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The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is reportedly about to get on board with what several states and cities throughout the country have already done, including the most liberal ones, and loosen its mask guidelines. Zeke Miller of the Associated Press and Caitlin Owens of Axios were among the first to report on the news, citing those close with the matter, and indicating that it is expected to come as early as Friday. Live updates from The New York Times also confirmed as much, though noted "two officials who spoke to The Times did not confirm the timing." As Miller...

An elderly woman behind the wheel was trying to parallel park but accelerated, sending the car barreling into patrons of Call Me Gaby in the South Beach section of Miami Beach just after 6 p.m., police said. A child was among the injured, a witness told WPLG. Photos of the scene shared to social media showed a large emergency response along busy Washington Avenue in the city’s South of Fifth neighborhood.

“Patreon does not allow any campaigns involved in violence or purchasing of military equipment, regardless of their cause,” a company spokesperson told CNBC in an email. “We are investigating because of representations on their donation page for how the funds will be used. We have suspended the campaign in question while we investigate. If a page is ultimately removed our policy is to send the creator the remaining funds or refund all pledges.”

"As riot police moved from Lambton Quay to a Bunny St. blockade, several officers barged into camping areas and pulled some children out, along with the adults caring for them" The New Zealand Herald Reports On A Police Operation To Stengthen Concrete Barricades At The Freedom Camp Protest In Wellington 2/24/2022... The Freedom And Rights Coalition plans 92 family-friendly protets across New Zealand with the police fearful of one on the Sky Harbor Bridge in Auckland the country's largest city proclaiming in advance the illegality of such a protest. The TFRC is associated with Brian Tamaki who is the founder...

Despite UN assistance, 60 Chinese Christians still live in fear of repatriation from Jeju island, says pastorThe United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reached out to support 60 Christians who fled to South Korea from China to avoid persecution and are now in limbo after the courts rejected their asylum applications. The members of Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also known as Mayflower Church, moved to Jeju island, a popular tourist spot in South Korea, in 2019 to escape harassment by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials in Shenzhen city. They migrated to Jeju as it offers visa-free access for...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told House lawmakers Thursday the Biden administration is considering ways to train Ukrainian forces remotely if the Russians seize control of Ukraine, officials on the call told Axios. ...

KEY POINTS China’s assistant foreign minister, Hua Chunying, was asked by reporters several times whether she would call Russia’s attacks an invasion but she repeatedly avoided giving a yes or no answer. In response to one reporter, Hua appeared to express frustration at the question and said, “The U.S. has been fueling the flame, fanning up the flame, how do they want to put out the fire?”

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear the case of a Colorado web designer who fears prosecution under state anti-discrimination law for stating her faith-based objections to providing services that promote same-sex marriage. The court agreed Feb. 22 to consider “Whether applying a public-accommodation law to compel an artist to speak or stay silent violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.” It will not take up the question of whether Colorado's anti-discrimination law violates the designer's free exercise of religion. The case, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, will be heard during the court's next term, which begins...

‘Numbers give no indication of how fruitful a [Catholic] presence is,’ said the newly appointed archbishop.ALGIERS, Algeria (LifeSiteNews) — The new archbishop of Algiers has said Catholics must “abandon the idea that we have to evangelize and bring people to our truth.” “At the same time, we have to accept that there might be in Islam some truth that escapes us,” Jean-Paul Vesco said during an interview with Swiss Catholic news website cath.ch on Sunday. The North African country is 98.2 percent Muslim. When asked about the relationship between Catholics and Muslims in Algeria, the archbishop quoted pope Francis who...

Pope encourages students from the Americas to build better worldOn Thursday evening Rome time, Pope Francis met with students from across the Americas for an online event and dialogue organized by Loyola University, in collaboration with the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.By Vatican News staff writerThe two-hour online meeting brought together Pope Francis with students from seven regional working groups of university and college students who engaged in a synodal process of preparation through mutual encounter, listening, and discernment. Representatives came from the USA/Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean/Central America, Brazil, and South America, and discussed a host of issues regarding migration...

BREAKING: Biden has chosen his Supreme Court nominee, with announcement expected as soon as Friday - CNN

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill issued an address to the hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning President Vladimir Putin’s announcement this morning of a “special military operation… for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.” His statement reads in full: Your Beatitude! Your Eminences and Graces! Dear fathers, brothers, and sisters!I take the suffering of people caused by the events taking place with deep and heartfelt pain.As the Patriarch of All Russia and the primate of a Church whose flock is located in Russia, Ukraine, and other countries, I deeply empathize with everyone affected by this tragedy.I...

As oil prices continue to rocket, now further helped along by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration is still fighting tooth and nail to freeze new oil and gas drilling leases – even after a court ruled against the administration for using a metric to estimate “the societal cost of carbon emissions” to justify their move. Despite the court’s ruling, Biden’s administration has stopped new leases and permits for federal oil and gas drilling, MSN reported this week. The administration was previously prevented from using the “social cost of carbon” metric in decisions regarding oil and gas thanks to...

Ukrainian border guards defending a Black Sea island defiantly told an invading Russian warship to “go f–k yourself” when asked to surrender and were killed when the warship opened fire. The 13 guards were posted on the small but strategic Snake Island off Ukraine’s southeastern border when they were approached by two vessels on Thursday, according to Ukrainian media outlets. The Russians contacted the guards and identified themselves as a “Russian Warship,” demanding that they surrender “to avoid bloodshed,” or else they will open fire according to audio of the exchange. “Russian warship, go f–k yourself,” the Ukrainian guards bluntly...

The scenes out of Ukraine as Russia continues to invade its sovereign neighbor have painted a picture of chaos. We’ve seen street fighting, apartment buildings being hit with rockets, and tanks rolling down highways. But, what we haven’t seen is a decisive victory for Vladimir Putin.Part of the invasion strategy was to quickly take the major airports in order to fly in men and materials to overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses. Surprisingly fierce opposition has prevented that, though. As of Thursday afternoon, Ukrainian military forces had actually recaptured one of the airports initially lost. That apparently happened with the help of a...

Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Cyprus are blocking Russia's disconnection from the international interbank system SWIFT as CNN reported. “Removing Russia from SWIFT would make it almost impossible for financial institutions to send money in or out of the country. This would seriously impact Russian businesses with foreign customers and could do real damage to the country's economy,” the message says. At the same time, high-ranking EU sources report that there is a split in the union amid the adoption of the issue. It is noted that such countries as Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Cyprus are against disconnecting Russia from the...

President Joe Biden’s administration is looking to divert United States Border Patrol agents from their mission at the U.S.-Mexico border to send them overseas “to assist” those fleeing from Ukraine amidst Russia’s invasion, a new report states. Even as illegal immigration continues pouring through the nation’s southern border at record levels, Biden hopes to entice Border Patrol agents to sign up voluntarily to aid American citizens, green card-holders, and their immediate relatives fleeing Ukraine into Eastern Europe.

Former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly said Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead” that he does not understand the praise on the right for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Anchor Jake Tapper said, “We’ve heard a lot of prominent Republicans, both in politics and in conservative media, praising Vladimir Putin, even calling him a genius. What’s your response when you hear that?”

Vladimir Putin has declared that all military deaths will be classified as state secrets not just in times of war but also in peace – a move that activists worry might further discourage the reporting of Russian soldiers’ deaths in Ukraine.The Russian president has amended a decree to extend the list of state secrets to include information on casualties during special operations when war has not been declared, among other changes...Rights advocate Valentina Melnikova, secretary of the Union of Soldiers’ Mothers Committees, said the decree simply legalised the common practice of withholding information on all military losses, which had been...

The National Bank of Ukraine released a statement on Thursday with a spate of resolutions, including an order to suspend the foreign exchange market, limit cash withdrawals, and prohibit the issuance of foreign currency from retail bank accounts. As Ukraine cracks down on pathways to cash and Moscow unleashes airstrikes and ground troops, some Ukrainians are instead turning to cryptocurrencies. Kuna, a popular Ukrainian crypto exchange, shows that domestic buyers are paying a premium for Tether’s USDT stablecoin, which is pegged to the price of the U.S. dollar. “We don’t trust the government. We don’t trust the banking system. We...