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The US broke a world record for average daily COVID cases for the second day in a row with 647,067 reported on Thursday, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of John Hopkins data   Daily Mail: US smashes global COVID infection record for a second day with 647,067 new cases in 24 hours and 2.5m in a week after experts warned 'we are at the very beginning' of a viral blizzard that will cause de facto shut-down: Deaths halve to 1,400   * The US smashed yet another global COVID infection record on Thursday when 647,067 new cases were reported - up 26 percent from the day before, when 512,533 new cases were reported  * In total, the United States saw 2.49 million new cases within the past week, outpacing the country's previous record of 1.7 million new cases recorded in the one-week period from January 3 through January 9  * At the same time, though, the number of daily deaths have halved from 2,800 to 1,400 between Wednesday and Thursday, sparking hopes Omicron wo...

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  From Wikipieda: The story of USS Belinda (APA-22), launched late 1943 with regular-Navy Captain Jebediah S. Hawks (Jeff Chandler) and ex-merchant marine Lieutenant Dave MacDougall (George Nader) as boat commander. Despite personal friction, the two have plenty with which to deal as the only experienced officers on board during the ship's shakedown cruise. Almost laughable incompetence gradually improves, but the crew remains far from perfect when the ship sees action, landing troops on enemy beachheads. Few anticipate the challenges in store at Okinawa. ( Read more ). from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3qyrGyi via IFTTT

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi (Photo by president.ir)   Newsweek: Iran Says U.S. 'Growing Weaker' Daily Amid Nuclear Tensions   Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has dismissed the U.S. as a power "in decline," as negotiators from both nations try to find a way to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal at talks in Vienna.  Speaking with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega by phone on Wednesday, Raisi urged his counterpart to resist U.S. sanctions in the same way Tehran has done since May 2018, when former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and embarked on his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran.  "We are certain that Nicaragua too can overcome the U.S.'s threats and sanctions since today the U.S. is in decline, and is growing weaker day by day," Raisi told Ortega, according to a readout published by Iran's state-owned PressTV.   Read more ....   Update: US in decline, growing weaker day by day: P...

WNU Editor: The GF spotted it before I did. And yeah .... this is a staged photo-op.  The answer is here .... Can You Spot What's Wrong With This Picture of Joe Biden? (PJ Media). from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3Hnnng0 via IFTTT

Kamala’s response to questions about inflation really highlights that constant complaint from her staffers that she “refuses to wade into briefing materials.” pic.twitter.com/EE8sGMBqYG — Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) December 30, 2021 Twitchy: WOOF, this was painful: Kamala Harris’s response when asked about inflation is a hot dumpster of CRINGE (watch)   Kamala really really really REALLY needs to start doing some sort of prep for these questions.  Wow.  You would think she’d at least be ready for questions on COVID, and inflation, but nope. Not at all.  And she knows it which makes her answer even more painful.  She is so painfully out of her league.  Not a great speaker, not a great thinker, not a great leader. Not a great anything, really.  Read more ....   Update: Watch: Kamala Harris Gives Bizarre Answer To Inflation Question (Zero Hedge)   WNU Editor : Just think. She is a heartbeat away from being the next U.S. ...

The deal is part of an upgrade of Israel's air force capabilities and includes an option to buy six additional choppers An undated photograph of a Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion heavy transport helicopter, which Israel signed an agreement to purchase from the United States on December 30, 2021. (Lockheed Martin)   Times of Israel: With Iran in mind, Israel signs deal with US for heavy choppers, refueling planes   Weapons sale to cost $3.1 billion, with the funds coming from military aid Washington provides to Jerusalem Israel on Thursday signed a long-awaited agreement to purchase a dozen heavy transport helicopters and two additional refueling planes from the United States, in a weapons deal worth over $3 billion, the Defense Ministry said.  These aircraft, along with a number of additional F-35 fighter jets that Israel plans to purchase from the US, are specifically meant to counter threats posed by Iran, including its nuclear program.   Read more .......

  Daily Mail: Putin warns Biden sanctions will be a 'colossal mistake' and threatens to SEVER ties: US president urges Russian leader to 'de-escalate' and says West will 'respond decisively' if he 'further invades' Ukraine   * Both sides threatened consequences if Ukraine crisis is not resolved quickly  * Biden and Putin talked by telephone for 50 minutes on Thursday afternoon  * The Russian president said new sanctions would lead to the complete breakdown in relations between Washington and Moscow, said the Kremlin  * Russia has deployed almost 100,000 troops close to the border with Ukraine  * Putin says he wants guarantees that Ukraine will not be admitted to NATO  * Earlier it emerged that a US spy plane had been spotted over eastern Ukraine  Kremlin officials said President Putin warned Joe Biden that new sanctions would lead to a complete breakdown in relations between the two countries, during a 50-minute phone call to discuss the ...

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Zero Hedge: COVID 'Blood On His Hands': Biden 'Kills' More Americans Than Trump   "We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science - not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency," Biden said in February 2020.  President Biden may not recall what he said during a 2020 campaign debate last fall, but Americans should:   “Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as President of the United States of America.”   At the time the U.S. had recorded 220,000 Covid deaths.    “If the president had done his job, had done his job from the beginning, all the people would still be alive,” Mr. Biden said last fall. Read more ....   WNU Editor: Zero Hedge is blunt with the following comment on why President Biden's poll numbers are at levels not seen in modern US Presidential pollin...

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Daily Mail: US sets WORLD record 489,267 COVID cases in 24 hours as country risks grinding to a HALT: 'Incoming viral blizzard will make it hard to keep everyday life operating'   * The U.S. recorded 489,267 new cases on Thursday, the most of any country in the world during the pandemic so far  * On average, America is recording 300,000 new cases per day, a record for the pandemic as the nation suffers another winter surge  * Dr Michael Osterholm, a former advisor to President Biden's transition team, said he expects a 'viral blizzard' to exacerbate the situation in the coming weeks  * The Omicron COVID-19 variant is fueling the surge, and accounts for between 40% to 70% of new COVID-19 cases, according to CDC data  * The CDC recently dropped the required quarantine time for a positive Covid case down to five days, from ten, in an effort to keep society running amid the surge  The United States has hit a record of nearly 500,000 daily coronavirus c...

Americans are waiting in lines for hours in cities across the country to get their COVID test. Above is one of those lines, seen in Times Square on Wednesday   Daily Mail: Omicron red alert: Biden is slammed as Americans wait hours to be tested while a record 301,472 new daily average cases are reported across the US: Experts warn surge will 'threaten critical infrastructure'   * Americans are still waiting hours in lines to be tested for COVID-19 as the Omicron variant sweeps the nation  * The US broke a world record for daily average cases with 301,472  * Biden caught heat Wednesday after announcing that contracts won't be finished 'until next week' for the 500 million at-home tests he promised  * There are still unanswered questions about how the at-home test distribution will work and how long it will take for the tests to arrive once ordered  * Yesterday, the CDC made a shock revision of Omicron prevalence, cutting the number of cases involving...

China has deployed dozens of Sharp Claw fighting vehicles to its border region with India, it is claimed, which are fitted with light machineguns   Daily Mail: China 'replaces soldiers with machinegun-carrying robots in Tibet because its troops cannot cope with the freezing conditions and thin air'   * China is deploying dozens of unmanned vehicles to its border with India  * Kill-bots fitted with machineguns and ammo transports have been moved  * Comes after Chinese troops struggled to operate in high-altitude conditions  * Chinese and Indian troops are locked into a standoff in the high Himalayas  China is deploying machinegun-carrying robots to its western desert regions amid a standoff with India because troops are struggling with the high-altitude conditions, it has been claimed.  Dozens of unmanned vehicles capable of carrying both weapons and supplies are being sent to Tibet, Indian media reports, with the majority deployed in border re...

China-Russia Photo: VCG   Global Times: Exclusive: China, Russia to sign new 5-year space cooperation program, build intl lunar station by 2035: Roscosmos   China and Russia will sign a new space Cooperation Program for 2023-2027 next year, which will include a plan to create an open and inclusive International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) by 2035, Russia's national space agency Roscosmos told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.  The new program will also include plans to support the development of the ground segment of the two countries' national satellite systems, Russia's GLONASS and China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) to be installed next year, as well as a slate of exciting projects Roscosmos and the China National Space Agency (CNSA) will work on in the coming decades as the two countries join forces to achieve new heights in the sphere of space exploration.   Read more ....   WNU Editor: This is a follow-up on what was agree...

A Taiwanese F-16 fighter jet flying next to a Chinese H-6 bomber (top) off the coast of Taiwan on Feb 10, 2020. PHOTO: AFP/TAIWAN'S DEFENCE MINISTRY   NBC/Reuters: China warns of ‘drastic measures’ if Taiwan provokes on independence   While the U.S. recognizes only one China, it is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and has long followed a policy of “strategic ambiguity.” BEIJING — China will take “drastic measures” if Taiwan makes moves towards independence, a Beijing official warned on Wednesday, adding that Taiwan’s provocations and outside meddling could intensify next year.  China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and in the past two years has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its sovereignty claim, fueling anger in Taipei and concern in Washington.  China was willing to try its utmost to seek peaceful reunification with Taiwan but would act if any red lines on independence were c...

FILE PHOTO. © Sputnik / Vladimir Astapkovich   RT: The last war: How a US-Russia conflict would play out   A showdown between Washington & Moscow would be the worst outcome for both sides, and they know it  Hundreds of formidable tanks rolling down hills, thousands of high-caliber guns unleashing devastating artillery barrages, apocalyptic nuclear explosions, millions of deaths and indescribable suffering: that would be how any potential military conflict between US and Russia would play out.  RT explains why direct military confrontation between the two countries would not help solve a conflict, but instead be likely a world-ending catastrophe.  Read more ....   WNU Editor : No one would win a nuclear war. But the perception in the Kremlin is that the U.S. is exploring ways on fighting one .... US displaying dangerous trend of lowering threshold for use of nukes, warns diplomat (TASS). from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3sNsIsX via IFTT...

  Daily Mail: Russian 'star wars' missile designed to shoot down satellites, nukes and orbital hypersonic weapons enters service amid tensions with the West   * Russian S-550 missile system has entered active service, security source said  * 'Star wars' missile thought to be capable of shooting down targets in space  * S-550 could target low-orbit satellites, nukes, and orbital hypersonic weapons  * Putin has been bulking up his military while ramping up tensions with the West  Russia has deployed into service a new top-secret 'star wars' missile that is designed to shoot down nukes and satellites.  The S-550 missile defence system 'has entered combat duty', according to defence sources who spoke to state news agency TASS on Wednesday.  While little is known about the missile, it is thought to be Russia's latest foray into the space arms race - designed to take out targets hundreds of miles above earth such as low-orbit satellites, nucle...

  WNU editor: From CNBC ....  .... Hypersonic air travel is anything that travels at Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. The U.S. was once a leader in developing supersonic and hypersonic technology, but has taken "our foot off the gas," according to Mark Lewis, executive director of the National Defense Industrial Association's Emerging Technologies Institute.  Watch the video to find out more about how the U.S. fell behind Russia, China and possibly North Korea, and how we're spending billions to catch up. from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3FG3aSi via IFTTT

An image released by the White House showed President Biden in the Situation Room as he spoke to Putin by videolink earlier this month   Daily Mail: Biden and Putin will have a phone call TOMORROW: Russian leader demands Joe speak to him directly to discuss troop build up in Ukraine and diplomatic tensions   * Biden and Putin to talk by telephone Thursday at request of Russian president  * Russia has deployed about 100,000 troops close to the border with Ukraine  * Putin says he wants guarantees that Ukraine will not be admitted to NATO  * But Biden will tell his counterpart to expect consequences if he invades Ukraine  President Joe Biden will talk to his Russian counterpart on Thursday, the White House announced, amid continuing alarm at Russia's military buildup on its shared border with Ukraine.   The two leaders will hold a phone call 'to discuss a range of topics, including upcoming diplomatic engagements with Russia,' said National...

  WNU Editor: More details here .... PROOF: The Royal Bank of Canada rejected our mortgage because we're conservative (Rebel News).  I live in Canada and this is beyond disturbing. And to top it all off I am also a long time Royal Bank customer.  If this story is true, we in Canada are entering a very bleak and dark period of time. from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3zbb6s0 via IFTTT

  Daily Mail: WHO warns of 'very high' risk omicron could overwhelm healthcare systems worldwide despite early data showing the Covid variant has reduced risk of hospitalisation   * The WHO said Omicron still poses 'very high' risk to healthcare systems  * Case numbers have shot up 11 percent across the world in the last week  * But it added that further data was needed to understand Omicron's severity  * Leaders are trying manage restrictions while keeping the economy open Omicron still poses 'very high' risk and could overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO warned on Wednesday, as the highly transmissible coronavirus variant fuelled record outbreaks in many countries.  Case numbers have shot up 11 percent globally in the last week, forcing governments from China to Germany and France to find a difficult balance between anti-virus restrictions and the need to keep economies and societies open.  The Netherlands and Switzerland said Omicron had...

Daily Mail: Rampant Omicron becomes U.S.'s dominant strain: 377,014 Americans are diagnosed with COVID in 24 HOURS - one day after a record 512,553 caught the virus   * CDC made shock revision of Omicron prevalence, cutting the number of cases involving the new strain by half  * Omicron accounted for 23% of all cases in the week ending December 18, as opposed to 73% initially reported  * The Omicron variant accounted for 59% of all new cases for the week ending on December 25, CDC says  * It means that Delta has been accounting for far more infections than the agency initially thought  * Still, data from England warns that Omicron will soon take over, as the variant is now 92% of all cases there  * On Tuesday the US broke its record for daily COVID-19 cases, with a seven-day average of 264,546 cases  * The country's previous record was about 247,503 daily cases, reported on January 11, 2021  * On Tuesday, the US recorded 377,014 new cas...

  Subsidiaries of the State Corporation Rostec - the Vega concern of the Ruselectronics holding and the TANTK im. G.M. Beriev - handed over to the Russian Aerospace Forces the modernized A-50U long-range radar surveillance and guidance aviation complex. The board can detect fundamentally new types of aircraft, and is also capable of simultaneously tracking a greater number of targets and guided fighters than the previous modification. Read full news at this link A-50U airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft   (Picture source: United Aircraft Corporation) Read more from World Defence News https://ift.tt/3pzZrQo via IFTTT

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Russian Central Bank. TASS   Antonio Graceffo, Zero Hedge/The Epoch Times : Banning Russia From SWIFT Would Drive It Closer To China   The United States has threatened to cut Russia off from the SWIFT banking system, to prevent it from invading Ukraine. This would wreck Russia’s economy, driving the country closer to China.  The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), established in 1973, is a communication platform that is used by banks, brokerages, and financial institutions to process payments across countries. Each year, SWIFT transmits roughly 10 billion messages between 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries and dependencies, processing trillions of dollars in payments.  The SWIFT system is governed by Belgian and European law, and is overseen by the G10 central banks. Therefore, SWIFT would not be obligated to meet U.S. demands. But Washington could pressure the platform to comply, as it did in 2012, when the...

Photo shows Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi (L) holding a videoconference with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe (screen) in Tokyo on Dec. 27, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Defense Ministry)(Kyodo)   CNN: Japan and China agree to set up defense hotline amid territorial tensions   Hong Kong (CNN)The defense ministers of Japan and China on Monday agreed to set up a joint communication hotline by the end of 2022, a news release from Japan's Defense Ministry said, amid tensions between the East Asian neighbors.  China's Defense Ministry confirmed the hotline agreement in a statement without giving a date for its implementation.  The agreement -- reached during a two-hour video conference between Japan's Nobuo Kishi and China's Wei Fenghe -- comes with their countries in dispute over Taiwan and issues in the East and South China seas.   Read more ....  Japan And China Agree To A Military Hotline Japan, China agree to begin operating defense hotline n...

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses the media at the Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela October 15, 2021. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File Photo  Reuters: Venezuela's president to visit Iran 'very soon'   CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday he will soon visit Iran to finalize new agreements on cooperation with the Middle Eastern country, which has become Venezuela's top ally in boosting oil output amid U.S. sanctions.  Venezuela and Iran have strengthened their ties since last year. Maduro's government has received vital equipment for its oil industry from Iran, which in return has received crude and other primary resources from the South American country.  Iran has been crucial for Venezuela's rising oil production in 2021.   "I am going to Teheran very soon, for a visit that President (Ebrahim) Raisi offered me, so that we meet in person, to hold conversations and sign new agreements .....

Statista : Where Corruption Is Rampant  Transparency International has released its 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index which gauges levels of perceived public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories around the world. The index scores them on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (clean) with the average score just 43 out of 100. Two thirds of countries scored less than 50. The research found that corruption was rampant across the world in 2020 and that it undermined the response to Covid-19, threatened the global recovery and contributed to democratic backsliding.   Read more ....   WNU Editor : Belarusian President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Europe’s last dictator, has been named 2021’s Person of the Year by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) .... Name of world’s most corrupt person in 2021 revealed (Pakistan Observer). from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3mGAl0t via IFTTT

Colonel Mamady Doumbouya addressing Guineans after the September 5 coup [File: Screengrab]  Al Jazeera : 2021, the year military coups returned to the stage in Africa   This year, there were four successful military takeovers across the continent – in Chad, Mali, Guinea and Sudan – up from one in 2020.   Surrounded by soldiers and with Guinea’s flag draped around his shoulders, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya appeared on state television hours after leading a coup in September. “Guinea is beautiful,” he told his co-patriots, using a crude analogy to describe what would be his vision for the future of his country.  “We no longer need to rape her. We need to make love to her, that’s all.”  Doumbouya’s elite Special Forces had earlier stormed the presidential palace and detained Alpha Conde, the country’s first democratically elected president whose election victory in 2010 was once seen as a new beginning after decades of authoritarian rule.  But the 83-year...

CNBC: Why the Pentagon failed another audit   The Pentagon has failed another audit this year. But with $770 billion expected to be budgeted for 2022, the Department of Defense says it is working on keeping track of all this money.  “It took the Department of Homeland Security a decade to pass its audit, and it’s a fraction of the size of the Defense Department,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute. “There is a bit out there that just because the department can’t pass the audit, it doesn’t know where it’s spending its money. And it does. But what it doesn’t do well is track it at an enterprise level.“   Read more ....   WNU editor: The Pentagon sees this as a half glass full rather than a half glass empty .... U.S. Pentagon fails fourth audit but sees steady progress (Reuters). from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3ew3HKI via IFTTT

The USS Milwaukee (pictured) has 25 per cent of its crew infected with COVID-19. The infected sailors have been isolated   Daily Mail: Navy warship the USS Milwaukee suffers COVID breakout which has seen a QUARTER of its 100 fully-vaccinated crew test positive and forced vessel to remain at Guantanamo Bay   * Roughly 25 per cent of the USS Milwaukee has tested positive for COVID-19 and they have been isolated  * The Navy said that 100 per cent of the soldiers on the ship are immunized and it believes vaccination was a key factor in controlling the outbreak  * The USS Milwaukee is the first ship this year to be interrupted from its course due to COVID-19  * Roughly 98 per cent of all sailors in the Navy are fully vaccinated  A quarter of the fully-vaccinated crew about US Navy warship the USS Milwaukee have tested positive for COVID, defense officials revealed.  The outbreak has forced the vessel to remain sidelined in port at Naval Station Gua...

Brig Gen Turki Al Malki, spokesman of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition supporting Yemen's government, addresses the media in Riyadh. Reuters   RFE: Saudi-Led Coalition Accuses Iran, Hizballah Of Helping Yemen's Huthi Rebels   A Saudi-led coalition fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen has accused Iran and Lebanon's Tehran-backed Shi'ite militant movement Hizballah of helping the insurgents to launch missiles and drones at the kingdom.  Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki told reporters on December 26 that the Iran-aligned Huthis had been “militarizing” Sanaa airport and using it as a base to target Saudi Arabia, an allegation the Huthis deny.  Malki showed reporters a video clip which he said depicted "the headquarters of Iranian and Hizballah experts at the airport,” where the Islamic militant group allegedly "trains the Huthis to booby-trap and use drones.”  The footage and Malki’s claims could not be independently verified.   Read more ....   WNU E...

Supporters say Dmitriyev, who worked closely with a prominent rights group, is being targeted for his work  Business Insider: Russia extends prison sentence for Gulag historian who researched Stalin's purges to 15 years   * A Russian Gulag historian had his prison sentence extended to 15 years.  * The historian, Yuri Dmitriev, has uncovered mass graves from Stalin's purges.  * Critics say the charges against Dmitriev are politically motivated due to his work.  A Russian court extended the prison sentence of a prominent historian and activist, Yuri Dmitriev, as part of a sex abuse case that critics have condemned as politically motivated, Reuters reported on Monday.  Dmitriev had two more years added to his 13-year sentence, and is now set to spend 15 years behind bars.  Last July, Dmitriev was found guilty of sexually abusing his adopted daughter. He's vehemently denied the allegations against him.   Read more ....   WNU Editor: ...

Fifty-one Democrats and 19 Republicans voted against the bill, but it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support   Daily Mail: Biden signs the $768B national defense bill with more money for Ukraine, fighter jets, submarines and warships as Putin threatens war with Ukraine and China develops hypersonic missiles   * The budget was $25 billion more than Biden asked for and a 5% increase over last year's spending  * It passed the Senate 88-11 after moving through the House 363-70  * Seven progressive Democrats voted against the bill in the Senate, as did three Senate Republicans - Rand Paul, Ky., Mike Braun, Ind., and Mike Lee, Utah  * Fifty-one House Democrats and 19 House Republicans voted against the bill  President Biden signed the $768 billion 2022 defense budget on Monday, a wide-ranging bill that includes security assistance for Ukraine amid heightened threats from Russia and billions for a deterrence initiative to counter China.  The bud...