Maduro to Ask for UN Assistance in Clearing Mines Near Colombian Border

Venezuela’s defense ministry has accused the Colombian government and the CIA of sponsoring armed groups operating in the border areas. In late March, Caracas launched an operation against armed groups from Colombia in the border state of Apure.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that Caracas will seek UN assistance to clear mines left by Colombian armed groups in the border area.

"(Foreign Minister) Jorge Arreaza is sending a message to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asking for immediate emergency UN assistance to bring all the equipment to clear the mined fields left by these "irregular" groups, murderers and drug dealers from Colombia," Maduro said in a Sunday address broadcast by state TV.

On March 21, the Venezuelan Armed Forces launched Operation Bolivarian Shield 2021 in the western state of Apure on March 21 in an effort to root out Colombian militancy from the border area. According to the Venezuelan Defense Ministry, several camps were destroyed, weapons were seized, and dozens of people were detained. Several Venezuelan servicemen have died in the operation, including two soldiers who were blown up by mines on April 1.

Venezuela says they are trying to control the border with the tacit approval of Bogota.

In mid-February, Venezuela held its first military drills in 2020, after which Maduro said that national security forces were preparing surprise counter-terrorism exercises amid the threat of subversive groups, which could arrive from Colombia and the United States.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a January report that people in the western Venezuelan state of Apure and the neighboring Colombian province of Arauca face brutal violence from armed militants on a daily basis. In particular, it named the National Liberation Army, the Patriotic Forces of National Liberation, and a group that emerged from the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly known as the FARC, among those who have abused citizens. HRW said cases of rights violations include murder, rape, forced child labor and others.

https://sputniknews.com/latam/202104051082541212-maduro-to-ask-for-un-assistance-in-clearing-mines-near-colombian-border/

US Grant To Wuhan Lab To Enhance Bat-Based Coronaviruses Was Never Scrutinized By HHS Review Board, NIH Says

The National Institutes of Health has “systematically thwarted” government oversight of dangerous pathogen research, Rutgers University professor of chemical biology Richard H. Ebright told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The P3CO Review Framework was created in 2017 after a three-year pause on government funding of research that intentionally makes pathogens more deadly or transmissible.

An NIH grant that involved the modification of bat-based coronaviruses and the transfer of $600,000 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology prior to the pandemic bypassed P3CO review because the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, led by Anthony Fauci, didn’t flag the project for review.

An oversight board created to scrutinize research that would enhance highly dangerous pathogens did not review a National Institutes of Health grant that funded a lab in Wuhan, China, to genetically modify bat-based coronaviruses.

Experts say the NIH grant describes scientists conducting gain-of-function research, a risky area of study that, in this case, made SARS-like viruses even more contagious. Federal funding for gain-of-function research was temporarily suspended in 2014 due to widespread scientific concerns it risked leaking supercharged viruses into the human population.

Federal funding for gain-of-function research was resumed in late 2017 after the Potential Pandemic Pathogens Control and Oversight (P3CO) Framework was formed within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The review board is tasked with critically evaluating whether grants that involve enhancing dangerous pathogens, such as coronaviruses, are worth the risks and that proper safeguards are in place.

But the NIH subagency that awarded the grant to the nonprofit group EcoHealth Alliance to study Chinese bat coronaviruses opted against forwarding it to the P3CO committee, an NIH spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation, meaning the research received federal funding without an independent review by the HHS board.

“This is a systemic problem,” Rutgers University professor of chemical biology Richard H. Ebright told the DCNF, referring to the loophole in the review framework.

Ebright said the offices of the director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) — the subagency that funded EcoHealth — and the NIH have “systematically thwarted–indeed systematically nullified–the HHS P3CO Framework by declining to flag and forward proposals for review.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci leads the NIAID and Dr. Francis S. Collins heads the NIH.

An NIH spokesperson said its subagency did not flag the EcoHealth grant for independent review by the HHS review committee.

“After careful review of the grant, NIAID determined research in the grant was not gain-of-function research because it did not involve the enhancement of the pathogenicity or transmissibility of the viruses studied,” the spokesperson told the DCNF.

MORE

https://dailycaller.com/2021/04/04/nih-gain-of-function-anthony-fauci-review-board-wuhan-lab/

CDC Investigating Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Wild Songbirds

As epidemiologists chide Americans for abandoning their fight against the coronavirus with new cases on the rise, and a dangerous new variant from Brazil making headway in several states, the CDC on Sunday issued a warning about an outbreak of a different kind: wild songbirds have caused an outbreak of salmonella in the Pacific Northwest.

Health authorities have identified 19 cases nationwide, including three in California, six in Washington and five in Oregon, and they're expanding their investigation to focus on a handful of states where they fear wild finches that have been dying from salmonella-causing bacteria might have spread the disease. Other states where the CDC is investigating include Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Although it's commonly associated with eating undercooked chicken and raw eggs, salmonella can infect humans in other ways. Nearly all of the cases tied to wild birds were linked to families with bird feeders. The thinking goes that one of the homeowners touched an infected dead bird, or contracted the virus while cleaning a bird feeder where an infected bird had made contact. The bacteria can then spread if the individual then touches their face or mouth.

Of the 13 people interviewed as part of the investigation, nine said they owned a bird feeder. Two others reported that they had come into contact with a sick or dead wild bird.

No deaths have been reported, but 8 people have been hospitalized due to the outbreak. Patients have ranged from 2 months to 89 years old, with 16 years being the median age.

However, officials believe the number of cases in the outbreak is "likely much higher than the number reported because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella," according to a statement on the CDC’s website. "In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported as it usually takes 2 to 4 weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak."

The outbreak may have started months ago, according to the Associated Press, which reported that California's Department of Fish and Wildlife was inundated with calls back in December about a rash of dead of dying finches at bird feeders across the state.

For those who haven't encountered salmonella, the symptoms can show up between six hours and six days following exposure to the bacteria, and they can include: bloody or prolonged diarrhea, a fever higher than 102 degrees, excessive vomiting and signs of dehydration. The infection typically lasts four days to a week, and people usually recover without treatment. But patients with weakened immune systems, or who are under the age of 5 (or older than 65) are at particularly high risk.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/cdc-investigating-salmonella-outbreak-linked-wild-songbirds

Meet The Michigan Telecom CEO Who Led A Second Life As A Cocaine Kingpin

A Michigan telecom executive who died in 2018 has now been revealed to have had a "double life" running a "sprawling international drug ring".

Former CEO of Clementine Live Answering Service Marty Tibbitts was known as a successful executive. But details of his "second life" emerged this year as part of a federal indictment against alleged 43 year old drug kingpin Ylli Didani, according to Yahoo/The Daily Beast. Didani was arrested this week, with regulators alleging his cartel sold cocaine in 15 different countries. He faces charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances on a boat in U.S. jurisdiction, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and money laundering.

Tibbitts was found - under a pseudonym of "Dale Johnson" - to have worked together with Didiani on trying to develop something called "The Torpedo", which would be a "parasitic submarine meant to haul clandestine cocaine across the globe."

The sub would be remote controlled, via GPS and would attach to the hulls of cargo ships using magnets. The two hoped to be able to "stuff the sub with cocaine" before tracking it using GPS and regaining control of it 100 miles off European shores. At that point, a fishing boat would retrieve it.

Didani and Tibbitts allegedly paid $12,000 via cryptocurrency and wires from an Albanian bank account to develop the sub. The company developing it said it was unaware of what the “underwater hull scrubber device” was meant for, according to the report.

Tibbitts bankrolled Didani's operation, the report says, giving him more than $1.8 million in total. At one point, he cut a check for $864,000 for the cartel that was "cashed at a pawn shop or gold exchange business."

When Tibbitts died in 2018 as a result of his plane crashing in Wisconsin, plans for "The Torpedo" were scrapped and the cartel wound up spiraling into descent. Didani sought new funding in the UAE, but by that time, investigators had already closed in on him.

As for Tibbitts' double life, his neighbors were shocked to hear the news. “I think anybody who would hear something like this would be shocked,” one of his neighbors told The Detroit News.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/meet-michigan-telecom-ceo-who-led-second-life-cocaine-kingpin

Philippines’ Defense Chief Says China Intends to Occupy More South China Sea Areas

MANILA—The Philippines’ defense chief said on Sunday China was looking to occupy more areas in the South China Sea, citing the continued presence of Chinese vessels that Manila believes are manned by militias in disputed parts of the strategic waterway.

“The continued presence of Chinese maritime militias in the area reveals their intent to further occupy (areas) in the West Philippine Sea,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement, using the local name for the South China Sea.

It was the second statement by Lorenzana in two days as he repeated calls by the Philippines for the Chinese boats to leave Whitsun Reef, which Manila calls the Julian Felipe Reef, located within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

Chinese diplomats have said the boats anchored near the reef—numbering more than 200 based on initial intelligence gathered by Philippine patrols—were sheltering from rough seas and that no militia were aboard.

On Saturday, Lorenzana said there were still 44 Chinese vessels at Whitsun Reef despite improved weather conditions.

“I am no fool. The weather has been good so far, so they have no reason to stay there,” he said.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila responded to Lorenzana’s comments, saying it was “completely normal” for Chinese vessels to fish in the area and take shelter near the reef during rough sea conditions. It added, “Nobody has the right to make wanton remarks on such activities.”

An international tribunal invalidated the Chinese regime’s claim to 90 percent of the South China Sea in 2016, but Beijing does not recognize the ruling and has built artificial islands in the disputed waters equipped with radar, missiles batteries and hangars for fighter jets.

“They have done this (occupy disputed areas) before at Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc and at Panganiban Reef, brazenly violating Philippine sovereignty and sovereign rights under international law,” Lorenzana said in his Sunday statement.

https://www.ntd.com/philippines-defense-chief-says-china-intends-to-occupy-more-south-china-sea-areas_592117.html