World's First Voice-Activated Platform That Books and Manages Trips- Hotels and restaurants -With Cultural Finesse SHIBUYA, Japan, Dec. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BeyondBrain, a visionary force in travel technology, proudly introduces Lumi AI Travel Agent , the world's first voice-activated platform designed to fully secure hotels worldwide, and reserve tables at select restaurants in Thailand and Japan-all through a simple, natural conversation. Lumi doesn't just make recommendations; it executes them. With this groundbreaking solution, the era of juggling multiple websites or struggling with foreign-language bookings is over. "Lumi is a genuine industry first,” says the BeyondBrain Marketing Team. "It does more than streamline travel-it humanizes it. By speaking naturally, travelers tap into a global concierge that not only handles bookings and itinerary changes, but also respects cultural nuances, transforming every trip into a more meaningful, personal experience.” Global Convenience with Local Nuance Lumi signals a new era in global exploration. Perfect for cultural enthusiasts seeking authenticity, efficiency-driven professionals with complex schedules, and spontaneous adventurers hungry for their next thrill, Lumi's immersive and intuitive approach fundamentally redefines travel. Beta Opportunity for Early Adopters: BeyondBrain is currently welcoming beta testers to experience Lumi before its public launch. The first 1,000 users who sign up will gain early access on a first-come, first-served basis, enjoying exclusive features and the chance to help shape Lumi's future enhancements. For more information, visit www.lum-i.com . Media Contact: BeyondBrain Marketing Team [email protected] About BeyondBrain Founded in 2023, BeyondBrain is a cutting-edge technology solutions company reshaping the travel landscape through AI innovation. With Lumi-its pioneering AI travel platform-BeyondBrain sets new standards for planning, managing, and experiencing journeys worldwide. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c8a056a9-ab18-4da4-8efc-2c39c10a7b99Pakistani authorities launch operation to clear Imran Khan supporters from the capital
The TOI Entertainment Desk is a dynamic and dedicated team of journalists, working tirelessly to bring the pulse of the entertainment world straight to the readers of The Times of India. No red carpet goes unrolled, no stage goes dark - our team spans the globe, bringing you the latest scoops and insider insights from Bollywood to Hollywood, and every entertainment hotspot in between. We don't just report; we tell tales of stardom and stories untold. Whether it's the rise of a new sensation or the seasoned journey of an industry veteran, the TOI Entertainment Desk is your front-row seat to the fascinating narratives that shape the entertainment landscape. Beyond the breaking news, we present a celebration of culture. We explore the intersections of entertainment with society, politics, and everyday life. Read More 10 street foods to enjoy in Jaipur Charming pictures of Daisy Shah Weekend Special: How to make Multigrain Thaalipeeth 10 signs your best friend is drifting apart Keerthy Suresh’s ethnic wear styles are perfectly tailored for wedding season 10 quotes about love and loss from famous books and classics Mark Twain's timeless quotes on love and life Uttarakhand: 8 most iconic temples in Devbhoomi How to grow Kiwi from seeds in the balcony garden
The slump in the number of people heading to the shops during Boxing Day sales signals a return to declining pre-pandemic levels, an analyst has said. Boxing Day shopper footfall was down 7.9% from last year across all UK retail destinations up until 5pm, MRI Software’s OnLocation Footfall Index found. However, this year’s data had been compared with an unusual spike in footfall as 2023 was the first “proper Christmas” period without Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, an analyst at the retail technology company said. It found £4.6 billion will be spent overall on the festive sales. Before the pandemic the number of Boxing Day shoppers on the streets had been declining year on year. The last uplift recorded by MRI was in 2015. Jenni Matthews, marketing and insights director at MRI Software, told the PA news agency: “We’ve got to bear in mind that (last year) was our first proper Christmas without any (Covid-19) restrictions or limitations. “Figures have come out that things have stabilised, we’re almost back to what we saw pre-pandemic.” There were year-on-year declines in footfall anywhere between 5% and 12% before Covid-19 restrictions, she said. MRI found 12% fewer people were out shopping on Boxing Day in 2019 than in 2018, and there were 3% fewer in 2018 than in 2017, Ms Matthews added. She said: “It’s the shift to online shopping, it’s the convenience, you’ve got the family days that take place on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.” People are also increasingly stocking-up before Christmas, Ms Matthews said, and MRI found an 18% increase in footfall at all UK retail destinations on Christmas Eve this year compared with 2023. Ms Matthews said: “We see the shops are full of people all the way up to Christmas Eve, so they’ve probably got a couple of good days of food, goodies, everything that they need, and they don’t really need to go out again until later on in that week. “We did see that big boost on Christmas Eve. It looks like shoppers may have concentrated much of their spending in that pre-Christmas rush.” Many online sales kicked off between December 23 and the night of Christmas Day and “a lot of people would have grabbed those bargains from the comfort of their own home”, she said. She added: “I feel like it’s becoming more and more common that people are grabbing the bargains pre-Christmas.” Footfall is expected to rise on December 27 as people emerge from family visits and shops re-open, including Next, Marks and Spencer and John Lewis that all shut for Boxing Day. It will also be payday for some as it is the last Friday of the month. A study by Barclays Consumer Spend had forecast that shoppers would spend £236 each on average in the Boxing Day sales this year, but that the majority of purchases would be made online. Nearly half of respondents said the cost-of-living crisis will affect their post-Christmas shopping but the forecast average spend is still £50 more per person than it was before the pandemic, with some of that figure because of inflation, Barclays said. Amid the financial pressures, many people are planning to buy practical, perishable and essential items such as food and kitchenware. A total of 65% of shoppers are expecting to spend the majority of their sales budget online. Last year, Barclays found 63.9% of Boxing Day retail purchases were made online. However, a quarter of respondents aim to spend mostly in store – an 11% rise compared with last year. Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, said: “Despite the ongoing cost-of-living pressures, it is encouraging to hear that consumers will be actively participating in the post-Christmas sales. “This year, we’re likely to see a shift towards practicality and sustainability, with more shoppers looking to bag bargains on kitchen appliances and second-hand goods.” Consumers choose in-store shopping largely because they enjoy the social aspect and touching items before they buy, Barclays said, adding that high streets and shopping centres are the most popular destinations.
S&P 500 is on a 12-month tear as tariffs threaten 2025 outlook for U.S. stocksEva Longoria celebrates Christmas with ‘out of office’ bikini snapsMinnesota firearms deer harvest remains above 2023 after third weekend, DNR saysALTOONA, Pa. — After UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was gunned down on a New York sidewalk, police searched for the masked gunman with dogs, drones and scuba divers. Officers used the city's muscular surveillance system. Investigators analyzed DNA samples, fingerprints and internet addresses. Police went door-to-door looking for witnesses. When an arrest came five days later, those sprawling investigative efforts shared credit with an alert civilian's instincts. A Pennsylvania McDonald's customer noticed another patron who resembled the man in the oblique security-camera photos that New York police had publicized. Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry speaks during a press conference regarding the arrest of suspect Luigi Mangione, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa., in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey) Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, was arrested Monday in the killing of Brian Thompson, who headed one of the United States’ largest medical insurance companies. He remained jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. By late evening, prosecutors in Manhattan had added a charge of murder, according to an online court docket. He's expected to be extradited to New York eventually. It’s unclear whether Mangione has an attorney who can comment on the allegations. Asked at Monday's arraignment whether he needed a public defender, Mangione asked whether he could “answer that at a future date.” Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after the McDonald's customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said. Police in Altoona, about 233 miles (375 kilometers) west of New York City, were soon summoned. This booking photo released Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections shows Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via AP) They arrived to find Mangione sitting at a table in the back of the restaurant, wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop, according to a Pennsylvania police criminal complaint. He initially gave them a fake ID, but when an officer asked Mangione whether he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” the complaint says. When he pulled his mask down at officers' request, “we knew that was our guy,” rookie Officer Tyler Frye said at a news conference in Hollidaysburg. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Manhattan news conference that Mangione was carrying a gun like the one used to kill Thompson and the same fake ID the shooter had used to check into a New York hostel, along with a passport and other fraudulent IDs. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione also had a three-page, handwritten document that shows “some ill will toward corporate America." An NYPD police officer and K-9 dog search around a lake in Central Park, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) A law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the document included a line in which Mangione claimed to have acted alone. “To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,” the document said, according to the official. It also had a line that said, “I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.” Pennsylvania prosecutor Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was found with a passport and $10,000 in cash — $2,000 of it in foreign currency. Mangione disputed the amount. Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a midtown Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. Police quickly came to see the shooting as a targeted attack by a gunman who appeared to wait for Thompson, came up behind him and fired a 9 mm pistol. Investigators have said “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on ammunition found near Thompson’s body. The words mimic a phrase used to criticize the insurance industry. A poster issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows a wanted unknown suspect. (FBI via AP) From surveillance video, New York investigators gathered that the shooter fled by bike into Central Park, emerged, then took a taxi to a northern Manhattan bus terminal. Once in Pennsylvania, he went from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, “trying to stay low-profile” by avoiding cameras, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said. A grandson of a wealthy, self-made real estate developer and philanthropist, Mangione is a cousin of a current Maryland state legislator. Mangione was valedictorian at his elite Baltimore prep school, where his 2016 graduation speech lauded his classmates’ “incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things.” He went on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesperson said. “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted on social media late Monday by his cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.” An NYPD police officer and K-9 dog search around a lake in Central Park, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) Luigi Nicholas Mangione worked for a time for the car-buying website TrueCar and left in 2023, CEO Jantoon Reigersman said by email. From January to June 2022, Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” space at the edge of Honolulu tourist mecca Waikiki. Like other residents of the shared penthouse catering to remote workers, Mangione underwent a background check, said Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for owner and founder R.J. Martin. “Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints,” Ryan said. "There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.” At Surfbreak, Martin learned Mangione had severe back pain from childhood that interfered with many aspects of his life, from surfing to romance, Ryan said. “He went surfing with R.J. once but it didn’t work out because of his back," Ryan said, but noted that Mangione and Martin often went together to a rock-climbing gym. NYPD officers in diving suits search a lake in Central Park, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgery on the mainland, Ryan said, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an apartment. Martin stopped hearing from Mangione six months to a year ago. Although the gunman obscured his face during the shooting, he left a trail of evidence in New York, including a backpack he ditched in Central Park, a cellphone found in a pedestrian plaza, a water bottle and a protein bar wrapper. In the days after the shooting, the NYPD collected hundreds of hours of surveillance video and released multiple clips and still images in hopes of enlisting the public’s eyes to help find a suspect. “This combination of old-school detective work and new-age technology is what led to this result today,” Tisch said at the New York news conference. ___ Scolforo reported from Altoona and Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Contributing were Associated Press writers Cedar Attanasio and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Michael Rubinkam and Maryclaire Dale in Pennsylvania; Lea Skene in Baltimore and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
T o look for the root of Britain’s worklessness crisis is to realise that the problem is there are so many places you could start. There is no doubt that Covid delivered a shock that pushed many people out of work into sickness. Yet while every country saw a spike in worklessness numbers before the pandemic — some much bigger than Britain’s — the UK is the only major economy where employment rates did not rise again. While most countries saw a return to the pre-pandemic trend, Britain still had about 800,000 more people out of work. To ask why this is so leads further back. For at least a decade the benefit system has created ever stronger incentives to be signed off sick, as repeated crackdowns on jobseekers means people are now thousands of pounds a year better off if they are unwell. Perhaps just as important, the long-term sick are also largely left alone by a benefits monitoring system that is widely feared and distrusted.
The left’s continued pursuit of so-called “social justice” has now taken an interesting turn: It has led to an all-out war on women. It has done so with an agenda so detached from reality that it threatens to undermine the very foundation of what womanhood even means. Last week, the lunacy of gender ideology hit a new low when over two dozen radical trans activists stormed a women’s restroom in the US Capitol. The stunt was meant to protest my efforts to protect women’s private spaces . Among those arrested was Chelsea Manning — a biological male who made headlines for leaking classified military secrets . These activists were not out to just disrupt the legislative process; they were making a public spectacle out of putting men in women’s bathrooms so as to intimidate women and make a political statement. This isn’t progress — it’s an assault on the dignity, privacy and safety of women. The entire transgender movement collapses under one simple question: What is a woman? And absolutely no one on the left can seem to define what a woman is with any sense of reality. Being a woman isn’t an abstract concept. It’s not a feeling, or a checkbox on a form. It’s real. It’s biological. It’s science . The truth is, the Democratic Party can’t be the party of women when it is constantly selling us out to placate the loudest, most extreme and most violent voices in its ranks. Progressive campaigns, when grounded in reality and aimed at addressing real injustices, has been some of the greatest forces for good in history. The women’s suffrage movement, the fight to end segregation, and the civil rights movement proved what sincere activists can achieve when their work is rooted in truth and common sense. But in 2024, the left’s relentless push for so-called “progress” has gone off the rails. It’s been hijacked by a radical egalitarianism that rejects biology, science and basic truth, tearing apart societal norms and insisting that a man can become a woman just by saying it. This isn’t progress — it’s a dangerous rejection of reality threatening everything women have fought for. In their pursuit of endless change, everything is up for grabs — as evidenced by their quest to conquer women’s restrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms. Tomorrow, who knows what they’ll push? It’s not progress to erase women. It’s not equality to make women less safe. And it’s certainly not feminism to force women to take a back seat to mentally ill men. Real advocacy for women is about action to protect them from real harm, not virtue-signaling. It’s about ensuring every woman has access to the tools and protections she needs to live, work, and attain the American Dream. It’s about addressing the real challenges women face — not redefining what a woman is . Advocating for women means fighting for access to contraception, ensuring couples struggling with infertility can afford IVF, and eliminating the rape kit backlog so survivors aren’t left waiting years for justice. It means safeguarding the privacy and safety of women in restrooms, locker rooms, prisons and shelters. It means guaranteeing women’s constitutional rights under Article IV, giving them equal protection under the law. But Democrats don’t care about these issues. Instead, they care about prioritizing policies that blur the lines between the sexes and force women to compete with biological men in sports , share their private spaces and forfeit their opportunities. They’re unapologetically erasing women right in front of us. These aren’t abstract fears. They’re happening in real time, and women are losing out because of it. If it were up to the left, women would have nowhere to go. If Democrats want to claim they’re for women, they need to start acting like it. Until then, the gender-ideology crusade will be a winning issue for Republicans as women see the leftist progressive agenda for what it is: An erasure of everything we as women have ever fought to achieve. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace represents South Carolina’s 1st District in Congress.
TEHRAN – Iran’s post-revolution military strategy has focused on two key pillars: strengthening its indigenous defense capabilities and supporting like-minded actors challenging Western imperialism. The development of missile and drone technology, fueled by sanctions restricting arms imports, reflects the former. The latter is evident in Tehran's backing of the "Axis of Resistance," a network sometimes referred to as "forward defense" by Western analysts. Jacob Nagel and Mark Dubowitz, writing for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington think tank with a pro-Israel policy and alleged involvement in assisting the U.S. with anti-Iran sanctions, have published an article outlining methods to “defeat” Iran. The article has a clear bias toward Israel and fails to address facts on the ground. The core idea of the piece is based on advice to Israel to shift its supposed policy of “survival” to an offensive one. The article frames Israel’s genocidal actions in West Asia as “self-defense” and urges even more violence from the regime. Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Yet, the article echoes Israeli claims that the Resistance Axis is responsible for the devastating situation in the region. The reality is this: since Israel's creation in 1948, a pattern of land grabs, oppression, and killings has persisted. The current situation was not shaped in a vacuum. Nagel and Dubowitz celebrate Israel's supposed victories against Hezbollah, Hamas, and other Resistance groups, yet these groups remain active. Hezbollah has maintained its military capabilities despite the assassination of late leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other top Lebanese commanders. The group continued to target deep inside occupied Palestine until the last moments before a ceasefire came into effect on Wednesday, and its military arsenal remains largely intact. In the Gaza front, Israel has no “day after” plan, and occupying the territory and building settlements is not a viable option for Tel Aviv due to several reasons including global pressure. Also appointing the Palestinian Authority as a governing body for Gaza is not practical. The Palestinian Authority lacks popular support and is unlikely to be able to govern Gaza without Hamas's involvement. The article backs the idea of attacking Iranian nuclear sites as the newly elected president of the U.S. strongly supports Israel. Despite the questionable capability of Israel to destroy Iranian sites, any attack on these facilities will completely wipe out the possibility of diplomacy in this field. Possible attacks coupled with more economic pressure on Iran will only hasten the process of militarization of the country’s nuclear program. As seen over the years, more economic pressure on Iran will only raise the levels of uranium enrichment in the country keeping it away from the negotiating table. Also, U.S. direct involvement in any anti-Iran strike will make Washington’s military bases and personnel in the region a legitimate target. Regional countries as seen in the Iranian retaliation against Israel are trying their best to skirt the Tehran-Tel Aviv confrontation. Iran has chosen the path of diplomacy with its Arab neighbors mainly Saudi Arabia through China’s mediation. It seems that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in its modernization drive, has incorporated an assessment of the risks associated with potential conflict with Iran and its allies, including the targeting of Saudi oil infrastructure. This approach towards de-escalation appears to be emulated by other Persian Gulf states. China, meanwhile, appears to be pursuing not only economic objectives in the region but also aims to provide an alternative to U.S. influence in West Asia. Furthermore, any major crisis will disrupt oil exports from the region, a factor which more than any other global actor affects China. The authors then propose targeting Iranian nuclear scientists and military officials, a tactic employed by the U.S. and Israel in the past decades with very limited success. Despite such assassinations, Iran quickly replaced personnel, and its nuclear program and broader confrontation with the West continued unabated. One of the major remedies that the authors offer Israel in the face of Iran is support for anti-Tehran groups including terrorists, separatists, and foreign-based opposition groups. Nagel and Dubowitz urge Western nations to support “Iranian people” in facing the state. However, since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the U.S. and its allies have been supporting these groups but to no avail. In recent years several protests have taken place in Iran with direct and indirect support of the collective West. However, none have resulted in the West’s desired “regime change”. That’s because the groups Western countries are continuously backing have no credibility among Iranian citizens due to direct allegiance to global powers. The “maximum pressure” policy on Tehran by the states who want to stand with the “people of Iran” has also failed to push citizens to confront the government. All the prescriptions in the article have been tested and repeatedly failed in recent decades.SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Dec. 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaxart, Inc. VXRT today announced completion of enrollment of the sentinel cohort of a Phase 2b clinical trial evaluating Vaxart's oral pill COVID-19 vaccine candidate against an approved mRNA vaccine comparator. The sentinel cohort comprised of 400 participants, with 200 receiving Vaxart's COVID-19 vaccine candidate and 200 receiving an approved mRNA vaccine comparator. "We are pleased to complete the enrollment of the sentinel cohort, an important milestone that reflects the collaboration of our entire team, as well as the trust and commitment of the participants and investigators involved," said Dr. James F. Cummings, Vaxart's Chief Medical Officer. "We look forward to DSMB and FDA review followed by the planned initiation of the Phase 2b trial's second portion. Our continued progress brings us closer to our goal of potentially demonstrating advantages of our mucosal technology against an approved mRNA vaccine." An independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will review 30-day safety data from the sentinel cohort. Upon favorable review by the DSMB and FDA, the study will progress after Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) approval to the second part of the trial by enrolling approximately 10,000 participants. The trial will strive to enroll participants in line with U.S. demographics, as well as including at least 25% over the age of 65. The Phase 2b trial is a double-blind, multi-center, randomized, comparator-controlled study to determine the relative efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of Vaxart's oral pill COVID-19 vaccine candidate against an approved mRNA COVID-19 injectable vaccine in adults previously immunized against COVID-19 infection. The full Phase 2b trial will measure efficacy for symptomatic and asymptomatic disease, systemic and mucosal immune induction, and the incidence of adverse events. The primary endpoint is relative efficacy of Vaxart's COVID-19 vaccine candidate compared to an approved mRNA comparator for the prevention of symptomatic disease. Primary efficacy analysis will be performed when all participants have either discontinued or completed a study visit 12 months post-vaccination. Funding for this award was received under Project NextGen, a $5 billion initiative led by BARDA and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to accelerate and streamline the development of the next generation of innovative COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and enablers. Vaxart's project award through the Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle (RRPV) is valued at up to $456 million. This project has been funded with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR); BARDA, under Other Transaction (OT) number 75A50123D00005. As a pioneer of oral vaccines, Vaxart was the first U.S. company to complete a Phase 2 clinical trial of an oral vaccine for COVID-19. About Vaxart Vaxart is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a range of oral recombinant vaccines based on its proprietary delivery platform. Vaxart vaccines are designed to be administered using pills that can be stored and shipped without refrigeration and eliminate the risk of needle-stick injury. Vaxart believes that its proprietary pill vaccine delivery platform is suitable to deliver recombinant vaccines, positioning the company to develop oral versions of currently marketed vaccines and to design recombinant vaccines for new indications. Vaxart's development programs currently include pill vaccines designed to protect against coronavirus, norovirus and influenza, as well as a therapeutic vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), Vaxart's first immune-oncology indication. Vaxart has filed broad domestic and international patent applications covering its proprietary technology and creations for oral vaccination using adenovirus and TLR3 agonists. Note Regarding 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 Vaxart's strategy, prospects, plans and objectives, results from preclinical and clinical trials and the timing of such results, commercialization agreements and licenses, and beliefs and expectations of management are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may be accompanied by such words as "should," "believe," "could," "potential," "will," "expected," "anticipate," "plan," and other words and terms of similar meaning. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to Vaxart's ability to develop and commercialize its product candidates, including its vaccine booster products; Vaxart's expectations regarding clinical results and trial data, and the timing of receiving and reporting such clinical results and trial data; and Vaxart's expectations with respect to the effectiveness of its product candidates. Vaxart 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 Vaxart makes, including uncertainties inherent in research and development, including the ability to meet anticipated clinical endpoints, commencement, and/or completion dates for clinical trials, regulatory submission dates, regulatory approval dates, and/or launch dates, as well as the possibility of unfavorable new clinical data and further analyses of existing clinical data; the risk that clinical trial data are subject to differing interpretations and assessments by regulatory authorities; whether regulatory authorities will be satisfied with the design of and results from the clinical studies; decisions by regulatory authorities impacting labeling, manufacturing processes, and safety that could affect the availability or commercial potential of any product candidate, including the possibility that Vaxart's product candidates may not be approved by the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities; that, even if approved by the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities, Vaxart's product candidates may not achieve broad market acceptance; that a Vaxart collaborator may not attain development and commercial milestones; that Vaxart or its partners may experience manufacturing issues and delays due to events within, or outside of, Vaxart's or its partners' control; difficulties in production, particularly in scaling up initial production, including difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control, including stability of the product candidate and quality assurance testing, shortages of qualified personnel or key raw materials, and compliance with strictly enforced federal, state, and foreign regulations; that Vaxart may not be able to obtain, maintain, and enforce necessary patent and other intellectual property protection; that Vaxart's capital resources may be inadequate; Vaxart's ability to resolve pending legal matters; Vaxart's ability to obtain sufficient capital to fund its operations on terms acceptable to Vaxart, if at all; the impact of government healthcare proposals and policies; competitive factors; and other risks described in the "Risk Factors" sections of Vaxart's Quarterly and Annual Reports filed with the SEC. Vaxart does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Contact Vaxart Media and Investor Relations : Matt Steinberg FINN Partners IR@vaxart.com (646) 871-8481 © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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It's been a hot minute since "point shaving" - the act of intentionally not scoring in an effort to manipulate the point spreads of basketball games - was a public problem in college basketball. But now it appears that one ex-player is the subject of a serious investigation into the crime. According to ESPN insiders Pete Thamel and David Purdum, federal authorities are investigating former Temple and Virginia Tech guard Hysier Miller over allegations that he bet on his own games and manipulated the outcome of said games while he was a member of the Owls. Miller averaged 15.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while playing 36 games for Temple. The team went 16-20 and missed the postseason. He has since been dismissed from the Hokies basketball program following the investigation and an ensuing NCAA inquiry. "Federal authorities are investigating whether former Temple men's basketball player Hysier Miller bet on his own games and manipulated the outcome of Owls games he played in, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation," the outlet reported. "Miller, Temple's leading scorer last season, transferred to Virginia Tech during the offseason but was dismissed by the Hokies on Oct. 23 because of the federal investigation and an NCAA inquiry into Temple games, sources said. A regular-season Temple game drew attention for unusual betting activity in March." Aric Becker/ISI Photos/Getty Images An attorney for Miller has already released this statement: "Hysier Miller has overcome more adversity in his 22 years than most people face in their lifetime. He will meet and overcome whatever obstacles lay ahead," Jason P. Bologna of the law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney said in a statement. The NCAA has not commented. The FBI would not confirm nor deny the existence of the investigation. Virginia Tech has stated that Miller's dismissal stems from actions that occurred prior to his enrollment. ESPN says that authorities were first alerted back in March when the line of a game between Temple and UAB mysteriously started moving rapidly without any breaking news directly influencing the slew of spread bets. The line moved from UAB -2 to UAB -8 in the course of a single day, causing one New Jersey sports book to close the betting and report the unusual betting activity. UAB went on to win the game, 100-72 with Miller scoring eight points. Related: Report: Former College Basketball Player Investigated For Point Shaving
White, suburban, college-educated mothers. Second-generation Hispanic males in the Rust Belt. There are many demographics that Donald Trump overperformed this election on his way to victory. The polls, by and large, did a good job of picking up this sentiment. But pollsters — myself included — modeled likely voter turnout wrong. We did not model an electorate with both major parties in decline and independents surging to overtake the Democrats. The result was that Trump won decisively while most polls suggested a dead heat. Don’t be fooled by pollsters who flipped a coin and guessed Trump — they were wrong, too. I have yet to find a pollster with an Election Day model that showed these improbable movements: Democrats turning out 6 points less than in 2020, independents turning out more than Democrats (up 8 points from 2020), and Republicans making up a smaller percentage of the electorate than in 2020. Consider Pennsylvania. From 2016 to 2020, the percentages of independents and Democrats decreased by one and two points, respectively, while Republicans increased by two points. Then, the political winds shifted wildly. From 2020 to 2024, Democrats decreased by four points and Republicans by one point, while independents increased by about the difference, 4 points. The Republican decline there was similar to that in other swing states and nationwide. The notion that Trump won because Republicans turned out en masse for him is incorrect. Additionally, Republicans didn’t vote for Trump with nearly the same intensity as Democrats voted for Kamala Harris. Here again, Pennsylvania is indicative of the toss-up states and the nation: 91% of Republicans voted for Trump, while 95% of Democrats voted for Harris. In other words, Republicans saw less turnout and less support for Trump among those who voted. What put him over the top? Independents. Arizona illustrates this well: From 2020 to 2024, Republicans decreased as a percentage of the state’s electorate, and Trump only received 93% of the Republican vote. In comparison, Harris won 99% percent of the Democratic vote. Once again, Republican turnout and support for Trump were slipping. Yet Trump won the support of Arizona’s largest political group, independents, by 9 points, and beat Harris 52%-47%. This data is essential for us pollsters to understand what happened and improve in the future. The surge in independents was unprecedented, but it should have been considered in hindsight. This highlights the problem with polling: We have no idea who’ll actually show up to vote. We can ask and gauge sentiment, but we never truly know. It becomes tricky when, for example, Democrats support Harris with such intensity, but their share of the electorate plummets. High intensity among likely voters typically translates to a large voter turnout on Election Day. However, that wasn’t the case this time. Remember, the Republican share dropped, and Trump’s support was lukewarm. This was not a “Republican tsunami.” The toss-up states Trump won are almost identical to Biden’s path to victory in the last election. Was 2020 a “Blue Wave?” No, and no one believes that despite Biden winning the popular vote with the largest vote total in American history. Notably, Democrats won Senate races in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin — all states that went for Trump. They also won the governor’s mansion in another Trump state, North Carolina. This suggests more split-ticket voting, which may be due to independent voters. Bottom line: Any pollster who didn’t account for the surge of independents and the drop in traditionally Republican and Democratic voters got it wrong. Independents now represent the second-largest voting political affiliation, just one point behind Republicans and three points ahead of Democrats. No one accurately modeled that. Whenever I’ve been asked to make predictions during election season, I always gave the same answer: Whoever wins the independents. Yet this election reshaped the landscape so much that I can no longer rely on my standard four-word answer. It’s more complicated than that. Will the two major parties continue to lose ground to independents? Will split-ticket voting become the norm? Are independents threatening traditionally red or blue congressional seats? Is there a better measure of voter turnout? These questions should guide our future models. Pollsters understand the value of asking good questions better than anyone else. The answers to those questions will ultimately determine who learned from 2024 and who did not. Brett Loyd, the Republican National Committee’s polling director from 2008 to 2014 and a pollster for Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, is president and CEO of the nonpartisan Bullfinch Group and a contributor for the Independent Center.
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