(2022-01-15). PDVSA to Resume Diluted Crude Oil Exports. orinocotribune.com Venezuelan state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) will begin exporting diluted crude oil (DCO) this week, after it being stopped for nine months. This was revealed in a document to which Reuters had access. | After the agreements reached between PDVSA and Iran, the Venezuelan state-owned company has been able to modify its production and marketing strategies, which has helped it build diluted crude inventories. | An agreement reached in 2021 with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) allowed PDVSA to receive around 2.1 million barrels per month of condensate, while supplying Iran with some 3.8…
(2022-01-15). Return the gold to Venezuela! orinocotribune.com 
On 8-9 January the Revolutionary Communist Group and supporters of its newspaper Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! took to the streets demanding that Britain return $1.8bn of gold to Venezuela. | The action was called in response to the criminal ruling on 20 December, where Britain's Supreme Court recognised as the owner of $1.8bn of gold held in the Bank of England's vaults, not the legitimate socialist party government of Venezuela, but rather the discredited opposition 'interim president', Juan Guaido — the failed puppet of US imperialism. Whilst Nicolas Maduro's government in Venezuela demands the gold…
(2022-01-15). US Occupation Installs Oil Refinery in Rmelan Fields, Hasaka Countryside. orinocotribune.com Hasaka, SANA — The US occupation forces and the separatist QSD militia installed an oil refinery in Rmelan fields in Hasaka north eastern, in parallel with stealing dozens of tankers laden with oil and transferring them to Iraqi territories. | A source at Directorate of Rmelan fields told SANA that the oil refinery has a capacity to refine 3,000 barrels per day. | The source added that in the upc…
(2022-01-15). The Role that Social and Media Platforms Played in the Events in Kazakhstan. journal-neo.org 
With the rise of cell phones, the Internet, social media, and other forms of electronic communication, the ability to influence public opinions and the social and political life in a country has grown significantly. Furthermore, the speed with which information is made available through social media is unprecedented. Today's social media spreads information in a …
(2022-01-15). Why Study History? Why it Matters to the Yankee Population Who don't Bother to Vote. dissidentvoice.org 
Orientation Why bother? "Why should I care about the past? The past is over. What matters is the present and the future. Besides, the only people in the history books are usually kings, generals, or politicians. I could care less about them. What do they do? Fight wars? Attend Congress? Schmooze? History is about dead …
(2022-01-15). Enduring Stain: The Guantánamo Military Prison Turns Twenty. dissidentvoice.org Anniversaries for detention centres, concentration camps and torture facilities are not the relishable calendar events in the canon of human worth. But not remembering them, when they were used, and how they continue being used, would be unpardonable amnesia. On January 11, 2002, the first prisoners of the absurdly named "War on Terror", declared with …
(2022-01-15). A Short History of the US-Pakistan Relationship. dissidentvoice.org 
On January 10, 2022, National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yusuf said, "It [Pakistan] is still not [free from US influence] and I doubt that there is any country which is free from it." He added that the country does not have any financial independence, being dependent on loans from International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other foreign …
(2022-01-15). The US Enables Criminal Israeli Behavior. dissidentvoice.org Given all the attention focused on the covid-19 pandemic, the Build Back Better bill, the January 6th attack on the Capitol and the media-hyped crises over Ukraine and Taiwan this past year, many other important issues have not received much attention. One example is the Palestinian/Israeli situation. Views of Israel There have been some major …
(2022-01-15). Crisis-ridden Australian government cancels Novak Djokovic's visa amid mass backlash. wsws.org Djokovic can be accused of an arrogant disregard for public health during the pandemic, but it is nothing compared to the Australian government.
(2022-01-15). Baton Rouge, Louisiana teachers stage sickout as COVID-19 ravages the South. wsws.org At least 760 teachers and school staff in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, called out sick Wednesday to protest the alarming spread of COVID-19 and the district's refusal to offer virtual learning.
(2022-01-15). US hospitals rapidly reaching capacity as Omicron continues nation-wide surge. wsws.org The United States faces a massive health crisis as the Omicron variant sickens hundreds of thousands of Americans every day. However, no measures are being employed by the Biden administration to stanch to the ongoing collapse of the health care system.
(2022-01-15). Attend Committee for Public Education meeting to fight the deadly reopening of Australia's schools amid COVID surge. wsws.org Rank-and-file safety committees need to be formed in every school, independent of the unions, to organise the widest discussion on the necessary steps going forward to take up the fight for remote learning, as part of a global fight for the elimination of the virus.
(2022-01-15). Growing support for Southern California trash collection workers as local government seeks to break month-long strike. wsws.org As a public health emergency is declared in light of infestations and contamination, Republic Services is enlisting city employees and volunteers as scab labor.
(2022-01-15). Rusia y Estados Unidos se toman Ginebra. globalizacion.ca Ni Estados Unidos ni Rusia han invitado a la mesa principal a los europeos. Los gobiernos de la federación rusa y de Estados Unidos están reunidos, en esta segunda semana de enero en Ginebra, Suiza, representados por Serguéi Riabkov —…
(2022-01-15). Mass opposition to Monday's return to in-class learning in Ontario and Quebec. wsws.org Mass walkouts must be organized to close all schools to in-person learning as part of a Zero COVID strategy that includes the shutdown of all nonessential production with full wages paid to all workers, and a comprehensive program of public health measures to stamp out transmission of the virus once and for all.
(2022-01-15). Inflation hits a 40-year high as record corporate profits roll on. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – On Wednesday, January 12 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that prices of consumer goods rose 7% in 2021. This is the highest rate of inflation in 40 years. With workers' wages only up by 4.7% last year, the purchasing power of workers' earnings fell by more than 2%. | One important cause of higher prices was the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. While spending on services, which involve more human contact and a greater possibility of infection lagged, spending on goods surged. This was the case for used cars, where prices went up 37.3% last year, as travel on mass transit decli…
(2022-01-15). Afganistán: La invasión que dejó hambre y miseria. globalizacion.ca Muchos países occidentales y medios de comunicación hegemónicos se azoran ahora por el hambre y la miseria que prolifera por todo el territorio de Afganistán pero se abstienen de señalar que la causa fundamental de esa lamentable situación fue la…
(2022-01-15). Students and teachers in Oakland, California, speak on planned strike against unsafe schools. wsws.org High school students in Oakland are threatening to strike if school is not taken online or conditions made safer.
(2022-01-15). Workers Struggles: Asia and Australia. wsws.org Delhi University staff strike over unpaid wages; Sri Lankan health workers strike in North Central Province; Australia: Patrick Terminals to terminate enterprise agreement…
(2022-01-15). Australian governments claim Omicron peaking as hospitalisations and deaths mount. wsws.org Claims COVID-19 case numbers will soon decrease are part of the profit-driven campaign to force potentially infectious workers back on the job.
(2022-01-15). Australian SEP electoral members discuss Omicron surge and Global Workers' Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic. wsws.org "The Workers Inquest is critical. It's become clear that the governments and health organisations don't want to provide the evidence about how it spreads, and what we need to do to keep safe."
(2022-01-15). La fea verdad de Facebook. globalizacion.ca Nadie duda de que Mark Zuckerberg hace grandes esfuerzos para reinventar su monopolio. Asediado desde hace años por especular con los datos de los usuarios de Facebook, permitir la circulación de teorías conspirativas, incentivar el genocidio, transmitir masacres en vivo…
(2022-01-15). Wildcat strike at àáimsata≈ü defies company, Turkish police and unions. wsws.org Workers must come to the defense of striking àáimsata≈ü metalworkers against the state and pressure from the corporation and trade union bureaucracy.
(2022-01-15). [Perspectives] From herbs and humours to anatomy. thelancet.com What if you had a second chance? If you could throw off suffocating circumstances, rewrite your narrative, and pursue your drive towards modern advances in understanding? In Ophelia Swam: An Oxford Novel, this chance unfolds for a young woman in mid-16th-century England, drawn towards the huge transformations taking place in medicine. This delicate exploration of trauma, grief, and friendship, deftly navigates the changes in thought and practice in this fascinating period of the history of medicine.
(2022-01-15). Appalachian State faculty member issues open letter against administration's reckless COVID-19 policies. wsws.org Opposition is mounting after a faculty member at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina issued an open letter condemning the university administration's COVID-19 guidelines.
(2022-01-15). Thousands of Chicago students walk out to protest unsafe return to schools. wsws.org Thousands of Chicago students walked out across more than 30 schools to protest the unsafe return to classrooms enforced by Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
(2022-01-15). [World Report] Disrupted care in Papua New Guinea: the harms of COVID-19. thelancet.com The COVID-19 pandemic in Papua New Guinea shows no sign of ending, and its worst legacy might be its effect on other diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. Chris McCall reports.
(2022-01-15). Mexico's COVID cases soar as AMLO minimizes danger. wsws.org A record number of new COVID-19 cases were reported this week by Mexican health authorities.
(2022-01-15). Hundreds of Boston students walk out to protest lack of remote learning option amid COVID-19 surge. wsws.org Hundreds of Boston public school students walked out of classes Friday morning to protest the state of Massachusetts' policy that all classes must be held in person. The lack of a remote option for students comes as the state sees a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
(2022-01-15). Day 1 of Colorado King Soopers strike: Interview with a striker. fightbacknews.org Fight Back! interviews Carol McMillian, a bakery worker from Denver currently on strike against the unfair labor practices of King Soopers, a division of Kroger. | Fight Back!: Why are you out here today on the picket line? | Carol McMillian: The reason we are out on the picket line today is because of the company's unfair labor practices. That is our dispute with King Soopers. | Fight Back!: Can you go into a little more detail about what those unfair labor practices are? | McMillian: The unfair labor practices that the company is participating in right now is, first of all they have attempted to hire [people at…
(2022-01-15). German student Yasmin's protest against unsafe in-person teaching sparks wave of solidarity. wsws.org The case of 13-year-old Yasmin from North Rhine-Westphalia shows the growing opposition to government pandemic policies.
(2022-01-15). Stewart Rhodes and Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy. wsws.org The arrest of fascist Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes and 10 other Oath Keepers on charges of seditious conspiracy explodes the claim that January 6 was merely an unruly protest and not a conspiracy by Trump to overturn the 2020 election result and establish a dictatorship.
(2022-01-15). Nationwide protests break out in Lebanon amid mounting economic, social and political crisis. wsws.org Soaring inflation, including a massive rise in the cost of food, fuel and medicine, has completely devastated workers' living standards.
(2022-01-15). COVID-19 cases surge 340 percent among ICE detainees in one week. wsws.org According to the most recent federal data, an estimated 1,254 people currently held in US immigrant detention centers have tested positive for COVID-19.
(2022-01-15). [Perspectives] Physicians in the digital age. thelancet.com Artificial intelligence (AI) is here. We are now in decade of Philip K Dick's dystopian novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and AI is already capable of driving our cars. But self-driving cars have harmed pedestrians and AI has been credited with delivering misinformation in curated social media feeds that threaten democracy. AI has also entered medicine, with uses in medical imaging and many other areas. However, there is increasing attention on how some algorithms in health care are racially biased.
(2022-01-15). [Clinical Picture] Ground glass opacities are not always COVID-19: a case of acute eosinophilic pneumonitis caused by daptomycin. thelancet.com An 83-year-old man was admitted to our hospital reporting a 3-week history of cough and exertional dyspnoea. At the time of admission, the patient was 4 weeks into a 6-week course of daptomycin and rifampicin because he had an infected prosthetic knee joint; he also had a history of pituitary hypoplasia and had not been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2.
(2022-01-15). [Editorial] Theranos and the scientific community: at the bleeding edge. thelancet.com The Theranos story is reaching its conclusion. Elizabeth Holmes, the company's founder and former CEO, once the world's youngest self-made female billionaire, was last week found guilty of four of 11 charges of fraud related to her actions at the now defunct blood testing company. COO Ramesh Balwani will face similar charges in a trial later this year. The sensational rise and fall of Theranos has spawned books, documentaries, and podcasts. Yet, for all the attention, questions remain: where was the scientific community in exposing the absence of evidence backing the claims of Theranos? Why did it take the Wall S…
(2022-01-15). [Correspondence] The UK People's Covid Inquiry. thelancet.com The People's Covid Inquiry anticipated that any official public investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic would be much delayed. It was a citizens' tribunal —ie, part legal proceedings, part theatre, part publicly speaking truth to power—aimed at raising issues to more visible levels than government or the media were prepared to do on their own. The renowned human rights barrister, Michael Mansfield, acted as chair. A final report in December, 2021, set out conclusions and recommendations on the basis of the evidence collected.
(2022-01-15). Potential strike by BNSF Railway workers over new attendance policy. wsws.org During ongoing national negotiations, the freight carrier unilaterally introduced a points-based attendance policy that can be used to penalize workers for taking time off to which they are legally entitled.
(2022-01-15). Fentanilo: Epidemia silenciosa en Estados Unidos. globalizacion.ca Mientras Estados Unidos enfrenta los retos que supone la COVID-19, otra epidemia letal hace metástasis en la sociedad. Las sobredosis de fentanilo se convirtieron en la principal causa de muerte en adultos de entre 18 y 45 años. | Desde el…
(2022-01-15). [Comment] Offline: The incontestable moral value of health. thelancet.com In March, 2020, chief science advisers from 12 countries, including the US, the UK, and Germany, issued a call to scholarly publishers "to voluntarily agree to make their COVID-19 and coronavirus-related publications, and the available data supporting them, immediately accessible in PubMed Central and other appropriate public repositories." That same month, over 30 publishers, including The Lancet, signed up to this request. The call reflected the urgency of the pandemic and "the associated global health crisis." We have made all of our coronavirus-related content freely available through a COVID-19 Resource Cent…
(2022-01-15). Being the Ricardos: Aaron Sorkin plays fast and loose with the history of the Hollywood Red Scare. wsws.org Sorkin's Being the Ricardos focuses on a week in the lives of comic performers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and their hit television series I Love Lucy (1951—1957).
(2022-01-15). US government moves to end daily COVID-19 death reporting by hospitals. wsws.org The US federal government will no longer require hospitals to report the number of people who die from COVID-19 every day, according to new guidelines from the US Department of Health and Human services.
(2022-01-15). Documents show Google operated a secret management program to prevent workers from organizing. wsws.org A judge appointed by the NLRB ruled that Google must release more than 1,000 documents about Project Vivian, an internal management program created for the purpose of discouraging workers from participating in workplace activism and union organizing.
(2022-01-15). Seattle students and teachers stage walkouts over lack of COVID-19 safety protocols in schools. wsws.org As infections rise throughout Seattle and Washington state, students and teachers have initiated sickouts at two high schools in defiance of the local, state and federal governments' policy of mass infection and death.
(2022-01-15). Lee Camp: Cops Shoot More People Than You ThoughtÔøº. scheerpost.com Lee Camp reports on a new study that looks into the survivors of police brutality. It turns out US cops try to kill way more people than they succeed at killing.
(2022-01-14). "Smoking Gun" Analysis Finds US Sanctions Produce "War Time" Economy in Venezuela. thegrayzone.com Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Francisco R. Rodríguez, the Executive of Oil for Venezuela, about a study he recently published which analyzed the impact of US sanctions on Venezuela's economy. Rodríguez shares data which prove sanctions have directly contributed to a major economic contraction in Venezuela, driven mainly by a significant drop in the country's oil production as a result of the measures. Rodríguez also addresses common arguments made by individuals who seek to obscure the impact …
(2022-01-14). Colombia: "In Arauca We Have Suffered Every Form of War" libya360.wordpress.com Colombia Informa Colombia's Arauca department is one of the most heavily militarized in the country, in addition to being home to several transnational oil extraction projects. Photo: Colombia Informa Amid an escalation in the armed conflict in the border region of Arauca, social leader and human rights defender Sonia López discusses the broader context of…
(2022-01-14). The Jakarta Method: The Project to Preserve Capitalism Through Terror. libya360.wordpress.com Rainer Shea Late-stage capitalism began when capitalism ceased to be a revolutionary force, and started being a reactionary one. By the middle of the 19th century, when the bourgeoisie had overthrown feudalism throughout most of the globe, their new system became a force for regression, something that still existed not because of progress but despite…
(2022-01-14). ALBA-TCP Rejects New Illegal Sanctions Imposed on Nicaragua by US & EU. orinocotribune.com The member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America-Peoples Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) strongly condemned the new aggression of the United States government and its European allies against the people and institutions of Nicaragua. | Through an official statement, the nations of the ALBA-TCP regional bloc responded to the recent announcement of fresh unilateral coercive measures by the US and the EU council. Like other acts of economic warfare waged against Nicaragua by the US, EU, and other allies, including Canada, these aggressive measures are not corroborated by United Nations decisions,…