Tag: PORTUGAL

Italy Risks Losing Grip in South With Fear of Looting, Riots

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By John Follain – 3/30/2020

As Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte fights to hold Italian society together through a crippling nationwide lockdown, the depressed south is turning into a powder keg.

Police have been deployed on the streets of Sicily’s capital, Palermo, amid reports gangs are using social media to plot attacks on stores. A bankrupt ferry company halted service to the island, including vital supplies of food and medicines. As the state creaks under the strain of the coronavirus pandemic, officials worry the mafia may be preparing to step in.

Preventing unrest in the so-called Mezzogiorno, the underdeveloped southern region that’s long lagged behind the wealthy north, has become the government’s top priority, according to Italian officials who asked not to be named discussing the administration’s strategy.

With the European Union’s most dangerously indebted state already fighting the Germans over the terms of the financial aid it needs, the fallout may reach far beyond Rome if Conte fails.

“We need to act fast, more than fast,” Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando told daily La Stampa. “Distress could turn into violence.”

Read More: Europe Gets No Respite From Lockdowns After Deadly Weekend

As the lockdown enters its fourth week, Conte is set to extend containment measures that have shuttered all but essential businesses until April 18 at the earliest, the officials said. He’s also working on a new stimulus package for mid-April worth at least 30 billion euros ($33 billion), following initial measures worth 25 billion euros, they said.

Italy has the highest death toll from the virus, with more than 11,000 fatalities, and almost 102,000 confirmed cases, second only to the U.S. It reported the smallest number of new coronavirus infections in almost two weeks on Monday.

Read More: Italy Reports Fewest New Coronavirus Cases in Almost 2 Weeks

Calls for Help

Within the aid he’s already announced, Conte is trying to channel funds toward the South. Over the weekend he advanced 4.3 billion euros from a solidarity fund for municipalities and added 400 million euros to mayors that can be converted into coupons for groceries. “No one will be left behind,” the premier said in a televised address.

Still, southern leaders are clamoring for more. They say that cash from the solidarity fund was already due to them and the economic damage from the lockdown has brought their region to the verge of a breakdown.

That opens another front for Conte, who is already struggling to stop the Italian health system from collapsing and fighting the European Union for joint debt issuance to help relieve the financial pressure on his government. Italy’s economic output is set to shrink by 6.5% in 2020, according to research group Prometeia.

The lockdown has hit the 3.7 million Italians working in the underground economy particularly hard since they don’t receive a regular salary and have difficulty accessing unemployment benefits. Many of them are concentrated in the South.

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In the South, “many people live day-to-day, doing odd jobs, like unloading trucks at markets, and they are in trouble,” Stefano Paoloni, a police union leader, said by phone. “We need to be on the alert to see whether there’s organized crime behind social unrest.”

Criminal Gangs

Police have been stationed outside supermarkets in Palermo after at least one group of angry residents refused to pay for their purchases. The private Facebook group National Revolution, which has about 2,600 members, is urging others to stage such raids, according to newspaper la Repubblica. Other social media outlets, including WhatsApp chats, are being monitored, the newspaper said.

Adding to the sense of things breaking down, ferry company Tirrenia CIN on Monday decided to halt all its connections with Sicily, Sardinia and other minor islands because of financial difficulties. The government said in a statement it will ensure that vital goods are delivered.

Read More: Italy’s Links to Sardinia at Risk After Operator Halts Services

Giuseppe Provenzano, who is in charge of the south in Conte’s cabinet, said an emergency handout should also be given to those in the illegal economy. The risk is that organized crime gangs will step in to provide assistance to those in need, filling the gap left by the state.

The government needs to move “without hesitation,” said Graziano Delrio, leader of lower-house lawmakers from the Democratic Party, the second-biggest group in Conte’s coalition. Rome needs “to do whatever’s necessary for the essential needs of families,” he said in an interview.

(Updates with new cases in seventh paragraph.)

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Pandemic Historian: Coronavirus ‘a Disease of Globalization’

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 24: Doctors test hospital staff with flu-like symptoms for coronavirus (COVID-19) in set-up tents to triage possible COVID-19 patients outside before they enter the main Emergency department area at St. Barnabas hospital in the Bronx on March 24, 2020 in New York City. New York …

By John Binder

The Chinese coronavirus “is emphatically a disease of globalization,” a pandemic historian at Yale University says.

In an interview published in the Wall Street Journal, Yale University’s Frank Snowden — a historian who most recently in 2006 published a book about Italy’s eradication of malaria — details how the coronavirus pandemic is threatening the globalist worldview of free movement of people and free trade.

The interview finds the Journal‘s Jason Willick seemingly admits the coronavirus is tainting globalism and pushing Americans and the peoples of Europe toward nationhood:

Yet while the [bubonic] plague saw power move up from villages and city-states to national capitals, the coronavirus is encouraging a devolution of authority from supranational units to the nation-state.  This is most obvious in the European Union, where member states are setting their own responses. Open borders within the EU have been closed, and some countries have restricted export of medical supplies. The virus has heightened tensions between the U.S. and China, as Beijing tries to protect its image and Americans worry about access to medical supply chains. [Emphasis added]

Snowden told the Journal the coronavirus is a direct result of the globalization of the American economy after nearly four decades of free trade policy initiatives:

The coronavirus is threatening “the economic and political sinews of globalization, and causing them to unravel to a certain degree,” Mr. Snowden says. He notes that “coronavirus is emphatically a disease of globalization.” The virus is striking hardest in cities that are “densely populated and linked by rapid air travel, by movements of tourists, of refugees, all kinds of business people, all kinds of interlocking networks.” [Emphasis added]

Globalization, Snowden notes, has driven the coronavirus to majorly impact the wealthiest of Americans.

“Respiratory viruses, Mr. Snowden says, tend to be socially indiscriminate in whom they infect. Yet because of its origins in the vectors of globalization, the coronavirus appears to have affected the elite in a high-profile way,” the Journal piece states. “From Tom Hanks to Boris Johnson, people who travel frequently or are in touch with travelers have been among the first to get infected.”

The infection of thousands of the nation’s rich and upper-middle-class has driven class warfare in regions like the Hamptons in New York where some of the wealthiest, most liberal celebrities own property.

A report by Maureen Callahan for the New York Post chronicles how the working class staff of the Hamptons’ elite are turning on them as those infected disregard rules and Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines:

“There’s not a vegetable to be found in this town right now,” says one resident of Springs, a working-class pocket of East Hampton. “It’s these elitist people who think they don’t have to follow the rules.” [Emphasis added]

It’s not just the drastic food shortage out here. Every aspect of life, most crucially medical care, is under strain from the sudden influx of rich Manhattanites panic-fleeing … — and in some cases, knowingly bringing coronavirus. [Emphasis added]

…

“We’re at the end of Long Island, the tip, and waves of people are bringing this s–t,” says lifelong Montauker James Katsipis. “We should blow up the bridges. Don’t let them in.” [Emphasis added]

While globalization has delivered soaring profits for corporate executives, working- and middle-class American communities have been left behind to grapple with fewer jobs, less industry, stagnant wages, and increase competition in the labor market due to decades-long mass legal immigration.

Since 2001, free trade with China has cost millions of Americans their jobs. For example, the Economic Policy Institute has found that from 2001 to 2015, about 3.4 million U.S. jobs were lost due to the nation’s trade deficit with China.

Of the 3.4 million U.S. jobs lost in that time period, about 2.6 million were lost in the manufacturing industry, making up about three-fourths of the loss of jobs from the U.S.-Chinese trade deficit.

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People who brand China a ‘dictatorship’ are jealous that Beijing beat the pandemic, embassy claims

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Commentators refusing to give China credit for containing the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan and citing ‘Asian democracies’ as better examples simply envy Beijing’s efficiency, the Chinese embassy in France has said.

China, from which the coronavirus spread throughout the world, has largely succeeded in containing the disease, according to official updates. Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, has recorded no new cases in a week and has been lifting the restrictions that helped quash the pandemic.

Beijing sees the outcome as a success story and finds it irritating when commentators in countries currently overwhelmed by the virus insist they have nothing to learn from the Chinese experience. At least that’s what’s suggested in an article published this week by the Chinese embassy in France, where the Covid-19 death toll may soon exceed China’s.

Negative commenters “envy the efficiency of our political system and hate the inability of their own nations to perform as well. So they try to stick the ‘dictatorship’ label on China,” the embassy said.

Instead, detractors praise ‘Asian democracies’ like South Korea, Japan and Singapore, which have been more successful than Western nations in containing the pandemic. However, China, which resorted to more drastic quarantine measures than those countries, has a much bigger population. So its task in fighting the disease was far more difficult, the article argued. Ultimately, the virus doesn’t care whether it is ravaging a ‘democracy’ or an ‘autocracy.’

With the threat of coronavirus diminishing at home, Beijing has been busy building goodwill and sharing expertise with other nations affected by the pandemic, sending doctors and aid supplies to those in need.

Serbian PM: ‘Fake news’ that we don’t appreciate EU help, but Covid-19 aid came from China

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This ‘mask diplomacy,’ as some commentators call it, has drawn quite a lot of negative feedback on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Critics say the help comes with political strings attached, undermines European solidarity, and damages targeted nations’ relations with the United States.

There is also a popular narrative claiming that China has massively misreported the human cost of containing the pandemic. The latest item to fuel it is the reported delivery of about 2,500 urns to a funeral home in Wuhan.

Links to the urns story inevitably popped up in comments to the Chinese embassy’s Twitter feed, after it published excerpts from the article.

 

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Abbott Laboratories Launches 5-Minute Wuhan Virus Test for Use in Nearly All Locations

By Jose Nino – Mar 30, 2020

According to Reuters, Abbott Laboratories recently unveiled a Wuhan virus test that can detect if someone is infected in as few as five minutes.

Additionally, it is small and portable enough to be used in practically all health-care settings.

The medical device manufacturer plans to bring 50,000 test kits to the market starting on April 1, 2020 according to a statement from John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Abbott emergency use authorization “for use by authorized laboratories and patient care settings,” according to a company announcement on March 27, 2020.

The U.S. has had problems to supply sufficient amounts of tests to detect the virus, even as the outbreak is straining hospital resources in California, New York, Washington, and other regions.

“This is really going to provide a tremendous opportunity for front-line caregivers, those having to diagnose a lot of infections, to close the gap with our testing,” Frels stated. “A clinic will be able to turn that result around quickly, while the patient is waiting.”

The technology expands upon Illinois-based Abbott’s ID Now platform, the most common point-of-care test currently available in America. The platform has more than 18,000 units spread across the country. It is generally used to detect influenza, strep throat, and respiratory syncytial virus, a common ailment that generally causes cold-like symptoms.

The equipment can generally be used anywhere, but the company is working with its customers and the Trump administration to guarantee that the first cartridges used to carry out the tests are sent to locations where they are most needed. The prime spots include hospital emergency rooms, urgent-care clinics, and doctors’ offices.

 

 

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In Late February, Nancy Pelosi Encouraged Large Groups to Congregate in Chinatown

Yet blamed Trump’s early “denial” for spread of coronavirus.

By Paul Joseph Watson -30 March, 2020

A video clip from late February shows Nancy Pelosi encouraging large groups of people to congregate in San Francisco’s Chinatown before she would later go on to blame President Trump’s early “denial” for the spread of coronavirus.

The footage, which was taken on February 24th, is introduced by a reporter noting how Pelosi wanted residents to understand how it’s “perfectly safe to be here” in Chinatown.

“We do want to say to people, come to Chinatown, here we are…come join us,” said Pelosi.

The reporter then explains how the stunt was a response to San Francisco’s Chinatown experiencing a drop in business since the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China.

San Francisco has since recorded 340 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 5 people have died.

The video is particularly eye opening since yesterday on CNN, Pelosi blamed President Trump’s “denial at the beginning” for the spread of coronavirus throughout the United States.

The video underscores how many officials flouted the very social distancing measures they now amplify because at the time stopping bigotry towards Chinese people was seen as being of greater importance than preventing the spread of coronavirus.

As we previously highlighted, health officials in New York gave identical advice, urging residents to gather in crowds to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year.

“Today our city is celebrating the #LunarNewYear parade in Chinatown, a beautiful cultural tradition with a rich history in our city,” wrote New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot. “I want to remind everyone to enjoy the parade and not change any plans due to misinformation spreading about #coronavirus.”

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Her message was echoed by Mark D. Levine, Chair of New York City Council health committee, who lauded how “huge crowds gathering in NYC’s Chinatown” was a “powerful show of defiance of #coronavirus scare,” tweeting four images of large groups of people gathered to celebrate the occasion.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio also urged New Yorkers to “get out on the town despite coronavirus” and visit the cinema as late as March 2nd.

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As we highlight in the video below, back in February, leftist officials in Italy were also urging citizens to go outside and hug Chinese people in order to fight racism.

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Funny???

By Mark Dice – 3/27/2020

Deep down, everyone knows this simple truth: Hollywood and the MSM are completely outdated and unnecessary.

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WATCH: Huge Detroit Gang Fight Occurs in Streets Amidst Coronavirus Lockdown

There was some wildin’ in the Detroit streets on Sunday.

By Shane Trejo – 3/23/2020

A huge fight took place on the streets of Detroit on Sunday with over one hundred residents engaging in the massive skirmish that is the latest stain on the beleaguered and desolate town.

The video of the proceeding can be seen here:

The video has garnered a great deal of shock as Michigan attempts to maintain social distancing and take other precautions to stop the spread of Chinese coronavirus. Even individuals who attended the melee were making exasperated comments about the shameful, violent ordeal.

“What in the corona and boxing is going on here?” the individual shooting the video said.

Everyone seemed befuddled about the reasoning behind the fight, which apparently happened for no good reason.

“This is some kind of rivalry,” a man in the video said. “I mean the whole street.”

“We’re supposed to be quarantined and we’re out here watching a gd*** boxing match on the street … quarantine and fight,” said the videographer.

“This why school needs to be still goin on,” an individual wrote in response to the video on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a mandatory lock-down throughout the entire state on Monday, with all “non-essential” businesses being forcibly closed. It is expected to be in effect for at least three weeks.

“You can go outside. Get some fresh air, walk your dog. Just be smart about it. Maintain that 6-foot distance,” she said on Monday.

“Let me give you a little perspective here,” she added. “We have about 25,000 acute care beds in Michigan. … That means without aggressive additional measures, more people will get sick, more people will die and our economy will suffer longer.”

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“On a personal note I know the lack of control can be disorienting, so I urge you to focus on what you can control,” Whitmer said while addressing the public. “This crisis can take a toll on your mental health. Check in with family, call your loved ones, go for a walk, read those books on your list, even go outside and put your holiday lights back up.”

“We must keep our wits about us. That means all of us. Be sensitive to how our kids are feeling. They are not immune to the stress of this environment. Check in with them and help them understand, and give them the reassurance that they need,” she added.

These irresponsible Detroit residents, by wildin’ out on the streets during a pandemic, have given the Democrat governor the excuse she needed for another unconstitutional power-grab using coronavirus as the pretense.

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VIDEO: MUSLIM WOMEN GATHER IN GROUPS, CLAIM CORONAVIRUS CAN’T INFECT THEM

Video: Muslim Women Gather in Groups, Claim Coronavirus Can't Infect Them

Not the brightest idea.

By Paul Joseph Watson – March 26, 2020

A video clip out of India shows Muslim women defying social distancing rules by gathering in groups in the street while claiming they are immune to coronavirus.

Yes, really.

The women were gathered to protest against the India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which they claim discriminates against Muslims, and were not about to let a deadly global pandemic stop them.

One woman claimed that coronavirus was predicted in the Koran and that “death will come anyway, don’t frighten us by using this virus.”

“Allah is great, Allah sent this coronavirus,” claimed another woman, adding, “Allah makes decisions about who needs to live and who needs to die.”

“Here we are standing in groups. Nothing will happen to us. No disease can infect us,” she added.

Another woman claimed the only people afraid of coronavirus were those who lived in fear.

Well, I suppose at least some of them were covering their faces.

This week the Indian government announced that 80 cities would go under complete lockdown with trains and buses suspended and markets, malls, cinemas, schools, colleges and gyms all closed.

As we highlighted yesterday, there was also a large protest march against coronavirus in Egypt, with footage showing crowds of men walking down the street shouting “Allahu Akbar” in ‘defiance’ of COVID-19.

 

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‘Data is anonymized’: UK govt accused of ‘fiddling’ Covid-19 death figures amid ‘family consent’ claims

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The UK government is facing allegations they are manipulating coronavirus death numbers, after revealing they are changing the way the figures are released, claiming family consent is now required.

On Wednesday night, the Department for Health and Social Care published the latest Covid-19 figures showing an increase of 43 deaths – less than half the fatalities from the previous day (87).

A positive sign that the number had decreased? At first glance, yes, until it’s revealed those figures“do not cover a full 24 hour period” as usual.

The UK government is facing allegations they are manipulating coronavirus death numbers, after revealing they are changing the way the figures are released, claiming family consent is now required.

On Wednesday night, the Department for Health and Social Care published the latest Covid-19 figures showing an increase of 43 deaths – less than half the fatalities from the previous day (87).

A positive sign that the number had decreased? At first glance, yes, until it’s revealed those figures “do not cover a full 24 hour period” as usual.

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So why? BBC Newsnight’s Nick Watt explained that the government was changing the way it releases Covid-19 death figures, which “may not actually be the deaths that have taken place over the last 24 hrs,” as family consent is now required.

The government’s sudden shift in the criteria of reporting coronavirus numbers has provoked accusations that they are manipulating data without a valid reason. Luke Cooper, an associate researcher at LSE Conflict and Civil society research claimed that it “sounds an awful lot like government is fiddling the figures,” insisting that it is “not true” that consent is required “if data is anonymized.”

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Echoing that sentiment, Dr. Nisreen Alwan – an associate professor in public health at Southampton University – says that as is the case for information from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), “consent is not needed” for anonymized mortality data.

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Sam Fowles, a barrister that advised Another Europe – a pro-EU campaign group – on its GDPR compliance concurred, adding that “even if it were personal data, the government could arguably publish on the basis of overwhelming public interest. But in any case, it isn’t.”

PM Johnson ordered a temporary national lockdown on Monday and advised British people to “stay at home” outside of emergencies, buying essential supplies or getting exercise, otherwise they face the possibility of fines and even arrest.

The number of confirmed UK cases of Covid-19 currently stands at 9,529 – a rise of 1,452 in 24 hours.

 

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