Author's Tranquility Press Announces: Echoes of the Past by Maya Mitra Das
Turkish tech startups woo investors at Slush 2024 in Finland
Colorado 85, Utah Tech 73NoneEmanuel M Schwermer My thesis I invested in QuantumScape ( NYSE: QS ) stock a few days after I wrote my previous bullish call and it was a real roller-coaster. The stock has jumped from around $5 per share to $9+ quite rapidly, but the Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of QS either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ascendis Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ASND) today announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review its supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) in adult growth hormone deficiency (GHD) for TransCon hGH (lonapegsomatropin-tcgd; marketed as SKYTROFA ® for pediatric GHD). The FDA set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date of July 27, 2025. “This marks another step towards achieving our objective to expand SKYTROFA’s label beyond pediatric GHD and expand its reach to address new groups of patients,” said Jan Mikkelsen, Ascendis Pharma’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Adult GHD is an undertreated condition associated with significant comorbidities and higher annual healthcare costs compared to the 5-10% of patients who receive treatment, indicative of the high unmet need.” The sBLA submission is based on results from foresiGHt, a Phase 3 randomized, parallel-arm, placebo-controlled (double-blind) and active-controlled (open-label) trial that compared the efficacy and safety of weekly TransCon hGH with weekly placebo and daily human growth hormone (hGH) in adults with GHD. The trial evaluated 259 adults with GHD aged 23 to 80 years old, randomized 1:1:1, titrated to receive a target fixed dose of TransCon hGH, placebo, or daily hGH based on age and oral estrogen intake with approximately equivalent hGH mg/week for TransCon hGH and daily hGH. TransCon hGH demonstrated superiority on its primary efficacy and key secondary efficacy endpoints at Week 38, with TransCon hGH-treated participants showing a statistically significant reduction from baseline in trunk fat and increase in total body lean mass at Week 38 compared to placebo. In the trial, TransCon hGH was generally safe and well tolerated, with no discontinuations related to study drug and with comparable safety and tolerability to daily hGH treatment. About Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency Growth hormone plays an essential role in the health of children and adults, promoting normal growth in children and maintenance of normal body composition and cardiometabolic health throughout adulthood. In adults, growth hormone boosts protein production, promotes fat utilization, enhances muscle mass, and helps regulate blood sugar levels. Adult GHD is a condition in which an individual’s body does not produce enough growth hormone. Symptoms and morbidity can include central obesity, metabolic syndrome, decreased bone density, alterations in lipid profile and markers of cardiovascular risk, fatigue, general weakness, lack of muscle tone, and psychological symptoms such as cognitive impairment, social isolation, lack of motivation, and depression. 1 About Ascendis Pharma A/S Ascendis Pharma is applying its innovative TransCon technology platform to build a leading, fully integrated biopharma company focused on making a meaningful difference in patients’ lives. Guided by its core values of Patients, Science, and Passion, Ascendis uses its TransCon technologies to create new and potentially best-in-class therapies. Ascendis is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark and has additional facilities in Europe and the United States. Please visit ascendispharma.com to learn more. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding Ascendis’ future operations, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to (i) the PDUFA goal date for SKYTROFA, (ii) Ascendis’ objective to expand SKYTROFA’s label and reach to address new groups of patients, (iii) Ascendis’ ability to apply its TransCon technology platform to build a leading, fully integrated biopharma company, and (iv) Ascendis’ use of its TransCon technologies to create new and potentially best-in-class therapies. Ascendis may not actually achieve the plans, carry out the intentions or meet the expectations or projections disclosed in the forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions, expectations, and projections disclosed in the forward-looking statements. Various important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that Ascendis makes, including the following: dependence on third party manufacturers, distributors and service providers for Ascendis’ products and product candidates; unforeseen safety or efficacy results in Ascendis’ development programs or on-market products; unforeseen expenses related to commercialization of any approved Ascendis products; unforeseen expenses related to Ascendis’ development programs; unforeseen selling, general and administrative expenses, other research and development expenses and Ascendis’ business generally; delays in the development of its programs related to manufacturing, regulatory requirements, speed of patient recruitment or other unforeseen delays; Ascendis’ ability to obtain additional funding, if needed, to support its business activities; the impact of international economic, political, legal, compliance, social and business factors. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to Ascendis’ business in general, see Ascendis’ prospectus supplement filed on September 20, 2024 and Ascendis’ current and future reports filed with, or submitted to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including its Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on February 7, 2024. Forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future licensing, collaborations, acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures, or investments that Ascendis may enter into or make. Ascendis does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Ascendis, Ascendis Pharma, the Ascendis Pharma logo, the company logo, TransCon, and SKYTROFA ® , are trademarks owned by the Ascendis Pharma group. © December 2024 Ascendis Pharma A/S. 1 . Hoffman AR, Mathison T, Andrews D, Murray K, Kelepouris N, Fleseriu M. Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency: Diagnostic and Treatment Journeys From the Patients' Perspective. J Endocr Soc. 2022;6(7):bvac077. Published 2022 May 12. doi:10.1210/jendso/bvac077
Home for the holidays? Show relatives you care with some tech supportANDOVER, Mass. , Dec. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TransMedics Group, Inc. ("TransMedics") (Nasdaq: TMDX), a medical technology company that is transforming organ transplant therapy for patients with end-stage lung, heart, and liver failure, today announced that on December 9, 2024 , TransMedics granted non-qualified stock options to purchase an aggregate of 20,612 shares of its common stock and an aggregate of 13,576 restricted stock units to 3 employees, each as a material inducement for each employee's entry into employment with TransMedics. The grants included stock options to purchase 18,922 shares of TransMedics' common stock and 12,463 restricted stock units granted to Gerardo Hernandez , the Company's Chief Financial Officer. The grants were approved by the Compensation Committee of the TransMedics Board of Directors and were granted in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) and pursuant to the TransMedics Group, Inc. Inducement Plan.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. The warning came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war. The United Nations and others have repeatedly decried humanitarian conditions, particularly in northern Gaza where Israel said Friday it had killed two commanders involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war. Gaza medics said an overnight Israeli raid on Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia resulted in dozens killed or missing. Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals, told reporters all hospitals in the Palestinian territory "will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation's (Israel's) obstruction of fuel entry". World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday he was "deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including 8 in the intensive care unit" at Kamal Adwan hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza. Late Thursday, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, said: "The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt." He said that for more than six weeks Israeli authorities "have been banning commercial imports" while "a surge in armed looting" has targeted aid convoys. Vowing to stop Hamas from regrouping, Israel on October 6 began an air and ground operation in Jabalia and then expanded it to Beit Lahia. Gaza's health ministry says the operation has killed thousands. The UN says more than 100,000 have been displaced from the area, and an official told the Security Council last week that people "are effectively starving". Issuing the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the Hague-based ICC said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity including over "the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies". A furious Netanyahu said: "Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions and accusations made against it." He said the judges were "driven by anti-Semitic hatred of Israel". On Friday, he thanked his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban for his show of "moral clarity" in inviting him to visit in defiance of the ICC warrant, which Orban branded "political". Hungary currently holds the rotating EU presidency. US President Joe Biden, whose country is Israel's top military supplier, called the warrants against Israeli leaders "outrageous", but other world leaders supported the court. Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said Netanyahu would be arrested if he set foot in the country. Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday discussed efforts towards a ceasefire in Lebanon, the White House said. The ICC also issued a warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, saying it had grounds to suspect him of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the attacks on Israel that sparked the war, and including "sexual and gender-based violence" against hostages. Israel said it killed Deif in July, but Hamas has not confirmed his death. On Thursday, a UN representative said an Israeli raid on Palmyra in Syria this week was "likely the deadliest" by Israel on the country so far. On Friday, a war monitor said the strikes killed 92 pro-Iran fighters. Israel again bombed Gaza on Friday. In Gaza City, just south of Jabalia, one man who said he took his cousins to hospital after a strike urged "the world... to put an end" to the war. Belal, who gave only his first name, said 10 members of his family had been killed. At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable. Hamas triggered the war with the deadliest attack in Israeli history, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. The war expanded to Lebanon in late September when Israel escalated air strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah and later sent ground troops into southern Lebanon, after nearly a year of tit-for-tat cross-border exchanges which Hezbollah said were in support of Hamas. Lebanon says more than 3,580 people have been killed in the country, most of them since late September. Israeli strikes again targeted Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold and south Lebanon on Friday, the official National News Agency said. Thousands of UN peacekeepers are based in southern Lebanon and have reported coming under attack numerous times, blaming both Israel and "non-state" actors. On Friday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Hezbollah was probably behind a rocket attack that lightly wounded four Italian peacekeepers. bur-ami/srm/kirStocks closed higher on Wall Street, giving the market its fifth gain in a row and notching another record high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Friday. The Dow added 1%, and the Nasdaq composite tacked on 0.2%. Retailers had some of the biggest gains. Gap soared after reporting quarterly results that easily beat analysts’ estimates. EchoStar fell after DirecTV called off its purchase of that company’s Dish Network unit. European markets closed mostly higher and Asian markets ended mixed. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. Crude oil prices gained ground. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. Stocks rose on Wall Street in afternoon trading Friday, keeping the market on track for its fifth straight gain. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and was solidly on track for a weekly gain that will erase most of last week's loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 333 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite was essentially flat with a gain of less than 0.1% as of 3:07 p.m. Eastern. Markets have been volatile over the last few weeks, losing ground in the runup to elections in November, then surging following Donald Trump's victory, before falling again. The S&P 500 has been steadily rising throughout this week to within close range of its record. “Overall, market behavior has normalized following an intense few weeks,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide, in a statement. Several retailers jumped after giving Wall Street encouraging financial updates. Gap soared 10.8% after handily beating analysts' third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, while raising its own revenue forecast for the year. Discount retailer Ross Stores rose 1.5% after raising its earnings forecast for the year. EchoStar fell 2.4% after DirecTV called off its purchase of that company's Dish Network unit. Smaller company stocks had some of the biggest gains. The Russell 2000 index rose 1.8%. A majority of stocks in the S&P 500 were gaining ground, but those gains were kept in check by slumps for several big technology companies. Nvidia fell 3.3%. Its pricey valuation makes it among the heaviest influences on whether the broader market gains or loses ground. The company has grown into a nearly $3.6 trillion behemoth because of demand for its chips used in artificial-intelligence technology. Intuit, which makes TurboTax and other accounting software, fell 5.6%. It gave investors a quarterly earnings forecast that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Facebook owner Meta Platforms fell 0.8% following a decision by the Supreme Court to allow a multibillion-dollar class action investors’ lawsuit to proceed against the company. It stems from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm. European markets closed mostly higher and Asian markets ended mixed. Crude oil prices rose. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.41% from 4.42% late Thursday. In the crypto market, Bitcoin hovered around $99,000, according to CoinDesk. It has more than doubled this year and first surpassed the $99,000 level on Thursday. Retailers remained a big focus for investors this week amid close scrutiny on consumer spending habits headed into the holiday shopping season. Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, reported a quarter of strong sales and gave investors an encouraging financial forecast. Target, though, reported weaker earnings than analysts' expected and its forecast disappointed Wall Street. Consumer spending has fueled economic growth, despite a persistent squeeze from inflation and high borrowing costs. Inflation has been easing and the Federal Reserve has started trimming its benchmark interest rates. That is likely to help relieve pressure on consumers, but any major shift in spending could prompt the Fed to reassess its path ahead on interest rates. Also, any big reversals on the rate of inflation could curtail spending. Consumer sentiment remains strong, according to the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index. It revised its latest figure for November to 71.8 from an initial reading of 73 earlier this month, though economists expected a slight increase. It's still up from 70.5 in October. The survey also showed that consumers' inflation expectations for the year ahead fell slightly to 2.6%, which is the lowest reading since December of 2020. Wall Street will get another update on how consumers feel when the business group The Conference Board releases its monthly consumer confidence survey on Tuesday. A key inflation update will come on Wednesday when the U.S. releases its October personal consumption expenditures index. The PCE is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation and this will be the last PCE reading prior to the central bank's meeting in December. Damian J. Troise And Alex Veiga, The Associated PressHouse rejects Democratic efforts to force release of Matt Gaetz ethics report
More than 1,000 law enforcement officials will be monitoring the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game on New Year’s Day to keep crowds safe during Pasadena’s annual celebration. While it is a day of celebration for football fans and community members alike, Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris said there will be “zero tolerance for shenanigans.” Officials from local, state and federal law enforcement, including more than 250 members of the Pasadena Police Department, will be in attendance. Uniformed and plain-clothed officers will be stationed around the parade route and the stadium to monitor for safety hazards and handle any problems that may arise, Harris said. Law enforcement will strictly enforce rules prohibiting public alcohol consumption throughout the event, Harris said. “There won’t be any breaks,” he said. “If you come up and ask for a break on something, we’re going to assume you want an arrest.” Harris said officers still want attendees to enjoy the day-long celebration. Throughout the parade route and stadium, he said, attendees will see law enforcement smiling as they enjoy the festivities, too. “It’s a day that we welcome the world to Pasadena,” said Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo. The city expects restaurants and hotels to be filled with community members and visitors celebrating. Gordo recommended that anyone planning to grab a meal or stay in the area make reservations in advance. Planning for the parade and bowl game begins the year prior to ensure attendees have a safe experience, Gordo said. At last year’s parade, a woman in her 20s rammed into a barricade at Colorado Boulevard and Chester Avenue. The barriers set up in the area stopped the woman, but if she were successful, officials said she could have injured numerous parade watchers. Police arrested the woman for suspected assault with a deadly weapon, and her vehicle sustained significant damage from the crash. Harris said police presence at the parade and the barricades allowed them to stop the assault before anyone was hurt. Law enforcement will continue to patrol the area and pay attention to make sure they prevent any other safety hazards. Just blocks away, last year’s parade was also interrupted for about 15 minutes, when a group of Pasadena interfaith communities led a pro-Palestinian protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza before peacefully dispersing under police orders. No arrests were made. The 136th annual Rose Parade’s theme is “Best Day Ever,” celebrating friends, family, community and the happiest moments in life, said Tournament of Roses President David Eads. Grand Finale performances will include singers Debbie Gibson and Betty Who and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, and the parade will feature traditional floral floats, marching bands, equestrian units and musical performances. In the Rose Bowl, Oregon will face off against the winner of a Dec. 21 game between Ohio State and Tennessee. On New Year’s Eve, visitors can arrive and claim spots along Colorado Boulevard starting at noon to watch the parade the following day. The Pasadena Fire Department along with around 15 other fire agencies will also be monitoring the parade route and stadium for illegal bonfires that can spread to structure fires or injure or kill others. “Here we are in December, and we’re still dealing with major brush fires,” said Fire Chief Chad Augustin. “We only have to look to our neighbors in Malibu and the Franklin Fire, how devastating that’s been.” Attendees are allowed to have small professionally manufactured barbecues that are elevated at least one foot off the ground, if they are kept at least 25 feet away from buildings. Fire officials recommend anyone with a barbecue also have a fire extinguisher on hand just in case. Augustin reminded attendees to dress in layers, bring gloves and beanies and stay hydrated, as officials expect frigid temperatures overnight and warmer temperatures during the day. Parking lots at the Rose Bowl Stadium will open at 4 a.m. on New Year’s Day, where visitors can pay to park and walk to the parade route, said stadium CEO Jens Weiden. The stadium’s public Fan Fest celebration will start at 9 a.m., and gates will open at 11:30 a.m. Ticketholders are asked to take their seats by 1 p.m. for pre-game festivities before kickoff. The city website will also have a schedule for when attendees can arrive to camp out and where they can park. Attendees should double check for temporary no-parking signs and other restrictions before they park. Vehicles blocking emergency travel lanes or in restricted areas at the stadium or along the parade route will be towed at the owner’s expense.
Healthcare predictions: Taking 2025 to a healthy startNEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was on the verge of backing a 16-week federal abortion ban earlier this year when aides staged an intervention. According to Time magazine's cover story on his selection as its 2024 Person of the Year, Trump's aides first raised concerns in mid-March that the abortion cutoff being pushed by some allies would be stricter than existing law in numerous states. It was seen as a potential political liability amid ongoing fallout over the overturning of Roe v. Wade by a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that includes three justices nominated by Trump in his first term. Trump political director James Blair went to work assembling a slide deck — eventually titled “How a national abortion ban will cost Trump the election" — that argued a 16-week ban would hurt the Republican candidate in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the magazine reported. “After flipping through Blair’s presentation" on a flight to a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in April, Trump dropped the idea, according to the report. "So we leave it to the states, right?" Trump was quoted as saying. He soon released a video articulating that position. At the time, Trump’s campaign denied that he was considering supporting the 16-week ban, calling it “fake news” and saying Trump planned to “negotiate a deal” on abortion if elected to the White House. Here are other highlights from the story and the president-elect's 65-minute interview with the magazine: Trump reaffirmed his plans to pardon most of those convicted for their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. “It’s going to start in the first hour,” he said of the pardons. “Maybe the first nine minutes.” Trump said he would look at individuals on a “case-by-case" basis, but that “a vast majority of them should not be in jail.” More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot that left more than 100 police officers injured and sent lawmakers running into hiding as they met to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory . More than 1,000 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial of charges, including misdemeanor trespassing offenses, assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. Trump insisted he has the authority to use the military to assist with his promised mass deportations , even though, as his interviewers noted, the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of the military in domestic law enforcement. “It doesn’t stop the military if it’s an invasion of our country, and I consider it an invasion of our country," he said. “I’ll only do what the law allows, but I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows. And I think in many cases, the sheriffs and law enforcement is going to need help." Trump did not deny that camps would be needed to hold detained migrants as they are processed for deportation. “Whatever it takes to get them out. I don’t care," he said. “I hope we’re not going to need too many because I want to get them out and I don’t want them sitting in camp for the next 20 years.” Trump told Time he does not plan to restore the policy of separating children from their families to deter border crossings, but he did not rule it out. The practice led to thousands of children being separated from their parents and was condemned around the globe as inhumane. “I don’t believe we’ll have to because we will send the whole family back,” he said. “I would much rather deport them together, yes, than separate.” Trump dismissed the idea that Elon Musk will face conflicts of interest as he takes the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency , an advisory group that Trump has selected him to lead. The panel is supposed to find waste and cut regulations, including many that could affect Musk's wide-ranging interests , which include electric cars, rockets and telecommunications. “I don’t think so," Trump said. “I think that Elon puts the country long before his company. ... He considers this to be his most important project." Trump lowered expectations about his ability to drive down grocery prices. “I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will,” he said. Trump said he is planning “a virtual closure" of the "Department of Education in Washington.” “You’re going to need some people just to make sure they’re teaching English in the schools," he said. “But we want to move education back to the states.” Yet Trump has proposed exerting enormous influence over schools. He has threatened to cut funding for schools with vaccine mandates while forcing them to “teach students to love their country" and promote “the nuclear family,” including “the roles of mothers and fathers” and the “things that make men and women different and unique.” Asked to clarify whether he was committed to preventing the Food and Drug Administration from stripping access to abortion pills , Trump replied, “It’s always been my commitment.” But Trump has offered numerous conflicting stances on the issue, including to Time. Earlier in the interview, he was asked whether he would promise that his FDA would not do anything to limit access to medication abortion or abortion pills. "We’re going to take a look at all of that,” he said, before calling the prospect “very unlikely.” “Look, I’ve stated it very clearly and I just stated it again very clearly. I think it would be highly unlikely. I can’t imagine, but with, you know, we’re looking at everything, but highly unlikely. I guess I could say probably as close to ruling it out as possible, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to do anything now.” Pressed on whether he would abandon Ukraine in its efforts to stave off Russia's invasion , Trump said he would use U.S. support for Kyiv as leverage against Moscow in negotiating an end to the war. “I want to reach an agreement,” he said, “and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.” Trump would not commit to supporting a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state alongside Israel, as he had previously. “I support whatever solution we can do to get peace," he said. "There are other ideas other than two state, but I support whatever, whatever is necessary to get not just peace, a lasting peace. It can’t go on where every five years you end up in tragedy. There are other alternatives.” Asked whether he trusted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , he told Time: “I don’t trust anybody.” Trump would not rule out the possibility of war with Iran during his second term. “Anything can happen. It’s a very volatile situation," he said. Asked if he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since the Nov. 5 election, Trump continued to play coy: "I can’t tell you. It’s just inappropriate.” Trump insisted that his bid to install Matt Gaetz as attorney general ”wasn’t blocked. I had the votes (in the Senate) if I needed them, but I had to work very hard.” When the scope of resistance to the former Republican congressman from Florida became clear, Trump said, “I talked to him, and I said, ‘You know, Matt, I don’t think this is worth the fight.'" Gaetz pulled out amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations, and Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the Cabinet post. Trump, who has named anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, did not rule out the possibility of eliminating some childhood vaccinations even though they have been proved safe in extensive studies and real world use in hundreds of millions of people over decades and are considered among the most effective public health measures in modern history. Pressed on whether “getting rid of some vaccinations” — neither Trump nor the interviewers specified which ones — might be part of the plan to improve the health of the country, Trump responded: “It could if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial, but I don’t think it’s going to be very controversial in the end.” “I think there could be, yeah," Trump said of the prospect of others in his family continuing in his footsteps. He pointed to daughter-in-law Lara Trump , who served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee and is now being talked about as a potential replacement for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump has chosen for secretary of state. Trump said the former and soon-to-be first lady Melania Trump will be joining him at the White House during second term and will "be active, when she needs to be.” “Oh yes,” he said. “She’s very beloved by the people, Melania. And they like the fact that she’s not out there in your face all the time for many reasons.”