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In late 2016, Syrian government forces had sealed off Aleppo's rebel-held eastern half, with 270,000 people inside, and for months they and Russian warplanes blasted it to rubble. Food was scarce. .. Hashem and other Aleppo survivors on Tuesday mark the 11th anniversary of Syria’s revolution-turned-civil war. This year, many of them are not just reflecting on their own fates, they are watching in shock as Ukrainians face familiar horrors: bombardment, brutal siege and flight from their homes. In Syria's war, Russia helped President Bashar Assad's government gain the upper hand with a ruthless strategy. One by one, they locked...

Joe Biden made a major gaffe Tuesday by saying he contracted COVID-19, when meaning to say that second gentleman Doug Emhoff had tested positive for the virus that day. 'The first lady's husband contacted COVID,' President Biden said during an Equal Pay Day celebration for Women's history month. Someone off to the side quickly corrected Biden, pointing out that his statement would mean he was the one with COVID. 'That's right,' he said to laughter from the room. 'She's fine. Second lady – the first gentleman, how about that?' he said with a smile as he continued his gaffe regarding...

WASHINGTON — Six Republican senators voted against an amendment Tuesday that would eliminate the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) position, which is held by Dr. Anthony Fauci. Senators voted on Kentucky Republican Rand Paul’s amendment to replace the NIAID with three separate national research institutes on Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C. Republican Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Jerry Moran of Kansas each voted against the amendment.

Officially, the Odesa Catacombs comprise at least 2,500 kilometers, or just over 1,550 miles, of generally interlinked tunnels running under the city, as well as into outlying areas. Portions of the Catacombs are known to exist at three different depths at least, with the deepest being 60 meters, or almost 197 feet, below sea level, and there are at least 1,000 documented entry points. It is one of the world's largest known underground networks.

The very basis of the US superpower status- The dollar as only world reserve currency is under threat.The Colder War is a book by Canadian Author Marin Katusa—who is the Head of the energy division of investment advisory service Casey Research and this is a video describing some points of discussion.What makes the US dollar unique is the fact that since the early 1970s it has been, with a few notable exceptions, the only currency used to buy and sell oil on the global market. This began in the 1970s when US President Nixon’s administration began negotiations with the government...

The Serbian Orthodox Church considers its inclusion in a new European Parliament report on foreign interference in democratic processes in the EU to be completely unjustified and disappointed. “The completely unjustified mentioning of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Resolution of the European Parliament on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, based solely on deep historical prejudices and tendentiously created stereotypes is not surprising, but is, indeed, deeply disappointing for us,” reads the Church’s new statement on the matter. The European Parliament report calls out the Serbian Church twice, in connection with the promotion...

President Biden is expected to announce more than $1 billion in Ukraine military aid from the $13.6 billion in aid that was passed by Congress, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. will be providing antiarmor and antiair systems to Ukraine with the $1.01 billion taken from the more than $13 billion package. The systems will include air defenses such as Javelins and Stingers that the U.S. says Ukraine needs, according to the Journal.

President Biden has signed into law a sweeping $1.5 trillion bill that funds the government through September and provides billions in assistance for Ukraine amid the Russian invasion. Biden signed the legislation during a ceremony in the Indian Treaty Room at the White House on Tuesday afternoon that was attended by administration officials and Democratic lawmakers, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.), and Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.). In prepared remarks, Biden highlighted the Ukraine assistance as well as other domestic programs funded by the massive legislation and said the bill demonstrated that Republicans and Democrats...

Cairo (Agenzia Fides) - The families of Coptic Christians massacred in February 2015 by jihadists linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State continue to receive monthly the pension allowance that the Egyptian State reserves for victims of terrorism and members of the military and security apparatus who fall in the exercise of their work. This allowance has increased considerably over the years, from 1500 to 3555 Egyptian pounds per month. This measure was confirmed by Ms Nevin al Kabbaj, Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity, who is also the Executive Director of the Special Fund created to honor those killed or missing...

The Vatican says it understands difficulties in following synodal decisions but wants to avoid activism and protestsThe Vatican has endorsed the decision of India’s Syro-Malabar Church to follow uniformity in liturgical celebration in its latest attempt to put an end to the five-decade-long dispute in the Eastern-rite church. Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Oriental Churches, backed last August's decision by the church's synod of bishops to adopt uniformity in liturgy and end all differences over the issue. “It is basically a directive to go along with the decisions of the synod,” Cardinal George Alencherry, the...

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ROME – Ukraine’s government has not been shy in voicing its willingness to let the Vatican help mediate in the war with Russia. Now the mayor of Kyiv, the country’s capital, has issued a formal invitation for Pope Francis to visit the city. “We believe that the world religious leader’s presence in person in Kyiv is key for saving lives and paving the path to peace in our city, country and beyond,” says the March 8 letter signed by Vitaly Klitshko. The letter was leaked to the media on Tuesday, and Crux has been able to independently verify its authenticity....

This date marks half a century since the hanging of Victor Feguer — the last man executed by the federal government in the 20th century. (And the last executed in the state of Iowa, period.) A drifter holing up at a Dubuque, Iowa, boarding house, Feguer phoned up a random doctor claiming a woman needed medical attention. Think about that the next time someone gets nostalgic for house calls. Dr. Edward Bartels showed up only to be kidnapped by Feguer, and eventually murdered in Illinois. Feguer was picked up in Alabama, trying to sell the doctor’s stolen car; his motive...

Pathogens don't always work against drug treatments. Sometimes, they can strengthen them. Diseases caused by a combination of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites—also known as polymicrobial infections—are challenging to treat because scientists don't fully understand how pathogens interact during infection and how these interactions impact the drugs used to treat them. Researchers looked at two pathogens that often occur at similar sites, particularly in cystic fibrosis and mechanically ventilated patients: Candida albicans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Candida is the fourth most common hospital-acquired pathogen, and is particularly difficult to treat. It is targeted by a number of antifungal agents, but some...

For more than a decade, Chinese companies have spent billions of dollars buying out U.S. and European miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s cobalt belt - the world’s richest source of a mineral that has become critical to the global transition to cleaner energy. Now the Chinese firms are running into trouble after a court ordered one of the largest to temporarily cede control of one of its mines. Just one electric vehicle can require between 10 and 30 pounds of cobalt to build its battery, depending on the manufacturer, though Tesla Inc. and other auto makers are now...

As Russia risks default, country sends order for coupon payments March 14 (Reuters) - The Russian Finance Ministry said on Monday it has sent an order to a correspondent bank for the payment of coupons on eurobonds amounting to $117.2 million, a signal to markets waiting to see whether Russia will default on its sovereign debt. The eurobonds in question, maturing in 2023 and 2043 , were both last trading at 20 cents on the dollar or lower and are among the first to have scheduled payments after Russia was hit by sanctions related to its invasion of Ukraine. The...

A Memorandum on the Next Conclave Is Circulating Among the Cardinals. Here It IsSince the beginning of Lent the cardinals who will elect the future pope have been passing this memorandum around. Its author, who goes by the name of Demos, “people” in Greek, is unknown, but shows himself a thorough master of the subject. It cannot be ruled out that he himself is a cardinal.* THE VATICAN TODAYCommentators of every school, if for different reasons, with the possible exception of Father Spadaro, SJ, agree that this pontificate is a disaster in many or most respects; a catastrophe.1. The Successor...

A pregnant Malaysian woman shared a video online in which she surprises her husband with a $650,000 Lamborghini in anticipation of his dedicated caretaking of her and their baby. Anes Ayuni Osman, 19, uploaded the video to TikTok on March 12, showing viewers how she surprised her husband by taking him into a car dealership blindfolded. In the video, her husband, 20-year-old Weldan Zulkefli, cries from happiness after seeing the turquoise Huracan Evo wrapped with a giant red bow. Osman is a cosmetics entrepreneur from Kelantan, Malaysia, where she plans to stay at her family’s home while recovering postpartum. She...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) reacted to President Joe Biden blaming Vladimir Putin for inflation and high gas prices and Democrats in Congress blaming oil companies by stating that the U.S. needs to lead and “can’t be pointing fingers and accusing.” And that “Rather than beating them up and taking a club to them,” energy producers need support.

Lara Logan, the former 60 Minutes correspondent and one-time Fox Nation host who was dropped by her agent in January for comparing Anthony Fauci to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, is back with some more controversial comments – that included Nazis. Logan ... denounced Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “puppet” and called much of the news out of Ukraine “misinformation.” The interview kicked off with former Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry explaining the state of play in Ukraine. Henry said Putin “caused a lot of destruction, don’t want to minimize the fact there’s over 2 million refugees....