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U.S. prosecutors moved on Monday to drop the two federal criminal cases against Donald Trump involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his handling of classified documents, citing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. The steps by prosecutors working with Special Counsel Jack Smith in the two cases represent a big legal victory for the Republican president-elect, who won the Nov. 5 U.S. election and is set to return to office on Jan. 20. The Justice Department policy that the prosecutors cited dates back to the 1970s. It holds that a criminal prosecution of a sitting president would violate the U.S. Constitution by undermining the ability of the country's chief executive to function. Courts will still have to approve both requests from prosecutors. The prosecutors in a filing in the election subversion case said the department's policy requires the case to be dismissed before Trump returns to the White House. "This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant," prosecutors wrote in the filing. Smith's office similarly moved to end its attempt to revive the case accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents when he left office in 2021 after his first term as president. But the prosecutors signaled they will still ask a federal appeals court to bring back the case against two Trump associates who had been accused of obstructing that investigation. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung hailed what he called "a major victory for the rule of law." Trump had faced criminal charges in four cases -- the two brought by Smith and two in state courts in New York and Georgia. He was convicted in the New York case while the Georgia case is in limbo. In a post on social media, Trump railed on Monday against the legal cases as a "low point in the History of our Country." The moves by Smith, who was appointed in 2022 by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, represents a remarkable shift from the special prosecutor who obtained indictments against Trump in two separate cases accusing him of crimes that threatened U.S. election integrity and national security. Prosecutors acknowledged that the election of a president who faced ongoing criminal cases created an unprecedented predicament for the Justice Department. It shows how Trump's election victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris was not just a political triumph, but also a legal one. Trump pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to four federal charges accusing him of conspiring to obstruct the collection and certification of votes following his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump, who as president will again oversee the Justice Department, was expected to order an end to the federal 2020 election case and to Smith's appeal in the documents case. Florida-based Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed to the federal bench, had dismissed the classified documents case in July, ruling that Smith was improperly appointed to his role as special counsel. Smith's office had been appealing that ruling and indicated on Monday that the appeal would continue as it relates to Trump personal aide Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, a manager at his Mar-a-Lago resort, who had been previously charged alongside Trump in the case. Both Nauta and De Oliveria have pleaded not guilty, as did Trump. In the 2020 election case, Trump's lawyers had previously said they would seek to dismiss the charges based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution over official actions taken while in the White House. Smith attempted to salvage the case following that ruling, dropping some allegations but arguing that the rest were not covered by presidential immunity and could proceed to trial. Judge Tanya Chutkan had been due to decide whether the immunity decision required other portions of the case to be thrown out. A trial date originally set for March 2024 had not been rescheduled. The case was brought following an investigation led by Smith into Trump's attempts to retain power following his 2020 election defeat, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters following his inflammatory speech near the White House. Trump denied wrongdoing and argued that the U.S. legal system had been turned against him to damage his presidential campaign. He vowed during the campaign that he would fire Smith if he returned to the presidency. Trump in May became the first former president to be convicted of a crime when a jury in New York found him guilty of felony charges relating to hush money paid to a porn star before the 2016 election. His sentencing in that case has been indefinitely postponed. The criminal case against Trump in Georgia state court involving the 2020 election is stalled.Qatar Charity partners with Theeb Marathon for humanitarian efforts
A woman has criticized her brother for choosing to name his daughter after a body part , simply because he believes the word sounds "beautiful." She's worried that the unfortunate girl will be "torn to shreds at school" due to her unusual name and fears it could make her life miserable. Sharing her story on Reddit , she revealed: "My brother just announced they're naming their daughter Areola. They plan to spell it Ariolla, and want it pronounced with a bogan Aussie accent, Air-ee-oh-la. But let's face it, kids can be mean. This poor child is going to get torn to shreds in school by her peers . But apparently 'It sounds beautiful.'" In defense of the name, he argues that "everyone else makes up names by putting other names together", so he should have the same freedom. He also wants his daughter to have a unique name that will make her stand out in school and later in her professional life. Unable to convince him otherwise, she admitted: "I really wish I was making this up, I already feel sorry for this poor kid. I finally admitted defeat and responded that I hope they like the nickname Ari, because that's what I'm calling her." My friends want to name their baby after a dictator - I couldn't believe their reason why Mom chooses 'perfect' baby name – but everyone around says it's 'evil' Reacting to her post, one stunned user commented: "Everyone I know is aware of what the areola is called." "The women because it's our anatomy, and many of my friends breastfed/pumped and the areola is important in fitting pump flanges. The men because we learned that term when we were early pubescent preteens, and just like 'wenis' being slang for the back of your elbow, they never forgot it.", reports the Mirror . Another user chimed in: "They seriously couldn't settle for Arielle, Ariel, or even Ariella? It has to be nipple? Which depending on where you are kids are taught, the word will be said in schools. I knew what an Areola was when I was 8." DAILY NEWSLETTER: Sign up here to get the latest news and updates from the Mirror US straight to your inbox with our FREE newsletter. Meanwhile, a third user expressed concern: "Honestly all they need is a classmate with an older sibling and the poor kid will be 'Nipple' from the kindergarten. And yes, I do know that it's not nipple, but I don't think that kids will care. It's close enough, catchy and kids find even the word "butt" rofl funny. Poor little Nipple won't stand chance." Yet another disgruntled user pointed out: "Never mind the kids being bullies, this'll extend well into adulthood. Every time she has a new appointment at the salon, dentist, doctor." "Every time she puts her name down at a restaurant. Every time she introduces herself at a party. The same startled disbelief, the multiple confirmatory questions, the meaningful polite pause, time and time again. Then people are gonna wonder what other stupid stuff her dumb parents imprinted onto her."
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Drug company executives had hoped that a second Trump administration would be staffed by friendly health policy officials who would reduce regulation and help their industry boom. But some of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed nominees are instead alarming drugmakers, according to interviews with people in the industry. For health secretary, Trump chose Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic with no medical or public health training who has accused drug companies of the “mass poisoning” of Americans. Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Congress member from Florida who raised doubts about vaccines and pushed to move most vaccine safety research from the agency. And Trump’s choice to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, former television host Dr. Mehmet Oz, has scant experience in managing a large bureaucracy like the one he may now oversee; the agency is in charge of health care programs that cover more than 150 million Americans. In Trump’s first term as president, pharmaceutical executives largely cheered his health policy nominees. They had ties to the moderate wing of the Republican Party and decades of conventional experience, including at major drug companies. John LaMattina, who was once the top scientist at Pfizer and is now a senior partner at PureTech Health, a firm that creates biotech startups, said of those officials, “You could disagree with them, but at least there’s a certain knowledge base, and they’ve given serious thought to these issues.” He added, “We’re now seeing some people without any sort of background, and that’s worrisome.” The implications remain unclear for Americans who rely on medications or on widespread immunity from diseases that, for now, are rare. Some in the Trump administration want to speed drug approvals, potentially seeding the market with drugs of uncertain effectiveness. Kennedy has in some forums called for more independent safety reviews of established vaccines, and at other times, he has demanded fewer constraints on unconventional and unproven treatments. But Kennedy has also tapped in to veins of outrage among consumers and lawmakers, who have long vilified drug companies for setting high prices on certain drugs and reaping billions of dollars in profits rather than putting patients first. In choosing such a vociferous critic as Kennedy, the president-elect stunned the sector, causing vaccine and biotechnology stocks to plummet temporarily. And though Kennedy most recently said that he would not take vaccines away from Americans who want them, even a modest reduction in the number of people receiving certain shots could spook investors and translate into hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue. The industry is also concerned that drug approvals could be delayed if Kennedy makes good on his threats to fire drug regulators, or if they quit in droves to avoid working under his leadership. “There was cautious optimism on Trump when he won, and that was very rapidly replaced with concern over RFK Jr.,” said Brian Skorney, a drug industry analyst at the investment bank Baird. Drug companies’ political action committees made millions of dollars in contributions to Democrats and Republicans this election cycle, and the industry’s lobbying groups can wield considerable influence over policy and legislation. Top pharmaceutical executives have said little publicly about Trump’s picks for health policy positions, seeking to avoid alienating the people who would regulate them. Their lobbying groups have publicly issued polite statements saying they want to work constructively with the administration. But Derek Lowe, a longtime pharmaceutical researcher and industry commentator, has criticized Kennedy on his blog, calling him “a demagogue whose positions on key public health issues like vaccination are nothing short of disastrous.” “You really can’t engage with someone like that. There is no common ground,” Lowe said in an interview. Drug industry officials have a long list of concerns about Kennedy, who did not return a request for comment for this article. They are particularly worried that he could seek to undermine childhood vaccines; one way would be for him to push to revise the government’s recommendations on immunizations. Kennedy has also called for overturning legal protections that shield vaccine makers from litigation when people are seriously harmed by vaccines — a change that would upend an established compensation program and could expose the industry to costly lawsuits. The stakes appear to be highest for companies that make vaccines. About a fifth of Merck’s revenue comes from two types of vaccines that Kennedy has targeted: a vaccine against the human papillomavirus that has averted thousands of cancer cases, and the shots that children receive to protect them against measles, mumps and rubella. (Merck declined to comment.) Vaccine sales represent about 3% of the industry’s overall prescription drug revenues, according to IQVIA, an industry data provider. With some exceptions, vaccines tend to generate relatively low returns compared with profits from more expensive products used for diseases like cancer and arthritis. Drug manufacturers also fear the effect Kennedy could have at the Food and Drug Administration. They often complain that the agency can be too onerous, but their business model is reliant on a well-staffed FDA that can weed out would-be competitors that haven’t met its standards for safety and effectiveness. Kennedy regularly lambastes the FDA as “corrupt” and too close to the drug industry. He has denounced the fees the agency receives from makers of medical devices and drugs, which make up about half of its $7.2 billion annual budget. It’s unclear how Kennedy’s views will mesh with those of Jim O’Neill, a Silicon Valley investor and former government official who would serve as his deputy if he is confirmed. O’Neill, a former top aide to billionaire Peter Thiel, has called for approving drugs once they’ve been shown to be safe but before they have been shown to be effective. That idea goes well beyond the deregulation favored by most pharmaceutical executives. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition who will be his press secretary, described the president-elect’s choices for administration posts as “highly qualified” and reflective of “his priority to put America First.” Although lawmakers in both parties frequently criticize the drug industry for charging high prices, Kennedy paints pharmaceutical companies in a much harsher light. In an interview last year, Kennedy called vaccine makers “the most corrupt companies in the world” and “serial felons.” He has advanced falsehoods about the science underlying some of the industry’s most influential products, suggesting that vaccines cause autism and that HIV may not be the true cause of AIDS. He has embraced an increasingly popular notion that healthy food and lifestyle changes — not pharmaceutical products — will heal sick people. Referring to drug companies, he wrote on the social platform X this year, “The sicker we get the richer and more powerful they become.” “His view of our world seems to be that everything is a conspiracy,” said Brad Loncar, a former biotech investor who now runs BiotechTV, an industry media company. “If you really know our industry, it’s made up of well-intentioned, smart people, and it’s one of the most innovative sectors of our entire economy.” Pharmaceutical officials were relieved by Trump’s pick to lead the FDA, Dr. Martin Makary, who has a contrarian bent but has been aligned with scientific consensus on vaccine safety and is not seen as a threat to unwind the status quo. Drug companies hope to have an ally in Vivek Ramaswamy, who made his fortune as a biotechnology executive and has been named to lead a government efficiency effort alongside Elon Musk. Ramaswamy has been critical of what he describes as regulatory red tape that slows new drug approvals. And O’Neill, the president-elect’s choice for deputy health secretary, has close ties to some biotechnology and medical technology companies, though he is less well-connected to major industry players. Bracing for the potential of public attacks and new proposals that could hurt their bottom lines, drug companies are said to be reaching out to contacts close to Trump in hopes of influencing the incoming administration. Some are also considering new ways to defend their businesses from government initiatives they consider detrimental. “There’s no playbook for dealing with these disruptive figures like Kennedy,” said Sam Geduldig, managing partner of the right-leaning lobbying firm CGCN Group. Other lobbyists said they are instructing pharmaceutical clients not to hit the panic button yet. Once Congress returns after the Thanksgiving break, Kennedy is expected to make the rounds on Capitol Hill. He could face trouble winning the support he needs from Senate Republicans to be confirmed because of his record on vaccines, his past support for abortion rights and his ideas about overhauling the food system. Drug industry officials have long regarded Trump as a wild card, just as likely to be a boon as a foe. In 2020, the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed worked closely with drugmakers and poured billions of dollars into producing highly effective COVID shots in record time, saving countless lives. Trump’s pandemic-era health secretary, Alex Azar, spoke with admiration that year about “our partners in the private sector.” But this year, Trump spoke little about Operation Warp Speed. With some exceptions, the drug industry has been in something of a slump since the heights of the pandemic, when it enjoyed a boost in its public image, and investors eager to get in on huge gains poured money into drug stocks. But trust in vaccines and public health institutions has eroded at the same time as the bubble in the biotech markets has deflated. Among major COVID vaccine makers, Moderna’s stock price is down tenfold, and Pfizer’s stock price has fallen by half, from their high-water marks in 2021. An index of smaller biotechnology stocks is down by close to half. Drug company officials still see opportunities to benefit from Trump’s win. The industry is looking forward to Trump replacing Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, as he is expected to do. She has been aggressive in taking on big business, including pharma. The industry is also hopeful that Trump could help reverse its worst policy defeat in recent memory. Under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden’s signature policy achievement, Democratic lawmakers empowered Medicare to directly negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs — cutting into manufacturers’ profits and raising the specter of similar price cuts in the commercial market. Republicans in Congress have said that they want to repeal the negotiation program. This article originally appeared in The New York Times . © 2024 The New York Times Company
Bill Dennis's outburst just latest episode in ongoing friction with city staff and councilIsraeli troops stormed one of the last hospitals operating in northern Gaza on Friday, igniting fires and forcing many staff and patients outside to strip in winter weather, the territory’s health ministry said. Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods, according to staff. The ministry said a strike on the hospital a day earlier killed five medical staff. Israel’s military said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and militants in the area of the hospital, without details. It repeated claims that Hamas fighters operate inside Kamal Adwan but provided no evidence. Hospital officials have denied that. The Health Ministry said troops forced medical personnel and patients to assemble in the yard and remove their clothes. Some were led to an unknown location, while some patients were sent to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, which was knocked out of operation after an Israel raid this week. Israeli troops during raids frequently carry out mass detentions, stripping men to their underwear for questioning in what the military says is a security measure as they search for Hamas fighters. The Associated Press doesn’t have access to Kamal Adwan, but armed plainclothes members of the Hamas-led police forces — tasked with keeping security and officially separate from the group’s armed wing — have been seen in other hospitals. The Health Ministry said Israeli troops also set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the lab and surgery department. It said 25 patients and 60 health workers remained in the hospital out of 75 patients and 180 staff who had been there. The account could not be independently confirmed, and attempts to reach hospital staff were unsuccessful. “Fire is ablaze everywhere in the hospital,” an unidentified member of the staff said in an audio message posted on the social media accounts of hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya. The staffer said some evacuated patients had been unhooked from oxygen. “There are currently patients who could die at any moment,” she said. A largely isolated north Since October, Israel’s offensive has virtually sealed off the northern Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and leveled large parts of them. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced out but thousands are believed to remain in the area, where Kamal Adwan and two other hospitals are located. Troops raided Kamal Adwan in October, and on Tuesday troops stormed and evacuated the Indonesian Hospital. The area has been cut off from food and other aid for months , raising fears of famine. The U.N. says Israeli troops allowed just four humanitarian deliveries to the area from Dec. 1 to Dec. 23. The Israeli rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel this week petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice seeking a halt to military attacks on Kamal Adwan. It warned that forcibly evacuating the hospital would “abandon thousands of residents in northern Gaza.” Before the latest deaths Thursday, the group documented five other staffers killed by Israeli fire since October. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza vowing to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, around a third believed to be dead. Israel’s nearly 15-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives has devastated the territory’s health sector. A year ago, it carried out raids on hospitals in northern Gaza, including Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and al-Awda Hospital, saying they served as bases for Hamas, though it presented little evidence. Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Deaths from the cold in Gaza More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have been driven from their homes, most of them now sheltering in sprawling, squalid tent camps in south and central Gaza. Children and adults, many barefoot, huddled Friday on the cold sand in tents whose plastic and cloth sheets whipped in the wind. Overnight temperatures can dip into the 40s Fahrenheit (below 10 Celsius), and sea spray from the Mediterranean can dampen tents just steps away. “I swear to God, their mother and I cover ourselves with one blanket and we cover (their five children) with three blankets that we got from neighbors. Sea waters drowned everything that was ours,” said Muhammad al-Sous, displaced from Beit Lahiya in the north. The children collect plastic bottles to make fires, and pile under the blankets when their only set of clothes is washed and dried in the wind. At least three babies in Gaza have died from exposure to cold in recent days, doctors there have said. Khaled and Keath reported from Cairo. Wafaa Shurafa, Fatma Khaled And Lee Keath, The Associated PressFACT FOCUS: Vermont ruling does not say schools can vaccinate children without parental consentFive bear cubs believed to be orphans have been released back into the wild after spending the summer at a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department's rehabilitation center. The cubs, which were found in separate incidents, were released on Nov. 20 at separate locations near Pagosa Springs, about 250 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, near the border of New Mexico, the agency's Durango office said in a post on Facebook . One set of three cubs was rescued by wildlife officers over the summer after their mother was euthanized because she entered a home in the Durango area, ABC News reported . Under the agency's directives , bears that come into contact with humans need to be euthanized to avoid further conflicts endangering human lives. Since the cubs did not enter the home, they were captured by wildlife officers, who assessed their health and determined that the best course of action would be to rehabilitate them, agency spokesperson John Livingston told ABC News. Another cub, meanwhile, was spotted wandering alone on the property of a concerned resident in southern Jefferson County in June, the wildlife agency said . Since it was it was still too early for a cub to be on their own, wildlife officers determined the cub was orphaned. The cubs were taken to the Frisco Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Del Norte, where they joined other cubs to “grow and socialize." Rehabilitating the bears As the cubs recouped at the wildlife agency's facility, extreme measure were taken to ensure the bears did not associate with humans. "There’s no talking allowed near bear pens, and the bears never see a person feeding them," the agency said. "They get a feed diet as well as natural foods such as berries and dead fish from a hatchery." Agency spokesperson Kara Van Hoose told USA TODAY on Monday that the cubs were placed in pens "with the slides covered so they do not see humans." The cubs are fed without any interaction and as they grow, "they are moved into larger pens with more rehabbed bears." As the weather changes, steps are taken to prepare the bears for denning and their diet is switched to high sugar and no protein. "We decrease the feeding as the year goes on to mimic the conditions in the wild and encourage their bodies to go into hibernation," Van Hoose said. "When they are ready to hibernate, we release them into the wild, so they are able to build their own dens." Once they "instinctively try to den at the rehab" by diggings dens in the aspen grove pen or using "sticks and hay bales to get cozy in den boxes," and weigh over 60 to 70 pounds, "they are good to release to go find their own natural dens ahead of winter," the agency said. Releasing the bears into the wild The bears are taken to location where the wildlife agency has previously observed "great success in not seeing the bears turn back up as conflict bears or roadkill." Video footage shared by the agency shows the bears bolting and running away from the trucks towards the trees. "In both releases Wednesday, the cubs do exactly what we want: they bolt away and show their natural fear of humans," they said. Of the 25 cubs rehabilitated at Frisco Creek this year, eight were released Wednesday following three earlier last week. Eight more are expected will go out this week, the agency said, adding the remaining cubs “aren’t fat enough yet." Releasing the bears right now "maximizes their time in rehab, while also giving them time in the wild to prepare for hibernation (torpor) and building a den," the agency said. "The cubs that remain at Frisco Creek will continue to eat before going into artificial den boxes to be released later in January or February," the agency said. "We like to get cubs over 80 pounds for release to give them an extra head start on getting through winter and the early spring months." Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.