Covid -19 > Documents, DARPA Officer condemn Fauci for Wuhan research; Fauci blames Paul for Murder plot; WHO criticizes booster strategy; Omicron in NS in early November

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New documents allege Fauci funded gain-of-function research in China

Military official reportedly claims that Covid-19 was “American created”

Anthony Fauci testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 11, 2022 © AFP / Greg Nash

New documents published by Project Veritas claim that White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci directly funded controversial research into bat coronaviruses in China. Fauci has previously denied this.

Fauci has testified under oath that the National Institutes of Health did not fund so-called “gain-of-function” research into bat-borne coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Fauci’s testimony was called into question when it was revealed that the NIH did pay grants to a private research firm, EcoHealth Alliance, to conduct this research, and research papers revealed that scientists at the Wuhan institute were indeed studying the potential for these viruses to infect humans.

These academic papers do not conclusively prove that Covid-19 originated in a lab, but documents published on Monday by Project Veritas, a conservative investigative outlet, apparently show that the US military was aware of this research, and passed over the opportunity to fund it due to its inherent danger.

The madness of this research was even too crazy for the military, but not for Fauci!

According to the documents, EcoHealth Alliance approached the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2018 seeking $14 million for a program it called ‘Project Defuse’. The program sought to sample bat coronaviruses from caves in Yunnan, China, modify them to more easily infect humans, and then re-release these modified pathogens in aerosol form back into the bat population to vaccinate the animals. 

DARPA, a wing of the Pentagon that funds scientific and technological projects with potential military applications, rejected the proposal, according to a document purportedly from the agency. The rejection letter stated that EcoHealth Alliance had “failed to mention or assess potential risks of Gain of Function (GoF) research,” or the “ethical, legal, and social issues” surrounding it.

Research in US too

DARPA in 2018 was soliciting research into novel viruses from around the world, according to another document released by Veritas on Monday. In it, the agency called on scientists to submit proposals involving the vaccination of host animals before the pathogens they carry can adapt to infect humans.

Covid-19 an “American-created recombinant bat vaccine"

A letter allegedly written by Marine Corps Major Joseph Murphy, a DARPA Fellow, to the Pentagon’s inspector general last August claims that EcoHealth Alliance’s project was eventually funded by Fauci’s NIH and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and took place in Wuhan and at “several sites in the US.” 

“Several sites in the US.”

Murphy, based on what he said were the DARPA documents and his own intelligence analysis, described Covid-19 as an “American-created recombinant bat vaccine,” created by “an EcoHealth Alliance program at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” The Marine Corps Major goes on to claim that effective treatments for Covid-19 were suppressed in favor of “ineffective” vaccines.

Effective treatments for Covid-19 were suppressed in favor of “ineffective” vaccines

The document trove was allegedly found on a “top secret” drive at the DARPA Biological Technologies Office, despite them not being classified. Murphy suggests in his letter that this indicates a “cover-up” as someone in DARPA did not want the files to be found. 

“Who at DARPA made the decision to bury the original report?” Project Veritas CEO James O’Keefe asked on Monday. “They could have raised red flags to the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress, which may have prevented this entire pandemic that has led to the deaths of 5.4 million people worldwide.”

Fauci confronts Rand Paul over murder plot

US government’s Covid czar says senator’s fundraiser inspired a murder plot

as Kentucky Republican blames him for pandemic deaths

Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Rochelle Walensky testify before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to Covid-19 on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan.11, 2022. © Shawn Thew / Pool via AP

Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of being responsible for over 800,000 US deaths from the coronavirus. The Biden administration’s covid czar said Paul’s criticism put his life in danger.

The latest clash between Paul and Fauci came on Tuesday at the Senate Health Committee hearing on the US response to Covid-19 variants.

At one point, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser held up a printout of a page on the Kentucky senator’s website, with a “Fire Dr. Fauci” banner, to claim that such rhetoric inspired a California man arrested last month for allegedly plotting to murder him. The man, arrested in Iowa on December 21, had an AR-15 rifle and multiple magazines, and told police he was driving to Washington, DC to kill Fauci, the doctor told senators.

“You are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain,” Fauci told Paul.

Paul pointed to Fauci, as the lead architect of the US government’s pandemic response, and asked how he could call any of it – the lockdowns, mask and vaccine mandates, boosters – a success when over 800,000 people have died.

The libertarian-leaning Republican also called out Fauci for being a central planner whose arrogance led to compounding mistakes.

“The idea that a government official like yourself would claim unilaterally to represent science and that any criticism of you would be considered a criticism of science itself is quite dangerous,” Paul said.

“A planner who believes he is The Science leads to an arrogance that justifies in his mind using government resources to smear and destroy the reputations of other scientists that disagree with him,” the senator added. “This is not only antithetical to the scientific method, it is the epitome of cheap politics and it is reprehensible.”

I love Rand Paul!

This was a reference to last month’s revelations that Fauci had worked with National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins in 2020 to discredit critics of lockdowns who signed the Great Barrington Declaration. Emails released by Congress showed Collins asking Fauci for a “quick and devastating published take down of its premises” and later praising him for an “excellent” job.

Fauci and Paul have clashed repeatedly in Senate hearings, with the Kentucky Republican even referring the doctor to the Justice Department for perjury.

Tuesday’s confrontation comes after a bombshell report by the conservative outlet Project Veritas, which published documents from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) indicating “gain of function” research into coronaviruses by EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit that received funding from Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the NIH.

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WHO experts criticize ‘repeated booster’ strategy

The World Health Organization’s vaccine advisory body has voiced concerns

about using current Covid-19 vaccines as boosters

© Getty Images / Morsa Images

Using the original vaccines against Covid-19 as boosters against emerging variants is the wrong approach, said a WHO expert group, adding that the world needs new vaccines that protect against infection and transmission.

“A vaccination strategy based on repeated booster doses of the original vaccine composition is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable,” the Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-Co-VAC) said on Tuesday.

Yeah, but think about how rich Big Pharma is getting! Isn't that what's important here?

While some countries may recommend boosters, “the immediate priority for the world is accelerating access to the primary vaccination, particularly for groups at greater risk of developing severe disease,” the group added, pointing out the “need for equity in access to vaccines across countries to achieve global public health goals.”

Which means western countries need to pay more for these experimental drugs so third world countries can pay less. Otherwise, you cut into the profits of Big Phama and that is just not acceptable. 

While the currently available vaccines focus on “reducing severe disease and death, as well as protecting health systems,” there is a need for vaccines “that have high impact on prevention of infection and transmission.” Until such jabs are developed, the existing vaccines may need to be updated to better target emerging virus variants such as Omicron, the group said.

Developers should work to create vaccines that “elicit immune responses that are broad, strong, and long-lasting in order to reduce the need for successive booster doses,” the TAG-Co-VAC urged.

On Tuesday, the EU drug regulator EMA’s head of Biological Health Threats and Vaccines Strategy said they don’t yet have enough data to recommend a second booster – the fourth jab so far – even as some countries urged such a move.

Marco Cavaleri said they were “rather concerned about a strategy that entangles repeat vaccination within a short term,” adding that “we cannot really continuously give a booster dose every three-four months.”

The WHO said that Omicron could infect more than half of the EU population over the next two months and urged the bloc’s authorities not to treat the virus as endemic.

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Omicron revelation surfaces in Canadian wastewater

The variant was noted by researchers before it was detected in South Africa

(FILE PHOTO) © Photo by: MICROBIOLOGY HKU/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Scientists in Nova Scotia, Canada have said they started detecting the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in local wastewater before it was officially discovered in South Africa in late November.

Last week, Professor Graham Gagnon, director of the Dalhousie University Centre for Water Resource Studies in Nova Scotia, told CBC that they found Omicron in wastewater samples from early November. 

“It was surprising to us to see a viral signal in early November. Only in retrospect were we able to see that it was a variant and not the original,” he said. The cases were confirmed to be Omicron on December 13 and were linked to a Covid-19 outbreak at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish.

The Omicron variant was formally identified in South Africa in late November. 

The research director said he was surprised to find the virus in November because students at the residences were all vaccinated and those tested provided negative results. He said the results were passed on to officials at the university who warned students. 

“For us, it's been a successful project,” Gagnon told CBC, adding, “It's a tool that can be used to help make decisions.”

The Dalhousie researchers have been testing wastewater for signs of the deadly virus since December 2020 at four main wastewater treatment plants in Halifax and five student residences on the Dalhousie campus. 

Covid-19 can live longer in the gastrointestinal tract than in the respiratory tract, despite being a respiratory virus. Thus, wastewater testing can be a useful tool for monitoring its prevalence.

Covid-19 > Rally in the Rain against kid's Vax; Omicron - Very Mild in Kids - Doctor; Boosted Obrador gets Covid again

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Thousands rally against vaccination of children

A huge crowd marched through Melbourne to protest the vaccination of 5 to 11-year-olds

FILE PHOTO: A rally against Covid-19 curbs and vaccination in Melbourne. © AFP / William West

Thousands of maskless demonstrators took to the streets of Melbourne on Saturday to decry the Australian government’s decision to greenlight Covid-19 vaccines for children as young as five.

Despite the rainy weather, the ‘Save Our Children’ protest attracted a huge crowd in the central business district in the capital of the state of Victoria.

People arrived outside the heavily guarded Parliament House to express their outrage over the vaccination of children, which kicks off across Australia on Monday.

Demonstrators carried signs reading: “Leave our children alone,” “Hands off our kids,” and “Stop poisoning our children.”

They then marched from the parliament building to Alexandra Gardens, chanting: “Save our children” and “No more mandates” to the sound of drums.  

Almost no one in the crowd was wearing a mask; some protesters even offered free hugs to others.

The rally went on peacefully. Law enforcement said the “highly visible police presence” caused the protesters to refrain from any provocative actions.

The Australian authorities approved Covid shots for those aged five to 11 years old last month, saying the immunization drive will begin on January 10. The children will receive two shots eight weeks apart, and the doses will be one-third of what those over 12 receive.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said Australia has enough vaccines for the 2.3 million children in the age group, despite earlier concerns that there would not be enough. “Three million doses [will be] available over January and two million over the course of the next two weeks,” he said.

Petition by Eminent Scientist to Stop Immunization of Children Against Covid-19 - reasons for caution before vaccinating your children

In Children, COVID Is ‘Certainly Very Mild’

Compared to Flu and Other Viruses, Halifax Doctor Says

By Andrew Chen 

January 9, 2022 

The playground at Shannon Park Elementary School in Dartmouth, N.S., sits empty on Jan. 5, 2022. Students in Nova Scotia switched to online learning starting Jan. 10, set to last until Jan. 17. (The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan)

The flu and other common viruses pose more of a risk to children to date than COVID-19, says the chief of pediatrics at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, noting that few children have been admitted to hospital due to the coronavirus.

Dr. Andrew Lynk told CBC News that he remains far more concerned about the flu and other common viruses in children compared to COVID-19, even with the more transmissible Omicron variant now spreading in Nova Scotia.

He said the IWK and other regional hospitals have seen “very few” child admissions due to COVID-19, and the two recent cases admitted during his shift at the children’s hospital in Halifax were discharged after a few days.

“The ones that we have admitted have been mild and brief for the most part. It’s not to say that a child with certain high-risk factors couldn’t get quite sick from it, but we’re certainly not seeing that,” said Lynk, who is also the chair of the pediatrics department at Dalhousie University.

There are some children who were infected with COVID-19 in the community and later tested positive while visiting the hospital for unrelated issues, he said, but there has been no spread of infection.

Lynk noted that Omicron rarely causes severe illness, and most cases can be dealt with at home using the usual treatments for flu or the common cold.

“There is a slight uptick [in hospitalizations], but it’s still pretty minimal in terms of in-patients and very minimal in terms of anybody with significant illness,” he said, adding that a check-in with other doctors on Dec. 6 reflected similar observations.

By comparison, Lynk said 100 to 200 children are admitted to the hospital each year due to a highly contagious respiratory virus known as RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus. RSV can cause serious lung infections like bronchiolitis, and can be especially threatening to infants and toddlers.

An IWK statement issued in December 2021 noted that, since the cold and flu season began, many children have been coming to the IWK Health Emergency Department with cold symptoms, which often result from RSV.

In addition, Lynk said roughly 70 children have been admitted to the IWK due to influenza, with some even ending up in intensive care.

“About 10 of those will regularly end up in the ICU and occasionally we lose a child from the flu every year. We’re not seeing anything like that with COVID,” he told CBC.

“Compared to RSV and flu in children, COVID is certainly very mild.”

Pediatricians Support Return to School Learning

Lynk, along with eight other physicians in the Nova Scotia pediatric pandemic advisory group, have voiced support for the provincial government’s previous plan to allow students return to in-person learning at schools.

In an open letter to Nova Scotia parents issued Jan. 6, the doctors said that “COVID infections are mild, and long term symptoms are infrequent” for the vast majority of children and teenagers.

“The risks to children and youth from not providing in-class learning outweigh the current risks related to Covid,” the doctors said in the letter.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, people have caught infections mainly in the community and not from school contact. We recognize the Omicron virus may also spread in schools, but community and family gatherings are more likely to result in widespread infection.”

Lynk also reiterated the importance of balance while minimizing the risks.

“Probably the most dangerous part of going to school for most kids in the morning is getting on the bus or in a car, and we accept that risk every day,” he told CBC.

“We appreciate that the Omicron variant is more transmissible, more contagious, and we are going to see spreads in school just like we would with RSV or influenza. But again, we’re hoping with good hygiene and masks that that will be kept to a minimum.”

Nova Scotia announced in December that students will return after the holidays to in-class learning on Jan. 10, but later decided to switch to home learning for one week, to Jan. 17.

On Jan. 7, Nova Scotia also renewed its state of emergency to continue the implementation of public health measures. The state of emergency took effect on Jan. 9 and will last until noon on Jan. 23.

Boosted Mexican president gets Covid again

Fully vaccinated and boosted Mexican leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador revealed

he is experiencing mild coronavirus symptoms

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a meeting with Vice President

Kamala Harris, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, in Washington © AP / Alex Brandon

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced he tested positive for Covid-19 for the second time in under a year and will now carry out his duties from quarantine.

López Obrador – who is fully vaccinated and received a booster shot in December – revealed the result of his Covid-19 test on Twitter, Monday.

“I will remain in isolation and will only do office work and communicate virtually until I get ahead,” he wrote, adding that Mexico’s Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López Hernández, would represent the presidency at in-person meetings and events.

It was the second time that the Mexican president tested positive for the coronavirus in under a year, having previously tested positive in late January 2021.

Several other high-profile politicians from around the world have also recently tested positive for Covid-19 despite receiving booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccine amid the spread of the omicron variant of the virus. Omicron is generally considered to be less deadly, but a far more transmissible strain than its predecessors.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tested positive for the virus this month after receiving his booster dose in October, while New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday after receiving her booster in autumn.

In the UK last week, leader of the opposition Keir Starmer tested positive for the virus for the second time since October. Starmer had received his booster vaccination a month prior.

Covid-19 > Is Hypoxia From Microclotting Causing 100 Million People to Suffer? Barking Cough New Symptom for Under 5 y/os; Woman Puts Son in Trunk on Way to Covid Test

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Study reveals what could be behind long Covid

Persistent blood-clotting may be the cause, according to South African scientists

A single elongated CCL-81 cell heavily infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. (FILE PHOTO) © NIH/NAID/IMAGE.FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Researchers at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University say they have evidence that significant and persistent microclotting may explain the symptoms experienced by people suffering from ongoing symptomatic coronavirus.

Writing in a piece published in The Guardian on Wednesday, Resia Pretorius, a professor of physiological sciences, revealed the findings of her study into the identification and causes of long Covid.

Pretorius ascribed the condition and its symptoms to a phenomenon known as microclotting. “A recent study in my lab revealed that there is significant microclot formation in the blood of both acute Covid-19 and long Covid patients,” the scientist wrote.

She noted that humans are normally able to break down clots through a process called fibrinolysis. However, data from her study shows that those suffering from long Covid have been unable to overcome microclots.

“The presence of persistent microclots and hyperactivated platelets (also involved in clotting) perpetuates coagulation and vascular pathology, resulting in cells not getting enough oxygen in the tissues to sustain bodily functions (known as cellular hypoxia),” she wrote.

She concluded that hypoxia could be the cause of the debilitating symptoms reported by long Covid patients. 

This reinforces earlier observations that acute Covid-19 affects not only the respiratory system, but the cardiovascular system too.

Pretorius noted that people suffering from long Covid are not able to have their condition easily diagnosed as the appropriate pathology tests are not readily available.

She called for “urgent” research into the condition in order to aid diagnosis and develop treatment protocols, especially given hypoxia can elevate the risk of stroke and heart attack.

It is believed 100 million people around the world are suffering from ongoing symptomatic coronavirus. Sufferers report a number of symptoms, including extreme fatigue, brain fog, muscle weakness, and sleep difficulties, as well as the ongoing respiratory problems associated with Covid-19.

Others have noted the development of anxiety and depression.

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New symptom of Omicron in young children revealed

US doctors are warning parents that under-fives are developing a “barking” cough

© Getty Images / Westend61

American scientists have identified a new symptom of the Omicron variant in children under five; a “barking” cough that may sound frightening when parents hear it.

According to Dr. Buddy Creech, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, some Covid patients in the youngest age group develop “croup-like” coughs which can be identified by a “barking” sound.

That happens, Creech told NBC news, because “little kids' airways are so narrow that it takes far less inflammation to clog them.” The best way to protect the youngest children, who are not yet eligible for the vaccines, is to “cocoon” them around vaccinated people, he said.

Croup, which is an infection of the vocal cords, windpipe, and bronchial tubes, is a well-known and usually easily treatable disease, so doctors are telling parents not to panic.

While the croup cough may be "scary to hear,” it does not necessarily mean there are any problems with the lungs, said Dr. Amy Edwards, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at the University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland.

“The main treatment is to keep the upper airways open and clear until the inflammation subsides,” she said.

Croup can be caused by a number of viruses and normally affects young children aged six months to three years, with most cases occurring in one-year-olds. Most cases of croup are mild and can be treated at home, with symptoms usually improving within 48 hours.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, almost 7.9 million US children have been diagnosed with Covid, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics data.

Coronavirus in kids is generally milder than in adults.

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Mom brings child to Covid-testing site in car trunk

A high-school teacher has been accused of felony child endangerment after

taking drastic measures to avoid catching the coronavirus from her son

Woman standing beside car, putting suitcase in open boot - stock photo © Getty Images / Kathleen Finlay

Texas police are looking for a high-school English teacher after she allegedly locked her Covid-19 positive child in a car trunk to limit exposure on the way to a testing facility.

An arrest warrant for felony child endangerment was issued for Sarah Beam, 42, on Friday after her 13-year-old son was discovered in the car trunk at Houston’s Pridgeon Stadium Covid-19 testing center this week.

Bevin Gordon, the health services director for the local independent school district, reportedly contacted police after “she witnessed Beam unlatch the trunk and found the 13-year-old was face down inside.”

Court documents claim Beam defended the travel arrangement by arguing that the child was in the trunk to “prevent her from getting exposed to possible Covid.”

After Gordon contacted authorities and returned to the car, however, the child had moved from the trunk to the vehicle’s back seat, but the incident was caught on surveillance cameras.

Beam, who works as an English teacher at a high school in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, has reportedly been placed on administrative leave.

Islam - Current Day > Mozambique Horror Story; Sunnis Use Teens in Suicide Attack; Al-Aqsa Preacher Teaching Madness

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Mozambique: Islamic extremists behead pastor, force wife

to carry his severed remains

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Sunday, December 19, 2021

A volunteer claps as he sings with children during activities directed toward the healing for displaced children that witnessed atrocities in northern Mozambique, at a displacement settlement in Metuge on May 21, 2021. Conflict in the northern Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado that began in 2017 has now forced nearly some 700,000 people from their homes. Around 43 percent the 700,000 people displaced by the violence are children, according to the U.N. | JOHN WESSELS/AFP via Getty Images

Suspected ISIS-linked extremists beheaded a pastor, handed his severed head to his wife and forced her to carry the head to the police station in the southern African country of Mozambique, according to reports.

The jihadist militants decapitated the pastor, a resident of Nova Zambezia area in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, last Wednesday, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern said.

The killing was also reported by the Daily Mail, but the pastor’s name has not been disclosed.

Zimbabwe Daily also reported on the murder, saying the pastor’s wife told police that “suspected Islamic State-linked insurgents intercepted the pastor in a field, decapitated him and then handed over his head to her and ordered her to inform the authorities.”

Earlier this month, the U.K.-based watchdog organization Human Rights Watch reported that an armed group in Cabo Delgado province called Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah, also known as Al-Shabab, had forced kidnapped women and girls to “marry” their fighters.

Other women and girls held captive had been sold to foreign fighters for between $600 and $1,800, according to the report. Some abducted foreign women and girls had been released after their families paid a ransom.

Last November, ISIS-linked militants beheaded over 50 people, including women and children, and abducted others in raids in the Miudumbe and Macomia districts of the Cabo Delgado province.

The day after the pastor's murder, Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi claimed that the number of jihadist attacks had decreased this year after Rwanda and neighboring countries helped tackle the radical Islamic jihadist insurgency.

The oil-rich Cabo Delgado province, a coastal region on the Indian Ocean, has suffered an emergence of a jihadi movement that has displaced thousands and killed hundreds since 2017. In 2018, the terror group pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. In 2019, the Islamic State confirmed the group as an affiliate and has claimed responsibility for some attacks.

The Al-Shabab group in the majority-Christian country of Mozambique is not believed to have any connection with the deadly Somalia-based terror group with the same name.

According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), the Cabo Delgado province had suffered from at least 776 “organized violence events” since 2017, and as of January 2021, 2,578 “fatalities from organized violence” and 1,305 “fatalities from civilian targeting.” 

The United Nations estimates more than 745,000 people are internally displaced in Mozambique due to Islamic extremism since 2017.

Mozambique also ranks as the 45th worst country for Christian persecution on Open Doors USA’s 2021 World Watch List. This 2021 report is the first time the country has been listed on Open Doors’ annual list.

Extremist attacks have killed many Christians, and terrorists have burned churches and schools in the country.

Iraq: Sunni Muslims send two teenagers to carry out

jihad suicide attacks in area of Shi’ite shrines

DEC 18, 2021 12:00 PM

BY ROBERT SPENCER

“Indeed, Allah has bought from the believers their lives and their wealth, because the garden will be theirs, they will fight in the way of Allah and will kill and be killed.” (Qur’an 9:111)

Shafaq News/ A security source reported that ISIS had sent two teenagers to carry out a suicide attack in Al-Kadhimiyah, north of Baghdad.

The source told Shafaq News Agency that the responsible forces in Al-Kadhimiyah hung posters indicating that two suicide bombers were sent by ISIS to carry out a suicide attack in the area.

The source added that the two suicide bombers were delivered to Aden Square a few days ago, and their ages range between 16-17 years…

Al-Kadhimiyah includes the shrines of the two imams, Moussa al-Kadhim and Muhammad al-Jawad…

Al-Aqsa preacher blames Israeli gov’t, media and homosexuality

for spread of Omicron

December 24, 2021

Al-Aqsa preacher blames Israeli gov’t, media and homosexuality for spread of Omicron. 

The Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, in Jerusalem. (Shutterstock)

 

The prominent Islamic leader blamed the media and government that “allow and encourage homosexuality” for the spread of COVID-19. 

By World Israel News Staff

Islamic preacher Issam Amira has provided an unusual explanation to the spread of COVID-19 in Israel, Hebrew language Channel 12 reported.

In a sermon given at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem last week, Amira told his followers that the Indian and Omicron variants that were unknown before have spread in Israel and across the world due to the Israeli government and media that allow and promote homosexuality.

According to Amira, the “heretic” media and government that “allow and encourage homosexuality” are behind the spread of COVID. The Omicron variant “did not spread until the government and media announced it,” he argued.

The Right-wing NGO Im Tirzu called Amira’s statements dangerous, telling Channel 12 that “Sheikh Issam Amira is a dangerous person who should be behind bars. His incitement endangers the LGBTQ community and the Jewish people as a whole.”

Controversial statements from religious leaders blaming the LGBTQ community for the spread of COVID are nothing new. Last year, an Orthodox church leader in Ukraine blamed the COVID-19 pandemic on same-sex marriage, shortly before contracting the virus himself.

Amira himself was arrested and banned from the al-Aqsa Mosque for six months after praising the murder and beheading of a middle school history teacher in France by a Muslim fanatic.

Note, this is not just a lunatic Muslim, this is one of the highest ranking Muslims in the middle east. A teacher at the third holiest site in Islam. And, this is the madness they spread.

Covid-19 > The Mark of the Beast? First Pill Treatment for Covid-19; Millions in Lockdown in China; France Rejects Merck Oral Treatment; Risks of Omicron; Covid-19 Fraud in Billions

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Covid microchip developer explains why people want

vaccine passport implant

This is very close to what many Christians have been dreading rather anxiously

since Covid-19 started - The mark of the beast!

21 Dec, 2021 19:32

People wait to get Covid-19 vaccine at night club which was turned into a mass vaccination center in Stockholm, Sweden

©  Carl-Olof Zimmerman/TT News Agency/via REUTERS

A Swedish company has sparked debate after showcasing a microchip that can be implanted under the skin and scanned as proof of one’s Covid-19 vaccination status.

The microchip technology was developed by Stockholm-based startup Epicenter. The tiny chip stores a Covid-19 vaccine passport the likes of which are increasingly being mandated across the globe. It can be read by a device using a near-field communication protocol – the same tech used by credit cards and other digital payment systems.

The chip can be inserted either in one’s arm or between one’s thumb and forefinger, with the data readable through the skin. A unique code generates the individual’s vaccine passport file on a reader, as its makers displayed in the demo video distributed to multiple media outlets. 

Epicenter’s chief distribution officer, Hannes Sjoblad, told the news agency AFP its microchip offered an efficient way to have one’s Covid status checked at a movie theater or shopping center without recourse to a cell phone.

“What matters to me is that the people who get chip implants, they do so on a voluntary basis,” Sjoblad said. “And because they are curious, and they want to work with this technology.”

The implants cost €100 ($113) a piece and the distributors describe the tech involved as “passive,” as it’s unable to generate a signal on its own – though this has not stopped the prospect of Covid chips raising red flags with activists. 

“Remember when this was just a conspiracy?” US Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) tweeted in reaction to initial reports about the implants. 

Rev 13:16-17 > He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Sweden announced in December that vaccine passports would be required at any venue or event with a capacity of more than 100 people. Some 6,000 people have reportedly opted to have an implant since then.

First Covid-19 pill treatment approved for emergency use in US

22 Dec, 2021 18:00

FILE PHOTO. Pfizer shows the making of its experimental Covid-19 antiviral pills, Paxlovid. © AFP / Pfizer

Pfizer’s Paxlovid tablets against Covid have been given emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The first pill treatment of this kind, it can be prescribed to high-risk patients aged 12 and older.

“Today’s authorization introduces the first treatment for [Covid]-19 that is in the form of a pill that is taken orally – a major step forward in the fight against this global pandemic,” said Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

The combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir packaged for oral use will be available to treat mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in people who test positive and are at “high risk for progression to severe” disease, including hospitalization or death, the FDA said on Wednesday.

The drug is available by prescription only, and should be taken as soon as possible after diagnosis, and within five days of the onset of symptoms. It is not authorized for pre-exposure or post-exposure prevention, however, nor is it considered a substitute for vaccination.

According to the agency, the treatment is meant to last no longer than five days and consists of three pills: two tablets of nirmatrelvir and one of ritonavir taken twice daily. Nirmatrelvir is intended to stop the virus from replicating, and ritonavir slows the first drug’s breakdown to enable it to last longer.

While there are “no adequate, approved, and available alternatives” to Paxlovid, the FDA does warn that there are possible side effects. In addition to a risk of “impaired sense of taste, diarrhea, high blood pressure, and muscle aches,” there is potential for “significant” drug interactions with certain HIV medications. Paxlovid is also not recommended for people with liver and kidney impairments, as ritonavir may cause liver damage. The FDA has published a full list of potential drug interactions in a guide for healthcare providers.

The approval is based on a double-blind clinical trial of patients who had not been vaccinated or previously contracted Covid-19. According to the study, Paxlovid reduced Covid-related hospitalization or death by 88% compared to the placebo. 

The White House has already announced it has purchased 10 million doses of the Paxlovid treatment, as well as three million doses of Merck’s Lagrevio, a molnupiravir-based pill, which is also expected to get the green light from the FDA this week.

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Millions of people sent into Covid lockdown in China

22 Dec, 2021 16:40

Xian, Shaanxi province, China (FILE PHOTO) © China Daily via REUTERS

Authorities in China’s Xi'an have put the city on lockdown, closing all non-essential shops and barring all restaurants from opening, after reporting some 140 domestically transmitted Covid cases in the last 10 days.

In a press conference on Wednesday, officials in Xi'an announced the implementation of new measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. All non-essential shops will be temporarily closed, while dine-in eateries will not be allowed open until the number of coronavirus infections falls.  

From Thursday, only one person in each household can leave their home to visit essential shops every two days. Everyone else must remain home unless they have jobs deemed essential by the government, official Zhang Fenghu said.

City authorities also called on people not to leave Xi’an unless they had taken a Covid-19 test and received a negative result. According to state broadcaster CCTV, local authorities had already persuaded some 7,000 people not to leave the city.

Large-scale conferences, training days, garden parties and dances are among a long list of events and activities prohibited by the local government in an effort to limit the spread of Covid. Businesses have also been encouraged to provide flexible work arrangements for employees.

Covid testing measures and temperature scanning will be stepped up, according to officials.

The northwestern city, home to 13 million people, has reported more than 140 locally transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms since December 12. The cluster was reportedly caused by the Delta variant of Covid-19. 

Beijing has signaled its desire to stamp out new Covid clusters as soon as they emerge. Recent research has also sparked concerns about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines against the latest variant of Covid-19, the highly contagious Omicron strain, compared to earlier versions of the virus.

France rejects 1,000s of doses of Covid anti-viral treatment

22 Dec, 2021 15:51

FILE PHOTO. © Reuters / Merck & Co Inc

France has canceled its order for Merck’s new Covid-19 antiviral treatment molnupiravir due to its weak performance in trials, and ordered Pfizer’s Paxlovid instead, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday.

“With molnupiravir, we had to cancel the order,” Veran told BFMTV, explaining that the latest trial results of Merck’s treatment were “not good.” The cancellation of the 50,000 doses of the drug has incurred no costs to France, he stressed.

Instead of Merck’s pills, France has ordered a competing treatment, Pfizer’s Paxlovid, which Veran described as “extremely promising” in reducing the risk of developing serious forms of Covid-19. The minister said that the drug, which is awaiting approval by the European Medicines Agency, would become available by the end of January.

He did not specify how many doses of Paxlovid had been ordered.

Merck earlier reported that its pills reduced the risk of hospitalization and deaths by 30%, which is significantly less impressive than the 89% reduction reported by Pfizer.

France is the first country to announce cancellation of its Merck order. The UK and German governments are among those that have already bought doses of the drug.

Study estimates risk of Omicron causing severe disease

22 Dec, 2021 15:07

(FILE PHOTO) © REUTERS/ Sumaya Hisham

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is less likely to cause hospitalization and severe disease than the variants that preceded it, according to a non-peer-reviewed study in South Africa, where the virus was first isolated.

Speaking during a news conference on Wednesday, Professor Cheryl Cohen of the country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), said their data supported initial observations that Omicron was less virulent than previous strains. 

“In South Africa, this is the epidemiology: Omicron is behaving in a way that is less severe,” said Cohen, who also co-authored the study. 

The research, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found that South Africans diagnosed with Omicron between October 1 and November 30 were 80% less likely to be admitted to hospital than people suffering from other variants of the virus during the same timeframe. 

The study also discovered that people hospitalized with Omicron in October-November were 70% less likely to develop severe symptoms than South Africans admitted to hospital with Delta between April and November.

The researchers prefaced their findings by noting that higher levels of community immunity, provided both by vaccines and through prior infection, likely played a part in limiting the severity of infection. 

An estimated 60-70% of people in South Africa have already been infected with Covid-19, according to the NICD. “It is difficult to disentangle the relative contribution of high levels of previous population immunity versus intrinsic lower virulence to the observed lower disease severity,” they wrote. 

“Compellingly, together our data really suggest a positive story of a reduced severity of Omicron compared to other variants,” Cohen said in the press conference, adding that surveillance data suggests significantly lower hospitalizations and deaths in South Africa’s current Omicron-driven wave.

The Omicron variant has spread across the globe since it was first isolated by scientists in southern Africa in November. It has been responsible for soaring Covid-19 infections across the world and has demonstrated some capacity to evade the immune response provided by existing vaccines.

Don't forget, most Africans have a natural immunity to Covid-19 because of the absence of a Neanderthal gene. 

Shocking scale of Covid relief fraud revealed

22 Dec, 2021 05:11

President Joe Biden signs the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Extension Act of 2021 into law in the Oval Office at the White House, March 30, 2021 © Reuters / Jonathan Ernst

Nearly $100 billion in Covid-19 relief payments has been stolen by criminals since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Secret Service, which has launched a campaign to recover the money.

Almost $100 billion of the $3.5 trillion given out by the US government in programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program has been fraudulently taken, with just over $2.3 billion recovered so far.

The Secret Service – which has more than 900 active investigations into the stolen funds – appointed Special Agent Roy Dotson as its National Pandemic Fraud Recovery Coordinator on Tuesday and the US government is now working with private companies, including PayPal, to recover the money.

Dotson told CNBC that it was “shameful to think that individuals would take advantage of these programs” and “target them for their own personal advantage.”

“I have been in law enforcement for over 29 years and worked some complex fraud investigations for 20+ years and I’ve never seen something at this scale,” Dotson insisted, noting that the loss is so high “because the pot was so big.”

“There’s no doubt that the programs were easily accessible online. And so, with that, comes the opportunity for bad actors to get into that mix,” he explained.

The bad actors allegedly include organized-crime groups, but also individuals who saw the relief programs as a get-rich-quick scheme.

One Texas man was arrested last week after he scammed the government out of $3.3 million in relief payments, which he spent on real estate, luxury vehicles, and private jets.

Another Texas man was sentenced to over nine years in prison in November for spending more than $1.6 million in relief payments on a life of luxury, including a $14,000 Rolex watch, a Lamborghini, and strippers.

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Covid-19 > Pfizer Testing Vaccines on Infants; Infant Given Adult Moderna Shot; Pfizer Killing Young People; Something Good from Omicron - WEF Cancelled; Pope on Covid-19, Domestic Abuse;

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Pfizer to test Covid booster dose on infants, young kids

18 Dec, 2021 02:17

Nurse prepares the vials of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for use at a pop-up vaccination clinic in Belfast,

Northern Ireland, December 4, 2021 © Reuters / Clodagh Kilcoyne

Pfizer will start testing Covid-19 vaccine booster doses in children aged six months to five years old after finding that its lower-dose shot may not provide enough protection in one age group.

The pharmaceutical giant announced on Thursday that it would start testing a third dose on young children “at least two months after the second dose” in an effort “to provide high levels of protection in this young age group.”

Explaining its decision, the company cited clinical data showing that the smallest ‘baby’ dose administered to children under five does not appear to be effective in protecting those in the 2-to-5 age bracket.

Vaccine doses vary across different age groups involved in the study. Children aged 5-12 received two 10-microgram doses – one-third of the adult 30-microgram dose. Children younger than five, including infants, were vaccinated with three-microgram shots.

Pfizer claimed that no safety concerns were identified during the trial, and said it would seek emergency authorization of the new three-dose vaccination regimen for young children next year, provided the three-dose study is a success.

The announcement comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week reported eight cases of myocarditis, a potentially deadly heart inflammation, in children aged 5-11 years old after they received the Pfizer vaccine.

As of November, everyone in the US aged five and above is eligible to be vaccinated for Covid-19. Americans who are at least 16 are also eligible for a Pfizer booster, while those 18 and above can receive a booster from Moderna or Johnson & Johnson.

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Baby gets adult dose of Covid-19 vaccine instead of flu shot

19 Dec, 2021 00:31 

FILE PHOTO: A healthcare worker prepares a syringe with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine 

© REUTERS/Mike Segar

A South Korean doctor has reportedly been sued after giving a seven-month-old infant an adult Covid-19 vaccine, rather than the age-appropriate flu shot that the child was meant to receive.

The incident occurred on September 29 in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday, citing the municipal government. The unidentified doctor gave the baby a dose of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, which had been set aside for the child’s mother.

South Korea’s government limits use of the Moderna vaccine to people 18 and older. It’s also reviewing whether it should follow the lead of other countries in further restricting use of the shot, citing concerns over side effects. For instance, Japanese health officials have called for men under 30 to be inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway also suspended the use of the vaccine for younger age groups.

The Seongnam infant was taken to a nearby hospital and kept under observation for five days. Officials said the child showed “no special signs of side effects,” according to Yonhap. However, the baby’s parents have reportedly sued the doctor, demanding compensation for the mix-up.

Pfizer has tested its Covid-19 vaccine in babies as young as six months old, but doses are much smaller than those given to adults. The shot has been authorized for use in US children as young as 5 years old. Children 5-11 are given two doses of 10 micrograms each, one-third the amount injected into teenagers and adults.

26-y/o Kiwi dies after one dose of Pfizer Covid vaccine

20 Dec, 2021 10:29

A vaccination centre sign directs the public in Auckland, New Zealand. © Reuters / Fiona Goodall

New Zealand officials announced on Monday that a 26-year-old’s death has been formally linked to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after he suffered a rare heart inflammation following his first dose of the Covid jab.

In a statement, the country’s Covid-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board, confirmed the myocarditis that had led to his death “was probably due to vaccination.”

The man died within two weeks of receiving his first dose, and had not sought any medical advice or treatment for his symptoms. Myocarditis, which is listed as a rare potential side effect of the Pfizer jab, causes an inflammation of the heart muscle, restricting blood flow and causing irregular heartbeats.

His death is the second in New Zealand that has been linked to this side effect. In August, a woman suffered a rare heart muscle inflammation after she received the Pfizer vaccine, according to a statement from the Health Ministry, and it led to her death.

While they have not yet been formally linked to the Pfizer vaccine, officials said they were investigating reports of two further deaths of individuals who had been administered the jab, including of a 13-year-old. While the safety monitoring board said more information about the child’s death was still required, the New Zealand authorities said they believed it was unlikely the second case – the death of a man in his 60s – had been due to the vaccine.

While Pfizer did not release a statement in response to the latest development, a company spokesperson stated that the pharmaceutical giant was aware of the reports but still believed the benefits of the vaccine outweighed any risks.

So, probably 3 deaths attributed to Pfizer-BioNTech in NZ. I wonder how many deaths are attributed to Omicron, if any? When the number of deaths from a vaccine outnumber the number of deaths from the disease the vaccine is meant to prevent, then it's time for the madness to stop.

Since beginning its inoculation campaign, New Zealand has administered 7,855,438 Covid jabs, according to data provided to the World Health Organization. While it primarily uses the Pfizer vaccine, officials have also approved the use of those made by Johnson & Johnson and Oxford-AstraZeneca.

Elite gathering of billionaires canceled over Omicron

Davos, Switzerland. © Getty Images / Simon Dawson

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has deferred its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, planned for January 17-21, 2022, due to “continued uncertainty” over the Omicron-strain viral outbreak.

WEF made the announcement on its website, saying that the current circumstances surrounding the spread of the new variant of coronavirus make it “extremely difficult to deliver a global in-person meeting.”

The statement goes on the explain that “Despite the meeting’s stringent health protocols, the transmissibility of Omicron and its impact on travel and mobility have made deferral necessary.”

The Forum will instead hold a series of online sessions that bring participants together “to focus on shaping solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted the traditional January gathering in the Swiss Alps for a second consecutive year.

The 2021 forum was initially rescheduled to take place in August 2021 in Singapore but was then canceled. The 2022 business event is now expected to take place in the early summer, WEF organizers said.

The World Economic Forum was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva. It is the world’s biggest annual economics event, attracting business leaders and politicians from around the globe.

Pope reveals what’s ‘almost satanic’ about Covid-19 pandemic

20 Dec, 2021 12:24

FILE PHOTO. ©REUTERS / Remo Casilli

Pope Francis offered a strongly worded rebuke to those who abuse women and children in their own home, saying such people were universally seen as evildoers. Domestic violence is on the rise due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The remarks by the pontiff were among the Catholic Church’s most stringent condemnations yet of domestic abuse. They were made during a special program that aired on Italy’s TG5 network on Sunday, which introduced to the audience four people struggling with serious hardships in their life and seeking consolation from the Pope.

The first guest, Giovanna, said she had fled a violent and miserable home, taking her four children with her, but Covid restrictions had made her situation much worse, trapping them in trauma and destitution.

“The number of women who are beaten and abused at home, even by their own husbands, is very large,” the Pope said. “For me, this problem is almost satanic, because abusers take advantage of the weakness of those who cannot defend themselves.”

Abuse by a spouse or a parent is particularly vile and humiliating, Francis added. Preserving one’s dignity in such a situation is hard, he said, pointing to the inspiring example of Jesus’ mother, Mary, who kept her dignity even as her son was denounced as a criminal and hung near-naked on a cross.

“I see dignity in you,” he told Giovanna, “because if you did not have dignity, you would not be here.”

The Christmas special, titled ‘Pope Francis and the Invisibles’, also featured a homeless woman who spoke about how people living on the streets are barely noticed by passersby, a convict trying to rebuild his life after spending 25 years behind bars, and a teenage girl who said she was struggling with being isolated from her peers and the outside world during the pandemic.

The teen is a poor representative of the horrors children face these days. It would have been much better had they interviewed a child struggling with her gender identity or with being sexually abused by someone online, or, perhaps, by a priest.

Domestic abuse has been on the rise in many nations since last year, when governments started to impose lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19, and the economic slowdown impacted many families. In Italy, police say some 90 cases of violence against women are reported every day, with over 60% of them happening in the woman’s own home.

Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken out against domestic violence in his interviews and public appearances, calling out the abusers’ cowardice and urging society to provide better protection for victims.