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Gov. Gavin Newsom offered a message of hope in his Tuesday press conference celebrating the arrival of the vaccine, but cautioned that the state has many dark and difficult months ahead amid the deadliest surge since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. "There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but we are still in the tunnel," Newsom said. "And that means we're going through perhaps the most intense and urgent moment since the beginning of the pandemic." In the past seven days, 163 Californians have died on average a day, compared with 41 a day a month...

Question to the more savvy internet mavens here on FR: Been seeing several versions of postings and repostings/tweets of "I'm an ICU Nurse....and we're running out of bodybags" and PPE etc...coupled with detailing an element of known to be true modes of operation in dignified,respectful and safe honoring of the passing of nearest kin. Example: Using Zoom for remote "attendance" with loved ones passing (mandated by hospital infectious disease, guidance of CDC?). This is on the usual culprits- "butt" book, tweets from twits anti-social steered media. Is this a thing- have you seen this and can they be traced? These...

Mortuary suppliers have told BBC News they have no stocks of standard body bags left for sale, blaming the shortage on stockpiling due to the coronavirus pandemic. New stocks from overseas cannot be sourced for many weeks, they say. The NHS says it currently has adequate stocks but health workers report having to wrap bodies in sheets. Public Health England said the virus that caused Covid-19 degraded quickly after a patient had died. And there was no specific need for body bags to be used to transport these corpses, although "there may be other practical reasons for their use". Barber...

The head of the World Health Organization took aim at President Trump’s criticism of the agency on Wednesday, telling him and other world leaders not to politicize the coronavirus crisis “if you don’t want many more body bags.”

Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) has found evidence consistent with allegations that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Government of Sudan-aligned (GoS) militias have apparently engaged in a campaign of systematic mass killing of civilians in Kadugli, South Kordofan. Under the Rome Statute and other international humanitarian law, the systematic killing of civilians in peace or war by their own government can constitute crimes against humanity. Based on an analysis of DigitalGlobe satellite imagery and eyewitness reports obtained by the Satellite Sentinel Project, SSP has identified a site consistent with mass graves in Kadugli. SSP has found evidence corroborating at least...

KA-52 via Fedor Leukhin/Wikicommons Russia says that its pullout from its air base in Syria will be complete in just two or three more days, but it is leaving behind a more potent attack helicopter force than what was ever there before. Both the Mi-28 and the KA-52 attack helicopters have been spotted around the base within the last 24 hours. Here’s why the Kremlin is upping its combat helicopter capability just as it is pulling its fixed wing fighter and attack aircraft. Mi-28s in action. Photo credit Yevgeny Volkov/wikicommons Throughout Russia’s military involvement in the Syrian conflict it has...

Russia says that its pullout from its air base in Syria will be complete in just two or three more days, but it is leaving behind a more potent attack helicopter force than what was ever there before. Both the Mi-28 and the KA-52 attack helicopters have been spotted around the base within the last 24 hours. Here’s why the Kremlin is upping its combat helicopter capability just as it is pulling its fixed wing fighter and attack aircraft.

The Kremlin has hit out at a video promoting the US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, complaining it demonises Russia’s image. “I saw this clip. I do not know for sure if Vladimir Putin saw it. [But] our attitude is negative,” the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. The video posted to Trump’s Instagram account attempts to cast doubt over the Democratic party frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s ability to deal with Putin and the US’s opponents in general, showing the Russian leader easily throwing an opponent in a judo bout.

Why — and how — Russia won in Syria By Josh Cohen March 15, 2016 Here’s what Russia achieved — and why it was so successful. First — and most importantly — Russian bombing turned the tide of the war in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s favor. Second, Putin recently achieved an important diplomatic objective by forcing the United States to acknowledge that Russia plays a key role in determining Syria’s future. Third, Putin responded to Turkey’s shoot down of a Russian jet by humiliating Ankara, an emerging rival in the Middle East and Central Asia. Putin also grievously wounded Turkey’s...

What Quagmire? Even in Withdrawal, Russia Stays a Step Ahead By MARK LANDLERMARCH 15, 2016 WASHINGTON — For five years, President Obama has steadfastly rejected the argument that the United States could intervene in Syria, alter the equation on the battlefield and avoid being sucked into a quagmire. Now, it appears that President Vladimir V. Putin has done exactly that.

As reported around the world, Russia’s decision to greatly reduce its military presence in Syria, coming as it did with little warning, has left the world struggling for explanations. After having rescued the Syrian Government’s position in Syria from certain defeat and securing a partial truce along with the onset of an imminent peace conference, the partial withdrawal is seen by many as a message to the Assad government to not take Russia’s military aid for granted, and to be more flexible in the upcoming peace negotiations. If we assume that all wars are essentially trade wars grown large, and...

Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Monday that Russia will begin pulling out of Syria appeared to take the White House by surprise, and revived concerns that the Russian leader is outmaneuvering Barack Obama. Just six months after he threw international relations into a tailspin by launching airstrikes in Syria, Putin on Monday declared that "the tasks put before the defense ministry have been completed over all,” adding that he had ordered that "the main part" of Russian forces in Syria would be withdrawn.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has declared that he is withdrawing the majority of Russian troops from Syria, saying the intervention had largely achieved its objective. The news, relayed to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, personally, followed a meeting in the Kremlin with Putin’s defence and foreign ministers. He said the pullout, reducing an intervention that began at the end of September, is due to start from Tuesday.

(CNSNews.com) - In a speech marking Women’s History Month, which was delivered at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, First Lady Michelle Obama celebrated the decision taken by her husband’s administration to put young women in all combat roles in the U.S. military. “Thanks to brilliant, fearless women like General Vaught, today, more than 200,000 women are serving our country in just about every role and rank,” said Mrs. Obama. “They’re flying fighter jets, training new recruits; they’re graduating Army Ranger School--and I met those graduates. They are awesome. Fierce! And as you’ve already heard, they will soon be welcome in...

Not to be outdone by the Hamas terrorists in Gaza who have been showering rockets on southern Israel, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction has stepped up its threatening rhetoric against Israel. Fatah threatened death against Israelis by telling them to “prepare body bags,” writing on its official Facebook page Monday, “Sons of Zion, this is an oath to the Lord of the Heavens: Prepare all the bags you can for your body parts.” The statement, translated by Palestinian Media Watch, is just the latest in a recent string of calls to terrorism by Abbas’s party. On Saturday,...

A UC Santa Barbara student alleges her black studies professor warned any “Ted Cruz-supporting ‘tea baggers’ to get the hell out of his classroom before he sent them home to their mother in a body bag.” This was reportedly on the very first day of class last fall. The course, offered by Professor Otis Madison, was titled “The Obama Phenomenon.” The student, identified as Alice Gilbert by the College Fix, says the quote is from memory but argued “there were other students with me in the class who can attest to them.” “When Professor Madison made his comments in the...

The Obama administration has concluded that Syrian President Bashar Assad's government used chemical weapons against the rebels seeking to overthrow him and, in a major policy shift, President Obama has decided to supply military support to the rebels, the White House announced Thursday. "The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition that will involve providing direct support to the [Supreme Military Council]. That includes military support," Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes told reporters. Focus on political resolution in Syria, says Sen. Reed President Obama has repeatedly said that the use of...

Health officials ordered an investigation Thursday into why the Canadian government sent body bags to an Aboriginal reserve in Manitoba after community leaders requested assistance to deal with an expected outbreak of swine flu.

The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency's spiritual home. Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that means U.S. casualties, already running at record levels, will remain high for months to come. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the commander offered a preview of the strategic assessment he is to deliver to Washington later this month, saying the troop shifts are designed to...

Mumbai: At least 15 people have been injured in gunfights between two groups in at least three places in Mumbai on Thursday night. Details are sketchy but it is believed that two gangs fired at each other at outside CST Railway Terminus, Hotel Oberoi and the popular Café Leopold restaurant in Mumbai. The first shooting took place near the CST police station