Pentagon has 6 months to disclose UFO info – National & International News – WED 6Jan2021

Pentagon has 6 months to disclose UFO info to Congress. Dems closer to Senate control with Warnock win. China denies entry to WHO team investigating COVID origins. Assange denied bail after judge rejects US extradition. Read all about it below…

NATIONAL NEWS

Pentagon has 6 months to disclose UFO info to Congress

The enormous COVID-19/federal budget omnibus bill contained many provisions which had nothing to do with COVID-19 or the economy, many of which are still coming to light. The omnibus included the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal 2021. One of the provisions of the Act demands that the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies disclose any information it has on UFO phenomena in US airspace and their possible origins. Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida introduced this provision to the bill in June.

The report to Congress will not itself be classified but will include a classified supplement. The Pentagon must coordinate with other US agencies that may have information on UFOs, or unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). The bill expresses lawmakers’ concern that there is currently “no unified, comprehensive process within the federal government for collecting and analyzing intelligence on unidentified aerial phenomena, despite the potential threat”.

The road to disclosure

The Congressional mandate is a logical next step building on progress towards official disclosure of UFO phenomena in 2020. Most notably, in April the Pentagon officially declassified footage of an encounter between F/A-18 pilots from the aircraft carrier Nimitz and a rapidly maneuvering Tic-Tac shaped object. Then in August, Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist launched the Navy-led Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force to collect data on service members’ encounters with UAPs. The mandate from Congress requires this unit and other federal investigative and intelligence agencies to coordinate their findings and present them to Congress.

The bill stipulated that the phenomena may not necessarily be extraterrestrial in nature. It asks that the Pentagon determine whether some foreign power could possess such vehicles, though many consider that unlikely.

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Dems closer to Senate control with Warnock win

Democrat Raphael Warnock is projected to win his race in the Senate election runoff in Georgia. Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. Warnock currently leads Loeffler 50.5% to 49.5% , with 98% of votes counted. The other race between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican David Purdue remains too close to call. Currently, Ossoff has a narrow lead of 50.19% to Purdue’s 49.81%. If Ossoff wins, Democrats will control both houses of Congress.

For the last 15 years, Warnock was pastor of an Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached. He will be the first black Senator in Georgia’s history. This follows Biden’s victory in November as the first Democratic Presidential candidate to win the state since 1992. Warnock’s win is another stinging defeat for President Trump, who spent the last several days in the state campaigning for Loeffler and Purdue. Like Trump, however, Loeffler has yet to conceded.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

China denies entry to WHO team investigating COVID origins

The World Health Organization has expressed its disappointment that China has denied entry to its team of 10 international experts. Two members of the team were already en route to begin a weeks-long investigation in Wuhan into the animal origins of COVID-19. The WHO had spent months negotiating with the Chinese government to permit the investigation. While international demands for answers are increasing, the Chinese government is intensifying efforts to minimize embarrassment.

Chinese officials say the refusal is an internal matter related to visa permits. A spokesperson for Beijing gave the impression that China and the WHO were still negotiating exact details of when the team was to arrive.

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Assange denied bail after judge rejects US extradition

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange lost his bid to receive bail in a hearing this morning in London. Vanessa Baraitser, the same judge who rejected Assange’s extradition to the US on mental health grounds on Monday, also denied his bail.

Assange faces multiple counts of espionage in the US. After the judge refused extradition, US prosecutors vowed to appeal before the two-week deadline. The British High Court will have to hear the case next. If there is no resolution there, the case may move on to the European Court of Human Rights. This means proceedings could drag on for months or even years more.

Meanwhile, Assange will continue his incarceration at London’s Belmarsh prison where he has remained for over a year and a half. Belmarsh is currently experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak on Assange’s cell block. Concerns for Assange’s mental and physical health are growing among his supporters. Many were dismayed at Baraitser’s refusal to grant bail despite having expressed concerns over his potential wellbeing under US custody only days ago.

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