The Faithful Watchman

Caribbean island orders evacuations after volcano warning

AFP – April 9, 2021

The threat of a volcanic eruption has triggered evacuation orders on the eastern Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and the deployment of several cruise ships to house thousands forced to leave their homes.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said the island was on red alert after a shift in volcanic activity at the La Soufriere crater and told residents in northern areas to move to safety immediately.

“I have issued an evacuation order to all residents living in the RED ZONES on the North East and the North West of the island,” he wrote in a tweet late Thursday.

The order came after scientists monitoring the volcano warned authorities they had detected magma moving towards its surface.

The island’s National Emergency Management Organisation said there was a “substantial prospect of disaster.”

The volcano was spitting steam late Thursday, according to images shared by the University of West Indies Seismic Research Centre, which monitors volcanic activity in the eastern Caribbean.

Around 16,000 people live in the declared red zones on what is the biggest island in the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines chain.

Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises said in a press release they were sending two ships to assist the evacuation effort.

Gonsalves said two more ships from cruise liner company Carnival were also on their way.

https://www.spacedaily.com

Fatal ‘rabies-like disease’ discovered in bats in Australia poses threat to humans

Ricky Scaparo – April 8, 2021

(ETH) – What is being deemed as a deadly “rabies-like” disease has just been discovered by Medics in South Australia where at least two cases of Australian Bat Lyssavirus (ABL) have been identified.

The report reveals that the potentially killer virus can be transmitted from bats to humans through means of bites and scratches. Both ABL and rabies belong to the same group of viruses called Lyssavirus, which attacks the nervous system. One Doctor, Louise Flood from the Department for Health and Wellbeing’s Communicable Disease Control Branch, has warned that if symptoms are left untreated they could be “invariably fatal”.

She said: “ABL is a rabies-like disease that can be transmitted to humans if they are bitten or scratched by an infected bat and if treatment is delayed until after the onset of symptoms, the condition is invariably fatal.” she goes on to warn that although only one percent of bats carry this disease, the rise in these cases is becoming “concerning”.

She went on to say “While only one percent of bats usually carry ABL, these two recent exposures are concerning and is an important reminder that bats should only ever be handled by appropriately trained and vaccinated animal handlers.

“While the development of ABL from bat bites or scratches can be prevented through prompt wound management and post-exposure prophylaxis, it is important to avoid contact in the first place.” Another warning was issued regarding pets by Dr. Mary Carr from the Department of Primary Industries, urging Australians to take them to the vets if they have been attacked by a bat.

She said: “If you suspect your animal has been either bitten or scratched by a bat please contact your local vet or the Emergency Animal Disease hotline.” The report indicates that early signs of this virus in humans include flu-like symptoms, such as headaches, fever, and weakness.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

The Most Tragic Story Never Told: The Muslim Persecution of Christians

Raymond Ibrahim – April 7, 2021

Few phenomena are as horrifically widespread as they are virtually unknown—at least in the West—as the Muslim persecution of Christians.

The general facts are undeniable and have been and continue to be documented in a number of reports issued by a variety of human rights organizations around the world. According to one of the most recent compilations, Open Doors’ “World Wide List, 2021”—which was published in January 2021 and which annually ranks the top 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted for their faith—13 Christians are killed for their faith every day around the world; 12 are illegally arrested or imprisoned; 5 are abducted; and 12 churches or other Christian buildings are attacked.

About 309 million of these Christians “suffer very high or extreme levels” of persecution. “That’s one in 8 worldwide, 1 in 6 in Africa, 2 out of 5 in Asia, and 1 in 12 in Latin America.” More specifically and for the reporting period covered (Oct. 2019 – Sept. 2020), “4,761 Christians were killed for their faith”; an additional 4,277 Christians were unjustly arrested, detained, or imprisoned; 1,710 were abducted for faith-related reasons; and 4,488 Churches or Christian buildings were attacked.

The worst category, “extreme persecution”—the harassing, beating, imprisoning, raping, and/or slaughtering of Christians on sight—occurs in 12 of the 50 nations. Nine of these top 12 worst persecutors are Muslim: Afghanistan (#2), Somalia (#3), Libya (#4), Pakistan (#5), Yemen (#7), Iran (#8), Nigeria (#9), Iraq (#11), and Syria (#12). (That these nations are racially, culturally, politically, and economically very different—Arab, Asian, Iranian, sub-Saharan African, etc.—should be indicative that something else accounts for their commonality towards Christians.)

Over all, the persecution Christians experience in 39 of the 50 nations making the list is also either from “Islamic oppression” or is occurring in Muslim majority nations. This means nearly 80 percent of the Christian persecution around the world—including of those 13 Christians killed for their faith every day—is committed by Muslims.

https://www.frontpagemag.com

China Is Creating a New Master Race

Gordon G. Chang – February 10, 2021

Bing Su, a Chinese geneticist at the state-run Kunming Institute of Zoology, recently inserted the human MCPH1 gene, which develops the brain, into a monkey. The insertion could make that animal’s intelligence more human than that of lower primates. Su’s next experiment is inserting into monkeys the SRGAP2C gene, related to human intelligence, and the FOXP2 gene, connected to language skills.

Has nobody in China seen Planet of the Apes?

Or maybe they have. “Biotechnology development in China is heading in a truly macabre direction,” writes Brandon Weichert of The Weichert Report in an article posted on the American Greatness website.

In a communist society with unrestrained ambition, researchers are pursuing weird science. What happens when you mix pig and monkey DNA? Chinese experimenters can tell you. How about growing human-like organs in animals? Yes, they have done that as well.

Moreover, Beijing may already be engineering “super soldiers.” “U.S. intelligence shows that China has conducted human testing on members of the People’s Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities,” wrote then Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, in a December 3 Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “China Is National Security Threat No. 1.”

It is not clear how far Chinese military researchers have gone. They are, however, advocating use of the CRISPR gene-editing tool to enhance human capabilities, and the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission is “supporting research in human performance enhancement and ‘new concept’ biotechnology.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org

Pope calls for ‘new world order’ after coronavirus pandemic

Art Moore – March 15, 2021

Aligning with the call among globalist leaders for a “Great Reset” in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis makes the case for a “new world order” in a book to be published Tuesday.

That world, he explains in “God and the World to Come,” is characterized by a shift from financial speculation, fossil fuels and military build-up to a green economy based on inclusiveness, reports Breitbart News.

The book is a lengthy Q&A with Italian journalist Domenico Agasso.

After the coronavirus pandemic, he said in an excerpt of the book released by the Vatican, “no one today can afford to rest easy.”

“The world will never be the same again. But it is precisely within this calamity that we must grasp those signs which may prove to be the cornerstones of reconstruction,” he said.

“Let us all keep in mind that there is something worse than this crisis: the drama of wasting it,” Francis stated. “We cannot emerge from a crisis the same as before: we either come out better or we come out worse.”

The pope said justice can be healed “by building a new world order based on solidarity, studying innovative methods to eradicate bullying, poverty and corruption,” with “all working together, each for their own part, without delegating and passing the buck.”He said the world can no longer “blithely accept inequalities and disruptions to the environment.”

https://www.wnd.com

Russia Warns NATO Against Sending Any Troops To Ukraine As “Frightening” Escalation Looms

Tyler Durden – April 02, 2021

The Kremlin’s latest statements out Friday amid the potential new Ukraine crisis which has seen a serious flare-up in fighting in the Donbass region, along with what appears to be far bigger-than-usual troop movements on Russia’s side of the border, has raised the stakes further.

Russia has vowed it will take “extra measures to ensure its own security” should it observe any deployment of NATO troops inside Ukraine, the Kremlin statement said Friday according to Reuters.

It firmly warned against any potential looming NATO troop movements following Brussels voicing concern the day prior over the widespread reports and videos purporting to show a significant Russian build-up of forces along Ukraine’s eastern border.

Reuters reports Russia’s Friday statement and “warning” as follows:

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the situation at the contact line in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatist forces was quite frightening and that multiple “provocations” were taking place there.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Taran, and “condemned recent escalations of Russian aggressive and provocative actions in eastern Ukraine,” the Pentagon said.

“Our rhetoric [over Donbass] is absolutely constructive,” Peskov said in response to journalists’ questions. “We do not indulge in wishful thinking. Regrettably, the realities along the engagement line are rather frightening. Provocations by the Ukrainian armed forces do take place. They are not casual. There have been many of them.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the Russian troop movements across the border, calling the situation “muscle-flexing” likely to lead to “provocations” for which Ukraine’s army is “ready”.

https://www.zerohedge.com

US Dollar’s Status as Dominant “Global Reserve Currency” Drops to 25-Year Low

Wolf Richter – March 31, 2021

The global share of US-dollar-denominated exchange reserves dropped to 59.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the IMF’s COFER data released today. This matched the 25-year low of 1995. These foreign exchange reserves are Treasury securities, US corporate bonds, US mortgage-backed securities, US Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities, etc. held by foreign central banks.

Since 2014, the dollar’s share has dropped by 7 full percentage points, from 66% to 59%, on average 1 percentage point per year. At this rate, the dollar’s share would fall below 50% over the next decade.

Not included in global foreign exchange reserves are the Fed’s own holdings of dollar-denominated assets, its $4.9 trillion in Treasury securities and $2.2 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, that it amassed as part of its QE.

The US dollar’s status as the dominant global reserve currency is a crucial enabler for the US government to keep ballooning its public debt, and for Corporate America’s relentless efforts to create the vast trade deficits by offshoring production to cheap countries, most prominently China and Mexico. They’re all counting on the willingness of other central banks to hold large amounts of dollar-denominated debt.

But it seems, central banks have been getting just a tad nervous and want to diversify their holdings – but ever so slowly, and not all of a sudden, given the magnitude of this thing, which, if mishandled, could blow over everyone’s house of cards.

https://wolfstreet.com

YouTube Intensifies Attack on Religion, Removes ANOTHER Faith-Based Channel

Kayla Sargent – April 1, 2021

YouTube removed yet another faith-based channel as the platform continues its relentless assault on religious liberty.

YouTube has a long history in deplatforming channels with dissenting opinions, and Christian media organization theDove alleges that it is the latest victim in the platform’s crusade. “On March 22, 2021 the Dove was permanently banned from YouTube,” theDove’s website stated. “Over 15,000 interviews and segments have been posted to YouTube and the Dove has experienced millions of views. In today’s cancel culture YouTube has deleted every video.”

YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi told Free Speech America that “In accordance with our long standing three-strikes system, we terminated the channel theDove for repeatedly violating our COVID-19 misinformation and presidential election integrity policies.”

It appears as though theDove plans to fight back. “We are dealing with two fairly significant law firms, one in Washington D.C. and one in California, to see if there’s any recourse we may have to retrieve our 15,000 videos,” Perry Atkinson, the organization’s CEO and president, told NewsWatch 12. “We are looking into three other platforms as to whether or not we can re-establish a way to distribute our videos.”

TheDove’s removal was not the first time that YouTube targeted a conservative, or even a faith-based organization. The platform recently removed LifeSiteNews’ channel, and even censored Senate testimony from doctors on COVID-19. YouTube additionally censored a Newsmax interview with former President Donald Trump.

Unfortunately, Google’s massive video-sharing platform does not appear to be slowing down its censorious campaign anytime soon. TheDove was not the first religious organization censored by YouTube, and it likely won’t be the last.

https://newsbusters.org

Canadian Doctors Baffled by Mysterious Brain Disease

Lynn Allison – April 1, 2021

There have been dozens of cases of a mysterious, previously unknown brain disease that causes memory loss, hallucinations, and muscle atrophy striking Canadians. It can be deadly and doctors do not have a clue what causes the coniditon.

According to The Guardian, the neurological illness has doctors baffled and politicians demanding answers. In the province of New Brunswick alone, there have been 43 reported cases. Experts say the symptoms of the mystery disease mimic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a rare, fatal brain disorder, according to a leaked memo from the province’s public health agency. CJD is caused by abnormally folded proteins called prions.

‘We are collaborating with different national groups and experts; however, no clear cause has been identified at this time,” said the memo. While the symptoms detected in these unusual cases are similar to CJD, diagnostic screening showed that the cause was not triggered by human prions.

“We don’t have evidence to suggest it is a prion disease,” said Dr. Alier Marrero, the lead investigator in New Brunswick. According to The Guardian, while researchers do not know the cause of the mysterious illness, they are looking into environmental factors such as water sources, plants, and insects.

“We don’t know what’s causing it,” said Marrero. “At this time, we only have more patients appearing to have this syndrome.” The neurologist said patients begin to experience unexplained pains, spasms, and behavioral changes. But as time progresses, they develop cognitive decline, muscle wasting, and other weird symptoms such as the feeling of insects crawling all over them. While only one such case of the mystery disease was confirmed in 2015, there have been dozens more each year and the numbers are rising. Researchers believe five people have died from the yet unnamed syndrome.

https://www.newsmax.com

California on seismic alert: Two shallow M4.6 and M4.4 earthquakes hit off Eureka within seconds – Precursors of the Big One?

Strange Sounds – April 2, 2021

Today morning, two shallow earthquakes (M4.6 and M4.4) hit off the coast of northern California at a depth of 8km and 19km, respectively.The pair of quakes struck 17 seconds apart of each other (8:21:18 and 8:21:35 AM UTC).Some weak or light shaking was probably felt in the Eureka and Fortuna areas.

The third M2.5 quake in the area hit 1 hour after the first two…

Meanwhile, I am sure geologists closely monitor the seismicity along the west coast…

These earthquakes could indeed be precursors of the next Cascadia Megathrust Earthquake or California Big One…

Indeed, the tremors occurred near the Mendecino Triple Junction, an area where the Cascadia Subduction Zone meets with the San Andreas Fault.

Moreover, if you look at the map from PSNS below, additional quakes rattled the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the Oregonian coast and on Victoria Island in Canada, as well.

An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest.

The question isn’t if but when. And keep in mind: The next full-margin rupture of the Cascadia subduction zone will spell the worst natural disaster in the history of the continent.

https://strangesounds.org