Olympic gold: Japan’s Horigome on skateboard, GB’s Pidcock on mountain bike
Olympics day three: Gold for Japan in men’s skateboarding and gymnastics, Canada achieves a judo first, and Great Britain wins a mountain bike thriller. Yuto Horigome of Japan has retained his Olympic title in men’s street skateboarding in Paris, clinching the top of the podium on his last trick in a tense final. Team USA’s Jagger Eaton upgraded his Tokyo bronze to silver, while his compatriot Nyjah Huston claimed the last spot on the podium on Monday. Horigome clinched gold at the last moment with a flawless slide down the 10-stair round rail and a smile, underlining Japan’s dominance in the sport a day after his compatriot Coco Yoshizawa won the women’s event. “It was hard to make the podium this time,” said Horigome. “The skate level’s insane.” Eaton brought out some of his best material across the five tricks but could not catch Horigome, as the American fell on his final attempt. The competition was held under clear skies in sweltering heat after rain forced the postponement of the event on Saturday, while the competitors kept their cool in front of another packed house at the La Concorde venue. Gold medallist Yuto Horigome of Japan, centre, poses with silver medallist Jagger Eaton (left) and bronze medallist Nyjah Huston (right), both of Team USA [Frank Franklin II/AP] Horigome looked every bit the favourite as he made terrific use of the course’s 18 features in his opening run of the final. But Huston had the lead heading into the five tricks as he capped his second run with a nollie backside 180. Huston, one of the biggest names in US skateboarding since retired great Tony Hawk, was hungry for redemption after a shock seventh-place finish in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, and he tightened his grasp on the lead with a pair of high-scoring tricks. But Eaton briefly took the top spot in the standings with a nollie 270 slide in his fourth try. Horigome looked as though he might miss the podium entirely after falling on three of his first four attempts. But he pulled out a bit of magic to leap over the rest of the field at the last moment as Japanese fans cheered. Olympic skateboarding will continue with the women’s and men’s park events on August 6 and 7. Yuto Horigome saved his best for the last run [Stefan Matzke – sampics/Getty Images] Japan claim men’s team gold in artistic gymnastics after dramatic final Daiki Hashimoto turned heartache into unimaginable joy as he overcame a fall from the pommel horse to power Japan to the gymnastics gold medal, edging out China in a pulsating men’s team final. While Hashimoto led Japan to their eighth men’s team title at the Games, Team USA were celebrating their first Olympic team medal since 2008 as they grabbed bronze. Just when it looked like China had the title in the bag as they led Japan by more than three points with only three more performances left on their final apparatus, the high bar, Su Weide fell twice during his routine, turning the title race into a nail-biter. When the chalk settled, Japan emerged victorious with a total of 259.594 points, less than a point ahead of China. The USA men put on a superb performance and locked up the bronze after nailing most of their landings in the competition. Daiki Hashimoto of Japan on the pommel horse during the men’s artistic gymnastics team finals round at Bercy Arena in Paris, France [Charlie Riedel/AP] Deguchi becomes Canada’s first judo champion Christa Deguchi won the women’s under 57kg (126-pound) gold to hand Canada its first-ever Olympic judo title before Hidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan disappointed a partisan crowd by triumphing in the men’s under 73kg (161-pound) final. Current world champion Heydarov edged French underdog Joan-Benjamin Gaba with a golden score ippon in a marathon final that lasted nine minutes and 24 seconds at Champ-de-Mars Arena. Heydarov tried multiple times to catch his breath as the bout wore on and planted a kiss on his opponent’s forehead after celebrating victory. To the home crowd’s disappointment, Azerbaijan’s Hidayet Heydarov defeated France’s Joan-Benjamin Gaba in the men’s under 73kg (161-pound) final [Eugene Hoshiko/AP] Gaba, ranked 35th in the world and competing in his first Olympics, surprised everyone by fighting his way into the final after defeating London 2012 under 66kg (146-pound) gold medallist Lasha Shavdatuashvili of Georgia in the round of 32. In the women’s event, Sarah-Leonie Cysique added a bronze medal to the host nation’s haul after losing to Deguchi in the semifinal. In the final, Deguchi took out Huh Mi-mi after the South Korean was penalised for a third time. After becoming Canada’s first world judo champion in 2019, Christa Deguchi struck again, becoming Canada’s first Olympic judo champion [Eugene Hoshiko/AP] Great Britain’s Pidcock wins thriller to retain mountain bike title Tom Pidcock of Great Britain roared back after suffering a puncture to retain his Olympic men’s mountain bike title after a thrilling battle with France’s Victor Koretzky. World champion Pidcock, who won gold in Tokyo, found himself 35 seconds adrift after a front wheel puncture on the fourth of eight laps on the 4.4km (2.7-mile) circuit carved into Elancourt Hill. But he surged back and then went head-to-head with Koretzky on the final lap when he again had to make up ground before pulling clear with the finish line in sight. The partisan crowd booed as he crossed the line nine seconds ahead of silver medallist Koretzky, while South Africa’s Alan Hatherly finished third for the bronze medal. The Olympic gold medal came as an early birthday present for Pidcock, who turns 25 on Tuesday. Thomas Pidcock has joined Paola Pezzo and Julien Absalon as the only riders with two mountain bike gold medals from the Olympic Summer Games [Ricardo Mazalan/AP] Adblock test (Why?)
VP Harris may continue Biden’s torch of championing gender transition surgeries, despite California AG past
Under a Harris presidency, the push to broaden access to gender transition surgeries, as advanced by President Biden, is expected to continue, notwithstanding her earlier decision as California attorney general to reject a similar request from a prison inmate. When Harris was the California Attorney General from 2011 to 2017, she drew backlash for denying an incarcerated inmate, Michelle Lael-Norsworthy, access to gender transition surgery. Norsworthy was sentenced to 17 years behind bars in 1987 for killing an acquaintance outside a bar. At the time, Harris’ office contended the surgery was not necessary because the prison system was already providing adequate so-called gender-affirming care through hormone therapy and other treatments. In April 2015, however, a federal judge overruled Harris’ rejection of the procedure and sided with Norsworthy, stating the surgery was medically necessary to remedy the inmate’s psychological suffering. HARRIS’ SHIFT FROM TOUGH-ON-CRIME PROSECUTOR TO SOCIAL JUSTICE ADVOCATE FACES SCRUTINY FROM CONSERVATIVE GROUP Harris later walked back her decision when confronted on the 2019 presidential campaign trail when she was one of the Democratic candidates, saying she takes “full responsibility” for what her office did. “I was, as you are rightly pointing out, the attorney general of California for two terms, and I had a host of clients that I was obligated to defend and represent, and I couldn’t fire my clients, and there are unfortunately situations that occurred where my clients took positions that were contrary to my beliefs,” she said at the time during a news conference at Howard University. “And it was an office with a lot of people who would do the work on a daily basis, and do I wish that sometimes they would have personally consulted me before they wrote the things that they wrote? Yes, I do. But the bottom line is, the buck stops with me, and I take full responsibility for what my office did.” Meanwhile, Harris also recently hired a senior adviser with a history of sexist messages online mocking women and gay people as well as seemingly criticizing Harris on social media during her failed presidential campaign in 2019. The Harris campaign announced earlier this week it hired Kamau M. Marshall, who has deleted thousands of old posts this week as 2024 senior adviser after he previously held positions as Joe Biden’s strategic communications director in 2020, a senior adviser for the Biden-Harris campaign and was formerly a senior adviser to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. However, Harris’ track record has otherwise remained steadfastly progressive. During her AG tenure, Harris also refused to endorse Proposition 8, which passed with more than half of the state’s support, and outlawed gay marriage from the California constitution. It was later overturned in court. And last month, under the Biden-Harris administration, health officials urged an international transgender health nonprofit to omit the age limit in its guidelines for transgender surgical procedures for adolescents — and succeeded — according to the unsealed court documents. ABORTION, ‘FREE’ EDUCATION AMONG TOP ISSUES FOR HARRIS VOTERS The documents, first reported on by The New York Times, revealed that staff for Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, pushed the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to drop the age minimum requirement altogether to avoid seeing conservative lawmakers work to put such age restrictions into law. After publication, the White House told Fox: “The Administration does not support surgery for minors.” But the White House has since expressed support for gender transition surgeries for children, according to news reports. “We continue to fight state and national bans on gender-affirming care, which represents a continuum of care, and respect the role of parents, families, and doctors — not politicians — in these decisions. Gender-affirming surgeries are typically reserved for adults, and we believe they should be,” White House Domestic Policy Council director Neera Tanden told The 19th, a gender and politics advocacy nonprofit newsroom. After President Biden abruptly suspended his re-election campaign last week and endorsed VP Harris, LGBTQ and transgender advocacy groups rushed to endorse her, too. “Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE) is proud to announce our endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency,” the organization said in a statement. “Since taking office as our nation’s first woman of color Vice President, Harris has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to advancing the well-being of the transgender community. FLASHBACK: NEW HARRIS CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER MADE SEVERAL INSENSITIVE COMMENTS ABOUT WOMEN, GAY PEOPLE CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Throughout her vice presidency, Kamala Harris has collaborated with President Biden to lay a foundation for strong support of transgender Americans. The Biden-Harris administration has been the most pro-equality in our nation’s history, implementing significant measures since their inauguration.” The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the U.S., also joined in and endorsed Harris in a lengthy statement. “Vice President Kamala Harris is a trailblazer and has been a champion for LGBTQ+ equality for decades: from leading the fight in San Francisco against hate crimes and her work in California to end the so-called gay and transgender “panic defense” to her early support for marriage equality and her leadership serving as our Vice President. Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Lawmakers on Trump assassination task force share rare bipartisan ‘commitment’; omitted reps question absence
After House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., named their nominees to the Trump assassination attempt incident task force, the panel’s members expressed a bipartisan willingness to get to the bottom of how the historic tragedy was able to happen in the first place. Rep. Mike Kelly, the Pennsylvania Republican whose district includes the Butler Farm Show grounds where the attempt on Trump’s life occurred, was named the panel’s chairman. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., was named its ranking member. Crow served as a U.S. Army Ranger in the Mideast, and several other panel members have law enforcement or military backgrounds. Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., who toured the Butler site last week, said the incident transcends party lines and that after his visit to Pennsylvania, he recognized where issues likely occurred. TOP DEM WHO VISITED BUTLER SAYS LOCAL OFFICIALS TOLD HIM ‘WE NEED TO TALK MORE’ ABOUT SECRET SERVICE FAILURES “In the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Trump, I visited the site with a bipartisan group of my colleagues. It appears there were a number of security lapses – and it appears that this may not have been the first major security lapse for a national political candidate,” Correa said. “This is unacceptable. I’m committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get to the bottom of what actually happened that day and develop policy solutions to ensure we never face a close call like that again.” Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who served in the Louisiana National Guard and St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office, was one of the GOP members named to the committee. Higgins noted the committee will have subpoena power to get to the bottom of what went wrong in Butler and bring accountability to the victims and the American people. TOP REPUBLICAN CALLS CHEATLE’S SLOPED ROOF DEFENSE THE ‘FINAL STRAW’ “I am honored to serve on the bipartisan Task Force on the attempted assassination of President Trump,” Higgins said in a statement. “The American people demand answers, and we will use every tool at our disposal to reveal granular detail of what led to the attempted assassination, ensure accountability, and identify security failures. I look forward to working with my bipartisan colleagues to deliver the truth.” In addition to Kelly, two other Pennsylvanians were named to the panel. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Democrat and Air Force veteran from the Main Line area, and Madeleine Dean from Montgomery County. Houlahan called her appointment a “distinct and solemn honor” and noted the legislation necessitating the task force passed unanimously. TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW GUNMAN EVADED SECURITY “[That] underscore[d] the mandate from Pennsylvanians and all Americans to conduct this investigation free from political influences and divisive rhetoric. I am committed to upholding our values of truth, civility, decency, and patriotism through my work on this task force,” she said. “As a representative of Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the Republic and our American democracy, I believe the recent assassination attempt against former President Trump is a stark reminder of the fragility of our democratic institutions.” Houlahan said the assault went against the “fabric” of America and that all political sides must condemn violence and recognize political differences should never lead to such. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee who led the tour of the rally site, said the Department of Homeland Security’s – via the Secret Service – “utter failure to safeguard a former president and current candidate for our nation’s highest office was unacceptable from the start.” “[I]t grows more troubling with each new report and effort by the Biden-Harris administration to stonewall congressional oversight,” Green said. “Establishing this task force is a critical step in addressing this failure and ensuring we get the American people the answers they deserve.” Green urged DHS officials to cooperate with the task force’s investigation. Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, cited his experience of 25 years as a prosecutor in pledging to work diligently to “uncover the facts, demand accountability and ensure these security failures” don’t happen in the future. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “President Trump, those injured on July 13th, Corey Comperatore’s family, and the American people deserve these answers,” Joyce said. Another Republican member, Laurel Lee of Florida, called out the “inexcusable security failures” of the day and said the Secret Service failed at its “no-fail mission.” Fellow Floridian Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat who attended and represents Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a mass shooting took place several years ago, was also named to the task force. “As the former Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, I have been involved in after-action reviews to learn from the failures and successes of both natural and man-made disasters,” Moskowitz said. “And as a state representative from Parkland, Florida, where 17 people died in a mass shooting at my alma mater, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, I helped to create the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission that investigated the failures of that day.” In a statement Monday, Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., said the “safety and security of our presidential candidates is paramount.” “Getting to the bottom of the security failures which allowed such an attempt is of the utmost importance. Political violence is unacceptable and protecting folks seeking elective office is a step we should take to protect our democratic process,” Ivey said. On X, formerly Twitter, some observers criticized Johnson and Jeffries for not naming other top lawmakers with military experience to the task force. One such lawmaker, Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who has helped conduct civilian rescue efforts in Afghanistan, said he wasn’t surprised by being omitted from the list. “It’s very unfortunate but not surprising for anyone familiar with how D.C. works. I’m not a politician, leadership, or a ‘yes man’,” Mills said. “I wish the members of Speaker Johnson’s task force well,” he went on, calling for a parallel investigation with
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz moves to Williams for 2025 F1 season
In a surprise move, Carlos Sainz, a three-time Grand Prix winner with Ferrari, signed a two-year deal with UK-based Williams Racing. Formula One driver Carlos Sainz has signed with Williams Racing for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. The Spaniard is in his final season at Ferrari and currently ranks fifth in the Formula One (F1) driver standings. “I am very happy to announce that I will be joining Williams Racing from 2025 onwards,” Sainz said on Monday. “It is no secret that this year’s driver market has been exceptionally complex for various reasons and that it has taken me some time to announce my decision. “However, I am fully confident that Williams is the right place for me to continue my F1 journey and I am extremely proud of joining such a historic and successful team, where many of my childhood heroes drove in the past and made their mark on our sport. The ultimate goal of bringing Williams back to where it belongs, at the front of the grid, is a challenge that I embrace with excitement and positivity,” he said. Sainz collected his third career F1 win at the Australian Grand Prix in March. He also has four third-place finishes this season, most recently at the Austrian Grand Prix on June 30. The 29-year-old replaces Logan Sargeant and will race alongside Alex Albon at Williams. Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton is replacing Sainz at Ferrari. Sainz, who had also been of interest to Sauber/Audi and Renault-owned Alpine, said he was convinced Williams had “all the right ingredients to make history again”. Spain’s Carlos Sainz was widely expected to join the new Sauber/Audi team before Monday’s Williams announcement [Kym Illman/Getty Images] Adblock test (Why?)
After Golan Heights attack, will the Israel-Hezbollah conflict escalate?
Israel is gearing up to launch a major attack on Lebanon after a deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but it is unlikely to want to trigger an all-out war with Hezbollah, analysts say. Israel blames the Lebanese armed group for firing a projectile on Saturday that hit a football pitch and killed 12 children and young people in the Druze town of Majdal Shams. While Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack, Israel has said the group has crossed a “red line” and will pay a “heavy price” for the incident. “[The projectile] was clearly a mistake, and Hezbollah is not interested in targeting Druze, but Hezbollah was hitting Israeli positions about 2.5km [1.5 miles] away from Majdal Shams, so it is possible that it made a targeting error,” said Nicholas Blanford, an expert on Hezbollah with the Atlantic Council think tank. Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting a low-scale conflict since the Hamas-led attacks on communities and military outposts in southern Israel on October 7. Hezbollah has repeatedly said it would end attacks on Israel if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, where Israel’s war has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians. So what does the attack in the Golan Heights mean for a possible escalation between Hezbollah and Israel? After the occupied Golan Heights attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed the departure of 150 Palestinian children from Gaza to the UAE for medical treatment on July 28, 2024, including Lamis Abu Selim, who suffers from scoliosis and had waited with her mother for evacuation [Ramadan Abed/Reuters] Drumming up support Israel appears to be using the attack to rally domestic and international support for a major strike on Lebanon, according to analysts. On Israel’s official X page, an image of the Israeli and Druze flags was posted with the caption: “We are all Druze.” Another post read, “They take babies hostage. They shoot rockets at homes. Hezbollah, Hamas the Houthis. They are all Iran.” The three groups are among those in the region that are aligned with Iran. While they are described as being part of an Iran-backed “axis of resistance”, each group grew out of conflicts specific to its respective context and has its own interests. After the Majdal Shams attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday postponed the departure of 150 sick and wounded children in Gaza who were supposed to receive medical treatment in the United Arab Emirates, according to local Israeli media. On X, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel called the delay “cruel and dangerous” and said the deaths of the 12 young people in Majdal Shams “must not be exploited for cynical political motives”. It continued: “This evacuation delay once more exposes Israel’s disregard for the lives of children and innocent civilians in Gaza. Vengeance is not a legitimate policy.” But even as Israel continues to devastate Gaza, analysts believe it will try to minimise civilian casualties with its strike on Lebanon out of fear of sparking a broader conflict that it can’t contain. “The fact that the victims [in Majdal Shams] were all children and teenagers gives them an emotional [weight], but I don’t think the Israelis want to escalate,” Blanford told Al Jazeera. Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese border village of Chihine on July 28, 2024 [Kawnat Haju/AFP] ‘Now is not the time’ Israel’s top army generals are increasingly at odds with Netanyahu over the war on Gaza and the conflict against Hezbollah in Lebanon. In June, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said, “Whoever thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong.” Netanyahu has long said that Israel’s goal in Gaza is to eradicate the armed group. Waging an all-out war against Hezbollah, a force that many analysts consider Israel’s toughest foe in the region, is an even taller task, said Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israel-Palestine analyst for the International Crisis Group. “I think Israelis overall believe that at some point Israel and Hezbollah will have a major war, but the question is when and how and under what conditions,” she told Al Jazeera. “[Most] Israelis believe now is not the time,” she added. Israel’s army is already struggling to muster enough soldiers to continue its war on Gaza. Many reservists are not reporting for duty while Israel has also reported shortages of military equipment and munitions. The United States has also signalled it does not want to see a wider conflict. Zonszein said Netanyahu – or Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who may have more influence on a decision to go to war – don’t want an all-out war. But, she said, if they think they can conduct a major strike on Lebanon without triggering a significant escalation, they might be underestimating the risks. “The entire thing is extremely problematic, and the most responsible and sensible thing is to get a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, which would de-escalate things immediately [on Israel’s border with Lebanon] in the north,” Zonszein said. Hezbollah’s options Hezbollah will likely show some restraint to a major Israeli strike but would aim to strike back “proportionately,” Blanford said. He noted that from Hezbollah’s perspective, it has done nothing wrong to warrant an escalation from Israel and its response will depend on Israel’s strike. Israel, he said, could target senior Hezbollah commanders or even strike Dahiya, a Beirut suburb and Hezbollah stronghold. “If Israel were to hit Dahiya, then it wouldn’t surprise me if Hezbollah responded with one or two missiles going to [the Israeli city] Haifa [for example]. But the response would be proportionate with the overall goal of dialling things down,” he told Al Jazeera. Imad Salamey, a political scientist at the Lebanese American University, added that Hezbollah’s long-term strategy remains tied to Gaza and the group is unlikely to sign a ceasefire agreement with Israel until a settlement is reached there. He believes Hezbollah may already be preparing for a post-conflict scenario by agreeing to abide by United Nations Resolution 1701, which was passed
Surging demand, soaring price tags lead to fake Ozempic doses
Around the globe, the growing class of weight loss drugs called GLP-1 agonists has been a game-changer. This includes the blockbuster drug semaglutide, better known by its brand names Ozempic and the more potent Wegovy. These have helped people lose weight, feel more confident and be healthier. But a surge in demand and a high price tag have led to a rise in counterfeit versions of the drugs – causing hospitalisations around the world. That includes Mike Benson of Chicago, who fell into a coma after taking a counterfeit version of Ozempic. Benson, who on the advice of counsel declined to comment, told a local TV station in January, “I don’t know that I’ve ever felt that way in my life. I had thought this could be the end.” Michelle Sword, a mother of two living in Oxfordshire, England, had hypoglycemia and seizures, requiring her to be hospitalised. With multiple such incidents, regulators are concerned both on account of the counterfeit medications but also about what is causing consumers to take this risk. In May, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials seized 11 shipments of counterfeit versions of Ozempic at an airport in Cincinnati, Ohio – one of the nation’s key operations hubs. The federal agency intercepted the illicit medications from Colombia. The shipments of more than 100 injections each were bound for locations across the US ranging from New York to Texas. The CBP said the seizure was valued at roughly $887,000. A similar situation unfolded at Chicago O’Hare International Airport last month. Nearly 10,000km (4,000 miles) away in Lebanon, Beirut, suspected fake Ozempic vials accounted for almost a dozen instances of dangerously low blood sugar in patients, including one case that required hospitalisation in November. In October, British officials seized counterfeit versions of the medication that were imported from “legitimate” suppliers in Germany and Austria, signalling the challenge is coming from down the supply chain. This month, Austrian courts announced they would pursue legal action against a seller who provided fake doses to a plastic surgeon in Salzburg. That echoes a report late last month from Vanity Fair magazine that said some counterfeit doses ended up in the hands of legitimate medical practices without their knowledge. There have been similar reports out of Brazil and Russia. “I have a lot of concerns because not all of my patients can get these medications, and people really want them and they feel desperate about it,” said Dr Melanie Jay, director of the Comprehensive Program on Obesity at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. “There’s all this advertising for other places where you can get it for a lot cheaper, and it’s impossible to know how safe these alternatives are,” she added. Cybersecurity firm McAfee found hundreds of fake listings selling Ozempic doses on Craigslist. The firm also discovered examples of scammers impersonating doctors on Facebook. McAfee says often if these scammers do deliver on their promises, they send fake versions of the medication, which include pens filled with saline solution and EpiPens. Consumers have also turned to Reddit groups like the since-banned Ozempic Source USA, in which consumers often sold doses to each other. Last year, Al Jazeera found that patients could order these drugs from online pharmacies without any doctor consultations. Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned about the “unpredictable range of health risks or complications” from falsified medicines. “You have something that could be toxic, whether it’s contaminated or whether they put insulin in it, and the person’s up in the hospital,” Jay said. “There have been shortages. There are bad actors who’ve been trying to take advantage of the situation,” Dr Bruce Y Lee, professor of health policy at the Graduate School of Public Health at the City University of New York, told Al Jazeera. But with the growing necessity for some people and vanity for others, patients are at the mercy of Novo Nordisk, both in terms of availability and the price they pay for these drugs. In its first-quarter earnings report released in May, the Danish company said semaglutide sales more than doubled in the first quarter alone. Prohibitive costs Seventy-one percent of Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 agonist medications have been sold in the US. Novo Nordisk charges Americans an average of $936 for a month’s supply, more than five times higher than the closest peer nation – Japan at $169. Novo Nordisk has struggled to meet explosive demand for its weight loss drugs in the past few years [File: Tom Little/Reuters] “The cost of the medication can be problematic or even prohibitive for a number of different people, and whenever you have a situation like this, you’re more likely to have a secondary market where people are hawking counterfeit versions,” Lee said. The cost has fuelled some concerns in Washington with Senator Bernie Sanders calling Novo Nordisk’s price tag “outrageous”. In June, Novo Nordisk agreed to testify to Congress in September amid pressure from Sanders. Supply is still low. Injections of semaglutide have been in short supply since March 2022 because of a combination of factors, including explosive demand in the past few years and the company struggling to make headway with production demands. The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Sanders chairs, released a scathing report that suggests the prices for Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drugs have the power to bankrupt the entire US healthcare system, including Medicare and Medicaid. Novo Nordisk has attributed its prices to the high cost of drug development, yet it still charges less in other countries – including the equivalent of $186 a month in Denmark – for the drug. Ozempic’s success has made Novo Nordisk the most valuable company in Europe with a market capitalization of $570bn, making it bigger than the entire Danish economy. “That is not making a reasonable return on investment. That is price gouging. That is corporate greed,” Sanders said in June. “And if Novo Nordisk does not end its greed, we have a responsibility to
Biden-era deportations down sharply from Trump era despite media and activist narrative: analysis
FIRST ON FOX: Removals of illegal immigrants from the U.S. interior are sharply down during the Biden administration compared to the Trump administration, a new analysis is revealing, just as the administration and some in the media highlight that its removal numbers overall are increasing. The new analysis by the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE), a pro-enforcement group, has looked at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data and compared removals by that agency between administrations. Simply put, it found that in terms solely of deportation of illegal immigrants by ICE, numbers are down significantly under Biden compared to the Trump era despite massively increased numbers of migrants arriving under the Biden administration. The analysis shows that there were 935,346 ICE removals of illegal immigrants during the Trump administration, 31.1% of the more than 2 million encounters. KAMALA HARRIS AND THE SOUTHERN BORDER CRISIS: A TIMELINE During the Biden-Harris administration, there have been more than 9.6 million encounters, a significantly higher number. But just 4.4% of those, or 406,638, have been removed by ICE. The analysis uses ICE official data, which showed that fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2019 saw more than 250,000 ICE removals a year before dropping to 185,000 in fiscal 2020 and just 59,011 in fiscal 2021 during the COVID pandemic. It has since risen to 72,177 in fiscal 2022 and 142,580 in fiscal 2023. It contrasts with, although it does not directly contradict, claims by the administration and some in the media who have pointed to a sharp increase in overall removals since the ending of Title 42. “Biden is now deporting more people than Trump” a Reuters headline said this month. “Trump says he wants to deport millions. He’ll have a hard time removing more people than Biden has,” a Politico story said. TRUMP EYES MULTIPLE BORDER VISITS AS HE DRAWS CONTRAST WITH ‘RADICAL LEFT’ HARRIS Those articles and the administration itself have pointed to overall Department of Homeland Security (DHS) returns and removals, including those conducted by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in which a migrant can quickly be turned back at the border before being released. Both articles note that ICE deportations alone are down from the Trump era. When CBP removals are included, numbers are sharply higher after the end of Title 42 in May last year, when expulsions increased significantly. The Reuters analysis shows that under that metric, Trump saw 1.5 million deportations and returns, while Biden has overseen more than 1.1 million until February this year. “The majority of all Southwest border encounters during the past three fiscal years resulted in a removal, return, or expulsion. DHS removed or returned over 740,000 individuals in the 12 months after the end of the Title 42 public health Order, more than any year since 2010,” DHS said in a recent fact sheet. “That included more removals to countries other than Mexico than in any prior year ever.” Critics have noted that those numbers also come during a Biden era that has seen multiple years of record border encounters that far eclipse anything seen during the Trump administration. As that crisis has been ongoing, millions have been released into the U.S., with the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained docket recently hitting the 7 million mark. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are intentionally dismantling immigration enforcement. While they continue to muddle data and mislead the American people, illegal aliens continue to roam the country and commit heinous, preventable crimes,” Joe Edlow, a former Trump Administration official who also serves on the NICE advisory board, told Fox News Digital. “Biden-Harris deportation numbers being echoed by the media are mostly returns, meaning a migrant voluntarily departed at the border without receiving a formal removal order.” “As this comparison clearly illustrates, President Trump was deporting more illegal aliens with a focus on criminals, an effort that is sure to be expanded and properly executed under his leadership. American communities will once again be safe and our border will be secure.” But the high overall removals tap into a broader narrative by the Biden administration that it has successfully tackled the ongoing crisis at the border. It has recently highlighted numbers showing a more than 55% reduction in encounters in recent weeks after an executive order that further limited asylum claims in June. “We’re also securing our border. Border crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office,” Biden said in an address to the nation. Other Democrats have presented the border as a job done, particularly given Vice President Harris’ role in talks with international partners on root causes. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS “Border crossings are down. And one of the reasons is her assignment was diplomacy, and she did a lot of work in other countries to try to stop the flow,” former White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri told Politico. “And the numbers are down.” It’s a narrative that conservatives, including Republicans in Congress, are pushing back against. House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green told Fox News Digital that “despite the efforts by many in the media to absolve President Biden and border czar Kamala Harris of their dismal record on immigration enforcement, the facts simply will not allow it.” “The numbers are clear. The Biden-Harris administration has gutted interior enforcement and made it next to impossible for ICE agents to detain and remove illegal aliens. One federal court has even found that the guidance put in place by DHS on their watch is built on the premise that an official should not enforce the law,” he said. “Biden and Harris have sent an unmistakable signal to the world: If you cross illegally into this country, you will likely be released, and you are almost certainly here to stay, as DHS’ own reporting has documented.”
Fox News Politics: A Betting Man Says…
Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. What’s happening… -Biden calls for major reforms to the Supreme Court -Harris claimed Biden was ‘completely fit’ to continue in office -Trump commits to debate, says campaign adviser The “Keys to the White House” are currently favoring Vice President Kamala Harris in a hypothetical 2024 matchup against former President Trump, but a final prediction for the 2024 race is yet to be made. Allan Lichtman, an election forecaster who has correctly predicted nearly every presidential race since 1984, developed a formula that is used to make predictions about an upcoming presidential election – and in most cases, it proves to be right …Read more SUPREME COURT REFORM: Biden pushes major changes, including term limits for justices …Read more UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL: Harris claimed Biden was completely fit to continue in office, despite many encounters in the past year …Read more TRUMP TASK FORCE: Bipartisan task force members named in Trump assassination attempt probe …Read more OUTLOOK IS BLEAK: Here’s what Dems would need to pass Biden’s three-pronged SCOTUS overhaul …Read more ‘SAFEGUARD’ OUR STUDENTS: Cruz bill seeks to blunt foreign influence in schools …Read more ‘UNREMARKABLE’: A look at potential Kamala Harris VP pick’s time as state’s top cop …Read more ‘NEEDS TO BE FORMALIZED’: Trump will debate Democratic Party’s official and final nominee, campaign adviser says …Read more ‘TRYING TOO HARD’: ‘White Dudes for Harris’ meeting sparks online backlash and mockery …Read more DEMOCRAT RELIEF: Is Harris’ momentum the result of her candidacy or Biden dropping out? Strategist weighs in …Read more ‘TRUE COLORS’: War Veteran blasts Dem opponent after her campaign’s ‘disgusting’ smear of his military service book …Read more HARRIS HONEYMOON: How long will the Kamala Harris honeymoon in the polls against Donald Trump last? …Read more MUSK SLAMS GOOGLE: Billionaire accuses tech giant of possible ‘election interference’ over omitted Trump assassination attempt search suggestions …Read more RENEWED FEARS: Three migrants with possible terror ties comes after agency warning …Read more NOT SO TOUGH: Victim of brutal 2008 illegal migrant attack speaks out about Harris’ record as prosecutor …Read more SOLITARY MANDATE: NYC mayor blocks law limiting confinement …Read more KILLER CLIMB: FBI reveals how would-be Trump assassin accessed building roof …Read more ‘WE ALL FAILED’: SWAT snipers share security missteps before Trump shooting …Read more WAR OF WORDS: Turkey threatens Israel with invasion as it faces renewed attacks from Islamic terrorists …Read more NOODLES AND PASTA: Italy, China announce 3-year industrial cooperation plan as EU-China trade war fears loom …Read more Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
‘Stop pretending’: Conservative activist wants Dems behind SCOTUS ethics rules to take their own medicine
A prominent conservative activist and philanthropist is pushing back against President Biden’s newly unveiled plan to make drastic changes to the Supreme Court and impose ethics rules, saying that if the president “were truly serious” about such transformations he’d start with Congress – “where the real corruption is.” On Monday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris threw their weight behind changes to the high court, including term limits, a constitutional amendment limiting immunity for presidents, and a new slate of ethics rules – most of which some legal experts claim would be unconstitutional. Biden, in an op-ed published Sunday in The Washington Post, said he has “great respect for our institutions and separation of powers” but claimed that “what is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach.” Leonard Leo, the co-chairman of the conservative legal network the Federalist Society who was reportedly responsible for helping the Trump administration choose Supreme Court nominees, is calling Biden’s bluff. BIDEN, HARRIS CALL FOR SUPREME COURT TERM LIMITS, CODE OF CONDUCT, LIMITS ON PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY “No conservative justice has made any decision in any big case that surprised anyone, so let’s stop pretending this is about undue influence,” Leo said in a statement. “It’s about Democrats destroying a court they don’t agree with. If President Biden and the Democrats were truly serious about ethics reform, then they would ban all gifts and hospitality of any kind to any public official in any branch of government, starting with Congress, where the real corruption is,” he continued. DEMOCRATS TO CONFIRM NOMINEES BY VIRTUAL ROLL CALL WEEKS BEFORE DNC IN CHICAGO TO AVOID LEGAL CHALLENGES “They would close all of the loopholes that allow Members to travel on private jets to fancy hotels and restaurants. With respect to judges, they would include the things where influence peddling is most present and dangerous – and that’s when the liberal Justices rub shoulders with influencers at places like law schools, bar associations, progressive think tanks and their conferences, and other groups and events funded by Left-wing billionaires, where they support real vested interests in the work of the Court,” he added. TRUMP IMMUNITY CASE: SUPREME COURT RULES EX-PRESIDENTS HAVE SUBSTANTIAL PROTECTION FROM PROSECUTION Biden argued the new Supreme Court code of conduct should require justices to “disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.” “Let me be clear,” Leo said. “If Democrats want to adopt an across the board ethics ban for all branches, I am in favor of that: no jets, no meals, no speaking honorariums, no gifts for anyone from anyone for any reason in any branch, starting with Congress.” “Until they support that, let’s all be honest about what this is: a campaign to destroy a court that they disagree with,” he concluded. Biden is set to speak on his proposed changes to the high court Monday afternoon. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment. Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
Harris campaign dismisses critics of ‘segregation’ fundraising effort
The Harris campaign is dismissing critics of their fundraising efforts that have targeted individual races and genders, arguing the strategy is nothing more than normal campaign work. The Harris campaign has held multiple fundraisers in the week since she was elevated to the top of the ticket, holding Zoom events with titles such as “Win with Black Men,” “White Dudes for Harris,” and “Karens for Kamala” in hopes of attracting different demographics to the new campaign. But the events have also earned scorn from critics on social media, with some accusing the campaign of harkening back to “segregation.” ‘WHITE DUDES FOR HARRIS’ VIRTUAL MEETING ROASTED ONLINE: ‘MOST BETA GATHERING IN HISTORY’ “The Kamala Harris campaign is bringing segregation back in style again,” said one user on X in response to the back-to-back-to-back events. “It’s all about race with you guys,” another critic said of the events. The Harris campaign’s “White Dudes for Harris” is scheduled for Monday and may be the most widely panned, with some critics calling the event “racist” and “cringy,” while others have called the event “condescending.” “There’s nothing more ‘progressive’ than self-loathing White guys with low self-esteem, man buns, and a gender studies degree from SUNY Binghamton thinking if they sign up for something as condescending as this that they’ll make their first Black female friend and maybe get a date. This qualifies as ‘trying too hard’ and is so desperate as to likely backfire,” conservative radio host Jason Rantz told Fox News Digital. Others have poked fun at potential participants in the events, arguing that it would target men who are soft or weak. “This will be the most Beta gathering in history,” one user argued. ‘WHITE DUDES FOR HARRIS’ TO HOLD CALL AFTER 160,000 WHITE WOMEN JOIN ‘KARENS FOR KAMALA’ ZOOM Nevertheless, the unique Zoom fundraising effort has been at least somewhat successful, with close to 100,000 Black men and women raising nearly $2 million before the “Karen’s for Kamala” call had over 160,000 join the call. The Harris campaign has also dismissed the critics, noting that former President Donald Trump has engaged in similar tactics. “I’m a bit confused. This is what campaigns do is build coalition groups. Latino Americans for Trump for example,” Harris campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz told Fox News Digital. According to a report from the New York Post, allies for Trump in Congress have been holding events tailored towards the Black community, including get-out-the-vote events titled “Cigars, Cognac, and Congress” that have been hosted in predominantly Black communities. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Trump has also aggressively courted Hispanic voters, with the campaign rebranding its outreach to the demographic last month by launching the “Latino Americans for Trump” at a rally in Las Vegas, according to a report from NBC News, ditching the former “Latinos for Trump” slogan for a new one that chooses to emphasize that Latinos are Americans. “Whether you’re African American, Latino American, Asian American, European American, wherever you come from, we are all American,” Jaime Florez, the Hispanic communications director for the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign, told NBC News. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.