US sues Walmart over opioid crisis

France24 – AFP, 22 Decemberb 2020

The Justice Department sued Walmart, alleging it worsened the
opioid crisis Paul Ratje AFP/File 2 min New York (AFP)

The US Justice Department sued Walmart over its role in the opioid crisis on Tuesday, alleging the giant retailer wrongly filled prescriptions and worsened a public health disaster.

The suit accuses Walmart of irresponsible handling of orders, filling thousands of "invalid" prescriptions. 

 Authorities could seek up to billions of dollars in penalties, in the litigation that followed a multi-year investigation, the Justice Department said in a press release.

"As one of the largest pharmacy chains and wholesale drug distributors in the country, Walmart had the responsibility and the means to help prevent the diversion of prescription opioids," said Jeffrey Bossert Clark, acting head of DOJ's civil division. 

"Instead, for years, it did the opposite -- filling thousands of invalid prescriptions at its pharmacies and failing to report suspicious orders of opioids and other drugs placed by those pharmacies." 

Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company, the world's biggest retailer, filed its own lawsuit against the Justice Department in October that argued that the US crackdown put it in a no-win position. 

Pharmacists "must make a difficult decision" of either accepting a doctor's "medical judgment and fill the opioid prescription, or second-guess the doctor's judgment and refuse to fill it," Walmart said in its suit. 

"Either decision puts the pharmacist and pharmacy at great risk," the company argued. It said 

it faces potential federal action if prosecutors say an order was wrongly filled, or the chance of having a pharmacist license "stripped for the unauthorized practice of medicine, not to mention the potential harm to patients in need of their medicine."

Benedict XVI becomes oldest pope in history

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine MARCIANO, September 4, 2020

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is now officially the oldest pope in history

At the age of 93 and nearly five months, Benedict XVI officially became the oldest pope in history on Friday, even if the record is complicated by the fact that he stepped down in 2013 and holds the status of "pope emeritus".

Benedict was the first pope to retire in 700 years -- citing his diminishing strength -- after eight years in office.

He was succeeded by Argentinian Jorge Bergoglio, 10 years his junior and who adopted the name Francis.

Born on April 16, 1927, Benedict -- whose civilian name is Josef Ratzinger -- officially broke the previous longevity record held by Italian Leo XIII who died in 1903 at the age of 93 years, four months and three days, according to the calculations of the Italian episcopal journal, Avvenire, and the magazine Famiglia Cristiana.

"34,111 days in the service of God, the world and the ecclesiastical community," wrote Famiglia Cristiana, referring to Benedict.

Aside from Benedict's retired status, Vatican experts say the record could also be disputed because, going back 1,400 years, the ages of previous popes may not always be completely accurate.

The previous record holder, Leo XIII, is known for having written the first encyclical on social problems.

Unlike Benedict's relatively short reign as pontiff, the Italian aristocrat led the church for more than 25 years. By comparison, Pius XI was pope for 31 years and John Paul II for 26 years.

And the first-ever pope, Peter, reigned for at least 34 years, said French historian, Christophe Dickes.

Benedict lives "hidden from the world" in a former convent inside the Vatican grounds.

Often in a wheelchair, he has appeared increasingly frail recently.

But the author of dozens of books, who was nicknamed "God's Rottweiler" as a cardinal, is still mentally sharp, according to people close to him.

Despite his limited mobility, Benedict travelled to his native Bavaria in June to the bedside of his 96-year-old brother, Georg.

The two were very close and Georg died on July 1. Both had been ordained priests on the same day, in June 1951.

Face shingles

On that visit, his first foreign trip since stepping down, Benedict started suffering a painful case of shingles affecting the face, which worsened after the death of his brother.

His private secretary, Georg Gaenswein told a German newspaper last month that the shingles were clearing up, although no official statement has since been issued about Benedict's health.

Shingles are "a very painful disease, but not deadly," Gaenswein said, adding that the former pope had suffered "pain that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy".

The virus that causes the rash is the same herpes zoster behind chickenpox, and can reactivate after long periods spent dormant.

Benedict's German biographer, journalist Peter Seewald, had raised the alarm about the former pope's health after meeting him on August 1 to hand over his latest book.

"According to Seewald, the pope emeritus is now extremely frail," the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper wrote at the time.

Benedict has lived with a pacemaker since 1997, while a brain haemorrhage in 1991 left him blind in his left eye.

The former theology professor, who taught for 25 years before being appointed Archbishop of Munich, went on to become the man in charge of preserving Catholic doctrine by defending points of Christian tradition which seem to be in danger.

On the death of John Paul II in 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected the 265th pontiff, becoming Benedict XVI.

China revises up Wuhan toll as Germany declares outbreak 'under control'

Yahoo – AFP, Jing Xuan Teng, with AFP bureaus, April 17, 2020

A worker disinfects the floor of a supermarket in Kosovo (AFP Photo/Armend NIMANI)

Wuhan (China) (AFP) - The Chinese city at the origin of the coronavirus outbreak revised up its death toll by 50 percent Friday, as global criticism mounted over China's handling of the deadly pandemic.

Since emerging from Wuhan late last year, the coronavirus has embarked on a deadly march across the planet, killing more than 145,000 people and wrecking the global economy with more than half of humanity -- 4.5 billion people -- trapped indoors.

But some countries across Europe are starting to slowly ease back weeks-old restrictions after deaths and infections showed signs of stabilising, and the German health minister said Friday his country's outbreak was "under control".

While President Donald Trump announced a phased reopening of the United States, the economic devastation was clear to see in China, where gross domestic product slammed into reverse for the first time since records began.

Wuhan's city government added 1,290 deaths to its toll, bringing the total to 3,869 after many dead were "mistakenly reported" or missed entirely, adding to growing global doubts over China's transparency.

Leaders in France and Britain joined Trump's broadsides against China, as two US media outlets reported suspicions the virus accidentally slipped out of a sensitive Wuhan laboratory that studied bats.

President Emmanuel Macron told the Financial Times it would be "naive" to think China had handled the pandemic well, adding: "There are clearly things that have happened that we don't know about."

Beijing hit back on Friday, insisting there had been no cover-up.

"There has never been any concealment, and we'll never allow any concealment," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Life-and-death balance

World leaders are grappling with the question of when -- and how -- to reopen society, seeking a life-and-death balance between unfreezing stalled economies and preventing a deadly second coronavirus wave.

While Trump declared Thursday that the time had come for the "next front in our war" with a phased reboot of the US economy, others took the opposite path -- Japan, Britain and Mexico all expanded current restrictions.

Despite the United States suffering a staggering 4,500 deaths in the last 24 hours -- taking the national toll to almost 33,000 -- Trump proclaimed: "We're opening up our country."

The president's approach was a step back from previous hopes for a sudden reopening however, and state governors were given the freedom to set their own plans to resume business.

Lightly affected states can open "literally tomorrow", said Trump, while others would receive White House "freedom and guidance" to achieve that at their own pace.

In New York state for example -- where more than 11,500 have died -- Governor Andrew Cuomo extended a shutdown order until May 15.

In some of the world's most vulnerable economies, lockdown measures were starting to pinch.

Tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe feared a delayed start to normally busy auction season, the lifeblood for thousands of growers in impoverished rural regions.

"This year our harvest hasn't been good at all... just average," farmer Shaw Mutalepo told AFP, as workers in face masks crunched cured leaves into large bales.

"We might have a delay (in selling) just because of the lockdown," he added. "It will affect our preparations for the next season."

'Lost decade'

Meanwhile, there were more signs the global economy is imploding.

China reported Friday its GDP shrank 6.8 percent in the first quarter, the first contraction since quarterly growth data started in the early 1990s.

In the US, another 5.2 million workers lost their jobs, bringing the total number of newly unemployed to a staggering 22 million since mid-March.

John Williams, a top Federal Reserve official, predicted it would take "a year or two" if not longer for the US to recover from what the International Monetary Fund has termed the "Great Lockdown" battering the global economy.

The virus could spark another "lost decade" in Latin America, the IMF warned, while experts cautioned that freezing debt for poor countries will not save many developing world economies.

And in Europe, automobile sales shrank 55 percent in March, according to the industry's trade association.

'It's awful'

Some European countries -- such as hard-hit Spain and Italy -- were embarking on a long road back to normality, with Venice residents strolling around quiet canals stripped of their usual throngs of tourists.

Switzerland, Denmark and Finland were among those gradually re-opening shops and schools.

In Germany, select small shops will be allowed to reopen Monday and some children could soon return to school within weeks.

Infection rates there "have sunk significantly" and the outbreak is "under control", Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday.

Germany's coronavirus deaths and infections have stood firmly below some of their worst-hit European neighbours, which experts say is in part thanks to widespread testing.

Spahn said Germany would produce up to 50 million masks a week starting in August, to fill a yawning gap in supplies prompted by the pandemic.

But Britain, which shut down later than continental Europe, extended its lockdown for at least three more weeks.

It announced close to 850 new deaths on Friday, a slight spike from previous days that saw fatalities start to draw down.

And in Russia, recorded infections topped 32,000 as President Vladmir Putin warned that "the risks surrounding the epidemic's spread are still very high, not just in Moscow but in many other Russian regions".

Around the world, people have come up with ingenious ways to bring back some semblance of normality -- and social connection -- to their upended lives.

In Rome an 18-year-old guitarist takes to his balcony every evening at sunset to play covers of Italian classics.

"We decided to lend a hand to Italians: a message of hope," Jacopo Mastrangelo told AFP from his patio.

"We are accustomed to always seeing Rome full, teeming with people. Now the grass is growing between the cobblestones, everything has been left abandoned, and we decided to help."

Related Articles:

"Corona 1", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - 

(>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis)

"Corona 2", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - 

(>3,12 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis)

Theory that Coronavirus Escaped from a Lab Lacks Evidence

The pathogen appears to have come from wild animals, virologists say, and there are no signs of genetic manipulation in the SARS-CoV-2 genome.

The Scientist, Emily Makowski, Mar 5, 2020

Since the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic, theories have circulated about the origin of the novel coronavirus causing the disease, SARS-CoV-2. One prominent rumor is that it first escaped from a lab in Wuhan studying bat coronaviruses and then spread to the public. This theory has also evolved into claims that the virus was genetically engineered to be a bioweapon. But scientists say that while there’s not enough information to pinpoint where the virus came from, there is no evidence that it was created in a lab.

The lab-escape theory had been circulating on social media and various blogs for weeks, but gained considerable visibility in a New York Post article in late February. In it, Steven Mosher, a social scientist and the president of the Population Research Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, summarizes why he believes SARS-CoV-2 may have been accidentally spread by China’s National Biosafety Laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers have studied bat coronaviruses.

In the article, Mosher describes several lines of reasoning, namely, that the lab is less than 10 miles away from the seafood market where a cluster of COVID-19 cases was first discovered, and that after the 2003 SARS outbreak, the SARS-CoV virus escaped from virology labs multiple times in China. He also describes how Chinese virologist and bioweapons expert Major General Chen Wei went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology with military scientists in January to study thenew virus, which Mosher sees as a form of damage control.

“The circumstantial evidence surrounding it is pretty compelling. . . . The idea that the epicenter of this epidemic would be just a few miles from the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, which is where we know that dangerous pathogens are being kept and looked at as potential bioweapons, I think the odds against that are just astronomical,” Mosher tells The Scientist.

Dimitrios Paraskevis, an epidemiologist at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece, tells The Scientist that while it’s not possible to rule out the idea of lab escape, he believes that it is unlikely. “Any person who works in a lab must follow very strict safety regulations. It sounds to me very extraordinary that something happened and nobody took care about such an accident,” he says. The World Health Organization updated SARS surveillance guidelines in 2004 after the lab-based outbreaks, urging labs to follow proper biosafety procedures, and China replaced the director of its Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

One problem leading to a lot of apprehension and speculation about the new coronavirus is that scientists “don’t know what the actual source of the virus was,” Anthony Fehr, a coronavirus researcher at the University of Kansas, tells The Scientist. Additionally, researchers don’t know if SARS-CoV-2 immediately started to spread in humans after a single transmission from an animal, or if it took multiple zoonotic events between an infected animal population and humans.

Despite the question mark around the exact source of the disease, it does appear to have originally come from wildlife, according to a team of international public health scientists who wrote a statement published in The Lancet. An analysis of SARS-CoV-2 by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology suggests that the virus’s genome is 96 percent similar to a coronavirus found in bats.

Mosher agrees that animals were the likely origin. “That doesn’t mean [the virus] wasn’t collected, brought to the lab, and was being tested on in various ways, and escaped from the lab,” he says. Mosher also does not claim that China genetically engineered the virus. “I’m not saying this has been genetically engineered to be a bioweapon that’s escaped from the lab. . . . I’m just saying that [China is] collecting dangerous pathogens, [and] they have a history of letting them escape from the lab,” he says.

Transmission from an animal, with no lab experiment or genetic manipulation involved, fits best with what scientists know about how other coronaviruses have made the jump to humans. In the past, these viruses have spread through wild bats that infect another type of animal—an intermediate host—that then spreads it to humans. SARS-CoV, for example, was transmitted from bats to civets to humans, while camels were an intermediate host in MERS, according to Quanta. The civet version of SARS-CoV was 99.8 percent similar to the one found in humans—much more closely related than the bat and human varieties of SARS-CoV-2—so researchers believe the new coronavirus also infected another type of animal on its way from bats to humans. But they have not found a candidate so far, according to Nature.

This ability to move in between different animal hosts is a characteristic feature of coronaviruses, according to Paul McCray, a pulmonologist at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine whose lab studies coronaviruses. “It’s exactly what we’ve learned in studies of SARS in 2002 and 2003, and MERS in 2012. . . . So the concept that this is happening again should come as no surprise,” he says. “For people that work with these viruses, this is completely unsurprising. We don’t need to come up with farfetched theories when the genome sequences and the characteristics of these viruses support what we’re seeing.”

No signs of engineering in SARS-CoV-2 genome

In addition to the claim that a naturally evolved virus escaped from a lab by mistake, some conspiracy theories have posited that SARS-CoV-2 was genetically engineered. In fact, researchers throughout the world, including in the US and China, have conducted research involving the creation of experimentally engineered hybrid coronaviruses. But there is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was genetically engineered, says Paraskevis, whose genomic analysis of the new virus was reported as a preprint in January.

RNA viruses, which include coronaviruses, “accumulate mutations at a rate one million times faster than human DNA [does]. . . . It gives them the ability to survive against an immune response,” Paraskevis says. While the new coronavirus does have some genetic differences to other known viruses due to mutations, “there’s no evidence that this is the result of a human experiment,” he says, adding that if the virus were engineered, scientists would expect to see additional genetic material in its genome. For example, an early bioRxiv preprint on SARS-CoV-2 found HIV-like genetic sequences, but online commenters pointed out that “the findings were at most a coincidence” and that research has since been retracted, reports STAT.

As there are still many unknowns about SARS-CoV-2, researchers worldwide are trying to uncover as much as they can about the virus. Chinese researchers “released the genomic sequence incredibly rapidly online. . . . They were very public in sharing the most important first piece of information” about it, McCray tells The Scientist. “The fact that scientists all over the world had access to that genomic sequence” made a lot of early research possible, he says.

Emily Makowski is a freelance writer based in Boston. Find her on Twitter @EmilyRMakowski.

"China is seeking to deflect criticism for its role in starting a global pandemic and not telling the world" by spreading "dangerous and ridiculous" conspiracy theories, a US State Department official said https://t.co/wBxj3p3Sjl pic.twitter.com/myx3OcoixS

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 13, 2020

Related Articles:

US sees new pressure point as coronavirus hits Iran - New

"Kryon on Corona", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar 13, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis) - New

Tasked with reassuring US, Trump fumbles and fumes

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastian Smith, March 12, 2020

US President Donald Trump addresses Americans from the Oval Office about the
widening novel coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis (AFP Photo/Doug Mills)

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump had one job to do in a primetime address on coronavirus: reassure an anxious nation, a panicking stock market and divided world. Instead, he left many confused and more scared.

Oval Office addresses are an American tradition in times of crisis -- a set piece event reminding the country that the president, heading the world's most powerful office, is there to guide.

Yet Trump's short speech late Wednesday featured a tired-sounding president responding to the global coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic fallout with a mix of bluster, blaming and a jaw-dropping error.

Part of the address sounded like one of Trump's nationalist campaign rallies -- raucous events that the COVID-19 pandemic, incidentally, may now end.

"The virus will not have a chance against us," Trump claimed, echoing his stump speech lines about "killing terrorists" and forcing the world to "respect us again."

And when the president rolled out his plans for stopping coronavirus, he instead caused consternation.

Announcing the drastic measure of halting all travel from Europe, where the virus is running rampant, Trump added that the ban would include "the tremendous amount of trade and cargo."

And "various other things."

If Americans watching television might have been confused, investors were in shock.

The White House quickly issued a clarification that no, trade was not being halted between the European Union and the United States. But the damage was done.

The first sign that things were going wrong was when Wall Street stock futures nosedived the minute the cameras switched off

Less than 12 hours later, on Thursday morning, trading had to be stopped when the Dow Jones plummeted seven percent, mirroring 10 percent falls in European markets.

Confusion, questions

Many had been expecting or hoping for a promise of American leadership around the world and a detailed plan for mitigating the growing economic pain back home.

Trump did announce efforts to boost small business loans and give tax relief, but Congress is squabbling over the details and Trump has so far refused to talk to the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives.

And when it came to the US role in the world during this truly global phenomenon, Trump again reverted to campaign rally mode.

He labelled it a "foreign" virus, noted how it had begun in China, and blamed Europe for not halting the spread.

"As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe," he said.

The travel ban fits neatly with Trump's campaign platform.

He has built his presidency on pushing a wall for the Mexican border, tariffs to secure better US trade deals and overall promoting the concept of "America first" -- at all costs.

Ian Bremmer, president of the New York-based Eurasia Group political consultancy, contrasted the US policy with China's response of airlifting massive medical aid to coronavirus-stricken Italy.

"America First is a dangerously short-sighted response to a global crisis," he tweeted.

Also, what Trump did not explain in his speech was that only European countries in the EU Schengen visa-free area are on the list. He said it wouldn't include Britain, but this also means that 22 other non-Schengen countries are exempted.

Questions were immediately raised over how this would prevent spreading of a visa already present in the United States.

And why would travelers from Britain, for example, be any less likely to be infected?

There are 459 confirmed coronavirus cases in Britain, including Nadine Dorries, the British government's own health minister in charge of patient safety.

As Politico noted drily, there was another "convenient side effect" to Trump's partial travel ban.

"They exempt nations where three Trump-owned golf resorts are located."

You have a virus which is ‘spreading’ in your world …

The Federation of Light channeled by Blossom Goodchild – 2 February 2020

Blossom Goodchild

Blossom: Hello there! Giving it another go, to see if we are able to communicate. So much going on for everyone. So many Energies of all Vibrations flying around and yet, onwards we march! How is it where you are and do you fancy a swap?

Federation of Light: Dearest Blossom. Welcome to you and may our Energies be compatible … Indeed, ALL Energies be compatible in order for us to chat and discuss as we like to do.

You are correct in saying about the different Vibrations. This is what is causing so much upheaval for everyone in these times. As the Vibration of your Planet is lifting into a more deserving position, it is rejecting Vibrational magnetic fields that ‘want to come along for the ride’. The struggle between the Higher and the lower frequencies is an unruly dance conducted by the lower sensations and this is what is causing so much ‘unforgettable’ disturbance.

Why do you say ‘unforgettable’?

Because is it not a term used to ‘remember’ if we look at it that way?

I guess so. Yet, I wouldn’t really want to remember this particular time as it is not one to put in the ‘Fondest memories’ album.

And yet WHEN THS IS ALL OVER … WHEN EVERYTHNG THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID AND DONE IS SAID AND DONE … you WILL remember it and look back fondly upon it because it is recognised as the ending process of the old … as you bring in the New.

The New shall bring such Strength and Happiness to all.

The New shall allow you to FEEL the YOU that you TRULY are.

Everyone, including myself, seems to be feeling so vulnerable. So much is happening to so many … is it absolutely necessary for this to take place on an individual, personal level? So many needing to be in hospital, so many being served up, what I consider to be unnecessary predicaments that are far from pleasant. I mean why does it have to be so personal when the clearing of Energies is ‘in the air’, if you get me?

Yet, you are all One and the same. That which one is experiencing … is experienced for the Whole.

ALL that is taking place in one person’s life is like ‘taking one for the team’. Everything that you are now working through, is ridding the planet of all the ‘stuff’ that HAS TO BE RELEASED in order for the pathway ahead to be clear.

With respect … Haven’t we been doing that for the last few decades and then some?

Keep in mind Blossom, you and everyone else aware of their Light, are not just dealing with a few fibs here and there, or a little bit of jewellery theft.

You are dealing with the dark side of the WHOLE! You are choosing to be part of the removal system of all that has fallen into the pit of misery, greed, hate, … shall we go on?

No need, yet, yes, please do, just out of interest.

Jealousy, lust, pride, deceit. ALL that is below the line of that which is acceptable.

We previously expressed to you that this coming year would be a most interesting one in many forms of itself. One thing after another shall be presented to you as those of lesser Light … much lesser Light … struggle to redeem their status of power and control over the populous.

You have a virus which is ‘spreading’ in your world …

The Corona virus?

This is its given name.

I felt you wanted me to look up the meaning of the word ‘Corona’.  (Gaseous envelope of the sun and other stars … or ‘of the crown’.)

Interesting name. Considering there is much talk of solar flares and the sovereignty of a country that is under much strain due to news that has been leaked out. All that you are told goes much deeper than has so far been offered. Yet, it shall be revealed and there shall be no stopping these condemnations as they flow forth.

So, the virus?

A decoy! Put in place to mask rescue missions of those ‘under the thumb!’

‘Under the thumb’ meaning being controlled or dominated by someone. So, to speak as it is … you are saying the virus was put in place to take the attention away from those of darkness who are about to be ‘caught’.

Correct, Blossom.

Yet, none the less the virus is a real thing that is killing people!

As with many viruses that have been concocted to cause great alarm and fear. There will always be ‘some medical situation’ that is made prominent at a time suitable for undercover agents to slip through the bar and slip away unseen.

So much that is presented in your world is that of a decoy nature. So much!

Then the fear that builds, feeds itself until this particular threat ‘dies down’ and those who created it, sit happily in the knowing that once again their mission was successful.

Most of you who are aware KNOW all this.

May we ask … whenever you have heard about this virus or anything else, or seen it on your news, what have you felt? How have you reacted?

Well, to be honest … I very rarely watch the news, yet, if someone mentions it, I feel very unsympathetic, for I know it is just a ploy. Even though people are dying, I feel unattached somehow. It is just another part of the game and I am on the winning team. Of course, the I AM THE LIGHT. I AM THE LOVE. I AM. mantra comes into play at all times. For that which I cannot fully understand or accept is so very much ‘eased in strength’ by doing so. Saying this mantra allows me to stop questioning and pondering about it all and just BE (the Light and the Love.) Over and over again in every situation I say it and I know many, many are doing the same.

Yet, what you do not know, is the difference it is making to yourselves, each other and your Planet. When you continue to do so, you realise that you are not ‘falling for/under the spell’ that is deliberately designed to trap you. YOU ARE FREE OF IT … just by saying/feeling these few simple, yet so very Powerful words.

Dearest Blossom and all Souls of Earth who are struggling through these times … let the strength that lies within the coding of this mantra, guide you safely home. Use it as you are doing throughout … not just your daily circumstances … yet, use it throughout your Entire Being.

Let it become you. For you are THE LIGHT. THE LOVE. THE I AM presence in human form. Here to make the change into your Brighter world.

The particular Energies that are around at the moment shall subside and settle for a short time, yet, then, Dearest Ones …  A STORM OF GREAT MAGNITUDE SHALL BREAK and THEN shall you gather forces to see yourselves through.

I am assuming you mean storm, metaphorically?

Yes. Yet, when it arrives you will know why we used this as its sign.

Is this to come soon? I don’t believe I just asked that! I should know so much better.

We cannot give dates as you know. This ‘storm’ is a build up of events … and as each one ‘becomes exposed’ … the bigger the uproar which then leads to ‘the final straw’ … for want of an easy way of description.

Yet, it is to be this year?

We feel quite sure of this … yet, as you know Blossom … nothing is written in stone.

This year is to be the year of all years from the point of view of changes on a massive scale.

We trust your hats are firmly secured …

They will obviously need to be … judging from all that is going on for everyone in one way or another at the moment. It’s a strange feeling of surrendering to what is. No point in fighting it. It seems to be a one day at a time scenario and then I get into bed and the minute I close my eyes, my mind says, I AM THE LIGHT. I AM THE LOVE. I AM … Happy to have got through another day … somehow. Yet, knowing also, this is just the beginning.

You Know your strength. Each one of you can FEEL it from deep within. You can FEEL now that al the preparation you have ‘endured’ was leading up to these times, as you walk into the unknown/known segments of this journey of your lives.

We LOVE you. We are excited to watch the Glorious outcome unfold.

And so many Love you. Hope to bump into you one day … perhaps hitch a ride? In Gratitude. In Loving service. I AM.

China virus crisis deepens as whistleblower doctor dies

Yahoo – AFP, Laurent THOMET, Jing Xuan TENG, February 7, 2020

Medical staff walks past a makeshift memorial to the late ophthalmologist Li Wenliang
at the Houhu Branch of Wuhan Central Hospital on February 7 (AFP Photo/STR, STR)

Beijing (AFP) - A Chinese doctor punished after raising the alarm about the new coronavirus died Friday after being infected by the pathogen, sparking an outpouring of grief and anger over a worsening crisis that has now killed more than 630 people.

At least 31,000 have been infected by the virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang brought to light in late December -- before becoming its latest victim.

The virus is believed to have emerged from a market selling exotic animals in Wuhan before jumping to humans and spreading across China and abroad as millions travelled for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Researchers at the South China Agricultural University have identified the endangered pangolin as a "potential intermediate host" for the disease, as the genome sequences of viruses found on the scaly mammal are 99 percent identical to those on coronavirus patients.

The virus has since spread across China, prompting the government to lock down cities of tens of millions of people, and panic has spiralled around the globe as more than 240 cases have emerged in two dozen countries.

The media keep watch on the Diamond Princess cruise ship with over 3,000 

people on board as it sits in quarantine at Yokohama port (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro NOGI)

Hong Kong, meanwhile, announced it would forcibly quarantine arrivals from mainland China beginning Saturday, warning that anyone caught breaching the new rules faces up to six months in prison.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, whose countries have tussled over trade and human rights, spoke on the phone about the health emergency.

"We talked about, mostly about the coronavirus. They're working really hard and I think they're doing a very professional job," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday the United States would offer up to $100 million to China and other impacted countries to combat the fast-spreading coronavirus.

Beijing has been angered by bans on arrivals from China instituted by the United States and other countries.

A laboratory technician works on coronavirus samples at "Fire Eye" laboratory 

in Wuhan (AFP Photo/STR, STR)

Li, 34, died early Friday, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, an announcement that triggered deep sadness on social media over a doctor hailed as a hero.

"He is a hero who warned others with his life," a fellow Wuhan doctor wrote on Weibo.

There was also a rare collective bout of anger at the authorities and bold demands, including the hashtag "we demand freedom of speech", which was censored.

"Those fat officials who live on public money, may you die from a snowstorm," wrote another Weibo user in a comment that was later scrubbed.

In a sign that the criticism has shaken the Communist government, its anti-graft agency announced that it was sending a team to Wuhan to "conduct a comprehensive investigation into issues involving Dr. Li Wenliang reported by the masses".

A deserted street in Shanghai, as fear of the spread of the virus impacts 

cities across China, even those not in lockdown (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

The foreign ministry and the National Health Commission expressed condolences for his death.

Death censored

Li's death has also highlighted the enormous risks that frontline doctors have taken to treat patients in overwhelmed and under-equipped hospitals in Wuhan, the quarantined city of 11 million people where the virus emerged in December.

Medical staff are overstretched and lack sufficient protective gear, the deputy governor of Hubei province admitted Thursday.

Li sent out a message about the new coronavirus to colleagues on December 30 in Wuhan but was later among a group of people summoned by police for "rumour-mongering".

He later contracted the disease while treating a patient.

Censors appeared to struggle with how to deal with his death.

Striking medical workers demand Hong Kong close the border with China 

to contain the virus (AFP Photo/Philip FONG)

State-run newspaper Global Times and state broadcaster CCTV first reported on Weibo that Li had died late Thursday, only to delete their posts after the death rapidly surged to be among the top topics on the popular platform.

Analysts have said local authorities played down the extent of the outbreak in early January because they were holding political meetings at the time and wanted to project an aura of stability.

The first fatality was reported on January 11. The death toll has since soared to 636, with 73 more reported on Friday and an additional 3,000 new infections.

Global spread

To control the spread, authorities have placed some 56 million people in Wuhan and surrounding cities under virtual lockdown.

Posters warn residents in Beijing to take protective measures against the
coronavirus (AFP Photo/GREG BAKER)

Authorities in Wuhan are "combing" communities to find people suspected or confirmed to have the virus and place them in quarantine, state media said.

Major airlines have suspended flights to and from the country, while several countries have advised their citizens to leave China.

But cases keep emerging.

Two cruise ships carrying thousands of holidaymakers in Hong Kong and Japan have been placed under quarantine as authorities test people for infections.

On Friday another 41 people tested positive aboard the Diamond Princess in Japan, bringing the total number of infected cases on the ship to 61.

Timeline of events leading to the death of coronavirus whistleblower 

Chinese doctor Li Wenliang. (AFP Photo/Gal ROMA)

Another cruise ship carrying a passenger suspected of infection with coronavirus will not be allowed to dock in southern Japan, the government said Friday.

In Hong Kong, 3,600 people are facing a third night confined aboard the World Dream, where eight former passengers have tested positive for the virus.

While global concerns mount, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that that world was facing a "chronic shortage" of masks and other protective equipment.

Apple contractor Foxconn said Friday it would start making face masks alongside iPhones at its Shenzhen factory, aiming for 20 million by the end of February.

At least 31,000 have been infected by the virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang 

brought to light in late December -- before becoming its latest victim

The death of a whistleblowing doctor who was reprimanded for warning about the new coronavirus has sparked rare calls for political reform and free speech in China https://t.co/sSQVtqwdDy

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 9, 2020