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Jimmy Carter, the United States’ longest-lived president, was never afraid of speaking his mind. Forthright and fearless, the Nobel Prize winner took pot-shots at former prime minister Tony Blair and ex-US president George W Bush among others. His death came after repeated bouts of illness in which images of the increasingly frail former president failed to erase memories of his fierce spirit. Democrat James Earl “Jimmy” Carter Jr swept to power in 1977 with his Trust Me campaign helping to beat Republican president Gerald Ford. Serving as 39th US president from 1977 to 1981, he sought to make government “competent and compassionate” but was ousted by the unstoppable Hollywood appeal of a certain Ronald Reagan. A skilled sportsman, Mr Carter left his home of Plains, Georgia, to join the US Navy, returning later to run his family’s peanut business. A stint in the Georgia senate lit the touchpaper on his political career and he rose to the top of the Democratic movement. But he will also be remembered for a bizarre encounter with a deeply disgruntled opponent. The president was enjoying a relaxing fishing trip near his home town in 1979 when his craft was attacked by a furious swamp rabbit which reportedly swam up to the boat hissing wildly. The press had a field day, with one paper bearing the headline President Attacked By Rabbit. Away from encounters with belligerent bunnies, Mr Carter’s willingness to address politically uncomfortable topics did not diminish with age. He recently said that he would be willing to travel to North Korea for peace talks on behalf of US President Donald Trump. He also famously mounted a ferocious and personal attack on Tony Blair over the Iraq war, weeks before the prime minister left office in June 2007. Mr Carter, who had already denounced George W Bush’s presidency as “the worst in history”, used an interview on BBC radio to condemn Mr Blair for his tight relations with Mr Bush, particularly concerning the Iraq War. Asked how he would characterise Mr Blair’s relationship with Mr Bush, Mr Carter replied: “Abominable. Loyal, blind, apparently subservient. “I think that the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world.” Mr Carter was also voluble over the Rhodesia crisis, which was about to end during his presidency. His support for Robert Mugabe at the time generated widespread criticism. He was said to have ignored the warnings of many prominent Zimbabweans, black and white, about what sort of leader Mugabe would be. This was seen by Mr Carter’s critics as “deserving a prominent place among the outrages of the Carter years”. Mr Carter has since said he and his administration had spent more effort and worry on Rhodesia than on the Middle East. He admitted he had supported two revolutionaries in Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, and with hindsight said later that Mugabe had been “a good leader gone bad”, having at first been “a very enlightened president”. One US commentator wrote: “History will not look kindly on those in the West who insisted on bringing the avowed Marxist Mugabe into the government. “In particular, the Jimmy Carter foreign policy... bears some responsibility for the fate of a small African country with scant connection to American national interests.” In recent years Mr Carter developed a reputation as an international peace negotiator. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his commitment to finding peaceful solutions to international conflicts, his work with human rights and democracy initiatives, and his promotion of economic and social programmes. Mr Carter was dispatched to North Korea in August 2008 to secure the release of US citizen Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labour after being found guilty of illegally entering North Korea. He successfully secured the release of Mr Gomes. In 2010 he returned to the White House to greet President Barack Obama and discuss international affairs amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. Proving politics runs in the family, in 2013 his grandson Jason, a state senator, announced his bid to become governor in Georgia, where his famous grandfather governed before becoming president. He eventually lost to incumbent Republican Nathan Deal. Fears that Mr Carter’s health was deteriorating were sparked in 2015 when he cut short an election observation visit in Guyana because he was “not feeling well”. It would have been Mr Carter’s 39th trip to personally observe an international election. Three months later, on August 12, he revealed he had cancer which had been diagnosed after he underwent surgery to remove a small mass in his liver. Mr Obama was among the well-wishers hoping for Mr Carter’s full recovery after it was confirmed the cancer had spread widely. Melanoma had been found in his brain and liver, and Mr Carter underwent immunotherapy and radiation therapy, before announcing in March the following year that he no longer needed any treatment. In 2017, Mr Carter was taken to hospital as a precaution, after he became dehydrated at a home-building project in Canada. He was admitted to hospital on multiple occasions in 2019 having had a series of falls, suffering a brain bleed and a broken pelvis, as well as a stint to be treated for a urinary tract infection. Mr Carter spent much of the coronavirus pandemic largely at his home in Georgia, and did not attend Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in 2021, but extended his “best wishes”. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, the closest adviser to Mr Carter during his term as US president, died in November 2023. She had been living with dementia and suffering many months of declining health. “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” Mr Carter said in a statement following her death. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”
Column: In Trump’s win, echoes of ‘Thunder on the Right’
Joel Embiid scores 31 in return to the 76ers' starting lineup against the BullsPresident-elect Donald Trump is stacking the Department of Health and Human Services with people who are poised to favor the health fantasies of the rich. It started with the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. —an environmental lawyer with a history of promoting anti-vaccination conspiracy theories —to head the department. Then, Trump tapped Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox News contributor who peddles vitamins , for surgeon general; Marty Makary, who opposed vaccine mandates and supported natural immunity during the COVID-19 pandemic, for Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) commissioner; and Dave Weldon, who has championed the idea that vaccine preservatives contribute to the rise of autism (they do not), for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These picks do not inspire confidence. Under Kennedy's leadership, we will see a push for more individual empowerment—the kind only afforded to those with economic means. Trump said he would let Kennedy "go wild on health." This is alarming because Kennedy's beliefs on health are... wild . Kennedy has expressed interest in revisiting vaccine recommendations , removing fluoride from water, rolling back research on infectious diseases , and overhauling the FDA . Between his support for vaccine choice and relaxing access to substances with questionable benefits, it is clear that he leans in favor of increasing individual health decisions. After some of these measures have been undone, individuals will have to be more vigilant and assume greater risks when navigating their health care. While this sort of individualism in the realm of public health is most harmful to low- and middle-class people, those least able to exercise choice, it is ultimately bad for everyone. Kennedy's vision for "Making America Healthy Again" hopes to increase individual choice, which effectively translates to individual responsibility. However, one's ability to take responsibility is constrained by economic resources. Socioeconomic status is inversely correlated with morbidity and mortality. Unsurprisingly, money and education are protective. Those with more money and education have more opportunities to reduce risk of disease and maintain good health. Kennedy's plans to ramp up food regulation (motivated in part by ideology and pseudoscience ), for instance, will likely increase the cost of groceries and make it harder for Americans to buy food. Even among those with the means, health individualism is burdensome and does not guarantee better health. I am a medical sociologist who spent three years studying people who have long aligned with Kennedy , sharing many of his beliefs—they are parents of autistic children and allies who are convinced that vaccines and other environmental "triggers" contribute to autism. The debunked vaccine-autism link appeals to them because it suggests that autistic children can "recover" with the right combination of food, supplements, and experimental therapies. Here, parents find hope in the darkness of vaccine fear and confidence in their consumer power. Although the parents I studied are better resourced than most other Americans, they take on enormous risks and debt when they experiment with products that are not FDA approved. Parents spend countless hours doing their own "research" on efficacy and thousands of dollars on substances and devices that are not evidence-based (one mother sold her house and accrued $125,000 in credit card debt). Parents' desire for less government regulation and oversight ironically stems from a lack of universal health care and adequate social safety nets to protect the most vulnerable Americans. It is in this context that they make risky health decisions in hopes that their disabled children could become more "typical" and better able to survive a neoliberal world. What we need as a country are population-level efforts to improve everyone's well-being. When it comes to improving public health, we cannot keep privileging personal preference. Individual health is inseparable from population health. As we all had to learn during the COVID-19 pandemic, no individual, no matter how rich, can fully insulate themselves from the world around them. The U.S. failed to control the virus because we prioritized individualism at a time when our survival depended on collective action. Some resisted mandates to shelter in place and mask in public, placing their preferences over the safety of others. Then, when vaccines finally became available, skepticism and misinformation slowed efforts toward reducing transmission. Rich or poor, everyone was affected by the U.S.'s devastatingly inadequate response to COVID . Now, with mounting concerns about the transmission of avian flu , we might be tested again. As sociologist Andrew Szasz argued, insulating ourselves does not actually work and the delusion that it could will lead to complacency. Kennedy's promotion of consumer choice may sound appealing—especially to those who believe they have choice—but it will ultimately endanger everyone. From what we already know about his beliefs and stated plans, Kennedy is not suited to lead the health department. Catherine Tan is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at Vassar College. She is the author of Spaces on the Spectrum: How Autism Movements Resist Experts and Create Knowledge , published by Columbia University Press (January 2024). The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 8, 2024-- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced longer-term data for CASGEVYTM (exagamglogene autotemcel) from global clinical trials in people with severe sickle cell disease (SCD) or transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT). CASGEVY is the first and only approved CRISPR/Cas9 gene-edited therapy. The results, presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, continue to demonstrate the transformative, durable clinical benefits of CASGEVY. The longest follow up for both SCD and TDT patients now extends more than 5 years, with a median of 33.2 months and 38.1 months, respectively. “These comprehensive data provide additional evidence of the benefits of eradicating transfusion requirements for people with transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia and vaso-occlusive crises for those with sickle cell disease,” said Franco Locatelli, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome, Director of the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Chair of Vertex’s TDT Program Steering Committee, and Presenting Author of the CASGEVY clinical data at ASH. “With median follow-up around three years there is strong evidence for the durability of these beneficial effects following treatment with CASGEVY.” “CASGEVY is changing the outlook for people living with sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, with these data reinforcing the immense clinical value a durable one-time therapy can provide to patients,” said Carmen Bozic, M.D., Executive Vice President, Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs, and Chief Medical Officer at Vertex. “We have a strong commitment to build on our progress in bringing CASGEVY to patients around the world.” New long-term follow-up data presented from the CASGEVY trials Vertex had seven abstracts accepted at the ASH annual meeting as outlined below: Progress in bringing CASGEVY to patients around the world CASGEVY is approved for both SCD and TDT in the U.S., the European Union, Great Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Bahrain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Vertex plans to make submissions in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. More than 45 authorized treatment centers have been activated globally to support the delivery of CASGEVY, and more than 40 patients have had a first cell collection. Vertex is continuing to work with reimbursement authorities to secure sustainable access for patients. Through this work, Vertex has agreements to provide CASGEVY in multiple countries, including the U.S., England (TDT), Austria, Bahrain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and continues to make strong progress in others, including positive Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) in Canada for both diseases and advancing access negotiations for SCD patients in England. In the U.S., Vertex recently secured an industry-first, voluntary agreement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on a single outcomes-based arrangement available to all state Medicaid programs to ensure broad and equitable access to CASGEVY. To support this progress on patient access and growing patient demand, Vertex has received approval for a third manufacturing facility for CASGEVY with our partner Lonza. About Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) SCD is a debilitating, progressive and life-shortening disease. SCD patients report health-related quality of life scores well below the general population, and the lifetime health care costs in the U.S. of managing SCD for patients with recurrent VOCs is estimated between $4 and $6 million. SCD is an inherited blood disorder that affects the red blood cells, which are essential for carrying oxygen to all organs and tissues of the body. SCD causes severe pain, organ damage and shortened life span due to misshapen or “sickled” red blood cells. The clinical hallmark of SCD is VOCs, which are caused by blockages of blood vessels by sickled red blood cells and result in severe and debilitating pain that can happen anywhere in the body at any time. SCD requires a lifetime of treatment and results in a reduced life expectancy. In the U.S., the median age of death for patients living with SCD is approximately 45 years. A cure for SCD today is a stem cell transplant from a matched donor, but this option is only available to a small fraction of patients living with SCD because of the lack of available donors. About Transfusion-Dependent Beta Thalassemia (TDT) TDT is a serious, life-threatening genetic disease. TDT patients report health-related quality of life scores below the general population and the lifetime health care costs in the U.S. of managing TDT are estimated between $5 and $5.7 million. TDT requires frequent blood transfusions and iron chelation therapy throughout a person’s life. Due to anemia, patients living with TDT may experience fatigue and shortness of breath, and infants may develop failure to thrive, jaundice and feeding problems. Complications of TDT can also include an enlarged spleen, liver and/or heart, misshapen bones and delayed puberty. TDT requires lifelong treatment and significant use of health care resources, and ultimately results in reduced life expectancy, decreased quality of life and reduced lifetime earnings and productivity. In the U.S., the median age of death for patients living with TDT is 37 years. Stem cell transplant from a matched donor is a curative option but is only available to a small fraction of people living with TDT because of the lack of available donors. About CASGEVYTM (exagamglogene autotemcel [exa-cel]) CASGEVYTM is a non-viral, ex vivo CRISPR/Cas9 gene-edited cell therapy for eligible patients with SCD or TDT, in which a patient’s own hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are edited at the erythroid specific enhancer region of the BCL11A gene through a precise double-strand break. This edit results in the production of high levels of fetal hemoglobin (HbF; hemoglobin F) in red blood cells. HbF is the form of the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin that is naturally present during fetal development, which then switches to the adult form of hemoglobin after birth. CASGEVY has been shown to reduce or eliminate VOCs for patients with SCD and transfusion requirements for patients with TDT. CASGEVY is approved for eligible SCD and TDT patients 12 years and older by multiple regulatory bodies around the world. About the CLIMB Trials The ongoing Phase 1/2/3 open-label trials, CLIMB-111 and CLIMB-121, are designed to assess the safety and efficacy of a single dose of CASGEVY in patients ages 12 to 35 years with TDT or with SCD and recurrent VOCs. The trials are closed for enrollment. Patients will be followed for approximately two years after CASGEVY infusion in these trials. Each patient will be asked to participate in the ongoing long-term, open-label trial, CLIMB-131. CLIMB-131 is designed to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of CASGEVY in patients who received CASGEVY, including those in other CLIMB trials. The trial is designed to follow patients for up to 15 years after CASGEVY infusion. U.S. INDICATIONS AND IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION FOR CASGEVY (exagamglogene autotemcel) WHAT IS CASGEVY? CASGEVY is a one-time therapy used to treat people aged 12 years and older with: • sickle cell disease (SCD) who have frequent vaso-occlusive crises or VOCs • beta thalassemia (β-thalassemia) who need regular blood transfusions CASGEVY is made specifically for each patient, using the patient’s own edited blood stem cells, and increases the production of a special type of hemoglobin called hemoglobin F (fetal hemoglobin or HbF). Having more HbF increases overall hemoglobin levels and has been shown to improve the production and function of red blood cells. This can eliminate VOCs in people with sickle cell disease and eliminate the need for regular blood transfusions in people with beta thalassemia. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about CASGEVY? After treatment with CASGEVY, you will have fewer blood cells for a while until CASGEVY takes hold (engrafts) into your bone marrow. This includes low levels of platelets (cells that usually help the blood to clot) and white blood cells (cells that usually fight infections). Your doctor will monitor this and give you treatment as required. The doctor will tell you when blood cell levels return to safe levels. You may experience side effects associated with other medicines administered as part of the treatment regimen for CASGEVY. Talk to your physician regarding those possible side effects. Your healthcare provider may give you other medicines to treat your side effects. How will I receive CASGEVY? Your healthcare provider will give you other medicines, including a conditioning medicine, as part of your treatment with CASGEVY. It’s important to talk to your healthcare provider about the risks and benefits of all medicines involved in your treatment. After receiving the conditioning medicine, it may not be possible for you to become pregnant or father a child. You should discuss options for fertility preservation with your healthcare provider before treatment. STEP 1: Before CASGEVY treatment, a doctor will give you mobilization medicine(s). This medicine moves blood stem cells from your bone marrow into the blood stream. The blood stem cells are then collected in a machine that separates the different blood cells (this is called apheresis). This entire process may happen more than once. Each time, it can take up to one week. During this step rescue cells are also collected and stored at the hospital. These are your existing blood stem cells and are kept untreated just in case there is a problem in the treatment process. If CASGEVY cannot be given after the conditioning medicine, or if the modified blood stem cells do not take hold (engraft) in the body, these rescue cells will be given back to you. If you are given rescue cells, you will not have any treatment benefit from CASGEVY. STEP 2: After they are collected, your blood stem cells will be sent to the manufacturing site where they are used to make CASGEVY. It may take up to 6 months from the time your cells are collected to manufacture and test CASGEVY before it is sent back to your healthcare provider. STEP 3: Shortly before your stem cell transplant, your healthcare provider will give you a conditioning medicine for a few days in hospital. This will prepare you for treatment by clearing cells from the bone marrow, so they can be replaced with the modified cells in CASGEVY. After you are given this medicine, your blood cell levels will fall to very low levels. You will stay in the hospital for this step and remain in the hospital until after the infusion with CASGEVY. STEP 4: One or more vials of CASGEVY will be given into a vein (intravenous infusion) over a short period of time. After the CASGEVY infusion, you will stay in hospital so that your healthcare provider can closely monitor your recovery. This can take 4-6 weeks, but times can vary. Your healthcare provider will decide when you can go home. What should I avoid after receiving CASGEVY? What are the possible or reasonably likely side effects of CASGEVY? The most common side effects of CASGEVY include: Your healthcare provider will test your blood to check for low levels of blood cells (including platelets and white blood cells). Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following symptoms: These are not all the possible side effects of CASGEVY. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088. General information about the safe and effective use of CASGEVY Talk to your healthcare provider about any health concerns. Please see full Prescribing Information including Patient Information for CASGEVY. About Vertex Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases. The company has approved medicines that treat the underlying causes of multiple chronic, life-shortening genetic diseases — cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia — and continues to advance clinical and research programs in these diseases. Vertex also has a robust clinical pipeline of investigational therapies across a range of modalities in other serious diseases where it has deep insight into causal human biology, including acute and neuropathic pain, APOL1-mediated kidney disease, IgA nephropathy, primary membranous nephropathy, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, type 1 diabetes and myotonic dystrophy type 1. Vertex was founded in 1989 and has its global headquarters in Boston, with international headquarters in London. Additionally, the company has research and development sites and commercial offices in North America, Europe, Australia, Latin America and the Middle East. Vertex is consistently recognized as one of the industry's top places to work, including 15 consecutive years on Science magazine's Top Employers list and one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. For company updates and to learn more about Vertex's history of innovation, visit www.vrtx.com or follow us on LinkedIn , Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and X . (VRTX-GEN) Vertex Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including, without limitation, the statements by Franco Locatelli, M.D., Ph.D. and Carmen Bozic, M.D., in this press release, and statements regarding expectations for the anticipated transformative, durable clinical benefits of CASGEVY, plans to continue working with reimbursement authorities to secure sustainable access for patients, including our expectations for progress in Canada and England, and our plans for and design of the CLIMB studies. While we believe the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are accurate, these forward-looking statements represent the company's beliefs only as of the date of this press release and there are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, among other things, that eligible patient access to CASGEVY may not be achieved on the anticipated timeline, or at all, that data from the company's development programs may not support registration or further development of its compounds due to safety, efficacy, and other reasons, and other risks listed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Vertex's most recent annual report and subsequent quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov and available through the company's website at www.vrtx.com . You should not place undue reliance on these statements, or the scientific data presented. Vertex disclaims any obligation to update the information contained in this press release as new information becomes available. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241206536804/en/ CONTACT: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated Investors: InvestorInfo@vrtx.comMedia : mediainfo@vrtx.com or International: +44 20 3204 5275 or U.S.: 617-341-6992 or Heather Nichols: +1 617-839-3607 KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS EUROPE UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BIOTECHNOLOGY PHARMACEUTICAL HEALTH CLINICAL TRIALS SOURCE: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/08/2024 12:52 PM/DISC: 12/08/2024 12:50 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241206536804/en Copyright Business Wire 2024.WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden kicked off his final holiday season at the White House on Monday by issuing the traditional reprieve to two turkeys who will bypass the Thanksgiving table to live out their days in southern Minnesota. Biden welcomed 2,500 guests to the South Lawn under sunny skies as he cracked jokes about the fates of “Peach” and “Blossom” and sounded wistful tones about the last weeks of his presidency after a half-century in Washington power circles. “It’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful,” Biden said, taking note of his impending departure on Jan. 20, 2025. That's when power will transfer to Republican President-elect Donald Trump, the man Biden defeated four years ago and was battling again until he was pressured to bow out of the race amid concerns about his age and viability. Biden is 82. Until Inauguration Day, the president and first lady Jill Biden will continue a busy run of festivities that will double as their long goodbye. The White House schedule in December is replete with holiday parties for various constituencies, from West Wing staff to members of Congress and the White House press corps. Biden relished the brief ceremony with the pardoned turkeys, named for the official flower of the president's home state of Delaware. “The peach pie in my state is one of my favorites,” he said during remarks that were occasionally interrupted by Peach gobbling atop the table to Biden's right. “Peach is making a last-minute plea,” Biden said at one point, drawing laughter from an overflow crowd that included Cabinet members, White House staff and their families, and students from 4H programs and Future Farmers of America chapters. Biden introduced Peach as a bird who “lives by the motto, ‘Keep calm and gobble on.’” Blossom, the president said, has a different motto: “No fowl play. Just Minnesota nice.” Peach and Blossom came from the farm of John Zimmerman, near the southern Minnesota city of Northfield. Zimmerman, who has raised about 4 million turkeys, is president of the National Turkey Federation, the group that has gifted U.S. presidents Thanksgiving turkeys since the Truman administration after World War II. President Harry Truman, however, preferred to eat the birds. Official pardon ceremonies did not become an annual White House tradition until the administration of President George H.W. Bush in 1989. With their presidential reprieve, Peach and Blossom will live out their days at Farmamerica, an agriculture interpretative center near Waseca in southern Minnesota. The center's aim is to promote agriculture and educate future farmers and others about agriculture in America. Separately Monday, first lady Jill Biden received the official White House Christmas tree that will be decorated and put on display in the Blue Room. The 18.5 foot (5.64 meters) Fraser fir came from a farm in an area of western North Carolina that recently was devastated by Hurricane Helene . Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm lost thousands of trees in the storm “but this one remained standing and they named it ‘Tremendous’ for the extraordinary hope that it represents,” Jill Biden said at the event. The Bidens were also traveling to New York City on Monday for an evening “Friendsgiving” event at a Coast Guard station on Staten Island. Biden began his valedictory calendar Friday night with a gala for hundreds of his friends, supporters and staff members who gathered in a pavilion erected on the South Lawn, with a view out to the Lincoln Memorial. Cabinet secretaries, Democratic donors and his longest-serving staff members came together to hear from the president and pay tribute, with no evidence that Biden was effectively forced from the Democratic ticket this summer and watched Vice President Kamala Harris suffer defeat on Nov. 5. “I’m so proud that we’ve done all of this with a deep belief in the core values of America,” said Biden, sporting a tuxedo for the black-tie event. Setting aside his criticisms of Trump as a fundamental threat to democracy, Biden added his characteristic national cheerleading: “I fully believe that America is better positioned to lead the world today than at any point in my 50 years of public service.” The first lady toasted her husband with a nod to his 2020 campaign promise to “restore the soul of the nation,” in Trump’s aftermath. With the results on Election Day, however, Biden’s four years now become sandwiched in the middle of an era dominated by Trump's presence on the national stage and in the White House. Even as the first couple avoided the context surrounding the president's coming exit, those political realities were nonetheless apparent, as younger Democrats like Maryland Gov. Wes Moore , Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Biden's Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg not only raised their glasses to the president but held forth with many attendees who could remain in the party's power circles in the 2028 election cycle and beyond. ___ Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats reelected Chuck Schumer as party leader on Tuesday as the party moves into a deeply uncertain time, with no real consensus on a strategy as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. Schumer faced no opposition in the party leadership elections, in which Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin was also reelected to the No. 2 spot and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar became the new No. 3. In a statement, Schumer, of New York, said he was honored to move the party forward “during this crucial period for our country.” “Our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families,” Schumer said. “However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values.” While Schumer remains popular with his colleagues, it is a bleak moment for Senate Democrats, who were hopeful they could hold the majority for the third election in a row. Instead they lost four seats and will be in the minority, 53-47, as Trump takes office. Trump dialed in Tuesday with Senate Republicans as they began laying the groundwork for control of government. The brief call was more celebratory than a prescriptive policy agenda, according to those attending the private GOP retreat, urging senators to confirm his Cabinet nominees as they launch an agenda of tax cuts, deportations and other priorities. "It was a love fest," said Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. “There was a real sense of unity in the room.” Republicans want to notch an early accomplishment after Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20. Incoming Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota outlined a potential roadmap during the private retreat at the Library of Congress, detailing a potential strategy that would have senators working on an initial legislative package — energy, border security and defense priorities — that could be approved in the first 30 days of the new administration. Next, he explained that the senators would turn to reviving the expiring tax cuts from Trump's first term. The new Congress convenes Jan. 3, and the Senate expects to quickly begin holding confirmation hearings for Trump’s top Cabinet nominees. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also addressed the GOP senators — noting his slim majority in the House. He “emphasized the need for unity heading into the first 100 days agenda,” his spokesman Taylor Haulsee said. Unlike eight years ago, when opposition to Trump’s narrow election win fueled enthusiasm in their party, Democratic lawmakers and many of their voters are exhausted and looking for answers. So far, Democrats stayed relatively quiet on Trump’s nominees and plans for office. Schumer declined to comment on specifics of any nominees, instead allowing Republican reaction to dominate the conversation. On Monday, Schumer wrote a public letter to Thune, asking him to resist Trump’s pressure to allow him to appoint some of his nominees without a Senate vote and to insist on full FBI background checks for all nominees. But he has said little else about Trump’s upcoming presidency. While some have been more aggressive — Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a former chairwoman of the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee, said that Trump’s nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department is “dangerous” and “nothing short of disaster” — several Democratic senators say they are saving their strength and figuring out a focus. “Everybody’s in kind of a wait-and-see mode right now,” said Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, part of Schumer’s leadership team. “Under the previous Trump administration, there was chaos all the time, all the time. And I do think it is important to pick your battles.” It’s still unclear which battles they will pick, and Democrats have differing opinions on how to fight them. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, who is also in Democratic leadership, says “anyone who has a grand strategy is full of crap” but thinks Democrats, for now, “need to keep things simple.” “We need to talk about people, protect people, advocate for people,” he said. “Do not talk about protecting institutions. Do not talk about advocating for institutions. It’s a not just a rhetorical shift, but an attitudinal shift. We have to remind ourselves, that we’re not fighting for programs and projects and line items and agencies or norms. We’re fighting for people.” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said he’s spent a lot of time reflecting, and “I don’t think anyone can claim this was a policy election,” and Democrats need to look at cultural issues. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman says Democrats just need to “pace ourselves” and avoid the “massive freakout” of Trump's last term. Democrats should be preparing, says Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal. He says Schumer is picking his battles “very thoughtfully and strategically.” “We’re thinking about how we protect against using the FBI, or the prosecutorial authority of the Justice Department for retribution against critics,” Blumenthal said. “How we elevate these issues in a way that American people understand them.” Democrats know better now “the extraordinary challenges we’re going to face,” Blumenthal said.
Bill for FCT Satellite Towns Development Commission passes second reading at Senate
Indian sages understood dharma it is not just method of worship UP CM AdityanathIt’s official. Australia has just experienced its . So, what do rising temperatures mean for Australia? I recently put the question to Founder of , Emma Bacon (pictured above), as part of a new series in the lead up to the next federal election asking leaders and advocates to share facts and information about the issues they work on every day — issues that Australians then vote on, and will be doing so by May 2025. Sweltering Cities is an organisation that works with communities across Australia experiencing the impacts of extreme heat. Its mission is to advocate for safer, cooler cities and ensure that no one is left behind in dangerously hot suburbs, workplaces or homes. With climate change driving longer, more intense heatwaves, it’s vital we understand the facts and take action to protect ourselves and our communities. Emma Bacon shares some key information about extreme heat and rising temperatures below. Heatwaves are Australia’s deadliest environmental disaster Heatwaves kill more Australians than all other disasters combined, including floods, bushfires, and storms. Heat related fatalities and illness are projected to increase as temperatures rise. Learning how to identify and respond to heat-related illnesses, like heat exhaustion and heatstroke, can save lives. Women face unique risks in heatwaves Women are disproportionately impacted by extreme heat, particularly during pregnancy, while caring for children, or as older adults. Economic inequality and injustice also puts women at risk, as whether you can afford to keep cool is one of the most important factors in heatwave safety. Right now, women in Darwin Correctional Centre are living in overcrowded rooms where we’re hearing reports of broken air conditioning and that the women are forced to spend hours each day outside with limited shade. You can read more about this issue and sign the petition calling for safe conditions for these women . Better housing standards are essential Poorly insulated homes trap heat, putting renters and low-income households at higher risk during extreme heat. Living in a hot home can mean long, baking hot days, sweaty sleepless nights and dreading summer heat. Supporting campaigns for mandatory housing standards, like better insulation and energy efficiency requirements, can create safer living conditions for all. We also need to make sure that the homes we build now are safe in the future. The urban heat island effect means some suburbs can be 10°C hotter Cities are significantly hotter than rural areas due to the urban heat island effect caused by lack of shade, materials like concrete that absorb heat, and dark surfaces that attract heat. Planting trees, creating more green spaces, and reducing the use of heat-retaining materials like asphalt can help cool urban areas. Misinformation undermines action and increases risk Heatwaves are sometimes dismissed as a good day for the beach, but that doesn’t reflect the risks that communities face from record heat. Misinformation about how serious extreme heat is, the causes of power cuts, or whether hotter temperatures are just normal climate fluctuations can delay necessary action and discourage people from taking the risks seriously. Sharing accurate information, such as the health risks of extreme heat, helps counter this narrative. A heatwave is a great time to call Nan (or anyone else) Simple actions, like checking in on family, friends and neighbors or those living alone, can make a big difference. Isolation can be deadly during heatwaves, and a call or a text can be the difference between someone feeling like they’re alone in the heat or have options to get help keeping cool. You can ask how people are feeling, check if they need help, and let them know they can ask for help. Sweltering Cities has put together some information to help you know who to check in on, what to say and other advice. . Thanks to Emma Bacon from Sweltering Cities for sharing facts about the increasing heat which will continue to be with us. Let’s draw the line between the issues we all care about – including climate and global heating – and our informed vote as we all walk into the polling booth in the coming months to elect the people who will make decisions for us on these vital issues. It really is up to us!
Australia news LIVE: CBA faces backlash over $3 withdrawal fee; Australians in South Korea warned to avoid protests - Sydney Morning Herald45 years ago, an 11-year-old and his brother started a band. Redd Kross won’t quit
The NRL have been called to make sure and during the All-Stars game with both originally expected to miss round one of the new season. South Sydney Rabbitohs star Mitchel endured a turbulent 2024 campaign having been player-of-the-match in . He then suffered a foot injury not long after and didn't play again for the Rabbitohs or his state. Mitchell then copped a one-game ban and a $20,000 fine after a photo emerged of him with what appeared to be a white powder during a trip to Dubbo for some coaching clinics. Despite the Rabbitohs' best efforts, Mitchell was expected to serve his ban in round one of the 2025 season. Addo-Carr is also suspended for round one of the new season having just joined the Parramatta Eels. Addo-Carr parted ways with the Bulldogs and will miss the first round of the 2025 season as he serves the remainder of a four-game ban that ultimately cost him his job at Canterbury. Although both Mitchell and Addo-Carr could look to use the All Stars match to count towards their suspensions. The NRL was toying with moving the All-Stars contest to the end of the season next year, but opted to leave it as a pre-season game having spoken to the players. This means Mitchell and Addo-Carr can now apply to use this game as part of their bans. Although SEN Radio host Jimmy Smith has urged the NRL to deny the loophole so Mitchell and Addo-Carr can still play the All-Stars game, but serve their ban for their clubs. "Fantastic let's put it up front, but that means Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr can miss the game and serve part of their suspensions for that," he said on Thursday. "It doesn't feel quite right. Why wouldn't you let them play the Indigenous game and let them serve their suspension for the club. Of course the clubs don't want that, but you are talking about the two biggest Indigenous stars in the league. "And you are trying to take them away from the All Stars clash. My feeling would be to put them in. I would say 'Ok, you can miss the All Stars clash, but it can't serve as a match'. And then watch them play." Mitchell would be a certainty to feature for the Indigenous All-Stars having played in the competition in all six editions. when the Indigenous All-Stars defeated the New Zealand Maori. Mitchell has made waves in the NRL off-season having been praised for making changes to his preparation. Mitchell has reportedly installed a home gym to better prepare himself for the pre-season under new coach Wayne Bennett and Broncos great Corey Parker commented on in his time off. Mitchell was seen at training this week being put through the drills. Many are expecting to see Mitchell hit the ground running in 2025 after his latest campaign. And Rabbitohs CEO Blake Solly told SEN 1170 claimed the players are already showing they are ready to put another disappointing campaign behind them with new coach Bennett at the helm. "Yeah it's been an interesting eight weeks since that period when Wayne came down and spoke to the players," Solly said. We just had so many injuries in the 2024 season. "A lot of the senior guys have been in here two or three days a week rehabbing and getting physio on their injuries so it almost feels like guys like Latrell, Cody (Walker), Jack (Wighton) and Campbell (Graham) have never been away because they've just had to keep getting rehab on those injuries from earlier in the season. So I think in some ways that's set them up for a really good pre-season and again Wayne's reputation goes before him."
Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany's far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper's opinion editor in protest. Germany is to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Schol z's three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalize the country's stagnant economy. Musk's guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag —a sister publication of POLITICO owned by the Axel Springer Group — published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD. "The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country," Musk wrote in his translated commentary. He went on to say the far-right party "can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality." The Tesla Motors CEO also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country's condition. The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party. An ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, the technology billionaire challenged in his opinion piece the party's public image. "The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party's leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!" Musk's commentary has led to a debate in German media over the boundaries of free speech, with the paper's own opinion editor announcing her resignation, pointedly on Musk's social media platform, X. "I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print," Eva Marie Kogel wrote. A critical article by the future editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard, accompanied Musk's opinion piece. "Musk's diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong," Burgard wrote. Responding to a request for comment from the German Press Agency, dpa, the current editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Ulf Poschardt, and Burgard — who is due to take over on Jan. 1 — said in a joint statement that the discussion over Musk's piece was "very insightful. Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression." "This will continue to determine the compass of the "world" in the future. We will develop "Die Welt" even more decisively as a forum for such debates," they wrote to dpa.
Stocks wavered in afternoon trading, as losses for several Big Tech companies offset gains elsewhere in the market. The S&P 500 fell 0.5 per cent, even though more stocks were rising than falling in the index. The Dow Jones fell 78 points, or 0.2 per cent. Both indexes set records on Tuesday. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.1 per cent. Wall Street’s tech giants retreated on Wednesday. Credit: AP The Australian sharemarket is set to inch up, with futures at 4.56am AEDT pointing to a rise of 14 points, or 0.1 per cent, at the open. The ASX added 0.6 per cent on Wednesday. Losses for tech heavyweights helped pull the broader market lower. Semiconductor giant Nvidia slipped 3.3 per cent. Its huge value gives it outsized influence on market indexes. Microsoft fell 1.1 per cent. Several personal computer makers added to Big Tech’s heavy weight on the market following their latest earnings reports. HP sank 12.6 per cent after giving investors a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast for its current quarter. Dell slumped 12.1 per cent after its latest quarterly revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts. Gains for financial and health care companies helped counter Big Tech’s downward pull. The US economy expanded at a healthy 2.8 per cent annual pace from July through September, according to the Commerce Department, leaving its original estimate of third-quarter growth unchanged. The growth was driven by strong consumer spending and a surge in exports. The update follows a report on Tuesday from the Conference Board that said confidence among US consumers improved in November, but not by as much as economists expected. Consumers have been driving economic growth, but the latest round of earnings reports from retailers shows a mixed and more cautious picture. Department store operator Nordstrom fell 10.3 per cent after warning investors about a trend toward weakening sales that started in late October. Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters jumped 15.9 per cent after beating analysts’ third-quarter financial forecasts. Weeks earlier, retail giant Target gave investors a discouraging forecast for the holiday season, while Walmart provided a more encouraging forecast. Consumers, though resilient, are still facing pressure from inflation. The latest update from the US government shows that inflation accelerated last month. The personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, rose to 2.3 per cent in October from 2.1 per cent in September. Overall, the rate of inflation has been falling broadly since it peaked more than two years ago. The PCE, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, was just below 7.3 per cent in June of 2022. Another measure of inflation, the consumer price index, peaked at 9.1 per cent at the same time. The latest inflation data, though, is a sign that the rate of inflation seems to be stalling as it falls to within range of the Fed’s target of 2 per cent. The central bank started raising its benchmark interest rate from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023 and held it there in order to tame inflation. The Fed started cutting its benchmark interest rate in September, followed by a second cut in November. Wall Street expects a similar quarter-point cut at the central bank’s upcoming meeting in December. “Today’s data shouldn’t change views of the likely path for disinflation, however bumpy,” said David Alcaly, lead macroeconomic strategist at Lazard Asset Management. “But a lot of observers, probably including some at the Fed, are looking for reasons to get more hawkish on the outlook given the potential for inflationary policy change like new tariffs.” President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China when he takes office in January. That could shock the economy by raising prices on a wide range of goods and accelerating the rate of inflation. Such a shift could prompt the Fed to rethink future cuts to interest rates. Treasury yields slipped in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.24 per cent from 4.30 per cent late Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely follows expected actions by the Fed, fell to 4.21 per cent from 4.25 per cent late Tuesday. US markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving. AP The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each we e kday afternoon .