Idlib reports first Covid-19 case and braces for fresh disaster
Syria’s rebel-held province has been dreading an outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic
Healthcare workers in Syria’s last rebel-held province are bracing for fresh disaster after the overcrowded and poverty-stricken area confirmed its first case of Covid-19.
A doctor in his 30s working at Bab al-Hawa hospital in Idlib near the Turkish border asked to be tested after displaying symptoms, the local health authority said on Thursday evening.
His role as a healthcare worker means he is almost certainly not the only case. The doctor and those who have come into contact with him have been tested and are in self-isolation, and the hospital has been temporarily closed. All routine medical procedures in Idlib have been cancelled.
Coronavirus highlights plight of thousands of incarcerated California wildfire fighters
Low-paid inmates have become a vital part of state’s firefighting efforts, sparking concern over exploitation
Adozen California firefighting camps that house incarcerated firefighters have been quarantined and taken out of commission after a coronavirus outbreak at a state prison, highlighting the precarious situation for these crews.
Since the second world war, California has trained and deployed thousands of prisoners to fight fires each year, recruiting those who are willing to fight wildfires at great personal risk in exchange for low wages and reduced sentences.
This year, after a historically dry winter followed by a hot spring, thousands of inmates have been among those battling blazes in the state, doing the backbreaking work of clearing the dead wood and vegetation that fuel the most destructive fires.
German minister urges U-turn on police racism study
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has halted planned research into racial profiling by police, saying it wasn't required. Integration commissioner Annette Widmann-Mauz disagrees and has called for the study to proceed.
Germany should press ahead with its study into racial profiling by police, the government's integration commissioner Annette Widmann-Mauz said on Friday.
In an interview with the Funke media group, she said the issue needs to be dealt with scientifically so an objective debate can be had.
Widmann-Mauz, who is also a deputy minister in the chancellery, added that the argument had been strengthened by German police associations who had supported the idea
Lebanon’s neo-liberal wheels sped to a dream future, but the past applies the brakes
For decades, Lebanon was a poster child of the triumph of private enterprise, its failure to close its civil war chapter overlooked in the hopes that prosperity would overcome the weakness of the state. But now that the current economic crisis has ripped the neo-liberal band-aid, can the Lebanese confront the wounds of the past?
The trains in Lebanon are an unfortunate metaphor for the state. They’re going nowhere. In fact, they haven’t budged since the national rail system ground to a halt during the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war.
But they live in the public memory, an object of yearning and a testimony to the limitations of private enterprise. Artists put up shows offering sepia-tinted nostalgia of a heritage service. Newspapers feature profiles of “Lebanon’s last living train driver”. NGOs raise awareness, via songs and video clips, hoping it will lay the groundwork for a modern railway system linking cities as they did under Ottoman and colonial rule.
Exclusive: Facebook used extensively to spread neo-Nazi music
An Al Jazeera investigation identified some 120 pages belonging to bands with openly white supremacist and racist views.
by Yarno Ritzen
Facebook has removed several pages belonging to music groups espousing white supremacist ideology following an investigation by Al Jazeera into the prevalence of such bands on the social media platform.
Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit identified more than 120 pages from mostly heavy metal groups and record labels with direct ties to white supremacy. The pages had gained a total of more than 800,000 likes and some have been online for more than 10 years.
WHO chief blasts 'lack of leadership' and calls for global unity as coronavirus cases mount worldwide
Updated 0910 GMT (1710 HKT) July 10, 2020
The director-general of the World Health Organization has condemned a "lack of leadership" in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and made an emotional plea for global unity, as cases soar in multiple countries and the world struggles to contain the devastating virus more than six months after it was first identified.
"My friends, make no mistake: The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a passionate speech in Geneva on Thursday. "Rather, it's the lack of leadership and solidarity at the global and national levels."
His intervention will be seen as a thinly veiled swipe at leaders including US President Donald Trump, who has waged a public battle against WHO while failing to suppress the world's worst Covid-19 outbreak in his own country.
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