Eric Clapton claims people vaccinated against COVID-19 are under ‘hypnosis’

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New Zealand anti-vaccine protesters pelted police with a "stinging substance" sending three to hospital with injuries early today, as tension spilled over in an angry weeks-long protest.

Six national groups representing medically vulnerable people say the ending of mandatory mask wearing by the Government should be delayed.

All remaining coronavirus restrictions are to be lifted, starting from this week.

The Government will consider a proposal to end almost all remaining health restrictions next week.

Big Hit Music has shared that BTS member V has recovered from COVID-19 and is now out of quarantine.Earlier today (February 22), the agency shared a notice on fan community site Weverse about the health status of the 26-year-old singer. V had diagnosed with COVID-19 last week after experiencing mild respiratory symptoms.“We would like to inform you that BTS member V has made a full recovery from COVID-19 and his quarantine has concluded as of today, February 22,” wrote Big Hit.

Nicola Sturgeon is set to lay out her new strategic framework for dealing with covid later today.

Omicron coronavirus variant are nearly 75% less likely to develop serious illness or die than those who contract the Delta variant, real world data released on Monday by South Korea’s health authorities showed.A study by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) of some 67,200 infections confirmed since December showed the Omicron variant’s severity and death rates averaged 0.38% and 0.18%, respectively, compared with 1.4% and 0.7% for the Delta cases.The KDCA classed severe cases as people who were hospitalised in intensive care units. COVID cases exceed 400 million globally as Omicrons spreads Around 56% of 1,073 people who died over the past five weeks were either unvaccinated or had received only one dose, the study showed, with people aged 60 or older accounting for 94% of deaths.More than 86% of South Korea’s 52 million population have been double vaccinated and nearly 60% have received a booster shot.South Korea had kept cases and deaths relatively low thanks to widespread social distancing measures and aggressive testing and tracing.The Omicron variant has led to a surge in cases — daily new infections topped a record 100,000 last week — but authorities have pushed ahead with slightly easing social distancing rules amid the lower fatality rate and ahead of a presidential election next month.Contact tracing and mandatory isolation for vaccinated people was scrapped in favour of self diagnosis and at-home treatment to free up medical resources.

Police aren’t saying much about their investigation into the shooting deaths of two women in Vancouver’s Point Grey neighbourhood on Sunday morning. As Rumina Daya reports, we do know the identiy of the victims.

Tomorrow is budget day here in B.C. The provincial NDP government is playing out its plan for our province’s financial books, but just what are we expecting them to spend on? Richard Zussman has more.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to “maintain peace” in the eastern Ukraine regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, areas he now recognizes as independent. As Jackson Proskow reports, Putin is only stoking fears he’s preparing for a full-blown invasion.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has informed the Parliament that the Special Goods and Services Tax Bill should be passed with a 2/3 majority and a referendum.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal on Monday (21) issued an order temporarily preventing the construction of a 4-lane elevated highway from the New Kelani Bridge to Athurugiriya, across the Thalangama Wetlands.The Thalangama (Talangama) wetlands are an environmental protection area and a biodiversity hotspot in a rapidly urbanizing environment.The Minister of Highways and officials were prohibited from engaging in any form of construction in the Wetlands, without submitting a proper Environment Impact Assessment report, to the Court of Appeal.The Road Development Authority and the RDA Director General were ordered by the Court to explore an alternative site for the construction of the elevated highway and report to the court via a report on or before the 31st of March 2022.The orders were made by Justice Sobhita Rajakarunwa after considering a petition filed by one R. M.

COLOMBO (News 1st); The global digital platform (GDP) prepared by the National Science Foundation for Sri Lankan expatriates and emigrants in the world was launched on Monday (21) at the BMICH.The National Science Foundation (NSF) embarked upon constructing an instrument with technical support from the SLASSCOM to harness this potential, and a state-of-the-art global digital platform with the requisite capabilities and features to mobilise the expatriates for national development has now been developed.More than 950 Sri Lankans around the world are currently connected to this network.The GDP of the NSF will facilitate effective harnessing, mobilising, and channeling intellectual assets at home and abroad ― the most precious and treasured resource in a knowledge economy –– for development.This will enable Sri Lanka to address and resolve high-priority national needs and concerns while making the most of the opportunities and natural resources available in order to transform Sri Lanka into a developed nation.A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was also signed between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) for a broader purpose, including enhancing higher education and its capacity building, enhancing educational collaboration and research collaboration.

Corbevax for 12-18 years. It is the second vaccine for children after Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. However, the government has not yet decided on vaccination for less than 15 years. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)'s approval comes after the Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 of the CDSCO on February 14 recommended granting restricted EUA to Corbevax for the 12 to 18 years age group after deliberating on Biological E's application.

New Zealand police line, narrowly avoiding officers, while other protesters sprayed officers with a stinging substance, police said Tuesday, as they tightened a cordon around a convoy that has been camped outside Parliament for two weeks.The clashes in the capital of Wellington came a day after police reported that some of the protesters had thrown human feces at them. Faced with sprinklers, New Zealand anti-vaccine mandate protesters dig trenches Police Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters the actions of some of the protesters, who oppose coronavirus vaccine mandates, were unacceptable and would be dealt with assertively.“Our focus remains on opening the roads up to Wellingtonians and doing our absolute best to restore peaceful protest,” Chambers said.

Donald Trump‘s social media app that he hopes will rival Twitter launched Monday as he seeks a new digital stage to rally his supporters and fight Big Tech limits on speech, a year after he was banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.His Truth Social app was offered for download from the Apple App Store to a limited number of subscribers who had preordered. Others who were added to a waiting list are to be given access over the next 10 days.

After more than 24 hours, he and a group of other South Asian Canadian truckers approached authorities to find out when they could pass.“That’s when another guy, he came out of his truck and he was, like, being racist. He was saying, ‘Go back to your truck, go back to India,”’ recalled Singh, a 28-year-old driver from Edmonton.Disturbed, he and his co-driver set out for another crossing — an option unavailable to some, since oversize loads can only move through certain checkpoints — on a route that added more than 500 kilometres to their trip.

Russia after President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine and ordered Russian troops to “maintain the peace” there.The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting Monday night at the request of Ukraine, the U.S. and six other countries, where virtually all members condemned Putin’s move and Russia’s recent aggressions.No immediate actions were taken by the council, on which Russia currently holds the revolving-door presidency.

Coastal GasLink (GGL) that took place early Thursday morning on the Marten Forest Service Road.Investigators spent much of the long weekend at the site and reviewing the surveillance footage from the night of the incident.They told Global News they have not yet decided if they are going to release any of that footage to the public.They are also not linking the incident to prior protests in the area. No suspects yet in ‘violent confrontation’ at B.C.

COLLINGDALE, Pa. - A Delaware County teen's quick thinking helped save a trio of kids who fell through an ice-covered pond on an unseasonably warm winter day.16-year-old Anthony Alexander was at Collingdale Park around 3 p.m Monday when he heard children screaming from a small, 8-foot deep pond. "I was like 'oh snap, they're drowning!' so I had to save them I couldn’t just let them sit there," Alexander recalled. He used a log to pluck one girl to safety and dragged another boy from the frigid water. MORE LOCAL HEADLINES"They were like ‘help me, help me, help me. We are going to die'," Alexander said.

PHILADELPHIA - Family members say a young boy and his grandfather face a long road to recovery after the pair narrowly escaped a house fire over the weekend in West Philadelphia. Firefighters responded to a three-story apartment building near 42nd and Filbert streets Saturday afternoon to fight the blaze that caused a partial building collapse.Nathaniel Rice told FOX 29 that despite overwhelmingly smokey conditions, he found his 4-year-old grandson Cam’Ron and saved him from certain death. "I grabbed him the blanket whatever and rushed to the door," Rice said. "The door was closed behind me, I made it out there I don’t know how."Cam’Ron was brought to the hospital with third-degree burns all over his body.

coronavirus cases, taking the total virus tally to 42,851,929, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The daily coronavirus case shave continued to remain below 20,000-mark for the past 53 days. The active cases dipped to 1,81,075, while the death toll climbed to 5,12,344 with 235 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Symbolic graphic for Twosday (Photo by XAMAX/picture alliance via Getty Images)LOS ANGELES - Palindrome fans rejoice. Tuesday marks the 22nd day of February, or 2/22/22 and many people across social media have already coined the special day as "twosday.""Tomorrow is Tuesday 2-22-22 aka #Twosday!!! What's the significance? I haven't got a two!!" wrote icon Pee-wee Herman.This rare calendrical event is also special because all the numbers on the date are 2 and it falls on the day of the week that actually sounds like the number.The last time an event like this occurred was in 1622 and the next time this will happen will be in 2422.Not only is Tuesday a special day but the entire week through the end of this month is filled with palindrome dates. In 2021, there were 22 palindrome dates.Once February passes, there will be no more palindrome dates in the U.S.

REDMOND, Wash. - Your next cup of coffee is going to cost you."We’re not making any money on the drip coffees anymore because the cost of coffee has gone up so much," said Victor’s Celtic Café owner Andrea Parrish. Roasted coffee prices haven't spiked this much since 2012. Parrish is already trying to manage those increasing costs. "We’ve increased prices 6% over the last two weeks," Parrish said. "Everybody’s basically taking a hit."Frank Curtiss and his wife come to Victor’s once a week.

Police say the victim's car was hit at least 15 times.  PHILADELPHIA - Police say a shooting victim driving a bullet-riddled car pulled up to the valet area of Rivers Casino on Monday night after being involved in a shootout several blocks away.Officers from the Philadelphia Police Department were called to the casino around 9 p.m.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Director-General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena said the directive to stop wearing the face mask would be considered as the final decision regarding the easing of existing COVID-19 restrictions.Before removing the mask people should get the booster Jab, the target group is 14.1 million Sri Lankans, he said.Furthermore, he stated that giving the Booster dose to 14.1 million people would confirm that people have some form of immunity against COVID-19.However, he said the final decision on doing away with the face mask will be made based on the recommendation of the World Health Organization, measures adopted overseas, and the scientific evidence.If the immunization of all the people in the country reaches the desired level following adequate administration of the COVID-19 booster dose, authorities are prepared to do away with the current health regulations including the face mask rule, Health Services Director General Dr.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka had advised its citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Ukraine, due to the current situation surrounding tensions between world powers in the region.The Government of Sri Lanka is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine in the context of recent developments.The Sri Lanka Embassy in Ankara, concurrently accredited to Kyiv, is in close contact with the over forty Sri Lankan nationals, including fourteen students, residing in Ukraine, with a view to ensuring their safety and welfare.While six of the fourteen Sri Lankan students in Ukraine have left the country temporarily, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Ankara is in close communication with the eight remaining students.The Foreign Ministry requests all Sri Lankan nationals in Ukraine to exercise vigilance and to be in contact with the Sri Lanka Embassy in Ankara.The Ministry also advises all Sri Lankan nationals to avoid non-essential travel to Ukraine at present.

COVID-19 will be lifted early next month.“On Saturday, Feb. 26, the government will announce a final decision about proceeding to Phase 2 of our plan to lift almost all restrictions on March 1,” Kenney tweeted Monday evening, saying it will be a “prudent decision based on the latest data.”The premier wrote there is “encouraging data” showing a “steep drop” in the Omicron variant wave of the pandemic.

PHILADELPHIA - A new safe space for North Philadelphia teens held its soft opening on Monday in hopes to provide an educational alternative for youths often swallowed up by the city's scourge of crime. The center occupies a storefront on the 2200 block of North Broad Street and is open to youths between 12-17-years-old, according to the non-profit group Frontline Dads. "We want to provide some hope, we want to provide an oasis of light for people to point to and say ‘this is a place I can go and be supported’," Executive Director Ruben Jones said. The center, which will be open until 7 p.m.

John Mayer‘s touring drummer has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in the musician withdrawing from Mayer’s concert in New York last night (February 21).Taking to Twitter, Mayer – sharing a monochrome image of himself facing an empty arena – wrote: “This afternoon, our drummer tested positive for COVID-19. We all wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing you all at the show.”This afternoon, our drummer tested positive for COVID-19. Tonight's concert @TheGarden will go on as scheduled, with a very special presentation.

Despite a high COVID-19 infection rate, England is about to ditch the last of its COVID-19 restrictions, in a bid to start living with the virus for good. Redmond Shannon looks at what measures are disappearing, the strategy going forward, and why the rest of the United Kingdom is divided on England’s plan.

After nearly two years of shutting out most tourists due to COVID-19 restrictions, Australia has reopened its borders to fully vaccinated, international travellers.

A 62-year-old man was caught in the crossfire of a shooting Monday night in Southwest Philadelphia, according to police. It's believed that the man had just parked to visit family when he was struck.

This could be the last week that many Albertans will need to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic as the province prepares to enter the next stage of its plan to ease public health measures.

Thrift Store on Berry Road has become a victim of the pandemic and will close by the end of April.“The past two years have been really tough,” said Joy Haxton, Lake Country Food Bank, executive director.“The issue that we had with COVID was the number of people we could have in the store and that’s made it really difficult. I think we’ve had the store closed for 12 months over the last two years.” The Great Backyard Bird Count is on again Since the thrift store opened eight years ago it has had a huge impact on the community and surrounding area.

The sun is setting on one of the sources of revenue for the Lake Country Food Bank, their thrift store has become a victim of the pandemic and will be closing by the end of April.

John Mayer is about to perform the second of two sold-out shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden as part of his Sob Rock Tour, but the second show is likely going to be a lot different than the first.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Billy Ray Macon Sr. has accomplished a lot in his 80 years of living.

The booster rollout continues with more than 27,770 booster doses administered across the motu yesterday.

(Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office) PALM SPRINGS, Fla. - A Florida woman stands accused of killing her husband and stabbing his body 140 times, officials said.The Palm Springs Police Department said the body of Melvin Weller, 62, was found by the woman's son, Ricardo Anthony Green, 41, who reported it to police, CBS 46 reported. The woman, Joan Burke, 61, was subsequently arrested and charged with his death, officials said.Blood was on the walls, cabinets, and kitchen counters of the home, police said, ABC 27 reported.Burke, who was initially arrested on Feb.

COVID-19: Quebec opposition says it’s time to end state of emergency The Barreau du Québec said Monday it’s time the government explain why it still needs emergency powers.“Does the current situation require keeping the state of emergency?” Catherine Claveau, head of the bar association, wrote in a statement. “Are the measures that will be maintained during the deconfinement plan justified? To answer these questions, the government must provide clear justifications for maintaining some ‘exceptional rules.”’Over the past two years, the Quebec government has used emergency powers to impose curfews, ban private gatherings and close businesses such as restaurants, bars and gyms.

wrote in a “Déjà Vu” statement.“While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don’t want our music—or the music we made together—to be on the same platform.”Young started the trend when he pulled his solo catalog from the streaming service last week in protest of “fake information about vaccines” being spread on the popular “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Joni Michell, a contemporary of the 60s supergroup, followed suit on the heels of Young’s announcement and Nash joined the chorus of musicians requesting to flee the service on Tuesday, calling on Spotify to be “responsible and accountable” for its content.The band’s request applies to music the band released both with and without sometimes-member Young, as well as solo releases from Crosby and Stills, according to a press release.Crosby tweeted last month that removing his catalog might be difficult because he sold his recorded music and publishing rights. Music from CSNY, CSN and Crosby, Nash and Stills was still on Spotify as of Thursday night.Rogan, who has a $100 million deal with the streaming service, addressed accusations on Sunday that his show promoted unsanctioned COVID-19 treatments and claimed that vaccinations were harmful to some.“I’m not trying to promote misinformation.

supports HTML5 videoJoe Rogan has spoken out as the controversy surrounding his Spotify podcast and the spread of misinformation about Covid continues to gather steam. The 54-year-old has been at the centre of the row with his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, accused of giving a platform to false statements about Covid and the vaccine. It led to several musicians speaking out in protest against Spotify, with Neil Young removing his entire catalogue of music from the streaming service, with Joni Mitchell supporting his move. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also released a statement revealing that they have ‘expressed concern’ to Spotify about the ‘all too real consequences’ of spreading misinformation about Covid. On Sunday, Rogan finally addressed the controversy in a nine-minute video posted to his Instagram. He stated: ‘Now, because of this controversy … Neil Young has removed his music from the platform of Spotify and Joni Mitchell and apparently some other people want to as well. ‘I’m very sorry that they feel that way. I most certainly don’t want that.

company blog post published Sunday by CEO Daniel Elk and comes after Young, Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren parted ways with Spotify in protest of podcaster Joe Rogan, who they’ve accused of spreading fake information about COVID vaccines.The content advisories will be rolled out in the coming days and will direct users to a COVID-19 information hub.The hub will include “easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources,” Elk wrote.Elk also announced that Spotify has taken the step to publish its “long-standing” platform rules in an effort to boost transparency.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have called out Spotify for allowing ‘Covid misinformation’ to be spread on its platform. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have weighed into the mounting controversy surrounding the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and its false claims about the Covid vaccine. Musician Neil Young has removed his entire catalogue from the streaming service while other stars have spoken out against the lack of action taken against the misinformation on its platform. Now in their own statement released through their Archewell Foundation, Meghan and Harry said: ‘Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis.‘Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of mis- and disinformation every day.‘Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of Covid misinformation on its platform.’ The couple continued: ‘We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis.‘We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.’The statement comes a week after it emerged Spotify had Meghan and Harry’s podcast into its own hands as the pair have not produced any content for it.The streaming giant was said to be recruiting in-house staff to work with Harry and Meghan’s Archewell audio, for a podcast that features ‘the voices of high profile women,’ according to The Sun.The couple previously made an £18million deal with Spotify.A source said: ‘Spotify has been waiting a long time for some content from Harry and Meghan and now it appears they have finally taken matters

has died from COVID-19 at the age of 40 — just two days after texting his brother and revealing his regret at not getting the shots. Cabrera — who has left behind a wife and a 3-year-old son – succumbed to the coronavirus at a California hospital on Jan. 15 after the disease developed into pneumonia.The funnyman was best known by his stage name “Chinese Best Friend” and boasted more than 115,000 followers on Instagram.

As the news first spread that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 had entered Canada, Ottawa resident Saad Khan calculated his personal risk tolerance for a very important event — and he decided it was worth it.