World News
Trudeau tries to play down ‘hot mic’ Trump comments at NATO summit as surprise over G7 setting
RT – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has attempted to downplay an emerging spat over a ‘hot mic’ moment in which he appeared to mock US President Donald Trump while speaking to other NATO leaders.
Trudeau said his “jaws dropped” comment was in relation to Trump’s announcement that the next G7 summit would be held at Camp David. He maintained that the US and Canada have strong ties and that he and Trump have a “good and constructive” relationship.
He added that “We were all surprised and pleased to learn that the next G7 summit would be held in Camp David.”
The Canadian leader did not confirm whether he apologized for his offhand remarks about Trump, who has cancelled his final press conference of the ongoing NATO summit, and referring to Trudeau as “two-faced.”
China’s FM visits S. Korea to reset ties amid dispute over US anti-missile systems
RT – China’s State Councilor Wang Yi, who also serves as foreign minister, arrived in Seoul on Wednesday to repair ties that soured over the deployment of US anti-missile systems in 2017. Making his first visit to the South Korean capital in over four years, Wang met South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and was set to meet President Moon Jae-in on Thursday.
Calling the two countries “close neighbors, friends, and partners,” Wang reportedly said they should work together to keep “regional peace and stability.”
The agenda for meetings was likely to include plans for a trilateral summit with Japan to be held in China later in December, a possible visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as the stalled talks with North Korea, according to Yonhap.
South Korea is also seeking to open additional military hotlines with China after their defiance ministers discussed the issue on the sidelines of a conference in Bangkok last month, Reuters said.
U.N. Cries Poor [Again]: Issues Unprecedented $29 Billion Emergency Funding Appeal
Breitbart – The cash-strapped United Nations has issued an unprecedented global appeal for funds, claiming Wednesday it needs an immediate injection of $29 billion of global taxpayer money as “climate change” and global conflicts pressure existing budgets.
The world body’s Global Humanitarian Overview estimated some 168 million people worldwide will need emergency assistance in 2020, with demand a direct product of “more extreme weather events, notably drought and flooding, which trigger humanitarian emergencies,” U.N. emergency relief coordinator Mark Lowcock said.
Footage appears to show world leaders joking about Trump at Nato summit
The Guardian – A video has emerged that appears to show world leaders joking about Donald Trump at the Nato summit in London, which has been marked by sharp disagreements over spending, future threats including China and Turkey’s role in the alliance.
The footage shows leaders including Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron at a function at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening. Johnson asks Macron: “Is that why he was late?” before Trudeau interjects: “He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top”.
Trudeau adds: “Oh, yeah, yeah yeah. He announced … ” before he is cut off by Macron, who speaks animatedly to the group. Macron’s back is to the camera and his words are inaudible.
It is never said whom the group are talking about, but the exchange appears to refer to the US president, who is known for his long, rambling press conferences and who had an unscripted 50-minute back and forth with reporters on Tuesday.
As he did at last year’s Nato meeting, Trump has thrown out normal summit protocol and used his appearances with allied leaders to field dozens of questions from the world’s media.
Top of the agenda on Wednesday is Turkey’s threat to block a Nato plan for the defence of the Baltics and Poland unless Nato denounces the Syrian Kurds, and by extension endorses the Turkish incursion in October into north-east Syria.
US President Donald Trump cancels final NATO press conference
RT – Donald Trump has abruptly cancelled his final press conference at the NATO summit in London after a video appeared online of leaders including Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau appearing to mock the US president.
Trump tweeted that when his Wednesday meetings are over, he will head back to Washington and won’t do a press conference at the close of the summit, saying he had already done “so many over the past two days.”
Trump deploys ‘surge’ of park rangers to patrol Mexican border.
The Guardian – The Trump administration is sending a new “surge” of rangers from US national parks such as Zion, Yosemite and the National Mall to patrol the southern border for crossings by illegal immigrants.
Continuing a controversial policy initiated in 2018, rangers who work in law enforcement will be dispatched to Organ Pipe Cactus national monument on the Arizona and Mexico border as well as Big Bend national park on the border in south-west Texas.
Donald Trump has been unable to obtain funding for his border emergency plan, which includes an increase in immigration enforcement officials as well as large sums for border wall construction. Diverting rangers from national parks is a way to direct federal resources to the border without the need for congressional approval.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
Daily Mail – Bill and Hillary Clinton stayed at Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious ‘baby-making ranch’ almost every year after they left the White House, according to the disgraced financier’s estate manager.
The former president was Epstein’s closest ‘celebrity mate’ and the Clintons, along with daughter Chelsea, visited Zorro Ranch ‘a whole bunch of times’, a former contractor who ran the IT system at the property told DailyMailTV in an exclusive interview.
The family visited the 10,000-acre estate in the New Mexico desert often, but never stayed in the main house.
Instead, the Clinton family bunked down in a special cowboy-themed village created by Epstein, which is a mile south of his own luxury mountaintop villa. They’d use one of the two guest houses, which look like they’re straight out of the 19th century.
Seen in exclusive DailyMailTV images, the guest homes are next to other traditional Wild West-style buildings such as an old schoolhouse and saloon bar. An American flag is raised high above the village, which is next door to Epstein’s private airstrip, where he arrived on his private planes, including his infamous ‘Lolita Express’.
This is all according to security expert Jared Kellogg, who was brought in by long-standing ranch manager Brice Gordon to improve security and set up a camera system at the main house and ‘cowboy village’.
Florida Police Using FINDER System to Create Lists of Gun Owners
Ammoland -Earlier this month AmmoLand brought its reader a story of an alleged illegal gun list compiled by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department using the FINDER system in Florida.
Pawnbrokers are required to enter information on firearms transactions into the FINDER system. The system transmits the serial number of the firearm along with the make and model to the local sheriffs’ department to make sure that the person pawning the gun, did not steal it. A bug in the system also transmitted the names and addresses of the transfers to local law enforcement. The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department used the information to create a list of gun owners.
In Florida, it is a felony for law enforcement agencies to keep a list of gun owners under Florida Statute 790.335. The Charlotte County State’s Attorney’s Office determined that the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department did not violate any laws in compiling the list. After the results of the investigation, Florida Carry asked the Attorney General’s Office of the state to carry out an independent investigation.
AmmoLand has discovered with the help of reporter Andrew Sheets that abuse of the FINDER system appears to extend past Charlotte County into surrounding jurisdictions. It isn’t clear how far the abuses extend across the state.
Emails obtained by Mr. Sheets and AmmoLand shows that the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department shared their list with other departments. One of the other law enforcement agencies that the Sheriff shared their list with is the North Port Police department.
The Sarasota Sheriff’s Office has also been compiling a list using the FINDER system. More disturbing is that the Sheriff provided an unredacted list of pawn transactions via email to Mr. Sheets. The file contains not only information about the firearm, but also the names of the person pawning the gun, putting them at risk of robbery and violating their privacy rights.
Democrat ‘Expert’ Impeachment Witness Gave $1000 Donation to Elizabeth Warren
Breitbart – Stanford Law School professor Pamela Karlan, one of three expert witnesses called by Democrats to testify on the first day of the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment inquiry, donated $1000 to the presidential campaign of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in July, according to to Federal Elections Commission (FEC) data.
Karlan gave the Warren for President, Inc. campaign committee two separate $500 donations on July 29, 2019, the FEC reports.
Kamala Harris Says She’s Still ‘in This Fight,’ but Out of the 2020 Race
NYT – Senator Kamala Harris of California dropped out of the Democratic presidential race on Tuesday after months of low poll numbers and a series of missteps that crippled her campaign, a deflating comedown for a barrier-breaking candidate who was seeking to become the first black woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination.
The decision came after weeks of upheaval among Ms. Harris’s staff, including layoffs in New Hampshire and at her headquarters in Baltimore, and disarray among her allies. She told supporters in an email on Tuesday that she lacked the money needed to fully finance a competitive campaign.
“My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue,” Ms. Harris wrote. “But I want to be clear with you: I am still very much in this fight.”
House Dems Seek Tax Returns From Executive Branch, Families
Newsmax – Democratic Reps. Max Rose of New York and Katie Porter of California will introduce a bill Wednesday to require all people in the executive branch and their direct families to disclose their financial records, including income tax returns for the past five years.
“What this bill is about is accountability and transparency, irrespective of party, whether it’s a president, vice president, or an executive appointee,” Rose said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“We will expand the financial disclosure forms to include their direct family. This bill would mandate that they divulge or reveal their last five years of tax returns and I think most importantly, the financial disclosure form for their family members would include any foreign business dealings with their private companies.”
The move comes a day after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the legality of congressional subpoenas seeking President Donald Trump’s banking records while saying sensitive personal information should be protected.
Porter said the bill is about both sides of the aisle, however, and addresses a “problem that existed before President Trump came along.”
Yang campaign contacts FBI over death threats.
The Hill – Businessman Andrew Yang‘s presidential campaign says it has contacted the FBI after receiving several death threats during its latest swing through New Hampshire.
Emails sent to Yang’s campaign and reviewed by The Hill showed a user going by the name “HitmanYang” threatening to shoot members of Yang’s camp while they were in the Granite State.
Many of the emails referenced the campaign’s tweets, threatening that if the number of tweets from the candidate reached an unspecified threshold that members of the campaign would be shot.
One of the emails suggested that more than one individual was involved and that money had been pooled to bet on how many tweets Yang’s campaign would send over a span of about a week.
“Recently, the campaign received threats via email regarding the candidate and specific public events. Due to certain specific information contained in the emails, and out of an abundance of caution, we immediately contacted the FBI and local enforcement and have been working with them,” a Yang campaign official told The Hill.
“The candidate’s safety and the safety of the public at-large is our utmost priority and we’ll continue to stay alert while following the guidance of law enforcement to take any necessary security measures. We’ve referred the matter to the FBI for investigation.”
The Hanover Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. The FBI declined to comment.
Economy & Business
Fed Adds $99.56 Billion in Short-Term Liquidity to Markets
WSJ – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York added $95.56 billion in temporary liquidity to financial markets Tuesday.
Man arrested ‘for making 24,000 complaint calls’
BBC – An 71-year-old man has been arrested in Tokyo for making 24,000 complaint calls to his phone operator, police say.
Akitoshi Okamoto is accused of making thousands of calls to KDDI’s free number in just eight days, accusing them of violating his contract.
The company told local media he had been calling repeatedly for a total period of two-and-a-half years.
Mr Okamoto denies harassing the firm, and told the police he was the victim in the situation.
Japanese media report Mr Okamoto accused KDDI of violating his contract because his phone was unable to pick up radio broadcasts.
Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police said that when Mr Okamoto called the company, he would either insult its customer service staff or demand that a representative visit him to apologise.
Science & Technology
NaturalNews – If you’re wondering why people who live in 5G rollout areas seem to be going insane, it’s not your imagination. 5G radiation causes “neuropsychiatric” effects through a mechanism described as ion potentiation poisoning of brain cells, according to research published in Environmental Research.
This results in behavioral changes and even personality changes among those who are routinely exposed, researchers found. In other words, 5G is a weapon system that doubles as a telecommunications infrastructure, but the real impact is to damage human brain function and destroy rationality, reason and civility, especially among those who live in high population cities where 5G towers are becoming ubiquitous. That’s why you may have noticed increased insanity and widespread mental derangement in those areas.
United States Regards Space as Theatre of War – President Putin
Sputnik – The comment comes as leaders of NATO approved the decision to recognise space as ‘potential theatre for operations’ at a summit that is currently taking place in London.
The military and political apparatus of the United States views space as a theatre of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting dedicated to the development of the Russian Navy on Wednesday.
“Russia has always been and will remain opposed to the military use of space,” Putin said. “Leading nations of the world are actively developing modern space systems for military use…and the United States, in particular, is openly regarding space as a war theatre.”
The Russian president added that the US is planning to conduct military operations in space to maintain its strategic superiority in this domain.
According to Putin, the current situation requires Russia to pay increased attention to strengthening the orbital group, as well as space and rocket industry in general.
He noted that the capabilities of Russia’s missile attack warning system had significantly grown, adding that the system promptly detected launches of ballistic missiles.
Putin’s comments come as NATO leaders are attending a summit in London dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the alliance.
Larry Page steps down as CEO of ALPHABET…
CNBC – Alphabet CEO Larry Page announced Tuesday that he will step down from the position. Google CEO Sundar Pichai will take over as CEO of the parent company in addition to his current role. Co-founder Sergey Brin will also step down as president of Alphabet and the role will be eliminated.
Alphabet’s stock was up as much as 0.8% after hours.
“With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, it’s the natural time to simplify our management structure,” Page and Brin wrote in a blog post announcing the change. “We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company. And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President.”
Health
Manuka Honey May Be Coming To A Hospital Near You, New Study Finds
MBG – Manuka honey, the magical healing honey from New Zealand, has caught the eye of the surgical community and may have found a new sweet spot in the medical world.
Researchers, led by scientists from Newcastle University and Ulster University in the United Kingdom, found that layering tiny amounts of Manuka honey between layers of surgical mesh could act as a natural preventive antibiotic to stop infections that are a risk after operations.
What did the researchers find?
Using alternative layers of Manuka honey and surgical mesh, they were able to create a natural antibiotic barrier, which helped prevent infections such as MRSA, Staphylococcus, and E. coli.
The researchers fit 16 layers of alternating mesh and honey into mere nanometers to create the technology, which was tested in lab in vitro applications. These so-called nano-layers of the honey between the mesh created an “electrostatic nano-coating” that actively fought bacteria for three weeks by slowly releasing the honey.
Though only lab tests, these results offer promising evidence for the application of this technology after operations. But there is a fine line for the use of honey in this way:
“Too little honey and it won’t be enough to fight the infection but too much honey can kill the cells,” said Piergiorgio Gentile, Ph.D., lead author and a biomedical engineer at Newcastle University. “By creating this 16-layer ‘charged sandwich’ we were able to make sure the honey was released in a controlled way.”
Health Officials Warn Of Deadly Drug-Resistant Fungus; 806 Cases Nationwide
ABC – The New Jersey Department of Health says there’s over 140 confirmed cases of a deadly drug-resistant fungus in the state. According to the health department, as of Sept. 30, there’s been 141 cases of Candida auris, a fungus that causes serious infections in patients with ventilators, primarily in long-term acute hospitals or nursing homes.
There are 22 other probable cases of the drug-resistant fungus in the state.
“Patients can carry C. auris on their body, even if it is not making them sick. This is called colonization. When people in hospitals and nursing homes are colonized, C. auris can spread from their bodies and can get on other people or nearby objects, allowing the fungus to spread to people around them,” the health department says on its website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than one in three patients with invasive C. auris infection die. The fungus is often resistant to medicines and can spread in hospitals and nursing homes.
- auris causes serious infections after entering the bloodstream and spreading throughout the patient’s body.
The CDC is working with public health partners, health care personnel and laboratories to stop the spread. The CDC calls C. auris a “serious global health threat.”
There are 806 confirmed cases nationwide.
The New Jersey Health Department says if you suspect or identify C. auris, contact your local health department and the NJDOH Communicable Disease Service at (609) 826-5964.
Canada Launches Lawsuit Against Bayer
Mercola – Canadian law firm Diamond & Diamond has filed a class-action lawsuit against various makers of Roundup, including Bayer.
The Canadian class-action suit names more than 60 individuals as plaintiffs, but thousands more may have been affected.
The suit alleges that Roundup, which contains glyphosate as an active ingredient, caused serious health problems in the users, including Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, brain cancer and lung cancer.
In the U.S., approximately 42,700 U.S. lawsuits from individuals alleging that glyphosate caused them to develop cancer have already been filed and analysts suggested the number of glyphosate lawsuits may soon surpass 45,000
Scientists combined pulsed light treatment and edible coating to preserve fresh-cut cantaloupes
NaturalNews – n many countries, fresh-cut fruits and vegetables are attracting more and more consumers due to their convenience as ready-to-eat products. However, while these products help people save time, the processes they go through leave them exposed to environmental elements, which can cause their rapid deterioration. In terms of nutrition, current processing and storage methods also do not protect the nutrient content of fresh-cut produce and even contribute to their loss. Recognizing the need for better quality retention and shelf-life preservation methods for fresh-cut products, researchers from Universiti Putra Malaysia conducted experiments to optimize alginate coating formulations, which are used to extend the shelf life of fresh-cut cantaloupes treated with repetitive pulsed light (RPL). The details of their study were published in the Journal of Food Processing and Preservation.
Fresh-cut foods and shelf life extension methods
Fresh-cut products are defined as ready-to-eat foods like fruits and vegetables that have already been cleaned, peeled and conveniently prepared for human consumption. Unlike their unprocessed counterparts, fresh-cut produce no longer have their protective outer covering, so they are more vulnerable to food spoilage.
Several methods have been developed to preserve fresh-cut products and help them retain their fresh-like quality. Some of these methods include:
- Washing with disinfectants such as hypochlorite, organic acids and warm water
- Using antimicrobial edible films and coatings
- Controlled atmosphere storage
- Modified atmosphere packaging
Mexico Bans 1000 ton Shipment of Glyphosate Herbicide From Entering the Country
AP -The Mexican government says it won’t allow a 1,000-ton shipment of the pesticide glyphosate into the country, citing health and environmental concerns.
Mexico became the latest in a string of countries to announce bans on glyphosate, the active ingredient in weed killer Roundup.
Mexico’s environment department said Monday it denied a permit to import glyphosate, presumably for agricultural use.
The department said “glyphosate represents a high environmental risk, given the credible presumption that its use can cause serious environmental damage and irreversible health damage.”
There have been a host of successful U.S. lawsuits from people who claim glyphosate causes cancer.
Previously, Thailand and Germany announced bans or phase-outs of glyphosate.
More Stories
Today’s News: April 19, 2024
Today’s News: April 18, 2024
Today’s News: April 17, 2024