2020-11-19: News Headlines

news.un (2020-11-19). Heartbreaking stories from refugees fleeing Ethiopia violence. news.un.org In a briefing to journalists on Thursday, a senior UN humanitarian official in Sudan recounted moving testimony from refugees who are crossing the border from Ethiopia in their thousands, fleeing fighting in Tigray province.

Staff (2020-11-18). As COVID Deaths Soar, El Paso at Breaking Point with Hospitals & Mobile Morgues Filling Up. 18.224.45.15 Some Republican governors are dropping their resistance to mask mandates, as public health officials in the United States brace for a COVID-19 surge from the Thanksgiving holiday amid already record-high infection rates. However, Republican resistance to other public health safety measures continues as coronavirus cases in Texas reach record highs for a second time during the pandemic. El Paso County, an area along the U.S.-Mexico border where 80% of residents are Latinx, is also facing one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S. and now has 10 mobile morgues to hold bodies. Some prisoners are being paid just…

RT (2020-11-18). Canadian border officer denies questioning Huawei CFO on FBI orders, claims WIKIPEDIA sparked his suspicion. rt.com A Canadian border agent has insisted he questioned Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou about its dealings in Iran because a Wikipedia article piqued his suspicion she was a spy — denying the FBI used him to gather evidence. | Border Services Agency Superintendent Sanjit Dhillon claimed during a Tuesday court hearing that five to 10 minutes spent reviewing a Wikipedia article about Meng and Huawei had motivated him to question the CFO about her company's business in Iran upon her arrival at Vancouver airport in December 2018. | Meng's legal team, however, has claimed he was attempting to extract information on beha…

Ralph Nader (2020-11-18). Abdicating to Boeing: An Open Letter to FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson. counterpunch.org November 13, 2020 Stephen Dickson, Administrator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) U.S. Department of Transportation 800 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20591 Dear Mr. Dickson, It is now abundantly clear that instead of clearing out top Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operatives who have worked to make the FAA safe for Boeing, you have thrown in your

Matthew Gonzalez (2020-11-18). California day of action defends human rights of immigrants. liberationnews.org On Nov. 14, in response to a statewide call to action, activists in Los Angeles gathered in unity with the Alliance to Defend Immigrants. The action and car caravan, starting at Mariachi Plaza and attracting about 200 activists, demanded the abolition of ICE and accountability for its atrocities. The event was hosted by the newly …

Staff (2020-11-18). Mobile Morgues Fill Up in El Paso as Gov. Greg Abbott Refuses New Lockdown. truthout.org Image Credit: Reuters / Ivan Pierre Aguirre | Some Republican governors are dropping their resistance to mask mandates, as public health officials in the United States brace for a COVID-19 surge from the Thanksgiving holiday amid already record-high infection rates. However, Republican resistance to other public health safety measures continues as coronavirus cases in Texas reach record highs for a second time during the pandemic. El Paso County, an area along the U.S.-Mexico border where 80% of re…

Pavan Kulkarni (2020-11-18). Ethiopian federal government announces final offensive against Tigray regional forces. peoplesdispatch.org Around 27,000 people are estimated to have fled from Ethiopia's Tigray region across the western border into Sudan. The UN refugee agency in Sudan estimated that an average of 4,000 refugees have been arriving daily…

Teresa Gutierrez (2020-11-17). From the Immigration Movement, for the Left: Election 2020 lessons. workers.org San Antonio, Texas These slightly edited remarks were given on a Workers World Party Nov. 12 webinar, "What Now?" The huge voter turnout from the Latinx and the im/migrant rights movement for the 2020 presidential election must be put into the context of developments on immigration since 2006. Teresa Gutierrez. . . . |

_____ (2020-11-17). How Our Biggest ISPs Are Failing Students During COVID-19. popularresistance.org Early in the pandemic, one of our MediaJustice Network members reached out to us in hopes we could support a group of high school students in Baltimore who were trying to amplify their campaign. The students are leaders in a Latinx and immigrant student organization called Students Organizing for a Multicultural and Open Society (SOMOS), and this was their first time organizing for digital equity. | When school ended last year, SOMOS realized that many of their fellow Baltimore city schoolmates who'd relied on Comcast's Internet Essentials discount program didn't have a connection fast or reliable enough for onli…

Karen Conner (2020-11-17). "A Silent Pandemic": Racism, Negligence, and Medical Assault in ICE Detention Centers. cepr.net After a whistleblower revealed that an ICE detention facility in Georgia sterilized immigrant women without consent, members of the House Judiciary Committee and Hispanic Caucus visited the facility and heard directly from the whistleblower and immigrant women who experienced forced sterilizations at the facility. Congress members called for an investigation of the Department of …

WSWS (2020-11-17). Second major hurricane hits Central America in two weeks. wsws.org Combined with the pandemic and the effects of storm Eta, Category 5 Hurricane Iota is expected to greatly deepen an ongoing humanitarian crisis and mass migration.

Naomieh Jovin, Magnum Foundation (2020-11-17). There Is a Name for Women Like My Mother. thenation.com There Is a Name for Women Like My Mother…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-11-17). What is happening in Ethiopia? peoplesdispatch.org The conflict in Ethiopia's northern region Tigray is intensifying. Hundreds have reportedly died and the fighting has now spilled across the country's national borders into neighboring countries. As the conflict spreads, it is feared that it could have a destabilizing effect on the broader region. | How did this conflict begin?

teleSUR (2020-11-17). Cuba: New Migration Measures Meant to Support Cubans Abroad. telesurenglish.net To continue favoring the return of Cubans outside of the national territory, based on the situation imposed by COVID-19, is the purpose of the most recent measure announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, declared Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, director-general of Consular Affairs and Cubans Residing Abroad of Minrex. | The provision, which allows for nationals residing in the country to return to Cuba in an exceptional manner with their expired passports and without having requested an extension, adds to other measures adopted previously that "support our nationals abroad, taking into account the socio-economic…

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-17). Borders of Iran, Azerbaijan to be peaceful forever: Envoy. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 17 (MNA) — The Ambassador of Iran in Azerbaijan said that borders between Iran and Azerbaijan will always be peaceful due to historical and cultural similarities between the two countries.

Jaklevic M. (2020-11-17). FDA Expands Food Safety Collaboration With Mexico. jamanetwork.com Building on a partnership signed in 2014, the FDA and its counterparts in Mexico have agreed to expand collaborative food safety efforts to cover all human food, rather than just produce, that crosses the border.

Mehr News Agency (2020-11-17). Protecting security of borders, Ground Force's main priority. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Nov. 17 (MNA) — Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces said that protecting and preserving security of borders is an important priority of Iran's Army Ground Force.

CounterPunch News Service (2020-11-17). Plan to Clearcut Old-Growth Forest, Grizzly and Lynx Habitat in Northwest Montana Challenged. counterpunch.org YAAK, Montana Conservation groups have filed a legal protest challenging a massive logging project that would clearcut thousands of acres, including old-growth trees, and threaten an imperiled population of grizzly bears and protected lynx habitat on the Montana-Canada border under the guise of restoration. The protest from the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians said the U.S.

WSWS (2020-11-16). Migrant workers demand right to return to their homes in New Zealand. wsws.org The Labour Party government's draconian border restrictions have left thousands of people stranded outside New Zealand despite being legally entitled to live in the country.

_____ (2020-11-16). War in Ethiopia Threatens to Engulf Horn of Africa. strategic-culture.org The two-week-old civil war in Ethiopia is now embroiling neighboring Eritrea. The two countries previously fought a two-year border war (1998-2000) which resulted in 100,000 dead. But in a bizarre twist, the Ethiopian central government in Addis Ababa is siding with Eritrea to now wage a war against its own people in the northern Tigray region. | The Ethiopian central government has also