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FDA Considers Lowering Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes

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“We see a historic opportunity here to use that product standard to potentially more rapidly migrate smokers off of combustible cigarettes, that we know cause a lot of death and disease related to tobacco use, and potentially onto products that can provide adults with access to nicotine without all the harms associated with combustion,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said during a media briefing.

In an unprecedented move, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it plans to cut the amount of addictive nicotine in the nation’s cigarettes.

The goal is to lower the amount of nicotine to minimally or non-addictive levels, the agency said.

“We see a historic opportunity here to use that product standard to potentially more rapidly migrate smokers off of combustible cigarettes, that we know cause a lot of death and disease related to tobacco use, and potentially onto products that can provide adults with access to nicotine without all the harms associated with combustion,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said during a media briefing.

But e-cigarettes “and other products that could offer a bridge to quitting need to be properly evaluated,” he noted.

One lung health expert applauded the move.

“Exploring a product standard to lower nicotine content in cigarettes to minimally or non-addictive levels is an exciting concept,” said Andrea Spatarella, from the Center for Tobacco Control at Northwell Health, in Great Neck, N.Y. “Any and all efforts to reduce or eliminate the health burdens and tobacco-related deaths to millions of Americans deserves consideration.”

Tobacco use — mainly cigarette smoking — kills more than 480,000 Americans a year and costs nearly $300 billion a year in direct health care and lost productivity, the FDA noted.

Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said at the briefing, “Given their combination of toxicity, addictiveness, prevalence and effect on non-users, cigarettes are the category of tobacco product that causes the greatest public health burden. In fact, cigarettes are the only legal consumer product that when if used as intended will kill half of all long-term users prematurely.”

Reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes and other policy measures could help prevent millions of tobacco-related deaths in the United States, Gottlieb added.

The proposal on reducing nicotine levels includes a review of current science about how nicotine creates and sustains addiction to cigarettes, and asks for public input and review.

Gottlieb said answers will be sought on questions such as, “What potential maximum nicotine level would be appropriate for the protection of public health? Should a product standard be implemented all at once or gradually?”

Also, he added, there could be “unintended consequences” to making cigarettes less addictive, for example, the growth of a black market in high-nicotine cigarettes.

Still, Gottlieb said a new analysis, published online March 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine, has suggested that millions could benefit from the proposed move.

“If this scenario were implemented, this analysis suggests that approximately 5 million additional adult smokers could quit smoking within one year of implementation,” Gottlieb said.

“And with this scenario, an even greater impact could be felt over time: by the year 2100, the analysis estimates that more than 33 million people — mostly youth and young adults — would have avoided becoming regular smokers. And smoking rates could drop from the current 15 percent to as low as 1.4 percent,” he added.

“All told, this framework could result in more than 8 million fewer tobacco-caused deaths through the end of the century — an undeniable public health benefit,” Gottlieb said.

Young people would benefit hugely from the proposed move, one lung health expert said.

“The benefits the FDA cites for this proposal are extraordinary,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Edited by: JV Staff
(HealthDay News)

Survival Odds Improving for Severe Burn Victims

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The study was published online March 9 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

The odds of surviving severe burns have steadily increased in recent decades, researchers report.

“Remarkably, a patient up to the age of 40 who has sustained a 95 percent body burn now survives half the time, whereas in earlier times a 50 percent body burn killed that same person,” Dr. David Herndon said in a news release from the American College of Surgeons. He’s director of research at the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, Texas, and director of burn services at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Herndon led a team of researchers who analyzed the records of more than 10,300 adults and children who were burn patients at those two hospitals between 1989 and 2017.

Over that time, the risk that burn patients would die fell about 2 percent a year, the study found. The risk was highest among people who were older, those who had burns over a large area and those who had lung damage from inhaling smoke.

The researchers credit the reduction in deaths to improvements in the standard treatment for burn patients. That includes:

New protocols for managing inhalation injury.

Nutrition to fight infection and promote healing.

Early burn excision and skin grafts immediately after the injury.

Improved transfer of critically ill patients to hospitals and burn centers has also played a role, according to the researchers.

“The most dramatic decreases in [deaths] most recently have been in patients over age 40,” Herndon said.

“For example, a woman over the age of 40, with very large burns, is a patient who can survive today if these protocols are implemented,” he explained in the news release.

Along with reducing the risk that a burn victim will die, researchers also need to identify treatment methods to improve survivors’ quality of life, Herndon said.

And, “burn specialists also need to focus on implementing the protocols that have allowed this improvement in survival to occur,” he added.

“We hope our findings will inspire other burn units to try to keep people alive with extensive burns because it’s clear that it can be done,” Herndon said.

The study was published online March 9 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Edited by: JV Staff
(HealthDay News)

Coffee May Have Bigger Effect on Your Body Than Thought

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Kanabo Research’s VapePod for medical cannabis inhalation. Photo by Moshe Yefet/HeadShot

Coffee has been tied to many health benefits. Now, a small study suggests a daily java habit may affect the body’s metabolism more extensively than thought.

The study, of 47 adults, found that heavy coffee consumption — four to eight cups a day — altered blood levels of more than 100 metabolites. That refers to a broad range of chemicals that change after eating or drinking.

Many of the effects were expected, researchers said, but a few were surprising.

“This approval is a significant announcement for the medical cannabis patients in Israel who will be able to use the medical vaporizer for the first time,” said Avihu Tamir, cofounder and CEO of Kanabo Research.

For example, coffee cut levels of certain metabolites related to the endocannabinoid system — the same system affected by marijuana. This reduction is the opposite of what happens when you take pot, the researchers said.

What does it all mean? That’s not clear.

But many studies have found that coffee drinkers typically have lower risks of various diseases than nondrinkers do, explained Marilyn Cornelis, the lead researcher on the new work.

The possible benefits include lower risks of Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and certain cancers.

“But most of those studies are just looking at associations,” said Cornelis, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “They looked at people’s self-reported coffee intake and their risk of disease.”

This study, she explained, tried to “get more at the mechanisms — the biology that might be underlying those associations.”

The findings, published March 15 in the Journal of Internal Medicine, come from a clinical trial that involved 47 Finnish adults. All were habitual coffee drinkers.

Researchers had them abstain from coffee for one month, then drink four cups per day the next month, and eight cups a day the following month. Blood samples were collected at the end of each month.

In general, coffee consumption triggered many expected changes in metabolism, Cornelis said.

But her team also spotted some previously unknown effects. Besides the endocannabinoid changes, there were shifts in certain metabolites related to the steroid system and fatty acid metabolism. The steroid system includes cholesterol and hormones such as testosterone and estrogen.

Whether there are implications for people’s health, however, is unknown.

“We hope that this will be hypothesis-generating,” Cornelis said. Future studies, she explained, could dig into the connection between coffee and endocannabinoid metabolites, for example — to see whether it helps explain why coffee drinkers have lower risks of certain diseases.

The endocannabinoid system helps regulate a range of body functions, Cornelis noted. These include blood pressure, sleep, appetite and calorie-burning. Coffee has been linked to better weight control, and it’s possible, she said, that its effects on endocannabinoids play some role.

She said the effects of coffee were the opposite of what you’d expect with marijuana — which is a famous trigger of the “munchies.”

For now, though, it’s hard to know what to make of the findings, said Angela Lemond, a spokesperson with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She was not involved with the research.

By: Amy Norton
(HealthDay News)

 

Coffee May Have Bigger Effect on Your Body Than Thought

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Coffee has been tied to many health benefits. Now, a small study suggests a daily java habit may affect the body’s metabolism more extensively than thought.

Coffee has been tied to many health benefits. Now, a small study suggests a daily java habit may affect the body’s metabolism more extensively than thought.

The study, of 47 adults, found that heavy coffee consumption — four to eight cups a day — altered blood levels of more than 100 metabolites. That refers to a broad range of chemicals that change after eating or drinking.

Many of the effects were expected, researchers said, but a few were surprising.

For example, coffee cut levels of certain metabolites related to the endocannabinoid system — the same system affected by marijuana. This reduction is the opposite of what happens when you take pot, the researchers said.

What does it all mean? That’s not clear.

But many studies have found that coffee drinkers typically have lower risks of various diseases than nondrinkers do, explained Marilyn Cornelis, the lead researcher on the new work.

The possible benefits include lower risks of Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and certain cancers.

“But most of those studies are just looking at associations,” said Cornelis, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “They looked at people’s self-reported coffee intake and their risk of disease.”

This study, she explained, tried to “get more at the mechanisms — the biology that might be underlying those associations.”

The findings, published March 15 in the Journal of Internal Medicine, come from a clinical trial that involved 47 Finnish adults. All were habitual coffee drinkers.

Researchers had them abstain from coffee for one month, then drink four cups per day the next month, and eight cups a day the following month. Blood samples were collected at the end of each month.

In general, coffee consumption triggered many expected changes in metabolism, Cornelis said.

But her team also spotted some previously unknown effects. Besides the endocannabinoid changes, there were shifts in certain metabolites related to the steroid system and fatty acid metabolism. The steroid system includes cholesterol and hormones such as testosterone and estrogen.

Whether there are implications for people’s health, however, is unknown.

“We hope that this will be hypothesis-generating,” Cornelis said. Future studies, she explained, could dig into the connection between coffee and endocannabinoid metabolites, for example — to see whether it helps explain why coffee drinkers have lower risks of certain diseases.

The endocannabinoid system helps regulate a range of body functions, Cornelis noted. These include blood pressure, sleep, appetite and calorie-burning. Coffee has been linked to better weight control, and it’s possible, she said, that its effects on endocannabinoids play some role.

She said the effects of coffee were the opposite of what you’d expect with marijuana — which is a famous trigger of the “munchies.”

For now, though, it’s hard to know what to make of the findings, said Angela Lemond, a spokesperson with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She was not involved with the research.

By: Amy Norton
(HealthDay News)

Flu Season Finally Slowing Down

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As of March 10, the CDC said, 3.3 percent of patient visits to doctors were for the flu, down from 3.7 percent of patient visits the week before.

As winter nears its end so too does a tough flu season, with new data showing a decline in doctor visits and less severe strains of influenza beginning to dominate.

But hospitalizations for the flu remained a problem, and there have been additional pediatric deaths.

For the fifth week in a row, there was a decrease in the number of doctor visits for flu-like illness, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday.

As of March 10, the CDC said, 3.3 percent of patient visits to doctors were for the flu, down from 3.7 percent of patient visits the week before.

And, as health officials predicted, cases of less severe influenza B infections continue to be more common than cases of more severe influenza A infections.

For the week ending March 10, influenza B infections accounted for 53.5 percent of cases, while influenza A infections accounted for 46.5 percent. For the entire season so far, influenza A strains have been responsible for nearly 72 percent of all cases, the CDC report noted.

Meanwhile, flu-linked hospitalization rates continued to rise — from 86.3 per 100,000 people for the week ending March 3, to 89.9 per 100,000 people for the week ending March 10, the CDC data showed.

Pediatric flu deaths are also still increasing slightly, with an additional nine deaths reported for the week ending March 10. That brings the season’s total to 128.

CDC officials have pinpointed one reason why this flu season has been so tough: the flu vaccine is only 25 percent effective against the more severe H3N2 influenza, which caused most flu cases this year.

Among children aged 6 months through 8 years old, however, the vaccine’s effectiveness is 59 percent, the agency reported.

Despite the poor match of the vaccine to the most common strain of flu, the CDC is still urging people who haven’t gotten a flu shot to get one, because the vaccine is more effective against other types of flu.

For instance, the vaccine is 67 percent effective against the H1N1 flu, which was the 2009 pandemic flu and is still around. In addition, the vaccine is 42 percent effective against the influenza B viruses, which are also circulating widely, the researchers said.

The flu shot’s overall effectiveness against all strains was pegged at 36 percent, the CDC said.

The CDC recommends that everyone aged 6 months and older get a flu shot.

The CDC’s FluView update was published online March 16.

By: Steven Reinberg
(HealthDay News)

Meet Real Life James Bond: Tony Schiena

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Tony Schiena
Photo by Lieba Nesis

 By Lieba Nesis

Meeting the world’s busiest former covert operative is sure to be a hassle. I tried to set up an appointment for months only to receive the reply “Sorry I will be in a different country that day.” For those who don’t know Tony Schiena he is certainly an enigma: I use the monikers “superstar” and “superspy” when referencing him. Interviewing a former spy is difficult because there are so many topics and names that are off limits-I had no idea what to expect. I was a bit nervous as to whether I would strike the right tone; a fear that was later confirmed as he became increasingly exasperated with my open ended queries.

ISIS is in range and a click away.

Schiena arrived two hours late after concluding six meetings; and was inundated with telephone calls and text messages through the duration of the interview. These were not typical conversations like, “honey what’s for dinner,” but more along the urgent lines of “where should we send our people. “ Tony’s father was an Italian businessman and his mother is a Dutch housewife; hence he possesses both the machismo of an Italian tough guy as well as the perfectly chiseled features of a Dutch model. He speaks fluent German, Dutch, English and Italian. He not only trained as a spy and was a CIA asset in South Africa Johannesburg when he was 19, but went on to become the World Karate Champion (before retiring after breaking both ankles), head of an NGO to combat sex trafficking and owner of his own private military intelligence company called MOSAIC.

His company uses the best operatives from different militaries for intelligence, tactical and training operations (even choosing soldiers from the Sayeret Matkal of Israel); and now specializes in asset tracing and recovery. He helps those who have been defrauded of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars who can’t collect from the perpetrators because they live in countries that are not as legally sound as the US, such as the Middle East and United Arab Emirates. I foolishly inquire how he does this and receive his coldhearted response, “we do it legally but you can’t really expect me to answer that.” In 2016 he fought ISIS on the front lines while training Kurdish special forces in counterinsurgency; and has been credited with exposing ISIS’s use of chemical weapons against the Kurds-and that’s the stuff we know about.

If that wasn’t cool enough at 6 ft. 3 he looks every bit the Hollywood protagonist; better looking than a young Harrison Ford, and more real life gravitas than ten Hollywood action stars combined. His eyes reveal a world-weariness greater than any Tinseltown leading man. His high IQ, accompanied by a killer South African accent, is readily apparent as his sophisticated vocabulary and perfect enunciation catch me off guard. Tony, whose idea of vacationing is writing a movie, wrote produced and starred in the 2016 action film “Darc” with a Netflix release later this  year .  Tony has harsh words for Hollywood  and  has a hard time coming to terms with “Hollywood types”.  Tony is straight-faced when he calls Hollywood’s unscrupulousness “more of a war zone than Iraq;” while humorously acknowledging that real action moves are direct and ungraceful unlike Hollywood’s romanticized fight scenes.

Growing up “Karate Kid” had an incredible impact on Tony who later became buddies with Pat Morita even buying his Bronco from his wife when he died. Schiena recalls his youthful obsession with fellow action stars Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal and felt disappointed and “unimpressed” when he met them. While Seagal and Van Damme may act like tough guys when the special forces need a trainer they look to Schiena. It is still hard to believe Schiena is for real as he sounds like a character out of a John Grisham novel or James Bond movie.

Dear friend fmr President of Pakistan – Musharaff

I feverishly check the internet to confirm the veracity of his story. A lot of guys embellish their past but usually their fibs are more conventional. I see he was on a panel with the Pope on sex trafficking and has appeared in twelve Hollywood movies. Could a 42-year-old really accomplish all these milestones? And yet Tony looks weathered; like he has lived nine lives plus in a very short span of time. I sense it is all true and maybe even underembellished as his quiet impassive manner is the paradigm of a true professional-he only speaks when spoken to. Tony discusses attending the yearly meetings the Pope presides over, accompanied by other religious leaders from around the world. When I ask how it was to work with Al Pacino and speak with the Pope he refreshingly responds, “I really don’t look at actors or any other people in any other light other than normal people. And then you meet Presidents, Heads Of State and Religions and they are all just normal people”. He does seem incredibly unfazed by his surroundings. The history of Schiena is equally mysterious as Tony’s trajectory into the world of intelligence was very unconventional-not the typical Eaton or West Point graduate. In fact his story sounds more Hollywood than Hollywood.


ISIS front lines, embedded with head of Kurdish Military Intelligence

Born outside of Johannesburg he was in college studying International Trade and Law, wanting to become a maritime attorney when his professor befriended him; ultimately, deciding he would be the perfect CIA asset during a time of tremendous turmoil in South Africa. He used the cover of a ship’s agent and international trader to move around various countries with alacrity. The government wanted a smooth transition from apartheid to the African National Congress with Mandela being the logical person to take over in 1994- Tony points out that up until 1994 Mandela was unofficially on the FBI’s top ten wanted list, until he became President in 1994. During this time Schiena was part of a CIA-led team, trying to prevent the two right wing parties in South Africa from collaborating by driving a wedge between the two parties by “false flag operations”- I was now savvy enough not to ask what that meant. He said there was inherent danger involved, which he was too young to recognize, because you are dealing with extremist mentality. During this time he was on the National Karate team becoming the World Karate Champion five years later until he was forced to retire due to two broken ankles. I foolishly ask, “how were you able to be both an operative and a karate champion,”? He stares at me incredulously with the response, “karate was my sport not my job you don’t make money from karate.”

Moving on, as my nerves begin to heighten, Tony continues to discuss the peaceful transition of power to Nelson Mandela in 1994 and his subsequent relocation to Eastern Europe and Budapest- trying to figure out what to do after dropping out of college. The professor who recruited Schiena disappears and he needs to reestablish a new contact. “Are you curious as to what happened to your recruiter?” I naively inquire. Surprisingly, Schiena responds that he doesn’t really care since he was pissed off that he was used as an expendable asset-this is straight out of the film “Spy Games.” Schiena won’t say where he was an operative or with whom but continues that at the behest of a fellow agent, who was assassinated in Budapest, he moves to California and embarks on a relatively successful acting career finding it weird to “imitate characters that he does for real.” Come September 11th and Tony is relaxing in California itching to get back to his intelligence roots and save some lives. As he watched the events unfold on television he thinks ,”what the hell am I doing in Los Angeles doing make believe stuff when all this real stuff is going on”? And so he starts his company MOSAIC without ever mentioning the word “mercenary”. Schiena casually remarks that he just came back from Miami to meet a man who flew in from Switzerland to hire Tony to recover his property in Venezuela. The next day Tony was in New York running a panel on sex trafficking, guarding a high threat person, and meeting with dozens of people.

With Jack Devine former head of operations of CIA – a mentor and partner

In the next week he will be in Jordan, Israel, Switzerland, Beirut, Italy and London-where his satellite office is located. He says he is in perpetual jet lag working from the wee hours of morning until late at night with little recovery time. Upcoming “vacations” include traveling to Katmandu, an excursion up Everest and a motorcycle trip from the Himalayas into India. His high-level connections allow him access to private jets and mega-yachts with a planned trip to the salt-flats of Bolivia on the horizon. He owns homes in various countries including Dubai but was hesitant to reveal where.

When I ask how many phones he possesses, a relatively innocuous question, he again hesitates to answer. What do you think of Putin, the Dalia Lama, Benjamin Netanyahu-once again no answer. His diet consists of coffee with oil in the morning and eating clean the rest of the day. He makes sure to work out every day regardless of whether he is in Pakistan or Los Angeles; he is often in five different countries a week many of which have no gyms. I ask him if he made it big in Hollywood what would be his first big splurge. He quickly responds that he is not into “big toys” but is satisfied that he has the freedom to do what he wants. In fact, he has no more than 20 suits and lives a relatively simple life. I never ask about his personal life but assume he is unmarried since he wears no ring and doesn’t mention children-something that is later confirmed.

Tony informs me has to leave as he is late for two meetings and a business function. I try to find out what drives him and if he ever experiences commonplace nerves. “Of course, I get nervous all the time,” he responds. “What makes you nervous”? I ask in the hopes of getting a banal response such as spiders or the ocean. Predictably, he replies, “I fear that a sniper is going to kill me when I am fighting on the front lines”-so much for that. Tony has learned to control his nerves through mental conditioning and meditation. When we head outside he complains he is cold and grabs his coat-finally revealing a modicum of human frailty. When it is time to call a taxi he hurriedly runs away and I look around wondering if there is a telephone booth nearby where he can quickly change.

Another Package Bomb Exploded In Texas And People Are Freaked

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Another Package Bomb Exploded In Texas And People Are Freaked

A fourth package bomb exploded in Austin, Texas, Sunday evening, injuring at least two people and causing police to lock down the neighborhood overnight. The package left by the side of the road was likely triggered by a trip wire, making it a different device than the other three packages that exploded, Austin Police chief Brian…

Polish Official to Take Action Against Yad VaShem Over Collaboration Exhibit

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Poland Holocaust

According to Radio Maryja, Jan Dziedziczak, deputy director of Poland’s Foreign Ministry, is offended. On a visit to Israel with compatriots who have been honored as Righteous Among the Nations and veterans of World War II, he visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem last Thursday – and saw an inscription among the exhibits that raised his ire.

The explanatory note stated that the Germans, along with the “Polish police,” guarded the entrance to the Lodz Ghetto. One of the veterans who accompanied Dziedziczak reminded him that Lodz was in the part of Poland that had been annexed by Germany outright (in contrast to the “General Government,” which was a German zone of occupation in the country).

Immediately, Radio Maryja reported, Dziedziczak got in touch with his embassy.

“I asked for immediate intervention from our diplomatic mission in Israel,” he said. “We will not leave this matter and we will do everything to change this information immediately.”

In other words, Dziedziczak is protesting the fact that Yad Vashem included information about an official Polish police force that was incorporated into the Third Reich. This would therefore contravene Poland’s new law that states that it is a criminal offense to ascribe responsibility to the Polish nation for crimes committed by the Nazis in the conquered country.

Dziedziczak also stated that action must be taken “to restore the truth.”

Last month, Poland enacted a law that criminalizes ascribing “responsibility or co-responsibility to the Polish nation or state for crimes committed by the German Third Reich.” Israel, the US and other countries decried the law as an attempt to whitewash Poland’s complacency in the Holocaust, hindering freedom of speech and academic research.

Yad Vashem, the preeminent museum of the history of the Holocaust, states on its website that most Polish police officers complied with the Nazi order to return to work under the occupation force. The police were employed “on a wide scale against the Jewish population,” Yad Vashem says, and “had an active role in policing ghettos in occupied Poland and searching for Jews who sought refuge with the local population after escaping from ghettos and camps.”

The Polish police demonstrated “absolute devotion” to the Nazi authorities, according to Yad Vashem, “although a handful of cases of assistance to Jews by some officers also occurred.”

The Polish state delegation has been in Israel since Sunday with its World War II heroes. The representatives of the Polish Righteous stressed the need for peaceful talks between the governments of Poland and Israel, emphasizing that it would be possible to settle disputes over the past of both the Polish and Jewish nations, Radio Maryja said. (World Israel News)

Crown Prince bin Salman Compares Ali Khamenei to Adolf Hitler

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Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince has compared the Supreme leader of  Iran  to Adolf Hitler, during a recorded interview for 60 Minutes.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also said his country would acquire a nuclear weapon “as soon as possible” if Iran built one, Irish Times reported.

“He wants to create his own project in the Middle East very much like Hitler, who wanted to expand at the time. Many countries around the world and in Europe did not realize how dangerous Hitler was until what happened, happened. I don’t want to see the same events happening in the Middle East” bin Salman said during the interview referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Saudi officials, comparably to President Trump, Israeli officials, and many GOP leaders, agree that the Obama deal with Iran does not limit Iran’s nuclear capacity but merely delays Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons, while ignoring Iran’s other activities, such as supporting Shia militias.

Bin Salman is scheduled to meet with President Trump soon and during his trip to the White House, he plans to persuade Americans to invest in his reform plans, which aim to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil, increase the kingdom’s military self-sufficiency and raise its citizens’ quality of life, Times of Israel reported.

He also plans on meeting with business, entertainment and technology leaders in a number of US cities.

Bin Salman who has forged a close friendship with President Donald Trump’s Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is on the same page with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when it comes to the topic of Iranian expansionist policies.

“Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible,” Mohammed bin Salman said in an interview with the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” which recently aired.

The Crown Prince also played down Iran’s power, saying its army was not well ranked in the Muslim world and that Saudi Arabia had a larger economy. “Iran is far from being equal to Saudi Arabia”, he said during the interview.

Saudi Arabia, a Sunni monarchy and has been at odds with Iran and has accused them of funding militias to undermine Arab states, while Shia Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of backing Sunni extremist groups.  This conflict puts them at opposite sides across the world in various conflicts, including the ones in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, as The Irish Times explained.

The Saudi-based Muslim World League, a body once notable for its anti-Israel hostility, in January  condemned   Holocaust denial, Times Of Israel noted.

The powerful Crown Prince has been a positive force for change in Saudi Arabia and for the strengthening of the  nation’s allegiance with the US and Israel.

Move Over Amazon, Here Comes Wallmart

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Online grocery shopping is rapidly expanding and according to analysis could become a $100 billion industry by 2020 with as many as  70% of consumers potentially doing a portion of their food shopping online, and Walmart is looking to expand in this area.

Walmart Inc., the country’s biggest grocery retailer, recently announced that it was expanding drastically the number of places where shoppers can place food into a virtual shopping cart and have their purchases delivered, Bloomberg reported.

Food and beverage retail is one of the largest categories of consumer spending, accounting for yearly sales of $800 billion or more in the U.S., however online shopping for groceries and similar goods accounted for just 1.5 percent of the U.S. market, according to  Kantar Worldpanel.

When Amazon announced the purchase of Whole Foods for $14 billion in June, most of the major grocery retailers jumped into the online grocery realm. Target Corp. late last year purchased delivery startup Shipt and said recently that it would offer same-day delivery of assorted groceries and other goods from the majority of Target stores this year. Supermarket chains Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos commenced their online grocery service, in addition to Costco Wholesale Corp.

Walmart has the largest share of the $800 billion U.S. groceries market in a highly fragmented market.  This year they will expand their online grocery delivery from six markets, to 100 metro areas.

While home delivery is popular, the shipping process itself has made the business of online grocery shipping quite complex. Many retailers are investing in “click-and-collect” shopping, which lets customers order groceries ahead of time, pull up curbside at the store and have an employee place the shopping bags in the trunk.

Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen determined in their study that online grocery shopping could be a $100 billion industry, and as many as 70 percent of consumers could be doing a portion of their food shopping online.

“Depending on what happens the next two or three years, we may revise it again… food is like the holy grail because we all have to eat. Food has, categorically and broadly speaking, more trips than other category, consumers can relate to it easily, and it’s is an area of growth”, Mark Baum, the chief collaboration officer at FMI told ABC News.

Still, there are many factors and logistics that make online delivery a challenging area.   Managing large numbers of employees that pack items from traditional stores to pack for home delivery, could result in the need to invest in dedicated warehouses optimized for online orders.  Amazon reportedly blamed mishaps with U.S. Postal Service deliveries for its decision to curtail Fresh deliveries in a few areas.

With Walmart, America’s largest retailer, placing emphasis on online grocery shopping as a response to Amazon’s aggressive expansion, and other major grocers jumping in; online grocery delivery should live up to its expectations set by the experts.

Footage and UPDATE on West Bank Car-Ramming Attack

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The Shin Bet security  agency said Saturday that the Palestinian man who allegedly killed two IDF soldiers and seriously wounded two others in a West Bank car-ramming confessed to carrying out the attack, according to I-24 News.

The Security agency says 26 year old Palestinian  Ala Qabha acted alone when he drove his vehicle into a group of soldiers standing guard near the settlement of Mevo Dotan in the northern West Bank on Friday afternoon. I-24 News reported Quabha confessed to Nationalist motives .

The video below captures the aftermath

School of American Ballet Holds Winter Extrava-Gala at Lincoln Center

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The School of American Ballet (SAB) held its annual Winter Ball at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center on Monday March 12, 2018 with cocktails beginning at 7 PM.  SAB, the official yet independent training academy of New York City Ballet, was established in 1934 by legendary choreographer George Balanchine and philanthropist Lincoln Kirstein.

Located at Lincoln Center, SAB trains almost 1,000 youth ages 6 to 19 annually (with more than 3,000 auditioning per year), and provides $2 million in financial aid to 46% of the student body.  Students come from all over the country to attend this preeminent institution with over 40% self-identified as students of color.  The evenings chairs were Renata Garcia, Joyce Giuffra and Elizabeth Gosnell Miller with honorary chair Julia Koch a no-show.   The glamorous ball which has taken place for the past 13 years is a celebration of the students and faculty at SAB.  However, there was a noticeable component missing from this electric evening and that was the presence of former Artistic Director Peter Martins.  Martins was forced to retire after 30-years of service due to questionable behavior and a replacement for this superstar genius will be difficult ,if not impossible, to find.  The charisma and expertise of Martins who was a choreographer, mentor and administrator as well as being one of the most respected Balanchine dancers of his generation, gave SAB an undeniable gravitas.  As SAB searches for a new director the school remains in limbo.

 

Michael and Tara Rockefeller

This evening contained 350 prominent guests who came to pay tribute to the students including: Indre Rockefeller, Geoffrey Bradfield, Michael and Tara Rockefeller, Margo Langenberg, Jean and Martin Shafiroff, Jennifer Creel, Jill and Harry Kargman, the Kopelman family, Amanda Brotman, and many others.  Some of my favorite fashion choices were Indre Rockefeller in a black-and-white Herrera, Jean Shafiroff in a floral Zac Posen, and Jill Kargman in an off-white Chanel with aMarc Jacobs skirt flowing underneath.

Another beautifully dressed attendee was Master of Ceremonies and CBS anchor, Tanya Rivero Warren, who wore a silver sequined gown.  She said as a former SAB student herself she remembers her Russian dance teacher telling the girls, “you must always be a ballerina even on the street because your fans expect a ballerina.”  Warren said this was her teacher’s admonition to students to put their best foot forward in whatever they were doing.  Rivero also urged attendees to donate to the Toe Shoe Fund since professional dancers run through one pair every night which cost $100 each-proving an exorbitant cost for underpaid dancers.

 

Executive Director Carrie Hinrichs Back: left to right: Renna Taher, Amanda Brotman, Joyce Giuffra, Renata Garcia, Stephanie Sharp, Kylie Van Hoek and Elisabeth Miller

Newly appointed Executive Director Carrie Hinrichs took to the stage to thank Peter Martins for his incredible artistic achievements over the past 30 years while noting that 98% of the dancers from New York City Ballet are former SAB alumni.  Hinrichs asked the alumni to stand up and excitedly announced that more than $900,000 had been raised.

Coco and Arie Kopelman with Alexis Mintz

The highlight of this evening, besides from the pink and purple hued room with tutus hanging from the ceiling, was the young dancers performance which was choreographed by 21-year-old Australian Alec Knight.  Knight praised the dancers whom he referred to as “unsung heroes” for leaving their homes at the age of 17 to come dance.  He also thanked Peter Martins for believing in him even though he was on the other side of the world.  Knight who later told me that he missed Martins presence said ultimately what made SAB special was the dancers.  He called Peter his “biggest inspiration” and said Martins meant a lot to him.  Principal dancer, Ashley Bouder, reiterated this sentiment by acknowledging that without Peter something tangible was missing; yet she remained confident that new opportunities and visions would be available for the Company.  Indeed the performance of the students was riveting as young girls and boys danced their hearts out with the expertise of veterans.

 

There was a modern element to their dance routines as the intrepid dancers moved with a notable alacrity to the jazzy music-even incorporating some vogue-like movements.  As the evening concluded, dancers headed to the dance floor to cheer each other and join hands in a symbol of unity and triumph that was infectious.  Soon after the crowd danced to the tunes of Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars and Madonna as a double dessert of sorbet and chocolate cake was served-a savory conclusion to a Monday night evening.

        

North Korea ‘Surprised’ By Trump’s Sudden Decision To Talk, Ex-Diplomat Suggests

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The man who, until recently, was America’s top negotiator on North Korea revealed Pyongyang was caught off guard by President Donald Trump’s shocking decision to meet Kim Jong Un.

A South Korean official told reporters outside the White House on March 8 that not only had Kim expressed a desire to meet Trump, but the president had agreed to the unprecedented meeting. Oddly, North Korea has yet to publicly comment on the summit.

“To be frank with you, I think they were a little bit surprised that Washington, President Trump readily accepted,” former U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Joseph Yun, who retired unexpectedly last month, told CNN Friday. “They thought it would take a little time.”

“They were not completely prepared. So, I think they are preparing at the moment … scrambling you might say, on how best to respond,” he added. “I think you would see [a response] in coming days, something coming out.”

Seoul asserts that North Korea has offered to discuss denuclearization, but North Korea has yet to send any signals that it is ready to talk about disarming. Furthermore, there are serious concerns over whether or not Pyongyang can be trusted, as North Korea has promised to never develop nukes and to give up the nukes it said it would never possess, and the rogue regime violated all of those agreements.

Nonetheless, Yun, who helped negotiate Otto Warmbier’s return to the U.S. in 2017, is optimistic about the possibility of talks and the chance to peacefully address the threat facing the U.S. and its allies and partners.

“I’m very supportive of (Trump’s) decision to engage at the highest levels,” Yun revealed in his first interview since he left the Department of State. “They now have nuclear weapons and a delivery system that can legitimately threaten all states in the United States. That is different from the past, where we were trying to stop them from getting there, so it requires different attention, different focus and a different approach.”

Some critics have suggested that Trump is getting “played” by Kim, who is eager to have a meeting with an American president to elevate his status on the world stage.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong in acknowledging that he is a leader of North Korea who has nuclear weapons,” Yun explained. “What I hope comes out of the summit is that President Trump and Kim Jong Un paint a broad brush of the framework of where we need to go, agree on some principles and agree to kick off a process.”

With the loss of Yun, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and no one occupying the position of ambassador to South Korea, the U.S. is lacking in the diplomacy department, but the president has a history of making decisions in isolation and acting on his gut.

Yun acknowledged that if the meeting goes awry, it could lead to a rapid rise in tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

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Dramatic Footage Of Horror At Georgian Ski Resort !!

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More than a dozen of people were injured at a ski resort  in Georgia after a ski lift spun out of control, turning a fun ski day into a horror.  Georgian Health Minister David Sergeenko told international press that a  pregnant woman from Sweden and a tourist from Ukraine were seriously injured in the incident.  A witness captured it on camera.  Watch it below.

 

https://youtu.be/SIK-6hmOMbI

 

Trump Likely to Cancel May Deadline on Iran Nuke Deal Recertification

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The Trump administration’s decision to terminate the employment of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson illustrates that Washington is determined to bolt the seemingly ironclad nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Wednesday, according to AFP.

His remarks came as reports from Washington strongly indicate that the Trump administration have solidified plans to nix the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal as the May deadline date for recertification draws near.

In comments that were aired on Iranian state media, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi observed that, “The United States is determined to leave the nuclear deal, and changes at the State Department were made with that goal in mind — or at least it was one of the reasons.”

He placed emphasis on his country’s intention of following the US lead in the highly charged and controversial matter.  “If the U.S. quits the nuclear deal, we will also quit it,” Araqchi stressed, adding, “We have told the Europeans that if they can’t keep the U.S. in the deal, Iran will also leave it.”

Taking to social media early on Tuesday morning, President Trump tweeted his decision to fire Tillerson. He also announced his plans to replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who pundits says, has stronger politically conservative credentials and has also opposed the Iran nuke deal.

In November of 2017, Pompeo said that the deal between Iran and Western powers is insufficient in ensuring that the Islamic Republic has no pathway to developing the bomb, according to an AP report.

The notion that the agreement would “curtail Iranian adventurism or their terror threat or their malignant behavior has now … two years on, proven to be fundamentally false,” said Pompeo, in comments quoted by The Associated Press.

According to an INN report, Pompeo said at the time that the Iran deal put the United States in a better place with respect to inspections of Iranian facilities. But from an intelligence perspective, he said, even more “intrusive inspection” is needed.

“The Iranians have on multiple occasions been capable of presenting a continued threat, through covert efforts to develop their nuclear program along multiple dimensions … the missile dimension, the weaponization effort, the nuclear component itself,” he stressed in November, according to AP.

Trump has provided the CIA with the authority it needs to track Iran’s compliance with the deal, he added. Trump has also gone on record in adopting a new approach to Iranian recalcitrance by refusing to certify its compliance with the deal.

Tillerson had previously announced his public support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal which was spearheaded by former President Barack Obama and received the signatures of America’s allies in Europe as well. Trump later said that Tillerson’s support for the deal was the reason he felt compelled to fire him.

Trump has repeatedly lambasted the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Iran agreed to freeze its nuclear program in return for the lifting of crippling international sanctions, according to an INN report.

Trump recently decided to extend a waiver on nuclear sanctions that were imposed on Iran but made clear it would be the last time he will do so and ordered European allies and Congress to work with him to fix “the disastrous flaws” in the 2015 deal or Washington would withdraw.

Tehran has repeatedly ruled out changing a single comma of the text.

 

Reebok Inks $10 Million Endorsement Deal with “Wonder Woman” Gal Gadot

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Seems like superstar Gal Gadot is feverishly gathering up commercial endorsements as it was announced on Thursday that the Israeli “Wonder Woman”   actress has entered into a lucrative deal with Reebok Sportswear that is reported to be worth $10 million.  That figure was published by the Israeli newspaper, Hadashot. The major manufacturer of athletic apparel has extended plaudits to Gadot; calling her “a worldwide symbol of confidence, defiant courage, and strength” in a statement that was posted on the Reebok web site.

Also on the Reebok web site, acolytes of the actress can download phone wallpapers   “inspired by some of her most powerful quotes.”

Taking to her Instagram account to engage her fans and followers Gadot declared that she was “pumped” about being a central figure in the Reebok sponsorship. She exhorted women to “Get ahead of the game! Get into the action!”

Gadot recalled her formative years when she said, “I was lucky enough to grow up with a mother who was a gym teacher, so the importance of having someone push me out of my comfort zone and being active – and the benefits of it – were ingrained in me as a young girl.”

Now that she has put her John Hancock on the Reebok endorsement contract, Gadot joins other prominent female personalities in the sports, culture and entertainment industries who have also been previous endorsers of Reebok products. They include    Victoria Beckham, Gigi Hadid, and Ariana Grande.

In a morally uplifting and inspiring statement, Gadot said on the Reebok website that    “The things that make us better are when we’re pushing ourselves, or when we’re more worried about others than we are about ourselves.”

Back in January of this year, it was announced that the folks at Revlon Cosmetics had made Gadot their “Global Brand Ambassador”  for their  “Live Boldly” campaign. The iconic cosmetics giant said that its campaign is designed to “inspire women to express themselves with passion, optimism, strength and style.”

Gadot, 32, made the DC Comics action hero “Wonder Woman” come to life in the lead role of the 2017 Warner Bros. Pictures version. According to published reports the vibrant actress has already agreed to star in the movie’s sequel. Box office receipts for the blockbuster film were beyond impressive as they yielded a record-breaking $890M.

For years now, Gadot’s star has been on the rise in her native Israel and as such she gained name recognition and local celebrity status. In 2004, at the age of 18, Gadot won the Miss Israel pageant and went on to become an internationally acclaimed supermodel.