Today’s News: March 10, 2022

WORLD NEWS

‘No progress’ as top Russia, Ukraine diplomats talk in Turkey

Ukraine’s foreign minister said he discussed a 24-hour ceasefire with his Russian counterpart but no progress was made as Moscow’s representative defended its invasion and said it was going as planned.

The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met for face-to-face talks in Turkey on Thursday in the first high-level contact between the two sides since Moscow invaded its ex-Soviet neighbour last month.

Russia hits back at Western sanctions with export bans

Russia has banned exports of more than 200 types of foreign-made product until the end of 2022 in a bid to mitigate the impact of western sanctions.

Exports of telecom, agricultural, electrical and technology equipment that were previously imported into Russia from abroad will be affected.

Russia will also ban some timber exports to nations that have “committed unfriendly actions”.

Around 48 countries will be affected, including EU and the US.

Banning exports of foreign made goods was “necessary to provide stability on the Russian market”, according to an order signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Other items subject to the ban include cars, railway carriages, containers and turbines.

UK freezes assets of seven Russian oligarchs including Roman Abramovich

The Chelsea football club owner, Roman Abramovich, is among seven of Russia’s wealthiest and most influential oligarchs who have been hit with sanctions by the UK, in an effort to further punish allies of Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine.

Abramovich was found by the UK government to have “received preferential treatment and concessions” from the Kremlin and through his business links been “involved in destabilising Ukraine, and undermining and threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence” of the eastern European country.

The Foreign Office said he was implicated through the steel manufacturing and mining company Evraz plc, in which he had a significant shareholding and over which he exercised effective control. It said the firm may have supplied steel to the Russian military for the production of tanks.

False Flag Watch: US Intel Officials Warn Putin Could Nuke A Ukrainian City

U.S. intelligence officials claimed Tuesday that Vladimir Putin is ‘desperate’ to end the conflict over Ukraine, with some privately suggesting he could set off a tactical nuclear weapon in a Ukrainian city to get the job done.

Jen Psaki: Russia Could ‘Use Chemical or Biological Weapons in Ukraine’

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday the Biden administration will be actively monitoring for Russia to use biological or chemical weapons in Ukraine after Vladimir Putin accused the West of harboring a biological weapons program in the country.

Russia sparked a firestorm this week when it alleged that American labs were researching biological weapons in Ukraine. As Breitbart News profiled:

The Foreign Ministry of Russia claimed on Tuesday that the nation’s military had “confirmed” the existence of American-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine used for developing “biological weapons.”

Russian troops reportedly found “documentation” showing Ukrainian scientists destroying evidence of “plague, anthrax, rabbit-fever, cholera and other lethal diseases” studied in the country’s laboratories on February 24, according to a statement from Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova, as part of their ongoing assault on the country.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland confirmed in a Congressional hearing on Tuesday that “biological research facilities” were in Ukraine and feared that Russia could take control.

“Ukraine has biological research facilities which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach,” she said.

On Wednesday, Psaki issued a lengthy statement on Twitter rebuking Russia’s “conspiracy theories,” asserting that the United States has been in “full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere.

Russia’s Defense Ministry admits using thermobaric ‘vacuum bomb’ weapon in Chernihiv

Russia has admitted to using a thermobaric ‘vacuum bomb’ in Ukraine, confirming widespread reports that the devastating weapons had been deployed.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that Moscow had announced the use of the ‘lung-busting’ weapons.

The Ukrainian newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda also said that a Russian artilleryman, Sgt. Sergei Gubarev, had told a state-owned TV station he had used the weapon.

Their information came from a report broadcast on Zvezda – a Russian state-owned nationwide television network run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

German State PM: Give Russian Mega-Yachts to Open Borders Activists

Luxury yachts taken from Russian oligarchs as part of the Ukraine invasion sanctions regime should be handed to a ‘migrant taxi’ NGO that ferries migrants from the North African coast to Europe, the Prime Minister of a German state has said.

Bodo Ramelow, who serves as the Prime Minister for the German state of Thuringia, has said that he wants seized luxury yachts to be confiscated from Russian oligarchs and handed over to a ‘migrant taxi’ NGO that was previously accused of operating a “slave ship” transporting “illegal immigrants”.

Some European countries have impounded the luxury super-ships, and while it has been claimed Germany grabbed a yacht linked to a powerful Russian oligarch worth over half a billion dollars this month, the Ministry for Economy and Innovation has since denied that the seizure actually took place.

Nevertheless, state Prime Minister Ramelow wants held vessels handed over to Sea-Watch, a German migrant taxi NGO operating in the Mediterranean, a press release says.

“I’m in favor of the oligarchs’ luxury yachts being confiscated and transferred to Sea-Watch,” the leftist politician declared, saying he wanted to see “sea rescue with oligarch boats” seized by the country.

Ramelow also reportedly called for “a complete confiscation of all assets of those who support the Putin system”, while also voicing his support for the rearmament of Germany’s Bundeswehr armed forces.

US Studied Bat Coronaviruses in Secret Biolabs in Transcaucasia, China

On Tuesday, the US State Department admitted the existence of American-funded “biological research facilities” in Ukraine, which were earlier discovered by the Russian armed forces during their ongoing special military operation in the country.

The Pentagon conducted studies into bat coronaviruses not only in Ukraine-based bio labs, but also in many other countries, including Georgia and China, according to documents published on the US government orders portal and seen by Sputnik.

The documents showed that since 2017, such studies had been carried out by a secret US laboratory at the Richard Lugar Centre for Public Health Research in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

At the same time, it also turned out that the contractor company for the US Department of Defence (DOD) had studied bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China, for several years (until March 2020), when the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research was being carried out within the framework of a five-year programme called “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence”. The programme was financed by the DOD’s Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and implemented by the New York-headquartered non-profit company Eco Health Alliance.

According to the documents, the total amount of funding allocated for the implementation of the programme stood at about $10.2 million, of which $6.5 million went to Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Jordan. Some $3.7 million was earmarked for research in China.

Africa CDC signs MOU with Pfizer to supply COVID-19 pills

Africa’s top public health agency has signed a memorandum of understanding with Pfizer to bring supplies of the pharmaceutical firm’s Paxlovid antiviral COVID-19 pills to the continent.

“The memorandum of understanding is with the legal office at the AU [African Union]”, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told an online media briefing on Thursday.

The agency is a unit of the African Union.

The announcement comes within days of Moderna signing a deal with Kenya to build its first mRNA facility and a statement by South African drugmaker Aspen to sell, package and distribute Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

U.S. NEWS, POLITIC & GOVERNMENT

People’s Convoy plays it right – and smart!

The truckers were suppressed, beyond question. The media ignored them, even – dare I say it – Fox News. The fake news didn’t know what to do with them. Some of them lied about the convoy. They excoriated the truckers as dangerous zealots, skinheads, Nazis and malcontents – just like they had done with the Canadian version.

But the media had a surprise coming. You can demean people all day, but good people rise to the occasion. And these were good-hearted people – salt-of-earth human beings who were fed up with the federal government, like all of us. And this was their moment – passing through the D.C. Beltway and doing an end run against the District of Criminals.

Cleverly bypassing Washington, the destination was Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland. They avoided the fences, the shock troops, the feds, Joe Biden’s illegitimate government, the regime or whatever you want to call them. On Sunday, it was just beautiful, spectacular, a triumphant ending to a long nationwide protest of perfection. Let March 6 supersede Jan. 6. We’re getting too smart for another “insurrection.”

It was gigantic display for freedom, with American flags everywhere you turned. And it was another day for the good guys, the working people, the MAGA crowd, the CANCELED crowd to make themselves heard – just as our neighbors to the north did until Justin Trudeau show his colors as a tyrant.

They showed up in force. They showed up for their country. They showed up as the People’s Convoy. Just look at the pictures that cannot be denied, that cannot be forgotten or trivialized. EVER!

These patriots were protesting the same actions that have been taking place all over the once-free world – mask mandates, vaccine terrorism and one embarrassment after another for America.

US charges two siblings in $124 million cryptocurrency fraud

US authorities on Tuesday filed criminal charges against a cryptocurrency executive and civil charges against him and his sister, accusing them of defrauding retail investors out of millions of dollars with a digital token known as Ormeus Coin.

In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, the Justice Department said John Barksdale lied about the value and profitability of Ormeus Coin’s mining assets, including that the coin was backed by a $250 million mining operation generating more than $5 million of monthly revenue.

Barksdale and his sister JonAtina Barksdale were separately charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with conducting fraudulent unregistered offerings of Ormeus Coin.

The SEC said the Barksdales since 2017 raised $124 million from more than 20,000 investors through their multi-level marketing company Ormeus Global SA, and spent millions of dollars on travel, real estate and other personal expenses.

Missouri lawmakers fight to restrict abortion

The Missouri Senate’s newest attempt to inhibit abortion would force doctors to provide emergency care to infants who might only have a few minutes to live — taking those last minutes away from their mothers.

SB 753, proposed by Sen. Eric Burlison, R-Battlefield, would require medical providers to perform life-saving care to infants who are born alive during abortions, even if it’s against the parents’ wishes.

It would establish the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act — a provision that is modeled after a proposed federal law that has yet to pass.

Democratic Lawmakers Unveil Ghoulish Recreation of 9/11 with a Climate Change Twist

Leftists have proven they are willing to use nearly any crisis or tragedy as a political tool, and two Democratic New York state senators demonstrated this again on Tuesday.

According to The Washington Free Beacon, Sens. Rachel May and Robert Jackson attended a protest hosted by New York Renew, a group with the goal of promoting “climate justice.”

During the protest, May and Jackson held up a banner comparing climate change to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Their banner depicted a plane with the words “climate change” approaching the World Trade Center’s twin towers.

Islamic extremists in hijacked aircraft targeted those buildings and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and the resulting destruction killed nearly 3,000 people.

ECONOMY & BUSINESS 

Lawmakers Load $1.5 Trillion Bill with Pork Barrel Spending – 142 Earmarks for Chuck Schumer Alone

Powerful Democratic lawmakers are wallowing in pork now that the party has brought back the long-abused tradition of congressional earmarks in the federal budget.

Earmarks, often derided as pork-barrel spending, are direct appropriations that are inserted into spending bills that target purely local projects and have the happy side effect of boosting a sitting lawmaker’s popularity with the folks back home who get to spend that cash.

After a string of scandals revealed extensive misuse of earmarks, Republicans banned the practice in the House as of 2011, according to The Washington Post. Shamed by former President Barack Obama into following suit, Democrats who controlled the Senate at the time did the same.

Although lawmakers were still able to use their power to muscle federal agencies into including earmark-style projects into their budget requests, the practice ended until Democrats took control of Congress after the 2020 elections.

And now it is hog heaven.

On its way to spending $1.5 trillion to keep the government running for the rest of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, the budget bill approved by the House includes more than 4,000 earmarks, according to The Hill.

The list of lawmakers’ pet projects covers a whopping 367 pages.

Inflation Reaches New High as Consumer Prices Jump 7.9%, Highest in Four Decades

Inflation climbed to another four-decade high in February with prices expected to push even higher on the back of soaring energy prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Department of Labor said that the consumer price index rose 7.9 percent compared with a year ago. Prices were up 0.8 compared with the prior month.

Gas Prices Soar to Record High for Fourth Consecutive Day

The national average price of gas soared to a record high for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday.

Increasing six cents overnight, the price of gas is now $4.318, a 59-cent increase from last week, according to AAA. Thursday’s record-setting price is the fourth consecutive day that prices have reached an all-time high.

Gas prices rose about one dollar before the run-up to the Ukrainian war and subsequently 75 cents since the invasion of Ukraine. But the White House has blamed the massive price hike only on the war, dubbing it “Putin’s price hike.” The White House has also claimed that the oil industry has 9,000 private oil fields on which to drill for oil.

“What additional permits do they need? The leases are there. The permits are there. I don’t think they need an embroidered invitation to drill,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters about the oil industry’s drilling feasibility.

Goldman Sachs is getting out of Russia

Goldman Sachs is exiting Russia, becoming the first major Wall Street bank to announce plans to do so after the invasion of Ukraine.

Toyota ‘has no plans’ to leave Russia

Japanese automaker Toyota has no plans to leave the Russian market nor to close its car production plant in the country, the company’s press office said on Thursday.

It said deliveries of Toyota and Lexus vehicles to Russia had been temporarily suspended due to the disruption of logistics in the region. Foreign firms have faced supply chain problems due to the Western sanctions targeting the Russian economy over the country’s military involvement in neighboring Ukraine.

The company also dismissed reports that it planned to close its plant in Russia’s second city.

Amazon Suspends Retail Shipments To Russia & Belarus,

Amazon has announced it has suspended most of its main services across Russia and Belarus, including access to Prime Video in Russia, and also confirming it will no longer ship retail orders to customers in both countries.

The US-based multinational e-commerce company has been backing away from services in Russia amid ratcheting pressure to do so, which also now includes stopping all new signups for Amazon Web Services. “Given the ongoing situation in Russia and Ukraine, we’ve taken additional actions in the region,” Amazon announced in a blog post.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 

Online Sleuths Are Using Face Recognition to ID Russian Soldiers

It takes five minutes to put a name to a soldier’s face using little more than a screenshot, but there’s a catch.

ON MARCH 1, Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov posted a short video on Telegram, in which a cheery bearded soldier stood before a line of tanks clanking down a road under an overcast sky. In an accompanying post, Kadyrov assured Ukrainians that the Russian army doesn’t hurt civilians and that Vladimir Putin wants their country to determine its own fate.

In France, the CEO of a law enforcement and military training company called Tactical Systems took a screenshot of the soldier’s face and got to work. Within about an hour, using face recognition services available to anyone online, he identified that the soldier was likely Hussein Mezhidov, a Chechen commander close to Kadyrov involved in Russia’s assault on Ukraine, and found his Instagram account.

“Just having access to a computer and internet you can basically be like an intelligence agency from a film,” says the CEO, who asked to be identified as YC to avoid potential repercussions for his sleuthing. Tactical Systems’ client list includes the French armed forces and it offers training in open source intelligence gathering.

Russia’s assault on Ukraine, a conflict between two internet-savvy nations in a place with good cellular coverage, offers rich pickings for open source intelligence, or OSINT. Compiling and cross referencing public sources such as social media can reveal information such as the location or losses of military units. The abundant online photos that are the legacy of years of social networking and a handful of services that provide easy access to face recognition algorithms allow some startling feats of armchair analysis.

Not long ago, a commander or prisoner of war pictured in a news report might be recognizable only to military and intelligence analysts or their own colleagues, friends, and family. Today a stranger on the other side of the globe can use a screenshot of a person’s face to track down their name and family photos—or those of a lookalike.

WIRED used a free trial of a Russian service called FindClone to trace a photo of a man who a Ukrainian government advisor claimed to be a captured Russian soldier. It took less than five minutes to find a matching social media profile. The profile, on Russian social network VKontakte, included the teenager’s birthdate and photos of his family. It listed his place of work as “polite people/war.” The Russian phrase “polite people” is used to refer to soldiers from Russia active in Ukraine during the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Ukrainian open source intelligence group InformNapalm independently made the same connection in an earlier post claiming to identify two of the claimed captives, and confirmed in a message to WIRED that it relied in part on face recognition.

That power to identify people from afar could bring new accountability to armed conflict but also open new avenues for digital attack. Identifying—or misidentifying—people in videos or photos claimed to be from the front lines could expose them or their families to online harassment or worse. Face algorithms can be wrong and errors are more common on photos without a clear view of a person’s face, as is common for wartime images. Ukraine has a volunteer “IT Army” of computer experts hacking Russian targets on the country’s behalf.

If distant volunteers can identify combatants using face recognition, government agencies can do the same or much more. “I’m sure there are Russian analysts tracking Twitter and TikTok with access to similar if not more powerful technology who are not sharing what or who they find so openly,” says Ryan Fedasiuk, an adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

HEALTH

Lavender Gets All The Credit: 4 Other Essential Oils That Promote Deep Sleep

How essential oils can help with sleep.

Essential oils are fragrant, concentrated extracts derived from plants. Beyond carrying plants’ aromas, essential oils also contain the compounds that give them antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, or make them healthy in some other way.

The field of aromatherapy harnesses the smells and properties of these oils to promote state changes in the body. Research shows that certain smells—like those listed below—can send a quick signal to the brain that it’s time to relax (the nose and brain are linked by the olfactory bulb, don’t forget). While smelling essential oils is the easiest and most popular way to reap their benefits before bed, you can also apply them topically or ingest them (if the product is specifically designed for oral consumption, of course), but these methods must be done very carefully and they’re not suitable for all oils.

5 best essential oils for sleep.

“All aromas have the potential of triggering the relaxation response in our limbic system—that part of the brain that controls how we respond to external stressors,” Galper explains. “But there are a few essential oils that have shown to be more relaxing than others.” Here are the oils that have been the most rigorously studied for their sleep benefits:

1. Lavender

All the experts interviewed for this piece agree that lavender oil is far and away the most well-studied essential oil for relaxation. 

2. Chamomile

A popular ingredient in stress-easing herbal teas, earthy chamomile can also be calming in extract form.

3. Bergamot

Bright, citrusy bergamot can also be helpful around bedtime, says Galper. It was one essential oil included in an “aroma stick” that helped people in the UK get better sleep in a 2016 trial. 

4. Clary sage

Villafranco notes that clary sage has been found to promote healthy levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), which could make it a good oil to have on your nightstand after a long day. Its slightly sweet, spicy scent also makes it a good addition to a sleepytime massage blend.

5. Tangerine

While you might not associate this bright, zippy citrus with sleep, Villafranco says it can be helpful in small doses (though it’s definitely more stimulating in larger amounts). Add one to two drops to your sleep blend or diffuser to help prepare your body and mind for sleep.

Blends to try:

Looking to level up your bedtime essential oil routine? Try pairing a few relaxing fragrances together for a smell-good blend. Here are a few expert-approved combos:

• frankincense, lavender, sandalwood
• lavender, clary sage, bergamot 

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

GARDENING, FARMIN, & HOMESTEADING

COVID RELATED NEWS

New Zealand Sees Record Coronavirus Cases Despite Strict Lockdowns

New Zealand recorded its highest single-day tally of new Chinese coronavirus cases on Tuesday, a development that seemed to cast doubt on the efficacy of the nation’s strict pandemic measures, including far-left New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s decision to force the entire country into lockdown over a single case of the disease in August 2021.

“Authorities reported 23,894 new COVID [Chinese coronavirus] cases in New Zealand on Tuesday, with 9,881 of those in Auckland, the country’s largest city,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

“It was an increase from daily cases reported from Saturday to Monday, which were below 20,000,” ABC noted.

Belgium drops most of its COVID restrictions, following European trend

Belgium has rescinded several Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions following other European countries that also dropped mandates. This move came amid dwindling COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Brussels announced on March 4 that the nation of 11 million will go from code orange to code yellow by March 7. Under the Belgian system, code orange is the second most stringent classification of measures controlling COVID-19. The loosening of restrictions followed infections in the week ending March 5 falling by 24 percent compared to the previous week. New hospitalizations and intensive care cases also saw a rapid decline.

The Belgian government announced that masks will no longer be mandatory, but will “still be recommended” in indoor settings, crowded areas and locations where physical distancing cannot be implemented. School mask mandates were also lifted March 7. However, masks are still required in healthcare facilities and public transportation. Vulnerable people are still encouraged to mask up, the government added.

Furthermore, Brussels lifted proof of vaccination mandates for the entire country. “It will no longer be necessary to use the COVID Safe Ticket in, among others, the hospitality industry and at events,” said the announcement. Prior to the lifting, the COVID Safe Ticket – the country’s version of a vaccine passport – is required before Belgians can enter bars, restaurants, theaters and cinemas. Alongside this, the Belgian government also lifted capacity limits on events.

Pfizer Begins Study of COVID-19 Pill in High-Risk Children

Pfizer has started a study of its COVID-19 pill in children who have COVID-19 and are designated as high-risk for experiencing severe symptoms.

COVID-19: Tannic acid targets key stages in the fight against SARS-CoV-2 infection

Natural polyphenol seems to inhibit the activity of three important molecular pathways involved in the SARS-CoV-2 infection

His team further investigated the effects of tannic acid on other key mechanisms involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection downstream of the RBD-ACE2 bond. The team showed that this polyphenol can inhibit the activity of the enzyme that allows the virus to enter our cells (TMPRSS2), as well as the viral enzyme responsible for replicating the virus (3CLpro).

An alternative to antivirals

The effects of tannic acid on the RBD protein and these enzymes pave the way for further research on the entire virus in contact with human cells. If the beneficial properties are similar on a larger scale, tannic acid tablets or nasal spray could be envisaged as a means for preventing or blocking SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Tannic acid is a natural polyphenol found in many beverages such as red wine or tea, but in much lower quantities. Although they contain tannins, their consumption would not have any protective effects because of their low concentration of tannic acid.

“It would be less expensive than the antivirals currently on the market, and there would be fewer side effects because of the low toxicity of tannic acid and other polyphenols. In addition, tannic acid and its physiological derivatives have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, both of which are beneficial if you are infected with SARS-CoV-2,” said Professor Ramassamy.

—> Power Mall Products of Interest  Blockbuster AllClear (Contains Olive Leaf Citrus Blend which is high polyphenol content)

Doctor admits “we were all wrong” about COVID mandates

An emergency physician by the name of Dr. Joseph Fraiman is speaking out about the fact that just like many others in his field, he was deceived by the prevailing plandemic narrative.

Early on, Fraiman said during a recent Zoom call with proponents of the Great Barrington Declaration, it seemed like everyone just fell in line with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) fearmongering because of all the rhetoric about “saving lives.”

The world was told that staying locked down and masked at all times – and later getting “vaccinated” – were the only ways to get out of the crisis. Fraiman believed all that at the time. But his views have since changed.

“These policies were harmful,” Fraiman said. You can watch a clip of him speaking below:

“Initially, it was irrelevant because there were lives on the line. I’m an emergency doctor – there are lives, we have to do it. But if the policies didn’t really make a difference and only caused harm, then you really have to start rethinking what you’re doing,” Fraiman said.