
HealthEquity Earnings Analysis: Q3 RecapMullins (3), Tierney-Martin, Boyle (2), Cordero Carty (2), Naughton (2) Stavile, Fusco Da Re The Italian visitors were first on the scoreboard with a try from Bautista Stavile Bravin try before Connacht seized control. Chay Mullins went over twice on his Connacht debut and Dylan Tierney-Martin added a third try to help the Irish side to a 17-5 lead at the break. Tries from Paul Boyle, Mullins and Santiago Cordero stretched Connacht's advantage in the second half. Alessandro Fusco touched down for Zebre's second try before Boyle completed his double late in the game. Connacht had the wind at their backs in the first half but Zebre were rewarded for their early pressure as Stavile Bravin went over at the corner on six minutes. The conditions were tough for kickers - Giovanni Montemauri missed the conversion and a penalty. Mullins also touched down in the corner for his opener and added a converted try six minutes later. Tierney-Martin went over from a lineout maul before Zebre's Rusiate Nasove was yellow-carded before the interval. Boyle, who was notching up his 100th Connacht appearance, sealed the bonus point by going over from a scrum. Mullins brought up his hat-trick and Cordero also touched down before Fusco took Zebre into double figures. Boyle completed the try-scoring on a night when Jack Carty and Sean Naughton each kicked two conversions for the hosts. Jennings; Mullins, Hawkshaw, Forde, Cordero; Carty, Blade; Duggan, Tierney-Martin, Aungier; Murray, Dowling; Murphy, Hurley-Langton, Boyle. De Buitlear, Lasisi, Barrett, O'Connor, McCormack, Devine, Naughton, Ralston. Montemauri; Bozzoni, Drago, Lucchin, Gesi; Da Re, Dominguez; Buonfiglio, Bigi (capt), Hasa; Canali, Krumov; Milano, Stavile Bravin, Ferrari. Ribaldi, Rizzoli, Nocera, Nasove, Andreani, Fusco, Bianchi, Gregory.
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OTTAWA — CBC President Catherine Tait accused MPs who summoned her to Ottawa on Monday of hurling “insults” her way to try to discredit the public broadcaster. That day marked the fifth time she had appeared before the parliamentary committee on Canadian Heritage within the past 12 months. What began as a cross-partisan summoning of Tait to answer for job cuts announced last year while at the same time CBC/Radio-Canada’s board of directors approved paying out millions in bonuses, including to executives, had by Monday devolved into a testy confrontation. “Would you categorize your term at the CBC as a success?” Opposition house leader Andrew Scheer asked the outgoing CBC president. “Yes,” Tait replied. “So you believe that you’ve left it in a better place than how you found it?” Scheer asked. “Absolutely,” came the swift response. “You must have quite the echo chamber there if you believe that,” Scheer said, as he accused her of being “out of touch,” saying the corporation paid out executive bonuses during an affordability crisis while laying off staff. He also said other metrics were down, including trust in the institution. “Based on all of that, Ms. Tait, I just want to say on behalf of the Conservative party, I want to thank you for your efforts in helping us promote the campaign to defund the CBC.” Tait responded by saying: “I must say that it really does shock me, the extent to which certain members of this committee ... seem to make me the target and throw insults to my tenure at CBC/Radio-Canada in order to discredit the organization.” While it may be insulting to hear the dollar amounts about executive bonuses, Scheer said, “I’ll tell you who is really insulted: the front-line workers that were laid off when the CBC was claiming it didn’t have enough money to keep that entire workforce.” Tait said that of the 800 jobs the CBC had forecast to cut, it used the extra $42 million the Liberals gave the corporation in its latest budget to save many of them. It ultimately cut around 141 jobs and eliminated another 200 vacant positions. She delivered an impassioned defence of the corporation’s services during what was her fifth such appearance before the Commons committee on Canadian Heritage within the past year. Following her appearance, Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office circulated a statement pointing out how Tait had once refused to rule out accepting a bonus herself, which has been the subject of previous committee meetings. Tait told MPs she has not received one for the past two fiscal years, saying the decision to award her one lies with the federal government. The Liberals rely on a recommendation from the corporation’s board of directors. CBC/Radio-Canada has declined to say whether it has, citing privacy. Poilievre has long promised to “defund” the roughly $1 billion in funding the corporation receives annually from Parliament, criticizing it as a waste of taxpayer dollars and accusing the broadcaster of operating with a “bias” toward the governing Liberals. Tait in past testimony has pointed out the corporation operates independently from government and its editorial independence is enshrined in laws. Despite his vocal criticisms, Poilievre has pledged to keep Francophone news services. How exactly he plans to do that remains unclear, given how on Monday Tait outlined to MPs how CBC and Radio-Canada “are not two separate companies.” The committee heard how the corporation divides its annual funding from Parliament between its English and French services, with its English services receiving around 56 per cent and French services some 44 per cent. “That’s where the division stops,” said Tait. “These are not two separate companies. They are one with obviously very profound editorial independence, but with a shared infrastructure.” Luc Berthold, the Conservatives’ deputy house leader in Parliament, suggested to Tait that its English programming was dragging down the French service, Radio-Canada, because it was spending more money on CBC, saying in French that Radio-Canada was “really exemplary in being a public broadcaster in our region.” Responding in French, Tait suggested his proposal would mean the broadcaster only deliver services to a minority of Canadians. “Are we going to ask all Canadians to support an organization for only 20 per cent of the population?” she asked. Under questioning by Liberals, Tait outlined the possible impacts of losing CBC’s English services, saying it would deprive most Canadians of access to local news, including in many rural areas. Not only would it also mean losing upwards of 3,500 employees, it would hurt the “thousands” of musicians, authors and others in the fields of arts and production, who rely on the corporation to help promote their work, Tait testified. Cutting CBC English would also result in taking away the ability for Indigenous people living in the North to “hear their news in their languages,” given how it broadcasts in different Indigenous languages. “There is no common sense for eliminating CBC,” Tait said. “We do not see defunding the CBC as a solution, we see it as making Canada worse, not better.” Poilievre himself often wields the term “common sense” as a slogan to describe his plans to restore the country back to what he says was a better time, before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were elected in 2015, saying the PM has taken Canada down a “radical” path.” Tait at times acknowledged that not all Canadians like CBC, but defended the corporation as trying to listen to those voices by deciding to give more resources to newsrooms in Western Canada to create more content like local podcasts. Tait is soon set to step down as CBC/Radio-Canada president after six years. Quebec television executive Marie-Philippe Bouchard has been appointed as her replacement, effective January 2025. National Post staylor@postmedia.com Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here . Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here .Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban so he can weigh in after he takes officeBy MICHAEL R. SISAK NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs tried for a third time Friday to persuade a judge to let him leave jail while he awaits his sex trafficking trial, but a decision won’t come until next week. Judge Arun Subramanian said at a hearing that he will release his decision on Combs’ latest request for bail after Combs’ lawyers and federal prosecutors file letters addressing outstanding issues. Those letters are due at noon on Monday, Subramanian said. Combs’ lawyers pitched having him await trial under around-the-clock surveillance either his mansion on an island near Miami Beach or — after the judge scoffed at that location — an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Their plan essentially amounts to putting Combs on house arrest, with strict limits on who he has contact with. But prosecutors argue that Combs has routinely flouted jail rules and can’t be trusted not to interfere with witnesses or the judicial process. “The argument that he’s a lawless person who doesn’t follow instructions isn’t factually accurate,” Combs lawyer Anthony Ricco argued. “The idea that he’s an out-of-control individual who has to be detained isn’t factually accurate.” Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings. His trial is slated to begin May 5. The Bad Boy Records founder remains locked up at a Brooklyn federal jail, where he spent his Nov. 4 birthday. Two other judges previously concluded that Combs would be a danger to the community if he is released and an appeals court judge last month denied Combs’ immediate release while a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals weighs his bail request. Friday’s hearing was the second time Combs was in court this week. On Tuesday, a judge blocked prosecutors from using as evidence papers that were seized from his cell during jail-wide sweep for contraband and weapons at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Related Articles As he entered through a side door, Combs waved to relatives including his mother and several of his children in the courtroom gallery, tapping his hand to his heart and blowing kisses at them. He then hugged his lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo, before taking a seat at the defense table. He was not handcuffed or shackled and wore a beige jail uniform, occasionally pulling a pair of reading glasses from his pocket as he peered at papers in front of him. Prosecutors maintain that no bail conditions will mitigate the “risk of obstruction and dangerousness to others” of releasing Combs from jail. Prosecutors contend that while locked up the “I’ll Be Missing You” artist has orchestrated social media campaigns aimed at tainting the jury pool. They allege that he has also attempted to publicly leak materials he thinks would be helpful to his case and is contacting potential witnesses via third parties. “Simply put, the defendant cannot be trusted,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik argued. Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos countered that, given the strict release conditions proposed, “it would be impossible for him not to follow rules.”
Stock market today: Wall Street slips as the 'Magnificent 7' weighs down the market
CRANFORD, N.J. , Dec. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Citius Oncology, Inc. ("Citius Oncology" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: CTOR), a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel targeted oncology therapies, today reported business and financial results for the fiscal full year ended September 30, 2024 . Fiscal Full Year 2024 Business Highlights and Subsequent Developments Financial Highlights "Reflecting on 2024, Citius Oncology has achieved pivotal milestones that underscore our commitment to advancing cancer therapeutics," stated Leonard Mazur , Chairman and CEO of Citius Oncology. "The FDA's approval of LYMPHIR for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma marks a significant advancement in providing new options for patients battling this challenging disease. It is the only targeted systemic therapy approved for CTCL patients since 2018 and the only therapy with a mechanism of action that targets the IL-2 receptor. Additionally, the successful merger forming Citius Oncology, now trading on Nasdaq under the ticker CTOR, strengthens our position in the oncology sector. We expect it to facilitate greater access to capital to fund LYMPHIR's launch and the Company's future growth. With a Phase I investigator-initiated clinical trial combining LYMPHIR with pembrolizumab demonstrating promising preliminary results, indicating potential for enhanced treatment efficacy in recurrent solid tumors, and preliminary results expected from a second investigator trial with CAR-T therapies in 2025, we remain excited about the potential of LYMPHIR as a combination immunotherapy." "These accomplishments reflect the dedication of our team and the trust of our investors. As we look ahead, we remain steadfast in our mission to develop innovative therapies that improve the lives of cancer patients worldwide," added Mazur. FULL YEAR 2024 FINANCIAL RESULTS: Research and Development (R&D) Expenses R&D expenses were $4.9 million for the full year ended September 30, 2024 , compared to $4.2 million for the full year ended September 30, 2023 . The increase reflects development activities completed for the resubmission of the Biologics License Application of LYMPHIR in January 2024 , which were associated with the complete response letter remediation. General and Administrative (G&A) Expenses G&A expenses were $8.1 million for the full year ended September 30, 2024 , compared to $5.9 million for the full year ended September 30, 2023 . The increase was primarily due to costs associated with pre-commercial and commercial launch activities of LYMPHIR including market research, marketing, distribution and drug product reimbursement from health plans and payers. Stock-based Compensation Expense For the full year ended September 30, 2024 , stock-based compensation expense was $7.5 million as compared to $2.0 million for the prior year. The primary reason for the $5.5 million increase was due to the amounts being realized over 12 months in the year ended September 30, 2024 , as compared to three months post-plan adoption in the year ended September 30, 2023 . Net loss Net loss was $21.1 million , or ($0.31) per share for the year ended September 30, 2024 , compared to a net loss of $12.7 million , or ($0.19) per share for the year ended September 30, 2023 . The $8.5 million increase in net loss was primarily due to the increase in our operating expenses. About Citius Oncology, Inc. Citius Oncology specialty is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel targeted oncology therapies. In August 2024 , its primary asset, LYMPHIR, was approved by the FDA for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory CTCL who had had at least one prior systemic therapy. Management estimates the initial market for LYMPHIR currently exceeds $400 million , is growing, and is underserved by existing therapies. Robust intellectual property protections that span orphan drug designation, complex technology, trade secrets and pending patents for immuno-oncology use as a combination therapy with checkpoint inhibitors would further support Citius Oncology's competitive positioning. Citius Oncology is a publicly traded subsidiary of Citius Pharmaceuticals. For more information, please visit www.citiusonc.com Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements are made based on our expectations and beliefs concerning future events impacting Citius Oncology. You can identify these statements by the fact that they use words such as "will," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "plan," "should," and "may" and other words and terms of similar meaning or use of future dates. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could negatively affect our business, operating results, financial condition and stock price. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated, and, unless noted otherwise, that apply to Citius Oncology are: our ability to raise additional money to fund our operations for at least the next 12 months as a going concern; our ability to commercialize LYMPHIR and any of our other product candidates that may be approved by the FDA; the estimated markets for our product candidates and the acceptance thereof by any market; the ability of our product candidates to impact the quality of life of our target patient populations; our dependence on third-party suppliers; our ability to procure cGMP commercial-scale supply; risks related to research using our assets but conducted by third parties; our ability to obtain, perform under and maintain financing and strategic agreements and relationships; uncertainties relating to preclinical and clinical testing; market and other conditions; risks related to our growth strategy; patent and intellectual property matters; our ability to identify, acquire, close and integrate product candidates and companies successfully and on a timely basis; government regulation; competition; as well as other risks described in our Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings. These risks have been and may be further impacted by any future public health risks. Accordingly, these forward-looking statements do not constitute guarantees of future performance, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Risks regarding our business are described in detail in our SEC filings which are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov , including in Citius Oncology's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2024 , filed with the SEC on December 27, 2024 , as updated by our subsequent filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and we expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law. Investor Contact: Ilanit Allen ir@citiuspharma.com 908-967-6677 x113 Media Contact: STiR-communications Greg Salsburg Greg@STiR-communications.com -- Financial Tables Follow – CITIUS ONCOLOGY, INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 AND 2023 2024 2023 Current Assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 112 $ — Inventory 8,268,766 — Prepaid expenses 2,700,000 7,734,895 Total Current Assets 10,968,878 7,734,895 Other Assets: In-process research and development 73,400,000 40,000,000 Total Other Assets 73,400,000 40,000,000 Total Assets $ 84,368,878 $ 47,734,895 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current Liabilities: Accounts payable $ 3,711,622 $ 1,289,045 License payable 28,400,000 — Accrued expenses — 259,071 Due to related party 588,806 19,499,119 Total Current Liabilities 32,700,429 21,047,235 Deferred tax liability 1,728,000 1,152,000 Note payable to related party 3,800,111 — Total Liabilities 38,228,540 22,199,235 Stockholders' Equity: Preferred stock - $0.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized: no shares issued and outstanding — — Common stock - $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000; 71,552,402 and 67,500,000 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively 7,155 6,750 Additional paid-in capital 85,411,771 43,658,750 Accumulated deficit (39,278,587) (18,129,840) Total Stockholders' Equity 46,140,339 25,535,660 Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity $ 84,368,878 $ 47,734,895 CITIUS ONCOLOGY, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS FOR THE YEARS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 AND 2023 2024 2023 Revenues $ — $ — Operating Expenses: Research and development 4,925,001 4,240,451 General and administrative 8,148,929 5,915,290 Stock-based compensation – general and administrative 7,498,817 1,965,500 Total Operating Expenses 20,572,747 12,121,241 Loss before Income Taxes (20,572,747) (12,121,241) Income tax expense 576,000 576,000 Net Loss $ (21,148,747) $ (12,697,241) Net Loss Per Share – Basic and Diluted $ (0.31) $ (0.19) Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding – Basic and Diluted 68,053,607 67,500,000 CITIUS ONCOLOGY, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEARS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 AND 2023 2024 2023 Cash Flows From Operating Activities: Net loss $ (21,148,747) $ (12,697,241) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities: Stock-based compensation expense 7,498,817 1,965,500 Deferred income tax expense 576,000 576,000 Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Inventory (2,133,871) - Prepaid expenses (1,100,000) (5,044,713) Accounts payable 2,422,577 1,196,734 Accrued expenses (259,071) (801,754) Due to related party 14,270,648 14,805,474 Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities 126,353 - Cash Flows From Investing Activities: License payment (5,000,000) - Net Cash Used In Investing Activities (5,000,000) - Cash Flows From Financing Activities: Cash contributed by parent 3,827,944 - Merger, net (2,754,296) - Proceeds from issuance of note payable to related party 3,800,111 - Net Cash Provided By Financing Activities 4,873,759 - Net Change in Cash and Cash Equivalents 112 - Cash and Cash Equivalents – Beginning of Year - - Cash and Cash Equivalents – End of Year $ 112 $ - Supplemental Disclosures of Cash Flow Information and Non-cash Activities: IPR&D Milestones included in License Payable $ 28,400,000 $Southeast Bulloch flag football holds on to defeat Harris County in state quarterfinalL ast week, South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace made headlines when she introduced legislation that would ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill. Mace, of course, did this in response to the election of Sarah McBride, who in January will become the first openly transgender member of Congress. Mace’s move was successful in two ways: House Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to ban trans people from using Capitol bathrooms that correspond to their sex assigned at birth — and the Republican lawmaker gained the notoriety that she clearly desired, even earning praise from Marjorie Taylor Greene, the right-wing firebrand with whom she regularly feuded during their first term in Congress. On the surface, Mace going on the warpath against trans people may seem jolting, as she’d once positioned herself as a different kind of Republican. In 2021, she’d even insisted she was a supporter of LGBTQ rights, saying “Religious Liberty, gay rights and transgender equality can all co-exist,” as one of her former communications directors pointed out on X this month. When The Independent profiled her in early 2023, she called herself a “caucus of one .” She mostly voted in line with other mainstream Republicans and voted to make Kevin McCarthy speaker at the beginning of 2023. Things changed later that year, when Mace joined some of the same obstructionists who had voted against McCarthy — an effort led by former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz — to oust the speaker. She gained further notoriety when during one meeting with House Republicans, she wore a giant red “A” emblazoned on her shirt. All of these moves have allowed her to move up the ranks in the Republican Party. And it explains how the current Republican Party operates, rewarding controversial, headline-grabbing stunts over thoughtful policy. Mace first won her seat in 2020, when Republicans significantly pared down Democrats’ majority in the House. House Republican leader McCarthy — who once bemoaned that his party looked “like the most restrictive country club in America” — had aggressively recruited women and people of color to run in swing districts. And Mace had a quintessential American story. After being raped as a teenager, Mace dropped out of high school before she worked at a Waffle House, got her GED and became the first woman to graduate from the Citadel, a prestigious military academy. Her status as a single mother who was unafraid of a bit of trash talk made her seem like the kind of Republican who could lead the GOP beyond Trump, even though she had worked on his 2016 campaign. While she opposed Trump’s impeachment after January 6, she did vocally criticize him. She did not back away from picking fights with fringe figures like Greene. When Greene attacked her for supposedly being “pro-abort” — which Mace isn’t except in the cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother — Mace said bless her f**king heart ” and called her a “religious bigot.” On the policy side, she tried to find a middle way at times, introducing legislation to decriminalize cannabis . She voted with Democrats and a handful of Republicans to codify protections for same-sex and interracial married couples and to protect access to contraception. After Democrats did better in the 2022 midterm elections in part because of the anger about the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson decision, she warned that “We're not going to win hearts and minds over by being a**holes to women.” But Mace and other fresh-faced Republicans had one problem: The GOP did not want to move on beyond Trump. Ultimately, Trump did not exit the stage after January 6 and her policy proposals largely went nowhere. He endorsed Mace’s primary challenger in 2022, which famously led to her filming a selfie video in front of Trump Tower, which he proceeded to mock. She would survive, but it would teach her — and other Republicans — a lesson: The Republican Party was not interested in policymakers who could offer something different from Trump. Rather, it wanted more of the same. Mace has since taken a rightward turn. This can also explain the hard-right shift of some of the GOP’s other female policymakers. Elise Stefanik, who previously worked for George W Bush and Paul Ryan, would go from being a moderate who voted against Trump’s tax cuts in 2017 to being his most vocal defender during his impeachment trial. Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, a former chief of staff to Senator Richard Shelby who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee and can bring home millions of dollars to her home state, gave her State of the Union response in a kitchen in a heavily affected and strained voice. All three got behind Trump fairly early this time around. While more policy-oriented Republicans like Lisa Murkowski find themselves having to answer uncomfortable questions about Trump’s latest cabinet pick, the lawmakers who glom onto social issues or grandstanding have been rewarded handsomely. Britt is now a regular in Republican circles. Stefanik will become Trump’s US ambassador to the United Nations and Mace got to speak at the Republican National Convention. Democrats, led by McBride, have responded by calling Mace’s legislation as a “distraction.” But anyone who has been to a conservative conference knows that if anything, conservatives see tax policy or the retirement age for Medicare as a distraction and banning trans women from sports and bathrooms as an animating policy alongside restricting immigration. Politics is all about incentives. And as of right now, GOP politics rewards culture war crusaders.