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Stories of High-Quality Development | Using 'intelligence' to extract 'black gold' 900 meters undergroundJanette Nesheiwat, a family medicine doctor who runs a chain of urgent care clinics, is President-elect Donald Trump ’s pick for surgeon general ― one of the nation’s leading voices on matters of public health. She’s a fixture on Fox News , home to several of Trump’s other intended Cabinet nominees . And she’s long been a vocal Trump supporter: Her social media accounts feature videos of Trump wishing her a happy birthday, selfies with him on the White House lawn and pictures with members of his inner circle at his Madison Square Garden rally. Her sister, Julia Nesheiwat, also served as Trump’s homeland security adviser during his last year in office. If she’s confirmed by the Senate, she’ll be expected to set the tone on how the government approaches Americans’ medical concerns, launch programs to promote healthy lifestyles and weigh in on ongoing public health issues, from the opioid epidemic to youth nicotine use. And she’ll also oversee the 6,000 members of the United States Public Health Service Corps. Here’s what else there is to know about her: She’s a Fox News medical contributor with little public health experience Nesheiwat, the medical director for a New York-area urgent care clinic network, has been a Fox News medical contributor since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. On her website and social media, she’s shared about her medical missions to Ukraine and Morocco. But overall, her public health experience is thin compared to that of the current surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, who also served under former President Barack Obama and was involved in multiple nationwide health care efforts prior to taking the job. Fox News has called on Nesheiwat to weigh in on all sorts of medical stories. When Trump began taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to ward off COVID-19, Nesheiwat came on to say it was a “ smart ” idea and that she’d prescribed it to some of her patients infected with the virus. At the time, no testing had established the effectiveness of using hydroxychloroquine, which has substantial potential harms, to prevent COVID-19. The World Health Organization later said that after completing six trials, it did not recommend taking hydroxychloroquine to either prevent or treat the disease. Nesheiwat emphasized the importance of consulting with a doctor before trying out the drug. But people found ways around that. After Trump began promoting the drug, a man in Arizona died from ingesting a chloroquine-containing aquarium product. She sells her own brand of dietary supplements Nesheiwat is behind a dietary supplement called BC Boost that contains vitamins C, B-12, D and zinc. The product, which features her image on the bottle, claims that within a few weeks, “your immune system will still be strengthened.” “I was always telling my patients who were unwell drink some tea, take some vitamin b12 and vitamin C,” she says on a website advertising the supplement . “I found myself repeating my all natural regimen to my patients over and over ‘take some B12 and C to Boost’ your immune system.” Medical experts and public health agencies say that for the vast majority of people, the best way to get those vitamins is through a healthy diet . Overconsumption of certain nutrients — including some of the vitamins in BC Boost’s product, albeit at higher doses — may lead to serious health problems , including kidney stones and heart rhythm issues. While the supplement industry is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, the agency does not consider supplements to be medicine, and companies are not required to prove that their products are effective. A 30-day supply of Nesheiwat’s product costs $26.99. She’s praised vaccines but slammed vaccine mandates Nesheiwat has been a big proponent of the COVID-19 vaccine for adults, saying its benefits “greatly outweigh” any short-lived side effects and describing it as “a gift from God .” But in the years since the peak of the pandemic, Nesheiwat has expressed opposition to vaccine requirements. “To mandate vaccines, at this point, I think, is the wrong move,” she said on Fox News in the summer of last year. She also blamed vaccine mandates for negatively affecting the U.S. workforce. “We lost good firefighters, police officers, teachers, healthcare providers and even athletes who refused to capitulate to the out-of-date, CDC regulations,” she wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News in April 2023. In that same piece, Nesheiwat claimed mask and vaccine mandates were ineffective because the virus continued to spread, even with these measures in place. But she at least partially credited the shots for easing the pandemic: “With time,” she wrote, “the severity decreased most likely due to population immunity and re-infection along with vaccination.” Nesheiwat has also questioned giving the COVID-19 vaccine to children. In late 2021, she said on Fox News that “a booster or third dose might cause ... a rare form of myocarditis or pericarditis ,” which are types of heart inflammation, in young boys. She failed to mention that such side effects following a vaccine are very rare, and that patients are much more likely to develop those conditions following COVID-19 infection than they are from the vaccine. She’s spoken out against treatments for transgender kids During a 2022 Fox News appearance , Nesheiwat acknowledged that transgender children exist and urged their parents to “accept them and love them for who they are,” noting that rates of suicide attempts among transgender kids are significantly higher than that of their cisgender peers. Don't let this be the end of the free press. The free press is under attack — and America's future hangs in the balance. As other newsrooms bow to political pressure, HuffPost is not backing down. Would you help us keep our news free for all? We can't do it without you. Can't afford to contribute? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read. You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest — we could use your help again . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you. Whether you give once or many more times, we appreciate your contribution to keeping our journalism free for all. You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest — we could use your help again . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you. Whether you give just one more time or sign up again to contribute regularly, we appreciate you playing a part in keeping our journalism free for all. Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages. Despite acknowledging that, she claimed the medical establishment is “only wanting to push drugs and hormones and other types of surgical interventions, rather than taking a conservative approach, such as psychotherapy.” It’s false that doctors are pushing those types of treatments on children. A 2022 Reuters report found that only around 10% of 42,167 children ages 6-17 who’d been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2021 were prescribed hormone or puberty blocker treatments. Among those with the diagnosis, a mere 0.6% of them received gender-affirming top surgery. Nesheiwat’s stance on this issue is out of step with that of every major medical group in the United States, which have determined that gender-related medical care is effective and medically necessary. She’s also accused Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra of focusing about transgender health care at the expense of addressing sexually transmitted infections and spoken out against transgender athletes’ inclusion in women’s sports. Related From Our Partner
Russia Reportedly Recruiting Fighters From Yemen Through Huthi IntermediariesAt COP29 in Baku, carbon credits ignited intense debate from the very start. While Azerbaijan, the host nation, celebrated progress on Article 6, climate justice groups criticised carbon markets for enabling major polluters to continue emitting greenhouse gases. A carbon credit represents the right to emit one metric tonne of CO2 equivalent or an equivalent amount of other greenhouse gases (GHGs). These credits can be generated through projects that either avoid emissions or sequester carbon from the atmosphere, such as reforestation or renewable energy initiatives. Indeed, the cross-border carbon markets are not new. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), established under the Kyoto Protocol, has been operated since 2004. The CDM allowed developed countries to invest in emission reduction projects in developing nations in order to claim carbon credits to offset emissions generated in their own countries. Therefore, industrial investors and companies in developed nations invested in CDM projects in other countries to meet their own emission targets without disrupting their economic activities. It must be recalled that Article 6 of the Paris Agreement enhances the CDM, which aims to foster international collaboration to achieve Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) -- each country's specific climate action plans to limit global warming. Article 6 introduces two distinct pathways for carbon trading. Article 6.2 allows two countries to forge bilateral carbon trading agreements tailored to their specific needs. This means that countries can directly negotiate how they will exchange carbon credits, providing flexibility and cooperation based on mutual goals. Article 6.4 aims to establish a centralised, United Nations-managed system. This system is intended to create a standardised framework where countries and companies can offset their carbon emissions by purchasing and trading verified carbon credits. The UN oversees this process to ensure transparency. Supporters of the carbon market argue that carbon credits are essential for incentivising companies to reduce emissions and for channelling financial resources to projects in the Global South. They believe a global carbon market enhances efficiency by allowing countries to leverage their unique strengths. For example, renewable energy projects such as solar farms in countries with abundant natural resources and lower labour costs can generate carbon credits more cheaply than similar projects in high-income nations with limited renewable potential. This results in lower costs per ton of carbon reduced on a global scale. A report by the International Emissions Trading Association, a Geneva-based think tank, states that the full implementation of Article 6 could reduce the costs associated with meeting NDCs by up to $250 billion (8.7 trillion baht) by 2030. This financial incentive is particularly crucial for developing nations that may struggle to fund their climate initiatives independently. Opponents argue that carbon markets can perpetuate "carbon colonialism". Under this premonition, vast lands in the Global South will be used to offset emissions from the Global North, allowing wealthy nations to evade their direct climate responsibilities. A significant concern is the negative impact on human rights, as reported by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The current carbon market system lacks adequate human rights and environmental safeguards, making it vulnerable to abuse. For instance, communities involved in forest conservation projects in Peru, which sell carbon credits, have faced forced evictions and conflicts with local authorities. Similarly, some hydropower projects that sell carbon credits highlight their environmental benefits while ignoring the social impacts, such as displacing local communities and losing traditional ways of life. These cases show that without strict regulations, carbon markets can cause social injustices. A particularly troubling issue is that some carbon credits may not deliver the promised carbon reduction. One notable example is the forest conservation projects in Kariba, Zimbabwe. Verified by Verra, the world's largest carbon credit certifier, the Kariba project has sold carbon credits worth hundreds of millions of euros since 2011. However, the carbon credits sold by this project are based on a questionable estimation model that predicts the deforestation rate if conservation projects were not in place and then claims that the preserved trees can be sold as carbon removal credits. For example, if the model estimates a deforestation rate of 3% per year and assumes that conservation projects reduce this rate to zero, the project can sell carbon credits equivalent to the sequestered carbon from those 3% of forests that have been preserved. In theory, this approach works in an ideal scenario where long-term deforestation rates can be accurately predicted without conservation projects. In reality, these estimations are prone to overestimation, meaning that the actual emission reductions may be significantly lower than the carbon credits sold in the market. The Kariba project is not an isolated incident. A recent study published in Nature Communications, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, analysed 65 studies that evaluated the quality of carbon credits across 2,346 carbon mitigation projects. The researchers estimate that out of the 972 million carbon credits issued globally to date, approximately 812 million do not correspond to a full metric ton of C02 reduction. In other words, only about 16% of carbon credits accurately reflect climate impact. These findings present grim prospects for the carbon market. However, there is also a silver lining because at least the valid carbon credits are above zero. The challenge now is to expand the proportion of high-quality carbon credits and prevent fraudulent projects from entering the market. Lessons from over two decades of experience, combined with improved monitoring technology and more accurate estimation methods, can help achieve this. These statistics also indicate that the carbon market is not a silver bullet but should serve as a supporting mechanism to facilitate a low-carbon transition. The ideal carbon credit should be high in quality, limited in quantity, and appropriately priced, with strict monitoring and regulations. Additionally, effective grievance mechanisms must be in place to ensure that carbon markets do not violate human rights. Phasing out fossil fuels remains an urgent priority, and formalised climate finance from developed countries is still necessary to address climate change effectively. Carbon markets cannot replace the need for direct action and substantial financial support to achieve meaningful climate progress. Ultimately, whether carbon credits become a valuable tool in the fight against climate change or remain ineffective and potentially harmful hinges on the well-regulated Article 6. The outcomes of COP29's discussions on Article 6 may not be perfect, but at least they provide much-needed clarity to international efforts to coordinate emissions trading and carbon crediting. Importantly, the agreement ensures that countries will continue dialogue on this issue and persist in refining and improving the guidelines. Rapeepat Ingkasit is the head of research at Climate Finance Network Thailand (CFNT), a think tank devoted to propelling sustainable financial practices and assisting in Thailand's transition towards a low-carbon economy. Learn more at https://climatefinancethai.com .
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has seen its stock decline 22% from its July peak, outpacing the NIFTY index's 3.3% fall. This downturn is attributed to two factors: weak refining margins and sluggish retail growth, according to a report by JP Morgan. "We see two headwinds hurting: 1) refining margins fell sharply starting June, and 2) revenue / EBITDA growth at its consumer retail subsidiary (Reliance Retail) continued to disappoint," it said. While refining margins have recently rebounded, improving third-quarter performance, the outlook for Reliance Retail remains uncertain. The retail arm has faced challenges from a general market slowdown and internal restructuring efforts. Concerns persist over its Quick Commerce operations, further clouding the near-term retail growth prospects. Reliance's fair relative valuations offer an attractive proposition in a market where most stocks trade above historical levels. Its core business verticals include the oil-to-chemical (O2C) segment, telecom arm Jio, and retail. The company also operates in media and a burgeoning new energy business. "Is retail growth bottoming as well? This is difficult to anticipate near term as Reliance Retail has been affected by a general retail slowdown and specific company restructuring. Investor concerns around the impact of Quick Commerce remain," it said. JP Morgan noted that Reliance Retail and Jio now contribute about 50% of the firm’s consolidated EBITDA for FY24, with these segments expected to drive nearly all net EBITDA growth over the next three years. With an annual EBITDA run rate of $20 billion, RIL is projected to maintain positive free cash flow despite significant capital expenditure plans in new energy, retail, and petrochemical expansions. The brokerage highlighted progress in RIL's solar energy initiatives, with initial module and cell capacities slated for commissioning by March 2024. While the company initially planned to use solar output internally, high local demand might lead to external sales. Regarding the anticipated listing of Jio and Reliance Retail, JP Morgan suggested that current market conditions and the potential scale of the offerings could delay these issuances. "While RIL did not plan to sell output to third parties, and potential profitability is limited, the current strength of local demand might force a rethink. Reliance stock might benefit from an announcement of commissioning given high valuations of recently listed solar companies in India," the report added. The brokerage also revised its retail forecasts, cutting FY25-26 EBITDA projections by 10-15%, while consolidated PAT forecasts were adjusted by 4-6%, given retail's smaller contribution to overall earnings. (With Inputs From PTI) Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Companies, Business Economy and around the world.Baker Mayfield mocks Tommy DeVito's celebration as the Bucs embarrass the Giants 30-7
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