Why is Nasa shit in notes?
Putin and Xi will regret challenging America – US Senate leader
Chuck Schumer has rejoiced following a vote to continue funding the Ukraine conflict
American senators from both parties coming out in support of aid for Ukraine and Israel is a powerful signal to Russia and China, as well as Washington’s allies, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.
The 100-member chamber approved the $95 billion “national security” funding bill with 70 votes in favor and 29 opposed. Eight Republican senators spent most of the night filibustering against the proposal.
“Today we make [Russian President] Vladimir Putin regret the day he questioned America’s resolve, and we make clear to others, like China’s President Xi [Jinping], not to test our determination,” Schumer said in a speech after the vote. “And we send a clear, bipartisan message of resolve to our allies in NATO.”
Schumer also praised the passage of the bill as greatly impacting “the security of Western democracy.”
The Senate bill would give Ukraine $61 billion in aid, as well as $14 billion to Israel for its war against Hamas, and almost $5 billion for arming Taiwan. The White House originally bundled it with a “border reform” proposal but proceeded with foreign aid only after Democrats and Republicans could not agree on immigration.
Republicans opposing the Ukraine funding bill have pointed out that it would bring the total amount of US aid to Kiev to almost $200 billion. Democrats have countered that it was good for the US weapons industry and that not continuing to send money to Kiev would damage Washington’s reputation and “resolve” in the world. Their arguments ended up swaying 22 of the Republicans.
Though it has passed in the Senate, the bill now needs the backing of the House of Representatives, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority.
“The bill before us today… will never pass in the House, will never become law,” Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, said in a floor speech on Tuesday morning.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has previously described the proposal as “dead on arrival.” With so many Republicans willing to cross the aisle to back the Democrats when it comes to funding Ukraine, it is entirely possible the bill might pass and make its way to President Joe Biden’s desk.
https://www.rt.com/news/592386-democrat-schumer-hailed-ukrainian-aid-passage/
Russia issues arrest warrant for EU state’s PM
Moscow has launched a criminal investigation into Estonia’s Kaja Kallas over the destruction of Soviet WWII memorials
Russian authorities have issued arrest warrants for Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop, over their roles in the demolition of Soviet WWII memorials in the Baltic state. Kallas announced in 2022 that the Estonian government had decided to remove all Soviet symbols from public areas “as soon as possible.”
Estonia as well as neighboring Latvia and Lithuania have increasingly targeted Soviet-era war monuments in recent years, describing them as symbols of occupation. The campaign has intensified since the start of Russia’s offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.
On Tuesday, TASS quoted unnamed Russian security officials as confirming that a “criminal case has been launched against Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop over the destruction and damaging of memorials to Soviet warriors.”
Kallas claimed in August 2022 that hundreds of remaining Soviet monuments in Estonia served as a reminder of historical “wounds,” especially in the context of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, and therefore had to be removed.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused the Estonian government of waging “war with a common history.”
“Getting rid of monuments is outrageous and does not make any nation, including Estonia, look better,” he added.
Estonia has emerged under Kallas as one of Ukraine’s staunchest backers, pledging last month to allocate €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) in aid to Kiev through 2027.
Also in January, Estonia joined Latvia and Lithuania in revealing plans to establish a defense line along their respective borders with Russia and Belarus. Tallinn will build some 600 bunkers as part of the proposal.
Kallas faced calls for her resignation last August after a local media outlet discovered that her husband, Arvo Hallik, had a 25% stake in a logistics company that provides services in Russia. The prime minister had publicly insisted that “all business with Russia must stop” until the Ukraine conflict is over.
Despite pressure from the Estonian president and opposition, she refused to step down.
Estonia, Lativia and Lithuania were under the control of the Russian Empire for the entire 19th century, but declared independence following the 1917 revolution. The Soviet Union absorbed the three states with the help of local communists soon after the start of World War II. Shortly thereafter, the territories were seized by Nazi Germany. After Soviet forces liberated Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the then-republics became part of the USSR until 1991.
https://www.rt.com/russia/592373-russia-issues-arrest-warrant-estonian-pm/
FOIA Documents Reveal Secret 2020 Election Day Meeting With CISA, Dominion, ES&S, ERIC, FBI, Leftist Organizations, State Officials, and Others – Only Recently Discovered
Recently, investigative journalist Yehuda Miller received several FOIA documents that completely reshaped what we were told to believe about the 2020 US presidential election.
We will be publishing several of these explosive documents in the coming days.
The election was billed by the Democrat Party, Joe Biden, the mainstream media, and former CISA Chief Chris Krebs as the most secure election in US history.
In the coming days, Yehuda Miller and The Gateway Pundit will release a series of FOIA documents that prove that the statements by Chris Krebs under oath were most certainly false and that he clearly knew these statements were not accurate.
Today, we are releasing information on a secret 2020 Election Day phone call organized by The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
CISA describes itself as the operational lead for federal cybersecurity and the national coordinator for critical infrastructure security and resilience. However, since its founding, CISA has morphed into a much more sinister and politicized organization.
Founded in 2018, CISA was originally intended to be an ancillary agency designed to protect “critical infrastructure” and guard against cybersecurity threats. In the years since its creation, however, CISA metastasized into the nerve center of the federal government’s domestic surveillance and censorship operations on social media.
By 2020, CISA routinely reported social media posts that allegedly spread “disinformation” to social media platforms. By 2021, CISA had a formal “Mis-, Dis-, and Mal-information” (MDM) team. In 2022 and 2023, in response to growing public and private criticism of CISA’s unconstitutional behavior, CISA attempted to camouflage its activities, duplicitously claiming it serves a purely “informational” role.”
The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft is currently the lead plaintiff in the Missouri-Louisiana vs. Joe Biden lawsuit that is heading to the Supreme Court in March.
The plaintiffs are challenging the Biden regime’s censorship apparatus, arguing that the federal government cannot infringe on the free speech of Americans. CISA today is central to the government’s censorship system.
Today, we have evidence that a private meeting was organized by CISA officials on November 3, 2020, at 3:30 PM Eastern Time with select members of a secret “Election Security Initiative.”
This was an exclusive meeting of CISA officials and their exclusive election Partners. This was held late in the afternoon on Election Day. It reportedly lasted for a half hour.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/exclusive-foia-documents-reveal-secret-2020-election-day/
NATO should match US aid to Ukraine – Trump
The presidential candidate has renewed his verbal attack on low-spending members of the military bloc
https://www.rt.com/news/592375-trump-nato-ukraine-aid/
Al Jazeera journalist is ‘Hamas commander,’ IDF claims
The Israeli military has accused a Palestinian journalist working with Al Jazeera of also operating as a senior Hamas militant
Mohamed Washah, a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera is simultaneously working as a senior militant with the Hamas group, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has claimed, publishing imagery that purports to incriminate the reporter.
The allegation was presented on Sunday by Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, an Arabic-language spokesman for the IDF, who published assorted images allegedly showing the reporter handling military hardware during apparent Hamas training exercises. The weaponry that Washah is said to have handled included a mounted RPG and homemade warheads for it, as well as a crude strike drone.
“In the morning, he’s a journalist on the Al Jazeera channel, and in the evening, a terrorist in Hamas!” Adraee claimed.
The incriminating imagery was recovered from a laptop seized a few weeks ago from a Hamas compound in the north of Gaza, the spokesman claimed. Documents recovered from the laptop indicated that the journalist was actually a “prominent commander” of an anti-tank unit with Hamas, as well as a member of its air unit’s research and development group since late 2022, Adraee went on to suggest.
The spokesman also hinted at more revelations about alleged Hamas militants disguised as journalists in the near future. “Who knows how many details we will reveal about the presence of other terrorists in journalistic garb in the near future,” he wrote.
Washah has been featured in multiple Al Jazeera broadcasts from the region in recent months. So far neither the broadcaster nor the reporter himself have provided any public comment on the IDF’s allegations.
Hours after Adraee leveled the accusation against the journalist, the Knesset advanced a bill that would empower government to shut down foreign media operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment, should the country’s defense minister deem an organization to be “an actual harm to the state’s security.” The bill, colloquially referred to as the “Al Jazeera Law” is widely viewed as a tool against the Qatari-based network, repeatedly attacked by top officials over supposed anti-Israeli activities.
Last month, two Al Jazeera journalists, Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, who also worked for AFP, were killed in an Israeli air strike on their car in Rafah, in southern Gaza. A third reporter, Hazem Rajab, was seriously wounded in the attack.
The IDF, however, accused the two slain journalists of being members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Israeli military claimed the ‘terrorists’ were traveling in a car along with a “terror operative,” who was using a drone at the moment of the air strike.
The latest incident involving Al Jazeera reporters occurred on Tuesday, when a correspondent and a cameraman working with him near Rafah were targeted in an apparent Israeli airstrike. Both reporters received serious injuries, according to the broadcaster, with the correspondent, Ismail Abu Omar, losing a leg as a result.
https://www.rt.com/news/592389-aljazeera-journalist-hamas-militant/
https://www.rt.com/news/592389-aljazeera-journalist-hamas-militant/
Tony Bobulinski: Joe Biden Had ‘Plausible Deniability’ in Family Business While Compromised by CCP-Linked Company
President Joe Biden maintained “plausible deniability” while his family business raked in millions from several foreign entities, including CEFC China Energy Co., which compromised the president, former Biden family business partner Tony Bobulinski told the House impeachment inquiry on Tuesday.
Bobulinski’s testimony is significant because he met Joe Biden in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in May 2017 to discuss business with CEFC, an entity closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Bobulinski is also the whistleblower who confirmed the infamous message about a stake of “10 held by H for the big guy,” as referring to Joe Biden.
Suspicious activity reports obtained by House Republicans show Hunter Biden’s business partner, Rob Walker, received a $3 million wire transfer from CEFC in 2017. In turn, four Biden family members — Hunter, James, Hallie, and an unidentified “Biden” — received a collective $1.3 million cut.
Walker, during his interview with investigators, said Joe Biden attended a meeting with Hunter Biden, additional business partners, and CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming. “I don’t remember the exact time, but I remember being in Washington, D.C., and the former vice president stopped by. We were having lunch,” Walker testified.
“The Bidens are the best I know at doing exactly what the chairman wants from this partnership,” Hunter Biden told a CEFC associate in 2017.
That same year, in 2017, Hunter Biden told Bobulinski in a text exchange that he did not want to register as a foreign agent on behalf of CEFC. Hunter, who was indicted on several counts, was not charged with violating the FARA.
Bobulinski also testified that Biden “enabled” his son Hunter to sell access to some of the U.S.’s “most dangerous adversaries,” including the Chinese Communist Party.
The only reason any of these international business transactions took place – with tens of millions of dollars flowing directly to the Biden family – was because Joe Biden was in high office. The Biden family business was Joe Biden, period. Other key players have made this point clear as well: Hunter Biden himself has adamantly stated it in a variety of communications, as did another Biden family business associate, Devon Archer, in his testimony last year. Foreign nationals on the other side of these transactions – including from China, Ukraine and Romania – have also explained how and why these transactions took place. Once again, I would call that extensive evidence.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/02/13/tony-bobulinski-joe-biden-plausible-deniability-family-business-while-compromised-ccp-linked-company/
Belgian Farmers Blockade Port of Antwerp as Battle with EU Green Agenda Continues
Hundreds of tractors blockaded the Port of Antwerp in Belgium on Tuesday as farmers continue their fight against the green agenda and free trade policies of Brussels ahead of the European Parliament elections.
Business at Europe’s second-largest seaport was serverly impacted as around 500 tractors blocked off access on the roads surrounding the Port of Antwerp in northern Belgium to protest the environmental and agricultural policies imposed on them by their own government and Eurocrats thirty miles to the south in Brussels.
The protest forced the leader of the local Flemish government, Jan Jambon, to cancels his scheduled trip to Barcelona to try to come to a deal with the farmers. Speaking ahead of the protest, Jambon said per Dutch public broadcaster NOS: “I don’t think anyone would like to see the blockade of the port of Antwerp happen, but it is up to everyone to take their own responsibility. I hope that people will be reasonable tomorrow. ”
On Tuesday, Flemish Minister for the Environment Zuhal Demir offered to meet with a delegation of farmers from the Antwerp protest, saying that they would have a police escort to meet with her in Brussels. However, the farmers, many of whom appear intent to continue their blockade of the port overnight, scoffed at the offer, arguing that if she felt the issue was so important, she could come to them, the Antwerp-based Het Laatste Nieuws reports.
Although the blockade of the port comes amid a wider struggle of farmers across Europe, who have faced increasing difficulty amid rampant inflation, the mass importation of cheap Ukrainian agricultural products, and the EU’s green agenda, the latest protest in Antwerp came in response to the Flemish government’s latest decree on nitrogen, demanding that they are cut in half by the end of the decade in order to comply with European Union standards.
Farmers have argued that the decree disproportionately impacts them, while giving carveouts to big business. Speaking to the Gazet van Antwerpen a group of farmers said: “First of all, industry is allowed to emit forty times more than farmers. We are also accused of producing for export. But what about companies like Ineos here in the port of Antwerp, or Volvo Cars? Don’t they also export?”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/02/13/belgian-farmers-blockade-port-of-antwerp-as-battle-with-eu-green-agenda-continues/
Labour Party Withdraws Support From own Candidate in Rochdale By-Election over Anti-Israel Comments
Sir Keir Starmer’s left-wing Labour Party caved to pressure on Monday and withdrew its support for Azhar Ali, their candidate in the Rochdale by-election, over his suggestion that Israel allowed the October 7th Hamas terror attacks.
Just hours after Labour leadership defended Councillor Ali, the left-wing party performed a u-turn and decided to withdraw their support for their own candidate for the February 29th by-election in Rochdale, which was triggered following the death last year of Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd.
Labour had selected Ali to run as his replacement in the special election, and top members of the party, including Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy Angela Rayner, and members of his shadow cabinet such as Lisa Nandy and Anneliese Dodds, were dispatched to the constituency to campaign with Ali.
Yet, over the weekend, it was revealed by the Mail on Sunday that the left-wing politician had told a group of Labour members that he believed that the Islamist terror attacks on October 7th that left over 1,200 people dead and over 250 taken captive by Hamas were intentionally allowed by Jerusalem, claiming — without evidence — that Israel “deliberately took the security off, they allowed … that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.”
Ali promptly apologised and retracted his statements. On Monday, Labour shadow minister Nick Thomas-Symonds attempted to defend Ali, claiming that the councillor had “fallen for an online conspiracy” and that he was cognisant of the “gravity of the offence that has been caused”.
However, hours later, it was announced that Labour had withdrawn its support from Ali, after being made aware of more anti-Israel comments, which have yet to be published.
A spokesman told the Daily Mail: “Following new information about further comments made by Azhar Ali coming to light today, the Labour Party has withdrawn its support for Azhar Ali as our candidate in the Rochdale by-election.”
“We understand that these are highly unusual circumstances but it is vital that any candidate put forward by Labour fully represents its aims and values.”
Given UK election law, the left-wing party cannot put forward another candidate as nominations closed on February 2nd. Although he will still appear as the candidate for Labour, should he prevail, he will not be given the whip and therefore would sit in the parliament as an independent MP.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/02/13/labour-party-withdraws-support-from-own-candidate-in-rochdale-by-election-over-anti-israel-comments/
Families of Israeli hostages to file war crimes complaint against Hamas in The Hague
Some 100 relatives of Israelis held in Gaza will submit charges of kidnapping, sexual violence, torture and other allegations to the International Criminal Court on Wednesday
Some 100 family members of Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza are set to file a complaint of war crimes Wednesday against the leaders of the terror organization at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Over the past four months, lawyers for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which is representing the hostages’ relatives, have prepared a legal submission demanding that arrest warrants be issued against the Hamas leadership for the October 7 atrocities.
Several dozen lawyers together with around 100 representatives of the families of the hostages will file the complaint, while the forum says it expects several thousand Dutch Jews to turn up at the ICC for the submission.
It is believed that 130 hostages abducted by Hamas during its savage October 7 assault remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Three hostages have been rescued by troops, and the bodies of 11 hostages have been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.
The complaint will include charges against Hamas leaders of “kidnapping, crimes of sexual violence, torture and other serious allegations,” the forum said in a statement to the press.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/families-of-israeli-hostages-to-file-war-crimes-complaint-against-hamas-in-the-hague/
Jewish Canadian politician fired, gets death threat after snark about pre-Zionist Palestine
Progressive British Columbia minister Selina Robinson forced to step down after anti-Israel activists demand her ouster for calling pre-state Israel a ‘crappy piece of land’
A Jewish politician in the Canadian province of British Columbia has lost her job and received a death threat after saying that pre-state Israel was “a crappy piece of land with nothing on it” during an online panel discussion. Police are also investigating an act of antisemitic vandalism ar her constituency office.
The incident reflects how fallout from the Israel-Hamas war, now in its fifth month, continues to spread far beyond the region as tensions soar between Jews and Muslims on Canada’s west coast.
Selina Robinson, the province’s minister of postsecondary education, was dismissed on February 5 by British Columbia Premier David Eby after he initially stood by her in the face of fierce protests.
Meanwhile, many Canadian Jews are decrying how Robinson has been targeted by anti-Israel activists and other politicians, including from her own New Democratic Party (NDP).
Nico Slobinsky, the vice president for the Pacific region at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), voiced his dismay on social media.
“Saddened and concerned to hear that MLA [Member of the Legislative Assembly] Selina Robinson has received a death threat,” Slobinsky wrote. “Grateful to the RCMP [police] for investigating. I can’t help but wonder if people are feeling emboldened after the events of the last few days.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-canadian-politician-fired-gets-death-threat-after-snark-about-pre-zionist-palestine/
IDF Airstrikes Pound Damascus As Syria Warns That It Is Ready For War With Israel
If you haven’t been paying close attention to what is going on in the Middle East, you need to start doing so. As I have discussed previously, I believe that a Great Middle East War will be one of the conflicts that defines World War III. For months, the fighting has mostly been limited to Israel and Hamas, but events on the northern front are really starting to heat up. In fact, as you will see below, the IDF just pummeled Damascus with more airstrikes and the Syrian government is saying that it is ready for war with Israel. So could we soon see a scenario where Israel is fighting an all-out war with Hezbollah and the Syrian army simultaneously?
Needless to say, that really would be a nightmare.
We are so close to a major regional war, and each new day brings new escalations.
Right now, there is a tremendous amount of buzz about Israel’s impending assault on the Hamas stronghold in Rafah.
As the Jerusalem Post has pointed out, Hamas desperately needs Rafah if it is to survive…
There is likely another side to this. Hamas needs Rafah to survive. This is how Hamas controls humanitarian aid entering Gaza. Hamas has made extreme demands of Israel for a new pause in fighting.
It says it could release hostages over several months if Israel moves toward a ceasefire and an end to the war. In essence, Hamas wants Rafah as its main conduit to the international community, so it can control the aid that might enter during a ceasefire. Hamas wants to rebuild capabilities in Rafah and use it as a redoubt to extend its tentacles back throughout Gaza.
If Israel really does intend to wipe out Hamas, it must go into Rafah.
And it appears that is exactly what is going to happen.
Of course Hamas is really freaked out at this moment, and they are desperately trying to get Israel to back off by warning that any attack on Rafah would “torpedo” negotiations for the release of the remaining hostages…
“Any attack by the occupation army on the city of Rafah would torpedo the exchange negotiations,” a Hamas leader told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.
I don’t think those negotiations were really going anywhere, and I am convinced that Israel fully plans to go in.
https://citizenwatchreport.com/idf-airstrikes-pound-damascus-as-syria-warns-that-it-is-ready-for-war-with-israel/
Displaced Palestinians in Rafah shot in their tents as Israeli strikes kill scores of civilians
Raids come as some 1.4 million displaced Palestinians in the southern town brace for a ground offensive, which could trigger 'disaster'
Israel launched air strikes on Rafah in southern Gaza in the early hours of Monday morning, killing scores of Palestinians sheltering in houses and tents and stoking fears of an imminent offensive on the area, which is densely packed with displaced people.
The attacks targeted 14 homes and three mosques in Rafah, Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian health ministry said at least 67 people were killed.
Several people told Middle East Eye they were shot by quadcopters inside their tents on Monday.
A displaced Palestinian from Khan Younis, Wesam Abu Jamee, said he lost two of his sons, one of them disabled, in a quadcopter attack that targeted their tent at 1:45 am.
“The bombardment was so intense. My two sons, Wahib (19) and Ilyas (17) got killed inside the tent,” he said. “Ilyas had a mental and physical disability,” he added.
Footage of the two brothers shared with MEE shows them lying dead next to each other in a makeshift tent.
The Israeli military said on Monday it had "conducted a series of strikes on terror targets in the area of Shaboura in the southern Gaza Strip".
It also said it freed two captives taken by Hamas in its 7 October attack in an overnight operation in Rafah. The captives were identified as Fernando Simon Marman and Norberto Louis Har, and are both in good condition, Israeli officials said.
Hamas denounced the raid on Rafah as "a continuation of the genocidal war and the attempts at forced displacement it is waging against our Palestinian people”.
Israeli air strikes on Rafah have intensified over the past week, with dozens of deadly bombardments of densely populated neighbourhoods and residential buildings.
The aerial attacks come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered his military to prepare for a ground offensive on the town.
Most of Gaza’s displaced population - around 1.4 million people, including 610,000 children - have fled to Rafah as the last safe refuge, due to intense military operations in the rest of the Palestinian enclave.
The area around Rafah - estimated to be around a fifth of Gaza - has become a squalid tent city. The Palestinians there have nowhere else to go, and are sheltering in makeshift tents or the open air, with little access to food, water or medicine.
Doctors Without Borders has warned that "Israel's declared ground offensive on Rafah would be catastrophic and must not proceed".
"There is no place that is safe in Gaza and no way for people to leave," the group said in a statement.
Children and adults in panic
Umm Ahmad, a resident of Shaboura camp, was an eyewitness to the air strike that targeted a neighbouring house belonging to the Abu Adhra family, killing nine members.
She said she and her family escaped their home after they heard multiple air strikes around 1:50 am. When they returned, their neighbours’ building was in flames.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-israel-air-strikes-rafah-overnight-kill-scores
Dangerous FDA ruling allows research trials get away with skipping informed consent
Informed consent is one of the basic tenets of medical ethics, ensuring patients have enough information and understanding before they make a decision about their medical care. However, the Food and Drug Administration has apparently decided this principle is very inconvenient and could threaten drug development and the generous profits the right vaccines and drugs can bring in, so they have amended their regulations to relax the requirements surrounding informed consent.
According to the Federal Register, the FDA issued a ruling on December 21, 2023, finalizing a proposal to the 21st Century Cures Act allowing an exception to be made wherein informed consent does not have to be obtained “when a clinical investigation poses no more than minimal risk to the human subject and includes appropriate safeguards to protect the rights, safety and welfare of human subjects.”
This language seems deliberately vague. After all, they insisted that COVID-19 vaccines did not pose a risk to human health, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the dangers of trials being brushed off to avoid the need for obtaining informed consent.
“The final rule permits an institutional review board (IRB) to waive or alter certain informed consent elements or to waive the requirement to obtain informed consent, under limited conditions, for certain FDA-regulated minimal risk clinical investigations,” the FDA notes.
The final rule went into effect in January 2024. Until then, the FDA’s regulations only allowed exceptions to informed consent in a handful of specific scenarios, such as when an individual is in a life-threatening situation and urgent help is needed, when specific emergency research requirements have been met, or when the president issues a waiver for a specific military operation.
Now, there are five criteria under which Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) can waive informed consent. One of them is that the investigation could not have been feasibly carried out without the waiver or altering informed consent. What does this mean in practice? Could it be used to avoid getting informed consent in cases where an individual would never agree to the trial if they knew what could really happen to them?
Somehow, the FDA is framing this as good news for humanity, writing in the final rule: “We believe that this rule will both safeguard the rights, safety and welfare of human subjects and enable minimal risk clinical investigations that may facilitate medical advances and promote public health.”
Some of the public comments the FDA received about the rule expressed concerns that waiving informed consent was in conflict with several international standards, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Nuremberg Code. Others complained that the threshold for “minimal risk” was too vague and open to abuse.
Another problem with the new rule is that IRBs should not be the ones deciding what is considered “minimal risk” since it will often benefit them to use a very loose definition of this term. However, the FDA refused to revise the definition of minimal risk to avoid causing confusion among the research community, even though they are presumably well-trained and educated individuals who are perfectly capable of understanding and interpreting definitions.
https://www.naturalnews.com/2024-02-12-dangerous-fda-trials-skipping-informed-consent.html
https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=281755
IDF soldiers targeted in attacks by packs of stray dogs in Gaza - report
The Gaza Strip is suspected to be home to hundreds, if not thousands, of stray dogs across the enclave, according to Israel's Nature and Parks Authority.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi stated that the laws surrounding conscription for the army in Israel should change such that all members of Israeli society are called up to defend the country.
"In these challenging times, one thing is very clear - everyone should do their part to protect our home,” Halevi said. “This is a different time, and prior realities should be reexamined. We are currently promoting immediate enlistment solutions in order to fill our ranks in light of the ongoing fighting. More of this will be required in the future.
Currently, under Israeli law, Israeli Arabs and the Ultra-Orthodox are not required to serve in the IDF. Last week, war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said that "in the long term," a service bill must be gradually implemented so that these two groups could "enter the circle of service,"
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-786778
164 Dead, 230 Injured (and Rising) in Overnight Bombing of Rafah by Israel
At least 164 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours from Israeli bombing of Rafah according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Last night, a teenager who was in one of the structures that was hit by Israeli bombs, suffered both legs being blown off below the knees, as the body was hurled through rubble. As seen in the image above, the body was found hanging from a piece of steel rebar protruding from a collapsed wall.
HEAVY BLOW: HUNDREDS KILLED AND WOUNDED BY RUSSIAN STRIKES ON TRAINING GROUND IN SELIDOVO
Russian forces dealt a devastating blow to the Ukrainian military. On the morning of February 13, Russian strikes destroyed reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), which came for the joint combat training to the village of Selidovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic.
Several waves of Russian strikes hit the training ground, where about 1,500 Ukrainian servicemen could be deployed. There are still no official statements from any of the warring parties. The Ukrainian media remain silent, while Russian sources that are close to the military provide details of the attack.
There were reportedly at least two waves of strikes. The Russian military learned the tactics which Ukrainian Nazis are using against civilians in the Donbass and other regions that Kiev lost. After the first attack hit the ranks of Ukrainian servicemen, leaving dozens killed and wounded, the second wave of strikes targeted military and security forces that came to the spot to evacuate the killed and wounded.
The Russian military reportedly used several Iskander missiles with a cluster munition. Additionally Smerch MLRS, also with a cluster part, were used.
The real number of casualties is unlikely to be officially revealed by the Kiev regime. According to some preliminary reports from the spot, the attack resulted in about 500 Ukrainian servicemen killed and about 700 others wounded. According, to other reports, there are dozens killed. It is clear that the number of casualties is likely to rise, as many soldiers have been seriously injured and their lives are at risk.
Selidovo is a strategically important logistics hub of the Ukrainian military. Ukrainian units come there from Pavlograd and Pokrovsk before being sent to the frontlines. The military facilities in the village were used for accumulation of Ukrainian military reserves before they were sent to plug the holes in defense in the Donetsk direction. According to preliminary reports, a large part of the victims of today’s attack were servicemen of the notorious 3rd Assault Brigade “Azov”. The Ukrainian military command had previously declared that this unit would be send to reinforce Ukrainian garrison in Avdiivka.
Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Mariana Bezuglaya reportedly confirmed the attack and claimed that after the incident in Selidovo, mass inspections began in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, from the General Staff to those responsible “on the ground.”
Reports from Selidovo also confirm heavy losses to the Ukrainian Army. All the roads in the area were blockaded by security forces. There are many ambulances and trucks to take the corpses. The Security Service of Ukraine is reportedly raiding the village looking for spotters on the ground, those who leaked information about the accumulation of large Ukrainian forces on the training ground.
This is far from the first Russian precision strikes on the accumulation of Ukrainian forces near the front. In November, 2023, the 128th Brigade of the AFU lost dozens killed and wounded after Iskander thwarted the awarding ceremony in the village of Dimitrovo in the Zaporozhie region. LINK
However, this is the first such bloody attack on Ukrainian units in the rear after the new Ukrainian commander-in-chief Syrsky took office. Such an incident will definitely worsen his already weak reputation among the Ukrainian population, especially among the military.
In an attempt to distract the population from another defeat, Kiev is expected to launch another bloody attack in the Russian rear, including on civilian targets.
https://southfront.press/heavy-blow-hundreds-killed-and-wounded-by-russian-strikes-on-training-ground-in-selidovo/
NEW ESCALATION IN CAUCASUS: ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI MILITARIES SUFFER CASUALTIES
New round of escalation between Armenia and Azerbaijan begins. The sides again accused each other in military provocation, amid the ongoing political regulation of the modern relations between the countries.
On February 12, an Azerbaijani border guard was wounded as a result of shelling from the territory of Armenia. The state news agency Azertac with reference to the State Border Service (GPS) of the Republic reported that the position of the Azerbaijani border guards came under fire in the Zangilan district. The incident took place on Monday at 13:27 local time. The wounded man was hospitalized.
The attack was recorded by CCTV cameras:
In response to the provocation, the Azerbaijani border guards launched a ”retaliation operation”. According to the State Border Service of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani border guards destroyed the combat post of the Armenian military.
“From now on, we will respond to every provocation by the Armenian side on the conditional Azerbaijan-Armenia state border with more serious and decisive measures,” the Azerbaijani border guard warned the Armenian military.
The Ministry of Defense of Armenia confirmed the attack, claiming that the Azerbaijani forces opened fire on the Armenian territory. The fire was recorded at about 5:30 local time. Armenian positions near the village of Nerkin Khand came under small arms fire. Two servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces were killed. More people were reportedly wounded. Yerevan called the Azerbaijani attack ”unreasonable”.
The village of Nerkin Khand is located in the south of Armenia near the border with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan plans to launch there the so-called “Zangezur corridor”, which would connect the Azerbaijani region of Nakhichevan with the rest of Azerbaijan through the southern Armenian territories. This area risks to become another point of instability between the countries.
The new round of escalation may threaten the ongoing peace process between Yerevan an Baku. Last month, the head of the Armenian government, Nikol Pashinyan, invited Baku to sign a non-aggression treaty, which would be in force until the parties conclude a full-fledged peace treaty. Baku is reportedly not satisfied with the conditions offered by the Armenian side. However, the both side are ready for negotiations.
A new major conflict in the Caucasus is always profitable to the current Western policy of confrontation with Russia and Iran. The current escalation may turn out to be only the first step into a new abyss made by Armenia for the approval and support of Western countries.
https://southfront.press/new-escalation-in-caucasus-armenian-and-azerbaijani-militaries-suffer-casualties/
NEW US-BRITISH STRIKES TARGETED YEMENI AL-HUDAYDAH PROVINCE
On February 13, the territory of Yemen has been subjected to new attacks by the United States and Great Britain. The strikes were likely the response to the recent missile attack on another vessel in the Red Sea.
According to the reports by the Yemeni TV channel Al-Masirah, the United States and Britain have carried out a new aggressive attack on the territory of Yemen. The target was the city of Al-Tuheita in the province of Al-Hudaydah in western Yemen. There are no details on the facilities or equipment struck by the US-British military.
The attacks by the United States and Great Britain are carried out in order to put pressure on Yemen to end the naval blockade imposed against Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.
Earlier, the Central Command of the US Armed Forces confirmed the Houthi attack on the Star Iris cargo ship in the Red Sea, which took place on February 12. CENTCOM reported that Houthi rebels from the Ansar Allah movement fired two missiles at the cargo ship, as a result, the ship received “minor damage”, there were no injuries among the crew members.
The US Central Command and the State Department claimed that the Greek ship Star Iris was transporting corn from Brazil to Iran. This is reportedly the first Houthi attack on a ship bound for Iran.
The Star Iris vessel belongs to the Greek company Star Bulk Carriers, which is partially owned by the United States. The ship was not subject to sanctions against Iran, as it was transporting food that falls under the exception, the US State Department explained.
https://southfront.press/new-us-british-strikes-targeted-yemeni-al-hudaydah-province/
Government Employee Indicted for Obstruction and False Statements
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/government-employee-indicted-obstruction-and-false-statements