1428: Health Glitch

Ukrainian parliament member Ilya Kiwa calls on Russia and the Russian army to liberate Ukraine from "Western" occupation. Ukraine is drenched in Nazism and needs help. He is sure that Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians are one people, one family and there will come a day when they will all be together again

Heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces reportedly at Chornobyl exclusion zone 100km north of Kyiv. Ukrainian interior ministry warns of potential nuclear hazards.

expect thing to blow up and US will blame Russia

19m

Col Stephen T. Ganyard, USMC (ret.) - JINSA

Industries - Avascent

At J&J's upcoming annual meeting, shareholders will have a chance to vote on an Oxfam proposal to force the company to release its COVID-19 vaccine pricing strategy. Oxfam previously asked J&J to share the information considering the drugmaker received substantial funding assistance from the U.S. government while it was developing the shot. During the company's shareholder meeting last year, 32% of J&J's shareholders voted for a similar resolution, Oxfam notes.

Meanwhile, at Moderna, shareholders will vote on whether the company should study the feasibility of sharing vaccine technology to help increase global production. This has been a hot issue in recent months as many of the world's mRNA shots have gone to developed countries, while low- and middle-income countries were forced to wait for donations.

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Historically, false-reactive RPR test results have been observed in people with systemic infections unrelated to

syphilis, such as tuberculosis, rickettsial diseases, and endocarditis. False-reactive RPR testing also has been

previously observed following immunization (specifically following smallpox vaccine). False reactivity with RPR

can also occur during pregnancy.

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U.S. life insurers, as expected, made a large number of Covid-19 death-benefit payouts last year. More surprisingly, many saw a jump in other death claims, too.

Industry executives and actuaries believe many of these other fatalities are tied to delays in medical care as a result of lockdowns in 2020, and then, later, people’s fears of seeking out treatment and trouble lining up appointments.

Some insurers see continued high levels of these deaths for some time, even if Covid-19 deaths decline this year.

In earnings calls for the past two quarters, Globe Life Inc., Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Primerica Inc. and Reinsurance Group of America Inc. were among insurers noting higher non-Covid-19 deaths, compared with pre-pandemic baselines.

“The losses we are seeing continue to be elevated over 2019 levels due at least in part, we believe, to the pandemic and the existence of either delayed or unavailable healthcare,” Globe Life finance chief Frank Svoboda told analysts and investors earlier this month.

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The South African government has released the bollox for the year and

interestingly enough we have a new contender for Sin tax with vapes.

From Jan 2023 they are going to tax the liquid at R2.90 per

milliliter. Just to put that into perspective, let's say a 30ml nic

salts costs you R160. Now adding additional R87 to a small bottle of

juice.

They have lost the plot! My thinking behind this is that in South

Africa, we honestly have no say. but I was involved in the vaping

industry from the beginning. Before America even knew what it was. But

I called it back then already. I said we would get to a point in RSA

where it would become small disposable devices with high nic. This is

where we are now, and that big tobacco would control the vape market

here. It is now official.

Keep well.

Love and lit!

Ian from an overly taxed South Africa.

Apparently WEF “Young Global Leaders” must be 38 or under when they are admitted. At 38 Putin would have still been in the KGB in the dying days of the USSR in 1990.

Also, WEF didn’t start the Young Global Leaders program (as “Global Leaders for Tomorrow”) until 1993 when Putin was already 41.

I doubt Putin was a WEF Young Leader, I think Schwab misremembered. But I also think that Schwab wrongly remembering Putin being a young WEF hope is notable.

I think that an old guy like Schwab (in 2019 he was already 81) can be excused to under the pressure of a live interview wrongly remember someone whom he first met in 1992 and who still addresses him with “dear Klaus” was one of his old “Young Global Leaders”.

An ex-Junger Globaler Führer or not, there aren’t many sitting heads of state who are happier to conference with good ole Schwab than Putin.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 16:24

You can forgive an old manThere is a very interesting 2019 video of an interview in Costa Rica in which Klaus Schwab lists Tony Blair, Angela Merkel, and Vladimir Putin as former World Economic Forum ''Young Global Leaders''. (Hat tip to reader.)

1:15 pic.twitter.com/pc1TPStiXL

'-- United Together Against Chronic Endocrine Ailments (@UAilments) December 22, 2021

Apparently WEF ''Young Global Leaders'' must be 38 or under when they are admitted. At 38 Putin would have still been in the KGB in the dying days of the USSR in 1990.

Also, WEF didn't start the Young Global Leaders program (as ''Global Leaders for Tomorrow'') until 1993 when Putin was already 41.

I doubt Putin was a WEF Young Leader, I think Schwab misremembered. But I also think that Schwab wrongly remembering Putin being a young WEF hope is notable.

I think that an old guy like Schwab (in 2019 he was already 81) can be excused to under the pressure of a live interview wrongly remember someone whom he first met in 1992 and who still addresses him with ''dear Klaus'' was one of his old ''Young Global Leaders''.

An ex-Junger Globaler F¼hrer or not, there aren't many sitting heads of state who are happier to conference with good ole Schwab than Putin.

Not a former formal Young Global Leader but something just as good?

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 16:09

Ghislaine Maxwell's estranged husband has put the historic Massachusetts mansion he shared with the now-convicted madam on the market for nearly $7.3 million.

Scott Borgerson '-- who reportedly dumped the British socialite while she was in jail '-- told the Wall Street Journal that he was selling the Manchester-by-the-Sea mansion he had shared with his ex.

''She was here years ago, but actually left when this thing started to rear its ugly head '-- her situation from conduct decades ago,'' Borgeson told the paper of Maxwell sex trafficking underage girls for her earlier ex, pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The waterfront property, known as the Phippen-Smith house, is owned by Borgerson's limited liability company Tidewood LLC.

He told the WSJ that although Maxwell, 60, had lived there, she has no ownership stake, which was confirmed by Brian Basham, a friend of the Maxwell family who has served as their spokesman.

Borgerson refused to discuss with the WSJ whether he and Maxwell had legally married. Arctic Circle AssemblyBorgeson told the paper that he believes his house was built around 1660 in Salem, Mass., before it was moved by barge in 1917 to its current location in an enclave known as the Sharksmouth Estate.

His company paid $2.45 million for it in 2016, records show. He also spent another $2.5 million restoring it, he told the paper.

The house now has five bedrooms spread across roughly 6,100 square feet, with modern amenities including Tesla charging stations.

The property first came into focus in the summer of 2019 when it first emerged that Maxwell was hiding out there amid the intensifying focus of her earlier involvement of Epstein's sex trafficking.

Borgerson reportedly dumped the British socialite while she was in jail. Josh Reynolds for The New York PostShe managed to avoid the spotlight, however, secretly moving to a rented mansion in New Hampshire where she was tracked down and arrested in a major operation in July 2020.

It was only after her arrest that it emerged she was married '-- with even Maxwell's supportive siblings later admitting they had no idea.

However, Borgerson refused to discuss with the WSJ whether he and Maxwell had legally married.

Maxwell was found guilty of sex-trafficking underage girls for pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. (C) SDNY via ZUMA Press WireThe Post first revealed in December, in the middle of Maxwell's trial, that Borgeson had been spotted having affectionate outings in Manchester-by-the-Sea with Kris McGinn, a yoga enthusiast with ''an ass that could crack open a walnut,'' according to one admiring local.

Later reports said that he had dumped Maxwell in a ''confrontational'' phone call while she was in solitary confinement.

The real estate agents with the listing, Tracy Campion and Ryan Clunan, told the WSJ that they did not expect the shady history to affect interest in the sale.

''We believe the beauty of the house and the location will surpass or outweigh the connection,'' Mr. Clunan said, noting that a house on the same street sold for $20 million in 2020.

Maxwell, who often socialized with disgraced UK royal Prince Andrew, was convicted at the end of last year of recruiting and grooming underage girls for years as Epstein's madam. She faces up to 65 years in prison.

However, she formally called for a retrial last month after it was revealed that a juror failed to disclose their childhood sexual abuse during jury selection.

Epstein, 66, killed himself in his Manhattan lockup in August 2019 while awaiting trial on further serious sex charges.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:39

Shippers are increasingly choosing trucks over railroads because of supply-chain bottlenecks and a need for speed, pushing more freight onto the country's highways

Tens of thousands of container loads of cargo that would normally move on railroads are being hauled on American roads each month as companies look to get around continuing supply-chain bottlenecks.

U.S. intermodal transports, in which railroads carry containers and truck trailers, were down nearly 12% in the first six weeks of this year from a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads, after tumbling in the second half of last year even as retailers and manufacturers rushed to bring in goods.

Trucking...

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Tens of thousands of container loads of cargo that would normally move on railroads are being hauled on American roads each month as companies look to get around continuing supply-chain bottlenecks.

U.S. intermodal transports, in which railroads carry containers and truck trailers, were down nearly 12% in the first six weeks of this year from a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads, after tumbling in the second half of last year even as retailers and manufacturers rushed to bring in goods.

Trucking and rail industry officials say demand to move freight 500 miles or more'--which is often done by rail'--remains strong, as companies restock depleted inventories. But shippers are more often than usual choosing highways over railroads because shortages of labor, equipment and warehouse space across supply chains can create unpredictable delays.

Railroads ''should be seizing the day and winning more business,'' said Paul Svindland, chief executive of Bensenville, Ill.-based STG Logistics.

Mr. Svindland's firm has been placing more cargo than usual on trucks because he can't find enough of the containers railroads need to most easily handle such shipments, he said.

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Intermodal transport, which uses trucking for the final leg of delivery, is slower and more complicated than long-haul trucking. But it is also cheaper and less damaging to the environment.

Lawrence Gross, president of Gross Transportation Consulting, said intermodal loads have lost a little over 1% of their market share to long-distance trucking since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Based on current freight volumes, that translates to about 30,000 additional long-distance truck moves each week, he said.

John Gray, senior vice president for policy and economics at the AAR, said freight railroads could comfortably handle an extra 20,000 to 30,000 intermodal loads a week. ''I am confident there is a lot more capacity out there,'' Mr. Gray said.

U.S. supply chains are struggling to ingest record cargo volumes that began surging into the country in the summer of 2020, a few months after the Covid-19 pandemic triggered lockdowns, when consumers switched their spending from services to goods. Imports were up 14% in 2021 over the year before at the nation's busiest container port complex at Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., clogging port terminals, rail yards, truck yards and warehouses.

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Railroads carried record levels of intermodal cargo toward the end of 2020 and through the first half of 2021. But last summer, the system ground to a halt as rail yards in the Chicago area filled with tens of thousands of boxes, backing up shipments at a key hub for transport to destinations east of the Mississippi River.

Rail and trucking industry officials say the congestion was caused by too many boxes flowing into the region for warehouses and truckers to handle, a situation that has popped up intermittently at other intermodal hubs around the country.

Jim Filter, chief commercial officer of Green Bay, Wis.-based trucking and logistics provider Schneider National Inc., said shipping customers took 30% longer than usual, on average, to unload containers last year because their warehouse space was packed and they had too few workers. That tied up the containers and the steel trailers used to pull boxes, making it harder to find equipment already in short supply.

In July, some railroads restricted cargo into Chicago for days until the bottlenecks cleared, pushing shippers to trucking for long-distance routes to inland warehouses. The period coincided with massive bottlenecks at U.S. ports, where container ships at the port complex in Southern California waited weeks or months to unload cargo.

To make up for lost time, some shippers chose to pay more for the certainty and speed of trucking, said Bob Biesterfeld, chief executive of freight broker C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.

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''If they're waiting for days and weeks to get product out of the port and into their warehouse, they're looking for the fastest way to do that, and ultimately that is almost exclusively by truck,'' he said.

Truckload volumes moving through the spot market on routes that mirror the nation's busiest inland route, from Los Angeles to Chicago, were up 130% year-over-year in early February according to DAT Solutions LLC.

Such demand is contributing to high trucking rates. Dean Croke, DAT's principal freight market analyst, said spot rates on the Los Angeles to Chicago routes are up 59% year-over-year, or $1.04 a mile.

But railroad officials say there are signs intermodal freight is beginning to bounce back.

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Tom Williams, group vice president for the consumer products business unit of BNSF Railway, said intermodal cargo volumes on container ships en route to the United States are up 25% compared with the start of the year.

''It hasn't arrived yet, but it's coming,'' he said.

Still, officials warn that without sufficient equipment, truck drivers, warehouse space and workers to process cargo, rail systems could become clogged again.

''We need the entire chain to be able to handle it at the same pace so we don't get into a similar situation where the trains keep coming and the street and the warehouses can't process it fast enough,'' said Elise Gosch, assistant vice president of intermodal sales at Union Pacific Corp.

Write to Paul Berger at Paul.Berger@wsj.com

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:16

Those clamoring for former president Donald Trump's voice in their social media feeds can turn to Liz Harrington, once an attorney for the Republican National Committee and now spokeswoman for him. Until Trump's own social media platform is actually running, Harrington's Twitter feed is the best immediate source for the various Twitter-esque riffs and links that Trump puts out through his political action committee several times a day.

So, for example, one could learn from Harrington on Tuesday morning that Trump would be making an appearance on a right-wing radio program. And then, a few hours later, you could hear part of the discussion for yourself, dutifully shared by Harrington.

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For example, you could hear how Trump replied when the show's hosts asked him about President Biden's response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's sending military forces into Ukraine.

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''In the last 24 hours we know Russia has said that they are recognizing two breakaway regions of Ukraine, and now this White House is stating that this is an 'invasion,' '' host Buck Sexton said. ''That's a strong word. What went wrong here? What has the current occupant of the Oval Office done that he could have done differently?''

''Well, what went wrong was a rigged election,'' Trump said, once again misrepresenting the results of the 2020 presidential contest. ''What went wrong is a candidate that shouldn't be there and a man that has no concept of what he's do '-- ''

Trump said ''doing,'' actually, but Harrington's clip cut off a bit too early. That's probably because of what Trump said next.

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''I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, 'This is genius,' '' Trump continued. ''Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine '-- of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful. So, Putin is now saying, 'It's independent,' a large section of Ukraine. I said, 'How smart is that?' And he's gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That's strongest peace force '... We could use that on our southern border.''

He continued to praise Putin a bit later.

''Here's a guy that says, you know, 'I'm gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent' '-- he used the word 'independent' '-- 'and we're gonna go out and we're gonna go in and we're gonna help keep peace,' '' Trump said. ''You gotta say that's pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response.''

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Harrington's clip didn't include all of that about how Putin's move was ''genius'' and ''smart'' and ''savvy,'' something Trump said more than once. And when your press person is cutting off quotes early, that's not an accident.

On Feb. 22, White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed former president Donald Trump's comments after he called Russia's move on Ukraine ''smart.'' (The Washington Post)I suspect that you are not surprised to hear this. The disdain for Biden that enveloped the comments about Putin isn't a surprise, even as Trump's dismissal of Biden's response was undercut by the announcement of new sanctions on Tuesday afternoon.

Nor is it a surprise that Trump would express admiration for Putin. Few people better encapsulate the right's mixture of respect for Putin's autocratic tendencies and the perceived embarrassment of Democratic presidents that results than Donald Trump. When Putin seized Crimea in 2014, Trump declared that ''Putin has eaten Obama's lunch'' and pretended to worry that President Barack Obama would do something ''very foolish and very stupid to show his manhood.'' This, of course, came less than a year after Trump wondered if Putin would become his ''new best friend'' when the Miss Universe pageant was held in Moscow.

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There's little need to articulate the extent to which Trump flirted with Putin and Russia during his 2016 campaign and his presidency. Remember when he invited Russia's foreign minister to the Oval Office the day after he fired FBI Director James B. Comey for pressing forward on the Russia probe? Remember when he met with Putin in Helsinki and then emerged to take Putin's side on Russia's 2016 election interference? Remember his repeated insistences that he thought it was important to get along with Russia, by which he meant it was important to get along with Vladimir Putin '-- someone who was not his enemy but might still turn out to be a friend?

Remember when he said that Putin said he was brilliant, which Putin didn't really say but which helped fuel months of Trumpian enthusiasm about how he and Putin might end up as pals? Remember, too, how Putin was just one of a contingent of authoritarians (Turkey, China, North Korea) who Trump enjoyed being around, preferring being stroked by America's enemies to being challenged by our allies?

So, without even being asked to take sides in the power struggle between our country and Russia, Trump took sides. Putin was clever and wily, and Biden inept and toothless. There are ways to criticize Biden without explicitly praising the Russian authoritarian actively seeking to reorder democracy in Europe '-- see the example of every vocal Republican in the Senate '-- but this was not the path Trump chose to follow.

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At another point on Tuesday '-- and about two seconds later in the radio interview '-- Trump reiterated his claim that Putin wouldn't have entered Ukraine were he president. The impression he hopes to give is one of strength; that Putin feared his response. There's no evidence for that, of course. What was the point in Trump's presidency when Putin might have felt intimidated by Trump's exercising of American power? The sanctions he didn't want to apply? His refusal to blame Russia for interfering? As I wrote on Tuesday, it seems much more likely that, if American politics played any role at all, Putin would want to move when he could expect the political right to criticize Biden more than himself. That includes the former president. After all, Putin's so savvy, right?

This response from Trump is not surprising. It is nonetheless noteworthy.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:15

Companies believe lack of medical treatment during pandemic has contributed to deaths from other causes

Updated Feb. 23, 2022 5:36 am ETU.S. life insurers, as expected, made a large number of Covid-19 death-benefit payouts last year. More surprisingly, many saw a jump in other death claims, too.

Industry executives and actuaries believe many of these other fatalities are tied to delays in medical care as a result of lockdowns in 2020, and then, later, people's fears of seeking out treatment and trouble lining up appointments.

Some...

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U.S. life insurers, as expected, made a large number of Covid-19 death-benefit payouts last year. More surprisingly, many saw a jump in other death claims, too.

Industry executives and actuaries believe many of these other fatalities are tied to delays in medical care as a result of lockdowns in 2020, and then, later, people's fears of seeking out treatment and trouble lining up appointments.

Some insurers see continued high levels of these deaths for some time, even if Covid-19 deaths decline this year.

In earnings calls for the past two quarters, Globe Life Inc., Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Primerica Inc. and Reinsurance Group of America Inc. were among insurers noting higher non-Covid-19 deaths, compared with pre-pandemic baselines.

''The losses we are seeing continue to be elevated over 2019 levels due at least in part, we believe, to the pandemic and the existence of either delayed or unavailable healthcare,'' Globe Life finance chief Frank Svoboda told analysts and investors earlier this month.

Among the non-coronavirus-specific claims are deaths from heart and circulatory issues and neurological disorders, he said. ''We anticipate that they'll start to be less impactful over the course of 2022 but we do anticipate that we'll still at least see some elevated levels throughout the year,'' he said.

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Primerica executives similarly cautioned in their fourth-quarter call about outsize numbers of non-Covid-19 deaths in 2022. ''Some of these will be the result of delayed medical care or the increased incidence of societal-related issues, such as the increased prevalence of substance abuse,'' Chief Financial Officer Alison Rand said in an email interview.

From early stages of the pandemic, many medical professionals have raised concerns about Americans' untreated health problems, as Covid-19 put stress on the nation's healthcare system.

Trade group American Council of Life Insurers said the pandemic in 2020 drove the biggest annual increase in death benefits paid by U.S. carriers since the 1918 influenza epidemic, totaling billions of dollars. The hit to the industry's bottom line has been less than initially feared, however, because many victims have been older people who typically have smaller policies, if any coverage.

Still, Covid-19 and other excess deaths have cut into many carriers' quarterly earnings, especially as deaths linked to the Delta variant increased for people in their working years with employer-sponsored death benefits. ''Earnings impacts have been material and there still appears to be some Covid-19 discount, but investors are starting to look through mortality claims costs,'' said Andrew Kligerman,

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a stock analyst with Credit Suisse Securities.

Industrywide, death-benefit claims usually vary only slightly year-to-year, so the recent increases are outside the norm.

Non-Covid-19 excess deaths jumped in last year's third quarter, after negligible or modest counts in earlier quarters, some life insurers said. Those numbers line up with results from an ongoing Covid-19 survey of 20 of the nation's leading sellers of group-life insurance to employers by the Society of Actuaries Research Institute.

In the third quarter, the survey shows, incurred claims counts were 37.7% higher than a pre-pandemic baseline, with a nearly 50-50 split between claims directly tied to Covid-19 and those that weren't, according to R. Dale Hall, managing director of research at the society, a professional organization. The group is still assessing fourth-quarter data.

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The third-quarter non-Covid-19 excess claims were 19%, compared with 18.7% for Covid-19 claims, Mr. Hall said. Non-coronavirus-specific excess claims hadn't topped 6.4% in previous quarters.

In discussing third-quarter results with analysts, Hartford Financial Chief Executive Christopher Swift said the company had ''experienced higher levels of non-Covid excess mortality during the quarter,'' including heart, stroke and cancer causes of death.

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He said the company's experience with such claims ''has been very bouncy over the last six quarters so I don't see a trend per se,'' beyond those seeming ''to indicate maybe a second-order effect with Covid and people not taking care of themselves.'' The insurer is one of the nation's biggest group-benefits providers.

At nonpublicly traded OneAmerica Financial Partners, another group-life-insurance seller, claims for working-age adults ran at about 140% of a pre-pandemic baseline during the third quarter, CEO J. Scott Davison said.

About two-thirds of these excess deaths are Covid-19-specific, he said. Of the remainder, in addition to deaths driven by deferred medical care, Mr. Davison's team believes that some may stem from earlier Covid-19 infections. He cited scientific research indicating that the virus may pave the way for future medical complications, so survivors may ''later die from the toll Covid has taken on their bodies.''

The impact on the cost of life insurance from Covid-19 both directly and indirectly is unclear. Some insurers say they are repricing group-life contracts modestly on the assumption that the virus will be around at least through 2022. Those contracts are typically repriced every couple of years. Meanwhile, insurers are still trying to determine what implications there may or may not be on long-term mortality.

Write to Leslie Scism at leslie.scism@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications The American Council of Life Insurers said the pandemic in 2020 drove the biggest annual increase in death benefits paid by U.S. carriers since the 1918 influenza epidemic. An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the trade group as the American Council of Life Insurance. (Corrected on Feb. 23)

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:09

Throughout the global push to produce COVID-19 vaccines, pharma companies have frequently come under fire for unequal access to their shots. Oxfam, in a bid to force better access, has scored a pair of wins in its effort to exact pricing and intellectual property information from Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, respectively.

At J&J's upcoming annual meeting, shareholders will have a chance to vote on an Oxfam proposal to force the company to release its COVID-19 vaccine pricing strategy. Oxfam previously asked J&J to share the information considering the drugmaker received substantial funding assistance from the U.S. government while it was developing the shot. During the company's shareholder meeting last year, 32% of J&J's shareholders voted for a similar resolution, Oxfam notes.

Meanwhile, at Moderna, shareholders will vote on whether the company should study the feasibility of sharing vaccine technology to help increase global production. This has been a hot issue in recent months as many of the world's mRNA shots have gone to developed countries, while low- and middle-income countries were forced to wait for donations.

After Oxfam filed the shareholder resolutions late last year, J&J and Moderna asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow them to omit the proposals from their annual meeting materials. The SEC denied the requests, according to agency records.

In rejecting Moderna's request, SEC said the proposal "transcends ordinary business matters and does not seek to micromanage the company." As for J&J, the SEC disagreed with the drugmaker that its public disclosures "substantially implement the proposal."

RELATED: Shareholders to push for detailed COVID-19 pricing strategies from Pfizer, J&J at annual meetings

Oxfam also filed a technology-sharing proposal with Pfizer, similar to Moderna. It isn't clear whether the SEC has ruled on that potential shareholder vote yet. An Oxfam representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The vaccine heavyweights have come under fire from a range of global groups amid the COVID-19 immunization drive that started last year. Last March, as it became clear there'd be a serious supply shortfall in developing countries, calls to break vaccine patents began to gather steam. In May 2021, the Biden administration backed a proposal at the World Trade Organization to suspend intellectual property protections for COVID shots so that companies around the world could begin to pump out their own doses.

The move angered the industry, which has argued that established vaccine players are in the best position to quickly scale up production of pandemic vaccines. Further, companies have argued that suspending patent rights will spur a global fight for critical raw materials, hurting output.

Meanwhile, COVID vaccine sales have been adding up in a big way, especially at Pfizer and Moderna. Pfizer reported $36.8 billion in 2021 COVID-19 vaccine sales, and Moderna is set to report full-year revenues on Thursday.

RELATED: Biden admin backs proposal to suspend intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines, angering industry

After Pfizer reported its earnings earlier this month, Oxfam's senior manager of private sector advocacy Robbie Silverman responded that the results are "clear evidence of how the company has used its monopoly to enrich its shareholders at the expense of almost half the world's population, who still have no access to lifesaving vaccines."

"It is obscene that we have allowed pharmaceutical companies to put their profits before the good of humanity as the pandemic drags on," he added. "No corporations should decide who lives and who dies."

As for J&J, the company's COVID shot generated $2.39 billion in 2021. In the U.S., the shot faced an early setback when authorities briefly paused its use to investigate rare blood clots. Afterward, the vaccine never really gained traction to keep up with its mRNA rivals.

In all of last year, the industry churned out an estimated 12 billion doses.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:55

Perturbations in the gut microbiota have been shown to affect various immune components and impair the efficacy of treatments such as cancer immunotherapy. Now, work from the group of Bali Pulendran shows that antibiotic-mediated disruption of the gut microbiota can impair the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccination in individuals with low levels of pre-existing immunity.

Credit: S. Bradbrook/Springer Nature Limited

Most studies exploring how the microbiota shapes immune function have used animal models. To examine the effects of the microbiota on the human immune system, Hagan et al. vaccinated antibiotic-treated or control subjects with the seasonal trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV). They initially enrolled 22 healthy adults and subjected 11 individuals to a 5-day broad-spectrum antibiotic regimen (commencing 3 days before vaccination and ending 1'‰day after) and collected biological samples regularly until 1 year after vaccination. Antibiotic-treated subjects showed a marked reduction in bacterial loads and profound changes in microbial community composition, chiefly characterized by an overabundance of Enterobacteriaceae and reduced proportions of Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Bacteroidaceae and Veillonellaceae. This restriction in bacterial diversity was apparent for at least 6 months after cessation of antibiotics administration.

In this initial study, the authors did not see any differences between the TIV-induced antibody responses of antibiotic-treated and control individuals. However, many individuals showed high baseline antibody titres; therefore, in a subsequent study the authors enrolled additional subjects with low pre-existing titres of antibody against influenza. In this follow-up study using individuals with limited pre-existing immunity, antibiotic treatment markedly impaired binding and neutralization antibody responses against the H1N1 A/California strain of influenza (although not against the other two strains targeted by the vaccine) following TIV vaccination. Specifically, the antibiotic-treated subjects showed markedly impaired production of IgG1 and IgA1 specific for H1N1 A/California following vaccination.

The authors found that antibiotic treatment alone was associated with increased expression of gene modules linked with pro-inflammatory signalling and dendritic cell activation, similarly to what had previously been observed in elderly subjects. These changes normalized following cessation of antibiotics, suggesting they were linked with perturbations in the gut microbiota. As the gut microbiota plays an important role in dietary metabolism, the authors examined changes in the blood metabolomes of the different groups. They found that antibiotic treatment was associated with metabolite changes, including changes in bile acid and tryptophan metabolism. The gut microbiota is responsible for converting liver-derived primary bile acids into secondary bile acids; notably, treatment with antibiotics led to a dramatic reduction in levels of secondary bile acids. Accordingly, the authors found prominent differences in the metabolic response to TIV between the antibiotic-treated and control subjects.

Analyses by the authors suggested an inverse correlation between the levels of individual secondary bile acids and expression of various inflammatory modules. In particular, the secondary bile acid lithocholic acid (LCA) showed a 1,000-fold reduction in the plasma of antibiotic-treated subjects and downregulation of LCA was associated with increased expression of inflammasome signalling genes. Further gene network analyses by the authors suggested that the increased inflammatory signalling associated with secondary bile acid disturbances and the impaired IgG1 response to TIV vaccination arise as independent effects of antibiotic-mediated disturbance of the microbiota.

''antibiotic-mediated disruption of the gut microbiota can impair the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccination in individuals with low levels of pre-existing immunity''

Virtually all humans have been previously exposed to influenza virus and this study indicates that, where pre-existing immunity exists, the immune system can maintain appropriate responses to pathogens despite significant metabolic disturbances arising from transient dysbiosis. However, in situations where immunity may be less mature (such as in adults with low pre-existing immune memory or in infants), dysbiosis may have a greater impact on the development of an appropriate immune response.

Author informationAffiliationsNature Reviews Immunology

Yvonne Bordon

Corresponding authorCorrespondence to Yvonne Bordon.

About this articleCite this articleBordon, Y. Antibiotics can impede flu vaccines. Nat Rev Immunol 19, 663 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-019-0227-3

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Published : 24 September 2019

Issue Date : November 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-019-0227-3

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:55

It has been obvious since early 2020 that there has been an organized cult outreach that has permeated the world as a whole. It's possible that this formed out of a gigantic error, rooted in a sudden ignorance of cell biology and long experience of public health. It is also possible that a seasonal respiratory virus was deployed by some people as an opportunity to seize power for some other purpose.

Follow the money and influence trails and the latter conclusion is hard to dismiss.

The clues were there early. Even before the WHO declared a pandemic in March 2020 (at least several months behind the actual fact of a pandemic) and before any lockdowns, there were media blitzes talking about the ''New Normal'' and talk of the ''Great Reset'' (which was rebranded as ''Build Back Better'').

Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Astra-Zeneca were actively lobbying governments to buy their vaccines as early as February 2020, supposedly less than a month after the genetic sequence (or partial sequence) was made available by China.

As a person who spent his whole professional career in pharmaceutical and vaccine development, I found the whole concept of going from scratch to a ready-to-use vaccine in a few months simply preposterous.

Something did not add up.

I knew of the names with which everyone has become familiar. Bill Gates, Neil Ferguson, Jeremy Farrar, Anthony Fauci, and others had either been lobbying for or pursuing the lockdown strategies for many years. But still, the scope of the actions seemed too large to even be explained by those names alone.

So, the fundamental questions that I have been asking myself have been why and who? The ''Why'' seems to always come back to issues besides public health. Of course the ''Who'' had the obvious players such as the WHO, China, CDC, NIH/NIAID, and various governments but there seemed to be more behind it than that. These players have been connected to the ''public health'' aspect but that seemed to be only scratching the surface.

I am not an investigative journalist and I would never claim that role, but even I can do some simple internet searches and start to see patterns evolve. The searches that I have done have yielded some very interesting ''coincidences.''

If I give you the names of the following people '' Biden, Trudeau, Ardern, Merkel, Macron, Draghi, Morrison, Xi Jinping '' what do you think that they have in common? Yes, they are all pampered and stumble over themselves, but that is also not the connection.

One can see very quickly that these names certainly connect to lockdown countries and individuals who have ignored their own laws and/or tried in some way to usurp them. But, there is more to it than that and I will give a hint by providing a link with each name.

Joseph Biden, President, United States Boris Johnson, PM of United KingdomJacinda Ardern, PM of New Zealand Angela Merkel, Former PM of GermanyEmmanuel Macron, President of France Justin Trudeau, PM of Canada Xi Jinping, CCP Leader, ChinaMario Draghi, PM of Italy Scott Morrison, PM of Australia They are all associated with the World Economic Forum (WEF), a ''nonprofit'' private organization started (in 1971) and headed by Klaus ''You will own nothing and be happy'' Schwab and his family. This is a private organization that has no official bearing with any world governance body, despite the implication of the name. It could just as well have been called the ''Church of Schwabies.'' The WEF was the origin of the ''Great Reset'' and I would guess that it was the origin of ''Build Back Better'' (since most of the above names have used that term recently).

If you think that the WEF membership ends with just leaders of countries, here are a few more names:

Gavin Newsom, Governor of California Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington State Anthony Fauci, Director NIAID Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House Allow me to introduce more of the WEF by giving a list of names for the Board of Trustees.

Al Gore, Former WP of the USMark Carney, UN Special Envoy for Climate ActionT. Shanmugaratnam, Seminar Minister SingaporeChristine Lagarde, President, European Central BankNgozi Okonja-Iweala, Director General, WTOKristalian Georggieva, Managing Director, IMFChrystia Freeland, Deputy Minister of CanadaLaurence Fink, CEO, BlackRock You can see a cross section of political and economic leaders on the board. The leader of the organization, that is the leader of the Board, is still Klaus Schwab. He has built an impressive array of followers.

If you want to really see the extent of influence, go to the website and pick out the corporate name of your choice; there are many to choose from: Abbott Laboratories, Astra-Zeneca, Biogen, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Serum Institute of India, BASF, Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Blackrock, CISCO, Dell, Google, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Zoom, Yahoo, Amazon, Airbus, Boeing, Honda, Rakuten, Walmart, UPS, Coca-Cola, UBER, Bank of China. Bank of America. Deutsche Bank, State Bank of India, Royal Bank of Canada, Lloyds Banking, JP Morgan-Chase, Equifax, Goldman-Sachs, Hong Kong Exchanges, Bloomberg, VISA, New York Times, Ontario (Canada) Teacher's Pension Plan

The extent of reach is huge even beyond the worldwide leader network. For example, we all know what Bill Gates has been doing with his wealth via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). But, the Wellcome Trust is equal to the task. Who is the Director of the Wellcome Trust? One named Jeremy Farrar, of the United Kingdom SAGE and lockdown fame '' arguably the architect of the US-UK lockdowns in 2020 '' is closely associated with WEF.

Concerning the reach that can occur, let me give some examples from the BMGF alone, and it comes from the time that I spent in 2020 reading their extensive funding list.

A few years ago, the BMGF awarded the Institute for Health Metric Evaluation (IHME) a ten-year, almost $280 million award. IHME (associated with the University of Washington in Seattle) was at the forefront of the computer modeling that was driving the lockdowns and the nonpharmaceutical Interventions during 2020. People have seen their name often in print or on MSNBC or CNN.

In 2019, IHME awarded the Editor of the Lancet (Dr. Richard Horton) a $100,000 award and described him as an ''activist editor.'' The Lancet, once considered one of the best medical journals, has been at the forefront of censoring opposing scientific viewpoints since 2020 and publishing ''papers'' that were not fit to be published. I never could understand what it meant to be an ''activist'' editor in a respected scientific/medical journal because, stupid me, I always thought that the first job of the editor was to be impartial. I guess I learned in 2020 how wrong I was.

Of course, the Lancet is also heavily funded from pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer (also a member of the WEF).

But, the BMGF reach goes far beyond just IHME and these connections have been quite recognizable. Here are some examples of the organizations and moneys received during 2020 alone broken down by areas.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grants 2020Organization NameAmount USDJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health20+ millionWorld Health Organization (WHO)100+ millionOregon Health Sciences Univ.15+ millionCDC Foundation3.5+ millionImperial College of London7+ millionChinese CDC2+ millionHarvard TH Chan School of Public Health5+ millionInstitute of Health Metric Evaluation (IHME)28 million (part of a 10 yr/279 million USD grant)Nigeria CDC1.1 millionDeutsche Gesellschaft f¼r Internationale Z. (Gmbh)5+ millionNovartis7+ millionLumira Dx UK LTD37+ millionSerum Institute of India4+ millionIcosavac10 millionNovavax15 millionBBC2 millionCNN4 millionGuardian3+ millionNPR4 millionFinancial Times LTD0.5 millionNational Newspaper Publishers Assoc.0.75 millionBill Gates has also invested heavily in Moderna and his investments have paid out nicely for him. The BMGF has also given close to $100 million to the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

The questions now have to be asked:

Is this some beginning of a controlled authoritarian society intertwined via the WEF? Has the Covid panic been staged to set the stage? Please note, I am not a ''Covid Denier'' since the virus is real. But, has a normal seasonal respiratory virus been used as an excuse to activate the web?The next questions, for those of us who at least pretend to live in ''Democratic'' societies, have to be:

Is this what you expected and/or want from the people you elect? How many people knew of the ''Associations'' of the people that they voted for? (I certainly did not know of the associations until I did the searches but maybe I am just out of touch)Can we anticipate their next moves? There may be some hints.

The Next Move Jeremy Farrar of The Wellcome Trust recently wrote an article for the WEF with the CEO of Novo Nordisk Foundation, Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. It is a summary of a larger piece written for and published by the Boston Consulting Group.

In this article, they propose that the way to ''fix'' the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria is via a subscription service. That is, you pay a fee and when you need an antibiotic, presumably an effective one will be available for you.

My guess is that they have the same philosophy for vaccines and that certainly seems to be the approach with Coronavirus. Keep paying for and taking boosters.

In view of this philosophy, the vaccine mandates make sense. Get society ''addicted'' to an intervention, effective or not, and then keep feeding them. This becomes especially effective if you can keep the fear going.

This approach is so shortsighted, from a scientific viewpoint, it astounds me. But, like much of recent history, I think science has little to do with it. The goal is not scientifically founded but control founded.

After the discovery of penicillin almost one century ago, there were scientists who warned that antibiotic usage should be considered very carefully in practice because evolutionary pressures would lead to antibiotic resistant species of bacteria. At that time, they were considered to be rogue scientists; after all, didn't we suddenly have a miracle cure for many deadly problems?

From the time of discovery, it took over a decade before fermentation methods were developed to produce sufficient quantities of antibiotics to be practical. These methods allowed for the use of penicillin on the battlefield towards the end of WWII and undoubtedly saved many lives then and later in subsequent wars (Korea and Vietnam) by preventing serious infections resulting from wounds sustained during battle.

However, it did not take long before the medical establishment was handing out antibiotics like candy. I experienced this myself when I was a child in the 1960s. It seemed like every time we went to the doctor, no matter what the problem, I was given a series (not just one) of injections of penicillin. There were never any attempts to determine if I had a virus, bacteria, or even an allergy. The answer was: in with the needle. I cannot count how many times I was ''jabbed'' as a child.

It didn't take long before resistance species started to appear. The result was that more and more money was pumped into R&D for antibiotics. When I was in graduate school during the 1980s, one sure way to get some NIH funding was to tie the research into the ''antibiotic'' search. Antibiotics became big business.

We now have several classes of antibiotics that are used for specific cases. We have Aminoglycosides (Streptomycin, Neomycin, etc.), Beta-Lactams Cephalosporins (four generations including Cefadroxil-G1, Cefaclor-G2, Cefotaxime-G3, Cefepime-G4 , Beta-Lactams Penicillins (including Ampicillin, Amoxicillin, and Penicillin), Other Beta-Lactams (Meropenem), Fluoroquinolones (Levofloxacin, Gemifloxicin, etc.), Macrolides (Azithromycin, Clarithromycin, etc.), Sulfonamides (Sulfisoxazole, etc.), Tetracyclines, and others such as Clindamycin and Vancomycin (typically reserved for resistant bacteria). All in all, physicians have over 50 different choices for antibiotics.

The most common place to encounter antibiotic resistant bacteria is in a hospital. Most people who get some sort of infection in the normal routine of life, like a sinus infection or skin infection, will not likely encounter an antibiotic resistant species.

Except there has been another source of the problem and that has been in the food supply. Antibiotics have become very popular with large scale meat production facilities of all types including beef, poultry, swine, and even fish. These include actual farms where the animals are raised as well as in the processing of the meat. The overuse of antibiotics in these industries has also produced resistant forms of bacteria.

For example, in attempts to limit the bacteria e. coli, common to mammalians, antibiotics have been used and this has resulted in some antibiotic resistant forms of e. coli. An infection via e. coli (antibiotic resistant or not) can be avoided by proper cooking and handling of meats. However, sometimes that does not happen and there are e. coli outbreaks (also from improperly washed vegetables that may use contaminated irrigation water).

For most healthy people, experiencing e. coli (either resistant or not) is only a passing discomfort that includes intestinal cramps, diarrhea, and other GI complaints. Depending on the amount of contamination, a person may suffer for a day or two or for several days.

But, with some people, it can be serious or deadly (such as in elderly people in poor health and young children). If that occurs, then the presence of an antibiotic resistant form can be a serious matter. Presence of a non-resistant form can be treated more readily.

A few years ago I had pneumonia; a relatively mild case. I was given a choice of in-patient treatment or out-patient and it was a no-brainer. If I wanted to make sure that my pneumonia could be handled by the normal course of antibiotics (I was given a quinolone), staying at home and away from the hospital was important. I knew that hospital-acquired pneumonia could be a much more serious situation. So, I stayed at home and easily recovered. That did not mean I was guaranteed getting a more serious resistant form in the hospital but I understood that the risk was much greater.

Producing more antibiotics and giving them on subscription to the users is not the answer. That will only lead to more resistant forms and there will be this continuing loop of antibiotic use. But, if the actual goal is societal addiction to antibiotics out of fear, just like addiction to universal Covid vaccines out of fear, then it makes sense.

Finding a few universal antibiotics that deal with the resistant forms is important and it is also important to use those sparingly and only as a last resort. In addition, better management of antibiotic use in our society would go a long way to attenuating the problem.

There is nothing particularly controversial about that observation. It was accepted by nearly every responsible health professional only two years ago. But we live now in different times of extreme experimentation, such as the deployment of world-wide lockdowns for a virus that had a highly focused impact, with catastrophic results for the world.

It was the WEF on March 21, 2020 that assured us ''lockdowns can halt the spread of Covid-19.'' Today that article, never pulled much less repudiated, stands as probably the most ridiculous and destructive suggestion and prediction of the 21st century. And yet, the WEF is still at it, suggesting that same year that at least lockdowns reduced carbon emissions.

We can easily predict that the WEF's call for a universal and mandated subscription plan for antibiotics '' pushed with the overt intention of shoring up financial capitalization of major drug manufacturers '' will meet the same fate: poor health outcomes, more power to entrenched elites, and ever less liberty for the people.

Roger W. Koops holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside as well as Master and Bachelor degrees from Western Washington University. He worked in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry for over 25 years. Before retiring in 2017, he spent 12 years as a Consultant focused on Quality Assurance/Control and issues related to Regulatory Compliance. He has authored or co-authored several papers in the areas of pharmaceutical technology and chemistry.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:53

Newly published research from the Netherlands has revealed the existence of a more transmissible and damaging variant of HIV, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said on Monday.

People living with the newly revealed subtype, experience double the rate of immune system decline (measured by the CD4 count level of infection-busting T cells) and have higher viral loads.

They are also vulnerable to developing AIDS two to three times faster after diagnosis, than if they were living with other strains of the virus.

The research also revealed that the variant has been circulating in the Netherlands for years and remains receptive to treatment.

The study, led by researchers from the University of Oxford's Big Data Institute, is the first to report on the subtype-B of the virus.

Treatment still worksAccording to UNAIDS in press statement, the discovery highlights the urgency to ''halt the pandemic and reach all and reach all with testing and treatment''

The long-running HIV pandemic continues to take a life every minute and scientists have long worried about the evolution of new, more transmissible, variants of the virus.

According to UNAIDS, the newly identified variant does not represent a major public health threat but underscores the urgency of speeding up the UN's drive to end AIDS.

In a statement, the Programme Deputy Executive Director, Eamonn Murphy, noted that around 10 million people living with HIV are still not on antiretroviral therapy, ''fuelling the continued spread of the virus and potential for further variants.''

''We urgently need to deploy cutting-edge medical innovations in ways that reach the communities most in need. Whether it's HIV treatment or COVID-19 vaccines, inequalities in access are perpetuating pandemics in ways that harm us all'', he said.

79 million infectionsHIV remains the deadliest pandemic of our time, said UNAIDS.

Since first discovered in the early 80s, an estimated 79 million people have become infected with the virus, for which there is still no vaccine and no cure.

Some 36 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the pandemic and 1.5 million people were newly infected in 2020.

Of the 38 million people living with the virus today, 28 million are on life-saving antiretroviral therapy, keeping them alive and well and preventing transmission.

(C) UNICEF/Francis Emorut

A nurse meets with a HIV-positive patient at a health centre in Namayingo, Uganda.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:47

Many backers of the caravan, planned as an American version of the past month's chaotic Canadian protest, have connections to the violent attack on the Capitol in January 2021.

After a flag-strewn rally, a convoy of about 40 truckers and their rigs departed Adelanto, Calif., on Wednesday with Washington, D.C., as the destination. Credit... Meridith Kohut for The New York Times Feb. 23, 2022

ADELANTO, Calif. '-- Though it was billed as a grass-roots, nonpartisan event intended to oppose government Covid-19 mandates, a trucker demonstration that left California for Washington, D.C., on Wednesday appeared to be tightly aligned with far-right organizations and activists.

Many of those behind the demonstration, which was planned as an American version of the past month's chaotic Canadian protest, have connections to the violent attack on the Capitol in January 2021, or supported the lie that fraud in the 2020 presidential election was to blame for Donald J. Trump's loss.

''We're just trying to show what the people who back us believe '-- and our own beliefs '-- of what our country needs to go back to,'' said Jeff Sandberg, a Republican truck driver from Texas whose vehicle was hauling a massive banner covered in slogans such as ''We Will Not Comply!!'' and ''Let's Go Brandon,'' a meme created to insult President Biden.

Brian Brase, a convoy spokesman and Ohio-based truck driver, said the motorcade was expected to grow as the trucks wended across the country. ''We believe tens of thousands will join in,'' he said.

About 40 truckers were on hand with their rigs as the convoy rolled out on Wednesday in Adelanto, Calif., about 180 miles west of the Arizona state line. A flag-strewn send-off rally that resembled a Make America Great Again event drew about a hundred more vehicles.

At truck stops in the surrounding area, most local drivers seemed only dimly aware of the California convoy or too busy to take part. Unlike in Ottawa, where a recent weekslong protest shut down parts of Canada's capital, the activity near Barstow, Calif., on Wednesday seemed highly staged, with memorabilia stands and food trucks.

The group behind the convoy '-- one of several in the United States expected to launch over the next few days '-- is demanding an end to the national emergency, meant to streamline the government response to the pandemic, that was first declared by Mr. Trump in March 2020 and recently extended by Mr. Biden. The protesters also want congressional hearings into the origin of the pandemic and an end to government health rules requiring masks and vaccinations, a move that has already begun as new cases have ebbed.

Image Charity Reyes, the wife of Adelanto's part-time mayor, Gabriel Reyes, sang the national anthem. Credit... Meridith Kohut for The New York Times Image The protesters want an end to government health rules requiring masks and vaccinations. Credit... Meridith Kohut for The New York Times Mr. Brase, a former public affairs director for an advocacy group that pushed during the Trump administration to relax limits on driving time for commercial truckers, said that the cross-country protest would be peaceful. A statement by the group said the demonstration would end near the nation's capital, but that the convoy would not enter Washington.

Law enforcement authorities warned against disruption of the sort that roiled Canada for several weeks.

''Attempting to block or shut down a freeway or state highway to protest is unlawful, dangerous and prevents motorists from safely reaching their destinations,'' the California Highway Patrol said in a statement. ''If necessary, the C.H.P. will take enforcement action that includes, but is not limited to, issuing citations, impounding vehicles, arresting individuals who intentionally block traffic on the state's transportation system or pose a threat to public safety.''

In Washington, officials from the U.S. Capitol Police said they would facilitate the demonstration as a ''lawful First Amendment activity,'' but also had set some security measures in motion. The Defense Department authorized deployment of about 700 unarmed National Guard personnel from the District of Columbia and neighboring states to help manage traffic, and Capitol Police said that plans were being drawn up to reinstall the temporary fence that was erected around the Capitol after last year's Jan. 6 riot.

An American trucker protest has been discussed for at least a month on social media and right-wing news outlets, inspired by the one that crossed Canada, demanding an end to a mandate requiring truckers crossing the U.S.-Canada border to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

American truckers have no such mandate, and as a towering surge in new cases has rapidly ebbed, most states '-- including California '-- have eased restrictions. But Mr. Brase said his group felt compelled to express solidarity with health care workers, public employees and others for whom vaccination has become a requirement.

Last week, a conservative political action committee that has focused in the past on defending Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and ally of Mr. Trump who is being investigated by the Justice Department, issued a call for participation in an American convoy that would start in Ohio and California and reach Washington on March 6.

Darrel Courtney, the chief executive of the Adelanto Stadium and Event Center, said he received a call last Tuesday from Leigh Dundas, an Orange County lawyer and Republican activist, who wanted to rent the parking lot. Ms. Dundas, a lawyer for an anti-vaccine group whose leader was charged with entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, was videotaped the day before the riot rallying pro-Trump crowds with calls to kill any ''alleged Americans'' who might have helped undermine the 2020 elections.

Two hours northeast of Los Angeles, Adelanto is known chiefly for its prisons. Gabriel Reyes, the city's part-time mayor '-- a Republican who operates a small currency trading and marketing business '-- said the city-owned stadium, which once hosted minor league baseball, was little used except for an annual cannabis festival, ''Kushstock.''

Image The truckers are hoping to build on the protests in Canada that paralyzed Ottawa. Credit... Meridith Kohut for The New York Times Image About 40 truckers gathered at Adelanto Stadium before heading east. Credit... Meridith Kohut for The New York Times ''I didn't see us making beaucoup bucks off of this,'' he said, ''but if they all want to fill up at our Arco station and we get that California tax, then hey, we're going to say, 'Thank you!'''

On Wednesday, the mayor's wife sang the national anthem for the truckers before they departed for their next stop, Kingman, Ariz. Speakers at the rally included Dr. Pierre Kory, a vocal advocate of the discouraged use of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin as a Covid-19 treatment, and Rob McCoy, a Republican politician and Southern California evangelical pastor who has gained prominence flouting pandemic rules and calling the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, ''Governor Newssolini.''

Ms. Dundas, who was the event's M.C., said, ''It's been two years, and it is time to open this darn economy with no more restrictions on it.''

A list of organizations supporting the convoy included those led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leader in the anti-vaccine movement, and Gen. Michael Flynn, the former Trump administration national security adviser.

That latter group, the America Project, has combined its attempts to challenge Covid-19 policies with the relentless promotion of pro-Trump election conspiracy theories. The group is run by Patrick Byrne, the former chief executive of Overstock.com, who, with General Flynn, was central in a bizarre plot to persuade the former president to use the military to seize voting machines in a bid to stay in power.

Yet another group, the American Foundation for Civil Liberties and Freedom, which is raising money for the truckers, hosted an event in Los Angeles last summer at which participants promoted baseless claims that there were widespread irregularities in the presidential voting results in Michigan.

Outside Adelanto, Mario Acevedo, who had stopped to wash the tires of his big rig on the way to Nevada, said he did not ''have that time or luxury, unfortunately,'' to skip work for the convoy.

''I got to provide for my family,'' he said.

Shawn Hubler reported from Adelanto, Calif., and Alan Feuer from Albany, N.Y. Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:46

- Thursday, May 2, 2019 | Col Stephen T. Ganyard, USMC (ret.) is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs where he was responsible for a budget of more than $5 billion related to global political-military programs, strategic political-military planning, and cross-cutting political-military policy issues.

Previously, he served as the Chief of Staff in the Office of the Counselor, Department of State, managing a global foreign policy portfolio.

While on active military duty he served as Military Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and in the J-8/ Joint Chiefs of Staff office working on missile defense issues.

Col Ganyard, USMC (ret.) is a graduate of Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He has published articles and op-eds in The New York Times, other publications, and professional journals.

Currently, he is President of Avascent Global Advisors.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:34

French No 1 Gael Monfils withdraws from Davis Cup citing "health glitch" following vaccine. Credit: TwitterFrench No 1 Gael Monfils withdraws from Davis Cup citing a ''health glitch'' following the Covid vaccine.FRENCH No 1 tennis player Gael Monfils withdraws from next month's Davis Cup citing a ''health glitch'' following his third dose of the Covid vaccine. He revealed that this was the reason for his absence from recent competitions.

Writing on Twitter, the 35-year-old said: ''Hello everyone, I wanted to give you some news following my recent withdrawals from tournaments. I suffered a small health glitch (probably following my third dose of vaccine).

''On the advice of my doctor, I decided to take some time to rest. So unfortunately I will not be able to play the Davis Cup next week. I hope to be able to return in the United States.''

The world number 25, who has not played for over three weeks, opened up further about his announcement after receiving hateful comments calling him an anti-vaxxer '' despite receiving three doses of the mRNA vaccine.

In a series of tweets following the backlash, the Frenchman, who is married to current Ukrainian tennis number one Elina Svitolina, revealed that he wasn't trying to push anti-vax propaganda.

''Thank you very much for all your messages of support,'' he wrote.

''This tweet was just an update on my current state of fitness following my latest tournament withdrawals. After several tests, the doctors have made a hypothesis about the potential nature of my condition.

''The causes of my pins and needles remain unclear and even the doctors can't tell me exactly what it is. My goal was simply to be transparent with you and not to push anti-vax propaganda,'' the tennis star continued.

''Let's stop appropriating everyone's words for political purposes or simply to serve your beliefs. I don't regret having been vaccinated at all. Everyone does what they want.

''I feel better and better and I hope to be ready for Indian Wells! (I don't want to answer all the haters like last time but you still make me laugh and thanks for that.)''

According to the Daily Mail, Monfils is the second French player to be forced off court after a suspected adverse reaction to a coronavirus vaccine.

Jeremy Chardy, now ranked 138, has not played a match since the US Open last summer.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram .

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:33

Ukrainian statesman and diplomat

Dmytro Ivanovych Kuleba (Ukrainian: Ð--митÑо Іванович КуÐ>>еба ; born 19 April 1981) is a Ukrainian statesman, diplomat and communications specialist, currently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs.[2] He is also concurrently a member of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine.[3]

Kuleba is one of the youngest top-diplomats in Ukraine's history.[4] He previously worked as Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration[5] as well as Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe between 2016 and 2019.

Biography [ edit ] Kuleba alongside U.S. Secretary of State

Antony Blinken, 5 August 2021

Kuleba was born on April 19, 1981 in Ukraine's eastern city of Sumy. He graduated from the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Ukraine in 2003 and holds a degree of the Candidate of Sciences (PhD equivalent) in International Law.

Kuleba has served in Ukraine's diplomatic service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2003. In 2013, he abandoned public service citing his disagreement with Ukraine's former president Viktor Yanukovych's course and chaired the UART Foundation for Cultural Diplomacy.

He took active part in Euromaidan protests in 2013''2014.

At the height of the early stages of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014, Kuleba decided to return to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Ambassador-at-Large to launch strategic communications. He introduced the concepts of digital diplomacy, strategic communications, cultural diplomacy and public diplomacy into the Ministry's work.

In 2016, Kuleba was appointed Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe. From August 2019 to March 2020, he was Deputy Prime Minister on matters of European relations. He has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 4 March 2020.

Personal life [ edit ] Kuleba wrote a bestseller book "The War for Reality. How to Win in the World of Fakes, Truths and Communities" (2019) on modern communications, media literacy, and countering disinformation. In December 2017, Kuleba was named the best Ukrainian ambassador of the Year 2017 by the Institute of World Policy.[6][7]

Family [ edit ] Kuleba's mother is Yevhenia Kuleba. His father Ivan Kuleba is a career diplomat, a former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2003''2004), as well as Ukraine's ambassador to Egypt (1997''2000), Czech Republic (2004''2009), Kazakhstan (2008''2019), Armenia (since 2019).

Kuleba is married and has two children: Yehor (born 2006) and Liubov (born 2011).

Kuleba's wife Yevhenia was number 1 on the party list for the Kyiv City Council of the party Servant of the People in the 2020 Kyiv local election on October 25, 2020.[8][9] She is a Kyiv City Council Deputy, Secretary of the Kyiv City Council Standing Committee on Environmental Policy.

See also [ edit ] Honcharuk GovernmentShmyhal GovernmentList of foreign ministers in 2020List of foreign ministers in 2021List of foreign ministers in 2022List of current foreign ministersReferences [ edit ] External links [ edit ] Dmytro Kuleba on FacebookDmytro Kuleba on TwitterHoncharuk's government: who joined the Cabinet of Ministers?Meet the Ministers: What We Know About Ukraine's New Cabinet, Hromadske.TV

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:22

A worker watches as aluminum ingots pass along a conveyor belt after cooling in the foundry at the Krasnoyarsk aluminum smelter, operated by United Co. Rusal, in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Commodities prices surged across the board Thursday amid fears of a supply disruption after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Russia is a key producer and exporter of not just energy, but metals and grains, too. Markets were already tight ahead of the invasion, meaning there's little ability to absorb any output cuts.

"With base metals inventories already running extremely low, there is very little additional cushion for further supply disruptions '-- either from Russia directly or via higher-for-longer gas and power prices," JPMorgan said in a note to clients.

Aluminum prices jumped more than 3% to hit a record high of $3,450 per ton on the London Metal Exchange. Nickel is now trading at the highest level in more than a decade: around $25,000 per ton.

Platinum jumped more than 2%, while palladium surged more than 6%.

Russia is a key producer of all four metals. The country supplies 35% of the world's palladium and 10% of world platinum, according to data from Cru. Aluminum, nickel, and crude steel production stands at 6%, 5% and 4%, respectively.

"[A]luminum and nickel are making further gains amid fears that these two base metals could suffer supply outages from Russia as sanctions are imposed and counteraction is taken," Commerzbank said Thursday in a note to clients.

Wheat prices jumped to the highest level in more than nine years, while corn futures also advanced.

Oil surged more than 8%, breaking above $100 per barrel for the first time since 2014. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, traded as high as $100.54 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded above $105.

"Though there have been no physical supply disruptions yet, there are serious concerns that Russia could move to restrict commodity exports in response to US sanctions," RBC said Thursday.

"With the notable exception of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which has already been halted, the White House has gone to great lengths to convey that it will not target the Russian energy sector and exacerbate an already tight supply situation," the firm added.

Natural gas futures jumped 4.6% to trade at $4.835 per million British thermal units.

The move in Europe was far more extreme, with prices surging more than 30%. Russia supplies around one third of Europe's natural gas.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:09

AT&T will officially shut down its 3G network today, completing a phase-out of the near-obsolete connectivity as newer, high-speed options are now available. If you own a Model S vehicle built before June 2015, your car may be affected.

AT&T planned to shut down its 3G network as LTE, 4G, and 5G networks offer customers faster speeds. 3G is simply no longer needed. However, customers of other companies who have used AT&T's 3G network are also affected. This, unfortunately, includes anyone who owns a pre-June 2015 build of the Model S, as its infotainment center needs to be upgraded to be compatible with the newer networks.

In July, Teslarati reported that AT&T's 3G network shutdown would require a retrofit in any Model S built before June 2015. The retrofit is available for only $200, even though a vehicle affected could be nine years old by this time. Infotainment Upgrades for owners who drive pre-April 2018 versions of the Model S or Model X are eligible to purchase the MCU2 upgrade as well, but it's available for $2,000 plus tax unless Autopilot Computer 2.0 or 2.5 is installed. For vehicles equipping the Autopilot 2.0 or 2.5 computer, the upgrade is only $1,500.

How to know if your Tesla Model S is affectedTesla encourages owners to check if their vehicles are affected. ''Your vehicle will be affected by AT&T's 3G network shutdown if it is a Model S vehicle built before June 2015 and has not been upgraded to an LTE-capable modem or purchased Infotainment Upgrade, as these vehicles were not produced with a 4G/LTE capable modem.''

''You can also check your vehicle's cellular network by looking at the connectivity status bars/icon near the top of the touchscreen. If 'LTE' is displayed next to this icon at any time (may require stable cellular connectivity), your vehicle will not be affected by AT&T's 3G network shutdown,'' Tesla said.

Owners can schedule the appointment by going to the Tesla Mobile App. Select 'Schedule Service' > 'Upgrades & Accessories' > 'LTE Upgrade.'

The upgrade is needed because the Model S built before June 2015 uses a modem that is 3G compatible. New builds contain LTE-compatible modems that will operate with 4G and 5G networks.

Without upgrading, owners will lose the ability to access the following features unless connected to Wi-Fi:

Roadside assistance to unlock your vehicle remotelyCertain mobile app capabilities, including Summon, cabin pre-conditioning, vehicle location, remote unlock, etc.Certain Infotainment features, including navigation, maps, live traffic updates, up-to-date Supercharger availability and outage information, online music streaming, and onboard map updatesOver-the-air updatesAT&T told CNN Business in a statement earlier today, ''For nearly two years, we've proactively sent numerous communications via direct mail, bill messaging, emails and text messages to help customers transition to next-generation networks before 3G services end on February 22.'' AT&T has been provided free replacement phones to many users with a 3G device since 2020.

3G networks launched back in 2002 and were an integral part of the growth of cell phones and wireless communications. Eventually, faster speeds were needed and shutting down the 3G networks globally is part of a larger commitment to re-use 4G and 5G infrastructure, which is more efficient than 3G. Verizon and T-Mobile will also deactivate their 3G networks by the end of the year.

I'd love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 13:45

De 27-jarige Amsterdammer die dinsdagavond tientallen mensen gijzelde in een Apple Store aan het Leidseplein, is een bekende van justitie. Dat schrijft Het Parool woensdag. Het zou gaan om Abdel Rahman A., die in het verleden geregeld verward en dreigend gedrag vertoonde.

Volgens de krant is de verdachte eerder opgepakt voor verboden wapenbezit en het belagen van zijn ex-vriendin. Zijn laatste veroordeling dateerde van mei vorig jaar.

Het Parool schrijft op basis van ingewijden dat A. geregeld verward gedrag vertoonde en daarvoor hulpverlening kreeg. Eerder op de dag schreef RTL Nieuws dat de verdachte werkzaam was voor de bezorgdienst van Albert Heijn. Tijdens de gijzeling stond er urenlang een bestelbus met knipperlichten bij de Apple Store.

Abdel Rahman A. zou werkzaam zijn geweest bij de bezorgdienst van de Albert Heijn.

Abdel Rahman A. zou werkzaam zijn geweest bij de bezorgdienst van de Albert Heijn.

Foto: ANP

Halsema prijst moed van gijzelaar om einde gijzeling te forcerenDe Amsterdamse burgemeester Femke Halsema stond woensdag stil bij de gijzelaar. "Mijn gedachten zijn bij hem, die zo ongelooflijk dapper zijn bevrijding forceerde, en die van de mensen die urenlang - met doodsangst - waren opgesloten in een kast", schreef Halsema op Instagram. Ze bedankte ook de hulpdiensten voor hun heldhaftige inzet.

Agenten ontvingen dinsdag aan het einde van de middag een melding van een overval in de winkel aan het Leidseplein. Op video's van omstanders was te zien dat de man met een vuurwapen in de winkel liep, terwijl hij een andere man onder schot hield. Tientallen mensen hielden zich verborgen in het pand.

Volg dit onderwerp Volgen Ontvang meldingen bij nieuws over de gijzeling in de Apple Store

Ruim vijf uur later, rond 22.30 uur, kwam de gijzeling ten einde. De gijzelnemer had de politie om water gevraagd, dat werd afgeleverd door een bomrobot. Toen de gijzelaar het water moest pakken, zag hij zijn kans schoon en ging hij er rennend vandoor.

De gijzelnemer rende nog achter de Bulgaarse man aan, maar werd door snel ingrijpen door de Dienst Speciale Interventies (DSI) aangereden. De man ligt nog altijd zwaargewond in het ziekenhuis. Woensdag werd duidelijk dat de man explosieven droeg, maar dat deze niet op scherp stonden.

In de nacht van dinsdag op woensdag zijn in Amsterdam twee woningen doorzocht. Het gaat om de woning van A. en een locatie waar hij geregeld kwam, zo maakte de politie bekend op een persconferentie. Bij de huiszoekingen zijn gegevensdragers in beslag genomen.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 13:33

Biden responded to Russia's incursion into Eastern Ukraine that is happening right now by placing sanctions on the country that will undoubtedly affect gas prices in the US and costs on other items. Biden billed this as a necessary 'sacrifice' that Americans will have to make to stand up to Russia.

This morning, Russia issued a warning after the United States imposed sanctions, warning that there would be a 'painful' response. According to Latvian intelligence reports, Russia launched a nationwide cyberattack against Ukraine and has already staged hundreds of tanks and heavy artillery in Eastern Ukraine.

On the surface, sanctions seem like a safe option'--but are they? Sanctions don't always have the intended consequence.Will pushing Vladimir Putin's back against the wall by issuing sanctions against Russia work, or will it invite further escalation, including retaliation? It appears as though the US is preparing for the latter, as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is warning of possible crippling cyberattacks on the United States of America by Russia. While Mayorkas is saying there are no specific threats, he is warning that we need to be prepared in the event of cyberattacks against our banks, communications, power plants, and water treatment facilities.

Daily Mail reports '' The United States has a 'responsibility to be prepared for potential cyberattacks, the Homeland Security Secretary said on Tuesday, as the world braces for the fallout from conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Trending: Joe Rogan Drops Another Bomb: Exposes How Covid Fear Is Being Used to Set Up A ''Check-Point'' Society [VIDEO]

Russia, which in the past is believed to have launched attacks on U.S. pipelines, finance, and communications infrastructure, is known to be ever ready to seize the moment and strike.

Gas stations from Florida to Virginia closed their pumps, and the governor of North Carolina of emergency declared a sta after Colonial Pipeline was forced to shut off the nation's big fuel pipeline in May 2021Cybersecurity expert Ian Marlow said that U.S. banks, power plants, water treatment facilities, and communications could be targeted in retaliation for any U.S. response to action around Ukraine, as well as satellites used for GPS navigation, farming, automation, and oil exploration.

IBM Security instructors at the company's security business headquarters in Massachusetts simulate cyber attacks in the world's first commercial cyber rangeWatch our feckless US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who's allowed an invasion of America on our southern border to continue throughout his term in office, explain the potential cyber threat against the US by Russia:

We have no information to suggest a specific credible cyber threat against the U.S. homeland, but it is our responsibility to be prepared. And that's what we at @DHSgov do. #ShieldsUp pic.twitter.com/30ytFGUpTa

'-- Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) February 23, 2022

New York's Democrat Governor tweeted about the possibility of cybersecurity risks and how New York will serve as the ''nerve center for joint, state and federal security efforts:

As cybersecurity risks become heightened, New York needs the best possible protection. That's why today we're announcing the first-in-the-nation, statewide Joint Security Operations Center, serving as the nerve center for joint local, state & federal cyber efforts.

As cybersecurity risks become heightened, New York needs the best possible protection. That's why today we're announcing the first-in-the-nation, statewide Joint Security Operations Center, serving as the nerve center for joint local, state & federal cyber efforts.

'-- Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) February 22, 2022

NBC News also warned of the urgent cyberattack threat Russia poses in America if tensions continue to escalate.

Truth: DHS warns of urgent cyberattack threat as Russia tensions escalate https://t.co/ZpvxZoXHAY

'-- Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) February 23, 2022

Asked where the Russians would want to strike, Marlow told Fox 5: 'Our food supply, things that have to do with our power supply, utilities. Utilities have been brought down, and then you don't have service.'

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 13:00

Gekleed in een camouflagepak hield A. een klant van de winkel urenlang onder schot. Beeld ANP

Dat laat advocaat Jan-Kees van den Brink op verzoek van de moeder van Akkad weten aan Het Parool. ''Hij was niet meer aanspreekbaar en is inmiddels overleden,'' zegt Van den Brink.

De raadsman stond Akkad in het verleden meermaals bij in strafzaken. Omdat Akkad niet bij kennis is geweest, heeft hij niet om een advocaat kunnen vragen. Van den Brink benadrukt dan ook dat hij namens de moeder van Akkad spreekt en niet namens zijn oud-clint.

Gijzeling duurde 5 uur Abdel Rahman Akkad liep dinsdag aan het eind van de middag, gehuld in een camouflagepak waaraan explosieven bevestigd waren, met twee vuurwapens de Apple Store aan het Leidseplein in. Hij schoot tenminste vier keer op de politie die op de melding van een overval af kwam en zette vervolgens een 44-jarige Bulgaarse klant van de winkel een wapen op het hoofd.

Wat volgde was een gijzeling die 5 uur duurde.

Een enorme politiemacht en zwaarbewapende eenheden van onder andere de Dienst Speciale Intreventies (DSI) kwamen ter plekke om de situatie tot een goed einde te brengen. Ook waren er gesprekken met onderhandelaars van de politie.

Aan het begin van de gijzeling zocht Akkad zelf contact met de politie. Hij eiste uiteindelijk 200 miljoen aan cryptovaluta. In het pand beleefden medewerkers en klanten van de Apple Store ondertussen hachelijke momenten. Vier mensen zaten in doodsangst verstopt in een kast. Op de bovenverdiepingen van het Hirschgebouw, waar de Apple Store op de begane grond zit, zaten nog ongeveer 65 slachtoffers urenlang vast tot de politie ze bevrijdde.

Zwaargewond Omstreeks half elf 's avonds vroeg Akkad om water. Toen dat via een robot voor de deur werd bezorgd, kreeg de gegijzelde de opdracht het water te pakken, maar hij nam de benen. Akkad rende hem achterna, waarna een lid van een arrestatieteam vol gas gaf en hem hard aanreed.

De gijzelnemer werd zwaargewond overgebracht naar het ziekenhuis en is tot zijn overlijden niet meer bij kennis geweest. ''Het belangrijkste is nu dat de moeder van Abdel Rahman de pers verzoekt om de familie met rust te laten,'' aldus Van Den Brink.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:56

Chicago will lift its mask and proof-of-vaccine mandates next week, but Chicago Public School students, teachers and employees must keep their masks on '-- at least for the time being.

Starting this coming Monday, patrons of restaurants, bars and gyms will be free to take their masks off and keep their vaccine cards in their wallets, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady announced at a City Hall news conference Tuesday.

''It's important for us to recognize this moment for what it is: a huge step forward in our effort to overcome COVID-19,'' Lightfoot said. ''We would not have been in a position '-- even a few weeks ago '-- to be making this kind of announcement today.''

But rather than risk yet another confrontation with the Chicago Teachers Union '-- and with vaccination rates varying dramatically between school communities '-- Lightfoot and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said they will abide by the agreement struck with CTU that ended a dispute that canceled classes for five days last month. The safety agreement with the teachers union mandates masks in schools until August.

''We have made great progress in recent weeks against this virus, and we do not want to jeopardize that progress by moving too quickly,'' the district said in a statement released later Tuesday. ''We look forward to the day when we can be mask-optional at CPS, but we still need to get more students vaccinated across our District, and we still need to work with our public health and labor partners on the best way to preserve a safe in-person learning environment for all.''

The CTU said in a statement it was ''glad that CPS will continue to honor the safety agreement that our members sacrificed four days of pay [for] last month ... despite a right-wing legal attack to remove public health protections.''

Still, a lawsuit by CPS parents in Mount Greenwood against the mandate could impact the situation going forward. Mask mandates already have been removed in more than 150 school districts around the state after a judge blocked Gov. J.B. Pritzker's school mask requirement.

Transit, health care will keep masksThe mayor noted that masks would continue to be required on public transit, in health care settings and in other congregate spaces, following federal mandates and CDC guidance.

Lightfoot also urged understanding of individual decisions, something that has been in short supply in recent weeks during the raging controversy over masks that has divided the nation.

''Many residents may continue to wear masks in public spaces for a variety of reasons '--even if they are vaccinated or as more mandates and advisories fade. ... Also, some venues may continue to impose their own mitigation efforts to keep their clients and customers safe. That is their right. And we must respect it,'' Lightfoot said.

Noting that she caught a mild case of COVID-19, Lightfoot said she intends to continue wearing a mask, particularly in restaurants where diners will soon have no idea whether other customers are vaccinated.

''I don't want to put myself at risk. ... That's my personal choice,'' Lightfoot said.

Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia welcomed the mayor's decision to lift the mandates, keeping to the same statewide date set by Pritzker.

''We're going back to a sense of normalcy. That's what the general public wants to see. And if operators still want to impose mask mandates at their individual restaurants, they can. I think there might be a few,'' Toia said.

Since Jan. 3, Chicago has required restaurant, bar and gym patrons to show proof of vaccination and a photo ID.

Rudina Alihajdaraj, a hostess with Pequod's Pizza, inspects a COVID-19 vaccination card on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, the first day that proof of vaccination mandate is required to eat inside at Chicago restaurants. Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times The requirement forced restaurants and bars already struggling with a shortage of staff to reassign some workers to check vaccination cards and IDs '-- or ask beleaguered wait staff to do it.

Either way, it's been a burden that has occasionally resulted in confrontations between employees and customers, Toia said.

''It has been difficult. When you get a party of five or six that comes in, three or four might have the vaccine and a couple don't. Then, a party of five leaves because all five of 'em do not have the vaccine. That's tough. It's been a tough January and February for restaurant operators,'' he said.

The mayor acknowledged that the mask and proof of vaccine mandates have been a ''challenge to enforce and a challenge to the bottom lines'' of restaurants.

The move to lift the mandates comes after the bottom dropped out on the Omicron surge.

As of Tuesday, Chicago's average daily case rate was 283 '-- down 37% from the 452 cases-a-day just one week ago. Hospitalizations were down 29% '-- to a daily average of 27. Deaths were down 51 % over the last week '-- from 9.7 last week to 4.7.

The city's positivity rate was 1.5%. That's down from 2% a week ago.

Even by the mayor's own standards for lifting mitigations, Chicago now passes the test with flying colors.

Lightfoot was asked Tuesday whether the declaration of independence from masks and proof-of-vaccine mandates marks an end to a pandemic that has dragged on for two years.

''From your lips to God's ears,'' she replied. ''We really don't know.''

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:56

A scandal is brewing, and city officials appear to be battening down the hatches. Tuesday, three city offices involved in the story, the mayor, the police department, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) all failed to respond to questions about it.

Let's get you up to speed quickly.

Last week, news broke that a man with a long list of felony drug convictions was charged with felony heroin distribution after he allegedly threw $6,300 worth of heroin from a Lexus owned by CPD's chief of internal affairs, Yolanda Talley.

Talley was not in the car. Her niece was driving it at the time.

When cops pulled the Lexus over, the niece told them, ''My auntie's probably your boss,'' the Sun-Times reported last night. The man who allegedly threw the heroin from the car's passenger seat is in a relationship with Talley's niece, according to the report.

CWB reported exclusively on Monday that the man who allegedly threw the heroin from the car, Kenneth Miles, is identified in public records as the confidential police source whose bad information led to the wrongful raid of Anjanette Young's home in February 2019. The city cut a $2.9 million settlement check to end litigation with Young just two months ago.

Our story also revealed that COPA's public report about the botched raid exposed Miles as the informant by giving the date, time, and police district where the ''John Doe'' informant who sparked the Young raid had been arrested. Arrest records, including dates, times, and locations, are public information.

Miles' CPD arrest report from that date includes a police supervisor's note that he wanted to ''John Doe'' a search warrant hours before cops raided Young's home, we reported.

Asked to confirm Miles' involvement in the Young search warrant, a CPD spokesperson on Monday said, ''To ensure the safety of all involved and to maintain the integrity of the ongoing investigation, CPD cannot and will not comment on whether someone is or is not a confidential source.''

The department has refused to answer any questions about the heroin arrest involving Talley's car, saying the matter is under investigation by the city's inspector general.

A problematic reportCOPA's exposure of a confidential police source is troubling. Also troubling is this: CWB found other information in COPA's report that exposed other private citizens' personal details. One of those additional exposures is particularly egregious.

We shared that specific example with COPA and the office of Mayor Lori Lightfoot in separate sets of emailed questions on Tuesday morning. We sent a third set of questions to the Chicago Police Department.

Neither the mayor's office, COPA, nor CPD responded to our inquiries.

Unanswered questionsWe sent the following questions to CPD's top spokespersons, Don Terry and Tom Ahern, on Tuesday morning. They did not reply.

What is Chief Talley's current position and status with the Chicago Police Department?If she is still in position as chief of internal affairs: Why is it appropriate for the person in charge of internal investigations to remain in place while under investigation?Did COPA ask CPD to review the public Anjanette Young report before release to ensure that no compromising information was included? If so, who at CPD handled that review?In a Tuesday morning email to Ephraim Eaddy, COPA's public information officer, we provided examples of compromising information within the agency's Anjanette Young report along with the following questions. Our inquiry noted that we were not asking COPA to confirm our previous reporting. The questions stand on their own. He did not reply.

Who is responsible for preparing COPA reports for public release (redacting sensitive information, etc)? What is their training? Do they have law enforcement experience? Which COPA supervisors, managers, and executives signed off on the content of the publicly-released Anjanette Young report?Did COPA ask CPD to review the public Anjanette Young report before release to ensure that no compromising information was included? If not, why not? If so, who at CPD handled that review?Will COPA conduct a review of its report review system to ensure that sensitive information is not released to the public? Who will handle the review? What is the timetable for completion? Will a public report of findings be available? When? If no review will be conducted, why not?Also on Tuesday morning, we sent examples of COPA's compromised information and the following questions to Cesar Rodriguez, the mayor's press secretary. Again, we noted that we were not asking the mayor's office to confirm CWB's reporting in any way. He did not reply.

Did the mayor read COPA's public report before it was released?Will the mayor order an investigation and/or review of COPA's report review system to ensure that sensitive information is not released to the public? Who will handle that? What is the timetable for completion? Goals? If no such order will be made, why not?Why is it appropriate for the head of CPD internal affairs to remain in position while OIG is investigating her and the circumstances of the heroin arrest involving her vehicle?Did the city consider bringing in a non-city agency to handle the investigation of the arrest involving Talley's vehicle? If not, why not? If so, why was that idea rejected? Will the mayor reconsider now?Check, pleaseHere's an interesting nugget.

A Chicago woman named Yolanda Talley received a $20,833 emergency COVID relief loan for her small business last year. According to public records, the loans were to be used for payroll at a one-person sole proprietorship, which provides ''other personal care services.'' So-called PPP loans are 100% forgivable if the money is used for payroll.

This site links a second, fully-forgiven PPP loan '-- $20,000 for ''sales financing'' '-- to the same address in the name of ''Yolanda.'' The address is on the 700 block of North St. Louis and a home on that block is owned by someone named Talley, according to public records. But that's not where Chief Talley lives, so another Yolanda Talley may live there.

Interestingly, the 700 block of North St. Louis is where Kenneth Miles was arrested with 30 bags of heroin on the day he apparently decided to ''John Doe'' the Anjanette Young warrant.

It's also within a block of where police allegedly saw him pick up a bag from the street and get into Talley's car with the chief's niece driving on February 1. That bag, according to police, is similar to the one containing $6,300 worth of heroin that he allegedly threw from the vehicle when they began to pull it over moments later.

Our original reporting is 100% reader-funded. Please contribute to our operating fund or purchase a subscription today.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:54

Saudi Arabia has a stark warning about the dangers of underinvesting in oil. The world's top oil exporter is cautioning that the underinvestment in oil and gas could spark a new energy crisis. ''Net-zero does not mean cherrypicking, net-zero does not mean zero oil.'' The world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has repeatedly said it wants to be the producer that will pump the very last barrel of oil. Until that time comes, the world and its growing economy will still need oil and gas, even as renewable energy capacity soars globally.

The rebound of economies after the 2020 COVID slump has shown that global oil demand is not only not declining, but it is just months away from reaching pre-pandemic levels and exceeding them.

This weekend, Saudi Arabia once again deplored the underinvestment in oil and gas and said that focusing only on renewables while campaigning against oil and gas was a mistake.

''Net Zero Does Not Mean Zero Oil''

The insufficient investment in the oil and gas industry harms consumers, raises concerns about short-term supply shortages, and creates challenges for policymakers, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the 2022 International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) in Riyadh this weekend. The campaign against oil and gas investments is shortsighted, the minister said, as carried by Arab News .

The sole focus on renewables is a mistake, said the most influential oilman of the OPEC+ coalition.

''The net-zero does not mean cherrypicking, net-zero does not mean zero oil,'' he added.

The sharp decline in oil and gas investments has created a danger ''that the world will not be able to produce all the energy it needs to promote recovery,'' Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the conference, per the Saudi Press Agency.

The Saudi minister also criticized the International Energy Agency (IEA) for its contradictory messages, from ''no new investment ever again'' last year to calls last week for more investment in oil and gas amid the current energy crisis and soaring oil prices.

Saudi Arabia Boosts Oil Production Capacity

While the supermajors and U.S. shale are not racing to invest in new supply, Saudi Arabia plans to raise its crude oil production capacity by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) within five years. Saudi Arabia's oil giant Aramco targets to increase its oil production capacity to 13 million barrels per day by 2027 from 12 million bpd now.

''We are targeting our production capacity to become 13.4, 13.5 million barrels a day by 2027,'' Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman told TIME's Vivienne Walt in an interview published earlier this month.

''We believe oil consumption will continue to grow. The demand for oil will continue growing. At what level, I do not know, because the jury is out. Anyone who tells you that they have a good grasp of where and when and how much is certainly living in a fantasy land,'' he said.

So, Saudi Arabia and its state oil giant Aramco are doubling down on oil, expecting robust global demand. The world's top oil exporter is doing its part in ensuring oil production capacity for later this decade when chronic underinvestment in oil will have impacted supply already.

''We intend to remain the world's top producer,'' Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, Chairman of Saudi Aramco's Board of Directors and the Governor of the Public Investment Fund, said at the same conference in Riyadh this weekend.

Renewable energy sources depend on materials that can only be produced with hydrocarbons, Al-Rumayyan said, noting the steel, diesel trucks, and resin-coated blades inputs in building, transporting, and erecting a wind turbine, for example.

''So make no mistake, oil and gas are part of this transition. We have a vital role to play. And we intend to be in business for a very long time,'' Aramco's chairman said.

''It's often assumed that the only thing holding back a net-zero future is a lack of ambition. That's wrong. Our industry has ambition in abundance. The truth is that there are still some very complex technology challenges that we haven't yet solved,'' Al-Rumayyan added.

Underinvestment Could Create Next Supply Shortage Shock

Throughout the net-zero commitments and ''keep it in the ground'' calls of the past few years, Saudi Arabia hasn't changed its message to the energy industry'--renewables are not enough, underinvestment in oil and gas threatens to create supply shortages, and a rushed transition will lead to increased volatility and higher energy prices.

Over the past few months, the world saw first-hand what fossil fuel shortages could be like. Government priorities turned from actions to reduce emissions in the long term to addressing the immediate energy crunch , soaring energy bills, and catering for the near-term energy security.

Global annual upstream spending needs to increase by as much as 54 percent to $542 billion if the oil market is to avert the next supply shortage shock, Moody's said last year.

The chief executive of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, said that the World Petroleum Congress in Texas in December:

''Right now, the world is facing an ever more chaotic energy transition. Several highly unrealistic scenarios and assumptions about the future of energy are clouding the picture.''

''Energy security, economic development, and affordability imperatives are clearly not receiving enough attention. Until they are, and unless the glaring gaps in the transition strategy are fixed, the chaos will only intensify,'' Saudi Aramco's CEO noted.

Commenting on the current commodity markets, Jeff Currie, global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, said earlier this month that ''This is a molecule crisis. We're out of everything, I don't care if it's oil, gas, coal, copper, aluminum, you name it we're out of it.''

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

Middle Eastern Oil Nations Hike Prices As Production Falters Oil Prices Climb On A Bounty Of Bullish Catalysts India Ramps Up Renewable Energy Development

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:45

The BombshellI bet you didn't know that a US patent exists from 2017 that has a 100% reverse match to genetic sequence found in SARS-CoV-2. I'll say that again. That big bad virus you've been hearing about since early 2020, it contains a 100% reverse match to a genetic sequence found in a US patent.

Over 24 months have passed since we first heard of the Wu Flu, yet we have are still finding evidence of unnatural origins to this virus. You could watch the news, browse news apps on your phone, or peruse social media for the next year without hearing this bombshell.

Let's start with the bombshell. Want to take a wild guess which US company filed for the patent? I'll give you a hint. The company's product contains a spike protein, and it's currently circulating through the bodies of millions of people across the globe.

You guessed it. Moderna.

I'm not going to lie. This is a complicated story, not just due to the unanswered questions it leads to, but also because it involves science. The goal of this newsletter is not to educate you on the full details of the connection between the Moderna patent and the SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences. I only want to talk about what it could mean in the context of the big picture.

The ScienceSo let's start with an overview of the discovery. (If you want a much better, in-depth review of the evidence and connection, I recommend checking out Naked Emperor's Substack first)

When researchers conducted a BLAST search for the 12-nucleotide insertion, they found a 100% reverse match in our proprietary sequence found within US patent 9587003. The odds of this match are low...like really, really low.

Here is what Frontiers of Virology, an online science journal platform, had to say.

The correlation between this SARS-CoV-2 sequence and the reverse complement of a proprietary mRNA sequence is of uncertain origin. Conventional biostatistical analysis indicates that the probability of this sequence randomly being present in a 30,000-nucleotide viral genome is 3.21 —10''11.

You'd have a better chance of finding your soulmate in space than for these sequences to match without some kind of human intervention. Covid's CTCCTCGGCGGGCACGTAG sequence is an exact reverse of Moderna's patent. We are not talking conspiracy theories here. This is real data, and these are the results of the BLAST search.

The ScandalOf the over 200 million companies in the world, somehow Moderna owns the patent that matched. Moderna, the same company that failed to bring nine consecutive products to the market. Prior to Covid, Moderna did not have a history of successfully bringing a product to market. Why would this biotech company, established in 2010, be linked to the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2? This is like your phone number turning up in a homicide investigation. Is it possible the killer randomly dialed your number? Sure, I guess it's possible, but what are the odds of that? It's far more likely that you have some kind of relationship or connection to the killer.

Bear in mind, Moderna's US patent 9587003 was originally designed for developing cancer vaccines.

Green Pass:

Yes, that's right. Every single one of these patents that contains that 19nt sequence (for which the probability of occurring by random chance is less than 1 in a billion) is from Moderna. [Note the sequence is actually the reverse complement sequence but this is likely a direct result of the cell lines that it occurred in '' MSH3_mutated cell lines designed for developing cancer vaccines, the Moderna patent was actually for a mutated MSH3 gene for this purpose]

The designer of SARS-CoV-2 used Moderna's patented genetically modified cell lines that contain the complement CTCCTCGGCGGGCACGTAG to grow this virus. There's really no other natural explanation.

Perhaps this is why Moderna was able to design their Covid mRNA vaccine in just two days.

And boy oh boy has it paid off for them.

Politico:

The effect of Covid profits on a company is even more striking in the case of Moderna, which before the Covid crisis had been a relatively small company, with average annual revenue of only about $100 million. This year, according to Moderna's own most recent statement, it expects sales (nearly all of which come from its Covid vaccine) to be between $15 billion and $18 billion. In the first three quarters of 2021, Moderna took in $7.3 billion in after-tax profits, on $11.3 billion in revenue '-- an extraordinary margin, of about 65 percent. If that margin holds for the remainder of the year, Moderna's total profits in 2021 will end up being at least $10 billion. This astonishing profit jump over previous years has driven up the company's stock prices, making its founders into billionaires, nearly overnight.

The TimelineOvernight success doesn't come easy. Maybe it wasn't as overnight as we are led to believe based on financial reports. Moderna filed US patent 9587003 back on February 4, 2016, patented on March 7, 2017. The filing date is four years before Wuhan unleashed this virus on us. What a cowinkidink. Just enough time for Dr. Baric and Peter Daszak and company to perform gain-of-function research using the mutated cell lines.

Let's look at the research timeline a little closer. Here's a snippet from an article by The Intercept in November, 2021:

Detailed notes on NIH communications obtained by The Intercept show that beginning in May 2016, agency staff had an unusual exchange with Peter Daszak, the head of EcoHealth Alliance, about experiments his group was planning to conduct on coronaviruses under an NIH grant called ''Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.'' The notes were taken by congressional staff who transcribed the emails.

EcoHealth was entering the third year of the five-year, $3.1 million grant that included research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other partners. In a 2016 progress report, the group described to NIH its plans to carry out two planned experiments infecting humanized mice with hybrid viruses, known as ''chimeras.''

This is the infamous Fauci money that found its way to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) through EcoHealth Alliance. This mentioned exchange between Peter Daszak and the head of EcoHealth Alliance took place while the Moderna patent was under review. This was the planning stage for the experiments that would later be carried out in 2017 and beyond.

This leads us to some pretty important questions.

Assuming the only way for the this reverse match to be made is through non-organic means, did Moderna know their patent was being used in experimental gain-of-function research?

Did the researchers in Wuhan coordinate with Moderna prior to the experiments?

Is Moderna the luckiest company in the history of time, or did they know about this connection prior to developing their mRNA vaccines?

Who else knew about this connection?

What is the benign explanation for this connection? (I can't think of any. The coincidences just keep coming, and this one is a pill too big to swallow.)

People don't become billionaires through dumb luck. This isn't the Powerball. The connection established through this BLAST search is the equivalent of OJ's bloody glove. The fact that any US patent from 2017 has this kind of connection would be a HUGE red flag all by itself; Moderna's name on the patent makes this a potential scandal of the century. The genetic sequence found in SARS-CoV-2 has very likely been inside of your body by this point. The vast majority of us have had some variant by now. If you have had Covid at any point, Moderna's patented sequence could be found in your body, even if you didn't get its mRNA jab. That's just mind-blowing, and there's no chance in hell its a coincidence.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:41

For centuries, farmers have bred livestock and crops for desirable traits such as faster growth, better taste, and resistance to disease. Now, a new kind of rancher is following in their footsteps: mealworm breeders. Last week, France-based Ÿnsect announced it will spend nearly $5 million on the world's first large-scale initiative to use state-of-the-art genetics for breeding beetle larvae and other insects that can be used as animal feed, fertilizer'--and even food for people.

''We're talking about accelerating the ability to use the genomes of millions of insects'' for selective breeding, says insect geneticist Christine Picard of Indiana University''Purdue University Indianapolis, who is not involved in the effort. The new program, she notes, should help scientists untangle the often complex mix of genes involved in commercially valuable traits such as faster reproduction and more efficient food consumption. ''The sheer volume [of genetic information] that they can get through might be able to address that.''

Ÿnsect, founded in 2011, is one of the world's largest insect ranchers. It operates two ''vertical farms'''--one in France, the other in the Netherlands'--that produce billions of yellow mealworm beetle larvae (Tenebrio molitor) and other insects every year. The bugs are processed into powders and oils used in pet food, fish and farm feeds, and textured tofulike ''meats'' for human consumption. The company also sells the shed shells of the growing mealworms as fertilizer.

Last year, Ÿnsect worked with outside researchers to sequence and publish a nearly complete genome of the yellow mealworm. Now, it will use those genetic data to hunt for traits that could be improved through selective breeding, says Thomas Lefebvre, an R&D scientist at the company. Scientists will use a strategy known as genomic selection, which involves using a large swath of genetic markers to identify insects likely to produce offspring with desirable traits. The approach offers a ''more resilient and more informed way'' to pick the adult beetles used for breeding, Lefebvre says. And although it's a standard operating procedure in plant and livestock breeding, it's a novel approach to industrial insect rearing.

Ÿnsect breeders should be able to ''select animals that have the 'best' genetics, and thereby improve different characteristics,'' says Dennis Oonincx, an entomologist at Wageningen University & Research who is not involved in the project. The company says it has already identified a strain of buffalo worm (Alphitobius diaperinus), a smaller cousin of the yellow mealworm, that grows 25% faster than related variants.

Better insect ranching could have benefits for the environment and human health. For example, nearly one-quarter of the world's commercially caught fish are currently used to feed shrimp, salmon, and other animals raised in aquaculture operations'--a practice many researchers have concluded is ecologically damaging and wasteful. Insects make up a large part of many fishes' natural diets and using mealworms could reduce pressure on wild fish stocks and make more fish available to people.

Farmed insects could also go straight to human plates. People have practiced entomophagy, or bug eating, for millennia, and some government agencies'--including the European Food Safety Authority'--have already deemed yellow mealworms safe for human consumption. The grubs are rich in nutrients, containing up to 25 grams of protein for every 100 grams of worm, about the same as beef. And raising mealworms produces lower greenhouse gas emissions than other forms of animal production, Oonincx says. Farmers also need far less land to produce 1 kilogram of protein, compared with conventional livestock farming, he notes.

Ÿnsect slims down its operations even more by breeding bugs in vertical facilities. In each farm, the worms are reared in robot-automated trays stacked several stories tall, features that save energy and space. It is now completing a third new rearing facility in northern France. When finished, it will be 35 meters high, which the company claims will make it the ''world's largest vertical farm.''

One question surrounding Ÿnsect's initiative, Picard says, is whether the company will share the data gleaned from its program with the greater scientific community. ''This is going to benefit them and their investors, but will they share it?'' she asks. Lefebvre says the company will likely seek patents that would describe its high-throughput trait-identification strategies, potentially enabling other researchers and companies to try to improve on them.

Another issue, Picard adds, is whether all the genetic honing will overcome consumers' potential aversion to bug eating. It might all come down to marketing, she says, noting that ''lobster used to be the insect of the sea, and now it's part of haute cuisine.''

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:40

42 minute agoUkrainian plane crashed in Kyiv region. 5 killed

1 hour agoRussian Ka-52 helicopter shot near Hostomel

Turkish President: We reject the Russian military operation in Ukraine and see it as a direct blow to peace and stability in the region

NATO Secretary-General: We will implement the defense plan in order to protect our allies, which allows us to deploy our forces in times of need

Turkey foreign ministry calls on Russia to 'stop unjust and unlawful' war

1 hour agoConfirmed by Ukrainian authorities. A large air assault operation with Mi-8 helicopters on Antonov International Airport in Hostomel. Interior Ministry says Russia has seized control. Very dangerous; it's just 15 minutes west of the capital ring road

NATO chief: peace in Europe has been shattered, this is a deliberate and planned invasion; despite the litany of lies, the Kremlin's intentions are clear

1 hour agoNATO Sec Gen Jens Stoltenberg - This is a brutal act of war - Peace on our continent has been shattered - War of a scale and a type that we thought we had consigned to history - Decapture, cold blooded and long planned invasion - Putin "litany of lies"

Russian troops have seized the North Crimean Canal and the Kakhovka hydro-electric plant, - the mayor said

1 hour agoRussian helicopter shot down at Hostomel airfield

1 hour agoRussian troops assaulting Ukrainian border at Vilcha in Zhytomyr region

1 hour agoRussian troops captured as POWs

Ukraine's air defense shot down 3 Russian helicopters near Hostomel airport

German Chancellor: I call on the Russian President to cease fire and immediately withdraw his forces from Ukraine

2 hour agoFire at Hostomel airport, attack reportedly by dozens of helicopters

2 hour agoHeniches'k, Ukraine: Aftermath of Russian bombing, a bridge has been destroyed, a car is visible while drowning

President Zelensky asking Verkhovna Rada to declare full mobilization

Israeli FM @YairLapid: "Russia's attack against Ukraine is a serious violation of international order. Israel condemns it and is prepared to extend humanitarian aid to Ukrainian citizens×´

2 hour agoSeveral explosions reportedly heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. @SkyNews reported on the explosion on their stream and showed smoke rising somewhere near 50.458948161116766, 30.52100699180319

Missile strike targeted Hostomel

Loud explosion heard in Kyiv

Boris Johnson:This is a catastrophe for our continent. I will make an address to the nation this morning on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I will also speak to fellow G7 leaders and I am calling for an urgent meeting of all NATO leaders as soon as possible

Russian vessel entered Ukrainian territorial waters at Zmyiny island

Nova Kakhovka: Russian aviation launched a missile attack. There are Russian troops close to the town

Ukraine has severed diplomatic relations with Russia, - Zelensky

German foreign minister says EU, NATO, G7 to launch 'massive sanctions' against Russia

Reportedly three military facilities in Lviv have been targeted. Sirens in the Polish border village of Medyka were activated

3 hour agoPoland's President @Andrzejduda: We stand by Ukraine as its neighbors, as NATO, as EU

3 hour agoBattles reportedly ongoing on roads near Kharkiv, number of armoured vehicles destroyed

The Prime Minister Johnson is chairing a emergency COBR meeting to decide the UK's response to the "horrific attacks" by Russia

4 hour agoPhotos of what looks like a Kh-31P anti-radar air-to-ground missile wreckage in Kyiv

Head of occupation authorities of Crimea, declared that he is expecting to shortly start receiving water from the Dnipro river

4 hour agoThe State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports that at 9:40, an unmarked helicopter from Belarus fired on the bridge in front of the Slavutych checkpoint (near Chernihiv). No casualties were reported

Ukrainian Interior: Russian military vehicles violate state borders in Chernihiv, Sumy, Lugansk and Kharkiv regions

The Russian military announce "planned exercises" of "peacekeepers" in the Transnistria Russian-controlled region of Moldova that borders Ukraine in the west

4 hour agoThe President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, announced after the meeting of the Supreme Security Council that the Government will ask Parliament to declare a State of Emergency in the country in the context of the war in Ukraine

4 hour agoGeolocation of footage showing Ukrainian civilian killed by Russian artillery

Video of Russian military column entering Kherson region from occupied Crimea

Ukrainian President calls on the army to inflict the largest losses on the invading forces

The Polish president has stated that Poland, acting in cooperation with its NATO and EU allies, will jointly respond to the Russian brutal aggression and will not leave Ukraine without support

Ukraine's interior ministry: columns of Russian tanks entered Luhansk region. The enemy cynically put cars with white OSCE flags in front of their tanks. The battle is going on. Ukraine's border guard, National guard and the army are holding the line

4 hour agoArms depot hit. Kalynivka, Vinnytsia

Residents of Kryvyi Rih are being evacuated after rocket attacks on the warehouses of the tank brigade

4 hour agoIn the area of settlements of Kopani and Ivanovo of the Kherson area servicemen fight with the enemy. In the Skadovsk area, the border commandant's office of the rapid response is being fired at from helicopters. It is currently known about 3 dead border guards. There are wounded

Ukraine is creating an international anti-Putin coalition - president Zelensky

Kyiv conveyed its request to Turkey to close the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits for Russian warships, Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara says

5 hour agoMilitary equipment entering Ukraine in the video from cameras installed at the Belarusian-Ukrainian checkpoint "Senkovka-Veselovka". These are: the TOS-1A "Solntsepyok", at least 4 T-72B tanks, at least 8 MT-LB tractors, and Ural truck All the equipment is marked with "O"

Von der Leyen says that a massive and unprecedent EU sanctions package on Russia will be presented to member states today. it will block access to key technologies, weaken the country's economic base and stop access of Russian banks to EU capital markets

A border guard killed near the village of Preobrazhenka

6 killed as result of attack on Podil'sk, 1 more killed in Mariupol

5 hour agoThe port of Ochakiv, located in the city of Mykolaiv, was also targeted by the Russians. There was a big explosion in the port, and then a fire broke out

New @zelenskyy statement: Ukrainians will never give up their freedom and independence to anyone. But now the fate of not only our state is being decided, but also what life in Europe will be like

Commander-in-Chief of Ukrainian Armed Forces:at 5.00 AM the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched an intensive shelling of our units on east, delivered missile/bomb strikes on airfields in Boryspil, Ozerne, Kulbakino, Chuhuiv, Kramatorsk, Chornobaivka, as well as on military infrastructure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine gave orders to inflict the maximum losses to the aggressor.

5 hour agoAllegedly Russian armour in Kharkiv

The command and control point of the Nizhyn airfield was blown up According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a military invasion of the territory of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa (naval landings)

Russia halted maritime traffic in Azov Sea

One killed, one more wounded as result of missile attack on Brovary of Kyiv region

5 hour agoMissile targeted street in Uman', Cherkasy region

Russian VDV crossing the border

Russian troops attacking Schastia and Stanitsa Luhanska

6 hour agoUkraine army base reportedly hit in Vinnitsiya region

6 hour agoVideo of a missile hitting an airport, reportedly in Ivano-Frankivsk in Western Ukraine

Ukrainian army: Russia moves military equipment from Crimea

Verkhovna Rada voted for introduction of martial law

6 hour agoMykolaiv airport is burning

Russian troops assaulting Schastia city. Ukrainian army responding

President Zelensky:Talked to @POTUS, @OlafScholz, @eucopresident, @AndrzejDuda, @BorisJohnson. Urge to stop Putin, war against Ukraine & the world immediately. Building an anti-Putin coalition. Immediate sanctions, defense & financial support to Ukraine. Close the airspace. The world must force Russia into peace

Russian Ministry of defense claims that Ukrainian airbases and air defense destroyed

6 hour agoUkrainian military says it shot down 5 Russian planes and Russian helicopter in Eastern Ukraine, Luhansk

6 hour agoTank column entered Ukraine from Belarus

Ukrainian air defenses shot down Russian aircraft in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine's military says

6 hour agoAir Raid sirens begin in Lviv, Ukraine

Ukrainian Defense Ministry: Our forces are responding to an air attack by the invading forces and we are on full combat alert

7 hour agoMilitary unit on fire near Brovary

The President of Belarus gave orders to his army to integrate and cooperate with the Russian army in the invasion of Ukraine

Ukraine under attack along Russia, Belarus borders: border guards

7 hour agoSirens heard in Kyiv

Series of blasts that sound very much like shelling in Lutsk, Ukraine this morning. 7 so far.

Restriction on airports in southern and western Russia introduced before 2nd March

President of Poland @andrzejduda: Despite the efforts of the international comm, Ukraine fell victim to the brutal,unprovoked & unjustified Russian attack. We cooperate with our allies from NATO and the EU, we'll jointly respond to RUS brutal aggression & won't leave UKR without support

7 hour agoFire at Chuguev Air Force base, Kharkiv Oblast after strikes

Foreign Ministry of Ukraine: The purpose of the Russian military operation is to destroy the Ukrainian state

7 hour agoFrom White House: a readout of Biden's call with Zelensky

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is "appalled by the horrific events in Ukraine" and "President Putin has chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction by launching this unprovoked attack"

7 hour agoPresident Zelensky declared martial law in Ukraine

8 hour agoStrike on Lozova in Kharkiv region

8 hour agoLooks like air strike near Bakhmut

8 hour agoStrikes targets Svatovo

[email protected] says Putin "delivered a message of war" as the UN Security Council "gathered in the council seeking peace." "This is a grave emergency. The council will need to act," she says. "We will put a resolution on the table tomorrow

Strikes targeted Myrhorod airfield

Ukraine FM Kuleba: Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now

Ukraine's ambassador: Russia has declared war and the UN Security Council must stop it

Germany urges Russia to stop its military actions against Ukraine immediately

Warplanes hovering in the skies of Kramatorsk

NATO Allies will meet to address the consequences of Russia's actions. Secretary General @jensstoltenberg "condemns Russia's reckless and unprovoked attack on Ukraine, which puts at risk countless civilian lives"

Vasylkiv airbase has been targeted in missile strike

8 hour agoExplosions reported in Kahovka

Explosions were heard in Berdyansk about 5 am

9 hour agoMassive explosions hit the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol

Putin and Lukashenka had a phone call

Several explosions heard in Dnipro City

9 hour agoNew statement from Biden: "President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring"

9 hour agoAssive fire on the Mariupol front as Russian forces targeted the frontline with a massive GRAD barrage

9 hour agoExplosions reported in the city of Boryspil, Ukraine.

9 hour agoMassive explosions rock Kharkiv

9 hour agoExplosions, missiles, and tracers visible on the Kharkiv livecam

Explosions heard at Odesa airport

Explosions claimed in Odesa

Kramatorsk is being attacked

Putin: NATO has crossed a red line. Collision is imminent

Putin in an address declares military operation against Ukraine

UN Secretary General, just now: "President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died"

Russian Strategic Bomber Voice HF active on 8131 Kilohertz USB at 0215 GMT. Aircraft passing short figure messages to ground control. Very busy.

10 hour agoPer NOTAM, flights by civil aircraft are now restricted inside Ukraine

10 hour agoSkyUp Airlines took off and directly returned to Kyiv

10 hour agoAnother aircraft nearing its destination airport in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine just made a sudden turn in the opposite direction

10 hour agoIsraeli civilian aircraft that was flying over western Ukraine has made a sudden turn and is leaving Ukrainian airspace

11 hour agoVideo posted tonight from Crimea, per video author. Caption says, "Hundreds of vehicles go to the border with Ukraine

The B-52'²s landed in the Czech Republic Feb. 21, practicing quick-turn sortie generation and flying maneuvers alongside Czech fighter aircraft

11 hour agoClashes audible this night in Mariupol

Blinken: We are doubling our security, diplomatic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine

Better stated: Some UN Security Council members are working on a resolution on Ukraine - which is certain to meet a Russian veto

U.S.. Secretary of state Blinken believes Russia will invade Ukraine before the night is over - NBC news

Another cyber attack targeting the website of Security Service of Ukraine

12 hour agoTwo Turkish Air Force Airbus A400M entered Ukrainian airspace. Looks like first one heading to Kyiv

UN Security Council to hold emergency session on Ukraine Wednesday night, diplomats say

13 hour agoRussia closes airspace near Ukrainian border to civilian flights (NOTAM)

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko, has declared an emergency for the Ukrainian capital effective midnight local time, saying an "operational headquarters has been set up to coordinate the actions of the executive branch, the military command and law enforcement agencies

13 hour agoPresident Zelensky to Russian citizens(speaking in Russian language): almost 200 000 of your troops on the border between us, your government ordered them to move, on the territory of other country

President Zelensky: in case you will cross our borders of Ukraine we will defend our country

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy says he tried to call Putin today, but he did not respond

Issues with mobile network internet reported in Donetsk

14 hour agoNOTAM issued for Ukraine Dnipro Airport "AD CLOSED" - UKDD A0573/22 A0573/22 NOTAMN Q) UKDV/QFALC/IV/NBO/A /000/999/4821N03506E005 A) UKDD B) 2202232200 C) 2202240500 E) AD CLOSED. CREATED: 23 Feb 2022 21:55:00 SOURCE: EUECYIYN

14 hour agoA third Global Hawk has just taken off from Sicily. This a NATO one (called a RQ-4D Phoenix by them). Currently gaining height off the island before heading for Ukraine, a usual procedure. NATO has 5 Global Hawks stationed on Sicily

14 hour agoVideo uploaded 2 hours ago shows a single tank in Grayvoron in the Belgorod region of Russia, per video author. Grayvoron is as close as 5km from the Ukrainian border

Ukrainian FM Kuleba: Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council due to the appeal by Russian occupation administrations in Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia with a request to provide them with military assistance, which is a further escalation of the security situation

14 hour agoVulkan Air Antonov An-26B en route to Rzeszow from Kyiv

15 hour agoAirbus A321-271NX from Astana entered Ukraine from Polish airspace

Kharkiv airport closed before morning. NOTAM: RWY 07/25 CLOSED

Psaki says US sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG were part of the so-called "first tranche" of sanctions and did not come in response to new escalation overnight

Symantec says the wiper malware they found in Ukraine targets the financial sector - the UA financial sector has also been targeted by denial of service attacks over the last week

15 hour agoOccupation authorities in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions asking Putin "to help repel Ukrainian aggression"

"We have provided some cyber resilience training and assistance to Ukrainians," says @PentagonPresSec adding like @SecDef said last week that cyberattacks are a piece of a Russian playbook

ESETResearch discovered a new data wiper malware used in Ukraine today. ESET telemetry shows that it was installed on hundreds of machines in the country. This follows the DDoS attacks against several Ukrainian websites earlier today

Ukrainian FM Kuleba: Worrying reports from Crimea on the entire night shift of Titan chemicals plant in Armyansk evacuated from the facility. This might be a preparation for another staged provocation by Russia

16 hour agoAmid reports of a power outage and increased military activity in Donetsk, Ukraine, real-time network data show an observable disruption to internet connectivity

16 hour agoParliament of Ukraine adopted law introducing the state of emergency

16 hour ago2x USAF RQ4 Global Hawk FORTE11/12 currently tracking over Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss today, slamming Russia's decision to recognize Ukraine's breakaway regions. "They discussed the extensive bilateral coordination on developing:severe economic measures against Russia''

The U.S. assesses that Russia has 100 percent of its aviation and maritime assets needed for an Ukraine invasion in place, per a senior U.S. defense official. Russia has also put more than 120+ BTGs on the border, nearly completing ground troop buildup

French presidential source: Tomorrow the European summit will discuss the possible refugee crisis

18 hour agoVideos uploaded about 4 hours ago from the Belgorod region show massive movement of Russian armaments in the direction of the border. Geolocation is 50.435195, 36.389051 - less than 8 miles from Ukrainian border

The Elysee: a wave of immigration may hit Poland, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic States

US official: We have indications of Russia's intention to use its reserve army and National Guard forces for long-term goals in Ukraine

18 hour agoUkraine Defense Minister: The birds from Latvia landed. Def ammunition & Stingers

Elysee: There is a risk of manipulation and misinformation to create a pretext for attacking Ukraine

US surveillance of Russian troop movments will degrade if airwar starts we will continue to try to have as much visibility for as long as we can(but) safety of air crews is paramount - Senior DOD official

80% of total Russian conventional forces "uncoiled" and ready to invade Ukraine, per senior US defense official

The U.S. issued a new warning the Ukrainian government on Monday night eastern time that the latest intelligence points to a full-scale Russian invasion imminently. Of particular concern is the major northeastern city of Kharkiv

Russian occupation forces closed Chonhar checkpoint without explaining reasons

United States representative: Russia does not want to de-escalate the situation

The representative of the United States: We do not have an option for de-escalation due to the Russian escalation, although we prefer the diplomatic option

20 hour agoRussian envoy at UNSC says Moscow does not recognize Israeli sovereignty on Golan Heights. (The only country that recognizes Israel's Golan sovereignty is the US. Russia brought it up here, hours after Israel spoke of its concern over the Russian incursion into eastern Ukraine)

NATO Secretary General: We have pushed more military reinforcements to Eastern Europe

NATO Secretary General: We will work to strengthen defense capabilities by deploying more forces

20 hour agoBig rally tonight in Kramatorsk against Russian claims on the whole Donetsk region

German Minister of State for Foreign Affairs: What happened to Ukraine could happen to other UN member states tomorrow

20 hour agoEU adopts sanctions package in response to Russia's recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk and the sending of troops

Ukraine's Foreign Minister: Russia must withdraw from our borders and lands

Ukraine's Foreign Minister: We expect the world to guarantee our security

Spanish Foreign Minister: We call on the Spanish citizens in Ukraine to leave temporarily as soon as possible

Ukraine's Foreign Minister: Russia continues to search for justifications to launch war on us

European Council: We will discuss ways to hold Russia accountable for its actions

Guterres: We reject any violation of respect for the sovereignty of Ukraine

21 hour agoConfirmed: Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine and Cabinet of Ministers websites have just been impacted by network disruptions; the incident appears consistent with recent DDOS attacks

Reports of new DDoS attack targeting Ukrainian government websites

Turkish Presidency: Erdogan informed Putin of his rejection of any steps that would harm Ukrainian sovereignty

Turkish Presidency: Erdogan told Putin that a military conflict with Ukraine would not be in anyone's interest

President Erdogan discussed the Russia-Ukraine crisis with Putin on the phone

Polish President: We hope that the latest developments will not lead to a war

23 hour ago [email protected] Duda: This is an important moment in the history of our cooperation as presidents, also in the history of the Lublin Triangle. Today, together with the President of Lithuania @GitanasNauseda, we come to Kyiv as a sign of our solidarity with the President of Ukraine @ZelenskyyUa

President Duda in Kyiv: the security system in Europe is collapsing; it is a test for the unity of the EU and NATO; we must say a stop to Russia's neo-imperial policy

President @AndrzejDuda in Kyiv: We are the presidents of Russia's neighboring countries. Russia, which today is a threat to Ukraine. We appeal to Russia, our neighbor, for calm and peace

President Andrzej Duda in Kyiv: Russia's actions in the region are of great concern to us. We take them very seriously and follow every event, every step taken by Russia and Putin, his every order, every decision he makes. We follow them with the utmost attention

The Polish and Lithuanian presidents said in a joint statement that they support Ukraine being granted EU candidate status

Earlier dates(since 2014 for Ukraine)2020 - 2020 January - January 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031February - February 0102030405060708091011121314151617181920212223242526272829March - March 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031April - April 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930May - May 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031June - June 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930July - July 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031August - August 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031September - September 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930October - October 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031November - November 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930December - December 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930312021 - 2021 January - January 010203040506070809101112131415 Russia handed over security guarantees proposals to U.S. 1617 Russia published security guarantees proposals for U.S. and NATO 1819202122232425262728293031February - February 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728March - March 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031April - April 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930May - May 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031June - June 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930July - July 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031August - August 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031September - September 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930October - October 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031November - November 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930December - December 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930312022 - 2022 January - January 01020304050607080910 U.S. - Russia meeting in Geneva 1112 NATO - Russia council in Brussels 13141516171819202122232425262728293031February - February 010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324 24 February 2022 Kyiv Ukrainian plane crashed in Kyiv region. 5 killedUkraine Russian Ka-52 helicopter shot near HostomelAnkara Turkish President: We reject the Russian military operation in Ukraine and see it as a direct blow to peace and stability in the regionBrussel, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest NATO Secretary-General: We will implement the defense plan in order to protect our allies, which allows us to deploy our forces in times of needAnkara Turkey foreign ministry calls on Russia to 'stop unjust and unlawful' warUkraine Confirmed by Ukrainian authorities. A large air assault operation with Mi-8 helicopters on Antonov International Airport in Hostomel. Interior Ministry says Russia has seized control. Very dangerous; it's just 15 minutes west of the capital ring roadBrussel, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest NATO chief: peace in Europe has been shattered, this is a deliberate and planned invasion; despite the litany of lies, the Kremlin's intentions are clearBrussel, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest NATO Sec Gen Jens Stoltenberg - This is a brutal act of war - Peace on our continent has been shattered - War of a scale and a type that we thought we had consigned to history - Decapture, cold blooded and long planned invasion - Putin "litany of lies"Nova Kakhovka, Khersons'ka oblast Russian troops have seized the North Crimean Canal and the Kakhovka hydro-electric plant, - the mayor saidHostomel Russian helicopter shot down at Hostomel airfieldZhytomyr Russian troops assaulting Ukrainian border at Vilcha in Zhytomyr regionSchastia, Luhans'ka oblast Russian troops captured as POWsNova Kakhovka, Khersons'ka oblast Russian Mi-24/35M and Mi-28N attack helicopters flying over the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Dnipro riverUkraine Ukraine's air defense shot down 3 Russian helicopters near Hostomel airportBerlin, Berlin German Chancellor: I call on the Russian President to cease fire and immediately withdraw his forces from UkraineUkraine Fire at Hostomel airport, attack reportedly by dozens of helicopters Kherson Heniches'k, Ukraine: Aftermath of Russian bombing, a bridge has been destroyed, a car is visible while drowningKyiv, Kyiv city President Zelensky asking Verkhovna Rada to declare full mobilizationJerusalem, Jerusalem District Israeli FM @YairLapid: "Russia's attack against Ukraine is a serious violation of international order. Israel condemns it and is prepared to extend humanitarian aid to Ukrainian citizens×´Kyiv, Kyiv city Several explosions reportedly heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. @SkyNews reported on the explosion on their stream and showed smoke rising somewhere near 50.458948161116766, 30.52100699180319 Ukraine Missile strike targeted HostomelKyiv Loud explosion heard in KyivLondon Boris Johnson:This is a catastrophe for our continent. I will make an address to the nation this morning on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I will also speak to fellow G7 leaders and I am calling for an urgent meeting of all NATO leaders as soon as possibleBlack Sea Russian vessel entered Ukrainian territorial waters at Zmyiny islandNova Kahovka Nova Kakhovka: Russian aviation launched a missile attack. There are Russian troops close to the townKyiv, Kyiv city Ukraine has severed diplomatic relations with Russia, - ZelenskyBerlin, Berlin German foreign minister says EU, NATO, G7 to launch 'massive sanctions' against RussiaLviv Oblast Reportedly three military facilities in Lviv have been targeted. Sirens in the Polish border village of Medyka were activatedWarszawa, mazowieckie Poland's President @Andrzejduda: We stand by Ukraine as its neighbors, as NATO, as EU Kharkiv Battles reportedly ongoing on roads near Kharkiv, number of armoured vehicles destroyedLondon, England The Prime Minister Johnson is chairing a emergency COBR meeting to decide the UK's response to the "horrific attacks" by RussiaKyiv, Kyiv city Photos of what looks like a Kh-31P anti-radar air-to-ground missile wreckage in KyivSimferopol, Crimea Head of occupation authorities of Crimea, declared that he is expecting to shortly start receiving water from the Dnipro riverSlavutych The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports that at 9:40, an unmarked helicopter from Belarus fired on the bridge in front of the Slavutych checkpoint (near Chernihiv). No casualties were reportedKyiv, Kyiv city Ukrainian Interior: Russian military vehicles violate state borders in Chernihiv, Sumy, Lugansk and Kharkiv regionsTiraspol, Transnistria The Russian military announce "planned exercises" of "peacekeepers" in the Transnistria Russian-controlled region of Moldova that borders Ukraine in the westChiÈinău, ChiÈinău The President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, announced after the meeting of the Supreme Security Council that the Government will ask Parliament to declare a State of Emergency in the country in the context of the war in UkraineUman Geolocation of footage showing Ukrainian civilian killed by Russian artillery Kherson Video of Russian military column entering Kherson region from occupied CrimeaKyiv, Kyiv city Ukrainian President calls on the army to inflict the largest losses on the invading forcesWarszawa, mazowieckie The Polish president has stated that Poland, acting in cooperation with its NATO and EU allies, will jointly respond to the Russian brutal aggression and will not leave Ukraine without supportLuhansk Ukraine's interior ministry: columns of Russian tanks entered Luhansk region. The enemy cynically put cars with white OSCE flags in front of their tanks. The battle is going on. Ukraine's border guard, National guard and the army are holding the lineKalinovka Arms depot hit. Kalynivka, VinnytsiaKryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Residents of Kryvyi Rih are being evacuated after rocket attacks on the warehouses of the tank brigadeKherson In the area of settlements of Kopani and Ivanovo of the Kherson area servicemen fight with the enemy. In the Skadovsk area, the border commandant's office of the rapid response is being fired at from helicopters. It is currently known about 3 dead border guards. There are woundedKyiv, Kyiv city Ukraine is creating an international anti-Putin coalition - president ZelenskyÄ°stanbul Kyiv conveyed its request to Turkey to close the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits for Russian warships, Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara saysBelarus Military equipment entering Ukraine in the video from cameras installed at the Belarusian-Ukrainian checkpoint "Senkovka-Veselovka". These are: the TOS-1A "Solntsepyok", at least 4 T-72B tanks, at least 8 MT-LB tractors, and Ural truck All the equipment is marked with "O"Bruxelles, Bruxelles Von der Leyen says that a massive and unprecedent EU sanctions package on Russia will be presented to member states today. it will block access to key technologies, weaken the country's economic base and stop access of Russian banks to EU capital marketsKherson A border guard killed near the village of PreobrazhenkaPodilsk 6 killed as result of attack on Podil'sk, 1 more killed in MariupolMykolaiv, Ukraine The port of Ochakiv, located in the city of Mykolaiv, was also targeted by the Russians. There was a big explosion in the port, and then a fire broke outKyiv, Kyiv city New @zelenskyy statement: Ukrainians will never give up their freedom and independence to anyone. But now the fate of not only our state is being decided, but also what life in Europe will be likeKyiv, Kyiv city Commander-in-Chief of Ukrainian Armed Forces:at 5.00 AM the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched an intensive shelling of our units on east, delivered missile/bomb strikes on airfields in Boryspil, Ozerne, Kulbakino, Chuhuiv, Kramatorsk, Chornobaivka, as well as on military infrastructure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine gave orders to inflict the maximum losses to the aggressor.Kharkiv Allegedly Russian armour in KharkivChernyhiv The command and control point of the Nizhyn airfield was blown up According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a military invasion of the territory of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa (naval landings)Azov Sea Russia halted maritime traffic in Azov SeaKyiv region One killed, one more wounded as result of missile attack on Brovary of Kyiv regionUman',Cherkas'ka oblast Missile targeted street in Uman', Cherkasy regionKharkiv Oblast Russian VDV crossing the borderSchastia, Luhans'ka oblast Russian troops attacking Schastia and Stanitsa LuhanskaKalinovka Ukraine army base reportedly hit in Vinnitsiya regionIvano-Frankivs'ka oblast Video of a missile hitting an airport, reportedly in Ivano-Frankivsk in Western UkraineCrimea Ukrainian army: Russia moves military equipment from CrimeaKyiv, Kyiv city Verkhovna Rada voted for introduction of martial lawMykolaiv, Mykolaivs'ka oblast Mykolaiv airport is burningSchastia, Luhans'ka oblast Russian troops assaulting Schastia city. Ukrainian army respondingKyiv, Kyiv city President Zelensky:Talked to @POTUS, @OlafScholz, @eucopresident, @AndrzejDuda, @BorisJohnson. Urge to stop Putin, war against Ukraine & the world immediately. Building an anti-Putin coalition. Immediate sanctions, defense & financial support to Ukraine. Close the airspace. The world must force Russia into peaceMoskva, Moscow Russian Ministry of defense claims that Ukrainian airbases and air defense destroyedKyiv, Kyiv city Ukrainian military says it shot down 5 Russian planes and Russian helicopter in Eastern Ukraine, LuhanskBelarus Tank column entered Ukraine from BelarusKyiv, Kyiv city Ukrainian air defenses shot down Russian aircraft in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine's military saysL'viv, Lviv Oblast Air Raid sirens begin in Lviv, UkraineKyiv, Kyiv city Ukrainian Defense Ministry: Our forces are responding to an air attack by the invading forces and we are on full combat alertBrussel, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest [email protected] & @SecDef spoke with NATO Secretary General @jensstoltenberg "to condemn Russia's premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine and discuss the Alliance's coordinated responseKyiv region Military unit on fire near BrovaryMinsk, The President of Belarus gave orders to his army to integrate and cooperate with the Russian army in the invasion of UkraineMinsk Ukraine under attack along Russia, Belarus borders: border guardsKyiv, Kyiv city Sirens heard in KyivUkraine Series of blasts that sound very much like shelling in Lutsk, Ukraine this morning. 7 so far.Rostov, Rostovskaya oblast' Restriction on airports in southern and western Russia introduced before 2nd MarchWarszawa, mazowieckie President of Poland @andrzejduda: Despite the efforts of the international comm, Ukraine fell victim to the brutal,unprovoked & unjustified Russian attack. We cooperate with our allies from NATO and the EU, we'll jointly respond to RUS brutal aggression & won't leave UKR without supportKharkiv Oblast Fire at Chuguev Air Force base, Kharkiv Oblast after strikesNew York, New York Foreign Ministry of Ukraine: The purpose of the Russian military operation is to destroy the Ukrainian stateWashington, District of Columbia From White House: a readout of Biden's call with ZelenskyLondon, England Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is "appalled by the horrific events in Ukraine" and "President Putin has chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction by launching this unprovoked attack"Kyiv, Kyiv city President Zelensky declared martial law in UkraineLozova, Kharkiv Oblast Strike on Lozova in Kharkiv regionArtemivs'k, Donetsk Oblast Looks like air strike near BakhmutSvatovo Strikes targets SvatovoNew York, New York [email protected] says Putin "delivered a message of war" as the UN Security Council "gathered in the council seeking peace." "This is a grave emergency. The council will need to act," she says. "We will put a resolution on the table tomorrowPoltavs'ka oblast Strikes targeted Myrhorod airfieldNew York, New York Ukraine FM Kuleba: Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is nowNew York, New York Ukraine's ambassador: Russia has declared war and the UN Security Council must stop itBerlin, Berlin Germany urges Russia to stop its military actions against Ukraine immediatelyDonetsk Oblast Warplanes hovering in the skies of KramatorskBrussel, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest NATO Allies will meet to address the consequences of Russia's actions. Secretary General @jensstoltenberg "condemns Russia's reckless and unprovoked attack on Ukraine, which puts at risk countless civilian lives"Vasylkiv Vasylkiv airbase has been targeted in missile strikeNova Kakhovka, Khersons'ka oblast Explosions reported in KahovkaBerdians'k, Zaporiz'ka oblast Explosions were heard in Berdyansk about 5 amMariupol Massive explosions hit the Ukrainian port city of MariupolMoskva, Moscow Putin and Lukashenka had a phone callDnipropetrovsk Oblast Several explosions heard in Dnipro City Wilmington, Delaware New statement from Biden: "President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring"Mariupol Assive fire on the Mariupol front as Russian forces targeted the frontline with a massive GRAD barrageKyivs'ka oblast Explosions reported in the city of Boryspil, Ukraine. Kharkiv, Kharkiv Oblast Massive explosions rock KharkivKharkiv,Kharkiv Oblast Explosions, missiles, and tracers visible on the Kharkiv livecamOdesa, Odessa Oblast Explosions heard at Odesa airportKyiv,Kyiv city Explosions in KyivOdesa, Odessa Oblast Explosions claimed in OdesaKramators'k, Donetsk Oblast Kramatorsk is being attackedMoskva, Moscow Putin: NATO has crossed a red line. Collision is imminentMoskva, Moscow Putin in an address declares military operation against UkraineNew York, New York UN Secretary General, just now: "President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died"Engels,Saratovskaya oblast' Russian Strategic Bomber Voice HF active on 8131 Kilohertz USB at 0215 GMT. Aircraft passing short figure messages to ground control. Very busy. Kyivs'ka oblast Per NOTAM, flights by civil aircraft are now restricted inside UkraineKyiv SkyUp Airlines took off and directly returned to KyivKremenchuk, Poltavs'ka oblast Another aircraft nearing its destination airport in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine just made a sudden turn in the opposite directionChernivtsi Israeli civilian aircraft that was flying over western Ukraine has made a sudden turn and is leaving Ukrainian airspaceCrimea Video posted tonight from Crimea, per video author. Caption says, "Hundreds of vehicles go to the border with UkraineCzech Republic The B-52'²s landed in the Czech Republic Feb. 21, practicing quick-turn sortie generation and flying maneuvers alongside Czech fighter aircraftMariupol Clashes audible this night in MariupolWashington, District of Columbia Blinken: We are doubling our security, diplomatic and humanitarian assistance to UkraineNew York, New York Better stated: Some UN Security Council members are working on a resolution on Ukraine - which is certain to meet a Russian vetoWashington, District of Columbia U.S.. Secretary of state Blinken believes Russia will invade Ukraine before the night is over - NBC newsKyiv, Kyiv city Another cyber attack targeting the website of Security Service of UkraineOdesa Two Turkish Air Force Airbus A400M entered Ukrainian airspace. Looks like first one heading to KyivNew York, New York UN Security Council to hold emergency session on Ukraine Wednesday night, diplomats sayBelgorod Russia closes airspace near Ukrainian border to civilian flights (NOTAM)Kyiv, Kyiv city The mayor of Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko, has declared an emergency for the Ukrainian capital effective midnight local time, saying an "operational headquarters has been set up to coordinate the actions of the executive branch, the military command and law enforcement agenciesKyiv, Kyiv city President Zelensky to Russian citizens(speaking in Russian language): almost 200 000 of your troops on the border between us, your government ordered them to move, on the territory of other countryKyiv, Kyiv city President Zelensky: in case you will cross our borders of Ukraine we will defend our countryKyiv, Kyiv city Ukrainian President Zelenskiy says he tried to call Putin today, but he did not respondDonetsk, Donetsk Oblast Issues with mobile network internet reported in DonetskDnipropetrovsk Oblast NOTAM issued for Ukraine Dnipro Airport "AD CLOSED" - UKDD A0573/22 A0573/22 NOTAMN Q) UKDV/QFALC/IV/NBO/A /000/999/4821N03506E005 A) UKDD B) 2202232200 C) 2202240500 E) AD CLOSED. CREATED: 23 Feb 2022 21:55:00 SOURCE: EUECYIYNSicily A third Global Hawk has just taken off from Sicily. This a NATO one (called a RQ-4D Phoenix by them). Currently gaining height off the island before heading for Ukraine, a usual procedure. NATO has 5 Global Hawks stationed on SicilyGrayvoron Video uploaded 2 hours ago shows a single tank in Grayvoron in the Belgorod region of Russia, per video author. Grayvoron is as close as 5km from the Ukrainian borderNew York, New York Ukrainian FM Kuleba: Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council due to the appeal by Russian occupation administrations in Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia with a request to provide them with military assistance, which is a further escalation of the security situationRzeszow Vulkan Air Antonov An-26B en route to Rzeszow from KyivUkraine Airbus A321-271NX from Astana entered Ukraine from Polish airspaceKharkiv, Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv airport closed before morning. NOTAM: RWY 07/25 CLOSEDWashington, District of Columbia Psaki says US sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG were part of the so-called "first tranche" of sanctions and did not come in response to new escalation overnightKyiv, Kyiv city Symantec says the wiper malware they found in Ukraine targets the financial sector - the UA financial sector has also been targeted by denial of service attacks over the last weekDonetsk, Donetsk Oblast Occupation authorities in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions asking Putin "to help repel Ukrainian aggression"Arlington, Virginia "We have provided some cyber resilience training and assistance to Ukrainians," says @PentagonPresSec adding like @SecDef said last week that cyberattacks are a piece of a Russian playbook Kyiv, Kyiv city ESETResearch discovered a new data wiper malware used in Ukraine today. ESET telemetry shows that it was installed on hundreds of machines in the country. This follows the DDoS attacks against several Ukrainian websites earlier todayArmiansk, Ukrainian FM Kuleba: Worrying reports from Crimea on the entire night shift of Titan chemicals plant in Armyansk evacuated from the facility. This might be a preparation for another staged provocation by RussiaDonetsk,Donets'ka oblast Amid reports of a power outage and increased military activity in Donetsk, Ukraine, real-time network data show an observable disruption to internet connectivityKyiv, Kyiv city Parliament of Ukraine adopted law introducing the state of emergency Ukraine 2x USAF RQ4 Global Hawk FORTE11/12 currently tracking over UkraineLondon, England Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss today, slamming Russia's decision to recognize Ukraine's breakaway regions. "They discussed the extensive bilateral coordination on developing:severe economic measures against Russia''Arlington, Virginia The U.S. assesses that Russia has 100 percent of its aviation and maritime assets needed for an Ukraine invasion in place, per a senior U.S. defense official. Russia has also put more than 120+ BTGs on the border, nearly completing ground troop buildupParis, Žle-de-France French presidential source: Tomorrow the European summit will discuss the possible refugee crisisOktyabrskiy, Belgorod Videos uploaded about 4 hours ago from the Belgorod region show massive movement of Russian armaments in the direction of the border. Geolocation is 50.435195, 36.389051 - less than 8 miles from Ukrainian borderParis, Žle-de-France The Elysee: a wave of immigration may hit Poland, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic StatesArlington, Virginia US official: We have indications of Russia's intention to use its reserve army and National Guard forces for long-term goals in UkraineKyivs'ka oblast Ukraine Defense Minister: The birds from Latvia landed. Def ammunition & StingersParis, Žle-de-France Elysee: There is a risk of manipulation and misinformation to create a pretext for attacking UkraineArlington, Virginia US surveillance of Russian troop movments will degrade if airwar starts we will continue to try to have as much visibility for as long as we can(but) safety of air crews is paramount - Senior DOD officialArlington, Virginia 80% of total Russian conventional forces "uncoiled" and ready to invade Ukraine, per senior US defense officialWashington, District of Columbia The U.S. issued a new warning the Ukrainian government on Monday night eastern time that the latest intelligence points to a full-scale Russian invasion imminently. Of particular concern is the major northeastern city of KharkivDzhankoi, Russian occupation forces closed Chonhar checkpoint without explaining reasonsNew York, New York United States representative: Russia does not want to de-escalate the situationNew York, New York The representative of the United States: We do not have an option for de-escalation due to the Russian escalation, although we prefer the diplomatic optionNew York, New York Russian envoy at UNSC says Moscow does not recognize Israeli sovereignty on Golan Heights. (The only country that recognizes Israel's Golan sovereignty is the US. Russia brought it up here, hours after Israel spoke of its concern over the Russian incursion into eastern Ukraine)Brussel, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest NATO Secretary General: We have pushed more military reinforcements to Eastern EuropeBrussel, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest NATO Secretary General: We will work to strengthen defense capabilities by deploying more forcesKramators'k, Donetsk Oblast Big rally tonight in Kramatorsk against Russian claims on the whole Donetsk regionBerlin, Berlin German Minister of State for Foreign Affairs: What happened to Ukraine could happen to other UN member states tomorrowBruxelles, Bruxelles EU adopts sanctions package in response to Russia's recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk and the sending of troops New York, New York Ukraine's Foreign Minister: Russia must withdraw from our borders and landsNew York, New York Ukraine's Foreign Minister: We expect the world to guarantee our securityMadrid, Comunidad de Madrid Spanish Foreign Minister: We call on the Spanish citizens in Ukraine to leave temporarily as soon as possibleBruxelles, Bruxelles Ukraine's Foreign Minister: Russia continues to search for justifications to launch war on usBrussels European Council: We will discuss ways to hold Russia accountable for its actionsNew York, New York Guterres: We reject any violation of respect for the sovereignty of UkraineKyiv, Kyiv city Confirmed: Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine and Cabinet of Ministers websites have just been impacted by network disruptions; the incident appears consistent with recent DDOS attacksKyiv, Kyiv city Reports of new DDoS attack targeting Ukrainian government websitesAnkara Turkish Presidency: Erdogan informed Putin of his rejection of any steps that would harm Ukrainian sovereigntyAnkara Turkish Presidency: Erdogan told Putin that a military conflict with Ukraine would not be in anyone's interestAnkara President Erdogan discussed the Russia-Ukraine crisis with Putin on the phoneKyiv, Kyiv city Polish President: We hope that the latest developments will not lead to a warKyiv, Kyiv city [email protected] Duda: This is an important moment in the history of our cooperation as presidents, also in the history of the Lublin Triangle. Today, together with the President of Lithuania @GitanasNauseda, we come to Kyiv as a sign of our solidarity with the President of Ukraine @ZelenskyyUaKyiv, Kyiv city President Duda in Kyiv: the security system in Europe is collapsing; it is a test for the unity of the EU and NATO; we must say a stop to Russia's neo-imperial policyKyiv, Kyiv city President @AndrzejDuda in Kyiv: We are the presidents of Russia's neighboring countries. Russia, which today is a threat to Ukraine. We appeal to Russia, our neighbor, for calm and peaceKyiv, Kyiv city President Andrzej Duda in Kyiv: Russia's actions in the region are of great concern to us. We take them very seriously and follow every event, every step taken by Russia and Putin, his every order, every decision he makes. We follow them with the utmost attentionKyiv, Kyiv city The Polish and Lithuanian presidents said in a joint statement that they support Ukraine being granted EU candidate statusOn 20 February 2014 Russian Federation attacked Crimea, Ukraine.Map tells story about war in Ukraine and Eastern Europe

Colors of conflict

Ukraine government, NATO, other western forces Russia, Russian militants, Belarus, Transnistria Turkey, Turks, Azerbaijan Paramilitary groups, NGOs Non-aligned, Nature Areas control

Territories captured by Russian forces Icons

Balloon Apply Additional symbols

Airport Water facility Important venueAttention! All events and areas of control on the map are geolocated approximately

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Archived Version

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:35

Audra Schroeder

Internet Culture

Published Feb 23, 2022 Updated Feb 23, 2022, 12:09 pm CST

The entertainment website Hollywood Unlocked posted on Tuesday that Queen Elizabeth had died, before any official reports or the Royals confirmed it. And then a possibly fake Hollywood Unlocked account used the old ''blame it on an intern'' excuse.

On Wednesday morning, a Hollywood Unlocked account tweeted that the post, which went up on Instagram to Hollywood Unlocked's 2.8 million followers as an ''exclusive,'' was ''an accident,'' and expressed its ''deepest apologies'' to the Royal Family.

''The intern journalist was misinformed and published the draft by mistake,'' it read.

While that tweet is now deleted, it was still confusing to some, because Hollywood Unlocked CEO Jason Lee had previously doubled down on the report, tweeting on Tuesday afternoon, ''We don't post lies and I always stand by my sources. Waiting for an official statement from the palace.'' On Wednesday, he tweeted about a ''fake account'' that had posted a ''retraction,'' but clarified that Hollywood Unlocked had not retracted its story. It appears he's referencing the @HollywoodUL account, though it's not clear if that account is his. Adding to the confusion, the @HollywoodUL account retweeted his post about the ''fake account.''

We don't post lies and I always stand by my sources. Waiting for an official statement from the palace.

'-- Jason Lee (@theonlyjasonlee) February 22, 2022Woke up to some fake account posting a retraction. We do not know that account and we have not retracted our story. There has yet to be an official statement from the Palace. Staying tuned.

'-- Jason Lee (@theonlyjasonlee) February 23, 2022The edited Queen Elizabeth Instagram post is still up as of Wednesday morning. It states: ''Sources close to the Royal Palace notified us exclusively that #QueenElizabeth has passed away. She was scheduled to attend the wedding of British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, but was found dead.'' (The original Insta post apparently said ''Royal kingdom.'') A post on the Hollywood Unlocked site (by ''DefaultUser'') is also still up.

The Queen recently contracted COVID-19, and canceled some ''virtual'' meetings this week while dealing with a ''mild'' case, according to the palace. Still, some found it dubious that Hollywood Unlocked would be the site to break this massive news. Others took pleasure imagining what legal action might take place.

wym the queen died. and wym the source is jason lee.

'-- melv. (@manizegos) February 22, 2022Jason Lee said the Queen died getting ready for a black man's wedding. U cant tell me he's not going to hell. This was the entertainment I needed man.

'-- ALIKA. (@TheRealAlika) February 22, 2022But is the world so upside-down right now that this could actually be true?

After learning that Tyler Perry rescued Prince Harry and Meghan from Buckingham Palace, I 100% believe Jason Lee could be the first to know if the queen died

'-- ' (@bimboyugari) February 22, 2022We reached out to Hollywood Unlocked for comment. When the Queen does die, there is an official process in place for announcing the news.

*First Published: Feb 23, 2022, 11:17 am CST

Audra Schroeder Audra Schroeder is the Daily Dot's senior entertainment writer, and she focuses on streaming, comedy, and music. Her work has previously appeared in the Austin Chronicle, the Dallas Observer, NPR, ESPN, Bitch, and the Village Voice. She is based in Austin, Texas.

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Archived Version

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:51

The agency has withheld critical data on boosters, hospitalizations and, until recently, wastewater analyses.

Dr. David Kessler, chief science officer of the White House Covid-19 response team, and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a House Select Subcommittee in 2021. Credit... Pool photo by Amr Alfiky Feb. 20, 2022

For more than a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collected data on hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the United States and broken it down by age, race and vaccination status. But it has not made most of the information public.

When the C.D.C. published the first significant data on the effectiveness of boosters in adults younger than 65 two weeks ago, it left out the numbers for a huge portion of that population: 18- to 49-year-olds, the group least likely to benefit from extra shots, because the first two doses already left them well-protected.

The agency recently debuted a dashboard of wastewater data on its website that will be updated daily and might provide early signals of an oncoming surge of Covid cases. Some states and localities had been sharing wastewater information with the agency since the start of the pandemic, but it had never before released those findings.

Two full years into the pandemic, the agency leading the country's response to the public health emergency has published only a tiny fraction of the data it has collected, several people familiar with the data said.

Much of the withheld information could help state and local health officials better target their efforts to bring the virus under control. Detailed, timely data on hospitalizations by age and race would help health officials identify and help the populations at highest risk. Information on hospitalizations and death by age and vaccination status would have helped inform whether healthy adults needed booster shots. And wastewater surveillance across the nation would spot outbreaks and emerging variants early.

Without the booster data for 18- to 49-year-olds, the outside experts whom federal health agencies look to for advice had to rely on numbers from Israel to make their recommendations on the shots.

Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the C.D.C., said the agency has been slow to release the different streams of data ''because basically, at the end of the day, it's not yet ready for prime time.'' She said the agency's ''priority when gathering any data is to ensure that it's accurate and actionable.''

Another reason is fear that the information might be misinterpreted, Ms. Nordlund said.

Dr. Daniel Jernigan, the agency's deputy director for public health science and surveillance said the pandemic exposed the fact that data systems at the C.D.C., and at the state levels, are outmoded and not up to handling large volumes of data. C.D.C. scientists are trying to modernize the systems, he said.

''We want better, faster data that can lead to decision making and actions at all levels of public health, that can help us eliminate the lag in data that has held us back,'' he added.

The C.D.C. also has multiple bureaucratic divisions that must sign off on important publications, and its officials must alert the Department of Health and Human Services '-- which oversees the agency '-- and the White House of their plans. The agency often shares data with states and partners before making data public. Those steps can add delays.

''The C.D.C. is a political organization as much as it is a public health organization,'' said Samuel Scarpino, managing director of pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation's Pandemic Prevention Institute. ''The steps that it takes to get something like this released are often well outside of the control of many of the scientists that work at the C.D.C.''

The performance of vaccines and boosters, particularly in younger adults, is among the most glaring omissions in data the C.D.C. has made public.

Last year, the agency repeatedly came under fire for not tracking so-called breakthrough infections in vaccinated Americans, and focusing only on individuals who became ill enough to be hospitalized or die. The agency presented that information as risk comparisons with unvaccinated adults, rather than provide timely snapshots of hospitalized patients stratified by age, sex, race and vaccination status.

Image President Biden joined a virtual meeting with the White House Covid-19 Response Team in December. Credit... Cheriss May for The New York Times But the C.D.C. has been routinely collecting information since the Covid vaccines were first rolled out last year, according to a federal official familiar with the effort. The agency has been reluctant to make those figures public, the official said, because they might be misinterpreted as the vaccines being ineffective.

Ms. Nordlund confirmed that as one of the reasons. Another reason, she said, is that the data represents only 10 percent of the population of the United States. But the C.D.C. has relied on the same level of sampling to track influenza for years.

Some outside public health experts were stunned to hear that information exists.

''We have been begging for that sort of granularity of data for two years,'' said Jessica Malaty Rivera, an epidemiologist and part of the team that ran Covid Tracking Project, an independent effort that compiled data on the pandemic till March 2021.

A detailed analysis, she said, ''builds public trust, and it paints a much clearer picture of what's actually going on.''

Concern about the misinterpretation of hospitalization data broken down by vaccination status is not unique to the C.D.C. On Thursday, public health officials in Scotland said they would stop releasing data on Covid hospitalizations and deaths by vaccination status because of similar fears that the figures would be misrepresented by anti-vaccine groups.

But the experts dismissed the potential misuse or misinterpretation of data as an acceptable reason for not releasing it.

''We are at a much greater risk of misinterpreting the data with data vacuums, than sharing the data with proper science, communication and caveats,'' Ms. Rivera said.

When the Delta variant caused an outbreak in Massachusetts last summer, the fact that three-quarters of those infected were vaccinated led people to mistakenly conclude that the vaccines were powerless against the virus '-- validating the C.D.C.'s concerns.

But that could have been avoided if the agency had educated the public from the start that as more people are vaccinated, the percentage of vaccinated people who are infected or hospitalized would also rise, public health experts said.

''Tell the truth, present the data,'' said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert and adviser to the Food and Drug Administration. ''I have to believe that there is a way to explain these things so people can understand it.''

Knowing which groups of people were being hospitalized in the United States, which other conditions those patients may have had and how vaccines changed the picture over time would have been invaluable, Dr. Offit said.

Relying on Israeli data to make booster recommendations for Americans was less than ideal, Dr. Offit noted. Israel defines severe disease differently than the United States, among other factors.

''There's no reason that they should be better at collecting and putting forth data than we were,'' Dr. Offit said of Israeli scientists. ''The C.D.C. is the principal epidemiological agency in this country, and so you would like to think the data came from them.''

It has also been difficult to find C.D.C. data on the proportion of children hospitalized for Covid who have other medical conditions, said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics's Committee on Infectious Diseases.

The academy's staff asked their partners at the C.D.C. for that information on a call in December, according to a spokeswoman for the A.A.P., and were told it was unavailable.

The Coronavirus Pandemic: Key Things to Know Card 1 of 3C.D.C. data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published only a tiny fraction of the Covid data it has collected, including critical data on boosters and hospitalizations, citing incomplete reports or fears of misinterpretation. Critics say the practice causes confusion.

Australia reopens to tourists. Australia has reopened its borders to international visitors after nearly two years of shutting itself off from the rest of the world. The country's pandemic rules, among the world's strictest, had kept most visitors out and stranded some citizens abroad.

Ms. Nordlund pointed to data on the agency's website that includes this information, and to multiple published reports on pediatric hospitalizations with information on children who have other health conditions.

The pediatrics academy has repeatedly asked the C.D.C. for an estimate on the contagiousness of a person infected with the coronavirus five days after symptoms begin '-- but Dr. Maldonado finally got the answer from an article in The New York Times in December.

''They've known this for over a year and a half, right, and they haven't told us,'' she said. ''I mean, you can't find out anything from them.''

Experts in wastewater analysis were more understanding of the C.D.C.'s slow pace of making that data public. The C.D.C. has been building the wastewater system since September 2020, and the capacity to present the data over the past few months, Ms. Nordlund said. In the meantime, the C.D.C.'s state partners have had access to the data, she said.

Despite the cautious preparation, the C.D.C. released the wastewater data a week later than planned. The Covid Data Tracker is updated only on Thursdays, and the day before the original release date, the scientists who manage the tracker realized they needed more time to integrate the data.

''It wasn't because the data wasn't ready, it was because the systems and how it physically displayed on the page wasn't working the way that they wanted it to,'' Ms. Nordlund said.

The C.D.C. has received more than $1 billion to modernize its systems, which may help pick up the pace, Ms. Nordlund said. ''We're working on that,'' she said.

The agency's public dashboard now has data from 31 states. Eight of those states, including Utah, began sending their figures to the C.D.C. in the fall of 2020. Some relied on scientists volunteering their expertise; others paid private companies. But many others, such as Mississippi, New Mexico and North Dakota, have yet to begin tracking wastewater.

Utah's fledgling program in April 2020 has now grown to cover 88 percent of the state's population, with samples being collected twice a week, according to Nathan LaCross, who manages Utah's wastewater surveillance program.

Wastewater data reflects the presence of the virus in an entire community, so it is not plagued by the privacy concerns attached to medical information that would normally complicate data release, experts said.

''There are a bunch of very important and substantive legal and ethical challenges that don't exist for wastewater data,'' Dr. Scarpino said. ''That lowered bar should certainly mean that data could flow faster.''

Tracking wastewater can help identify areas experiencing a high burden of cases early, Dr. LaCross said. That allows officials to better allocate resources like mobile testing teams and testing sites.

Wastewater is also a much faster and more reliable barometer of the spread of the virus than the number of cases or positive tests. Well before the nation became aware of the Delta variant, for example, scientists who track wastewater had seen its rise and alerted the C.D.C., Dr. Scarpino said. They did so in early May, just before the agency famously said vaccinated people could take off their masks.

Even now, the agency is relying on a technique that captures the amount of virus, but not the different variants in the mix, said Mariana Matus, chief executive officer of BioBot Analytics, which specializes in wastewater analysis. That will make it difficult for the agency to spot and respond to outbreaks of new variants in a timely manner, she said.

''It gets really exhausting when you see the private sector working faster than the premier public health agency of the world,'' Ms. Rivera said.

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Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:31

We wanted to create a site where all parenting styles are welcomed and anyone can come to read about parenthood. From tips to tricks to positive co-parenting, grand-parenting, and everything in between '' the name Parent Influence simply made sense.

All thoughts, stories, and experiences are welcomed here so as long as you remain respectful, considerate, and open-minded to other people's ways of life and parenting.

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Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:06

Bernie Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in 2009 in New York. Authorities have identified a couple found dead in what investigators said was an apparent murder-suicide in Florida as Madoff's sister and her husband. Louis Lanzano/AP hide caption

toggle caption Louis Lanzano/AP Bernie Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in 2009 in New York. Authorities have identified a couple found dead in what investigators said was an apparent murder-suicide in Florida as Madoff's sister and her husband.

Louis Lanzano/AP BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) '-- The sister of Wall Street fraudster Bernie Madoff and her husband were found dead in what investigators said was an apparent murder-suicide in Florida, according to news reports.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on Sunday identified the couple as 87-year-old Sondra Wiener of Boynton Beach and her 90-year-old husband, Marvin. They were found unresponsive with gunshot wounds Thursday afternoon inside their residence.

"Detectives from the Violent Crimes Division arrived on scene to investigate further. After further investigation it appears to be a murder/suicide," the Sheriff's Office statement said.

Officials said the cause of death will be determined by the Medical Examiner's Office.

A woman who identified herself as the wife of son David Wiener asked for privacy "at this time of grief."

Contacted by phone, she said: "We are not making any comment at this time."

Madoff was infamously known for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme that wiped out people's fortunes and ruined charities. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to fraud and other charges and died while incarcerated at age 82 last year.

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Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:04

Plans to sign off the government's strategy to end all remaining Covid regulations in England have been delayed at the last minute amid tensions between the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the health secretary, Sajid Javid, over funds for free Covid testing.

Cabinet ministers were told of the delay as they arrived at No 10 on Monday morning amid the final wrangling over the ''living with Covid'' strategy expected to be announced to the House of Commons in the afternoon.

A government source said there was still no agreement between the Treasury and the Department of Health and Social Care on the extent of the testing cutbacks, although another source at the DHSC insisted Javid had accepted the fiscal position that most testing must end.

The source denied Javid was seeking new money and said that instead he wanted to ''reprioritise'' his existing budgets by moving funds from other areas within the department to cover the additional testing.

''DHSC are absolutely not asking for additional funding, they want to reprioritise within the existing budget,'' the source said.

Last week, the Guardian reported that the Treasury was driving efforts to reduce costs from an estimated annual £15bn, with an opening suggestion of cutting the budget by more than 90%, to £1.3bn.

Javid is said to want to fund enough testing to ensure the survival of the Panoramic antiviral drugs trial, which officials believe would need free lateral flow tests for over-50s and vulnerable adults under 50 until at least September.

Scientists, medics and public health experts have already expressed concerns about the plan to scrap most PCR testing and restrict free lateral flows, probably to older age groups. The national contact tracing service is expected to be wound down and schoolchildren will no longer be told to get tested twice a week.

There are concerns that a lack of community testing could hamper the Panoramic trial into the effectiveness of antivirals, although government sources said officials were looking at options for recruiting volunteers in other ways.

Johnson is likely to unveil the plan later on Monday in a Commons statement before giving a press conference, announcing an end to mandatory isolation in England and huge reductions in mass testing.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said: ''The government is paralysed by its own chaos and incompetence and the British public are paying the price. This shambles cannot continue.

''What confidence can the public have that the Conservatives are acting in the national interest, when they can't agree a plan for Covid? It is clear the prime minister was trying to declare victory before the war is over, simply to distract from the police knocking at the door of No 10.

''Labour published our plan for living well with Covid in January. It would prepare us for new variants and secure our lives, livelihoods and liberties. If the Conservatives are too incompetent to agree their own plan, they are welcome to use ours.''

The delay came as one Tory MP expressed apprehension about the government's plan to cut back on Covid testing in the community.

Tim Loughton, a former minister, said he was pleased the government was trying to get back to as much ''normality as possible''. But he told the BBC's Westminster Hour: ''I have slight apprehensions in that I think we still do need to have testing available widely because I think that is the reassurance people can have that they've taken all possible precautions and they don't want to infect other people.''

Paul Scully, a business minister, said it was the right thing to do as the government could not ''wrap people up in cotton wool for the rest of our lives''.

Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain, he said: ''Infections are coming down quite rapidly, the hospitalisations and deaths are following as well '' they tend to lag behind, obviously, the case numbers '' but nonetheless you can see the trend within that.''

He said Johnson would be ''looking at the best advice possible but getting the balance right''.

Scully also said companies would have to pay for testing and decide policies on self-isolation for staff.

''We don't test for flu, we don't test for other diseases, and if the variants continue to be as mild as Omicron then there's a question mark as to whether people will go through that regular testing anyway,'' he told Times Radio.

''But if employers want to be paying (for) tests and continuing a testing regime within their workplace, then that will be for them to pay at that point,'' he said, adding that while the impact on the virus on clinically vulnerable people was a concern, ''we're not going to be having a testing regime for the next 50 years''.

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Mon, 21 Feb 2022 14:10

John HELMER

Chrystia Freeland (lead image), appointed last week to be the new Canadian Foreign Minister, claims that her maternal family were the Ukrainian victims of Russian persecution, who fled their home in 1939, after Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin agreed on a non-aggression pact and the division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. She claims her mother was born in a camp for refugees before finding safe haven in Alberta, Canada. Freeland is lying.

The records now being opened by the Polish government in Warsaw reveal that Freeland's maternal grandfather Michael (Mikhailo) Chomiak was a Nazi collaborator from the beginning to the end of the war. He was given a powerful post, money, home and car by the German Army in Cracow, then the capital of the German administration of the Galician region. His principal job was editor in chief and publisher of a newspaper the Nazis created. His printing plant and other assets had been stolen from a Jewish newspaper publisher, who was then sent to die in the Belzec concentration camp. During the German Army's winning phase of the war, Chomiak celebrated in print the Wehrmacht's ''success'' at killing thousands of US Army troops. As the German Army was forced into retreat by the Soviet counter-offensive, Chomiak was taken by the Germans to Vienna, where he continued to publish his Nazi propaganda, at the same time informing for the Germans on other Ukrainians. They included fellow Galician Stepan Bandera, whose racism against Russians Freeland has celebrated in print, and whom the current regime in Kiev has turned into a national hero.

Just before Vienna fell to the Soviet forces in March 1945, Chomiak evacuated with the German Army into Germany, ending up near Munich at Bad Worishofen. On September 2, 1946, when Freeland says her mother was born in a refugee camp, she was actually in a well-known spa resort for wealthy Bavarians. The US Army then controlled that part of Germany; they operated an Army hospital at Bad Worishofen and accommodated Chomiak at a spa hotel. US Army records have yet to reveal what the Americans learned about Chomiak's war record, and how he was employed by US Army Intelligence, after he had switched from the Wehrmacht. It took Chomiak another two years before the government in Ottawa allowed the family to enter Canada.

The reason the Polish Government is now investigating Freeland is that Chomiak's wartime record not only victimized Galician Jews, but also the Polish citizens of Cracow. In a salute to Freeland as a ''great friend of Poland'' by the Polish Embassy in Ottawa last week, Warsaw officials now believe a mistake was made.

Last July, Freeland, then trade minister, was in a large delegation of Canadians accompanying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in southern Poland. Freeland is not included in the press photographs; Trudeau wept. A statement issued by one of the Canadian Jewish organizations in the delegation said: ''Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau signifies the importance of remembering the six million Jews and countless others who died at hands of the Nazi regime. The Holocaust will forever stand as the ultimate expression of human hatred. That is why every Canadian should use this as an opportunity to reflect upon their personal role in combating the forces of antisemitism, racism and bigotry wherever they are found.''

Trudeau (above) and his staff, as well as Foreign Minister at the time Stephane Dion, and the Jewish representatives appear not to have known this was familiar territory for Freeland and her family. Michael Chomiak and his wife Alexandra, parents to Freeland's mother Halyna, spent the war from 1939 to 1945 working and living just 68 kilometres away in Cracow.

According to the autobiographical details Freeland has provided herself to the Canadian media, Freeland's family were victims of war. ''My maternal grandparents,'' she wrote in May 2015, ''fled western Ukraine after Hitler and Stalin signed their non-aggression pact in 1939'... they saw themselves as political exiles with a responsibility to keep alive the idea of an independent Ukraine.'' In November 2015 Freeland told the Toronto Star: ''Michael Chomiak was a lawyer and journalist before the Second World War, but they knew the Soviets would invade western Ukraine (and) fled '... and, like a lot of Ukrainians, ended up after the war in a displaced persons camp in Germany where my mother was born.''

Centre: Michael Chomiak and wife Alexandra, with their children in Canada in 1952. Freeland's mother Halyna is second from left. Source: thestar.com

According to Freeland, ''they were also committed to the idea, like most in the (Ukrainian) diaspora, that Ukraine would one day be independent and that the community had a responsibility to the country they had been forced to flee '... to keep that flame alive.''

The Edmonton, Alberta, newspaper obituary for Halyna Chomiak Freeland says she had been ''born on September 2, 1946 in Bad Worishofen, Germany in a displaced person's camp.'' The Alberta provincial government library reports it holds Michael Chomiak's papers. He is described as having ''graduated from Lviv University with master's degree in law and political science. In 1928, as a journalist, he started work in the Ukrainian daily Dilo, and from 1934 to 1939 he served on the editorial staff. During the Nazi occupation, he was the editor of Krakivski Visti, published first in Cracow and then in Vienna.''

There is much more to the story which Freeland has not revealed. The details can be found in Polish and Ukrainian sources; from the archived files of Krakivski Visti (''Cracow News''); and from the evidence of Jewish Holocaust museums around the world. Chomiak was editor in chief of the newspaper after a Jewish editor was removed. The newspaper itself was set up in January 1940, publishing three times weekly in Cracow, until October 8, 1944. It was then published in Vienna from October 16, 1944, until March 29, 1945. The precision of the dates is important. They coincide with the movement of the German Army into Cracow, and then out of the city and into Vienna. The newspaper itself was established by the German Army; and supervised by German intelligence. Chomiak was employed by an officer named Emil Gassner (above). His title in German indicates he was the German administrator in charge of press in the region. When Gassner moved from Cracow to Vienna, he took Chomiak with him.

Chomiak's publication was an official one of the German administration in Galicia, known at the time as the General Gouvernement. The printing press, offices and other assets which provided Chomiak with his work, salary, and benefits had been confiscated by the Germans from a Jewish publisher, Moshe Kafner. Kafner was a native of the region; he and his family were well educated and well known until the Germans arrived, and replaced Kanfer with Chomiak. Kanfer was forced to flee Cracow for Lviv. From there he was taken by the Germans to the Belzec concentration, where he was murdered some time in 1942. From Chomiak's office to Belzec the distance was 300 kilometres.

Left: SS guards at Belzec; right: Ukrainian guards about to kill a Belzec inmate

Krakivsti Visti was ''the most important newspaper to appear in the Ukrainian language under the German occupation during World War II,'' according to this history from the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, published in 1998. Chomiak '-- reports the Harvard history by John-Paul Hinka from a contemporary source '-- ''had the ability to sense what could be written and how in the severe German reality, and he gained some trust among the German officials, without which the work would have been impossible.''

In print, according to this archive of Krakivsti Visti, when Chomiak was in charge, there were reports of the ''success'' of the German Navy in killing 13,000 US Army soldiers, when their transports were torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic enroute to England. Chomiak editorialized: ''this last German attack [was] a smashing blow to the solar plexus of the alliance.''

Chomiak also reported the US ''colonization'' of Australia and Canada . ''Americans who are now living in Australia believe that the economic possibilities of Australia are even much better than those of the USA, and many US soldiers are thinking about staying in Australia after the war'... as they feel much better there than in their own Fatherland'... There are such close relations between the USA and Canada and Australia that there will be a special trade and tax [agreement] between these countries after the war. In other words, the United States does not hide the intention of the US to begin full economic penetration of Canada and Australia.''

By the standard of Trudeau at Auschwitz, Freeland's grandfather also produced race hatred to Nazi order, including antisemitism and racism against several other nationalities, including Americans, Poles and Russians.

Chomiak not only justified the death camps surrounding Cracow. He attempted to foster Ukrainian sentiment against the Poles in the region. The German objective was to support the Ukrainian takeover of Galicia and cleanse it of its Jewish and Polish populations. For this reason Chomiak and his newspaper were given special favour by the German administration; Chomiak himself was reportedly held in high esteem by the Nazis. In the Harvard history it is reported ''there can be no doubt that Krakivs'ki visti enjoyed more autonomy than any other legal Ukrainian-language publication under the German occupation.''

Himka, a Ukrainian-Canadian academic, composed his history of Krakivtsi Visti from Chomiak's personal papers in Alberta. He mentions the newspaper's backing for ethnic cleansing of Poles. He omits to mention Jews. Chomiak's antisemitic record can be found in the files of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. For details, read this.

Chomiak didn't flee from the Ukraine in 1939, as Freeland claims. Five years were to elapse before he left Cracow; that was when the German Army pulled out in defeat, as the Soviet Army advanced from the east to liberate the city. Gassner was moving the media operation to his home town, Vienna.

Chomiak closed down Krakivsti Visti in Vienna in March of 1945 for the same reason. The Soviet Army was days away, and a new Austrian government replaced the Third Reich in April of that year. With the retreating Wehrmacht Chomiak then moved westwards into Germany. But a full year is missing from the official records available publicly. That's between March of 1945 and April of 1946, when the displaced persons camp was opened in the Bavarian town of Bad Worishofen, where Freeland says her mother was born.

As the name indicates, Bad Worishofen was (still is) a thermal waters resort for wealthy Bavarians and day-trippers from Munich. Freeland claims her mother was born as a victim in a refugee camp. In fact, she was born in a hospital administered by the US Army, while her parents were living in a spa hotel managed by a US Army intelligence unit.

A US Army parade in Bad Worishofen after the US took the town on April 27, 1945

During the war there had been a Luftwaffe training aerodrome at Bad Worishofen. But it was so insignificant operationally, it wasn't bombed by the allies. More or less intact, along with the spa hotels, the town welcomed new paying guests from the US Army when they arrived in April of 1945.

According to US records, a US Army Intelligence ''training unit'' was established, as well as a US Army hospital. The trainees weren't Americans; they were East Europeans, including Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Poles and others who had been fighting on the German side.

On June 28, 1945, the 2nd Hospitalization Unit of the 30th Field Hospital left a forward position at Ebsenee, Austria, where it had been caring for the survivors of the Ebensee-Matthausen concentration camp.

The war in Europe now over, the hospitalization unit regrouped in the rear at Bad W¶rishofen, where its role was to support the 80th Infantry Division. The unit history says: ''As usual, living quarters proved excellent (buildings), with many conveniences added to make living conditions very comfortable.'' Among the people the American Army doctors now cared for were Mr and Mrs Chomiak.

The camp for displaced persons or refugees at Bad Worishofen was not formally established for another year, until April 1946. Ukrainians who were there at the time say the camp housed mostly Lithuanians, and also 490 Ukrainians. The term camp is a misnomer. The records show that many of the Ukrainians were living in spa hotels when they were subject to the administration of the camp. Although the subsequent records of the Ukrainians are voluble on what happened there between 1946 and 1948, including testimony from Ukrainians who moved on to the US and Australia, there is no reference to the Chomiak family at all.

''All the camps in Bad Worishofen were liquidated in May 1948 due to consolidation of the various camps by IRO (International Relief Organization),'' remembers this Ukrainian.

It is not (yet) known when Chomiak presented himself to US Army Intelligence, offering the same services he had been performing for Gassner and the Wehrmacht. Journalism, however, wasn't what the US occupation authorities wanted from him. In return, Chomiak received accommodation; living expenses; and the hospitalization which produced Freeland's mother in September of 1946.

Two years were to elapse before Chomiak left Bad Worishofen for Canada, arriving there in October 1948. He already had a sister in Canada, but no job of a professional kind to which his university education and experience qualified him. In Alberta Chomiak worked as a manual labourer. Why the Americans didn't offer him intelligence and propaganda employment in the US may be revealed in the Chomiak files in Washington. The Canadian government file on his admission in 1948 is likely to include some of the details Chomiak revealed about his work with the Americans. Unless he kept that secret.

Last week the Polish Embassy in Ottawa issued this tweet in celebration of Freeland's promotion:

This week Polish political analyst and journalist Stanislas Balcerac has opened the dossier on Freeland and Chomiak. The Polish Foreign Minister, Witold Waszczykowski, has been asked to investigate, and to decide if, according to Balcerac, ''the circumstances and family loyalties of Mrs Freeland may affect the support that Canada provides the pro-Bandera Government of Ukraine, so they can have a direct impact on Polish interests.''

Regarding Bandera (right), the record of Chomiak's involvement with him when they were under German, then US supervision, Freeland did not reveal in the Financial Times when she reported Bandera as one of the Ukraine's all-time heroes. ''Yaroslav the Wise, the 11th-century prince of Kievan Rus, was named the winner in a last-minute surge, edging out western Ukrainian partisan leader Stepan Bandera, who led a guerrilla war against the Nazis and the Soviets and was poisoned on orders from Moscow in 1959'....The Soviet portrayal of Bandera as a traitor still lingers. That would be a mistake.''

Freeland was asked directly to clarify her own claims about Grandfather Chomiak's war record. Her press spokesman, Chantal Gagnon, asked for more time, but then the two of them refused to answer.

''The sins of the grandfather can hardly be attributed to the granddaughter,'' says Polish investigator Balcerac, '''--except for two, race hatred and lying. Chomiak made a lucrative war selling hatred of Jews, Poles and Russians. Freeland is doing the same preaching race hatred of Russians. To mask what she's doing, she has lied about the Nazi record of her family. The Chomiaks weren't victims; they were aggressors.''

A Washington source adds: ''Chomiak was recruited by US intelligence to wage war in the Ukraine against the Russians. Let's see what the US Army and intelligence files reveal about his role, and let's compare that to the one Freeland is now playing in Canada.''

johnhelmer.org

The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.

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Sun, 20 Feb 2022 16:34

Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Policing have confirmed the use of a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD)'--often regarded as a sonic weapon'--at the massive protest against vaccine mandates in Canberra on Feb. 12, despite the Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner describing the crowd as ''well behaved.''

''ACT Policing has deployed several types of loudspeakers and amplification devices to quickly and effectively convey voice messages to large, and often loud, crowds of people during the recent protest activity in Canberra,'' an ACT Policing spokesperson said in a statement to The Epoch Times on Feb. 16.

''The [LRADs] were only used to convey spoken-word messages. The 'alert' function was not used.''

LRADs, also known as acoustic weapons or sound cannons, are used to project very loud sounds over long distances. While the voice function can be helpful to communicate in loud settings, the device's most dangerous setting, the alert function, can cause brain damage, permanent hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), dizziness, and disorientation.

A fact sheet by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says the technology is used for crowd control by emitting loud and painful levels of noise that may lead to significant harm to the ears.

The LRADs work by using hundreds of transducers to create a highly concentrated and amplified sound that can be narrowed to focus on specific targeted areas. Similar devices were used by the U.S. military in Iraq in 2004.

Photos and videos circulating on social media show the LRADs positioned at the front of Parliament House facing towards the location of tens of thousands of protesters, made up of individuals and families with children, on the lawns opposite.

Protest attendees have since taken to social media to complain about symptoms they say are a result of the LRADs. However, The Epoch Times has not been able to independently verify these claims.

Protesters against vaccine mandates gather on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 12, 2022. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)Earlier in the week, during a Senate estimates hearing on Feb. 14, senators Alex Antic and Malcolm Roberts sought confirmation from AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw about whether the sonic weapons were present and deployed at the protests.

Responding to Roberts, Kershaw said: ''That would be something that is with our police methodology which we would have to look at some type of public interest immunity claim, Senator.''

Roberts responded: ''Surely it's in the public interest to know whether or not they were there without delving too much into it?''

''I'd have to '... If I could take that on notice, I'd have to get advice,'' Kershaw said.

Australian Senator Alex Antic holds up an image of a long range acoustic device that was circulating on social media at a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 14, 2022. (Screenshot by The Epoch Times)Later, Antic, who appeared virtually, held up a photo of the LRADs taken outside parliament in a bid to secure confirmation.

Committee chair Sen. Sarah Henderson politely interjected to inform Antic that Kershaw had already taken the question on notice from Roberts.

''With the benefit of having that photograph which tends to confirm it, we still can't confirm that that device was there on the day?'' Antic said.

''Yeah, I think to be proper '... I'd like to take that on notice,'' Kershaw said.

Protesters against vaccine mandates gather on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 12, 2022. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)Antic noted that police only arrested three people out of the tens of thousands (the actual crowd size is disputed) compared to far smaller protests by other groups held at the same location where arrest numbers were higher.

Police Commissioner Kershaw agreed with Antic's characterisation of the Feb. 12 protests as ''mostly peaceful.''

''Overall the crowd were well-behaved and you probably saw there was '... children and families who were involved,'' Kershaw said.

''Pretty well behaved. A lot of poor attitudes though, but there's no offence for that. So police did cop a fair bit of abuse, but again, it didn't cross into the criminal threshold.''

The anti-vaccine mandates protest was attended by Australians from all walks of life and made up of people who were both vaccinated and unvaccinated but are against the state government mandates.

One federal MP said it was the biggest protest he'd seen in Canberra in his 11 years as a parliamentarian. Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Kershaw told the Senate estimates hearing that it was the largest protest the police had seen since the 1980s.

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Caden Pearson is a writer and editor based Cairns, Australia, with a background in screenwriting and documentary. Contact him on caden.pearson@epochtimes.com.au

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Sun, 20 Feb 2022 16:34

Dr. Francis Collins has rejoined President Biden's team as a ''science adviser'' after retiring late last year from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) amid scandal.

Collins will rejoin Biden's team following Dr. Eric Lander's resignation as ''science adviser'' after ''bullying his colleagues'' in violations of the White House's workplace policy,'' the New York Times reported. After the revelations came to light, Lander promptly apologized and subsequently resigned.

Dr. Eric Lander (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Collins' recurring proximity to the White House perhaps speaks to how much administrative state knowledge Collins possesses after working as the NHI for 12 years.

Collins, 71, retired in early October from the NIH amid a political scandal. Just after his retirement, molecular biologist Richard H. Ebright published a letter from the NIH showing that the NIH's grant money funded gain of function research in communist China's Wuhan lab. Breitbart News reported:

Ebright tweeted that in the letter, the NIH ''corrects untruthful assertions by NIH Director Collins and NIAID Director Fauci that NIH had not funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan.''

Furthermore, Ebright noted that the NIH's letter appeared to show that EcoHealth Alliance violated the Terms and Conditions of the NIH grant.

The NIH said ''out of an abundance of caution and as an additional layer of oversight, language was included in the terms and conditions of the grant award to EcoHealth that outlined criteria for a secondary review, such as a requirement that the grantee report immediately a one log increase in growth.''

The NIH received the relevant documents in 2018 and reviewed the documents in 2020 and again in 2021.

The NIH''specifically, Collins, Fauci, and Tabak''lied to Congress, lied to the press, and lied to the public. Knowingly. Willfully. Brazenly.

'-- Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) October 20, 2021

Members of Congress were quick to point to the alleged wrongdoing overseen by Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci. '''I told you so' doesn't even begin to cover it here,'' Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said.

''Fauci knew. He should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,'' Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said.

''To call this a bombshell is an understatement. Dr. Fauci and others claimed under oath the NIH didn't fund gain of research function in the Wuhan Lab. Now the obvious is confirmed: they did,'' former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows tweeted.

Fauci hearings have dismissed the NIH's alleged funding of the Wuhan lab in Senate hearings.

''Senator Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect that the NIH has not never and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology,'' Fauci told Sen. Paul in May. ''I totally resent the lie you are now propagating.''

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) questions Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about gain of function research during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing (JIM LO SCALZO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images and J. Scott Applewhite/POOL/AFP via Getty Images).

Since Collins has resigned, the NIH has acknowledged that the agency's ''support for virus-enhancing research adds more heat to the ongoing debate over whether a lab leak could have sparked the pandemic,'' Vanity Fair reported about the scandal:

On Wednesday, the NIH sent a letter to members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that acknowledged two facts. One was that EcoHealth Alliance, a New York City''based nonprofit that partners with far-flung laboratories to research and prevent the outbreak of emerging diseases, did indeed enhance a bat coronavirus to become potentially more infectious to humans, which the NIH letter described as an ''unexpected result'' of the research it funded that was carried out in partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The second was that EcoHealth Alliance violated the terms of its grant conditions stipulating that it had to report if its research increased the viral growth of a pathogen by tenfold.

The NIH based these disclosures on a research progress report that EcoHealth Alliance sent to the agency in August, roughly two years after it was supposed to. An NIH spokesperson told Vanity Fair that Dr. Fauci was ''entirely truthful in his statements to Congress,'' and that he did not have the progress report that detailed the controversial research at the time he testified in July. But EcoHealth Alliance appeared to contradict that claim, and said in a statement: ''These data were reported as soon as we were made aware, in our year four report in April 2018.''

Follow Wendell Huseb¸ on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHuseb¸.

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:40

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:08

12:01:26

Prime Minister's Questions

12:01:45

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:02:39

David Johnston MP (Wantage, Conservative)

12:03:12

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:03:34

Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP (Holborn and St Pancras, Labour)

12:04:04

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:05:37

Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP (Holborn and St Pancras, Labour)

12:06:19

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:07:23

Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP (Holborn and St Pancras, Labour)

12:07:49

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:08:20

Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP (Holborn and St Pancras, Labour)

12:09:10

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:10:06

Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP (Holborn and St Pancras, Labour)

12:10:54

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:11:24

Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP (Holborn and St Pancras, Labour)

12:12:44

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:14:04

Mark Eastwood MP (Dewsbury, Conservative)

12:14:45

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:15:12

Rt Hon Ian Blackford MP (Ross, Skye and Lochaber, Scottish National Party)

12:16:12

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:16:51

Rt Hon Ian Blackford MP (Ross, Skye and Lochaber, Scottish National Party)

12:18:01

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:18:48

Sir Bill Wiggin MP (North Herefordshire, Conservative)

12:19:04

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:19:35

Caroline Lucas MP (Brighton, Pavilion, Green Party)

12:20:57

Mr Speaker

12:21:07

Caroline Lucas MP (Brighton, Pavilion, Green Party)

12:21:13

Mr Speaker

12:21:20

Caroline Lucas MP (Brighton, Pavilion, Green Party)

12:21:35

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:21:52

Gareth Bacon MP (Orpington, Conservative)

12:22:15

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:22:30

Kerry McCarthy MP (Bristol East, Labour)

12:22:51

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:23:31

Saqib Bhatti MP (Meriden, Conservative)

12:24:01

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:24:09

Imran Hussain MP (Bradford East, Labour)

12:24:46

Mr Speaker

12:24:54

Nickie Aiken MP (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative)

12:25:45

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:26:07

Ian Byrne MP (Liverpool, West Derby, Labour)

12:26:59

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:27:37

Miriam Cates MP (Penistone and Stocksbridge, Conservative)

12:28:13

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:29:01

Barbara Keeley MP (Worsley and Eccles South, Labour)

12:29:38

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:30:14

Andrew Jones MP (Harrogate and Knaresborough, Conservative)

12:30:44

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:31:05

Sam Tarry MP (Ilford South, Labour)

12:31:56

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:32:39

Andy Carter MP (Warrington South, Conservative)

12:33:05

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:33:41

Rt Hon Dame Margaret Hodge MP (Barking, Labour)

12:34:23

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:35:07

Huw Merriman MP (Bexhill and Battle, Conservative)

12:35:42

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:36:13

Jamie Stone MP (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Liberal Democrat)

12:36:34

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:36:49

Daniel Kawczynski MP (Shrewsbury and Atcham, Conservative)

12:37:37

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

12:38:12

Wayne David MP (Caerphilly, Labour)

12:38:32

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, The Prime Minister (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Conservative)

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:02

Shubhashis Chakrabarty : #ukraine near #Kiev under heavy bombing https://t.co/XgwCp03l9Y

Thu Feb 24 12:46:29 +0000 2022

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Thu Feb 24 14:32:25 +0000 2022

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:59

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:49

Rita Panahi : ''If you had Covid 3 weeks ago & recovered from that then fell off your bicycle & broke your arm and came to hospita'... https://t.co/kw26v1xN2I

Tue Feb 22 20:27:51 +0000 2022

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 13:05

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:51

Mayor Eric Adams said he supports rolling back New York City's COVID-19 vaccine passport requirements '-- but cautioned that any action would require the sign-off of his health officials as they continue assessing the impacts of the Omicron variant's receding wave.

''Yes. I can't wait to get it done,'' he said during a press conference at the Brooklyn Navy Yard when asked whether the Big Apple plans on phasing out the program, following the lead of other big cities like Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, which have recently ended their own mandates.

''I take my hat off to New Yorkers '-- through masks, vaccines, through social distancing. You know, we were hit with the uncertainty, the fear of COVID. I'm really proud of how we responded as New Yorkers.''

But Adams noted although he's hopeful, the Big Apple won't be changing its policies requiring customers to show proof of vaccination upon entry indoors to businesses like bars, restaurants and gyms until the science and data add up.

Mayor Eric Adams said he supported rolling back New York City's COVID-19 passport requirement for some indoor settings. Paul Martinka''Every morning I meet with my health professionals because I always stated I'm going to follow the science. I'm not going to get ahead of the science because I'm ready to get ahead of all of this and get back to a level of normalcy '-- but they've given us clear structures, they gave us benchmarks, we're to follow those benchmarks,'' he said.

''But I look forward, in the next few weeks, of going to a real transformation.''

Adams previously announced a roadmap of COVID-19 policies heading into the spring, contingent on lower case counts.

He also promised an ''immediate'' study of the private business vaccine requirement, as well as other city vaccine mandates.

Adams claimed that any action on the vaccine passport would have to be approved by the city's health officials first. Christopher Sadowski''We're going to do it in a safe way because all of these experts will tell you one thing: We can't close down again.''

''We must do it in a smart way and people are gonna look back later and say, 'You know, he made the right decisions.' We're gonna get the city back up and operating and we're going to be rolling out some things in the next day or so on how are we going to carry that out,'' he pledged.

Meanwhile, Adams reiterated his push to get workers back in their offices '-- especially in Midtown Manhattan '-- as a number of private-sector businesses recently released hybrid plans permitting remote and in-person work options.

A woman showing proof of COVID-19 vaccination at Times Square for the New Year's Eve ball drop on December 31, 2021. AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey Adams said he is hopeful for a ''real transformation'' in the coming weeks. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images''Who we were pre-COVID is not who we are post-COVID. But I do know this, in order for our economic financial ecosystem, I should say, to function, we have to have human interaction. It can't be done from home,'' said the mayor.

''You can't stay home in your pajamas all day. That is not who we are as a city,'' he said. ''You need to be out cross-pollinating ideas, interacting with humans. It is crucial, we're social creatures, and we must socialize to get the energy that we need as a city.''

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:43

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Bill Gates has mocked people who are against mask mandates by sarcastically comparing wearing one to having to wear pants in public.

A maskless Gates along with a maskless panel at the 2022 Munich Security Conference laughed it up as they mocked people who point out the downside of face coverings.

CNBC 'jounalist' Hadley Beale asked ''What about masks? I think there are a lot of people in America who are confused about whether they should be wearing a mask, and in the United Kingdom for, example, they've scrapped that all together.''

Gates replied ''Well that's interesting you know what is the downside of wearing a mask?''

Adopting a sardonic tone, he then declared ''I mean it's got to be tough, you know, you have to wear pants. I mean this is tough stuff, these societies are so cruel, why do they make you wear pants? I'm trying to figure it out.''

Then all five of them laughed it up as Beale added ''We're very glad you have yours on.''

Yeah, doesn't have a mask on though does he.

''That will be on the web, that will be on the web,'' another panelist stated.

Yes, because yet another example of unmasked elitists laughing at everyday people who protest their governments forcing them to cover up their faces in spite of science proving it does nothing to prevent the virus spreading is newsworthy:

Philanthropist Bill Gates has been discussing mask mandates at the Munich Security Conference in Germany."What is the downside of wearing a mask? You have to wear pants." pic.twitter.com/Kdh85YRuIn

'-- talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) February 19, 2022Of course, this little nugget was an aside from Gates' hours long diatribe about how his vaccines are the miracle cure and how its ''sad'' that people have become immune to the virus because it has mutated into milder strains.

Maybe Bill should ask people with speech impediments, the deaf and hard of hearing. While he's at it he should speak to child psychologists about the importance of small children seeing faces when learning social cues and how to speak.https://t.co/UAmqPAheb7

'-- Inquisitor Fox ''‹ðŸ>>👌ðŸ>>🇺🇸 (@HalfMoonFox) February 22, 2022If there is NO downside, why is he not wearing one now?

'-- Lucas70 (@luke_b70) February 19, 2022Difference is Bill, it's someone's choice what they wear (be it pants, a dress or whatever). Nobody is told they HAVE to wear one particular garment. If someone wants to wear a mask they have the right to do so, as does someone who does not want to. It's called choice.

'-- The Rooster (@ZeeRoosta) February 19, 2022The downside, Dipshit, is that human social/emotional intelligence is entirely dependent on our ability to discern facial expressions and interpret vocal inflection. @BillGates

'-- Lindsey (@theLP) February 22, 2022breathing through my arse from now on, bill is the man

'-- Spencer Garner (@SpencerGarner) February 19, 2022* * *

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:31

ItsHere : Alex Jones Predicted War In February On 10/21/21 - Putin Invades Ukraine#BattlePlandotnews #InfoWars #SaveInfoWars'... https://t.co/Bc6HrLeOqX

Thu Feb 24 03:00:58 +0000 2022

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Thu Feb 24 10:31:10 +0000 2022

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Thu, 24 Feb 2022 12:15

Dr David Cartland : Surprise surprise https://t.co/MrGPzTpEMm

Wed Feb 23 09:22:01 +0000 2022

nomad : @CartlandDavid sorry, i missed the actual benefit of doing this?

Thu Feb 24 12:06:28 +0000 2022

Ebi Sheila Diete-Spiff : @CartlandDavid Here comes total control Welcome to China

Thu Feb 24 11:31:55 +0000 2022

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Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:52

Glenn Greenwald : After this tactic of banishing dissidents from the financial system through extra-legal punishment was pioneered ag'... https://t.co/11u7fJUIaP

Mon Feb 21 15:00:16 +0000 2022

Logical Meme : @ggreenwald The excellent documentary ''Defamation'' (2009) by Yoav Shamir shows how the ADL -- while under Abe Foxma'... https://t.co/pvBNKvGZLZ

Mon Feb 21 15:45:00 +0000 2022