Weekly News-Feb-21-2024
Here are our top 5 stories of the week.
#1 – U.S. and Russia Agree to Normalize Ties and Seek Ukraine Peace
By Cassie B | Natural News
In a significant diplomatic breakthrough, American and Russian officials met on Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss the normalization of bilateral relations and the possibility of ending the conflict in Ukraine. The meeting, which lasted nearly 4.5 hours, marked the first high-level talks between the two nations since the onset of the war in Ukraine.
The Russian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential aide Yury Ushakov, met with a US team headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Both sides expressed a willingness to move forward on several key issues, including the restoration of diplomatic missions, the appointment of ambassadors, and the creation of a framework for Ukraine peace talks. Read full article >
#2 – Bird Flu Vaccine Conditionally Approved for Use in Chickens.
By Veronika Kyrylenko | The New American
Source: Adobe Stock
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), under newly appointed Secretary Brooke Rollins, granted a conditional license for Zoetis’ avian influenza vaccine for use in chickens.
According to Zoetis, the USDA’s Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB) issued the license based on the vaccine’s “safety, purity, and reasonable expectation of efficacy, as demonstrated through serology data,” or blood tests measuring immune response.
However, this is a conditional license. The vaccine — officially named “Avian Influenza Vaccine, H5N2 Subtype, Killed Virus” — has not yet undergone full-scale field trials to prove its long-term effectiveness. Conditional approval allows limited use of the vaccine during an emergency. Read full article >
#3 – Trump Warns 25% Tariffs On Cars, Drugs And Chips Coming In April
With Wall Street growing more confident by the day that Trump’s tariffs are nothing but hot air, and pushing stocks to new record highs, today after the close President Donald Trump tried to reassure the market that tariffs are indeed coming and said he would likely impose tariffs on auto, semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports of around 25%, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2.
The new duties, if implemented, would widen the president’s trade war. Trump previously announced 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum that are set to take effect in March, but Tuesday’s comments are his most detailed yet in specifying other sectors that would be hit with fresh barriers. Read full article >
#4 – Israel Wants Next U.
By Chris Menahan | Information Liberation
The Israel Lobby wants the next multibillion dollar US aid package for the Jewish state to “span 25 years, rather than 10” in order to “insulate the relationship against future US political vagaries and uncertainties.”
Extrapolating out the current commonly cited (yet dramatically understated) funding level the US provides Israel of $3.8 billion a year, that means Israel wants the next aid package to be almost $100 billion. Read full article >
#5 – By the Numbers: Trump and Musk’s Layoffs at U.
By Fast Company via Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, one of his closest advisers, have mounted a sweeping campaign to slash the size of the 2.3 million-strong federal workforce, firing more than 10,000 employees in an unprecedented effort that shows no sign of slowing.
The layoffs were primarily aimed at workers who have been in their current jobs for less than a year, who have fewer job protections than longer-tenured staffers. In addition, about 75,000 workers have accepted buyouts from the Trump administration.
The Trump administration has yet to give a total number of how many people it has fired. Read full article >
#5 (tie) – US Designates Mexican Cartels As “Foreign Terrorists,” Signaling Financial Warfare Looms
By Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge
Source: Adobe Stock
The US State Department has designated eight Latin American drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, setting the stage for a series of legal and financial measures aimed at paralyzing command structures and financial networks of cartels to stop the drug death catastrophe in the US.
“Foreign Terrorist Organization Designations of Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha, Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, Cartel del Noreste, Cartel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana,” a notice issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio read earlier this month. Read full article >
Here are our top 5 most underreported or most bizarre stories of the week.
#1 – Al Gore: Action on Climate is ‘Unstoppable’, Despite Recent Shifts in US Policy
“A lot of the decisions that affect global warming pollution emissions are not down to what the federal government in the US does.”
That is Al Gore’s assessment of the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s notice to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Annual Meeting, the former US vice-president and climate campaigner told Radio Davos why he thinks momentum on climate action is unstoppable, how measuring emissions is key to managing them, and what he thinks will happen next. Read full article >
#2 – RFK Jr.
By Brian Shilhavy | Vaccine Impact
The day after the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the first firings at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were announced, and they included FDA employees working in the medical device division, including the team that was investigating Elon Musk’s brain implant company, Neuralink.
Neuralink was previously facing a federal investigation over alleged deaths of monkeys in the Neuralink trials. Read full article >
#3 – Via Executive Order, Trump Cuts Funding to Universities That Still Mandate COVID Shots
By Ben Bartee | Armageddon Prose
By cutting off their federal funding for non-compliance, Trump just effectively outlawed COVID-19 mandates at the remaining fifteen colleges and universities that still cling to the policy as a prerequisite for students and staff to participate in higher education.
Via The Hill (emphasis added):
“President Trump signed an executive order Friday to defund schools and other education agencies that require COVID-19 vaccines for students and staff.
#4 – Argentine President Javier Milei Faces Impeachment Over $107 Million Crypto Scandal
By Cassie B | Natural News
Argentine President Javier Milei is now at risk of impeachment after endorsing a cryptocurrency that collapsed in what critics are calling a $107 million “rug pull.”
The scandal erupted last Friday, when Milei promoted the $LIBRA token on social media, only for insiders to cash out and wipe out nearly 94% of its value within hours. Opposition lawmakers are demanding accountability, accusing Milei of enabling a scam that has embarrassed Argentina on the global stage. Read full article >
#5 – ‘Wicked’ Star, Self-identified Bisexual Actress Cynthia Erivo Cast as the Son of God in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’
By Ian M. Giatti | The Christian Post
A black LGBT-identified British actress best known for her role in “Wicked” has been tapped to play the role of Jesus in an upcoming production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Cynthia Erivo, 38, is no stranger to the longtime Broadway hit: she previously portrayed Mary Magdalene in an all-female version of “Superstar” in 2020.
But the Feb. 18 Hollywood Bowl announcement that Erivo will portray the Son of God in the musical by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber has drawn criticism from pastors and Christian audiences alike. Read full article >
#5 (tie) – DRC: 70 Christians Beheaded in a Church by Islamic Terrorists
By Rhoda Wilson | The Exposé
More than 380 million Christians worldwide face persecution and discrimination for their faith. On Open Doors’ World Watch List of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution, the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) ranks 35th. DRC has risen six places on the World Watch List due to an increase in violence, Open Doors says.
Even though 90% of people in the DRC are Christian, believers are increasingly vulnerable to persecution. With the growth of multiple Islamic extremist and rebel groups perpetrating violence, coupled with an ineffective, complicit, and/or corrupt government, Christians in the DRC are suffering from unprecedented persecution. Read full article >
