where news meets its scholarly match

Marxferatu: Teaching Marx with Vampires

For a younger generation trying to understand Marxism, the best way in may be: vampirism.


By: Matthew Wills
October 30, 2018

Bram Stroker’s Dracula, published in 1897, is usually seen as the birth of the undying vampire industry. But what about Karl Marx? True, Marx didn’t write vampire fiction. But he was fascinated by the metaphor of capitalism as vampirism. For instance, in Das Kapital, Marx describe his subject as “dead labor, that, vampire-like, only lives sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.”

Students come to college with more knowledge of popular culture vampires than awareness of Marx.

Perhaps influenced by the European fascination with vampirism, Marx circled back to vampirism throughout his work. But vampirism wasn’t just a visceral literary device for him, it was key to his understanding of capitalism: the blood of labor being sucked by capital. And this, thinks political scientist Jason J. Morissette, is a way to teach Marx to a generation of college students raised on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Twilight series, and True Blood.

Morissette reasons that students come to college with more knowledge of popular culture vampires than awareness of Marx. Moreover, Marx’s “language is dense, the arguments are sophisticated, and the early industrial era during which Marx and his collaborator Frederick Engels wrote seems like ancient history.” Morissette also notes that “a growing number of college students enter the classroom prepared to actively resist any attempts at ‘Marxist indoctrination’ by their ‘agenda-pushing’ professors.”

Morissette argues that using vampirism as a window into Marx’s thought is an excellent way using a contemporary cultural phenomenon to shed light on the past. As an example, he discusses the exploitative and conflict-producing relationship between what Marx called “dead labor” or capital, and “living labor,” or workers:

Motivated solely by profit, factory owners emerge as a form of economic vampires, improving their bottom line through longer hours, lower wages, and poorer working conditions. Capitalists are, in effect, draining away the value of their workers’ labor to enrich themselves—just as supernatural vampires drain their victims’ life force to grow stronger.

The figure of the vampire is the ultimate individual: predatory, inhuman, anti-human, with no moral obligation to others. Of course, this selfishness leads to alienation. One of the great themes of vampire fiction is the tragedy of the vampire’s inability to connect with life except in a murderous way, or to live for centuries in what is the ultimate gate community. The only escape is the stake through the heart.

Does it work? (The vampire pedagogy, not the stake through the heart.) Morissette stresses that “reconciling the Marxist critique of capitalism with dominant trends in contemporary popular culture” is only an entry point to getting students to think about the ideas involved. It’s necessarily an “imperfect representation of Marx’s ideas,” such as class conflict, alienation, and false consciousness but it’s a start for those who have “grown up immersed in both classical and contemporary vampire fiction.”

Business is booming for the $24 billion plasma industry - but it may be putting vulnerable donors at risk

Julia Press,Robin Lindsay
Thu, March 11, 2021, 

The US supplies two-thirds of the world's plasma, and it's one of the few countries where donors get paid.

In fact, thousands of Americans rely on plasma donation as a main source of income.

The pandemic has increased demand for plasma, and desperate volunteers may be putting themselves at risk to continue giving.

For thousands of Americans, donating plasma is a lifeline. In the 90 minutes it takes to donate, they make five times the federal minimum wage.

Americans supply two-thirds of the world's blood plasma. The industry is worth over $24 billion today, according to the Marketing Research Bureau, and that number could nearly double by 2027, as global demand for plasma-derived medicine rises by 6% to 8% each year.

Plasma is the yellowish liquid that makes up more than half of blood volume. Hospitals use it in transfusions to treat burns and liver failure, relying on unpaid donors. Biopharmaceutical companies also use it to manufacture life-saving drugs. Unlike those going toward transfusions, plasma donations destined for medication do not need to be labeled as voluntary or paid.

That's led to a boom in private, for-profit plasma centers across the US, with the number of centers tripling over the past 15 years. According to analysts at Fortune Business Insights, two-thirds of these centers are owned by one of three companies: CSL Plasma, Grifols, and BioLife.

Even before the pandemic hit, global demand for plasma far outpaced supply. That gap only worsened in 2020, as a mix of social distancing, cleaning requirements, and donor reluctance caused global donations to drop 15%, according to the Marketing Research Bureau. Meanwhile, plasma has been in high demand, as antibody transfusions show promising results in treating COVID-19 and private companies use plasma from COVID patients to develop potential drugs.

With no synthetic substitute for plasma, drug manufacturers rely on a steady stream of human donors to make up their supply. Treating just one patient with plasma therapies for a year takes between 130 and 1,300 donations.

"The bottom line is if the US didn't compensate donors, there would not be enough plasma and lives would be lost globally," the president of the Immune Deficiency Foundation wrote in a February 2019 statement.

But the burden is falling on vulnerable donors, many of whom rely on plasma compensation as a source of income.

"There's nothing wrong with giving plasma," said researcher Analidis Ochoa. "There is a problem when you feel that there's no other option."

Plasma centers attract donors in need of money.

Stephen Craib, 42, makes his 15th plasma donation to the NHS Blood and Transplant Convalescent Plasma Programme in London. Kirsty O'Connor/PA Images/Getty Images

Liz Savage visits a CSL Plasma center in Glen Burnie, Maryland, twice a week.

"I could pretend that I do it because it helps people and I'm glad that it does help people," she said. "But I only found out about it because it pays you money, and I only find myself doing it when I need money."

Savage has used plasma money to supplement her income throughout her life - as a college student in Idaho, a young adult in Tennessee, and now, as a mother in Maryland - to pay for family expenses like her children's new school clothes.

"I've tried DoorDash, I've tried, you know, little things here and there, but this is consistent. There is a need for it," she said.

Savage's story is a common one. A study from the Center for Health Care Research and Policy found that 57% of donors at one Cleveland center reported at least a third of their income that month would come from donating plasma. Researchers like Ochoa have found that plasma centers tend to be concentrated in states with lower minimum wages and cities with more people living under the poverty line.

"These are the areas where people who are most in need of income live," she said.

According to CSL Plasma, the company selects new locations "based on population density, availability of property, and local zoning laws." BioLife said it "looks for areas with a large population where it doesn't have a presence, real estate availability, and the amount of skilled staff nearby." Grifols declined to comment.

Regular donors told Insider they spend their plasma money on gas, rent, phone bills, food, and student loans. While some expressed a desire to help others as a motivating factor, many confessed that compensation was their primary influence. Even for those with other means of income, plasma donations are a popular way to make cash quick.

"There is at least a third of our church who donate," said Raquel Marruffo, who lives in Arizona. "All of them have jobs. It's just extra income."

Incentives to donate have only grown during the pandemic. Centers that usually offer between $35 to $50 per visit have paid an average of $65 per donation, according to the Marketing Research Bureau. That's in addition to referral bonuses, rewards programs, and incentives for those who donate twice a week or eight times a month.

Plasma donors have earned as much as $65 per donation during the pandemic, during which demand has grown. Reuters

Demand for plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients was so great that at times, they could make as much as $200 in a single visit. That inspired students at Brigham Young University-Idaho to intentionally try to contract the virus "with the hope of getting the disease and being paid for plasma that contains COVID-19 antibodies," according to an official notice released by the school.

BioLife Plasma said it "compensates individuals who donate plasma in recognition of the time, commitment, and effort required," and CSL Plasma emphasized that donating is a choice donors make freely, regardless of motivating factors. "In some instances, the compensation provided to donors provides a much-needed supplement to other sources of income," a CSL representative told Insider.
Paying donors increases the world's plasma supply.

The ethics debate is so involved, Georgetown associate teaching professor Peter Jaworski has focused his career on it. He falls firmly on the side of paying donors.

"There is no country in the world that is self-sufficient in plasma for plasma therapies unless it pays donors," Jaworski said.

In the Czech Republic, legalizing paid donation led to a sevenfold increase in liters donated in three years. In 2017, Italy - where donors can take a paid day off work, but are not compensated - needed 545,000 more liters of plasma than it collected, whereas Germany - which allows paid donation - had a surplus of 704,000 liters.

But the American system still outpaces that of its pay-for-plasma peers because of its comparatively lenient restrictions on donation.

Through a process called plasmapheresis, only the liquid plasma is removed from a donor's body, and since the human body replenishes plasma within 48 hours, that allows for much more frequent donation. That means while US donors have to wait eight weeks between blood donations, plasma can be given up to twice a week.

According to the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association, only 14% of US donors made over 50 donations in 2017. Still, without much research on the health effects of donating 104 times a year - the US legal limit - researchers like Ochoa worry that the American system could put donors at risk.

"Our concern is that people who are vulnerable are giving their plasma to make ends meet," said Ochoa. "And we don't actually know what the long-term repercussions of this is."
Patients who rely on plasma-based therapies are bracing for a shortage.

Christina Brown is one of many Americans who rely on plasma-based medicine every day. Insider

When Christina Brown was in college, she got sick a lot.

"I had 15 UTIs in one year," she said. "Five bouts of bronchitis, two different pneumonias, a bunch of sinus infections."

She was diagnosed with common variable immunodeficiency, meaning her body doesn't make antibodies it needs to protect her from illness. Now, she injects herself with 100 milliliters of a plasma-derived drug each week.

"It's literally saved my life in every single way," Brown said. "I'm able to have a life and to be alive."

When she read the Immune Deficiency Foundation's warning of an impending plasma shortage, Brown's heart sank.

"I knew this meant people were going to die and I could be one of them," she said.

It takes seven to 12 months for plasma to go from a donor to the drug store shelf, so as the pandemic's drop in plasma supply catches up with production, patients like Brown are bracing themselves.

"I'm getting refills the day that I can get a refill, so maybe I can have an extra bottle or two on hand, because this is going to happen," Brown said. "It's not an 'if,' but a 'when' and 'to what extent' are we going to have this shortage."

For patients like Brown to access the life-saving drugs they need, global plasma donations have to rapidly increase. But as the system currently exists, that can't happen without drug companies relying on the desperation of some donors.

"The fact that they are providing a need to low-income Americans, I think is undeniable," said Ochoa, who believes both private industry and public policy can do more to protect donors. "That is the government that can step in to provide a safety net that is more adequate to the needs of Americans, particularly during difficult times."

Read the original article on Business Insider

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE


COVID and economy woes walloped Puerto Rico — but statehood may help bring it back

Reggie Wade
·Writer
Sat, March 13, 2021

Puerto Rico — buffeted by natural disasters, a debt crisis and most recently, COVID-19 — is struggling under the weight of a hobbled economy that relies heavily on tourism.

However, the so-called “Island of Enchantment” may yet see better days, as the Biden administration, and a chance to become fully recognized as a U.S. state, could help restore a much-needed sense of normalcy after a rough stretch of years.

In the U.S. Congress, where Democrats currently hold a slim majority, key lawmakers are united in their desire to bolster Puerto Rico’s future — but exactly how that gets done is up for debate. One option currently being discussed with more intensity is a bid for statehood, an option that some have floated for Washington, D.C. as well.

Last year, New York Democrats Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spearheaded an effort to advance the island's bid to determine its future. In a November referendum, Puerto Ricans voted to become a U.S. state, the latest in a years-long effort to clarify the island’s relationship with America.

Earlier this month, Puerto Rico’s sole representative in Congress, González Colón (R-PR) and Congressman Darren Soto (D-FL 9) introduced the Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act, which would pave the way to make Puerto Rico the 51st state.

To be certain, Puerto Rico’s economy wasn’t always defined by crisis. For decades, U.S. tax incentives made the island a draw for subsidiaries of most U.S. companies that operated within its borders, turning into a manufacturing hub for big pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Roche (RHHBY), Pfizer (PFE), and Novartis (NVS).

However, legislation passed in 1996 phased out those incentives within a decade, hastening a decline that made the economy far more reliant on tourism.

Edwin Melendez, director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies and a professor of urban policy and planning at New York’s Hunter College, faulted a lack of investment in Puerto Rico for its most recent economic downturn.

“It’s not a decline because the companies packed up and left. It’s that the companies stopped investing in Puerto Rico,” Melendez told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview.

He noted that Puerto Rico’s pattern of economic decline was briefly interrupted when The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funds were injected as a stimulus. However, the reprieve would be short-lived: In the years that followed, two hurricanes, an earthquake, a rolling debt crisis and COVID-19 would turn life on the island upside down in the years that followed.

COVID-19 wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico much later than it did for many other parts of the U.S. However, in August, the island recorded an average of 419 daily hospitalizations. At present, the island nation has had 135,552 cases and 2,066 deaths.

Clinical Epidemiologist Roberta Lugo tells Yahoo Finance that Puerto Rico’s Government and Department of Health efforts to fight the COVID-19 have been slow and “full of stumbles.”

Lugo, who was on the island during its first wave, notes that the Puerto Rican government’s slow reaction time caused severe problems.

“We experienced poor decision making, and the economic sector had more weight than the scientific community. I can describe the emergency response as reactive rather than proactive,” she said.
Eat or get eaten

Representative Nydia Velasquez (NY) speaks during a press conference with activists from 'Take Action for Puerto Rico' demanding support from the Federal Government to rebuild Puerto Rico after two years of Hurricane Maria in Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. Wednesday, September 18, 2019. (Photo by Aurora Samperio/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The fumbled response to the pandemic underscores why a growing number of lawmakers believe full statehood would help Puerto Rico solve many of its problems, including better service delivery and better overall economic conditions.

One of those is New York Democratic Rep. Richie Torres, who backs statehood as a path to opening the floodgates of money and opportunities for the island desperately in need of both.

“If you do not have a seat at the table, then you’re probably on the menu. Statehood would provide Puerto Rico a seat at the table,” Torres told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview.

Becoming a U.S. state “would mean billions of dollars in new funding for Puerto Rico, both directly and indirectly. Directly from programs affected by statehood and indirectly from political representation, conferred by statehood,” he explained.

“If Puerto Rico had two senators and five members of Congress, it would be in an infinitely stronger position to claim its fair share of federal funding — there’s no substitute for direct representation,” he said.

“Representation matters … There are 29 programs that make up 86% of federal funding for states and statehood would mean greater funding for Puerto Rico and 11 of those programs,” such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and education, Torres added.

Torres believes that Biden’s approach to Puerto Rico’s future will be infinitely better than that of former President Donald Trump, who openly sparred with the island’s leadership after Hurricane Maria devastated the economy there in 2017.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Biden is going to treat Puerto Rico much more fairly than his predecessor ever did or could — but ultimately the status quo is failing Puerto Rico miserably,” said the congressman, who compared it to a colony.

“Puerto Rico is subject to the control of the United States without the ability to vote; that is the definition of colonialism” — which can only be corrected by statehood, Torres said.

Reggie Wade is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ReggieWade.

#DEREGULATION

Texas utility sues power grid operator over 'excessive' cold snap charges

FILE PHOTO: A neighborhood experiences a power outage after winter weather caused electricity blackouts in San Marcos

Gary McWilliams
Fri, March 12, 2021

(Reuters) - The largest city-owned utility in Texas on Friday sued the state's grid operator alleging it levied "excessive" power prices during a February deep freeze, and seeking to bar the grid from issuing a default that could affect its credit rating.

High prices for emergency fuel and power during a severe cold spell left Texas utilities facing about $47 billion in one-time costs. Those costs have led to two bankruptcies and knocked two other electric providers off the state's power grid because of payment defaults.


"We are fighting to protect our customers from the financial impacts of the systemic failure" of the state's grid operator, said Paula Gold-Williams, chief executive of San Antonio's municipal utility, CPS Energy.

CPS, which has some 820,000 electricity customers, faces about $1 billion in extraordinary charges for natural gas and electricity during a five day deep freeze last month.

COLD WEATHER CRISIS

The lawsuit alleges

 https://www.cpsenergy.com/content/dam/corporate/en/Documents/2021-03-12%20CPS%20Energy%20Original%20Petition%20w%20Ex%20A(117202625_1).PDF

 grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) mismanaged the cold weather crisis, and overcharged CPS Energy and others for power and services. It asked a Texas state court to prevent ERCOT from declaring it in default and to prevent ERCOT from charging CPS for other grid users' defaults.

An ERCOT spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit.

More than $3 billion in charges that ERCOT issued to grid users were in default as of Friday, a grid official said.

Credit rating firms this week cut their outlook on the utility's debt and warned of further downgrades as size of the costs become clearer.

Fitch Ratings lowered some ratings and placed a negative outlook on CPS Energy's long term debt while S&P Global said it could further cut debt ratings "one or more notches."

ERCOT officials hiked power prices by about 400 times the usual rate to $9,000 per megawatt for five days last month in an effort to bring in more power. State officials this week called on ERCOT and the utility regulator to cut those charges for high-price power for the 32-hour period after the grid emergency passed.

'EXCESSIVE' POWER COSTS

CPS Energy's lawsuit called ERCOT's handling of the crisis "one of the largest illegal wealth transfers in the history of Texas." It brought the complaint "to protect its customers from excessive and illegitimate power and natural gas costs," according to the lawsuit.

Just Energy Group this week filed for bankruptcy as result of high power charges. The state's largest and old cooperative, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc, also filed for bankruptcy this month, citing $1.8 billion owed to ERCOT. Texas' rural cooperatives pool their power and service purchases to gain efficiencies of scale.

(Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Ted Cruz Mocked Again Over Cancun Trip As Texas Panhandle Faces Tornado Warning


By Lauren Dubois @l_dubois

03/13/21

Ted Cruz faced a lot of backlash after it was revealed he has flown to Cancun for a trip with his family as Texans struggled with freezing cold temperatures and power outages following winter storms, and now, with a new natural disaster and weather threat approaching the region, the senator is once again receiving heat for his previous actions.

As news of a weather system that could dump snow on Colorado and bring rain and a moderate risk of tornadoes to the Texas panhandle and Western Oklahoma began to circulate, Cruz, who was seen flying to Cancun during the state’s winter storms, quickly found himself ridiculed over his past behavior.

Cruz had gone to Cancun during the storms as his constituents struggled to survive in the freezing conditions, and quickly claimed he was only going down for a night to drop off his daughters who wanted to go. It was later revealed that he had planned to stay for a few days and his wife had also texted neighbors and friends to get them to go along with the family on their trip.

The current storm system has a threat of severe thunderstorms and potential tornados to areas of the panhandle, after a tornado already touched down in Lubbock, Texas on Friday night. According to the National Weather Service, parts of the area are under a Tornado Watch until 6:00 p.m. Central Time.

“A major storm system will bring heavy snow and blizzard conditions to parts of the central Rockies and High Plains through early Monday,” a statement from the NWS reads. “Scattered severe thunderstorms are expected across the Oklahoma and Texas Pandhandles, northwest Texas, and western Oklahoma this afternoon and evening. A few tornadoes, some strong, and very large hail are the main threats.”

According to Weather Nation, the Amarillo area is under the highest risk, which is a moderate one, while Lubbock and areas west heading into Oklahoma are under an enhanced risk. Slight risks extend up into Kansas and as far south as Sonora, while Wichita, Kansas and Del Rio are under marginal risks. General risks extend as far east as Austin and Dallas.

The Tornado potential is as high as 15% in Amarillo, with one small 30% chance near Abilene. A 30% chance of hail is also possible near Amarillo.

WOKE CAPITALI$M 
Social Capital
Mike Brady: 

Why Social Justice Isn’t Just Right

 – It’s Profitable!

IS COMPASSIONATE CAPITALI$M

By Chris Benguhe AND RaeAnne Marsh
02/25/21 IBT

After being at the helm of Greyston Bakery for several wildly successful years, Mike Brady is moving on to a broader arena. Photo: Greyston Bakery.

Mike Brady, successful business leader formerly of pioneering Greyston Bakery, believes being nonjudgmental in hiring is the right thing to do – and discusses how it creates a win-win-win for the employer.

As we continue to grow this Social Capital section, we turned our attention in January to kindness as a characteristic of successful business leaders making a difference in the business world. I t’s a key trait that is too often overlooked in importance when it comes to leadership skills nowadays. Does it sound out of place in business leadership? Too cutting-edge to be practical? Is it impossibly hard to find genuine examples of it?

Mike Brady is proof that it exists. After being at the helm of Greyston for several wildly successful years, he is moving on to a broader arena.


Mike exemplifies kindness in leadership -- leaders making decisions that follow the golden rule, treating people how we want to be treated, with humanity and respect.

In fact, Mike is so into this role for leadership that he interviewed us in-depth on our agenda regarding Social Capital before settling in to talk about his favorite subject: non-judgment. It’s a philosophy he practiced at Greyston, leading it to become the gold standard. As he is fond of explaining: “No questions asked, no background checks, no interviews, no references.” He remains a strong advocate for trusting in the power of people to be successful and giving everyone an equal chance at that.

In this interview, he shares his incredible journey of growth opportunities to “move the needle” on things he cares about within the context of the business world. “My core strength is being an entrepreneur. How can I use that strength in a different arena, trying to do good while doing well?” he asks – and shares what he has done and found along the way.

He makes very clear his commitment to being an example and a resource to help other business leaders create win-win-win dynamics throughout the supply chain, helping them understand where the value creation of this approach is.

As he explores the next steps for himself, personally, he discusses the tremendous opportunity he sees for the “S” in the ESG (environmental, social, governance) equation, which makes him all that much more appealing to us as and our Social Capital movement. His journey now is to find his footing in that space, working with organizations committed to social justice and helping them understand how they can create value. Their success furthers the opportunity to create equal access to jobs, which, he says, “will address a lot of the inequalities the American workforce is experiencing.”

VIDEO INTERVIEW

 https://www.ibtimes.com/mike-brady-why-social-justice-isnt-just-right-its-profitable-3150394

Africa Set For Growth With Rising Poverty, Debt In 2021: Forecast


By AFP News
03/12/21 

Africa's economy should return to growth in aggregate across the continent in 2021 after a coronavirus recession, the African Development Bank said Friday, while warning that poverty and public debt would continue to rise.

The 2.1-percent contraction of the pan-African economy in 2020 was the first recession in half a century, but should give way to expansion of 3.4 percent this year, the AfDB said in the 2021 edition of its African Economic Outlook report.

At 3.1 percent, the International Monetary Fund's forecast was less optimistic than the AfDB, whose mission is to fund investment in African countries and offer advice and technical assistance to development.

The development bank predicted the strongest rebound for economies like Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritius that depend on tourism, at 6.2 percent -- although their GDP fell the furthest last year.


Meanwhile oil and raw materials exporters like Algeria, Nigeria, Angola and South Africa should enjoy growth around three percent, and the continent's most diversified economies like Ethiopia and Ivory Coast rise by 4.1 percent, having already suffered a softer 2020 blow.

The AfDB report also highlighted that 39 million more people could slip below the extreme poverty threshold of $1.90 per day this year, up from an estimated 30 million last year.

The coronavirus hobbled African economies in 2020 but experts predict a return to growth this year Photo: AFP / JOHN WESSELS

A total of 465 million people in Africa could be affected by extreme poverty, one-third of the continent's population, in a setback after two decades of steady reductions.

Meanwhile "the pandemic shock and ensuing economic crisis have had direct implications for budgetary balances and debt burdens," the AfDB warned.

Deficits roughly doubled last year, to around 8.4 percent of GDP, while the average debt-to-GDP ratio on the continent is expected to surge by between 10 and 15 percentage points, to around 70 percent.

By December, 14 of 38 countries analysed for debt sustainability were judged "in high risk of debt distress", with 16 seen as moderate risk and just two at low risk.

"Serious debt challenges might be looming, and disorderly defaults and lengthy resolutions could become a major obstacle to Africa's progress toward prosperity," AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina wrote in the report.

"We need to address Africa's debt and development finance challenges, in partnership with the international community" and with private creditors, he added.

But Adesina also urged leaders to enact "bold governance reforms to eliminate all forms of leakages in public resources, improve domestic resource mobilisation, and enhance transparency".

Myanmar crackdown continues as civilian leader urges protesters to keep up anti-coup fight

Issued on: 14/03/2021 - 

Makeshift barricades erected by protesters on a road in Yangon, 

Myanmar on March 13, 2021. © AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Myanmar security forces opened fire on anti-coup protesters in the commercial capital Yangon on Sunday, and at least three people were killed, witnesses and domestic media said. Meanwhile, civilian leader Mahn Win Khaing Than, who is on the run along with most of the country's senior officials, called on the people to not give up their fight.

Video taken at the site showed protesters holding handmade shields and wearing helmets as they confronted security forces in the Hlaing Tharyar district of the city. Plumes of black smoke rose over the area and one report said two factories in the district had been set on fire.

The Irrawaddy media group said three people were killed.

At least two people were killed elsewhere in the Southeast Asian nation, a day after the acting leader of the parallel civilian government said it will seek to give people the legal right to defend themselves.

A young man was shot and killed in the town of Bago, near Yangon, witnesses and domestic media said. The Kachin Wave media outlet said another protester was killed in the town of Hpakant, in the jade mining area in the northeast

More than 80 people had been killed as of Saturday in widespread protests against the military's seizure of power last month, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group said. Over 2,100 people have been arrested, it said.

>> UN warns of 'crimes against humanity' in Myanmar as junta accuses ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi of corruption

Mahn Win Khaing Than, who is on the run along with most senior officials from the ruling National League for Democracy Party, addressed the public via Facebook on Saturday, saying, "This is the darkest moment of the nation and the moment that the dawn is close.”

He said the civilian government would "attempt to legislate the required laws so that the people have the right to defend themselves" against the military crackdown.

‘We need justice’

The Monywa township in central Myanmar declared it had formed its own local government and police force.

In Yangon, hundreds of people demonstrated in different parts of the city after putting up barricades of barbed wire and sandbags to block security forces.

In one area, people staged a sit-in protest under sheets of tarpaulin rigged up to protect them from the harsh midday sun. "We need justice," they chanted.

At least 13 people were killed on Saturday, one of the bloodiest days since the Feb. 1 coup, witnesses and domestic media said.

"They are acting like they are in a war zone, with unarmed people," said an activist in the city of Mandalay, Myat Thu.

A spokesman for the junta did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment. Junta-run media MRTV's evening news broadcast on Saturday labelled the protesters "criminals" but did not elaborate

Iran charges aid worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe with ‘propaganda against the system’
Issued on: 14/03/2021 - 

Gabriella Ratcliffe, daughter of British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, protests outside the Iranian Embassy in London on March 8, 2021. © Andrew Boyers, REUTERS

Text by: FRANCE 24

British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe appeared in a Tehran court Sunday to face new charges of "propaganda against the system", a week after she finished serving a five-year sentence, her lawyer said.

The hearing has dashed hopes of family and supporters for a swift release of the 42-year-old, in a case that has heightened diplomatic tensions between London and Tehran.

"The hearing took place in a very calm and good atmosphere, in the presence of my client," her lawyer Hojjat Kermani told AFP, adding that the judgement would be handed down at a later and unspecified date.

According to Kermani, she is now being prosecuted for "propaganda against the system for having participated in a rally in front of the Iranian embassy in London" in 2009.

"Given the evidence presented by the defence and the legal process, and the fact that my client has also served her previous sentence, I hope that she will be acquitted," the lawyer added.

In London, Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq said that "no verdict was given", but added that "it should be delivered within a week".

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Sunday that the new charges against Zaghari-Ratcliffe are “unacceptable”.

“It is unacceptable that Iran has chosen to continue a second wholly arbitrary case against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,” Raab wrote on Twitter.

"She must be allowed to return to her family in the UK without delay. We continue to do all we can to support her," he added.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained while on holiday in 2016 and convicted of plotting to overthrow the regime in Tehran – accusations she strenuously denied.

The mother-of-one was working at the time as a project manager for Thomson Reuters Foundation, the media organisation's philanthropic wing.

She has been under house arrest for months and had her ankle tag removed, giving her more freedom of movement and allowing her to visit relatives in Tehran.

She completed her sentence on March 7.

Rights group says Zaghari-Ratcliffe experienced ‘torture’ in prison

A day later, her husband, Richard, and their six-year-old daughter, Gabriella, held a vigil outside the Iranian embassy in central London demanding she be allowed home.

He tried to deliver an Amnesty International petition signed by 160,000 supporters calling for his wife's release, but was turned away.

Earlier this month, Richard Ratcliffe told the BBC her detention has "the potential to drag on and on".

Media in both the UK and Iran and Richard Ratcliffe have drawn a possible link between Nazanin's detention and a British debt dating back more than 40 years.

The British government has previously admitted it owes Iran up to £300 million (€350 million), but both countries have denied any link with the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case.

She has been temporarily released from Tehran's Evin prison and has been under house arrest since the spring due to the coronavirus outbreak.

For four years, however, at Evin she spent time in solitary confinement in windowless cells, declared hunger strikes and had medical treatment withheld.

While in prison, she suffered from lack of hygiene and even contemplated suicide, according to her husband.

Iranian authorities have consistently denied that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was mistreated.

On Friday, human rights campaign group Redress handed a report to Raab which it said "confirms the severity of the ill-treatment that Nazanin has suffered".

The legal campaigners said that it "considers that Iran's treatment of Nazanin constitutes torture”.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Fauci: US weighs 3-foot distancing rule,

a major change

Social distancing circles in New York -- but could the rules soon be cut from six foot to three foot?

 Kena Betancur Afp/AFP
Issued on: 14/03/2021 -

Washington (AFP)

The United States' top pandemic advisor said Sunday that authorities were considering cutting social distancing rules to three feet (one meter), a move that would change a key tenet of the global fight against Covid-19.

Anthony Fauci, a world-respected figure during the coronavirus crisis, said experts at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were examining a Massachusetts study that found "no substantial difference" in Covid cases in schools observing six-foot and three-foot rules.

Asked on CNN's "State of the Union" show whether that meant that a three-foot separation was sufficient, Fauci replied, "It does, indeed."

While cautioning that the CDC was still poring over the new data and conducting tests of its own, he said its findings would come "soon."

The six-foot social distancing rule has been a widely-adopted global measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, along with mask-wearing and hand-washing.

School officials across the world are under enormous pressure to fully reopen as soon as safely possible, but many say the six-foot requirement makes it extremely difficult without adding portable classrooms or shortening the school day.

Many teachers unions have also insisted on six-foot distancing.

Policies on reopening schools and businesses have varied sharply across the US and around the globe as government try to balance quelling infections with a return to normal life.

The study led by the Beth Deaconess Medical Center in Massachusetts, surveying 251 school districts, found "no substantial difference in the number of cases of Covid-19 among either students or staff" between those observing the three- and six-foot rules when all wore masks.

The findings, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, add to a growing body of evidence that Covid-19 transmission rates are low in schools.

In another potentially significant finding, researchers found the rates of Covid-19 were lower in schools practicing masking than they were in the surrounding cities and towns.

A three-foot rule would have an enormous impact on prospects for fully reopening schools, offices and even public areas such as sports venues.

As the top school officials from Penfield, New York wrote in the journal Education Week, "The single biggest obstacle to fully reopening schools is the 6-foot distancing requirement."