A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook a large area of Northern California on Thursday, knocking items off grocery store shelves, sending children scrambling under desks and prompting a briefΒ tsunami warningΒ for 5.3 million people along the U.S. West Coast.
The quake struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County, about 130 miles (209 km) from the Oregon border, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
It was felt as far south as San Francisco, some 270 miles (435 km) away, where residents described a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by multiple smaller aftershocks.
Ex President Joe Biden is reportedly considering βpreemptive pardonsβ for some of Americaβs most controversial government figures.
Reports are emerging that Bidenβs top aides are weighing the idea of issuing preemptive pardons to several current and former officials.
The move would take place ahead of President Donald Trumpβs inauguration next month.
Among the names up for consideration are several top officials accused of major corruption against the American people.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Dr. Anthony Fauci are among those being discussed as potentially needing a pardon before Trump takes office
βYou CONFESSED that you made up the βCovid Rulesββ¦do you think the American People deserve to be abused like thatβ¦Mr. Fauciβ¦because youβre not a βDr.β to meβ¦β –@mtgreenee NO PARDONS pic.twitter.com/c1RntK7DvF
The UK has secured a contract for more than five million doses of a bird flu vaccine, to be used if the H5N1 strain spreads among humans, as part of preparations for any possible influenza pandemic. The UKHSA says at this stage there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
There is no evidence at this stage of human-to-human transmission, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which has secured a contract for the doses.
The agency said the purchase is part of “long-established plans” to boost the UK’s access to vaccines “for a wider range of pathogens of pandemic potential”.
Dr Meera Chand, emerging infection lead at the agency, said “early access to vaccines saves lives”.
πΊπΈπ¨ VIRUS WARNING FOR TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Vaccine researcher Peter Hotez claims multiple viruses will hit the U.S. right after Trump takes office:
– Bird flu – New coronavirus – SARS – Dengue, Zika, Yellow Fever – Polio, Measles, and more
Authorities and health agencies have rushed to identify the disease spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
A deadly unidentified flu-like illness has killed dozens of people over a two-week period in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), local authorities have said.
Between November 10 and 25, fatalities were reported in the Panzi health zone in south-western Kwango province, where patients presented with symptoms such as fever, headaches, coughs, and anemia, according to provincial health minister Apollinaire Yumba.
Yumba urged the population to exercise caution, particularly by avoiding touching deceased individuals, to prevent further spread of the illness.
President Yoon Suk Yeol has accused the opposition of plotting a βrebellionβ
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol imposed emergency martial law on Tuesday, accusing the opposition, which is sympathetic to the North, of βanti-stateβactivities.
βThe martial law is aimed at eradicating pro-North Korean forces and to protect the constitutional order of freedom,β Yoon said.
According to the Yonhap news agency, the Defense Ministry has put the military on full alert. Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung has slammed the move as βunconsitutional.”
The development comes as the Democratic Party shot down Yoonβs 2025 budget bill last week and has been calling for probes into several scandals surrounding the presidentβs wife and senior officials.
Just In: The leader of President Yoonβs own conservative People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, has called the decision to impose martial law βwrongβ and pledged to βstop it along with the people.β
Just In: Footage circulating on social media appears to show police clashing with civilians and members of the national assembly who are unable to enter the building.
Just In: US says it is in contact with South Korean govβt, monitoring events closely.
Just In: Military helicopters have reportedly taken to the skies over Seoul.
Just In: Videos from social media show clashes taking place near the parliament’s building.
Just In: The commander of the martial law in South Korea has announced the suspension of parliament and political parties. Additionally, he declared the imposition of control over all media outlets following the suspension of parliament and political parties in the country.
Just In: According to Yonhap news agency, in addition to a ban on all parliamentary activity, all media and publishers are also subject to the martial law command.
Just In: National Assembly votes to demand lifting of martial law.
Just In: Defence minister calls on military to βstrengthen readinessβ
Just In: National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik claims that all soldiers stationed at the National Assembly have left.
Just In: Seoul police declare βLevel Two Emergency βWeβre getting reports that Seoul police have declared a βLevel Two Emergencyβ across 31 precincts.
Just In: Chinaβs embassy tells its citizens βto remain calmβ The Chinese embassy in Seoul has urged its citizens to exercise βcautionβ after the imposition of martial law.
Just In: Martial law declared “invalid” by National Assembly chairman after unanimous vote
Just In: Youngshik Bong, a visiting professor at Yonsei University and an adviser for South Koreaβs Ministry of Unification, says declarations of martial law under Article 77 of the constitution must be reserved for the most serious situations, such as actual war.
Just In: Lawmakers are still waiting to hear from President Yoon two hours after they voted to lift his martial law decree. Of the National Assemblyβs 300 members, the 190 who were present in the building voted to overturn the measure at close to 1am.
Just In: Yoon says martial law will be revoked following cabinet meeting We have more from Yoonβs statement, announcing that he will abide by the National Assembly vote to end his martial law order.
Just In: South Korean Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun has announced that he is taking responsibility for the recent declaration of martial law in the country, and will be tendering his resignation.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has declared emergency martial law, accusing the opposition of treason and collusion with North Korea.
Under the sweeping measures, violators can be arrested without warrants, and habeas corpus has been suspended.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hasΒ recountedΒ how, when threatened with a lawsuit, Dr. Anthony Fauci was forced to admit that none of the 72 vaccines that are currently mandated for children in the US has ever been safety tested.
Kennedy told Fauci, βYou say Iβm lying. For eight years youβve been saying Iβm lying,β and challenged Fauci to βshow me the studyβ which shows that the multitude of vaccines Americaβs children are required to receive have been safety-tested.
Fauci claimed that he didnβt have it with him. βItβs back in Bethesda. Iβll send it to you.β
βI never got it,β said Kennedy, βso I sued him.β
βAfter stonewalling us for a year, their lawyers met us on the courthouse steps and said, βYup, youβre right. We never had any study,ββ said Kennedy.
Kennedy went on to explain how lucrative government-mandated childrenβs vaccines have been for the pharmaceutical industry:
Thereβs no downstream liability, thereβs no front-end safety testing β that saves them a quarter billion dollars β and thereβs no marketing and advertising costs, because the federal government is ordering 78 million school kids to take that vaccine every year.
What better product could you have? And so there was a gold rush to add all these new vaccines to the schedule that we donβt need. Most of these vaccines are unnecessary. Many of them are for diseases that are not even casually contagious.
It was a gold rush, because if you get onto that schedule, itβs a billion dollars a year for your company.
And in many cases, NIH is earning the royalties.
Anthony Fauci called RFK Jr. a liar for stating that not one of the 72 vaccines mandated for children has ever been safety tested*.
In response, RFK Jr. took legal action, and after a year of delays, Fauci's lawyers conceded that RFK Jr. had been correct.
Republican-controlled committee says coronavirus likely emerged from a βlaboratory or research-related accidentβ.
A committee of the United States Congress has backed the theory that a lab leak caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a report released on Monday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said it had concluded that the coronavirus βlikely emerged because of a laboratory or research related accidentβ.
Republicans have accused Fauci, who retired in December 2022 after 54 years at the NIH, of being responsible for causing the worst pandemic in a century by approving funding for Chinese scientists they believe manufactured SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The 83-year-old immunologist, who now lives with security protection due to death threats against his family, told the panel at a public hearing in June that it would have been βmolecularly impossibleβ for the bat viruses studied at the Wuhan lab to turn into the virus that caused the pandemic.
Fauci, who regularly clashed with US President-elect Donald Trump during his first term, has also faced accusations of suppressing the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak in China.
βIβve also been very, very clear, and said multiple times, that I donβt think the concept of there being a lab [leak] is inherently a conspiracy theory,β Fauci said.
βWhat is conspiracy is the kind of distortions of that particular subject, like, it was a lab leak and I was parachuted into the CIA like Jason Bourne and told the CIA that they should really not be talking about a lab leak,β he said.
Finnish cable company Global Connect announced its services were disrupted as a result of two cable breaks on an internet line between Sweden and Finland.
βMajor outage in Finland caused by separate incidents in our network, no sea cables are affected,β the company first reported Monday evening, adding that technicians were on their way to locate the source of the issues.
Helsingin Sanomat also reported an extensive outage of the Global Connect fiber network, though it remains unclear whether this was linked to the cable disruption. According to the company’s website, there were several separate outages in the Global Connect fiber network due to communication disruptions at two places.
π¨Update: US/UK strike again!! Finland reports that another undersea telecommunications cable between Sweden and Finland was cut in 2 locations a few hours ago.
