CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE

Blue Cross Blue Shield settles US health provider class action for $2.8 billion

A file photo of a healthcare provider in California · Reuters

Updated Mon, October 14, 2024 
By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) -Insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield has agreed to pay $2.8 billion to resolve antitrust class action claims by hospital systems, physicians and other health providers alleging they were underpaid for reimbursements, the plaintiffs said in an Alabama federal court filing on Monday.

The settlement is the largest ever for a healthcare antitrust case, they added.

Blue Cross Blue Shield denied the allegations in a statement, but said it agreed to the settlement and make operational changes to "put years of litigation behind us."

The providers' lead attorneys, Joe Whatley and Edith Kallas, said in a statement the proposed settlement would "transform" the BlueCard program through which providers submit claims.

The agreement is subject to approval from U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor.

The health providers first sued in 2012, claiming Blue Cross and its affiliates divided the country into exclusive areas where they did not compete with each other. The lawsuit said the nationwide conspiracy increased the cost of insurance and drove down reimbursements.

Under the settlement, Blue Cross will create a system-wide information platform facilitating member benefits, eligibility verification and claims tracking that the attorneys said would lead to more transparency, efficiency and accountability.

The settlement will also give providers more contracting opportunities with Blue Cross.

Blue Cross will spend hundreds of millions of dollars implementing the non-monetary part of the settlement, the filing said.

The settlement covers U.S. healthcare service providers, including hospitals and some doctors, with Blue plan patients between July 2008 and October 2024.

The lawyers said they would ask for up to $700 million in legal fees from Blue Cross.

Blue Cross agreed in 2020 to pay $2.7 billion to resolve related antitrust claims from commercial and individual subscribers. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld that deal in June.

China showcases lunar reach as space powers meet without Russia

China showcases lunar reach as space powers meet without Russia

FILE PHOTO: IAC space exploration conference in Paris

Mon, October 14, 2024 
By Joey Roulette, Giulia Segreti and Tim Hepher

MILAN (Reuters) -China unveiled a rock sample from the moon's far side to a space summit overshadowed by shifting political and commercial rivalries on Monday, with traditional space power Russia absent from the Milan gathering amid tensions with the West.

The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) has been a venue since 1950 for scientists, engineers, companies and politicians of space-faring nations to discuss cooperation, even during the Cold War.

At the latest edition in Milan, the China National Space Administration showcased a rock sample that its Chang’e 6 rover fetched from the moon’s far side - the first such exploit and widely seen as evidence of Beijing’s rising space-power status.

A Chinese official whisked a red blanket off a glass case containing the tiny lunar fragment at a ceremony witnessed by space agency chiefs of Europe, the United States, Japan and elsewhere.

For its part, NASA was displaying rocks that its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft retrieved from the Bennu asteroid in 2023.

"This is the most exciting time in space since the Apollo era in the 1960s," Clay Mowry, president of the 77-nation International Astronautical Federation, the non-profit that organises the annual congress, told Reuters.

Talks were expected to touch heavily on lunar exploration, NASA's growing coalition under its Artemis moon programme and Europe's pressing need for more sovereign access to space.

A record 7,197 technical abstracts have been submitted.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson was expected to use the event to rally support for plans to tap private companies to replace the ageing International Space Station after its 2030 retirement.


The orbiting science laboratory, now more than two decades old, has been a symbol of space diplomacy led primarily by the U.S. and Russia, despite conflicts on Earth.

Russia's space agency Roscosmos, a storied power now isolated from the West after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has no official presence at this year's event, however.

NASA has been investing billions of dollars in its Artemis moonshot but is also keen on maintaining a presence in low-Earth orbit to compete with China's Tiangong space station, which has continuously housed Chinese astronauts for three years.

The U.S. and China are also racing to land the first humans on the moon since the last American Apollo mission in 1972. Both are aggressively courting partner countries and leaning heavily on private companies for their moon programmes, shaping the space objectives of smaller space agencies.


EUROPE'S PRIORITIES

The Oct 14-18 event is the largest in the space calendar and comes as host nation Italy draws up a framework establishing local rules for private investment. It wants similar clarity at a European level, officials said.

A surge in space traffic led by fast-growing satellite constellations like Starlink has raised concerns about space debris collisions and a growing field of other space junk.

"These rules give the national ecosystem guidance on how to reach our objectives and grant the use of space in a sustainable and useful way," Italy's Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said.

Musk's SpaceX is relied upon by much of the Western world for accessing space, driving countries - including the U.S. - to encourage new space upstarts that can offer more affordable rockets. SpaceX's growing Starlink internet network has made the company the world's largest satellite operator.

After a year-long hiatus, Europe regained uncrewed access to orbit with the test flight of its Ariane 6 launcher in July.

Europe's satellite manufacturing industry is facing growing pressures, however, as a once-thriving market for its large, bespoke geostationary satellites shifts towards lower orbit.

Italy's Leonardo, one of the hosts of the week-long event, has called for a new strategy for the space sector embracing its French joint venture partner Thales and their main rival in satellite manufacturing, Airbus.

Industry sources say the three companies are involved in preliminary talks about combining their satellite activities, but much will depend on the attitude of a new European Commission, which blocked past efforts to forge a single player.

(Editing by Jamie Freed and Christina Fincher)

A La Niña winter is coming. Here’s what that could mean for the US

Mary Gilbert
Tue, October 15, 2024 

Fall is in full swing, but it’s not too soon to look ahead to winter, especially one that could feel considerably different than last year’s dominated by El Niño.

A weak La Niña is expected to develop ahead of the season and influence temperatures, precipitation, and by extension, even snow across the United States.

La Niña is a natural climate pattern that influences global weather marked by cooler than average ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. The effects on weather are most pronounced during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere and have a much weaker influence in the summer.

Last winter was the warmest on record for the Lower 48 because it was dominated by La Niña’s counterpart El Niño in a world also warming due to fossil fuel pollution.

The prolonged warmth prevented many heavy snow events in the Northeast and Midwest and created a winter snow drought measured in feet of missing snow.

La Niña isn’t here yet, but has a 60% chance of emerging through November, according to the Climate Prediction Center. Once it arrives, it’ll stick around all winter and likely persist into at least early spring of next year.

location, but emphasis is placed on them because they typically have an outsized effect on winter weather in the US — especially when they are strong.

While it’s still unclear just how strong La Niña will get, current forecasts favor a weaker one.

The strength of La Niña matters — the stronger it is the more of a “consistent” impact it can have on weather, according to Emily Becker, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Miami.

“A weaker event makes it more likely that other weather and climate phenomena could play the role of spoiler,” Becker wrote in NOAA’s latest La Niña/El Niño blog.

Earlier forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center show many of the hallmarks of typical La Niña winters. That outlook could be change when the center releases its latest forecast on Thursday based on trends toward a weaker La Niña.
What could this winter look like?

No two La Niña winters are the same, but many have temperature and precipitation trends in common.

La Niña's typical influence on the winter in the Lower 48. - CNN Weather

This is due to the behavior of the jet stream — essentially a river of air that storms flow through — which often shifts north during a La Niña winter. This typically shifts stormy weather out of the South and into parts of the northern US.

That’s almost exactly what the Climate Prediction Center’s latest winter forecast shows for December through February.

CNN Weather

The entire northern tier of the US is expected to end up wetter than normal this winter, especially the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and parts of the interior Northeast. Wet weather will be crucial to combat ongoing dryness and drought in the Midwest.

It’s a complete flip from last winter’s pattern, which favored a wetter South and a drier North.

More precipitation than normal doesn’t guarantee there will be more snow. Temperatures still have to be chilly enough both above and at the surface for snow to fall and stick to the ground.

Weak La Niña events tend to allow for more snow in the Northeast, while snow is more limited during stronger La Niñas because warmer temperatures often creep farther up the East Coast.

If this year’s La Niña ends up rather weak, this outlook could shift. Still, the latest winter temperature forecasts from the center aren’t ideal for snow lovers in the Northeast.

CNN Weather

The season is expected to be warmer than normal across almost the entire southern half of the US and much of the East. This could mean some winter storms in parts of the East end up wetter, rather than snowier. But with drier and warmer than normal conditions expected across the South, drought conditions could worsen throughout the season.

Parts of the Midwest, Plains and Rockies could end up with temperatures closer to normal this winter while cooler than normal conditions are expected from the Pacific Northwest to parts of the Dakotas.

The combination of wetter and cooler than normal conditions could potentially mean more snow for the Pacific Northwest, an area where a significant snowpack is crucial to tourism in the winter and the water supply for the warmer months.

Northern California is typically wetter during a La Niña winter, but the Climate Prediction Center’s forecast keeps the region near normal this season. La Niña had a hand in the extremely wet winter much of the state endured from December 2022 to February 2023 and during the wet winter before that.

Southern California is expected to be drier and warmer than average – typical for La Niña. It’s crucial the region gets a period of soaking rain in the next few months; wet weather is needed to shut down wildfire season. Without enough rain, fires could continue to burn through the overabundance of fire fuels like grasses or brush available this year.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

Trump calls for adding 10,000 Border Patrol agents after derailing a bipartisan border bill

MEG KINNARD and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
Updated Sun, October 13, 202

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Sunday proposed hiring 10,000 additional Border Patrol agents and giving them a $10,000 retention and signing bonus, after he derailed a bipartisan bill earlier this year that included funding for more border personnel.

Trump made his pledge during a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, roughly 260 miles north of the state's border with Mexico. He accepted an endorsement from the agents’ union, the National Border Patrol Council, which is a longtime Trump backer that endorsed him during his prior two campaigns.

Trump has made illegal immigration the focus of his campaign and blamed Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, for a record spike in unauthorized crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. He frequently denounces people entering the U.S. illegally as invaders and criminals, and he has vowed to stage the largest deportation operation in American history if he is elected president again.

He did defy the union earlier this year when he convinced Republicans to kill a bipartisan immigration bill that contained additional border resources. According to the White House, the bill would have funded 1,500 personnel at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol.

Trump at the time said he did not want to give Democrats a political victory on his key issue. At the rally, Trump contended the legislation was “a horrible bill.”

Trump and his allies routinely call Harris the “border czar,” even though she's never had that title. President Joe Biden did ask Harris early in his administration to study the “root causes” of migration from Central America.

“If we allow Border Czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country is going to go to hell,” union president Paul Perez said as he stood next to Trump on stage with a group of agents.

Matt Corridoni, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, noted Trump’s move against the border bill and his vows that Mexico would pay for his signature border wall, which ultimately was funded by the U.S. government.

“Trump doesn’t care about solving problems, he only wants to run on one,” Corridoni said in a statement.

Trump has vowed to complete a border wall if he's returned to the White House. He routinely trumpets his comparatively low numbers of border crossings with the much higher ones during Biden's first three years in office, though currently crossings are back down to levels at or below those seen during most of Trump's term.

Trump's term was also marked by a struggle to crack down on illegal crossings before the COVID-19 pandemic led to international border closures. Under his administration, Border Patrol agents separated immigrant children from their parents, one of several enforcement programs the Trump administration implemented to target illegal immigration.

On Sunday, Trump said that Border Patrol agents deserved the higher pay and bonuses and bemoaned how he said Biden and Harris had neglected the border.

Trump Calls for Border Agent Hiring Spree With New Pay Hikes

María Paula Mijares Torres and Stephanie Lai
Sun, October 13, 2024 




(Bloomberg) -- Republican nominee Donald Trump called for raises and bonuses for border agents in an attempt to recruit 10,000 new people to secure the US-Mexico border.

Trump said Sunday that, if elected in November, he will call on Congress to pass a 10% pay increase for border patrol agents and approve $10,000 retention and signing bonuses.

“This will ensure that we can hire and keep the border patrol agents that we need to keep, and we can also bring in a lot of new ones, really great ones,” Trump said at a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, a town in a Republican-leaning county where Trump took 64% of the vote in the 2020 presidential race.

Trump’s bid to recruit thousands more border agents comes as he is sharpening his immigration pitch to court voters in swing state that President Joe Biden won by fewer than 11,000 votes four years ago. Polls show that voters consistently rank Trump higher on border security than his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris.

An additional 10,000 agents would represent a roughly 50% increase from the nearly 19,500 employed by the US Customs and Border Protection in fiscal year 2022. Immigration remains a top concern among the state’s voters. Trump has pledged to finish building a border wall and conduct mass deportations of undocumented migrants.

Arizona opened early voting on Oct. 9, kicking off the 2024 choice in a closely contested state that was central to Trump’s false claims of election tampering after the last election. Trump has a 1 percentage point lead in Arizona over Harris, his Democratic opponent, in the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.

Harris, meanwhile, has assailed Trump for his role in killing a bipartisan immigration bill that would have addressed the border crisis, and has said she would sign it into law if it came to her desk. She has said she’d strengthen border security and boost prosecutions of repeat offenders while also providing legal pathways to citizenship for migrants already in the US.

Arizona Campaigning

Trump’s Arizona stop caps his latest tour of western states, which included an unusual trip to Coachella in heavily Democratic California and a roundtable in Las Vegas to meet Latino supporters, including Goya Foods Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robert Unanue.

Harris visited Arizona last week for a rally and a visit with Republicans who don’t support Trump. She pledged to create a bipartisan policy advice council if she’s elected, part of efforts to broaden the Democratic ticket’s appeal among independents and Republicans wary of the former president.

With Trump and Harris vying for Latino votes, Harris defended her record on immigration and health care at a Univision town hall on Oct. 10. Univision also is airing a town hall with Trump on Oct. 16.

Latinos have grown at the second-fastest rate of any major racial and ethnic group in the US electorate since the 2020 presidential election, according to a Pew Research Center survey, which also found an estimated 36.2 million are eligible to vote this year, up from 32.3 million in 2020.

A recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll concluded that Harris has the edge among likely Latino voters in Nevada and Arizona, though Trump led among Latino men under age 50.

Arizona’s number of eligible Latino voters has more than doubled since 2000 to an estimated 1.3 million, and they now make up a quarter of the state’s electorate. They also skew significantly younger than the average Arizona voter.


Trump receives unanimous endorsement from Border Patrol Union

Greg Wehner

FOX NEWS
Sun, October 13, 2024 


The official union of the U.S. border patrol announced its full support of former President Trump during a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona on Sunday.

During the rally, Trump told the crowd that he was "honored to receive… the endorsement" of the union of the entire union of the border patrol agents, the National Border Patrol Council.

"It’s a great honor," Trump said. "They said it was unanimous. Thousands of people."

He then invited Paul Perez, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, onto the stage.

House Committee Ramps Up Pressure To Obtain Important Docs On Harris' Role In Border Crisis

National Border Patrol Council president Paul Perez announced the union's endorsement of former President Trump during a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, on Oct. 13, 2024.

Perez said he had a message for everyone in the crowd.

"If we allow border czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country is going to go to hell," Perez said. "The untold millions of people unvetted, who she has allowed into this country that are committing murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries and every other crime will continue to put our country in peril.

"Only one man can fix that. That is Donald J. Trump," he continued. "He has always stood with the men and women who protect this border, who put their lives on the line for the country."

The union president told the crowd they have a choice to make this November.

He said the chaos can continue, and criminal cartels can continue to be allowed to control the border which will allow for drugs and fentanyl to filter into the U.S., or voters can put an end to the chaos.

"On behalf of the 16,000 men and women represented by the National Border Patrol Council, we strongly support and endorse Donald J. Trump for President of the United States," Perez said.


Border Patrol picks up a group of asylum seekers from an aid camp at the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, on March 13, 2024.

Trump appeared pleased with the endorsement from what he called an "incredible group of people" he will always stand with.

After announcing the endorsement, Trump continued to rally for votes from the people of Arizona, a key swing state on the border.

He made numerous digs toward his opponent, Vice President Harris, and vowed to never allow the U.S. military to become woke.

Trump then told those in attendance to watch a video on a screen behind him.

Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 7, 2023, in Lukeville, Arizona.

The feed featured clips from Stanley Kubrick’s movie, "Full Metal Jacket," which features a brash drill sergeant played by the late actor, R. Lee Ermey.

Ermey’s character was featured shouting at his new soldiers, telling them they will not laugh or cry, before the video took a turn.

"Happy pride. Happy pride month, and actually, let’s declare it a sunny day," the video showed.

Trump also addressed the changing of the names of bases before later telling the crowd his administration will crush violent crime and support police.

Trump will continue to campaign up to election day on Nov. 5.

Trump, Harris Locked In Dead Heat In 7 Battleground States, Poll Finds: ‘Could Not Be Closer’

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris

According to a Wall Street Journal poll released last week, there was little separation between Trump and Harris in seven battleground states, which prompted a Democratic pollster to say that the 2024 election "really could not be closer."

The survey of 600 registered voters in each of the states, which was conducted Sept. 28-Oct. 8 with a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points, found that in a head-to-head contest, Trump and Harris are tied in North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Harris leads Trump 48%-46% in Arizona and Georgia, and 49%-47% in Michigan, according to the poll. In Nevada, Trump has his biggest swing state lead of 49%-43%, while he leads Harris in Pennsylvania 47%-46%, the poll also found.

On the issues, voters say they trusted Trump more to handle the economy, inflation and immigration and border security.

They preferred Harris when it comes to housing affordability, abortion, health care and having someone in the Oval Office who cares about you.

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.











APTOPIX Election 2024 Trump
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump talks with members of the U.S. Border Patrol before speaking at a campaign rally, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Prescott Valley, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

ABOLISH THE HOUSE OF LORDS!

Hereditary nobles have sat in Britain's Parliament for centuries. Their time may be up

JILL LAWLESS
Tue, October 15, 2024 


FILE - Members of the House of Commons and Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords, in London, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Britain Aristocrats Ousted

LONDON (AP) — Like his ancestors for centuries, the Earl of Devon serves in Parliament, helping to make the laws of the land. But not for much longer.

British lawmakers will vote Tuesday on a bill to strip hereditary aristocrats of the right to sit and vote in House of Lords after more than 700 years. The Labour Party government says the decision will complete a long-stalled reform of Parliament’s upper chamber and remove an “outdated and indefensible” relic of the past.

“In the 21st century, there should not be places in our Parliament, making our laws, reserved for those who are born into certain families,” Constitution Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said Tuesday as he opened debate on the bill in the House of Commons.


He noted that Britain is one of only two countries — the other is Lesotho — with a hereditary element to its parliament.

But Lord Devon thinks it’s risky to tinker with the U.K.'s unwritten constitution, which “has survived an awful lot of slings and arrows of misfortune over a thousand years.”

“The fact that I am doing a job that was granted by the Empress Matilda to my forebear in 1142, and is still ongoing and is still functioning, is a remarkable example of consistency and continuity,” said the earl, a 49-year-old lawyer whose given name is Charles Peregrine Courtenay.

Britain’s Parliament has two chambers: the House of Commons, whose members are directly elected by voters in 650 constituencies across the U.K.; and the unelected Lords. For centuries it was made up of noblemen — women were not allowed until 1963 — whose voting rights were passed down to their children along with their titles. In the 1950s these were joined by “life peers” — retired politicians, civic leaders and other notables appointed by the government.

In 1999 the Labour government of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair evicted most of the more than 750 hereditary peers from the Lords, though to avoid an aristocrats’ rebellion, 92 were allowed to remain temporarily.

A quarter-century on, 88 hereditaries are still there, an all-male group with an average age of almost 70. When one dies or retires, their fellow bluebloods hold elections to replace them. Courtenay joined the House of Lords in 2018 after winning an election in which there were 19 candidates and 31 eligible voters.

Peers who sit in the ornate, gilded Lords chamber do not get a salary but can claim 361 pounds ($472) a day in expenses and can enjoy Parliament’s subsidized bars, tea rooms and restaurants. It’s a job for life, unless members choose to retire or — in a recent change — are expelled for non-attendance.

The appointment of peers by successive governments means the Lords is overstuffed, with about 800 members — the second-largest legislative chamber in the world after China’s National People’s Congress.

The opposition Scottish National Party has filed a motion to abolish the House of Lords altogether, though that stands little chance of passing. Labour remains committed eventually to replacing the Lords with “an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the U.K.”

While more Lords support the Conservatives than any other party — others, like Courtenay, are nonaligned — some on the left of British politics have come to value the upper house for its role in helping to moderate controversial plans by the previous Conservative government over Brexit and immigration.

Labour's large House of Commons majority means lawmakers will almost certainly vote Tuesday to send the bill on for further scrutiny, despite Conservative misgivings.

“The checks and balances of the Lords — its tried and tested conventions — work," said Conservative lawmaker Oliver Dowden, a former deputy prime minister. “We should only fix what is broken and be cautious about rushing into change.”

To become law, the bill also has to get through the House of Lords, which has the power to delay and amend legislation approved by the Commons, but ultimately can’t block it. It is likely to become law in the coming year.

Courtenay, who owns Powderham Castle and its 3,500 acre (1,400 hectare) estate in the southwest England county of Devon, is sanguine about becoming the last in his storied family to sit in Parliament.

“We were responsible for crowning Henry VII. We fought alongside the Black Prince at the Battle of Crécy, and we financed the Agincourt campaign in 1415. And we were first cousins of Henry VIII until he chopped our head off,” he said. “So we’ve been somewhat involved in the workings of government over a long, long time.

“And outside of those moments in the spotlight, there’s been an awful lot of plodding along, trying to support Devon and help the community … a long and satisfying service, which will continue.”

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested during Wall Street demonstration


Oct. 15, 2024 

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated Monday outside of the New York Stock Exchange with signs that read "As Gaza is bombed, Wall Street booms." About 206 people were arrested after they breached a security fence around the building, according to the New York Police Department. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters failed to disrupt the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, despite chants of "As Gaza is bombed, Wall Street booms," outside of the lower Manhattan building.

None of the approximately 500 protesters, wearing red shirts, made it inside the building or disrupted trading, but some chained themselves to security fences around the NYSE on Broad Street.

About 206 people were arrested after they breached the barrier, according to the New York Police Department. The protesters, who started demonstrating at about 9:30 a.m. EDT, dispersed about three hours later.

Protesters with signs, "Jews for Palestinian Freedom" and "Fund FEMA Not Genocide," said they were rallying against Israel's bombing of Gaza.

"Let's be clear once and for all: the United States is not arming Israel to protect Jews. The United States is arming Israel for its own profit and control of the region," Jewish Voice for Peace, the Jewish-led pro-Palestinian group that organized Monday's protest, wrote in a post on X along with video showing protesters being carried away by NYPD.

"The reason we're here is to demand that the U.S. government stop sending bombs to Israel and stop profiting off of Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza," said Beth Miller of Jewish Voice for Peace.

"Because what's been happening for the last year is that Israel is using U.S. bombs to massacre communities in Gaza while simultaneously weapons manufacturers on Wall Street are seeing their stock prices skyrocket," Miller added.

Israel launched its war in Gaza, just over a year ago after Hamas militants' surprise attack in Israel. The Oct. 7, 2023, attack killed more than 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage. Israel's ongoing war in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Israel has also vowed revenge after Iran retaliated for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by firing nearly 200 ballistic missiles in a limited attack earlier this month.

"Endless war, profits soar, arms embargo now!" protesters chanted Monday in New York.

"As Jews, many of us are descendants of those who survived genocide. Our ancestors taught us to never be bystanders in the face of injustice," Jewish Voice for Peace wrote in a post on X.

"We are all responsible for taking action to change the course of history and stop this genocide that is being waged in our name."

Protesters stage sit-in outside New York Stock Exchange to spotlight Gaza attacks

Rob Wile and Kyla Guilfoil and Brandon Gomez, CNBC and Max Butterworth and Mithil Aggarwal and Brittany Kubicko
Mon, October 14, 2024 

Police officers detain demonstrators protesting Israel's war against Hamas as they occupy an area outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

A group of protesters staged a sit-in outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday morning amid continued Israeli attacks in Gaza.

Approximately 500 individuals representing Jewish Voices for Peace, a Jewish-led pro-Palestinian group, arrived at the exchange at 85 Broad St. as part of an "unscheduled protest" just before the stock market's official 9:30 a.m. opening, according to a New York Police Department spokesperson.

Demonstrators protesting Israel's war against Hamas lock themselves on the fence while they protest and occupy an area outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

A total of 206 arrests were made, the spokesperson said. An NYSE representative said at least one person had handcuffed himself between an interior and exterior door.


In an email to NBC News ahead of the action, a spokesperson for the protest group said "hundreds" were planning to gather at the exchange to demand that the U.S. government "fund FEMA, not genocide."

"As Gaza is bombed, Wall Street booms," Jewish Voices for Peace said in a post on X. "The stock prices of weapons manufacturers have skyrocketed this year. The U.S. war economy is profiting from genocide."

Police officers detain demonstrators protesting Israel's war against Hamas as they occupy an area outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

The Israeli conflict last week passed the first anniversary of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants.

A renewed Israeli operation in northern Gaza put a refugee camp and hospitals in the area under siege over the weekend, with more than 200 people killed.

Early Monday, a fire broke out in an encampment housing displaced civilians following Israeli attacks in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza.

Police officers detain a demonstrator protesting Israel's war against Hamas as they occupy an area outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

The Associated Press reported Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was mulling a plan to seal northern Gaza in an attempt to "starve out" Hamas militants there, something that would also affect hundreds of thousands of Palestinians unwilling or unable to leave their homes.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters outside of New York Stock Exchange

Victoria Bekiempis
Mon, October 14, 2024 

New York police department officers detain some protesters and intervene in the pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the New York Stock Exchange building in New York, on Monday.Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images


New York City police arrested numerous pro-Gaza protesters outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday after a demonstration highlighting Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza and Lebanon.

Demonstrators voiced chants such as “Let Gaza live!” and “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation!” and managed to get inside a security fence outside the exchange on Broad Street in downtown Manhattan.

They then sat down and waited for police to take them into custody, according to the Associated Press.

Jewish Voice for Peace, which organized the protest, said: “ 200 Jews are risking arrest risking arrest in the largest act of civil disobedience in the history of the New York Stock Exchange.

“Stocks are rising while children are dying. As Israel drops bombs on homes, schools, and hospitals in Gaza, Wall Street booms, and all the members of Congress who invest in these companies get richer every day,” Jay Saper of Jewish Voice for Peace said in a press release.

Video of the protest posted by independent journalist Noah Hurowitz on Twitter/X shows a large group of protesters walking briskly toward the exchange, converging in front of the entrance, and blocking it. Police reportedly told some media that there had been up to 200 arrests.

Asked to confirm the number of arrests, an NYPD spokesperson said there had been multiple, but that they did not have a final number yet. Police were also witnessed detaining a credentialed journalist and then released her shortly thereafter, Hurowitz said on X.

The demonstration came a week after the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s 7 October attack against Israel. Hamas fighters crossed into Israel from Gaza and killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans, and took at least 251 hostages of whom nearly 100 remain in Gaza, according to NBC News.

Israel has since carried out a military campaign in Gaza. The Gaza ministry of health says that more than 41,000 have died, ABC News said.

Related: Protesters rally across the US on 7 October anniversary – in pictures

The Israel-Gaza war has expanded into other parts of the region and stoked fears that military action will spread further, especially if Iran carries out larger attacks than it has done so far. Hezbollah, allied with Iran, on 8 October 2023 started launching rockets at northern Israel in support of Hamas.

The conflict deepened recently after Israel bombed southern Lebanon, the Bekaa valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs, and deployed ground troops across the border.

“At this very moment, the Israeli military is massacring family after family in North Gaza – with US-made bombs. The Biden Administration wants the public to believe that the US’s $18 billion slushfund for Israel’s genocide is for the sake of ‘Jewish safety,’” Elena Stein, director of organizing strategy for Jewish Voice for Peace, said in a press release.

“We’re here refusing to be used as the US’s moral cover and to expose its true interests: financial gain and control in the region. Weapons embargo now,” Stein also said.



Jewish Protesters Target Wall Street As Israeli Strikes Hit Hospitals In Gaza

Lex McMenamin
Mon, October 14, 2024

Sophie Hurwitz

Wall Street’s Monday began with Jewish protesters and anti-war advocates gathering outside the New York Stock Exchange in protest of U.S. funding for Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, some reportedly locking themselves to the gates of the building, in an action organized by Jewish Voice for Peace. Protesters laid out a banner reading “Gaza Bombed, Wall Street Booms” in front of themselves on the street in front of the Stock Exchange.

In a press release, Jewish Voice for Peace noted that the stock price of arms manufacturing companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have “skyrocketed” in the past year of warfare. “As Gaza is bombed, Wall Street booms,” Emma Seligman, writer and director of the film “Bottoms,” said in a statement to Teen Vogue from the protest. “Right now, the Israeli military is dropping bombs on homes, schools, refugee camps, and hospitals in North Gaza. Meanwhile, the members of Congress who vote to send these weapons to Israel invest in these companies and get richer every day.”

Today has been a day of carnage. Footage of the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in central Gaza spread across social media, showing burning tents housing sleeping families in refuge, as well as one man burning alive, as reported by the Washington Post, which puts the reported death toll from the attack currently at 70. The majority of those injured were women and children. Meanwhile, the Guardian reported, another Israeli strike killed at least 18 in the town of Aitou in northern Lebanon.

That same day, it was reported by the Associated Press that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering “seal[ing] off humanitarian aid to northern Gaza in an attempt to starve out Hamas militants, a plan that, if implemented, could trap without food or water hundreds of thousands of Palestinians unwilling or unable to leave their homes.”

At the end of last week, the U.N. announced that no food has entered northern Gaza since the beginning of October, and that “aid entering Gaza is at its lowest level in months,” per ABC News. A U.N. inquiry, also at the end of last week, “accused Israel of carrying out a ‘concerted policy’ of destroying [Gaza’s] health care system,” reported CNN. Per the BBC, the same inquiry called the attacks on Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare workers “[amounted to] the crime against humanity of ‘extermination.’”

“At this very moment, the Israeli military is massacring family after family in North Gaza – with US-made bombs,” Elena Stein, Director of Organizing Strategy for Jewish Voice for Peace, said via a statement. “The Biden Administration wants the public to believe that the US’s $18 billion slush fund for Israel’s genocide is for the sake of ‘Jewish safety.’ We’re here refusing to be used as the US’s moral cover and to expose its true interests: financial gain and control in the region. Weapons embargo now.”


A JVP protester is arrested.Jewish Voice for Peace

JVP connected their action at the Stock Exchange targeting those they accuse of profiting off the war to the recent Hurricanes Helene and Milton: FEMA spent almost half its disaster relief budget for the next 12 months in the first eight days of the fiscal year, right after the U.S. government approved $8.7 billion in military funding to Israel. A banner at the protest read “FUND FEMA NOT GENOCIDE.”

The protest is in part a reference to the first action from the protest group ACT UP in 1987, targeting pharmaceutical companies amid the AIDS crisis. Two years later, a similar protest from ACT UP became the first to disrupt the opening bell of the Stock Exchange. Their protests helped force lowered prices for AIDS medication.



Protesters locked themselves to doors at the New York Stock Exchange.Jewish Voice for Peace


A protester with Jewish Voice for Peace is arrested by New York police.

Jewish Voice for Peace

“ACT UP’s first action took place on Wall Street to protest the lack of funding for AIDS care and medications. Today, a growing anti-war movement returns to this street to demand healthcare not warfare,” artist and ACT UP activist Gregg Bordowitz, who was at the 1989 protest and joined the JVP action today, said in a statement. “For those of us still alive today the continuity of struggle and commitment remain clear.”

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue


Pro-Palestinian protesters chain themselves to the door of the New York Stock Exchange

Mira Wassef

THE HILL
Mon, October 14, 2024 

Pro-Palestinian protesters chain themselves to the door of the New York Stock Exchange


LOWER MANHATTAN (PIX11) — A group of pro-Palestinian protesters who chained themselves to the front door of the New York Stock Exchange were among hundreds arrested during a massive demonstration in Lower Manhattan on Monday, police said.

About 206 people were taken into custody during the protest at 11 Wall St., which began at 9:30 a.m. in Lower Manhattan, according to the NYPD. The charges were not immediately available.

More: Latest News from PIX11

Approximately 500 people showed up at the event before the crowd dispersed about three hours later, police said.

The protesters lined the streets in the Financial District to protest Israel’s bombing of Gaza. They hung banners reading, “Jews for Palestinian Freedom,” “Jews Say Divest from Israel,” and “Fund FEMA Not Genocide.”

More News: Israel-Hamas War

“The reason we’re here is to demand that the U.S. government stop sending bombs to Israel and stop profiting off of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” said Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace, the group that organized the demonstration. “Because what’s been happening for the last year is that Israel is using U.S. bombs to massacre communities in Gaza while simultaneously weapons manufacturers on Wall Street are seeing their stock prices skyrocket.”

The group chanted, “Let Gaza live!” and ”Up up with liberation, down down with occupation!” in front of the landmark building. None of the protesters got inside the exchange, but at least 200 made it inside a security fence on Broad Street.

The gathering was peaceful until about six people chained themselves to the front door of the New York Stock Exchange, police said. Several NYPD officers removed those protesters before several other demonstrators were seen boarding an NYC Correction bus near the famed building, Citizen App video shows.

The protest happened a week after the world marked one year since Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the start of Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza, which has since spread to Lebanon and beyond.

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began. At least 1,200 people were killed, and Hamas took 250 people hostage in its attack on Israel.

This story comprises reporting from The Associated Press.

Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the NYC area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 

Ocasio-Cortez criticizes Biden administration over ‘unrestrained’ Israel government

Tara Suter
Mon, October 14, 2024 


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized the Biden administration on Monday over what she called an “unrestrained” Israeli government.

“The horrors unfolding in northern Gaza are the result of a completely unrestrained Netanyahu gov, fully armed by the Biden admin while food aid is blocked and patients are bombed in hospitals,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on the social platform X.

”This is a genocide of Palestinians,” she added. “The US must stop enabling it. Arms embargo now.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s post comes a day after Vice President Harris pushed for Israel to ramp up aid to Gaza in a post of her own, citing a World Food Program (WFP) report.

“The UN reports that no food has entered northern Gaza in nearly 2 weeks. Israel must urgently do more to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need,” Harris said in her post on X. “Civilians must be protected and must have access to food, water, and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected.”

In a Saturday press release, the WFP said “escalating violence in northern Gaza is having a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families” and “that the main crossings into the north have been closed and no food aid has entered since 1 October.”

The WFP also said that food distribution points, kitchens and bakeries in northern Gaza have had to shut down due to airstrikes, military ground operations and evacuation orders.

“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” Antoine Renard, WFP country director for Palestine, said in the release. “WFP has been on the ground since the onset of the crisis. We are committed to delivering life-saving food every day despite the mounting challenges, but without safe and sustained access, it is virtually impossible to reach the people in need.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s Monday critique also came as the U.S. announced that it is sending 100 troops and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system to Israel, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calibrates the country’s response to Iran’s latest attacks.

The New York progressive has been calling on the U.S. to stop arming Israel since well before Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year. She and other “Squad” members have ramped up calls for a weapons embargo as the toll of Israel’s retaliatory war has grown.

While former President Trump and Republican groups have sought to tie Harris to far-left figures in her party, the Democratic nominee has consistently said she would not break from President Biden’s staunch support for Israel.

The Hill has reached out to the White House and Israeli prime minister’s office for comment.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 

Study: Half of patients with sepsis die within 2 years

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News
Oct. 15, 2024 

Half of people who develop blood poisoning, otherwise known as sepsis, are dead within a couple of years, a new study finds. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News



Half of people who develop blood poisoning, otherwise known as sepsis, are dead within a couple of years, a new study finds.

A little more than 50% of patients admitted to an ER with sepsis died within two years, Danish researchers report.

"We found that certain factors increased the risk of death after sepsis, including, not surprisingly, advanced age," said Finn Nielsen, a senior scientist of clinical epidemiology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark.

"Additionally, conditions such as dementia, heart disease, cancer and previous hospitalization with sepsis within the last six months before admission also elevated the risk of dying during a median follow-up period of two years," Nielsen added in a hospital news release.

For the study, researchers tracked outcomes among patients admitted to Aarhus University Hospital with sepsis between October 2017 and March 2018.

"Our study relied on a sepsis database, which provided valuable information based on prospectively collected patient data," Nielsen said. "Unlike frequently used routine registry data, this approach minimized errors, and allowed for more accurate and detailed insights into sepsis effects."

The researchers identified 714 patients who developed sepsis during that time.

After an average two years, 361 had died -- not just from sepsis, but from any cause.

Old age increased a person's risk of sepsis by 4% for every additional year of age, researchers found.

Further, a history of cancer more than doubled a person's risk of death, clogged arteries increased risk by 39%, and dementia increased risk by 90%, results show.

People with repeated bouts of sepsis also were 48% more likely to die, based on data from hospital patients previously admitted with sepsis within the past six months.

"We believe this knowledge is useful for both clinicians and researchers in the field of acute medicine," Nielsen said. "Recognizing that sepsis is a serious illness with high mortality is crucial."

However, larger studies are needed, given that this research was done at a single hospital, Nielsen noted.

"Similar but larger studies of sepsis-related outcomes need to be repeated across departments, regions and countries to obtain a comprehensive epidemiological picture of sepsis," Nielsen said.

Neilsen presented these findings at the European Society for Emergency Medicine's annual meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Sepsis is a serious and potentially fatal medical condition. The incidence of sepsis is increasing in several countries, yet so far, there has been limited, reliable information about long-term outcomes for patients who develop sepsis," Dr. Barbra Backus, chair of the society's abstract selection, said in a meeting news release.

"This study has shown certain risk factors that should alert clinicians to the risk of patients with sepsis at an increased risk of dying, so that they can monitor them and follow them up more closely," added Backus, an emergency physician in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who was not involved in the research.

Findings presented at a medical meeting should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed article.

More information

The U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about sepsis.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Human sense of smell may be quicker than you think

By Ernie Mundell, HealthDay News

Oct. 15, 2024 

People sense millisecond shifts in odor as quickly as they might spot a change in color, new research shows. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

People sense millisecond shifts in odor as quickly as they might spot a change in color, new research shows.

The study discounts the notion that smell is a "slower" sense than sight or hearing, scientists say.

"A sniff of odors is not a long exposure shot of the chemical environment that averages out" over time, explained study lead author Dr. Zhou Wen, at the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Instead, smell can spot fluctuations in odors with a "sensitivity on par with that for color perception" in vision, she said in an academy news release.

Zhou's team published its findings Monday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Human's sense of smell is nowhere near that of many animals, such as dogs. But it may not be as sluggish as most people think, the new study found.

In their experiments, the Chinese team constructed a special sniff-triggered device that organized the emissions of odors with a precision of 18 milliseconds.

Using the device, they had it produce two odors one after the other, separated by milliseconds, switching which odor came first.

They then had 229 people sniff the odors to see if they could sense any differences.

According to the academy news release, "participants could tell the difference when the delay between the compounds was just 60 milliseconds -- about a third of the time it takes to blink."

That's roughly equal to the time it takes the human visual sense to distinguish the order of green and red lights blinking, Zhou's team noted.

In an accompanying journal editorial, Dr. Dmitry Rinberg, a professor of neuroscience and physiology at NYU Langone Health in New York City, described the new findings as akin to how people hear music.

"The timing of individual notes in music is essential for conveying meaning and beauty in a melody, and the human ear is very sensitive to this. However, temporal sensitivity is not limited to hearing: our sense of smell can also perceive small temporal changes in odour presentations," he wrote. "Similar to how timing affects the perception of notes in a melody, the timing of individual components in a complex odour mixture that reaches the nose may be crucial for our perception of the olfactory world."

Rinberg believes it's time the human sense of smell was taken more seriously by science.

"The study of human olfaction has historically lagged that of vision and hearing, because as humans we think of ourselves as visual creatures that largely use speech to communicate," he said.

Her team's findings aren't just a scientific curiosity, Zhou told CNN.

"Our apparatus could be used for therapeutic purposes, such as olfactory training for patients with olfactory loss," she said. "More broadly, our findings could guide the design and development of electronic noses and olfactory virtual reality systems, which could have significant clinical benefits."

More information

Find out more about how your sense of smell works at the Cleveland Clinic.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

True Value files for bankruptcy as Do it Best bids to acquire assets

Oct. 14, 2024 / 

Hardware retailer True Value announced Monday it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is entertaining a bid to sell its assets to competitor Do it Best. If approved, the deal would create a network of 8,000 stores in the United States and around the world. File Photo by Ammodramus via Wikimedia Commons

Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Long-time hardware retailer True Value announced Monday it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is entertaining a bid to sell its assets to competitor Do it Best.

The home improvement industry deal, if approved, would create a network of more than 8,000 stores in the United States and around the world.

"After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, we determined that the sale of our business was the path forward to maximize value and best serve our retail partners and other stakeholders into the future," said Chris Kempa, True Value's chief executive officer.

"We believe that entering the process with an agreed offer from Do it Best, which has a similar decades-long history in the home improvement space and also operates with a focus on supporting members and helping them grow, is the most beneficial next step for True Value and our associates, customers and vendor partners," Kempa added. "We thank these valued stakeholders for their continued loyalty as we work to secure a stronger future for True Value."

True Value, which is based in Chicago and has been in the home improvement business for more than 70 years, was founded in 1948 and serves more than 4,500 stores worldwide with total retail sales of $10 billion, according to the company.

Ace Hardware interested in buying competitor True Value

In 2017, Ace Hardware expressed an interest in buying True Value, amid reports True Value was considering putting itself up for auction with a potential asking price of $800 million. Ace Hardware is also based in Illinois.

True Value currently operates as a wholesaler cooperative that sells its products to hardware sellers and garden centers. Independently owned True Value stores are not part of the bankruptcy.

If Do it Best is the winning bidder for True Value's assets, the transaction could be on track to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory and court approval.

"A successful acquisition of True Value assets would represent a strategic milestone for Do it Best and home improvement retailers around the world," said Dan Starr, Do it Best president and CEO.

"Do it Best has a proven track record of driving profitability through the most efficient operations in the industry," Starr added. "This acquisition, if consummated, would provide True Value and independent hardware stores the strongest opportunities for growth for years to come."

True Value declares bankruptcy and sells itself to a hardware rival

True Value is selling "substantially all" of its business to rival Do it Best.

 · CNN Business · Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post/Getty Images

Jordan Valinsky
Updated Mon, October 14, 2024 

True Value, a 75-year old hardware store brand, has filed for bankruptcy and is selling substantially all of its operations to a rival, the company announced Monday.

In a press release, True Value said it will continue day-to-day operations of selling hardware and other homeware tools to its 4,500 independently operated locations during the Chapter 11 process, which includes a $153 million stalking horse bid from rival company Do it Best.

True Value said its stores will remain open, because they are not part of the bankruptcy proceedings.

In bankruptcy court filings, True Value said it faces a significant cash crunch as the housing market stalled and consumers have become far more picky about discretionary purchases like hardware. Bigger rivals like Home Depot and Lowe’s have also been in a yearslong slump since the pandemic boom, but they remain in a significantly stronger financial situation than True Value.

Still, a number of other chains have voiced similar problems that also tipped them into bankruptcy, including Big Lots and LL Flooring.

“After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, we determined that the sale of our business was the path forward to maximize value and best serve our retail partners and other stakeholders into the future,” said True Value CEO Chris Kempa in a release.

Do it Best is a member-owned wholesaler that sells hardware, lumber and other home goods to independent stores.

“Do it Best has a proven track record of driving profitability through the most efficient operations in the industry,” said Do it Best CEO Dan Starr in a statement. “This acquisition, if consummated, would provide True Value and independent hardware stores the strongest opportunities for growth for years to come.”

The transaction with Do it Best is expected to close by the end of the year, unless there’s better offers.