2021-01-11: News Headlines

MEE and agencies (2021-01-11). Covid-19: Palestine first in Middle East to register for Russian vaccine, says wealth fund. middleeasteye.net Covid-19: Palestine first in Middle East to register for Russian vaccine, says wealth fund | With delivery expected 'within a month', Russia's Sputnik V will be the first shipment of coronavirus vaccine for the Palestinians | Mon, 01/11/2021 – 13: 27 | A Palestinian health worker collects random swab samples from people to test for the coronavirus in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 1…

Eds. (2021-01-11). The UN Convention on War Crimes should be applied to the United States. mronline.org Despite the measures taken by the international community to reinforce global security and protect civilians from the relentless increase in the number of armed conflicts, unjustified civilian casualties are not decreasing, and not only in the tinder box that is the Middle East, but also in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and even in Europe.

WSWS (2021-01-11). Spain passes two million coronavirus cases as infection rates surge. wsws.org After a lull in new daily infections and deaths, the holidays saw a renewed surge of COVID-19 in Spain, with cases returning to levels last seen in late October.

Dr. Barbara G. Ellis (2021-01-11). Congressional Aid for COVID Victims Takes Lessons from Parliament's Stingy Aid to Irish in the Great Famine of the 1840s. globalresearch.ca The parallel of the American economic landscape from COVID's deathly sweep seems far more like Ireland's in the

WSWS (2021-01-11). German schools and day-care centres to reopen despite record death rates and new infections. wsws.org Despite schools being the central driver of the pandemic, the education ministers in Germany's federal states have decided on a "resumption of face-to-face teaching" as soon as possible.

MEE staff (2021-01-11). UAE open to normalising relations with Turkey, top diplomat says. middleeasteye.net UAE open to normalising relations with Turkey, top diplomat says | Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash says normalisation deal would 'respect mutual sovereignty', but also calls on Turkey to halt 'support to Muslim Brotherhood' | Mon, 01/11/2021 – 19: 50 | The UAE's foreign affairs minister, Anwar Gargash, said Turkey could 'recalibrate its relations with Arabs' if it were to cut off its 'suppo…

Dustin Noga (2021-01-11). European Union drops fictional claim that Juan Guaidó is president of Venezuela. peoplesworld.org The European Union has de-recognized Juan Guaidó as the "Interim President" of Venezuela as of Wednesday, Jan. 6. The move came after Guaidó lost his position as the head of the Venezuelan National Assembly following the December 2020 parliamentary elections. The European Commission declared that this was the will of all EU governments. Commission spokesman …

teleSUR (2021-01-11). Brazilian Lab to Produce Sputnik V for Sale in Latam. telesurenglish.net The Russian Sputnik V vaccine developers informed that a Brazilian laboratory will launch the drug's production and distribution throughout Latin America as of January 15. | RELATED: | The Brazilian Chemical Union company confirmed the news by announcing that it will produce 8 million doses per month in the first semester of 2021. | "On Monday, a company delegation will travel to Russia to finish validating the manufac…

teleSUR (2021-01-11). Biden Chooses Iran Nuclear Deal Negotiator as His CIA Director. telesurenglish.net After serving as ambassador to Russia, Burns led the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran to reach the historic nuclear deal in 2015. | Burns currently serves as the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an international think-tank. | RELATED: | If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first career diplomat to serve in…

teleSUR (2021-01-11). Bolivia and Spain Re-Establish Diplomatic Relations. telesurenglish.net Bolivia's President Luis Arce on Monday received the credentials of Spain's Ambassador Francisco Gasso, thus putting an end to diplomatic tensions experienced since the U.S.-backed coup led by Jeanine Añez in 2019. | RELATED: | The appointment of the Spanish ambassador comes after several months without diplomatic relations between both countries as a result of the expulsion of the Charge d'Affaires and Consul officers in De…

Press TV (2021-01-11). India to Go Ahead with Purchase of Russia S-400 Air Defense System Despite US Sanctions Threat. asia-pacificresearch.com

Steven Sahiounie (2021-01-11). End of the Saudi Blockade of Qatar: Will Syria Benefit from the "Renewed Gulf Unity"? globalresearch.ca With an end to the Qatar blockade and a possible rapprochement with Turkey, Saudi Arabia may soon move towards reconciliation with Syria. | The Persian Gulf states' opposition to Iran's role in the region, while limiting Turkey's influence, may bring Saudi …

Andrew Korybko (2021-01-10). U.S. shouldn't have double standards on weaponized protest movements. thealtworld.com Russian Deputy Envoy to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy made a powerful point on Twitter earlier this week when he asked, "Why do you call storming by protesters of the U.S. Capitol 'domestic terrorism' and similar and much more bloody events in Kiev in 2014 'revolution of dignity'?" | Many remember how America praised the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, which overthrew President Viktor Yanukovich, in the aftermath of a run-off vote. | In fact, not only did the U.S. politically support that infamous governmental reshuffle which forever changed the face of European history by consequently leading to Crimea's…

The Canary (2021-01-10). Letter: The demonisation of Assange paves the way for more rape and murder by the State. thecanary.co We are relieved the court ruled not to extradite Julian Assange to the US. His immediate release from Belmarsh, classified as torture by the UN Special Rapporteur, especially under coronavirus, must follow. The refusal of bail must be reversed immediately. | As an anti-rape organisation, we resent the original use of alleged sex offences to facilitate Assange's extradition to the US via Sweden. Knowing the evidence, that case was never viable, but it initiated and fuelled a witch-hunt against Assange and diverted from the real target: his Wikileaks reporting. | Assange and Chelsea Manning exposed rape, torture, a…

RT (2021-01-10). Algeria becomes first African nation to approve Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. rt.com Algeria is going to vaccinate its population against the coronavirus with Sputnik V after the Russian drug received official approval from the North African country's health authorities. | A registration certificate for Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) vaccine was shared by the country's Ministry of Pharmaceutical Industry on Facebook. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which finances the development of the vaccine, also confirmed the news, saying that it was approved under the emergency use authorization. | Algiers and Moscow inked a deal for Sputnik V shortly before the New Year. The supplies of Russian…

RT (2021-01-10). Russia reports first case of mutated UK coronavirus variant. rt.com A new, more infectious variant of Covid-19, which was discovered in Britain in mid-December, has reached Russia, the country's wellbeing and consumer-rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said. | The mutated strain was found in the samples taken from a Russian man who had returned from a trip to the UK before the New Year, Rospotrebnadzor's head Anna Popova told the Rossiya 1 channel on Sunday. | He didn't show symptoms of the disease and isn't contagious anymore. "The man was feeling and is currently feeling fine," Popova said. | The new Covid-19 variant has led in recent weeks to a spike in cases in Britain, par…

Muhammed Shabeer (2021-01-10). 'Let the rich pay for the COVID-19 crisis'. peoplesdispatch.org Niklas Bà∂ck, chairman of the Communist Youth of Austria, talks about the impact of COVID-19 on the people, especially the youth, the resistance to the far-right and the growth of the left…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-10). Communist youth mobilize across Italy demanding safety in schools. peoplesdispatch.org On Thursday, January 7, Communist Youth Front (FGC) organized demonstrations in several cities across Italy demanding safer classrooms. Schools across Italy were supposed to be reopened on that day but the government postponed the reopening to Monday. The FGC organized protests in the cities of Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Florence, Perugia, Catania, Padova, Salerno, Taranto, Cosenza, Gorizia and Ascoli. The protesters said that since the beginning of the pandemic, nothing substantial has been done to ensure safety in schools and respect for students' rights during online lessons. | FGC also gave a call for a nati…

Alex MacDonald (2021-01-10). Turkish government calls on Turks to dump WhatsApp, switch to local apps. middleeasteye.net Turkish government calls on Turks to dump WhatsApp, switch to local apps | New terms of service led to privacy concerns while Turkey has blasted a UK-EU exemption from data-sharing changes | Sun, 01/10/2021 – 15: 50 | Logos of social networking websites displayed on a mobile phone's screen in Istanbul (AFP) | The Turkish government has called on its citizens to stop using WhatsApp and instead us…

RT (2021-01-10). Erdogan's press office ditches WhatsApp as Ankara urges Turks to use domestic apps in fight against 'digital fascism'. rt.com The media office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is reportedly shutting down its WhatsApp groups over privacy concerns. The move comes after Ankara called for a nationwide boycott of the Facebook-owned messaging app. | Starting on Monday, the office is switching over to encrypted messaging app BiP, which is developed by Turkish firm Turkcell, Bloomberg reported, citing internal messages posted to the WhatsApp groups. | The decision comes amid growing consternation over WhatsApp's plan to begin sharing personal data with its parent company, Facebook. The policy comes into effect on February 8, and use…

Matthew Rozsa (2021-01-10). Multiple coronavirus strains are now circulating. Here's what that means. salon.com Coronavirus mutations in the United Kingdom and South Africa are spreading rapidly. But don't worry just yet…

Peadar O'Cearnaigh (2021-01-10). As Brexit reality hits home, it's starting to expose the DUP in Northern Ireland. thecanary.co When the UK left the EU on 1 January 2021, both parties

Labor Video Project (2021-01-10). Insurrection, The Coup & The Working Class With Professor Francis Boyle. indybay.org WorkWeek interviews Professor Frances Boyle about the insurrection and coup and what should be done about it.

_____ (2021-01-10). CCTV — The most-surveilled commuter boroughs in London. truepublica.org.uk Research by UK network data cabling infrastructure company ACCL has found that London is the most surveilled city in Europe with around 630,000 CCTV cameras watching 9.6 million inhabitants in the UK capital. That's 68 cameras per 1,000 Londoners. People living in Paris, Madrid and Athens are surveilled far less with between 3 and 11 …

Richard Horton (2021-01-09). [Comment] Offline: The cosmopolitan state. thelancet.com Britain feels broken. Broken by COVID-19. Broken by Brexit. Broken by the lies that have been dripped into British political debates these past 5 years. Those scientists and doctors who voted to remain in the European Union—perhaps based on a belief in the public value of research and clinical networks that have been painstakingly built over half a century between the UK and its European neighbours—were accused of Project Fear. But now that the UK has finally left the EU, with the thinnest of thin deals, one can look back and say that the arguments to leave were themselves based on nothing but fear[md…

RT (2021-01-09). WHO has received 13 Covid vaccine proposals for emergency use, expects to get full data on Russia's Sputnik V by end of this month. rt.com The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently assessing several vaccines to be promoted for emergency use across the world, including those made in Russia and China, one of its most senior officials revealed on Friday | The WHO has received 13 "valid proposals" for the possible emergency listing of Covid-19 vaccines since October, the assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, Mariangela Simao, said at a press briefing. | "We have received, for example, the information from Sinopharm, we have finalized that in phase three trial and it is being authorized in some countries. We ar…

RT (2021-01-09). Pope to be vaccinated against Covid next week, labels opposition to jabs 'suicidal denial'. rt.com Pope Francis has branded opposition to Covid-19 vaccines as "suicidal denial" and announced that he will receive a jab against the coronavirus disease next week. | In a forthcoming interview, the 84-year-old leader of the Catholic Church says that "ethically" getting a vaccine against the virus should be a duty for everyone. | "Next week, we will start to do it here (in the Vatican) and I made an appointment, we must do it," Francis told Italy's Canale 5 TV station. | Segments of the interview were released on Saturday with the full comments set to be broadcast on Sunday. "There is a suicidal denial which I ca…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-09). Justice for victim of police killing in Ireland. peoplesdispatch.org In this episode of Around the World in 8 Minutes, we look at the campaign launched by the Sudanese Professionals Association to dissolve the notorious government-backed militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). We also look at the protests against the killing of George Nkencho by Irish police, as well as the killing of 9 indigenous leaders of the Tumandok community in the Philippines.

The Canary (2021-01-09). Scientists warn that national lockdown needs to be stricter. thecanary.co The national lockdown needs to be toughened further to have a similar impact on case numbers as the March shutdown, scientists have said. | A more infectious variant, coupled with the usual winter pressures, requires stricter measures than the ones announced by Boris Johnson for England this month, the experts warned. Similar lockdown measures are in place across Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. | Activity: | Professor Robert West, a participant in the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), said the current restrictions are "still allowing a lot of activity which is spreading the…

Staff (2021-01-09). I Showed Raffensperger Evidence of Wrongful Voter Purges. He Ignored It. truthout.org Atlanta — Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger The record says otherwise. Republican Raffensperger did all he could leading up to the election to su…

RT (2021-01-09). Isaak Khalatnikov dies aged 101: Legendary Russian physicist & WW2 veteran helped create first Soviet nuclear bomb in 1940s. rt.com Russian physicist Isaak Khalatnikov, the oldest member of the country's Academy of Sciences (RAS), has died at the age of 101. The scientist was the last living participant of the team that built the first Soviet nuclear bomb. | The scientist died early on Saturday in the Moscow Region, RAS told Russian media outlets. Born in 1919, more than a century ago, Khalatnikov was one of the leading Soviet — and, after the collapse of the Union, Russian scientists in the field of theoretical physics. | He was also the first head of the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, a prestigious research agency within…

sputniknews (2021-01-09). Watch Heavy Snowfall Bury Madrid as Storm Filomena Hits Spain. sputniknews.com The snowfall, said to be the heaviest in decades, caused the cancellation of flights and left hundreds of roads closed on January 9.

WSWS (2021-01-09). Germany leads Europe in daily coronavirus deaths. wsws.org Germany currently has the highest number of daily coronavirus deaths in Europe.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-09). Braving crackdown, Turkish students resist Erdogan's bid to subjugate universities. peoplesdispatch.org Turkish authorities are cracking down on protests by the student community against president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's bid to control universities placing his loyalists at their helm. The move to appoint Melih Bulu as the rector of Boƒüaziàßi University has been met with widespread protests which have been going on since January 4. On January 8, police detained 30 students in Ankara who had demonstrated in solidarity with the university protests. On January 7, two cadre of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) were arrested in Antalya for raising a banner in solidarity with the students. Earlier, dozen…

oneworld.press (2021-01-09). The Forgotten People Of America. oneworld.press The elites and the deep state are behaving like idiots, but that's not America. That's, like in Europe, not real politics, but the deep state, which has nothing to do with us, the real people. In the US, it has nothing to do with politics, and the same applies for in Europe.

Editor (2021-01-08). The Climate Crisis Sets Another Grim Record. scheerpost.com NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / CC BY 2.0] By Andrea Germanos / Common Dreams Highlighting global campaigners' demands for urgent and bold climate action, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service announced Friday that despite coronavirus-related lockdowns, 2020 tied with 2016 for being the warmest year on record and closed out the warmest decade on the books. "It is notable that… |

WSWS (2021-01-08). Vaccine distribution mired in delays across Europe. wsws.org As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread out of control throughout the European continent, the program of vaccination organized by the European Union is already widely recognized to be a debacle.

WSWS (2021-01-08). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Employees at British Gas walk out to defend pay and conditions; UK University students rent strike across 31 universities; Kenyan healthcare workers' strike continues despite union sending doctors back…

RT (2021-01-08). United Ireland 'within 25 years' thanks to 'disaster' Brexit, UK's former Home Secretary predicts. rt.com The "disaster" Brexit deal has played into the hands of those wishing for the "destruction" of the UK, former cabinet minister David Blunkett has said, predicting that a united Ireland might emerge within the next 25 years. | The situation created by Brexit that now "effectively continues" the European single market in Northern Ireland bodes "extremely ill" for the future, Blunkett warned during a debate in the UK House of Lords on Friday. | The divorce agreement has created "contradictions" between the relationship Northern Ireland has with the rest of the UK and the EU, and, ultimately, might lead to the re…

_____ (2021-01-08). Biden Appoints Chief Ukraine Coup-Plotter Victoria Nuland. popularresistance.org Describing it as "one of the darkest days in American history," President-elect Joe Biden denounced Wednesday's spectacular assault on the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. as a coup attempt fomented by Donald Trump. | "I wish we could say we couldn't see it coming, but that isn't true. We could see it coming," the 78-year-old Delawarean said. | The last four years we've had a president who's made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law, clear in everything he has done. He unleashed an all-out assault on the institutions of our democracy from the outset, and yesterday was but a culmin…

Abayomi Azikiwe (2021-01-08). Georgia Twin Runoff Election Results Fuel Right-wing Unrest. globalresearch.ca GR Editor's Note | With regard to the coverage of the Wednesday Capitol Event, Global Research will be publishing opposing and contradictory points of view by several of our authors. | We are dealing with a complex and far-reaching political process. We …

WSWS (2021-01-08). Student protests continue in Turkey in defiance of police-state measures. wsws.org The mass student protests in Istanbul that started to oppose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's appointment of a new rector to Boƒüaziàßi University, continued yesterday in defiance of police-state measures to suppress the movement.

Robert Fantina (2021-01-08). The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) Intrusion in Albania, Threatens Regional Stability in Middle East and Balkans. globalresearch.ca One can only imagine the risk when some citizens of a small country conceal hundreds of thousands of weapons and explosives. The nation becomes a powder keg, awaiting one small mistake to spark a deadly explosion. | This is the situation …