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Scientists released a pair of extensive studies on Saturday that point to a market in Wuhan, China, as the origin of the coronavirus pandemic. The two reports, totaling about 150 pages, have not yet been published in a scientific journal. The researchers analyzed data from a range of sources to look for clues to how the pandemic arose. They concluded that the coronavirus was present in live mammals sold in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in late 2019. The research suggests that the virus very likely twice spilled over into people working or shopping at the market. The researchers said...

Removing access to the financial messaging service would be the most severe penalty but could have unwanted consequences, including compromising energy exports to Europe. President Biden said on Thursday that the United States and Europe were united in their efforts to confront Russian aggression toward Ukraine with aggressive sanctions. However, there was one area where he suggested disagreement: SWIFT.

POTUS Trump speaks shortly!

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A forest pest that bedevils Maine residents and tourists with hairs that cause an itchy rash appears to be spreading due to warming temperatures, a group of scientists has found. The browntail moth is a scourge in America’s most forested state, where it defoliates trees and causes a rash in humans that resembles poison ivy. The hairs of the caterpillars, which have been the subject of an outbreak in the state for about seven years, can also cause respiratory trouble. The growth and spread of the moth is tied to increasingly warm weather, especially in the...

Here’s an interesting Twitter thread from someone named Riho Terras, a member of the European Parliament, posted a few hours ago. Obviously we’re not in any position to vouch for the accuracy of this thread (and some of it seems dubious), but pass it along in the interest of broad coverage: THREAD 1/7 Intel from a Ukrainian officer about a meeting in Putin’s lair in Urals. Oligarchs convened there so no one would flee. Putin is furious, he thought that the whole war would be easy and everything would be done in 1-4 days. Russians didn’t have a tactical plan....

Six Russian government websites including the Kremlin's official site were down for several hours on Friday and inaccessible following reports of cyberattacks on various Russian government and state media. The exact reasons for the outages were not immediately clear, but the international hacking group Anonymous claimed that it was attacking the sites. Some Russian government websites continued to be down on Saturday, as the country's invasion of Ukraine entered its third day. The websites that are dark notably include the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Friday said at a televised news conference that his country would send soldiers to assist Ukraine in its defense against Russia, CNN reported. According to Costa, Russia's war on Ukraine "is a war against the freedom of self-determination of a democratic country and therefore it is also a war against the freedom of self-determination and against democracy." He added that there is "an unanimity of all states, in view of the need to strengthen the NATO presence on the borders of Ukraine and in all the alliance countries that are close to the Ukraine...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rallied his people, but in a worrying sign for Ukraine, video from Russia’s Western border with Ukraine showed TOS-1 heavy flamethrower tanks moving towards its neighbour. The tanks are capable of firing high-power thermobaric weapons – dubbed the ‘father of all bombs’. This is right up there with “remember the Alamo” legend that created the state of Texas, and the “let’s roll!” uttered by Todd Beamer on doomed airliner Flight 93 on 9/11, as civilians decided to give their lives fighting Islamic terrorists. Yesterday, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, responding to a United States offer to be airlifted...

The #WARINUKRAINE and the unbending spirit of the #UkrainianArmy. A Ukrainian 🇺🇦 warrior with #NLAW confidently walks across the battlefield where shots are heard and #Russian tanks are burning. His comrade-in-arms jokes hilariously off-screen.

World leaders have decided to cut off Russian financial institutions from using the SWIFT money transfer system as part of ongoing sanctions against Russian aggression in Ukraine. The decision comes after a sweeping list of other sanctions against Russia, including the freezing of assets and the closure of airspace to Russian flights. It was delayed due to some world leaders considering the step to be too drastic at the time. US President Joe Biden has stated that the sanctions imposed on Russia are among "the most severe in history." The Russian stock market and currency have taken severe losses since...

Flight 20 was a success! ✅ In its 130.3 seconds of flight, the #MarsHelicopter covered 391 meters at a speed of 4.4 meters per second, bringing it closer to @NASAPersevere's landing location.

As Russia wages war against Ukraine, the debate over how to respond has grown increasingly disconnected from the reality of American power in a world of great-power competition. The political landscape has evolved from the post-Cold War era, when a bipartisan coalition of Washington elites could readily call for the projection of American power in faraway conflicts, especially in Europe, even if the connection to U.S. interests was attenuated. After 20 years of counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans are understandably weary of foreign entanglements. Further, there is a growing consensus that China’s emergence as the foremost strategic competitor to...

The Minister for Healthcare, Willum Thor Thorsson, said that with the current level of infections, continued restrictions are useless. “Restrictions do not have any effect at this point in time,” he said. The Health Ministry also said the way to end the pandemic is herd immunity through infections, and it wants “as many people as possible” to be infected to achieve “widespread societal resistance”. Vaccines will not provide the necessary immunity.

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/status/1497583706038484996

Hillary Clinton touts her tenure as secretary of state as a time of hardheaded realism and “commercial diplomacy” that advanced American national and commercial interests. But her handling of a major technology transfer initiative at the heart of Washington’s effort to “reset” relations with Russia raises serious questions about her record. Far from enhancing American national interests, Mrs. Clinton’s efforts in this area may have substantially undermined U.S. national security. Following his 2009 visit to Moscow, President Obama announced the creation of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission. Mrs. Clinton as secretary of state directed the American side, and Foreign Minister...

Elon Musk says “Starlink [internet] service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”

Russian troops have destroyed a concrete dam built in Ukraine's Kherson Region in 2014 to cut off water to Crimea, the RIA news agency quoted the governor of Russian-annexed Crimea Sergei Aksyonov as saying on Saturday. Ukraine cut off the fresh water supply to Crimea by damming a canal that had supplied 85% of the peninsula's needs before Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014. The Soviet-era canal was built to channel water from the River Dnieper to arid areas of Ukraine's Kherson region and Crimea. ...

This bill will eliminate many pro-life laws accross the land. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3755

The city of Dnipro is yet to be attacked by Russian forces, but citizens are preparing for the worst. The BBC's Sarah Rainsford spoke to a group of women who were making Molotov cocktails in the park.

Yesterday the New York Times reported on U.S. intelligence and diplomatic officials from the State Dept sharing intelligence with Chinese officials in the three months leading up to the Russian invasion. {Go Deep on Analysis} The narrative from the article tells the story of the U.S. trying to convince China in December, January and February to intervene and persuade Russia not to cross the border into Ukraine. Many people have looked at this story from the perspective of incompetence, ie. why would the Biden team think China would not share the intel, etc. However, when it comes to these types...