry, many confessed, and had no drinking water either to last the long journey home. There was outrage and helplessness voiced by civil society. There was also anger at the indifference and incompetence of the Government.[Read More…]
Coronavirus cases surpassed 530,000 worldwide, with more than 24,000 deaths while the U.S. now leads the world with more than 85,500 confirmed coronavirus, officially COVID-19, cases, overtaking China and Italy. There have been more than 1,288 deaths in the U.S. At least 122,000 people around the world have recovered. Among the recovered in Italy was an 86-year-old woman who was released[Read More…]
The World Health Organization Director General said on March 25, 2020: Now is the time for solidarity in the face of this threat to all of humanity. He said the coronavirus, officially COVID-19, pandemic has accelerated over the last two weeks and while coronavirus is a threat to people everywhere, what is most worrying is the danger the virus poses[Read More…]
Countries have started hoarding food, threatening global trade while Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, is seeking money from public for his staff’s relief fund. The richest man has faced backlash. A Bloomberg report said on March 25, 2020: Some governments are moving to secure domestic food supplies during the conoravirus pandemic. Kazakhstan, one of the world’s biggest shippers of[Read More…]
The War Against Coronavirus is being successfully waged in countries. Thousands of scientists in countries are working round-the-clock while drugs are being tested at different levels including clinical test by Chinese and Russian scientists. China is lifting travel restrictions on Hubei Province on Wednesday, as China’s fight against coronavirus, officially designated Covid-19, and is yielding positive results. Even constraints on[Read More…]
U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index estimates that some 37 million domestic jobs are vulnerable to layoffs. Hardest hit would be limited- and full-service restaurants, with some 9 million jobs at risk of layoffs in the near term. Fields such as education have some 3.2 million jobs at risk, while general stores have 2.8 million, according to the report. The[Read More…]
China is slowing down the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. A Beijing datelined AFP said a few days ago: China reported on Tuesday just one new domestic coronavirus infection but found 20 more cases imported from abroad, with more regions imposing quarantines on foreign arrivals in a bid to stem the disease being brought in from overseas. The single case[Read More…]
As coronavirus sweeps across the globe, governments are stepping up surveillance of their citizens. Some countries are collecting anonymized data to study movement of people more generally, while others are providing detailed information about individuals’ movements. Governments across the world are galvanizing every surveillance tool at their disposal to help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. Countries have been[Read More…]
More African countries have closed their borders as the coronavirus’ local spread threatened to turn the continent of 1.3 billion people into an alarming new front for the pandemic. Africa is seeing an “extremely rapid evolution,” the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional chief, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, told reporters. Thirty-six of Africa’s 54 countries now have cases, with the total over[Read More…]
The economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic will be unprecedented, according to Ray Dalio, the head of one of the world’s largest hedge funds. Ray Dalio says global corporate losses from the pandemic will amount to $12 trillion. Dalio told CNBC: “What is happening has not happened in our lifetime before … What we have is a crisis. There will[Read More…]
Doctors and medical workers across the U.S. raise the alarm about the coronavirus’s risk to prison populations. Thousands of medics have signed an open letter calling upon the immigration authorities to release individuals and families from detention. The letter, which at the time of writing had been signed by more than 3,000 people, is addressed to the director of the[Read More…]
The running coronavirus pandemic is hitting the U.S. and Europe. At first, it was service industries including hotels, restaurants and tourism. Now, the manufacturing sector is taking the hit. There are shutdowns of heavy industry, unprecedented since the World War II. A Bloomberg report said: Automakers in the U.S. and Europe are idling plants. China, Japan and South Korea have[Read More…]
Mainland China has had no new local coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours – the first time since the outbreak began in December. However, China is still struggling to contain imported cases of the disease. Notably, the purported epicenter of the epidemic – Wuhan, in Hubei province – recorded no new locally transmitted infections. The same was true across[Read More…]
China and Cuba have stepped in with practical measures at international level amidst the near-collapse health care situation in a number of capitalist countries in the face of coronavirus pandemic. China sending million masks & gloves to France China is shipping one million surgical masks and gloves to France as the EU member struggles to contain the coronavirus, with Europe[Read More…]
US struggles to fill requests for protective gear A Salem, Oregon, March 18, 2020 datelined Associated Press report by Andrew Selsky said: The U.S. government is rushing protective equipment to states, packing dozens of flights and hundreds of trucks with supplies for medical workers who will be on the front lines of the coronavirus fight. But the pandemic has exposed[Read More…]
The Telangana State (TS) Legislative Assembly, by way of a resolution passed on March 16, Monday, has opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR), and National Register of Citizens (NRC), asserting these formed part of concerted attempts to tinker with the inclusive and non-religious nature of citizenship. The resolution urged the Central government to amend Citizenship (Amendment)[Read More…]
Since signing of the U.S-Taliban deal, some revealing reports are coming out. A Washington, March 11, 2020 datelined AFP report, “Taliban fought IS with ‘limited’ U.S. military support, U.S. general reveals”, said: “The Taliban has shown that it can fight and defeat Islamic State group jihadists in Afghanistan, a top U.S. general said Tuesday, revealing for the first time that[Read More…]
The biggest democratic movement in modern Iraq is waning, but the movement is going on. Activists of the Tahrir Square in Baghdad are struggling to keep alive the movement. Security forces have killed nearly 700 protesters and wounded about 30,000 since the protests began in October. Media reports including a report by the news agency AP said: “At the once bustling[Read More…]
The U.S. carried out airstrikes on Thursday against Iran-backed militia sites in Iraq, according to the U.S. Defense Department. The strikes have been made one day after the U.S. assessed an Iranian-backed group was responsible for a rocket attack on a base where coalition forces are located, killing two American service members and one British service member. A U.S. defense[Read More…]
Iran has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for emergency funding to help it fight the coronavirus outbreak that has hit the country hard, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday. The escalating coronavirus outbreak in the Islamic Republic, the worst affected country in the Middle East, has killed 429 people and infected 10,075. It has damaged the country’s[Read More…]
The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) have issued new guidance to help protect children and schools from transmission of the COVID-19 virus. The guidance provides critical considerations and practical checklists to keep schools safe. It also advises national and local authorities on how to adapt and implement emergency plans for educational[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the spread of Covid-19 around the world has reached the stage where it can be described as a pandemic. “Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering[Read More…]
Fear is spreading centering coronavirus. In the UK, supermarkets have rationed food and other items because of panic buying. Cities in the U.S. have found shop shelves empty, as there was panic buying. News agencies including Reuters have already posted news and photos on those developments in the U.S. and UK. But to be fearless is the first task to[Read More…]
Stock markets are bearing the burden of oil slump and coronavirus fear. Stock markets across the world tumbled on Monday, and the fall in global oil prices after the OPEC+ deal collapsed. European markets fell by as much as 11.17 per cent during the course of the day’s trading. Last week the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said[Read More…]
Women around the world observed the International Women’s Day – March 8 – with marches and strike. Police in countries obstructed the marches and clashed with the marching women. In countries, goons and conservatives attacked women marching in celebration of the day. With its origins in the labor and socialist movements of the 20th century, the day now recognized by[Read More…]
Two leading Malayalam news channels, Asianet News and Media One and are banned from airing for 48 hours from 7.30 PM this night on account of their reporting on Delhi riots. The Ministry of information and broadcasting claimed that these two channels violated the model code of conduct in airing the news. Both orders were signed by Amit Katoch. Ironically[Read More…]
World Health Organization (WHO) officials have warned that some countries are not taking the coronavirus crisis seriously enough, as outbreaks surged across Europe and in the U.S. where medical workers sounded warnings over a “disturbing” lack of hospital preparedness. The epidemic has wreaked havoc on international business, tourism, sports events and schools, with almost 300 million students sent home worldwide.[Read More…]
The world’s tropical forests are no longer carbon sinks because of human activity, and these forests now emit more carbon than these are able to absorb from the atmosphere as a result of the dual effects of deforestation and land degradation, finds a new study. The study tracking 300,000 trees over a period of 30 years finds: The ability of[Read More…]
As coronavirus fears spread, a world-renowned virologist has explained when Covid-2019 will fade away and, whether medical masks are of any use. Around the world, public anxiety grows, with people embarking on panic buying and even fighting for medical masks. But for initiated professionals, the Covid-2019 is just one of many epidemics that come and go without inflicting devastating losses[Read More…]
The U.S. state and local public health offices are scrambling to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They are doing so against a backdrop of years-long budget cuts, leaving them without the trained employees or updated equipment to adequately address the virus’ growing threat, former public health officials say. A USA Today report said: “In the last 15 years, public health, the country’s[Read More…]
The spread of COVID-19, popularly known as Coronavirus, is taking strange turns. The coronavirus crisis in China is improving while it is spreading in other countries including the U.S. The worldwide death toll, up to March 2, 2020, topped 3,000, and the number of cases tops nearly 90,000 in about 80 countries. However, world health officials sought to reassure the[Read More…]
A new MIT study has found no evidence of fraud in Bolivia’s 2019 election, despite allegations of serious irregularities by the Organization of American States (OAS), which led to the ousting of Evo Morales in a military coup. John Curiel and Jack R. Williams examined the OAS’s report and published their findings in the Washington Post on February 27,[Read More…]
A Muslim youth, Faizan who was seen lying injured on the street with a few others as policemen made them sing the national anthem in a video that went viral, died three days after the assault. His family told News18, Faizan was declared dead at the GTB Hospital on the morning of February 26. Nothing is Shocking anymore ;( pic.twitter.com/1aAX6C007Z[Read More…]
At least 33 Turkish soldiers have been killed and an unspecified number of soldiers were injured in an airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province. Turkish officials blamed the strike to the Syrian military. Casualties from the strike were being treated at hospitals in the border town of Reyhanli. Turkish officials have called the NATO secretary-general and the U.S. national security adviser[Read More…]
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, former President of Brazil, called on the Congress and citizens of Brazil to defend democracy against the calls for a coup by ultra-right-wing ruler Jair Bolsonaro and retired general Augusto Heleno. Bolsonaro has recently sent a message via WhatsApp to his close circle of allies in which he calls for “action” against Congress. Bolsonaro follows[Read More…]
“Human rights are under assault,” said Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, as he opened on Monday the UN Human Rights Council’s main annual session in Geneva. “People are being left behind. Fears are growing,” he said, pointing to swelling divisions and political polarization in many countries. A perverse political arithmetic “A perverse political arithmetic has taken hold: divide people to[Read More…]
A World Health Organization (WHO)-United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)-The Lancet Commission report said: Rising inequalities and environmental crises threaten political stability and risk international conflict over access to resources. By 2030, 2·3 billion people are projected to live in fragile or conflict affected contexts. The commission’s report – A future for the world’s children? (www.thelancet.com, published online on February 18, 2020[Read More…]
January Average Temperature Departures The first two months of meteorological winter (December 2019 – January 2020) were the warmest on record for the contiguous U.S. in data going back to 1895. January 2020 the fifth warmest January on record in all 48 contiguous states. The states saw above- to much-above-average temperatures last month. This was the ninth consecutive January[Read More…]
The River Wye in Hereford has reached its highest level in at least 200 years in the wake of Storm Dennis lashing the area with torrential rain. The River Taff in Pontypridd reached its highest level in more than 40 years and the River Usk reached the highest level since 1979. Britain will be lashed by more heavy rain this[Read More…]
The Pearl River in Jackson, Mississippi, reached its third-highest crest on record as flooding impacted homes and businesses. Hundreds of residents have fled Jackson ahead of potentially historic flooding of the Pearl River. Hundreds of homes have been damaged by the flood. The number may increase to at least 1,000 said Malary White with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. After[Read More…]
Two months after the police brutality at Jamia Millia Islamia, a new video has emerged showing paramilitary and police personnel beating up students in the library on December 15. The 48-second video, which appears to be CCTV footage, shows some seven to eight paramilitary and police personnel entering the Old Reading Hall and beating up students with batons. The paramilitary[Read More…]
Old debate centering army in Pakistan politics has reemerged following remarks by the country’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. A report in Pakistan’s leading daily The Dawn said: “Opposition parties have taken exception to the reported remarks of Prime Minister Imran Khan that the army knows who is corrupt in the country, terming the statement ‘irresponsible’.” The report by Amir Wasim[Read More…]
Last January was the hottest January on record over the world’s land and ocean surfaces, with average temperatures exceeding anything in the 141 years of data held by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The record temperatures in January follow an exceptionally warm 2019, which has been ranked as the second hottest year for the planet’s surface since[Read More…]
Media reports said: A Syrian was killed and another was wounded when villagers attacked U.S. troops and tried to block their way as their convoy drove through an army checkpoint in northeastern Syria. The incident prompted a rare clash. Another report said: A Syrian teenager was killed while another man was injured during the altercation between U.S. troops and locals.[Read More…]
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has terminated the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the U.S. The Philippines announced its decision Tuesday – a move the U.S. embassy in the Philippines called a “serious step” – touching off a six-month countdown to the end of the deal. Duterte’s disdain for the Philippines’ close ties with the U.S. is well-known, He sees[Read More…]
Confidential documents published Tuesday by The Washington Post and German and Swiss broadcasters ZDF and SRF show: The CIA, the world-famous U.S. intelligence agency, secretly bought a Swiss company that sold encrypted devices and rigged them to spy on clients. The company, Crypto AG, sold gadgets and software to spies, diplomats, military officials, and private companies for decades. The company[Read More…]
Aerial view of melting glaciers on King George Island, Antarctica. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has confirmed that the Antarctic likely saw a new temperature record of more than 18°C on Thursday. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, spokesperson Clare Nullis from the WMO, said that the record reading taken in the north of the continent, would be[Read More…]
Police brutally beat up Jamia Millia Islamia students today. The police resorted to a lathi-charge on the protesters near Holy Family hospital which is within walking distance of Jamia Millia Islamia university. The students were holding an anti-CAA march from Jamia Millia Islamia to Parliament. The police had earlier denied permission to the protesters for the march. Height of brutality[Read More…]
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 19 million Americans have been infected with the flu so far this season, and 180,000 of them have been hospitalized because of the illness. The flu virus has already killed an estimated 10,000 people across the U.S., including 68 children, according to the CDC. Fourteen influenza-associated pediatric deaths[Read More…]
With Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s current Latin America tour significant change is happening in the region. Sergey Lavrov has hit back at threats from Washington over Moscow’s support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, insisting Caracas and its neighbors deserve the option not to be U.S. vassal states. Lavrov was in Mexico on an official tour. Prior to the Mexico[Read More…]
Following infestation of swarms of desert locusts in the eastern part of Pakistan the country’s Prime Minister Imran Khan declared national emergency on Saturday to protect crops and help farmers. The Pakistan government said it was the worst locust infestation in more than two decades. “We are facing the worst locust infestation in more than two decades and have decided[Read More…]
China said it would ban illegal wildlife markets and trade in light of the Wuhan coronavirus or 2019-nCoV, which has killed at least 426 people and infected more than 20,000. Beyond China, at least 169 cases have been confirmed in 25 countries. It is widely believed that the Wuhan coronavirus likely started in a wet market, where live and dead[Read More…]
The Seattle City Council, one of the most powerful city councils in the U.S., on Monday unanimously passed a resolution condemning India’s recently-enacted Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Reaffirming Seattle as a welcoming city and expressing solidarity with the city’s South Asian community regardless of religion and caste, the resolution “resolves that the Seattle[Read More…]
More than 270 scientists have signed an open letter to Australia’s leaders calling on them to abandon partisan politics and take action on climate change. They are calling for urgent action to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions The scientists warn the impacts of climate change are coming faster, stronger and more regularly The letter comes as the Australian Parliament[Read More…]
A female flogging squad in Indonesia’s Aceh province has been engaged recently. Reports by media including reports by AFP and The Jakarta Post said: The members of the squad sometimes unleash flurry of lashes as part of their duty. They watch for morality crimes in Aceh, the only region in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation that imposes Islamic law –[Read More…]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a “public health emergency of international concern” over the outbreak of the 2019nCoV, or the Wuhan coronavirus. The international body did not recommend travel and trade restrictions. The declaration comes hours after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first case of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus in the U.S., in[Read More…]
Palestine has erupted in protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump announced plan on Palestine. Tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the streets to protest Trump’s proposal. The plan is a sellout of the Palestine people, as the Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas has told. Gaza Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza Strip observed a general strike on Wednesday. All the[Read More…]
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has slammed U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East “peace” plan, declaring “Jerusalem is not for sale”. Abbas warned that the “conspiracy deal will not pass.” “Your conspiracy deal will not pass and the Palestinian people will reject it,” Abbas warned on Tuesday after Trump unveiled his long-awaited plan for peace between Israel and Palestine. Calling it[Read More…]
New research suggests that the Wuhan coronavirus, which has killed at least 100 people, may not have originated in the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market in Wuhan, Hubei, China. The virus is zoonotic, meaning it can be passed from animals to humans. So experts thought people in Wuhan likely caught the virus from snakes in a wet market, where meat is[Read More…]
West Bengal became the fourth opposition-ruled state to pass a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in its assembly, after Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan. The resolution, moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee was passed unanimously by the House, with Congress and Left members, along with those of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), supporting it. The BJP opposed it.[Read More…]
Coronavirus is impacting the gold, oil, tourism crop markets. Virus fears has driven sell-off in stocks, oil, yuan. The death toll from the virus has risen to at least 80, and confirmed cases in the U.S. rose to five on Sunday. Case has been detected in Canada also. Thailand has so far confirmed eight cases, with five already discharged and[Read More…]
A 620 km long human chain from the northern part of Kerala to the south was formed on Republic Day by the CPI(M) led Left Democratic Front, to register the protest against the ‘unconstitutional: Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). People from all walks of life including newly weds participated in the human chain. The organizers claimed that around 60 to 70[Read More…]
Rajasthan Assembly passed a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). Rajasthan is the third state to pass a resolution against CAA. The resolution asked the Centre to repeal the CAA and withdraw the new questionnaire for preparation of the National Population Register (NPR), as the people would face inconvenience with the proposed additional information. “The CAA flouts the Constitution’s[Read More…]
More than three months of political blockade have passed since protests in Lebanon erupted. A new government has sworn-in. Still violent protests continue with call for an end to corruption, economic woes and sectarian politics. Protesters have called for a “Week of Rage”. Protesters on Tuesday chanted “Revolution, Revolution:. More than 540 people have been wounded during the protests. Despite the[Read More…]
A landmark ruling by the UN Human Rights Committee said: It unlawful to return refugees to countries where their lives may be threatened by the impacts of the climate crisis. The non-binding ruling is a move, which could set a precedent for future protection claims. The committee’s judgment centered on the case of Ioane Teitiota, a man from the Pacific[Read More…]
Libya devastated by imperialist intervention is still conflict-torn, and in unstable condition. Recently concluded Berlin conference has begun a process. Still uncertainty is there as the conference is yet to produce fruitful progress in Libya-situation. Much remained to be done, says Lavrov Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov has said that his country considers the Berlin Conference a “small step” towards[Read More…]
A super-rich one percent of the world’s population has accumulated twice as much wealth as the remaining 90 percent, said a new report by Oxfam, a global charity. The report has been released on January 20, 2020 on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The gap between the filthy rich and the rest of humanity[Read More…]
In an unprecedented move Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal has granted power of detaining authority to the Delhi Police Commissioner under the National Security Act, according to a notification. Under the National Security Act, an individual can be detained without a charge for up to 12 months. The individual also need not be informed of the charges for 10 days.[Read More…]
The Punjab Assembly on Friday passed a resolution by voice vote against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, the second state in the country to do so. The resolution moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra was passed after over three hours of discussion. While the ruling Congress and main opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supported the resolution, the BJP opposed[Read More…]
The world’s elite are set to descend on Davos, a Swiss mountain resort, in the World Economic Forum (WEF). It is an annual gathering of world political leaders, business executives including chief executives of some of the world’s biggest and powerful companies, academics and non-governmental organization (NGO) leaders. The Davos WEF has an image of being an elitist event meant[Read More…]
The 2019 was the world’s second-hottest year on record. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), U.S. space administration NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the finding Wednesday. The Geneva-based WMO combined several datasets, including two from the NASA and the UK Met Office. The decade beginning in 2010 was the hottest ever, and it’s the[Read More…]
Amidst obstacles to the creation of a new administration in Lebanon angry protesters have begun returning to streets. Protesters are returning with the slogan, “The revolution is coming back.” There were clashes between the protesters and army and security forces. Protesters burned tires, blocked roads and brought traffic in Beirut to a standstill on Tuesday in renewed demonstrations against economic[Read More…]
Air pollution is a big killer. Air pollution has also been linked to an increased risk in depression and suicide. More than 160,000 people could die in the next decade from strokes and heart attacks caused by air pollution, a charity has warned. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said there is an estimated 11,000 such deaths per year at the[Read More…]
A deadly winter storm brought severe impacts to millions of people from parts of the Arabian Peninsula to Pakistan beginning late last week and through the weekend. According to media reports, at least 54 people were killed by the combination of heavy snowfall, brutal cold and severe flooding in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The storm got underway on Thursday with scattered[Read More…]
India does not need the CAA-NPR-NRIC. They need to be resolutely opposed. Withdraw the Foreigners (Tribunals) Amendment Order, 2019 Issued on 09 January 2020, by CONSTITUTIONAL CONDUCT GROUP, with 106 signatories, Full Text given below. Most of them were IAS, and include IPS, IRS, IFS officials. And include top former Secretaries, DGPs, RAW officials too. The signatories included those connected[Read More…]
In north Gujarat a 19-year-old Dalit woman was kidnapped, gangraped and murdered before her body was hanged from a tree to make it look like a suicide. The victim had gone missing on December 31 and her body was found on January 5. According to the details of the Nirbhaya-like case, after the deceased went missing, her family had approached[Read More…]
Five days after masked goons attacked students in New Delhi’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in which about 20 students including JNU Students Union President Aishe Ghosh and teachers were grievously injured, the Delhi police have accused that Aishe Ghosh and other left wing students were among the attackers. The police released photos puported to be that of Aishe Ghosh.[Read More…]
Masked goons entered New Delhi’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University and went on a rampage, targeting students and teachers and vandalising property. Several students have been injured, including the head of its students’ union. The police, “who are in the campus and the security personnel did nothing,” said JNUSU vice-President Saket Moon. The JNUSU has alleged the complicity of Akhil Bharatiya[Read More…]
Indian-Australians in Sydney held a huge protest against the unconstitutional, bigoted and divisive Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. Speakers called for the repeal of the CAA and NRC; for an end to police violence; and for the Morrison government to speak out about the human rights abuses occurring under the Modi government. A number of speakers[Read More…]
The Citizenship Amend Act (CAA) is a unconstitutional law passed by the Nazi regime in India led by the ideologically Nazi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 by providing a path to Indian citizenship for Hindu, Sikh,[Read More…]
A fact-finding report, published by a team comprising activist Yogendra Yadav, CPI (ML)’s Kavita Krishnan, and Riad Azam, says that Uttar Pradesh is under a “reign of terror” following the state government’s “unlawful and lethal tactics” to harass citizens protesting peacefully against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). The report, which cites district-wise statistics and[Read More…]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lied to the nation claiming that there never was a pan India National Register of Citizens (NRC). Launching BJP’s election campaign in Delhi he said, “Has anything happened with the NRC yet? Lies are being spread. After my government came to power, from 2014 to now, let me tell the 130 crore citizens of this country,[Read More…]
The protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed NRC is spreading in many parts of India. Six protesters were killed in clashes that erupted across Uttar Pradesh over the Citizenship Amendment Act on Friday, the state police confirmed. This has taken the total number of protest-related deaths in the state so far to seven. However, Uttar Pradesh Director[Read More…]
Extreme temperatures are expected in South Australia, Victoria, NSW and the as the heatwave moves east. Source: Bureau of Meteorology Hellish heatwave is hitting Australia. A state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales, Australia, amid fears a record-breaking heatwave will exacerbate the state’s bushfire crisis. More than 100 fires continue to burn in New South Wales[Read More…]
Hundreds of protestors were detained across India on Thursday as authorities clamped down on protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, social activist Harsh Mander, scholar Yogendra Yadav, and Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja were among those detained in Delhi, where 20 metro stations were closed through the day. Historian Ramachandra Guha and others detained[Read More…]
Deforestation on protected Indigenous lands in the Amazon was almost three times higher than the loss of trees in the region as a whole and the highest since 2008, finds a new study based on satellite imagery. The data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) studied by the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA), a group working with Indigenous people, show that between August 2018 and[Read More…]
Greenland is losing ice seven times faster than in the 1990s and is tracking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s high-end climate warming scenario, which would see 40 million more people exposed to coastal flooding by 2100. A team of 96 polar scientists from 50 international organizations has produced the most complete picture of Greenland ice loss to date. The[Read More…]
The longest ever UN climate talks on record – Conference of Parties (COP)25 – have finally ended in Madrid with nothing, but a compromise deal. Many of those in attendance were unhappy with the overall package, feeling it did not reflect the urgency of the science. A disappointment has overwhelmed many COP25 delegates. Exhausted delegates reached agreement on the key[Read More…]
Students rose up across India against the unconstitutional Citizenship Amendment Act after their compatriots in Jamia Milia Islamia were violently beaten up in their campus yesterday. Police in both Delhi and Aligarh used excessive force against student protest. The crack down left a total of nearly 50 students injured and the 100 Jamia students – who had been detained after[Read More…]
On Saturday, activists staged a protest outside the COP25 summit venue in Madrid to express their frustration at what they see as the failure of world leaders in taking meaningful action on climate change. The conference has become enmeshed in deep, technical arguments about a number of issues including the role of carbon markets and the financing of loss and[Read More…]
The Kerala government has decided not to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill enacted by the Centre, calling it unconstitutional. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday that his government had taken the decision based on the “unconstitutional” nature of the bill. Another opposition-ruled state, Punjab, too, decided to not implement the law. Chief Minister Captain Amarinder[Read More…]
Argentina is taking measures to fight out debacles created by implementation of neoliberal policies for years in the country. The measures may appear unusual to many. But the measures show a political leadership’s effort to fight out poverty, lack of medicare for common people. There is also a plan to make current laws related to health and social emergencies ineffective[Read More…]
US Dollar’s world domination is diminishing. Not only are central banks, the world’s rich also hoarding the yellow metal – gold. A Bloomberg opinion piece “World Is Stuck With the Dollar as the Reserve Currency” (December 11, 2019) said: “The U.S. dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency might be weakening. In the last few years, the fraction of global[Read More…]
The Arctic is increasingly at risk as temperatures warm and sea ice melts away, warns U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in its Arctic Report Card (ARC), an annual report on the state of this crucial ecosystem. Climate crisis is causing chaos in the Bering Sea, home to one of America’s largest fisheries, said the U.S. federal government agency’s scientists[Read More…]
The war The U.S. is waging in Afghanistan is highly costly. Brown University’s Costs of War Project made some calculations of the war years ago. Now, the high cost is being discussed in the circles of the mainstream politics and media. The New York Times in its “What Did the U.S. Get for $2 Trillion in Afghanistan?” report on December[Read More…]
A countrywide union strike against pension reform has brought transportation across France to a standstill. Thousands of workers marched in what has been described as the largest protest of its kind since 1995. The protest dwarfed the weekly Yellow Vests demonstrations that have been happening every Saturday for over a year now. The massive worker walkouts and marches were called[Read More…]
Exceptional global heat driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mean this decade will most likely go down as the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which released its provisional statement on the State of the Global Climate on Tuesday. The WMO also finds that 2019 is on track to be the second or third warmest year[Read More…]
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said that Central Bureau of Investigation Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya’s death should be re-investigated if there is a demand and need for it. Sharad Pawar said in an interview to a Marathi news channel, “If there is something in it [the demands], then maybe a re-investigation should be done.” “I don’t know, I read[Read More…]
Conference of Parties (COP) 25 is on in Madrid. The COP25 is going through discussions and debates. Problems are raised and solutions are sought in the COP. Prospects are searched while promises are made in the conference. But, the outcome of the COP25 may not be hopeful. Political leaders and climate diplomats are meeting in Madrid for two weeks of[Read More…]
Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) calls for the resignation of the government, a total replacement of the current system by a new system, and for continuing the uprising with the same motivation and power until people’s demands are met. As massive demonstrations over unemployment, rampant corruption, poor delivery of services, and sectarianism are gaining momentum, the ICP – the country’s oldest existing[Read More…]
China has suspended U.S. warship visits and sanctioned American NGOs on Monday in retaliation for the passage of a bill backing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has been rocked by nearly six months of increasingly violent unrest, which Beijing has frequently blamed on foreign influence. Last week U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and[Read More…]
(Following is a news report that pleased all RTC workers and people who supported them in spite of a 52-day long strike from October 5. Around 49000 workers went on strike, hardly one percent workers resumed duties in spite of threats and ultimatums issued by the Management as well as the Chief Minister. The strike was illegal, declared the management,[Read More…]
A rapid and deep decarbonization of power supply worldwide is required to limit global warming to well below 2 °C. Beyond greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the power sector is also responsible for numerous other environmental impacts. An international team of scientists in their study has found this. Producing electricity in a climate-friendly brings huge benefits for our health – mainly due[Read More…]
China has warned that continued U.S .meddling in Hong Kong is “doomed to fail” and threatened “firm counter measures,” after President Donald Trump passed two bills backing ongoing protests in the territory. Washington has “ignored facts” and “blatantly supported violent radicals who oppose the rule of law” in Hong Kong, the Foreign Ministry of China said on Thursday. The warning[Read More…]
Argentina’s leftist president-elect Alberto Fernandez said Tuesday that he would renounce the remaining $11 billion tranche of the country’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan as soon as he takes office next month. Outgoing center-right President Mauricio Macri agreed a massive $57 billion loan package last year, but the austerity measures he imposed failed to right the economy. “What I want[Read More…]
Lebanon is going through turmoil. Clashes between supporters of Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, and Shi’ite groups Hezbollah and Amal turned into gunfire in Beirut late on Monday, reported state news agency NNA. The clashes marked the second consecutive night of violence linked to Lebanon’s political crisis, threatening to tip largely peaceful demonstrations directed at the country’s ruling[Read More…]
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Twilight of the Pandemic? Bracing for a Surge of Trumpism or… 
Rural Teacher Pedro Castillo Poised to Write a New Chapter in Peru’s History 
“Cow dung, cow urine didn’t work. Groundless argument. Tomorrow I will eat fish”. In mid-May this year, this simple Facebook post about the futility of bovine waste as a cure for Covid-19, was enough to get Kishorechandra Wangkhem, a journalist from Imphal, Manipur arrested for ‘sedition’ . The post upset members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as it came[Read More…]
