(2022-03-06). Gas Prices: Why EU and UK Sanctions Game Will See No Winners. sputniknews.com Eight and half million households may end up in fuel poverty, being forced to pay over £3,000 (about $4,000) a year to heat their homes amid the European energy crisis, which has been further exacerbated by sweeping anti-Russian sanctions. However, it's only the beginning, economic observers have warned.
(2022-03-06). Russian companies are now allowed to pay foreign creditors in rubles. rt.com 
Putin approves pay procedures to Russian firms' foreign creditors | Russia and Russian companies are now allowed to pay foreign creditors in rubles as a tool to avoid defaults while capital controls remain in place. | The decree, signed by President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, sets out temporary regulations for sovereign and corporate debtors to provide payments to creditors from "countries that engage in hostile activities" against Russia, its companies, and citizens. The list of such nations will be released by the Russian government within two days. | The new requirement, which comes three weeks after Washi…
(2022-03-06). Moody's downgrades Russia's credit ratings to pre-default. rt.com 
The agency cuts Russia rating to Ca on rise in default risk | On Sunday, international rating agency Moody's Investors Service has lowered Russia's credit rating to Ca, the second-lowest grade of its ratings ladder. The decision was "driven by severe concerns around Russia's willingness and ability to pay its debt obligations." | According to the agency, capital controls earlier introduced by Russia's central bank are expected to restrict payments on the country's foreign debt and may lead to default. | Last week, the Bank of Russia temporarily halted payments and said it had barred coupon payments for foreign…
(2022-03-06). US 'works' with Poland to send jets to Ukraine — media. rt.com 
Kiev pleaded with the West to help it fend off the ongoing Russian attack | The White House has told a number of US media outlets that Washington does not mind if Poland supplies Ukraine with some of its old Soviet-era warplanes to help repel the ongoing Russian invasion. "We are also working on the capabilities we could provide to backfill Poland if it decided to transfer planes to Ukraine," the spokesperson said on Saturday. | Politico quoted four unnamed US officials as saying that Washington may fill the gap in Poland's Air Force if it decides to give its used MiG-29s to Kiev. The Wall Street Journal repor…
(2022-03-06). In Haiti, misery breeds resistance. iacenter.org By G. Dunkel March 3, 2022 Thousands of Haitian garment workers, mainly women, have hit the streets in February demanding that the government raise their minimum wage to 1,500 gourdes (about $14) for a 9-hour day. They currently make 500 gourdes (about $4.80) a day. The workers, mostly women who spend over half their salaries on transportation to and from the factories, are demanding a raise. credit: Konbit Journalis These low wages, and a bourgeoisie more than willing to intensely exploit workers, are what has drawn big companies like Gap, Old Navy, H&M, JCPenney and Zara to hire Haitian companies in duty-free "
(2022-03-06). US state-run media outlet halts operations in Russia. rt.com 
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty accused Moscow of "an assault on the truth" | US government-controlled news organization Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has become yet another Western outlet to suspend operations in Russia, amid the country's ongoing attack against Ukraine. | "It is with the deepest regret that I announce the suspension of our physical operations in Moscow today," RFE/RL President & CEO Jamie Fly said in a statement early Sunday. | "This is not a decision that RFE/RL has taken of its own accord, but one that has been forced upon us by the Putin regime's assault on the truth," he state…
(2022-03-06). Putin, Lenin, Imperialism And The (Real) History Of Ukraine. popularresistance.org Ukraine is a place few people in this country can find on a map. Far fewer have any idea of when and how the Ukrainian state originated, or how it has related to its neighbors over time. So I might make up any random narrative about it, weaving in bits and pieces of truth here and there, and perhaps the majority of my listeners would nod agreeably at my presentation finding no flaws. There are a whole lot of ingredients to work with and to play with when it comes to Ukraine's history.
(2022-03-06). EU comments on warplanes for Kiev. rt.com 
Ukraine insists it needs jet fighters to repel the Russian attack | European Council President Charles Michel has said that the bloc's military aid to Ukraine will not include jet fighters, which Kiev has insisted it badly needs to fend off the ongoing Russian invasion. | "The European Union is definitely not at war with Russia. A war is what Russia has launched against Ukraine, a country very friendly and very close to the EU. That is why we support Ukraine on all levels," Michel said in an interview with several European newspapers on Saturday. | The chief of the EU's top political body confirmed that the EU…
(2022-03-05). Skyrocketing Energy Bills Could Plunge 8.5 Million UK Households Into Fuel Poverty. sputniknews.com Last week, European energy prices jumped almost 70% shortly after the EU's announcement of new tough anti-Russian sanctions over the beginning of Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine to protect the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.
(2022-03-05). [Perspectives] Sally Grantham-McGregor: pioneer in early childhood development. thelancet.com "I can still be horrified by the poverty in the world and how it affects children's development", says Sally Grantham-McGregor, Emeritus Professor of International Child Health at University College London (UCL), UK, and the doyenne of early childhood development (ECD). In pioneering work in Jamaica, she developed a low-cost early childhood intervention and showed that it can have long-term benefits for children. Now called Reach Up, it has been implemented in 16 countries, with several, including China and Peru, rolling it out as a national programme.
(2022-03-05). [Comment] The Lancet journals: our new ombudsperson. thelancet.com We are indebted to Professor Malcolm Molyneux, who served as Ombudsman to the Lancet group of journals from 2015, providing authoritative and wise advice during his tenure. After 6 years of service, Malcolm was to stand down at the end of 2021. On Nov 16, 2021, he died after an illness.1…
(2022-03-05). How Greensboro Massacre Survivor Taught The Next Generation To Fight. popularresistance.org On November 3, 1979, Marty Nathan, Mike Nathan, and other members and supporters of the Communist Workers' Party were stationed along the route of a "Death to the Klan" march in Greensboro, North Carolina. This multiracial working-class movement's success organizing textile and hospital workers had attracted the attention of the Ku Klux Klan; "not surprisingly," Marty explained, "the Klan began to rise in 1979 … [in places] where hard-hitting union organizing and strikes were occurring." Not only were workers and organizers faced with resistance and threats from employers — they were also confronted with…
(2022-03-05). [Comment] Prioritise research on vaccines for pregnant and breastfeeding women. thelancet.com Pregnant women, their fetuses, and infants are at increased risk of severe disease and death from many vaccine-preventable diseases, including COVID-19.1,2 However, they are typically excluded from pre-implementation vaccine research aimed at generating robust data in support of evidence-informed decision making. This was initially the case with COVID-19 vaccines. In 2019, the PREVENT Working Group published 22 recommendations on how to include pregnant and breastfeeding women in vaccine research and implementation for emerging infections.
(2022-03-05). Building towards 2022 Cesar Chavez Day – UC Davis Aggie Square Community Celebration. indybay.org In 1942, Cesar Chavez graduated from the eight grade, skipped high school to provide for his family after his father was injured in a tragic accident. After a few years working in the fields, Cesar joined the U.S. Navy in 1946 and honorably served America with a two-year tour of duty. In 1948, he married Nelen Fabela and settled in Delano, and the rest is history.
(2022-03-05). Join 'Militant' drive! Fight Moscow's war on Ukraine! themilitant.com 
In response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the Militant has launched a timely and needed international drive to expand the reach of the paper, win 1,600 new subscribers, sell 1,600 books by Socialist Workers Party and other revolutionary leaders presenting a communist program and marking the lessons from past working-class struggles, and to raise $165,000 for a Militant Fighting Fund for the paper. The campaign is already off and running and goes through May 17. We're asking our readers to join in! | In response to the first major war on the European continent in decades, with consequences for the toilers world…
(2022-03-05). New Zealand court bans strike by 10,000 health workers. wsws.org The decision to ban the health workers' strike points to the increasingly anti-democratic measures being used against the working class, as COVID spreads out of control and the cost of living soars.