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New Zealand overhauls its COVID-19 restrictions: Jacinda Ardern announces vaccine passes and mandates will end
Jacinda Ardern has announced sweeping changes to New Zealand's COVID-19 restrictions, axing the My Vaccine Pass and removing vaccine mandates in almost all industries. Vaccine passes are being axed in New Zealand, with mandates being removed in almost all industries. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the changes on Wednesday as she unveiled the country's post-Omicron peak plan.
https://www.sott.net/article/465881-New-Zealand-overhauls-its-COVID-19-restrictions-Jacinda-Ardern-announces-vaccine-passes-and-mandates-will-end

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Ukrainian civilians stripped, tied up and beaten by vigilantes in shocking videos
WARNING: Distressing content A series of horrifying videos published on social media show Ukrainian civilians - including women and children - being tied up, stripped and beaten in apparent vigilante attacks. Since Russia's invasion last month, reports have emerged of humiliating public punishments dished out by Ukrainians to alleged looters and saboteurs, with several photos showing people tied to poles with their pants pulled down going viral online.
https://www.sott.net/article/465882-Ukrainian-civilians-stripped-tied-up-and-beaten-by-vigilantes-in-shocking-videos

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Prosecutor says Trump guilty of 'numerous' felonies in resignation letter
A prosecutor who investigated Donald Trump says the former president was "guilty of numerous felony violations." Mark Pomerantz made the stunning assertion in his resignation letter last month to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who paused the pursuit of an indictment in the criminal investigation into Trump and his business practices. "As you know from our recent conversations and presentations, I believe that Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations of the Penal Law in connection with the preparation and use of his annual Statements of Financial Condition," Pomerantz said in the letter, which was reported by the New York Times on Wednesday.
https://www.sott.net/article/465883-Prosecutor-says-Trump-guilty-of-numerous-felonies-in-resignation-letter

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US prepares for failure of anti-Russian strategy - media
Senior US officials tasked with improving the country's geopolitical position in the wake of Russia's attack against Ukraine have doubts about their government's current strategy, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the discussions. The admission was buried in an article detailing the work of the Tiger Team, a group created in late February by the White House for planning around the situation in Ukraine. The report itself largely focused on how the US was preparing contingency plans for the unlikely scenario that Moscow would use weapons of mass destruction. In addition to establishing the unit, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan formed a second body for long-term planning, the newspaper said, explaining its skepticism of the established Western narrative regarding the Ukraine conflict. "Inside the White House, it has become an article of faith that [Russian President Vladimir Putin] made a huge strategic error - one that will diminish...
https://www.sott.net/article/465878-US-prepares-for-failure-of-anti-Russian-strategy-media

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Leaders warn of 'unprecedented' global food crisis risks
G7 leaders have called for an extraordinary session of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization in a bid to prevent the Ukrainian conflict from turning into a global food crisis, while French President Emmanuel Macron presented his own "initiative for food security." According to a communique adopted on Thursday at the summit of the world's biggest economies, the Russian offensive on its neighboring country "places global food security under increased pressure." Therefore, the G7 leaders agreed to use "all instruments and funding mechanisms" and involve the "relevant international institutions" to address food security, including support for the "continued Ukrainian production efforts." "We call for an extraordinary session of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to address the consequences on world food security and agriculture arising from the Russian aggression against Ukraine," reads the communique. The countries agreed to avoid export bans and...
https://www.sott.net/article/465884-Leaders-warn-of-unprecedented-global-food-crisis-risks

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NATO bombing of Serbia: Tragedy in three acts
It is a travesty of international justice that the 1999 bombing remains unrecognized by the perpetrators and unpunished Twenty-three years ago, NATO bombed Serbia. This act was the opening round of what was to become a 78-day illegal war of aggression, the repercussions of which haunt the world to this day. Act One: The Encounter It was a chance meeting - two men who had crossed paths in Iraq two years past, now running into each other on a stretch of highway connecting Kosovo to Macedonia. The date was March 20, 1999. Monitors assigned to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) were in the process of being withdrawn from their assigned areas of responsibility to the town of Ohrid, in Macedonia, due to the collapse of diplomatic talks with Serbia about the devolving situation in the Serbian autonomous province of Kosovo, where Albanian separatists were engaged in a quasi-civil war with the Serbian authorities. The British...
https://www.sott.net/article/465885-NATO-bombing-of-Serbia-Tragedy-in-three-acts

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7-month-old Georgia girl mauled to death by dog
A 7-month-old baby girl has died after being mauled by a family dog in Georgia, authorities said. The baby, Serenity Garnett, was attacked by the American bulldog/Great Pyrenees mix on Tuesday at a home in suburban Augusta, WJBF-TV reported. Serenity was immediately rushed to the AU Medical Center, where she died of her injuries, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office said. The infant's great-grandmother, Migdelia Guadalupe, was babysitting her at the time of the attack. Guadalupe suffered non-life-threatening injuries trying to pull the dog away and had to be hospitalized.
https://www.sott.net/article/465886-7-month-old-Georgia-girl-mauled-to-death-by-dog

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Israeli medical watchdog committee member resigns, speaks out against vaccine medical experimentation
In an interview dropped on Twitter this week, Prof. Talia Geva revealed why she and her colleagues resigned from Israel's Helsinki Committee in January 2020, raising questions about Israel's medical experimentation practices. The Helsinki Committee is a medical watchdog whose purpose is to "authorize medical research and trials on humans, which aim to expand medical knowledge and improve the outcomes of medical treatment."
https://www.sott.net/article/465887-Israeli-medical-watchdog-committee-member-resigns-speaks-out-against-vaccine-medical-experimentation

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Israel lobby demands music artist Lowkey be deleted by Spotify
A British pro-Israel lobby group is demanding that Spotify delete the music of rapper and Palestine solidarity campaigner Lowkey. "The presence of Lowkey's music is particularly offensive," anti-Palestinian newspaper The Jewish News reported in an interview with lobbyist Luke Akehurst this week. Akehurst is the director of a group called We Believe in Israel.
https://www.sott.net/article/465888-Israel-lobby-demands-music-artist-Lowkey-be-deleted-by-Spotify

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Governor DeSantis Signs Declaration That 'The Last Jedi' Sucked
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an official state declaration claiming Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi sucked. "People need to know that Florida stands for reason, goodness, anti-wokeness, and respecting the fandom. No totalitarian COVID measures, no creepy child grooming, and no dumb casino planets! The Last Jedi is super lame!" said Gov DeSantis. "I'm all for subverting expectations, but The Last Jedi goes too far. I still can't believe Rian Johnson added paper to the Star Wars galaxy. Paper!" the governor raged. "And don't get me started on strange British broom boys. This isn't Oliver Twist!"
https://www.sott.net/article/465889-Governor-DeSantis-Signs-Declaration-That-The-Last-Jedi-Sucked

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56% of Americans want Biden to be tougher on Russia, most don't think he can 'handle a crisis' - poll
As President Joe Biden meets with key allies in Brussels to coordinate a stronger response to Russia's monthlong assault on Ukraine, a new poll shows Americans have yet to rally around his leadership. Comment: It's misleading to claim that Russia has waged a 'monthlong assault on Ukraine', as Putin has said, it's a special operation with precision strikes and calculated incursions with the aim to prevent as little infrastructural damage and civilian death as possible whilst at the same time rounding up, routing out, and neutralising the neo-Nazi terrorist elements in the country. Even the legacy-media are beginning to admit this much: First Fact-Based MSM Report About War in Ukraine! Newsweek: 'Putin Minimizing Civilian Casualties' Concern about Russia has swelled and support for a major U.S. role in the conflict strengthened in the last month, but Biden's negative approval rating has not budged, according to the poll Thursday from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public...
https://www.sott.net/article/465890-56-of-Americans-want-Biden-to-be-tougher-on-Russia-most-dont-think-he-can-handle-a-crisis-poll

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Julian Assange marries Stella Moris in London prison ceremony
WikiLeaks founder granted permission to wed partner, who fought back tears outside the prison, saying 'What we're going through is inhuman.' Julian Assange and his partner, Stella Moris, got married on Wednesday at Belmarsh high-security prison in south-east London. The WikiLeaks founder, 50, was granted permission last year to marry Moris - with whom he has two children - at the prison where he has been held since 2019 after the US took legal action to extradite him to face trial on espionage charges.
https://www.sott.net/article/465891-Julian-Assange-marries-Stella-Moris-in-London-prison-ceremony

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Greek supermarkets restricting flour, sunflower oil purchases as customers start hoarding, similar limits enforced across Europe amidst shortages
Supermarket chains in Greece said on Thursday they are restricting how much flour and sunflower oil customers can buy, saying the step was precautionary after seeing demand rise on worries supplies will be hit due to the war in Ukraine. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to a surge in prices and concerns about product shortages across industries in the European Union. Both Russia and Ukraine are key suppliers of sunflower oil and wheat. Following similar measures in Spain and Italy, four Greek supermarket chains - AB, Sklavenitis, Kritikos and My Market - said they had limited online and in some cases in-store purchases this week of flour and sunflower oil. AB said it has placed a limit of 3 bags of flour and 3 bottles of oil per customer.
https://www.sott.net/article/465892-Greek-supermarkets-restricting-flour-sunflower-oil-purchases-as-customers-start-hoarding-similar-limits-enforced-across-Europe-amidst-shortages

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Patreon is now banning users for what they say off-platform
A social media platform will now ban users for things they say outside of the platform. Patreon, a site that allows content creators to be paid directly by their patrons, notified popular conservative commentator Sydney Watson that they were removing her account. The reason, according to Patreon, is that Watson's "content propagated what we consider to be negative stereotypes or segregationally content towards a protected community."
https://www.sott.net/article/465893-Patreon-is-now-banning-users-for-what-they-say-off-platform

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Snow pileup damages Alaska pipeline company's massive Valdez oil tanks
The company that operates the trans-Alaska pipeline has called in backup crews to contend with massive amounts of snow piled on top of its oil storage tanks in Valdez, which has damaged infrastructure and vented petroleum vapors to the environment in what state regulators say are violations of the Clean Air Act. The incident has forced the Valdez Marine Terminal's operator, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., to take multiple tanks out of service, though it says there have been no impacts to oil shipments so far. To try to prevent further damage, Alyeska is now sending up dozens of respirator-equipped contractors for the painstaking work of removing the snow. Those crews are working nearly around the clock, according to Michelle Egan, an Alyeska spokeswoman. The contractors, who are roped to the top of the tanks, cannot use plows or power tools, so they're cutting off blocks of snow with saws and sliding them off the edge.
https://www.sott.net/article/465894-Snow-pileup-damages-Alaska-pipeline-companys-massive-Valdez-oil-tanks

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Northwestern Iran blanketed by heavy spring snow
During the first days of the new season and shortly after the beginning of spring, an unprecedented snowfall, accompanied by strong winds and blizzards, hit the region of Arasbaran in northwestern Iran. The blizzards also ripped through the cities of Ahar and Kalibar in East Azerbaijan Province, robbing people there of the warmth of spring and causing them to tremble in the cold. The cities and mountains of Arasbaran are so white and wintry at this time of the year that it seems the spring is preserving the memories of winter.
https://www.sott.net/article/465895-Northwestern-Iran-blanketed-by-heavy-spring-snow

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FDA approves first gene-edited cows for beef
In as little as two years, Americans could be biting into their first gene-edited burgers, courtesy of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) regulatory clearance of gene-edited cattle. The animals, created by bioengineering company Recombinetics, have genes modified to make their coats shorter and slicker. The genetic modification to their coats is intended to help them better withstand heat stress, allowing them to gain more weight and increase the efficiency of meat production — but at what cost? While a lengthy approval process is typically necessary for gene-edited animals to enter the food market, the FDA streamlined the process for gene-edited cattle, allowing them to skirt the regular approval process.
https://www.sott.net/article/465896-FDA-approves-first-gene-edited-cows-for-beef

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2nd bright meteor fireball in a row spotted in Manitoba Wednesday night
Manitobans got back-to-back surprises with fireballs that streaked across the night sky. "They're both pretty much once-in-a-lifetime kinds of sightings, so the odds of them happening two in a row right after each other is really, really amazing," said Scott Young, planetary astronomer at the Manitoba Museum. Parts of western Manitoba and Saskatchewan had a similar sight on Tuesday night. The fireball on Wednesday happened around 9:45 p.m. Sightings of the meteor falling through the sky were reported from people in the northern Interlake region through Winnipeg and south to Niverville. So far, there have been 50 sightings of Wednesday's meteor sent to the International Meteor Organization, Young said. On Tuesday, people reported sightings from as far north as The Pas, but also in locations in southern Saskatchewan and North Dakota.
https://www.sott.net/article/465897-2nd-bright-meteor-fireball-in-a-row-spotted-in-Manitoba-Wednesday-night

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56% of Americans want Biden to be tougher on Russia, most don't think he can 'handle a crisis' - poll
As President Joe Biden meets with key allies in Brussels to coordinate a stronger response to Russia's monthlong assault on Ukraine, a new poll shows Americans have yet to rally around his leadership. Comment: It's misleading to claim that Russia has waged a 'monthlong assault on Ukraine', because, as Putin has said, it's a special operation with precision strikes and calculated incursions with the aim to prevent as little infrastructural damage and civilian death as possible whilst at the same time rounding up, routing out, and neutralising the neo-Nazi terrorist elements in the country. Even the legacy-media are beginning to admit this much: First Fact-Based MSM Report About War in Ukraine! Newsweek: 'Putin Minimizing Civilian Casualties' Concern about Russia has swelled and support for a major U.S. role in the conflict strengthened in the last month, but Biden's negative approval rating has not budged, according to the poll Thursday from The Associated Press-NORC Center for...
https://www.sott.net/article/465890-56-of-Americans-want-Biden-to-be-tougher-on-Russia-most-dont-think-he-can-handle-a-crisis-poll

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Olympic ice dance icon Tatiana Navka: 'Task of Americans is to destroy Russia'
Tatiana Navka made the comments after some US journalists gloated at Russia's absence from the World Figure Skating Championships Two-time world ice dancing champion Tatiana Navka has reacted to comments from western journalists over Russia's absence at the ongoing World Figure Skating Championships, saying that Americans are tasked with destroying her homeland. Elite Russian skaters such as Beijing 2022 medalists Kamila Valieva, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova weren't able to take part in the world showpiece in Montpellier this week due to a ban imposed by the International Skating Union (ISU) as a response to Russia's military operation in Ukraine.
https://www.sott.net/article/465898-Olympic-ice-dance-icon-Tatiana-Navka-Task-of-Americans-is-to-destroy-Russia

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Delhi calls off top meeting with UK delegates after PM pressures India to distance itself from Russia
A high-powered cross-party UK delegation to India led by the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and his deputy has been called off at the last minute in a sign of a growing rift over India's refusal to distance itself from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The 10-strong delegation has been in discussion with India since January and was planning to visit Delhi and Rajasthan, but the Indian high commission is understood to have raised objections at the last minute. Boris Johnson spoke with Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on Tuesday in an attempt to use his influence to persuade India to take a more robust position over the Russian invasion. India has not imposed sanctions or even condemned Russia, its biggest supplier of military hardware. Comment: India has much more than just a military relationship with Russia, although these kinds of insidious slights are to be expected from The Guardian these days.
https://www.sott.net/article/465899-Delhi-calls-off-top-meeting-with-UK-delegates-after-PM-pressures-India-to-distance-itself-from-Russia