1600: Unpack It

"Send it"

Here’s a bit of common gossip we have been avoiding recently, but decided to release seeing as Bressler is viewing the majority of Israelis as Nazis. Right-wing attorney Kinneret Broshi revealed that Bressler is married to a member of the clandestine Shin Bet, and noted: “In recent months, many in Israel have been wondering how people protesting against the government arrive in a matter of minutes at places where the Prime Minister, senior ministers, and Knesset members are staying.”

Link

FE: Ministers and top officials must stay away from Google on mobile

Danish ministers and heads of department should not make official phone calls in

their private homes if they are near a smart speaker or a smart TV.

This is what Mark Fiedel, head of the Defense Intelligence Service's (FE's)

department for cyber analysis, which is located in the Center for Cyber

Security, told Politiken.

- If you have to have a business conversation on your work phone, then it is our

clear recommendation to make sure that you take it to a place where you are not

standing next to your Google Home or whatever it is that is voice activated and

connected to the Internet, he says.

Link

Just a quick BOTG report from southeastern Ohio. I’m a village councilman and just left our monthly meeting. We’re a small village - about 2 square miles - in one of the poorest regions of the state.

During our police depts report they were asked how the new officer was doing on the job. He’s doing well - several stops this month on his own and multiple unlicensed drivers, etc. But then they also mentioned he has pulled over multiple Mexican nationals here illegally. When they asked about it, the chief reported that they follow standard protocol - detain, contact ice, etc. - but that they have never gotten an answer back from immigration at all so they can’t proceed with anything.

I remembered the note from a few shows back about similar issues from another producer. Just thought I’d share for confirmation that it definitely is an issue of concern for our local law enforcement also, so I’m sure it’s widespread.

TYFYC,

I wasn't even thinking about this, but we play the San Francisco 49ers in San Francisco on October 29th after our bye week. You can tell JCD you've been talking with one of the coaches of the Bengals (I coach the Tight Ends) if it comes up in conversation next week when his 49ers are matched up against us. That my freak JCD out a little. JCD is also always welcome to come say hello and visit our team hotel in San Fran on Saturday evening, October 28th, if he'd like (I know he doesn't get out much though). He may not get to see many of the players, but I would love to chat with him and pick his brain about how effective he thinks Sumo Wrestlers would be against NFL Offensive/Defensive Linemen.Emoji My tight ends are going to have their hands full with Nick Bosa of the 49ers on October 29th in San Fran, but they'll be ready to go after our bye week.

A team of scientists is proposing a new explanation for some cases of long COVID, based on their findings that serotonin levels were lower in people with the complex condition.

In their study, published Monday in the journal Cell, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania suggest that serotonin reduction is triggered by remnants of the virus lingering in the gut. Depleted serotonin could especially explain memory problems and some neurological and cognitive symptoms of long COVID, they say.

Link

Market Update:

We are seeing increased volatility in the stock market, including medical device stocks, due to elevated investor concerns about the impact of GLP-1 weight loss drugs (e.g., Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro) on various medical device end-markets, including ortho / spine.

-This past week, Novo Nordisk (Ozempic) announced a statistically significant reduction in chronic kidney disease for patients in its clinical trial. As a result, certain companies in the dialysis space experienced a ~20% decline in stock prices. Other recent clinical trials by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly highlighting improvement in cardiovascular disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes had similar impacts on companies treating those end-markets.

-Investors are struggling to understand the potential impact on demand for procedures that treat conditions that may be linked to obesity at a time when they are already concerned about economic uncertainty, including high interest rates in the US, potential recession risks in 2024, and geopolitical risks.

-Investors dislike uncertainty, and thus are reducing their exposure to medical device companies. The impact has been more pronounced for unprofitable companies. To provide some context, companies comparable to us (e,g., Orthopediatrics, Paragon 28, Nevro, Outset Medical, Silk Road, Treace Medical), are currently trading at or near all-time lows, breaching floors seen at the peak of COVID in 2020.

Our Performance:

-While the recent market turbulence has affected our stock price, recognize that we've had a very strong year thus far due to your focused execution.

-Despite the market's reaction, we've maintained positive stock price performance year-to-date. Given our strong performance and fiscal discipline, I believe we are well positioned to benefit from the eventual stabilization of the stock market. We will need to be patient as market disruptions like this often take some time to resolve.

Our Resilience:

While the market's response to increased use of GLP-1 drugs for weight control may be distracting and somewhat irrational, I want to emphasize that we are on the right track. We continue to see strong underlying demand for our products. Our exceptional talent, YOU!, and steadfast dedication to our mission have been instrumental to our success, and I have every confidence that this will be something that continues to set us apart. Anshul and I will educate analysts and investors on this topic during our upcoming Q3 earnings announcement.

Stay the course! We are positioned extremely well, and our future is bright.

I wanted to follow up on your ESG/oil and gas segment at the beginning of last episode.

I work in the oilfield in North Dakota, and one of the biggest ESG scams they’re running is in relation to what we call “flaring.” Flaring is the process of burning off excess natural gas. In the past, oil and gas producers flared their excess gas on an almost continuous basis. Now, with the onset of ESG, they are required to limit how many cubic feet of gas they flare. Because of climate change, you see.

Each company is given a specific “flare allotment,” that they are then fined for exceeding.

Here’s the scam.

Because of this allotment, oil and gas producers are forced to sell all the gas they produce to a midstream gas company, who then sells it to their customers downstream. One of the largest producers in the Bakken oil patch is Marathon Oil. Of course, Blackrock is an investor. One of the largest midstream gas companies in the Bakken is called Oneok. Of course, Blackrock is also an investor in this company. So Blackrock is making money on the sale of gas to the midstream company, and the sale of that same gas to the downstream customer.

Here’s the real kicker. A significant amount of the gas produced in North Dakota is “sour gas.” Meaning, it has hydrogen sulfide in it, which is extremely poisonous. Midstream gas companies won’t buy sour gas, which puts the oil and gas producer in the position of either flaring and paying a fine, or buying hydrogen sulfide “scavenging” chemical to turn their sour gas sweet.

Oilfield chemical companies sell hydrogen sulfide scavenger by the billions of gallons, and I bet if one was to dig around, many of those chemical companies would be in Blackrock’s portfolio as well.

It’s all a scam.

Hope you’re well, sir!

I am an Israeli trans woman who desperately needs Palestine to be free. I need this because I refuse to accept that the massacre of peaceful protesters in Gaza is something that my people keep doing. I need this because I understand that trans liberation and Palestinian liberation are linked.

About 10 months ago, I figured out that I wanted to start hormone replacement therapy and in that way medically transition. There were many reasons for this decision, but one of them was the realization that growing up Israeli and trans in Jerusalem while being expected to become a Zionist man left an aftermath in my body. I needed help to heal, and sensed that growing a rounder, more tender body would help me connect with the justice-loving feminine child inside of me, and that having such a body would help me grow from that soft place.

Link

Hey Adam,

I just got back from a week long mission trip in the Dominican Republic and I have some information I thought might be interesting to you. First I had a conversation with a pastor at a local church in the Dominican Republic and he informed me that the LGBT agenda has infected his country. He laid the blame for that on organizations from the United States. Also, I was told by multiple people that the hospitals in the Dominican Republic are currently overwhelmed. Pastor Michàel told me that the people of the Dominican Republic have been plagued by health issues such as diabetes, heart attacks, blood pressure, and other similar ailments. When I asked him why it had become such a problem he told me it all started after the Covid “vaccine” was pushed on his people. He said he was convinced that the “vaccine” was the culprit. They have also been overwhelmed with cases of Dengue. I don’t know how Dengue would be related but I thought it was all very interesting/concerning and I wanted to pass the information along to you.

Thanks for all that you do!

Luke

A team of scientists is proposing a new explanation for some cases of long COVID, based on their findings that serotonin levels were lower in people with the complex condition.

In their study, published Monday in the journal Cell, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania suggest that serotonin reduction is triggered by remnants of the virus lingering in the gut. Depleted serotonin could especially explain memory problems and some neurological and cognitive symptoms of long COVID, they say.

Link

"You can't even imagine how they will catch you all"

Oligarchs will be caught in Ukraine and a civil war will begin. This forecast is made by the adviser to the ex-president of Ukraine Kuchma Soskin. According to him, this will happen if the country’s economy collapses.

"I want to look at Zelensky, at all these "Servants of the People", how they will be hunted. It will not just be a civil war, it will be a social war. They will catch billionaires, multimillionaires. All these Akhmetovs, Novinskys, Pinchuks, Kuchmas, his wife, Luda, Lena. Everyone will be caught," he predicts.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 14:12

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supports issuing reparations to the black community, making him the most prominent 2024 candidate to favor the controversial policy meant to atone for slavery and legal segregation.

President Biden has largely been silent on the issue, leading to frustration among the far left.

Kennedy '-- who ditched his Democratic primary challenge to Biden earlier this month '-- has spoken out in favor of issuing federal dollars to ''rebuild black infrastructure'' like banks and businesses, and as well as ''direct redress payments or tax credits'' rather than no-strings cash giveaways.

''Communities that were specifically targeted for destruction need to be specifically targeted for repair,'' he states on his campaign website.

''During Jim Crow, Black banks, businesses, hospitals, schools, and farms were targeted for destruction. Racists knew that without these, the Black community had no chance of building wealth. We must set federal dollars aside to rebuild Black infrastructure.''

Robert F Kennedy Jr. announces his entry to the 2024 presidential race as an independent candidate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. REUTERS A large crowd of protesters wearing masks and carrying signs that say, ''Reparations Now'' as they walk through neighborhoods at the Black Lives Matter protest in Bayside, Queens in August 2020. Corbis via Getty Images RFK Jr. has said he would be against direct cash payments. ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA''These programs complement direct redress payments or tax credits to the descendants of the victims of Jim Crow and other victims of persecution,'' the pledge continues. ''RFK Jr. will find ways to offer this redress that are legal, fair, and win the approval of Americans of all races.''

Kennedy has also said he supports establishing development projects like the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, which his father helped found in 1967 along with then-Mayor John Lindsay, and then-Sen. Jacob Javits.

Those actions are ''less likely to contribute to polarization between blacks and whites because it benefits everybody. Everybody, even people who are Trumpers '... everybody wants business to work and to flourish,'' Kennedy Jr. told YouTuber Math Hoffa in a July interview.

The 69-year-old son of the late attorney general and senator from New York has courted traditional Republican and Democratic voters, raising concerns the environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist may take votes away from both major party nominees next November.

Biden has faced pressure from activist groups and Democratic members of Congress to issue an executive order on reparations amid congressional gridlock. The White House has maintained that the president supports a ''study'' into reparations, but has not specifically said whether he would sign a reparations bill.

Far-left independent candidate Cornel West, who some Democrats are worried will steal votes away from Biden, also states that he supports reparations.

West's platform includes plans to issue a directive to complete ''the reparations process and findings within two years so checks can be cut and sent to eligible recipients,'' and a call to ''push Congress to pass filibuster-proof budget reconciliation for reparations and Land Back provisions.''

RFK Jr.'s campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry about specifics of his plan.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 13:25

Washington CNN '--

President Joe Biden has a favorite story about his long relationship with Israel. For decades, he has been publicly recounting his 1973 meeting with then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir '' which he described in 2015 as ''one of the most consequential meetings I've ever had in my life.''

But parts of the version of the story Biden told on Wednesday, at a White House menorah lighting for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, were not accurate.

Most of the details of Biden's Wednesday account were the same or very similar to the details in his previous accounts. Biden said that Meir kept referring to a bunch of maps, that future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was present, that Meir offered to take a photo with Biden, and that Meir painted a dark picture of Israel's security situation but then assured him that Israel had a ''secret weapon'' in its conflicts with its neighbors: ''We have no place else to go.''

But two elements of Biden's Wednesday version were different than usual, and both of these changes were incorrect. One of the falsehoods was obviously an accidental slip; the other was more substantial.

Biden began on Wednesday as follows: ''And during the Six-Day War, I had an opportunity to '' she invited me to come over because I was going to be the liaison between she and the Egyptians about the Suez, and so on and so forth.'' Later in the story, he suggested that Meir had referred to him during the meeting as ''Mr. Ambassador.''

Facts First: Biden misspoke about when his meeting with Meir occurred. The meeting took place about five weeks before the Yom Kippur War in 1973, not during the Six-Day War in 1967. More significantly, Biden inflated his importance to Israel at the time. There is no evidence that Meir had any intention of using him as any sort of ''liaison'' between Israel and Egypt.

At the time of the Six-Day War in 1967, Biden was still a law student and Meir was not yet prime minister.

Biden's ''liaison'' claim is vague, but experts on the Yom Kippur War say it is also clearly inaccurate. While Biden did visit Egypt in 1973 just before he visited Israel, and told Meir what Egyptian officials had told him, there is zero indication that Meir wanted to use a 30-year-old American who had had never previously been to Israel and who had been a senator for only nine months as an intermediary in a complicated and critical conflict. In fact, an Israeli government official's written summary of the meeting said Biden had seemed inexperienced and that Meir had vehemently rejected his proposal for Israel to unilaterally withdraw from certain territory as a step toward peace.

A White House official suggested to CNN on Thursday that Biden's assertion that ''she invited me to come over because I was going to be the liaison between she and the Egyptians about the Suez'' was simply a reference to the fact that he had met with both Egyptian and Israeli officials on the 1973 trip to discuss relations between their countries.

But Biden's words, which were called false by the Republican National Committee on Thursday, conveyed the impression that Meir sought to use him in an important diplomatic role. Experts say that is indeed baseless.

''There is no reason to believe that Golda, who as Biden himself described, did not trust a diplomatic process, would voluntarily ask an inexperienced young senator to be her liaison for such a mission,'' said Uri Bar-Joseph, a Haifa University political science professor and the author of a book on what was happening in the Israeli government prior to the Yom Kippur War.

Bar-Joseph said in an email that there is ''nothing'' in the Israeli summary of the August 31, 1973, meeting to even ''hint'' that Meir had invited Biden to be a liaison. And Asaf Siniver, a University of Birmingham associate professor in international security and the editor of a book on the Yom Kippur War, said in an email, ''As far as I know there is no basis to the claim that he was 'going to be the liaison' between the sides.''

In Biden's Wednesday telling of the story, the only one we could find in which he spoke of a ''liaison'' role, he said of Meir: ''She looked at me and she said, 'Mr. Ambassador, would you like a photograph?''' In some other tellings of the story, though, Biden has said that Meir addressed him just before or during the photo opportunity as ''son'' or as ''senator,'' not as ''Mr. Ambassador.''

Meir died in 1978, and it's impossible to know precisely what was said between her and Biden 48 years ago. But the Israeli summary of the 100-minute meeting, an internal memo written by a government official at the time, provides useful information.

The summary, which was discussed in the Israeli media in 2020 and is available online in Israel's state archives, said Biden acknowledged he was not an expert on Egypt, said Biden was greeted warmly on his trip to Egypt but had met with only second-tier officials, and said Meir made extended remarks in which she argued against Biden's proposal for Israel to pursue peace by withdrawing from certain territory he didn't think had strategic value. (The summary didn't identify the territory Biden was talking about but said it wasn't the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights or Sharm el-Sheikh.)

The Israeli official who wrote the summary, Gideon Yarden, ended by offering his personal assessment of Biden. He wrote that Biden was full of admiration and appreciation toward Meir, and kept saying he had come to learn, ''but on the other hand'' spoke in a manner that reflected ''his age and diplomatic 'experience.''' Yarden put the word ''experience'' in quotation marks, conveying sarcasm.

Another part of the Israeli account of the meeting differs from an account Biden offered in 2015.

In a speech marking Israeli Independence Day, Biden, then vice president, said he had told Meir and Rabin during the meeting that ''I thought that they (Egypt) were getting ready to attack again.'' He added: ''And everyone including my military and Israeli military thought I was crazy.''

The Israeli summary does not note any such comment from Biden. Rather, the summary reported that Biden had conveyed that, of all the officials he had met in Egypt, none of them denied Israeli's absolute military superiority, and that the officials had argued it would be impossible for Egypt to go to war now against Israel.

In reality, Egypt and Syria ended up attacking Israel in early October 1973. The attack also caught Israel by surprise.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 04:50

The Westminster Declaration We write as journalists, artists, authors, activists, technologists, and academics to warn of increasing international censorship that threatens to erode centuries-old democratic norms.

Coming from the left, right, and centre, we are united by our commitment to universal human rights and freedom of speech, and we are all deeply concerned about attempts to label protected speech as 'misinformation,' 'disinformation,' and other ill-defined terms.

This abuse of these terms has resulted in the censorship of ordinary people, journalists, and dissidents in countries all over the world.

Such interference with the right to free speech suppresses valid discussion about matters of urgent public interest, and undermines the foundational principles of representative democracy.

Across the globe, government actors, social media companies, universities, and NGOs are increasingly working to monitor citizens and rob them of their voices. These large-scale coordinated efforts are sometimes referred to as the 'Censorship-Industrial Complex.'

This complex often operates through direct government policies. Authorities in India [1] and Turkey [2] have seized the power to remove political content from social media. The legislature in Germany [3] and the Supreme Court in Brazil[4] are criminalising political speech. In other countries, measures such as Ireland's 'Hate Speech' Bill [5] , Scotland's Hate Crime Act[6], the UK's Online Safety Bill[7], and Australia's 'Misinformation' Bill[8] threaten to severely restrict expression and create a chilling effect.

But the Censorship Industrial Complex operates through more subtle methods. These include visibility filtering, labelling, and manipulation of search engine results. Through deplatforming and flagging, social media censors have already silenced lawful opinions on topics of national and geopolitical importance. They have done so with the full support of 'disinformation experts' and 'fact-checkers' in the mainstream media, who have abandoned the journalistic values of debate and intellectual inquiry.

As the Twitter Files revealed, tech companies often perform censorial 'content moderation' in coordination with government agencies and civil society. Soon, the European Union's Digital Services Act will formalise this relationship by giving platform data to 'vetted researchers' from NGOs and academia, relegating our speech rights to the discretion of these unelected and unaccountable entities.

Some politicians and NGOs[9] are even aiming to target end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram.[10] If end-to-end encryption is broken, we will have no remaining avenues for authentic private conversations in the digital sphere.

Although foreign disinformation between states is a real issue, agencies designed to combat these threats, such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States, are increasingly being turned inward against the public. Under the guise of preventing harm and protecting truth, speech is being treated as a permitted activity rather than an inalienable right.

We recognize that words can sometimes cause offence, but we reject the idea that hurt feelings and discomfort, even if acute, are grounds for censorship. Open discourse is the central pillar of a free society, and is essential for holding governments accountable, empowering vulnerable groups, and reducing the risk of tyranny.

Speech protections are not just for views we agree with; we must strenuously protect speech for the views that we most strongly oppose. Only in the public square can these views be heard and properly challenged.

What's more, time and time again, unpopular opinions and ideas have eventually become conventional wisdom. By labelling certain political or scientific positions as 'misinformation' or 'malinformation,' our societies risk getting stuck in false paradigms that will rob humanity of hard-earned knowledge and obliterate the possibility of gaining new knowledge. Free speech is our best defence against disinformation.

The attack on speech is not just about distorted rules and regulations '' it is a crisis of humanity itself. Every equality and justice campaign in history has relied on an open forum to voice dissent. In countless examples, including the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement, social progress has depended on freedom of expression.

We do not want our children to grow up in a world where they live in fear of speaking their minds. We want them to grow up in a world where their ideas can be expressed, explored and debated openly '' a world that the founders of our democracies envisioned when they enshrined free speech into our laws and constitutions.

The US First Amendment is a strong example of how the right to freedom of speech, of the press, and of conscience can be firmly protected under the law. One need not agree with the U.S. on every issue to acknowledge that this is a vital 'first liberty' from which all other liberties follow. It is only through free speech that we can denounce violations of our rights and fight for new freedoms.

There also exists a clear and robust international protection for free speech. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)[11] was drafted in 1948 in response to atrocities committed during World War II. Article 19 of the UDHR states, 'Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.' While there may be a need for governments to regulate some aspects of social media, such as age limits, these regulations should never infringe on the human right to freedom of expression.

As is made clear by Article 19, the corollary of the right to free speech is the right to information. In a democracy, no one has a monopoly over what is considered to be true. Rather, truth must be discovered through dialogue and debate '' and we cannot discover truth without allowing for the possibility of error.

Censorship in the name of 'preserving democracy' inverts what should be a bottom-up system of representation into a top-down system of ideological control. This censorship is ultimately counter-productive: it sows mistrust, encourages radicalization, and de-legitimizes the democratic process.

In the course of human history, attacks on free speech have been a precursor to attacks on all other liberties. Regimes that eroded free speech have always inevitably weakened and damaged other core democratic structures. In the same fashion, the elites that push for censorship today are also undermining democracy. What has changed though, is the broad scale and technological tools through which censorship can be enacted.

We believe that free speech is essential for ensuring our safety from state abuses of power '' abuses that have historically posed a far greater threat than the words of lone individuals or even organised groups. For the sake of human welfare and flourishing, we make the following 3 calls to action.

We call on governments and international organisations to fulfill their responsibilities to the people and to uphold Article 19 of the UDHR.

We call on tech corporations to undertake to protect the digital public square as defined in Article 19 of the UDHR and refrain from politically motivated censorship, the censorship of dissenting voices, and censorship of political opinion.

And finally, we call on the general public to join us in the fight to preserve the people's democratic rights. Legislative changes are not enough. We must also build an atmosphere of free speech from the ground up by rejecting the climate of intolerance that encourages self-censorship and that creates unnecessary personal strife for many. Instead of fear and dogmatism, we must embrace inquiry and debate.

We stand for your right to ask questions. Heated arguments, even those that may cause distress, are far better than no arguments at all.

Censorship robs us of the richness of life itself. Free speech is the foundation for creating a life of meaning and a thriving humanity - through art, poetry, drama, story, philosophy, song, and more.

This declaration was the result of an initial meeting of free speech champions from around the world who met in Westminster, London, at the end of June 2023. As signatories of this statement, we have fundamental political and ideological disagreements. However, it is only by coming together that we will defeat the encroaching forces of censorship so that we can maintain our ability to openly debate and challenge one another. It is in the spirit of difference and debate that we sign the Westminster Declaration.

SignatoriesMatt Taibbi, Journalist, US

Michael Shellenberger, Public, US

Jonathan Haidt, Social Psychologist, NYU, US

John McWhorter, Linguist, Columbia, Author, US

Steven Pinker, Psychologist, Harvard, US

Julian Assange, Editor, Founder of Wikileaks, Australia

Tim Robbins, Actor, Filmmaker, US

Nadine Strossen, Professor of Law, NYLS, US

Glenn Loury, Economist, USA

Richard Dawkins, Biologist, UK

John Cleese, Comedian, Acrobat, UK

Slavoj Žižek, Philosopher, Author, Slovenia

Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University, US

Oliver Stone, Filmmaker, US

Edward Snowden, Whistleblower, US

Greg Lukianoff, President and CEO Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, USA

Stella Assange, Campaigner, UK

Glenn Greenwald, Journalist, US

Claire Fox, Founder of the Academy of Ideas, UK

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, Psychologist, Author, Canada

Bari Weiss, Journalist, USA

Peter Hitchens, Author, Journalist, UK

Niall Ferguson, Historian, Stanford, UK

Matt Ridley, Journalist, Author, UK

Melissa Chen, Journalist, Spectator, Singapore/US

Yanis Varoufakis, Economist, Greece

Peter Boghossian, Philosopher, Founding Faculty Fellow, University of Austin, US

Michael Shermer, Science Writer, US

Alan Sokal, Professor of Mathematics, UCL, UK

Sunetra Gupta, Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, Oxford, UK

Jay Bhattacharya, Professor, Stanford, US

Martin Kulldorf, Professor of Medicine (on leave), Harvard, US

Aaron Kheiriaty, Psychiatrist, Author, USA

Chris Hedges, Journalist, Author, USA

Lee Fang, Independent Journalist, US

Alex Gutentag, Journalist, US

Iain McGilchrist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher, UK

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Human Rights Activist, Author, Netherlands

Konstantin Kisin, Author, UK

Leighton Woodhouse, Public, US

Andrew Lowenthal, liber-net, Australia

Aaron Mate, Journalist, USA

Izabella Kaminska, Journalist, The Blind Spot, UK

Nina Power, Writer, UK

Kmele Foster, Journalist, Media Entrepreneur, USA

Toby Young, Journalist, Free Speech Union, UK

Winston Marshall, Journalist, The Spectator, UK

Jacob Siegel, Tablet, US/Israel

Ulrike Guerot, Founder of European Democracy Lab, Germany

Heather E. Heying, Evolutionary Biologist, USA

Bret Weinstein, Evolutionary Biologist, USA

Martina Pastorelli, Independent Journalist, Italy

Leandro Narloch, Independent Journalist, Brazil

Ana Henkel, Independent Journalist, Brazil

Mia Ashton, Journalist, Canada

Micha Narberhaus, The Protopia Lab, Spain/Germany

Alex Sheridan, Free Speech Ireland

Ben Scallan, Gript Media, Ireland

Thomas Fazi, Independent Journalist, Italy

Jean F. Queralt, Technologist, Founder @ The IO Foundation, Malaysia/Spain

Phil Shaw, Campaigner, Operation People, New Zealand

Jeremy Hildreth, Independent, UK

Craig Snider, Independent, US

Eve Kay, TV Producer, UK

Helen Joyce, Journalist, UK

Dietrich Br¼ggemann, Filmmaker, Germany

Adam B. Coleman, Founder of Wrong Speak Publishing, US

Helen Pluckrose, Author, US

Michael Nayna, Filmmaker, Australia

Paul Rossi, Educator, Vertex Partnership Academics, US

Juan Carlos Girauta, Politician, Spain

Andrew Neish, KC, UK

Steven Berkoff, Actor, Playright, UK

Patrick Hughes, Artist, UK

Adam Creighton, Journalist, Australia

Julia Hartley-Brewer, Journalist, UK

Robert Cibis, Filmmaker, Germany

Piers Robinson, Organization for Propaganda Studies, UK

Dirk Pohlmann, Journalist, Germany

Mathias Br¶ckers, Author, Journalist, Germany

Kira Phillips, Documentary Filmmaker, UK

Diane Atkinson, Historian, Biographer, UK

Eric Kaufmann, Professor of Politics, Birkbeck, University of London, Canada

Laura Dodsworth, Journalist and Author, UK

Nellie Bowles, Journalist, USA

Andrew Tettenborn, Professor of Law, Swansea University, UK

Julius Grower, Fellow, St. Hugh's College, UK

Nick Dixon, Comedian, UK

Dominic Frisby, Comedian, UK

James Orr, Associate Professor, University of Cambridge, UK

Brendan O'Neill, Journalist, UK

Andrew Roberts, Historian, UK

Robert Tombs, Historian, UK

Ben Schwarz, Journalist, USA

Xavier Azalbert, Investigative Scientific Journalist, France

Doug Stokes, International Relations Professor, University of Exeter, UK

James Allan, Professor of Law, University of Queensland, UK

David McGrogan, Professor of Law, Northumbria University, UK

Jacob Mchangama, Author, Denmark

Nigel Biggar, Chairman, Free Speech Union, UK

David Goodhart, Journalist, Author, UK

Catherine Austin Fitts, The Solari Report, Netherlands

Matt Goodwin, Politics Professor, University of Kent, UK

Catherine Liu, Cultural Theorist, Author, USA

Stefan Millius, Journalist, Switzerland

Philip Hamburger, Professor of Law, Columbia, USA

Rueben Kirkham, Co-Director, Free Speech Union of Australia, Australia

Jeffrey Tucker, Author, USA

Sarah Gon, Director, Free Speech Union, South Africa

Dara Macdonald, Co-Director, Free Speech Union, Australia

Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive, Free Speech Union, New Zealand

David Zweig, Journalist, Author, USA

Juan Soto Ivars, Author, Spain

Colin Wright, Evolutionary Biologist, USA

Gad Saad, Professor, Evolutionary Behavioral Scientist, Author, Canada

Robert W. Malone, MD, MS, USA

Jill Glasspool-Malone, PhD., USA

Jordi Pigem, Philosopher, Author, Spain

Holly Lawford-Smith, Associate Professor in Political Philosophy, University of Melbourne, Australia

Michele Santoro, Journalist, TV host, Presenter, Italy

Dr. James Smith, Podcaster, Literature Scholar, RHUL, UK

Francis Foster, Comedian, UK

Coleman Hughes, Writer, Podcaster, USA

Marco Bassani, Political Theorist, Historian, Milan University, Italy

Isabella Loiodice, Professor of Comparative Public Law, University of Bari, Italy

Luca Ricolfi, Professor, Sociologist, Turin University, Italy

Marcello Foa, Journalist, Former President of Rai, Italy

Andrea Zhok, Philosopher, University of Milan, Italy

Paolo Cesaretti, Professor of Byzantine Civilization, University of Bergamo, Italy

Alberto Contri, Mass Media Expert, Italy

Carlo Lottieri, Philosopher, University of Verona, Italy

Alessandro Di Battista, Political activist, Writer, Italy

Paola Mastrocola, Writer, Italy

Carlo Freccero, Television Author, Media Expert, Italy

Giorgio Bianchi, Independent Journalist, Italy

Nello Preterossi, Professor, University of Salerno, Scientific Director of the Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies, Italy

Efrat Fenigson, Journalist, Podcaster, Israel

Eli Vieira, Journalist, Genetic Biologist, Brazil

Stephen Moore, Author and Analyst, Canada

Footnotes

Pahwa, Nitish. 'Twitter Blocked a Country.' Slate Magazine, 1 Apr. 2023, slate.com/technology/2023/04/twitter-blocked-pakistan-india-modi-musk-khalistan-gandhi.html .

Stein, Perry. 'Twitter Says It Will Restrict Access to Some Tweets before Turkey's Election.' The Washington Post, 15 May 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/05/13/turkey-twitter-musk-erdogan/ .

H¤nel, Lisa. 'Germany criminalizes denying war crimes, genocide.' Deutsche Welle, 25 Nov. 2022, https://www.dw.com/en/germany-criminalizes-denying-war-crimes-genocide/a-63834791

Savarese, Mauricio, and Joshua Goodman. 'Crusading Judge Tests Boundaries of Free Speech in Brazil.' AP News, 26 Jan. 2023, apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-government-af5987e833a681e6f056fe63789ca375 .

Nanu, Maighna. 'Irish People Could Be Jailed for ''Hate Speech'', Critics of Proposed Law Warn.' The Telegraph, 17 June 2023, www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/1 7/irish-people-jailed-hate-speech-new-law/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_psc_ppc_us_news_dsa_generalnews .

The Economist Newspaper. (n.d.). Scotland's new hate crime act will have a chilling effect on free speech. The Economist. https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead/2021/11/08/scotlands-new-hate-crime-act-will-have-a-chilling-effect-on-free-speech

Lomas, Natasha. 'Security Researchers Latest to Blast UK's Online Safety Bill as Encryption Risk.' TechCrunch, 5 July 2023, techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/uk-online-safety-bill-risks-e2ee/ .

Al-Nashar, Nabil. 'Millions of Dollars in Fines to Punish Online Misinformation under New Draft Bill.' ABC News, 25 June 2023, www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-25/fines-to-punish-online-misinformation-under-new-draft-bill/102521500 .

'Cryptochat.' Meedan, meedan.com/project/cryptochat . Accessed 8 July 2023.

Lomas, Natasha.'Security Researchers Latest to Blast UK's Online Safety Bill as Encryption Risk.' TechCrunch, 5 July 2023, t echcrunch.com/2023/07/05/uk-online-safety-bill-risks-e2ee/ .

United Nations General Assembly. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). New York: United Nations General Assembly, 1948.

Contact us.Interested in learning more on how you can support free speech around the globe? Please send us a message.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 20:09

Removes a Significant Uncertainty by Providing Pathway to U.S. Commercialization of Paxlovid on January 1, 2024 with Amended Supply AgreementIn a Non-Cash Transaction, U.S. Government to Return Estimated 7.9 Million EUA-Labeled Paxlovid Treatment Courses at end of 2023 and Receive Credit for Future NDA-labeled Treatment Courses from PfizerCredit will Support a Patient Assistance Program to Provide Paxlovid Free of Charge to Federally Insured Patients through 2024, and Uninsured/Underinsured Patients through 2028, with Pfizer to Recognize Revenue as Product is DeliveredPfizer to Commercialize Paxlovid for the Treatment of Privately Insured Commercial Patients with Prices to be Negotiated with PayersPfizer to Provide U.S. Government with 1.0 Million Treatment Courses for a Strategic National StockpileUpdates Full-Year 2023 Guidance(1)Revises 2023 Revenue Guidance(1) Range to $58.0 to $61.0 Billion Solely due to COVID ProductsReduces Guidance(1) for Paxlovid Revenues by Approximately $7.0 Billion, which includes a $4.2 Billion Non-Cash Revenue Reversal for the Return of Approximately 7.9 Million Treatment Courses of EUA-Labeled U.S. Government InventoryReduces Guidance(1) for Comirnaty Revenues by Approximately $2.0 BillionRecords $5.5 Billion Non-Cash Charge in 2023 Third Quarter Primarily for COVID Inventory Write-Offs due to Lower-Than-Expected DemandReaffirms Full-Year 2023 Non-COVID Product Operational Revenue Growth Expectations of 6% to 8%Launches Enterprise-Wide Cost Realignment Program Expected to Deliver Targeted Savings of at least $3.5 Billion, of which Approximately $1.0 Billion is Expected to be Realized in 2023 and at least $2.5 Billion is Expected to be Realized in 2024Revises 2023 Adjusted(2) Diluted EPS Guidance(1) to $1.45 to $1.65 to Account for Lower Expected Revenues for COVID Products and Inventory Write-Offs, Partially Offset by $1.0 Billion of Anticipated 2023 Cost ReductionsPfizer to hold analyst and investor call at 8 a.m. EDT Monday, October 16, 2023NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) today announced that it has amended its supply agreement with the U.S. government for Paxlovid, the first oral antiviral pill approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is updating its Full-Year 2023 Guidance.

Paxlovid Amended Agreement with U.S. Government Facilitates Commercialization

At the end of 2023, Pfizer will accept a non-cash return of any remaining Emergency Use Authorized (EUA)-labeled U.S. government inventory, estimated to be 7.9 million treatment courses, and in the fourth quarter, will reverse the associated revenues currently estimated to be approximately $4.2 billion.

The commercial transition will begin in November 2023, as the U.S. government begins to discontinue the distribution of EUA-labeled Paxlovid. Pfizer will ensure commercial readiness by providing NDA-labeled commercial supply to all channels by the end of 2023, however, EUA-labeled Paxlovid will remain available free-of-charge to all eligible patients until the end of the year, and therefore Pfizer expects only minimal uptake of NDA-labeled commercial product before January 1, 2024.

Any remaining EUA-labeled treatment courses previously purchased by the U.S. government will be converted to a volume-based credit. This credit will support continued access to Paxlovid through a patient assistance program (PAP) operated by Pfizer on behalf of the U.S. government. As part of the PAP, all federally insured patients (Medicare and Medicaid) and the uninsured will receive Paxlovid, free of charge, through 2024. Beginning in 2024, Pfizer will sell Paxlovid to privately insured patients (commercial) with prices to be negotiated with payers and offer a copay program through 2028. The PAP will continue to provide access to Paxlovid to eligible uninsured and underinsured patients through that same period.

Additionally, Pfizer will manage and supply 1.0 million treatment course U.S. Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to enable future pandemic preparedness and refresh stock prior to expiry through 2028.

Pfizer will recognize revenues as product is delivered beginning in 2024.

Updates Outlook for COVID-19 Products

Pfizer also announced additional clarity on its full-year 2023 outlook for its COVID products '' Comirnaty and Paxlovid. Clarity on the underlying vaccination and treatment rates will be observed by year end and will set a reliable base for the prediction of future product utilization.

As previously announced, the European Union (EU) contract for Comirnaty supply was renegotiated with amended purchasing obligations through 2026. The U.S. market for Comirnaty transitioned to commercially available product in September 2023. Due to the recent commencement of the fall vaccination period, the outlook for year-end vaccination rates and market shares requires more time for more determinable estimates.

As previously announced, Paxlovid also received full NDA approval from the FDA earlier this year. The global utilization rates for Paxlovid are currently trending slightly above last year's utilization but lower than our original expectations.

Launches Cost Realignment Program

In addition, in the fourth quarter of 2023, Pfizer announced that the company has launched a multi-year, enterprise-wide cost realignment program that will realign its costs with its longer-term revenue expectations. The program is expected to deliver targeted savings of at least $3.5 billion, of which $1.0 billion is expected to be realized in 2023 and an additional $2.5 billion is expected to be realized in 2024. The one-time costs to achieve the savings associated with the new cost realignment program are expected to be approximately $3.0 billion, of which the majority is expected to be cash. These costs will primarily include severance and implementation costs. Pfizer will continue to refine the estimated targeted savings and their associated costs over the remainder of the year and will incorporate them into its full-year guidance for 2024.

Updates Full-Year 2023 Revenue and Adjusted(2) Diluted EPS Guidance(1) Ranges

Pfizer also announced that it now anticipates full-year 2023 revenues to be in the range of $58.0 to $61.0 billion, versus its previous guidance range of $67.0 to $70.0 billion solely due to its COVID products. Full-year 2023 revenues for Paxlovid and Comirnaty are expected to be approximately $12.5 billion, a decline of $9.0 billion versus original expectations. The company is reducing its full-year 2023 revenue expectations for Paxlovid by approximately $7.0 billion which includes a non-cash $4.2 billion revenue reversal for the return of the 7.9 million treatment courses of EUA-labeled U.S. government inventory, as well as the delayed commercialization to January 2024 versus our previous expectation of commercialization in the second half of 2023. The company is also reducing its full-year 2023 revenue expectations for Comirnaty by approximately $2.0 billion due to lower-than-expected vaccination rates.

Pfizer's non-COVID products remain on track to achieve an expected 6% to 8% operational revenue growth year over year in 2023.

Due to lower-than-expected utilization for our COVID products, Pfizer recorded a non-cash charge of $5.5 billion to Cost of Goods Sold in the third quarter of 2023 primarily related to inventory write-offs for Paxlovid of $4.6 billion and to a lesser extent for inventory write-offs and other charges for Comirnaty of $0.9 billion.

The company expects to deliver approximately $1.0 billion in savings in 2023 through its cost realignment program.

Revised guidance also reflects anticipated improvement in our Effective Tax Rate on Adjusted(2) Income for 2023 from approximately 15% in our original guidance to approximately 12%.

Due to the aforementioned items, the company now expects full-year 2023 Adjusted(2) diluted EPS to be in the range of $1.45 to $1.65 versus its original guidance range of $3.25 to $3.45.

The Company's updated Revenues and Adjusted(2) diluted EPS guidance(1) is presented below.

2023Previous Guidance(1) (August 1, 2023)

One-Time

Items(a)

All OtherAdjustments(b)

2023Revised Guidance(1)

Revenues*

$67.0 to $70.0 billion

-$(4.2) billion

~$(4.8) billion

$58.0 to $61.0 billion

Non-cash Inventory Write-offs(a)

$5.5 billion

Adjusted(2) Diluted EPS*

$3.25 to $3.45

$(1.46)

$(0.34)

$1.45 to $1.65

(a) One-time items include approximately $4.2 billion of a non-cash revenue reversal related to the return of an estimated 7.9 treatment courses of U.S. government EUA-labeled Paxlovid and a non-cash $5.5 billion inventory write-off of COVID products.

(b) All other adjustments include approximately $4.8 billion reduction in COVID product revenue due to the delayed commercialization of Paxlovid to January 2024 versus our previous expectation of commercialization in second half of 2023 as well as lower-than-expected vaccination rates for Comirnaty partially offset by $1.0 billion in anticipated savings from the cost realignment program.

* Changes in foreign exchange rates have had a minimal incremental impact since full-year 2023 guidance was issued. Please refer to Press Release Footnote (1) for additional information.

Executive Commentary

Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated: ''Pfizer's non-COVID product portfolio remains strong, and we continue to expect these products to achieve year-over-year operational revenue growth in the range of 6% to 8% in 2023.

''At the same time, this agreement with the U.S. government makes it easier for patients to access Paxlovid; enables the United States to have a robust stockpile for future use; and provides Pfizer with greater clarity regarding the transition to a commercial market for this important treatment, which has helped remove some of the uncertainty around our business expectations for our COVID products. We expect additional clarification on global vaccination and treatment rates by the end of the year, which we expect will be a good predictor of utilization in future years.

''We remain proud that our scientific breakthroughs played a significant role in getting the global health crisis under control. Over the past several years, we have continued to ensure supply readiness for our COVID products, and as we gain additional clarity around vaccination and treatment rates for COVID, we will be better able to estimate the appropriate level of supply to meet demand and continue to address any ongoing public health needs. As a result, we continue to expect our COVID-related revenues to contribute to our business in future periods, helping us to further invest in activities that drive Pfizer's long-term growth potential.''

Pfizer intends to provide additional commentary and all components of its updated full-year 2023 guidance in its Third-Quarter 2023 Performance Report to be issued on Tuesday, October 31, 2023.

Pfizer COVID-19 Treatment Transition

Albert Bourla announces an important agreement with the U.S. government that will make it easier for patients to access Pfizer's oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19. This will help ensure that the United States will have a robust stockpile for future use and helps provide more clarity on the commercial market for COVID related products. This is the next logical step in Pfizer's unrelenting effort to help ensure every eligible patient continues to have access to this potentially life-saving medicine.

This video includes forward-looking statements that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Please refer to Pfizer press release for more information. We also encourage you to read our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the sections captioned ''Risk Factors'' and ''Forward Looking Information and Factors that May Affect Future Results,'' for a description of such substantial risks and uncertainties. These reports are available at pfizer.com and the SEC's website.

Investor Call Details

Pfizer Inc. invites investors and the general public to view and listen to a webcast of a live conference call with investment analysts at 8 a.m. EDT on Monday, October 16, 2023.

To view and listen to the webcast visit Pfizer's web site at www.pfizer.com/investors. Information on accessing and pre-registering for the webcast, including dial-in numbers, will be available at www.pfizer.com/investors and participants are advised to pre-register in advance of the conference call.

The transcript and webcast replay of the call with be made available on Pfizer's web site at www.pfizer.com/investors within 24 hours after the end of the live conference call and will be accessible for at least 90 days.

(1) Pfizer does not provide guidance for GAAP Reported financial measures (other than revenues and acquired in-process R&D (IPR&D) expenses) or a reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP Reported financial measures on a forward-looking basis because it is unable to predict with reasonable certainty the ultimate outcome of unusual gains and losses, certain acquisition-related expenses, gains and losses from equity securities, actuarial gains and losses from pension and postretirement plan remeasurements, potential future asset impairments and pending litigation without unreasonable effort. These items are uncertain, depend on various factors, and could have a material impact on GAAP Reported results for the guidance period.

Financial guidance for full-year 2023 reflects the following:

Exchange rates assumed are a blend of actual rates in effect through the second quarter of 2023 and end of September 2023 rates for the remainder of the year. Financial guidance reflects the anticipated unfavorable impact of approximately $1.0 billion on revenues and approximately $0.19 on Adjusted(2) diluted EPS as a result of changes in foreign exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar compared to foreign exchange rates from 2022.Guidance for Adjusted(2) diluted EPS assumes diluted weighted-average shares outstanding of approximately 5.72 billion shares, and assumes no share repurchases in 2023.(2) Adjusted income and Adjusted diluted EPS are defined as U.S. GAAP net income attributable to Pfizer Inc. common shareholders and Reported diluted EPS attributable to Pfizer Inc. common shareholders before the impact of amortization of intangible assets, certain acquisition-related items, discontinued operations and certain significant items. Adjusted income and its components and Adjusted diluted EPS measures are not, and should not be viewed as, substitutes for U.S. GAAP net income and its components and diluted EPS. See the Non-GAAP Financial Measure: Adjusted Income section of Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in Pfizer's 2022 Annual Report on Form 10-K for a definition of each component of Adjusted income as well as other relevant information.

INDICATION, AUTHORIZED USE AND IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION FOR PAXLOVID

U.S. Indication

PAXLOVID is indicated for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.

Limitations of Use

PAXLOVID is not approved for use as pre-exposure or post-exposure prophylaxis for prevention of COVID-19.

U.S. FDA Emergency Use Authorization

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the emergency use of PAXLOVID for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kg) with mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.

PAXLOVID has not been approved, but has been authorized for emergency use by FDA under an EUA, for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in pediatric patients (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kg) who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death. The emergency use of PAXLOVID is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of the emergency use of drugs and biological products during the COVID-19 pandemic under Section 564(b)(1) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb-3(b)(1), unless the declaration is terminated or authorization revoked sooner.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

WARNING: SIGNIFICANT DRUG INTERACTIONS WITH PAXLOVID

PAXLOVID includes ritonavir, a strong CYP3A inhibitor, which may lead to greater exposure of certain concomitant medications, resulting in potentially severe, life-threatening, or fatal eventsPrior to prescribing PAXLOVID: 1) Review all medications taken by the patient to assess potential drug-drug interactions with a strong CYP3A inhibitor like PAXLOVID and 2) Determine if concomitant medications require a dose adjustment, interruption, and/or additional monitoringConsider the benefit of PAXLOVID treatment in reducing hospitalization and death, and whether the risk of potential drug-drug interactions for an individual patient can be appropriately managedPAXLOVID is contraindicated in patients with a history of clinically significant hypersensitivity reactions (eg, toxic epidermal necrolysis or Stevens-Johnson syndrome) to its active ingredients (nirmatrelvir or ritonavir) or any other components of the product. If signs and symptoms of a clinically significant hypersensitivity reaction or anaphylaxis occur, immediately discontinue PAXLOVID and initiate appropriate medications and/or supportive care.

PAXLOVID is contraindicated with drugs that are primarily metabolized by CYP3A and for which elevated concentrations are associated with serious and/or life-threatening reactions and drugs that are strong CYP3A inducers where significantly reduced nirmatrelvir or ritonavir plasma concentrations may be associated with the potential for loss of virologic response and possible resistance. There are certain other drugs for which concomitant use with PAXLOVID should be avoided and/or dose adjustment, interruption, or therapeutic monitoring is recommended. Drugs listed here are a guide and not considered a comprehensive list of all drugs that may be contraindicated with PAXLOVID. The healthcare provider should consult other appropriate resources such as the prescribing information for the interacting drug for comprehensive information on dosing or monitoring with concomitant use of a strong CYP3A inhibitor like PAXLOVID.

Drugs that are primarily metabolized by CYP3A for which elevated concentrations are associated with serious and/or life-threatening reactions:

Alpha 1-adrenoreceptor antagonist: alfuzosinAntianginal: ranolazineAntiarrhythmic: amiodarone, dronedarone, flecainide, propafenone, quinidineAnti-gout: colchicine (in patients with renal and/or hepatic impairment)Antipsychotics: lurasidone, pimozideBenign prostatic hyperplasia agents: silodosinCardiovascular agents: eplerenone, ivabradineErgot derivatives: dihydroergotamine, ergotamine, methylergonovineHMG-CoA reductase inhibitors: lovastatin, simvastatin (these drugs can be temporarily discontinued to allow PAXLOVID use)Immunosuppressants: voclosporinMicrosomal triglyceride transfer protein inhibitor: lomitapideMigraine medications: eletriptan, ubrogepantMineralocorticoid receptor antagonists: finerenoneOpioid antagonists: naloxegolPDE5 inhibitor: sildenafil (Revatio®) when used for pulmonary arterial hypertensionSedative/hypnotics: triazolam, oral midazolamSerotonin receptor 1A agonist/serotonin receptor 2A antagonist: flibanserinVasopressin receptor antagonists: tolvaptanDrugs that are strong CYP3A inducers: PAXLOVID cannot be started immediately after discontinuation of any of the following medications due to the delayed offset of the recently discontinued CYP3A inducer:

Anticancer drugs: apalutamideAnticonvulsant: carbamazepine, phenobarbital, primidone, phenytoinAntimycobacterials: rifampin, rifapentineCystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator potentiators: lumacaftor/ivacaftorHerbal Products: St. John's Wort (hypericum perforatum)Risk of Serious Adverse Reactions Due to Drug Interactions: Initiation of PAXLOVID, which contains ritonavir, a strong CYP3A inhibitor, in patients receiving medications metabolized by CYP3A or initiation of medications metabolized by CYP3A in patients already receiving PAXLOVID, may increase plasma concentrations of medications metabolized by CYP3A. Medications that induce CYP3A may decrease concentrations of PAXLOVID. These interactions may lead to:

Clinically significant adverse reactions, potentially leading to severe, life-threatening, or fatal events from greater exposures of concomitant medicationsLoss of therapeutic effect of PAXLOVID and possible development of viral resistanceSevere, life-threatening, and/or fatal adverse reactions due to drug interactions have been reported in patients treated with PAXLOVID. The most commonly reported concomitant medications resulting in serious adverse reactions were calcineurin inhibitors (eg, tacrolimus, cyclosporine), followed by calcium channel blockers.

Hepatotoxicity: Hepatic transaminase elevations, clinical hepatitis, and jaundice have occurred in patients receiving ritonavir. Therefore, caution should be exercised when administering PAXLOVID to patients with pre-existing liver diseases, liver enzyme abnormalities, or hepatitis. Because nirmatrelvir is coadministered with ritonavir, there may be a risk ofHIV-1 developing resistance to HIV protease inhibitors in individuals with uncontrolled or undiagnosed HIV-1 infection.

The most common adverse reactions in the PAXLOVID group ('‰¥1%) that occurred at a greater frequency than in the placebo group were dysgeusia (5% and <1%, respectively) and diarrhea (3% and 2%, respectively).

The following adverse reactions have been identified during use of PAXLOVID under Emergency Use Authorization:

Immune System Disorders: Anaphylaxis, hypersensitivity reactionsSkin and Subcutaneous Tissue Disorders: Toxic epidermal necrolysis, Stevens-Johnson syndromeNervous System Disorders: HeadacheVascular Disorders: HypertensionGastrointestinal Disorders: Abdominal pain, nausea, vomitingGeneral Disorders and Administration Site Conditions: Malaise

PAXLOVID is a strong inhibitor of CYP3A, and an inhibitor of CYP2D6, P-gp, and OATP1B1. Coadministration of PAXLOVID with drugs that are primarily metabolized by CYP3A and CYP2D6 or are transported by P-gp or OATP1B1 may result in increased plasma concentrations of such drugs and increase the risk of adverse events. Coadministration with other CYP3A substrates may require a dose adjustment or additional monitoring.

Pregnancy: Available data on the use of nirmatrelvir during pregnancy are insufficient to evaluate for a drug-associated risk of major birth defects, miscarriage, or adverse maternal or fetal outcomes. Published observational studies on ritonavir use in pregnant women have not identified an increase in the risk of major birth defects. Published studies with ritonavir are insufficient to identify a drug-associated risk of miscarriage. There are maternal and fetal risks associated with untreated COVID-19 in pregnancy.

Lactation: There are no available data on the presence of nirmatrelvir in human or animal milk, the effects on the breastfed infant, or the effects on milk production. A transient decrease in body weight was observed in the nursing offspring of rats administered nirmatrelvir. Limited published data report that ritonavir is present in human milk. There is no information on the effects of ritonavir on the breastfed infant or the effects of the drug on milk production. The developmental and health benefits of breastfeeding should be considered along with the mother's clinical need for PAXLOVID and any potential adverse effects on the breastfed infant from PAXLOVID or from the underlying maternal condition.

Contraception: Use of ritonavir may reduce the efficacy of combined hormonal contraceptives. Advise patients using combined hormonal contraceptives to use an effective alternative contraceptive method or an additional barrier method of contraception.

Pediatrics: The optimal dose of PAXLOVID has not been established in pediatric patients.

Systemic exposure of nirmatrelvir increases in renally impaired patients with increase in the severity of renal impairment. No dosage adjustment is recommended in patients with mild renal impairment. Reduce the dose of PAXLOVIDin patients with moderate renal impairment (eGFR '‰¥30 to <60 mL/min). PAXLOVID is not recommended in patients with severe renal impairment (eGFR <30 mL/min) or in patients with end-stage renal disease (eGFR <15 mL/min).

PAXLOVID is not recommended for use in patients with severe hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh Class C).

Please see Full Prescribing Information, including BOXED WARNING and Patient Information

Click for Fact Sheets:

For Consumers:EUA Fact sheet for Patients, Parents, and Caregivers

For Healthcare Professionals:EUA Fact Sheet for HCPs

INDICATION, AUTHORIZED USE AND IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION FOR COMIRNATY

INDICATION

COMIRNATY® (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA) is a vaccine approved for active immunization to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals 12 years of age and older.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

You should NOT receive COMIRNATY® (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA) if you have had a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient of COMIRNATY or a previous dose of a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccineThere is a remote chance that COMIRNATY could cause a severe allergic reaction. A severe allergic reaction would usually occur within a few minutes to 1 hour after getting a dose of the vaccine. For this reason, your vaccination provider may ask you to stay at the place where you received the vaccine for monitoring after vaccination. If you or your pre-teen or teenager experience a severe allergic reaction, call 9-1-1 or go to the nearest hospital. Signs of a severe allergic reaction can include:difficulty breathing, swelling of the face and throat, a fast heartbeat, a bad rash all over the body, dizziness and weaknessAuthorized or approved mRNA COVID-19 vaccines show increased risks of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the lining outside the heart), particularly within the first week following vaccination. For COMIRNATY, the observed risk is highest in males 12 through 17 years of age. Seek medical attention right away if you have any of the following symptoms after receiving the vaccine, particularly during the 2 weeks after receiving a dose of the vaccine:chest painshortness of breathfeelings of having a fast-beating, fluttering, or pounding heartAdditional symptoms, particularly in children, may include:FaintingUnusual and persistent fatigue or lack of energyPersistent vomitingPersistent pain in the abdomenUnusual and persistent cool, pale skinFainting can happen after getting injectable vaccines including COMIRNATY. Your vaccination provider may ask you to sit or lie down for 15 minutes after receiving the vaccinePeople with weakened immune systems may have a reduced immune response to COMIRNATYCOMIRNATY may not protect all vaccine recipientsTell your vaccination provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you:have any allergieshave had myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) or pericarditis (inflammation of the lining outside the heart)have a feverhave a bleeding disorder or are on a blood thinnerare immunocompromised or are on a medicine that affects the immune systemare pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeedinghave received another COVID-19 vaccinehave ever fainted in association with an injectionThe most commonly reported adverse reactions ('‰¥10%) after a dose of COMIRNATY were pain at the injection site (up to 90.5%), fatigue (up to 77.5%), headache (up to 75.5%), chills (up to 49.2%), muscle pain (up to 45.5%), joint pain (up to 27.5%), fever (up to 24.3%), injection site swelling (up to 11.8%), and injection site redness (up to 10.4%).These may not be all the possible side effects of the vaccine. Call the vaccination provider or healthcare provider about bothersome side effects or side effects that do not go away.

You should always ask your healthcare providers for medical advice about adverse events. Report vaccine side effects to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The VAERS toll-free number is 1'800'822'7967 or report online to www.vaers.hhs.gov/reportevent.html. You can also report side effects to Pfizer Inc. at www.pfizersafetyreporting.com or by calling 1-800-438-1985.

Please click here for full Prescribing Information for COMIRNATY.

AUTHORIZED USE

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine (2023-2024 Formula)*is FDA authorized under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals 6 months through 11 years of age.

*Hereafter referred to as Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine

EMERGENCY USE AUTHORIZATION

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine has not been approved or licensed by FDA, but has been authorized for emergency use by FDA, under an EUA to prevent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) for use in individuals aged 6 months through 11 years of age. The emergency use of this product is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of the medical product under Section 564(b)'Š(1) of the FD&C Act unless the declaration is terminated or authorization revoked sooner.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

A person should NOT get Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine if they had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose of any Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine or to any ingredients in these vaccines.There is a remote chance that the vaccine could cause a severe allergic reaction. A severe allergic reaction would usually occur within a few minutes to one hour after getting a dose of the vaccine. For this reason, the vaccination provider may ask you to stay at the place where you received the vaccine for monitoring after vaccination. If your child experiences a severe allergic reaction, call 9-1-1, or go to the nearest hospital. Signs of a severe allergic reaction can include:difficulty breathing, swelling of the face and throat, a fast heartbeat, a bad rash all over the body, or dizziness and weaknessMyocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the lining outside the heart) have occurred in some people who have received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Myocarditis and pericarditis following Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines have occurred most commonly in adolescent males 12 through 17 years of age. In most of these individuals, symptoms began within a few days following vaccination. The chance of having this occur is very low. Seek medical attention right away if your child has any of the following symptoms after receiving the vaccine, particularly during the 2 weeks after receiving a dose of the vaccine:Chest painShortness of breath or difficulty breathingFeelings of having a fast-beating, fluttering, or pounding heartAdditional symptoms, particularly in children, may include:FaintingUnusual and persistent irritabilityUnusual and persistent poor feedingUnusual and persistent fatigue or lack of energyPersistent vomitingPersistent pain in the abdomenUnusual and persistent cool, pale skinFainting can happen after getting injectable vaccines, including Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine. For this reason, your vaccination provider may ask you to stay at the place where you received the vaccine for monitoring after vaccinationPeople with weakened immune systems may have a reduced immune response to Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 VaccineThe Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine may not protect everyoneTell your vaccination provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you:have any allergieshas had myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) or pericarditis (inflammation of the lining outside the heart)has a feverhas a bleeding disorder or are on a blood thinneris immunocompromised or are on a medicine that affects the immune systemis pregnant or is breastfeedinghas received another COVID-19 vaccinehas ever fainted in association with an injectionSide effects that have been reported with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines include:Severe allergic reactionsNon-severe allergic reactions such as rash, itching, hives, or swelling of the faceMyocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle)Pericarditis (inflammation of the lining outside the heart)Injection site pain/tendernessTirednessHeadacheMuscle painChillsJoint painFeverInjection site swellingInjection site rednessNauseaFeeling unwellSwollen lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy)Decreased appetiteDiarrheaVomitingArm painFainting in association with injection of the vaccineDizzinessIrritabilityThese may not be all the possible side effects. Serious and unexpected side effects may occur. Call the vaccination provider or healthcare provider about bothersome side effects or side effects that do not go away.

Report vaccine side effects to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The VAERS toll-free number is 1'800'822'7967 or report online to www.vaers.hhs.gov/reportevent.html. Please include ''Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine(2023-2024 Formula) EUA'' in the first line of box #18 of the report form.

In addition, individuals can report side effects to Pfizer Inc. at www.pfizersafetyreporting.com or by calling 1-800-438-1985.

Please click here for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Healthcare Providers Fact Sheet and Vaccine Recipient and Caregiver EUA Fact Sheet.

DISCLOSURE NOTICE:

The information contained in this release is as of October 13, 2023. Pfizer assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this release as the result of new information or future events or developments.

This release contains forward-looking information about Pfizer's efforts to combat COVID-19, Paxlovid (including an amended supply agreement with the U.S. government for Paxlovid, anticipated timing of commercialization and potential benefits), Pfizer's and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccines, defined collectively herein as Comirnaty (including potential benefits), Pfizer's anticipated operating and financial performance and expectations for Pfizer's product pipeline, in-line products and product candidates (including revenue contribution and projections), utilization rates and an enterprise-wide cost realignment program (including anticipated costs, savings and potential benefits) that involves substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Risks and uncertainties include, among other things, uncertainties regarding the commercial success of Paxlovid and Comirnaty; uncertainties regarding the commercial success of Pfizer's other products or product candidates; the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including the ability to meet anticipated clinical endpoints, commencement and/or completion dates for our clinical trials, regulatory submission dates, regulatory approval dates and/or launch dates, as well as risks associated with pre-clinical and clinical data (including Phase 1/2/3 or Phase 4 data for Paxlovid and Comirnaty or any of Pfizer's other products or product candidates) in any of our studies in pediatrics, adolescents, or adults or real world evidence, including the possibility of unfavorable new pre-clinical, clinical or safety data and further analyses of existing pre-clinical, clinical or safety data or further information regarding the quality of pre-clinical, clinical or safety data; risks associated with interim data; the risk that clinical trial data are subject to differing interpretations and assessments by regulatory authorities; the ability to produce comparable clinical or other results for Paxlovid and Comirnaty or any of Pfizer's other products or product candidates, including the rate of effectiveness and/or efficacy, safety and tolerability profile observed to date, in additional analyses of the Phase 3 trial for any such products and additional studies, in real world data studies or in larger, more diverse populations following commercialization; the ability of Comirnaty, any vaccine candidate or any future vaccine to prevent, or Paxlovid or any future COVID-19 treatment to be effective against, COVID-19 caused by emerging virus variants; the risk that use of Comirnaty or Paxlovid will lead to new information about efficacy, safety or other developments, including the risk of additional adverse reactions, some of which may be serious; the risk that pre-clinical and clinical trial data are subject to differing interpretations and assessments, including during the peer review/publication process, in the scientific community generally, and by regulatory authorities; whether and when additional data from the BNT162 mRNA vaccine program, Paxlovid or other COVID-19 programs will be published in scientific journal publications and, if so, when and with what modifications and interpretations; whether regulatory authorities will be satisfied with the design of and results from existing or future pre-clinical and clinical studies; whether and when any drug applications or submissions to request emergency use or conditional marketing authorization for any potential indications for Paxlovid or any of Pfizer's other products or product candidates may be filed in particular jurisdictions and if obtained, whether or when such emergency use authorization or licenses will expire or terminate; whether and when submissions to request emergency use or conditional marketing authorizations for Comirnaty or any future vaccines in additional populations, for a potential booster dose for Comirnaty, any vaccine candidate or any potential future vaccines (including potential future annual boosters or re-vaccinations), and/or biologics license and/or emergency use authorization applications or amendments to any such applications may be filed in particular jurisdictions for Comirnaty, any vaccine candidates or any other potential vaccines that may arise from the BNT162 program, and if obtained, whether or when such emergency use authorizations or licenses, or existing emergency use authorizations, will expire or terminate; whether and when any applications that may be pending or filed for Paxlovid, Comirnaty or any of Pfizer's other products or product candidates (including any requested amendments to the emergency use or conditional marketing authorizations) may be approved by particular regulatory authorities, which will depend on myriad factors, including making a determination as to whether the product's benefits outweigh its known risks and determination of the product's efficacy and, if approved, whether Paxlovid, Comirnaty or any of Pfizer's other products or product candidates for any such indications will be commercially successful; intellectual property and other litigation; decisions by regulatory authorities impacting labeling, manufacturing processes, safety and/or other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of Paxlovid, Comirnaty or any of Pfizer's other products or product candidates, including the authorization or approval of products or therapies developed by other companies; disruptions in the relationships between us and our collaboration partners, clinical trial sites or third-party suppliers, including our relationship with BioNTech; the risk that demand for Paxlovid, Comirnaty or any of Pfizer's other products may be reduced, no longer exist or not meet expectations, which may lead to reduced revenues, excess inventory on-hand and/or in the channel which, for Paxlovid and Comirnaty, has resulted in a significant inventory write-off in the third quarter of 2023 and could continue to result in inventory write-offs or other unanticipated changes; challenges related to and uncertainties regarding the timing of a transition to the commercial market for any of our products, and in particular, Paxlovid; uncertainties related to the public's adherence to vaccines and boosters; risks related to our ability to achieve our revenue forecasts for Paxlovid, Comirnaty or any of Pfizer's other products or product candidates; the risk that other companies may produce superior or competitive products; risks related to the availability of raw materials to manufacture or test Paxlovid, Comirnaty or any of Pfizer's other products or product candidates; challenges related to our vaccine's formulation, dosing schedule and attendant storage, distribution and administration requirements, including risks related to storage and handling after delivery by Pfizer; the risk that we may not be able to successfully develop other vaccine formulations, booster treatment courses or potential future annual boosters or re-vaccinations or new variant-based or next generation vaccines or potential combination respiratory vaccines or next generation COVID-19 treatments;the risk that we may not be able to recoup costs associated with our R&D and manufacturing efforts; risks associated with any changes in the way we approach or provide research funding for the BNT162 program, Paxlovid or any other COVID-19 program; challenges and risks associated with the pace of our development programs; the risk that we may not be able to maintain manufacturing capacity or access to logistics or supply channels commensurate with global demand, which would negatively impact our ability to supply our COVID-19 or other products; whether and when additional supply or purchase agreements will be reached or existing agreements will be completed or renegotiated; uncertainties regarding the ability to obtain recommendations from vaccine or treatment advisory or technical committees and other public health authorities and uncertainties regarding the commercial impact of any such recommendations; pricing and access challenges; challenges related to public confidence in, or awareness of Paxlovid, Comirnaty or any of Pfizer's other products or product candidates; uncertainties around future changes to applicable healthcare policies and guidelines issued by the U.S. federal government in connection with the declared termination of the federal government's COVID-19 public health emergency as of May 11, 2023; trade restrictions; potential third party royalties or other claims; the uncertainties inherent in business and financial planning, including, without limitation, risks related to Pfizer's business and prospects, adverse developments in Pfizer's markets, or adverse developments in the U.S. or global capital markets, credit markets, regulatory environment or economies generally; uncertainties regarding the impact of COVID-19 on our business, operations and financial results; competitive developments; uncertainties regarding the impact, success and associated costs of our enterprise-wide cost realignment program; andrisks and uncertainties related to, restructurings and internal reorganizations, as well as any other corporate strategic initiatives and growth strategies, and cost-reduction and productivity initiatives, each of which requires upfront costs but may fail to yield anticipated benefits and may result in unexpected costs or organizational disruption.

A further description of risks and uncertainties can be found in Pfizer's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, and in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, including in the sections thereof captioned ''Risk Factors'' and ''Forward-Looking Information and Factors That May Affect Future Results'', as well as in its subsequent reports on Form 8-K, all of which are filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov and www.pfizer.com.

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Wed, 18 Oct 2023 20:06

Amidst the palpable rise of diabetes and obesity lies a potent contender for managing these pervasive conditions: GLP-1 receptor agonists.

These remarkable drugs, promising not only enhanced blood sugar regulation but also tangible weight loss, have swiftly permeated the health industry, sparking discussions far beyond mere medical applications.

As we delve into the statistics, we'll unveil the impactful narratives hidden within the numbers, elucidating how GLP-1 drugs like Semaglutide and Liraglutide are reshaping health outcomes and stirring the medical and economic landscapes alike (Walmart has some interesting insight that we'll share further below).

Let's peel back the layers hidden in the data, and consider the potential futures shaped by the widespread use of these fascinating weight loss and diabetes drugs.

Table of Contents:

What are GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs?Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 vs Other Weight Loss MedicationAmerican Sentiment Towards GLP-1 Weight Loss DrugsBenefits of GLP-1 drugsRisks of GLP-1 weight loss medicationStudies on SemaglutideTop Brands of GLP-1 Agonist DrugsHow will drugs like Ozempic shape our future?What People on Reddit Are Saying About Semaglutide

What are GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs?Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs are used to manage type 2 diabetes and aid in weight loss. They mimic the action of a hormone called GLP-1, which helps control blood sugar, reduce appetite, and enhance satiety.

Here are the most common GLP-1 drugs:

Semaglutide (Ozempic, Rybelsus)Exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon)Liraglutide (Victoza, Saxenda)Dulaglutide (Trulicity)Lixisenatide (Adlyxin)Albiglutide (withdrawn from the market)Exenatide Extended-Release (Bydureon)Efpeglenatide (Lyxumia, ZYOG1)Out of all, the most popular is Semaglutide.

In 2017, the FDA initially approved Semaglutide, marketed as Ozempic, from the pharmaceutical behemoth Novo Nordisk, to assist individuals with type 2 diabetes in managing their blood sugar levels.

In 2021, the FDA granted approval to Novo Nordisk for another semaglutide under the brand Wegovy, for people who have obesity or are overweight and have other health problems, like heart disease.

Wegovy typically contains more of the active ingredient semaglutide (0.5, 1.0, 1.7 or 2.4 milligrams weekly) than Ozempic (0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 milligrams weekly).

Why is Semaglutide so Popular among the GLP-1s? Semaglutide has demonstrated strong effectiveness in lowering blood sugar levels and promoting weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes. Its shown impressive results in clinical trials, including the STEP program (Semaglutide Treatment Effect in People with obesity). Many individuals using semaglutide have reported satisfaction with their ability to manage blood sugar levels and lose weight with this medication (both Ozempic and Wegovy). The availability of semaglutide in different formulations, such as injections and oral tablets, provides patients with options that cater to their preferences. All of this is to say, patients and physicians are being driven to GLP-1s, particularly semaglutide, for managing obesity. This is a trend that is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States as well as other countries.

Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 vs Other Weight Loss MedicationGLP-1 agonists like Ozempic distinguish themselves from other weight loss medications by not only targeting appetite but also having metabolic effects beneficial for those with coexisting type 2 diabetes.

The weight loss prompted by GLP-1 drugs is also notably substantial compared to other available weight loss drugs, with studies showcasing a remarkable reduction in body weight among users.

Expected sales from 2020 vs 2024 of Ozempic (and other diabetes drugs):

It's exploding. Of course, all this doesn't come without any concerns - physically, mentally, and economically - which we will discuss further below.

American Sentiment Towards GLP-1 Weight Loss DrugsThe rise in attention towards GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy highlights a blend of wariness and hope in the mindset of American consumers.

Interest & Concerns32% of adults in the United States who felt they needed to lose weight who were interested in trying select weight loss methods as of 2023

Key Insights from a Morning Consult Survey:

26% of U.S. adults are interested in trying these drugs.Concerns are evident: 70% worry about long-term effects, while 66% are anxious about short-term ones.2 in 3 adults are uneasy about the necessity for continual use and potential mental health challenges during usage.

33% of respondents for this survey believed GLP-1 medications to be safe (and 37% believed it to be effective):

That may not seem very positive, especially when comparing to other weight loss methods polled, but have a look at a similar survey from 2016, and you'll see a trend occurring in regards to the perception of GLP-1 medication safety.

Perceived Benefits50% and 55% believe the drugs can positively impact physical health and self-image respectively.Over 40% foresee advantages like promoting healthier eating and inspiring more physical activity.About 36% anticipate benefits in reducing compulsive/addictive behavior.

Prescription Priorities and Insurance Coverage52% feel that those needing the drugs for weight-related health issues should be prioritized.Only 11% believe priority should be given to those using them purely for weight loss.Regarding insurance, about 2 in 3 believe insurers should cover these drugs for weight-related health issues, and half feel coverage should extend to exclusive weight loss use too.

International ConcernReports from the UK and EU about stomach paralysis, excessive vomiting, and probes into suicidal thoughts related to these drugs amplify concerns.

Supply and Demand ChallengesRising demand vs. supply shortages creates a complex situation for those needing these drugs for medical and weight loss reasons.

As these GLP-1 drugs become more prominent, balancing the evident public interest with concerns and ethical distribution will be pivotal in their narrative moving forward.

Insights on Food Sales from Walmart

In parallel, Walmart, the multinational retail corporation, showcases a distinct yet arguably related stance, particularly in the realm of food and nutritional accessibility. Walmart emphasizes providing consumers with affordable, nutritious options, likely recognizing the intrinsic link between diet, obesity, and the cascading demand for weight loss drugs. Through strategies like broadening their array of healthy food options and creating partnerships with health and wellness brands, Walmart indirectly addresses the surging interest in weight loss medications by aiming to mitigate the root issue: unhealthy dietary habits.

There may have to be some balancing among the big consumer staple companies like General Mills or Kraft Heinz.

Benefits of GLP-1 drugsGLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1) weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic (semaglutide), are primarily designed to manage diabetes but have also gained attention for their ability to promote weight loss and are even under investigation for potential applications in treating neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers are exploring the efficacy of these drugs in improving glucose utilization and reducing inflammation throughout the body, including the brain, with the aim to potentially slow the progression of debilitating diseases. Notably, while Ozempic and similar drugs have shown promise in initial studies, conclusive results and applications in the field of neurodegenerative disease management are still under research and pending further trial outcomes.

Take the potential applications in treating neurodegenerative disorders with a pinch of salt.

Furthermore, from an economic standpoint, industries may see shifts in demand patterns, which, if navigated adeptly, could pave the way for new market trends, particularly towards healthier product options.

Risks of GLP-1 weight loss medicationGLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1) receptor agonists, like Ozempic, bring tangible benefits in managing Type 2 diabetes and aiding weight loss but also come with potential risks.

Physical Risks: Gastrointestinal Issues: Including nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Pancreatitis: A concern though definitive links are under scrutiny. Hypoglycemia: Particularly when used with other anti-diabetic medications. Kidney Injury: Usually associated with dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea.Mental Health Concerns: An instance pointing toward mental health implications is highlighted by Jenny Kent, who experienced significant emotional disturbances upon using Ozempic, a drug approved for Type 2 diabetes and gaining popularity for its off-label use in weight loss.

As more people employ Ozempic to manage diabetes and speculate its efficacy in weight loss, reports to the FDA regarding potential side effects, particularly relating to mental health, have been on the ascent. Kent reported being persistently overwhelmed and tearful after beginning her regimen. This subjective experience is echoed in other cases too, although whether the emotional turmoil is directly related to Ozempic is still under question.

Regulatory Concerns and Investigations: The European Medicines Agency was, as of July 2023, investigating over 150 reports concerning self-harm and suicidal thoughts potentially linked to Ozempic and similar drugs. In contrast, the FDA has not progressed to an investigative stage but continues to monitor situations closely. The FDA has received 489 reports related to anxiety, depression, or suicidal thoughts with semaglutide drugs (including Ozempic), 96 of which involved suicidal thoughts, with five resulting in death.A Few Things Worth Considering:Database Challenges: Rishi Desai highlights the FAERS database's limits, noting its incapacity to establish causality between drugs and side effects due to its passive and unverified data nature.Clinical Trials' Relevance Questioned: Dr. Amy Rothberg indicates a potential misalignment between clinical trial parameters and real-world use, pointing out that mental health conditions were not represented in Ozempic's trials, possibly overlooking related side effects.Unwavering Confidence from Novo Nordisk: Despite emerging concerns, Novo Nordisk firmly backs Ozempic's safety and efficacy, vowing persistent surveillance and cooperation with regulatory bodies to ensure ongoing patient safety.Prioritizing Patient Safety: Given the promise of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic in diabetes management and weight loss, rising mental health concerns necessitate healthcare providers to uphold a vigilant, patient-oriented strategy, ensuring thorough monitoring, open patient communication, and rigorous validation of experiences to safeguard pharmacological use.Studies on Semaglutide1. Weight Loss Outcomes With Semaglutide TreatmentThe study found that semaglutide treatment at doses used in randomized clinical trials (1.7 mg and 2.4 mg) was associated with significant weight loss. At 3 months, patients achieved an average weight loss of 5.9%, and at 6 months, the weight loss increased to 10.9%. These results align with weight loss outcomes observed in randomized clinical trials. However, longer-term studies are needed to assess prolonged weight loss outcomes.

The study also highlighted that adverse effects were reported in approximately 50% of the cohort during follow-up, with gastrointestinal symptoms being the most commonly reported adverse effects, including nausea and vomiting.

2. Clinical Review Report of Semaglutide (Ozempic)The "SUSTAIN-6" was a cardiovascular outcomes trial (CVOT) designed to assess the impact of Semaglutide on cardiovascular-related endpoints in patients with T2DM. The primary endpoint in SUSTAIN-6 was the time from randomization to the first occurrence of a major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), which includes cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), or non-fatal stroke.

In this trial, Semaglutide (SEM) consistently improved glycemic control, reduced cardiovascular risk, and enhanced patient satisfaction in clinical trials for type 2 diabetes. It showed a favorable safety profile, with a focus on adverse events.

Top Brands of GLP-1 Agonist DrugsDrug NameUseAdministrationNotable PointsOzempic (semaglutide)Treats Type 2 diabetes; side effect may include weight loss.Weekly injection; anytime, with/without food.Wegovy is another version approved for weight loss.Rybelsus(semaglutide)Oral Type 2 diabetes treatment.Daily oral; ideally in the morning, minimal water, empty stomach.Lacks Ozempic's heart-related benefits approval.Wegovy(semaglutide)Approved for weight loss.Weekly injection; any time of day.Avg. weight loss: ~15% of initial weight in trials.Trulicity (dulaglutide)Type 2 diabetes treatment; potential heart attack/stroke risk reduction.Weekly injection; flexible timing/food intake.Weight loss possible but not officially approved.Victoza (liraglutide)Manages Type 2 diabetes; may reduce heart/kidney risks.Daily injection; mealtime-flexible.Saxenda, a higher-dose variant, focuses on weight loss.Saxenda(liraglutide)Approved for weight loss.Frequent injections.Avg. 8% initial body weight loss in trials.Byetta (exenatide)Treats adult Type 2 diabetes.Twice daily; around meals.First FDA-approved GLP-1 agonist; no specific heart benefits.Bydureon BCise(exenatide)Manages blood sugar in Type 2 diabetes (10+ years old).Weekly injection.No distinct heart or weight loss benefits.Mounjaro (tirzepatide)Treats Type 2 diabetes; under study for weight loss.[Administration Not Provided]Part of the new GLP-1/GIP agonists, reducing A1C levels & weight.Considerations Between Brands of GLP-1 Agonists: Manufacturer's saving cards, patient assistance programs, and platforms like GoodRx can offer options for more affordable access to GLP-1 agonist prescriptions, since they are generally available as brand-name products. Insurance coverage may also influence the selection of a GLP-1 agonist, as different plans may cover different drugs.The selection of a suitable GLP-1 agonist involves considering factors like age, treatment goals, existing conditions, preferences in administration (oral vs. injection and frequency), and insurance coverage. Medical professionals can guide this choice, offering tailored advice based on individual circumstances and needs. Related: Ozempic vs Wegovy & Ozempic vs Rybelsus

How will drugs like Ozempic shape our future?1. Tackling Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes:The extensive utilization of GLP-1 drugs could significantly impact the management and prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes. With medications like Wegovy and Saxenda that are specifically approved for weight loss, and others like Ozempic and Trulicity that have shown positive results in managing blood sugar levels and concurrent weight reduction, a robust implementation of GLP-1 drugs could pave the way for a notable reduction in obesity and diabetes-related complications.

2. Economic Implications on Healthcare:The extensive use of GLP-1 drugs might assist in lowering the burden on the healthcare system by potentially reducing the number of complications and comorbidities related to obesity and diabetes, such as heart diseases, kidney issues, and stroke. Managing these conditions effectively at an early stage with pharmaceutical interventions could lead to a decrease in the need for more aggressive treatments and hospitalizations in the long run, thereby saving healthcare costs.

3. Alterations in the Food Industry:A reduction in demand for high-calorie, sugary foods may be witnessed as these medications not only regulate blood sugar but also often suppress appetite and create a shift towards weight loss and healthier consumption patterns. The food industry, on the other hand, might adapt to this change by diversifying its offerings, focusing more on health-oriented products, and leveraging marketing towards low-calorie and low-sugar options to meet new consumer demands.

4. A New Wave in the Pharmaceutical Sector:With growing interest and reliance on GLP-1 drugs, the pharmaceutical sector could see an impetus in the research and development of not only newer GLP-1 agonists but also other drugs that can impact both glucose regulation and weight management. The expanding market and potential profitability could fuel investments in developing drugs with enhanced efficacy, fewer side effects, and improved patient compliance (such as oral formulations or less frequent dosing requirements).

5. Ethical and Accessibility Concerns:With the spotlight on GLP-1 drugs, questions regarding equitable access to these potentially life-altering medications come to the forefront. Addressing the disparities in healthcare access and ensuring that these drugs are affordable and available to all strata of society will be imperative. This includes working on insurance coverages, patient assistance programs, and making generics available to ensure that economic barriers do not hinder access to these important medications.

6. Addressing Lifestyle Modifications:While GLP-1 drugs may offer a pharmaceutical approach to managing diabetes and obesity, the importance of holistic care involving lifestyle and dietary modifications will remain crucial. Educating the population about healthy living, providing resources and supports to make healthier choices, and ensuring that pharmacotherapy is used as a part of a comprehensive care plan, rather than a standalone solution, will be significant in ensuring long-term health outcomes.

7. Regulatory and Policy Implications:The prominence of GLP-1 drugs may necessitate revisiting and revising healthcare policies, ensuring they are aligned with the latest scientific evidence and societal needs. This could involve updating treatment guidelines, establishing protocols for ensuring judicious use, and incorporating these medications into broader healthcare planning and strategy.

In essence, the role of GLP-1 drugs is multifaceted and its burgeoning use could create ripples across various sectors '' healthcare, pharmaceuticals, food industry, and policy-making, sculpting a future where the management of metabolic disorders is significantly influenced by these agents. Balancing the optimism regarding these drugs with grounded strategies that encompass lifestyle, diet, and equitable healthcare access will be the linchpin to ensuring sustainable and widespread positive outcomes.

What People on Reddit Are Saying About SemaglutideTLDR: This individual initially had success with Ozempic, experiencing reduced appetite and weight loss at a lower dosage. However, when the dosage was increased, they suffered bad side effects, leading them to stop taking the medication. TLDR: The thread discusses a user's recent prescription of Ozempic. They share their concerns and seeks advice from the community regarding the medication. Others who have experience with Ozempic chime in, offering insights into potential side effects, tips to manage nausea, and their personal journeys with the medication. TLDR: This thread revolves around a news article discussing the FDA warning related to Ozempic. People in the thread share their personal experiences with Ozempic, emphasizing its effectiveness in managing type 2 diabetes and promoting weight loss. TLDR: This thread discusses the use of GLP-1 agonists for weight loss and whether some individuals naturally have higher levels of GLP-1, which might make them less prone to overeating and diabetes. People also discuss their results from using medication like Ozempic. Final note:Navigating through the numerical landscapes of GLP-1 receptor agonists, we've glimpsed a future where health and economy intertwine with each innovative therapeutic stride. As the medical, societal, and market impacts of these potent drugs continue to unravel, our vigilance in observing, understanding, and ethically navigating their evolving narrative becomes paramount. Together, we step into a future that, while rich with potential, also calls for our discerning engagement to ensure that these medical advancements are harnessed in a manner that holistically enhances our health, societies, and global community.

FAQs:

How much weight can you lose on semaglutide?How long does it take semaglutide to work?Liraglutide vs Semaglutide, which is better?Why isn't semaglutide working?

References:

What Americans Think of Ozempic And Other Weight Loss Drugs. Morning Consult Pro. Accessed October 14, 2023. https://pro.morningconsult.com/analysis/ozempic-weight-loss-drugsAdkison J. Comparing Ozempic, Wegovy and Other GLP-1 Drugs. GoodRx. Published December 7, 2022. https://www.goodrx.com/classes/glp-1-agonists/glp-1-drugs-comparisonOzempic for weight loss: Does it work, and what do experts recommend? cultivating-health. https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/ozempic-for-weight-loss-does-it-work-and-what-do-experts-recommend/2023/07Lupkin S. As Ozempic use grows, so do reports of possible mental health side effects. NPR. Published September 21, 2023. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/21/1200201186/as-ozempic-use-grows-so-do-reports-of-possible-mental-health-side-effectsAntidiabetics -GLP-1 Agonists Background.; 2022. https://www.hca.wa.gov/assets/billers-and-providers/antidiabetics-GLP-1-agonists.pdfAdkison J. Comparing Ozempic, Wegovy and Other GLP-1 Drugs. GoodRx. Published December 7, 2022. https://www.goodrx.com/classes/glp-1-agonists/glp-1-drugs-comparison

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Archived Version

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 19:54

Pras Michel of the Fugees is seeking a new trial by arguing his former lawyer used artificial intelligence to generate his closing argument before the hip-hop artist was found guilty of helping a foreign national launder millions of dollars in illegitimate contributions to former President Barack Obama's campaign.

Michel was convicted in April after being accused of taking part in an extensive conspiracy to use about $88 million in foreign funds to engage in illegal back-channel lobbying and make unlawful campaign contributions at the direction of the People's Republic of China. He filed a motion on Monday asking the court for a new trial on all counts.

The motion argues Michel's former defense attorney David Kenner "used an experimental AI program to write his closing argument, which made frivolous arguments, conflated the schemes and failed to highlight key weaknesses in the Government's case."

Kenner "then publicly boasted that the AI program 'turned hours or days of legal work into seconds,'" Michel's new defense team from D.C.-based ArentFox Schiff wrote. "It is now apparent that Kenner and his co-counsel appear to have had an undisclosed financial stake in the AI program, and they experimented with it during Michel's trial so they could issue a press release afterward promoting the program '-- a clear conflict of interest."

FUGEES RAPPER PRAS FOUND GUILTY OF POLITICAL CONSPIRACY IN TRIAL THAT INCLUDED TESTIMONY FROM DICAPRIO

Pras Michel, former member of the Fugees, center, and his lawyer David Kenner arrive to federal court in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, April 3, 2023. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In a declaration accompanying the motion, former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg noted how "Michel's prior publicist also informed members of the current defense team that Kenner proudly stated at the end of the trial words to the effect of 'AI wrote our closing.'" Zeidenberg cited a press release published by a firm called Eyelevel in May that claimed its AI litigation assistance technology "made history" in "becoming the first use of generative AI in a federal trial."

Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel of The Fugees perform during the 2023 The Roots Picnic at The Mann on June 3, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images for Live Nation Urban)

"The case involved Pras Michel, a former member of the hip-hop band The Fugees, who was on trial for international fraud charges," the press release said, omitting the fact Michel had been convicted on all ten felony charges after three days of jury deliberation.

The three-week trial involved testimony from high-profile witnesses including Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO TESTIFIES IN FEDERAL CASE AGAINST RAPPER ACCUSED OF FUNNELING MILLIONS

The firm's press release quoted Kenner as having described the AI technology as "an absolute game changer for complex litigation."

Pras Michel, a member of the 1990's hip-hop group the Fugees and his lawyer David Kenner arrive at U.S. District Court on April 3, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Michel conspired with wealthy Malaysian businessman Jho Low and several others to engage in undisclosed lobbying campaigns at the direction of Low and the Vice Minister of Public Security for the People's Republic of China, the Justice Department said. A federal grand jury found Michel guilty of using his celebrity status and access to influence U.S. government officials on behalf of undisclosed foreign interests.

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The entertainer was convicted of orchestrating an unregistered, back-channel campaign beginning in or about 2017 to influence the Obama administration and the Department of Justice to drop an embezzlement investigation of Low in connection with the international strategic and development company known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), and to send a Chinese national back to China, as well as conspiring to make and conceal foreign and conduit campaign contributions during the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.

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Wed, 18 Oct 2023 19:51

WASHINGTON'--In the midst of our nation's unprecedented opioid epidemic, which is killing 115 Americans every day, U.S. Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Joe Manchin (D-VW) today urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove ultra-high dosage opioids from the market. Ultra-high dose opioids are those which, when taken as directed by the label, exceed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) threshold for dangerously high daily opioid intake. For example, the OxyContin 80mg tablet'--which is as powerful as 24 tablets of Vicodin'--can cause fatal respiratory depression when taken by a person without a high opioid tolerance.

''Given the strength of a single dose of one of these opioids, it is shocking that such products remain on the market in the midst of our nation's opioid epidemic,'' the Senators wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. ''We urge you to heed this important, potentially life-saving request.''

Several medical and public health stakeholders, including health commissioners of several states, have submitted a citizen petition under Section 355(e) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, asking the FDA to remove these high-dose opioid pills from the market given their outsized risks. The latest CDC guidelines and recent medical studies recommend non-opioid treatment for most forms of pain. However, cancer and palliative care patients who need high levels of pain medication would still be able to receive needed treatment by taking other pill formulations.

A particular concern with ultra-high dose opioids is accidental ingestion, borrowed medication, and recreational use. Studies have shown that 12 million Americans misuse prescription opioids annually, and more than half of all misuse originates with a prescription opioid from a friend or relative.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

May 3, 2017

Dear Commissioner Gottlieb:

Our nation's unprecedented opioid epidemic, which is killing 115 Americans every day, requires a comprehensive response from all stakeholders. Under your leadership, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken positive steps to reduce opioid addiction and overdose, including by expanding the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to immediate-release opioids, exploring ways to expand provider education, making packaging and labeling changes to protect against overconsumption, and requesting removal of Opana ER from the market due to its abuse potential. We commend you for spearheading these important initiatives. Today, we write to urge you to take additional action to protect Americans from unsafe products that pose disproportionate overdose risk by removing ultra-high dosage opioids from the market.

Ultra-high dose opioids are those which, when taken as directed by the label, exceed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) threshold for dangerously high daily opioid intake of 90 morphine milligram equivalents. For example, the OxyContin 80mg tablet, can cause fatal respiratory depression when taken by a person without a high opioid tolerance'--it is as powerful as 24 tablets of Vicodin. Additionally, the Subsys fentanyl spray comes in doses equal to 58 Vicodin tablets. Given the strength of a single dose of one of these opioids, it is shocking that such products remain on the market in the midst of our nation's opioid epidemic.

A particular concern with ultra-high dose opioids is accidental ingestion, borrowed medication, and recreational use. Studies have shown that 12 million Americans misuse prescription opioids annually, and more than half of all misuse originates with a prescription opioid from a friend or relative. It is our understanding that the FDA may have evidence and adverse events data to understand the scope of misuse from ultra-high dose opioids.

Last year, the National Academy of Sciences issued a report outlining a new framework for the FDA's opioid approval and removal decisions. We were pleased by your endorsement of this new approach that takes misuse potential into account when weighing the risks and benefits of opioid formulations. Given that palliative and cancer-related pain patients who require high opioid doses could still receive adequate treatment with multiple pills, patches, or other formulations, we believe these ultra-high dose opioids can be removed from the market without imposing hardship on those with legitimate pain needs.

We understand that several medical and public health stakeholders have submitted a citizen petition under Section 355(e) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, asking the FDA to remove these high-dose opioid pills from the market given their outsized risks. We urge you to heed this important, potentially life-saving request. We appreciate your commitment to using all tools at the FDA's disposal to help address the opioid crisis.

Sincerely,

###

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Wed, 18 Oct 2023 19:43

Last month, Target abruptly announced it would soon shutter three of its Portland locations for good. The company cited threats to employee safety and organized retail crime as reasons for the closures, which begin Saturday.

Emails obtained by WW sent from Target executives to Mayor Ted Wheeler's office offer more details about Target's concerns, and also provide insight into apparently unsuccessful efforts by officials inside Wheeler's office to appease those concerns.

In May 2022, Skylar Brocker-Knapp, a top policy adviser in the mayor's office, met with senior Target executives at the company's new store in Hollywood, which had just opened a year earlier. In preparation for the meeting, Target's government affairs director Kent Wilson forwarded Brocker-Knapp a letter from the store's director, Brittany Munoz, providing ''added context.''

The litany of concerns laid out in the letter might sound familiar. The store's rear wall was repeatedly vandalized with graffiti, which would reappear within hours of being painted over. Drug paraphernalia and needles littered the parking lot. A nearby homeless encampment kept popping back up after being targeted by intermittent city sweeps.

''We have seen many repeat offenders with multiple police report cases filed who continue to roam the streets and come into our store daily to steal without fear of being reprimanded,'' wrote Munoz, who included a list: five harassment cases, 30 cases of disorderly conduct, and one assault.

The assault described in the letter occurred in January: a 19-year-old employee was shoved by a thief who'd snuck into a backroom to steal electronics. Months later, police still hadn't solved the case even though the suspect ''is still seen in my building,'' Munoz wrote.

''A number of times when we have called law enforcement for support on these issues, we have received long wait times to speak to a dispatcher, as well as long response times waiting for police or no police response at all,'' she wrote.

She noted the 19-year-old was a college student who quit immediately following the assault. ''This has also impacted the retention of our team and our ability to staff,'' she added.

A spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau was unable to immediately offer more information about the incident.

The subsequent meeting between Brocker-Knapp and Target executives went well. ''Everyone was so thankful for the work that you're doing, and they loved having you visit the store,'' Wilson told Brocker-Knapp.

Over the following year, the relationship between the mayor's office and Target appeared to warm.

The mayor's director of economic development, Andrew Fitzpatrick, wrote Wilson in August to see if there was anything Target could do to ''address EBT conversion to cash for the purchase of illicit drugs.'' In other words, the purchase of bottled water or similar products with government food vouchers for the purpose of redeeming the containers for cash.

''It may help reduce the overall incidence of crime in the vicinity,'' Fitzpatrick wrote. Wilson responded that he was happy to help, and could introduce the mayor's office to other retailers like Walgreens and CVS.

The correspondence culminated in a pair of meetings between high-level Portland officials and top Target executives.

Portland Police Bureau Deputy Chief Mike Frome had an ''in-person meeting'' with Target's director of public safety in February. And Wheeler himself met with top Target executives, including its vice president of asset protection, Oscar Arango, in the lobby of a Washington, D.C., Hilton during a national conference in January.

Wilson emailed Fitzpatrick to report that ''Oscar was raving about Mayor Wheeler and how he was actually engaged.''

But problems were mounting. In June, Wilson reported further issues at the Hollywood store and Galleria location downtown, highlighting particularly ''burglaries in storage rooms'' and ''awful issues with the bottle bill,'' which requires the store to allow people to redeem bottles and cans for cash.

''We recently had an individual in one of our stores that was peeling off his face with pliers in the bathroom,'' explained Wilson.

''The redemption situation at many retailers and grocers is incredibly frustrating,'' Fitzpatrick acknowledged.

The next email communication, provided to WW by the mayor's office in response to a public records request, came in late September, when Wilson gave Fitzpatrick a heads-up that Target was permanently closing the two stores'--and one more on Southeast Powell Boulevard.

''News will be public at 12 pm your time,'' Wilson wrote in a terse message Sept. 26.

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Wed, 18 Oct 2023 19:38

The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday selected the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association's PNWH2 Hub for award negotiations as one of the nation's seven Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs following a competitive nationwide process, according to a news release from the Washington State Department of Commerce.

PNWH2 Hub could receive up to $1 billion in federal funding over nine years for its projects.

The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association is a multistate nonprofit coalition of public and private partners spanning Washington, Oregon, and Montana, and includes representatives from tribal nations, labor, business and industry, higher education, government, and the environmental community.

DOE's H2Hubs will kickstart a national network of clean hydrogen producers, consumers, and connective infrastructure while supporting the production, storage, delivery, and end-use of clean hydrogen. The H2Hubs, funded by President Biden's Investing in America agenda, will accelerate the commercial-scale deployment of clean hydrogen '-- helping generate clean, dispatchable power, create a new form of energy storage, and decarbonize heavy industry and transportation, the release said.

Together, they also will reduce 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from end-uses each year '-- an amount roughly equivalent to combined annual emissions of 5.5 million gasoline-powered cars '-- and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs across the country while supporting healthier communities and strengthening America's energy security, the release added.

The PNWH2 Hub will leverage the abundant clean power and innovative technology companies in the Pacific Northwest to accelerate the transition to clean hydrogen production and use. The hub will focus on decarbonizing the region's hard-to-electrify heavy-duty transportation, long-duration energy storage, ports, agriculture, and industrial operations, the Commerce Department said.

''Washington state and our many partners in this effort got here today because we have the commitment to innovation, nation-leading climate policies and economic bona fides to build even more clean energy resources here in Washington,'' Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement. ''This hub will be another example that the transition to all renewable energy is not only saving our planet but contributing to robust economic growth. The projects in this hub will support thousands of new jobs in Washington and the Northwest, while slashing emissions in sectors such as heavy-duty transportation, maritime, agriculture, and industrial operations.''

DOE and the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association will negotiate the final funding and scope for the hub beginning this fall. Companies with projects proposed as part of the PNWH2 Hub are: Air Liquide Hydrogen Energy US LLC, Amazon.com Inc., ALA Renewable Energy LLC, Atlas Agro, Centralia College, Mitsubishi Power Americas Inc., Northwest Seaport Alliance, NovoHydrogen Development Inc., PACCAR Inc., Portland General Electric Co., Puget Sound Energy, PUD No. 1 of Douglas County, Regis Solar LLC, Synchronous LLC dba First Mode, Twin Transit, USA Fortescue Future Industries Inc., and Williams Field Services Group LLC.

The PNWH2 Hub is eligible to receive up to $1 billion in federal funding over four DOE-defined development phases spanning nine years, with $20 million allocated for Phase 1. DOE will evaluate the hub's activities and deliver go/no-go decisions at each phase.

The PNWH2 Hub will kick off Phase 1, which includes detailed project planning, in early 2024 to refine projections submitted in the proposal and provide assurance to DOE that the overall hydrogen hub concept and proposed projects are technologically, financially and legally viable, with buy-in from local stakeholders. Project partners, who have been engaging with local communities for many months, will build on this groundwork with extensive community and labor engagement in Phase 1, the release said.

The PNWH2 Hub's proposal was developed by a team of experts from each proposed project led by federal engineering, procurement and construction contractor Atkins. Guidance was provided by the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association Board and the Advisory Committee, as well as through community and partner feedback.

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Wed, 18 Oct 2023 18:07

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Monday warned that preemptive action against Israel could be expected ''in the coming hours,'' due to its bombing of Gaza, according to Iranian state TV.

Amirabdollahian said that Israel '-- which is waging an air campaign against the Palestinian militant group Hamas with a ground invasion expected soon '-- won't be allowed to take such actions in the Gaza Strip without repercussions.

''Leaders of the resistance will not allow [Israel] to take any action in Gaza '... All options are open and we cannot be indifferent to the war crimes committed against the people of Gaza,'' Amirabdollahian told state TV, as translated by Reuters.

''The resistance front is capable of waging a long-term war with [Israel] '... in the coming hours, we can expect a preemptive action by the resistance front,'' he added. ''If the crimes in Gaza do not stop immediately, new fronts will be opened.''

Israel since Oct. 7 has been at war with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The conflict has claimed more than 4,000 lives and counting on both sides after Hamas's deadly surprise assault on Israel by land, air and sea.

The conflict has unsettled the region, with U.S. officials concerned that the Iran-backed Hezbollah might choose to open a second front in the fight. Hezbollah and Israel last fought a monthlong war in 2006.

''We want to send a pretty strong message. We do not want this to broaden, and the idea is for Iran to get that message loud and clear,'' new Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown said last week.

Iran, which also backs Hamas, has denied any involvement in the planning of that attack, but the country's leaders have seemed to revel in Israel's intelligence failure in not suspecting Hamas's plans.

Earlier Monday, Amirabdollahian posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that ''time is running out for political solutions'' to the war.

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Wed, 18 Oct 2023 18:06

The Biden administration plans to ask Congress for $100 billion in Ukraine and Israel aid, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The outlet reported:

President Joe Biden is considering a supplemental request of approximately $100 billion that would include defense assistance for Israel and Ukraine alongside border security funding and aid to nations in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter.

Biden has pledged support for Israel in the wake of the deadly attack earlier this month by Hamas, a group designated by the US and EU as a terrorist organization. Aid for Israel enjoys broad bipartisan support in the US Congress.

There has been speculation since Hamas attacked Israel that the administration would try to tie funding for Ukraine and Israel together after House Republicans successfully stripped funding for Ukraine from a short-term government funding bill. That request was only $24 billion compared to the $100 billion it is now asking for to fund both contingencies and reportedly Taiwan.

Scoop: Biden's considering supplemental request of about **$100 BILLION** '-- it would include defense assistance for Israel and Ukraine along with border security funding and aid to nations in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, sources tell @rtiron & mehttps://t.co/tJ5wMTIkvS

'-- Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 17, 2023

Donald Trump Jr. chimed in on the matter, posting on X, ''How about NO!!!!''

How about NO!!!! https://t.co/kAAnlksOBI

'-- Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 17, 2023

The package would also include border security funding aimed at getting Republicans on board.

Cody Sargent, a spokesman for the conservative Heritage Foundation, posted:

This ''border security'' funding is a trap. It would give Biden more money to speed up his conveyor belt of illegal immigrants into the country '-- not turn off the flow.

No conservative can support border funding without policy change.

This "border security" funding is a trap. It would give Biden more money to speed up his conveyor belt of illegal immigrants into the country '-- not turn off the flow.

No conservative can support border funding without policy change. https://t.co/EfYmDIu4AS

'-- Cody Sargent (@codydsargent) October 17, 2023

According to Bloomberg, the details of the package are still being worked out, and it is intended to cover an entire fiscal year.

Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio posted on X that the funds would be for a ''full year.''

''Can confirm the $100 billion number has been floating around the Hill today as senators wait for the final package,'' he posted.

''Important to note this number is for a full year, so the Ukraine portion will be massive,'' he wrote.

Can confirm the $100 billion number has been floating around the Hill today as senators wait for the final package

Important to note this number is for a full year, so the Ukraine portion will be massive. For context: The WH's Ukraine request for just a 3-month period was $24B. https://t.co/HvIrwZBdOf

'-- Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) October 17, 2023

The $24 billion request for Ukraine was intended to cover three months.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on Tuesday he expected the administration to send the request by ''the end of this week.''

''We'd like to get the supplemental package moved as quickly as possible because the needs are great in both Israel and Ukraine,'' he said, according to the report.

Follow Breitbart News's Kristina Wong on ''X'', Truth Social, or on Facebook.

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Tue, 17 Oct 2023 16:50

2010 air crash near the city of Smolensk, Russia

On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president of Poland, Lech KaczyÅski, and his wife, Maria; the former president of Poland in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski; the chief of the Polish General Staff and other senior Polish military officers; the president of the National Bank of Poland; Polish government officials; 18 members of the Polish parliament; senior members of the Polish clergy; and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. The group was arriving from Warsaw to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the massacre, which took place not far from Smolensk.

The pilots were attempting to land at Smolensk North Airport '-- a former military airbase '-- in thick fog, with visibility reduced to about 500 metres (1,600 ft). The aircraft descended far below the normal approach path until it struck trees, rolled, inverted and crashed into the ground, coming to rest in a wooded area a short distance from the runway.[2]

Both the Russian and Polish official investigations found no technical faults with the aircraft, and concluded that the crew failed to conduct the approach in a safe manner in the given weather conditions. The Polish authorities found serious deficiencies in the organization and training of the Air Force unit involved, which was subsequently disbanded. Several high-ranking members of the Polish military resigned following pressure from politicians and the media.

Various conspiracy theories have been circulated alleging that the plane had been deliberately brought down by the Russians in an act of political assassination, with these theories also typically alleging that the 2011 investigations constituted a cover-up and that the Polish government of the time '-- primarily controlled by the Civic Platform party as opposed to Lech KaczyÅski's Law and Justice party '-- was complicit in or aware of the plot or at least aided in the efforts to cover it up.[3] While neither of the 2011 investigations reported any evidence supporting these claims, with the Polish investigation also examining whether Russian air control failures were a contributory factor in the crash,[2] the conspiracy theories are regularly promoted by the Law and Justice party and its supporters in general[4] and by party leader Jarosław KaczyÅski, twin brother of Lech KaczyÅski, and deputy party leader Antoni Macierewicz in particular,[5][6][7][8] and were given an official veneer following the 2022 conclusion of a further investigation by the Polish government, which by then was being led by the Law and Justice party.[9][10] The new report did not produce any evidence that could conclusively challenge the 2011 reports,[3] and was later indicated to have been the subject of tampered evidence.[11]

Background Purpose of the flight The flight's purpose was taking many high-ranking Polish officials to ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, a mass murder of Polish intellectuals, politicians, and military officers by the Soviets during World War II. The site of the massacre is approximately 19 km (12 mi) west of Smolensk. The area is fairly remote; Smolensk is the only city nearby and has the only two airports in the area: Smolensk North Airport, where the accident occurred, and Smolensk South Airport.

Destination airport Russian servicemen, accompanied by a policeman, twist bulbs into the approach lights of Smolensk North Airport's runway, hours after the crash of the Tu-154Smolensk North Airport is a former military airbase, presently in mixed military-civilian use. At the time of the crash, the airport was not equipped with an ICAO-compliant instrument landing system (ILS), the standard system used in most developed countries. The airport used to have a Russian-made landing system installed, which was decommissioned after civilian operations started.[12] The Polish Tu-154 was modified to use a Western-style ILS.[citation needed ] A non-directional beacon (NDB) was installed at the airport,[13] but such a device is essentially a navigational aid, and can be used only for non-precision approaches, where it can guide the pilot to align with the runway, but offers no vertical guidance on how to descend towards the runway.[14] The airport was equipped also with both a surveillance and landing radar.[12] The lowest approved visibility conditions to land (approach minimums) were cloud base 100 meters (330 ft) and visibility 1,000 meters (3,300 ft).[12]

The ground visual navigation aids on 10 April 2010 were not effective. According to the Polish report, the radar was unstable and swung within ±10%.[15] From the photographic documentation of the Polish committee, it appears that the origin of components of the Smolensk North lighting system was unknown. This was not the Luch-2MU system as the Russians stated. The report from the inspection flight performed on 15 April 2010 stated that the approach lamps, depending on their location and on the altitude of an inbound aircraft, can be obscured by surrounding trees and shrubs when an aircraft is at a distance of 400, 700, and 800 metres from Runway 26. The lamps of the first group (900 m) had their light filters shattered and, of three bulbs installed, only one was serviceable.[15]

Aircraft 101, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen in 2008The aircraft was a Tupolev Tu-154M of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment of the Polish Air Force (Siły Powietrzne), tail number 101. Built in 1990 at the Kuybyshev Aviation Plant as msn 90A837, it first flew on 29 June 1990. At the time of the accident, the airframe had accumulated more than 5,150 hours in 4,000 cycles. The service life of the Tu-154M is more than 25 years or 30,000 hours or 15,000 cycles (whichever comes first). All three Soloviev D-30KU-154 engines were within the service limits of 24,000 hours or 11,100 cycles.[12]

101 was one of two Tupolev Tu-154s that served as official government jets; the other with a tail number of 102 was a year younger and at the time of the accident it was being overhauled in the Aviakor aviation plant in Samara. The 101 aircraft had undergone a major overhaul in December 2009, and Alexey Gusev, the head of the maintenance plant that carried out the work, told Polish TV that it should not have had technical problems.[16] The crash happened 138 flight-hours after the most recent overhaul.[17]

The aircraft used the callsign Polish Airforce 101, operating flight PLF101. PLF is the ICAO three-letter designator for the Polish Air Force, used to identify the operator of an aircraft by air traffic control.

Crew The cockpit crew of Flight 101 consisted of pilot Captain Arkadiusz Protasiuk, 36, co-pilot Major Robert Grzywna, 36, navigator Lieutenant Artur ZiÄtek, 32, and flight engineer WO2 Andrzej Michalak. Protasiuk had landed at Smolensk three days earlier on 7 April in the same Tu-154; he served as first officer on that flight.[12] Protasiuk had 3,531 flight hours, including 2,906 hours on the Tu-154. Co-pilot Grzywna had 1,909 hours, with 475 of them on the Tu-154. ZiÄtek had 1,050 hours, only 58 of them on the Tu-154. Michalak had only 329 flight hours, all on the Tu-154.[12]

Flight sequence Take-off and cruise Map of the origin and destination of the accident flightFlight PLF101[18] took off from Warsaw at 9:27 Smolensk time after a delay of 27 minutes.[12]

As the aircraft left Warsaw, weather conditions were rapidly deteriorating at Smolensk. A temperature inversion had developed, trapping moisture low in the atmosphere and causing a dense fog to develop.[12] At 9:15 Smolensk time, about an hour and a half before the crash, a Yakovlev Yak-40 jet (flight PLF 031)[12] also belonging to the Polish government[19] and carrying Polish journalists from the President's press pool landed at the airbase without incident, though conditions were rapidly worsening at the time.[citation needed ] Shortly thereafter, between 9:20 and 9:39 MSD, a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 (tail number 78817) made two attempts to land,[12] but because of low visibility, it diverted to Vnukovo Airport near Moscow.[20] Upon PLF101's approach to the base, atmospheric conditions continued to worsen, and the fog continued to thicken, further reducing visibility to 400 metres (1,300 ft).[12] The ground control personnel stated to PLF101 that there were no conditions for landing.[12] The Captain then requested and was given permission to conduct a "trial" approach.[12] The controllers instructed the captain as to the landing minimum of 100 metres (330 ft), to which the captain replied, "Yes, sir!"[12]

Stress and workload factors Meanwhile, the situation in the cockpit was one of very high stress.[12] As the weather continued to worsen, the crew became increasingly aware of the extreme difficulty they would encounter in landing at Smolensk. The crew may have feared a negative reaction from their passengers should they have to divert to an alternative airfield.[12] The protocol director was present in the cockpit from time to time, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Air Force was present in the cockpit[verification needed ] for the final approach phase of the flight, including the crash itself.[12][needs update ] At one point, the navigator is heard on the CVR saying "He'll go crazy", a possible reference to the President of Poland, should the crew choose to divert.[21] There may also have been some friction between the Air Force Commander and the captain, caused by an absence in the latter of condition training.[22]

The captain and first officer's decision making may have also been affected by knowledge of a 2008 flight when the President of Poland ordered a change in destination right before departure and again while airborne. The captain and first officer had been the first officer and navigator, respectively, on that flight. Lacking charts or a flight plan for the new destination, the captain of that flight had decided he could not bring the aircraft to the new destination safely. Disobeying the President and a high-ranking Polish Air Force commander on board, the captain flew on to the originally planned destination. The Polish prosecutor's office would later clear that captain of any wrongdoing in relation to that flight, and he was even awarded a silver medal of merit for national defence.[23] However, in the final report issued by The Interstate Aviation Committee (Russian: Ð'ежÐ"осудаÑственный авиационный комитет , abbr. Ð'АК )'--a supervising body overseeing the use and management of civil aviation in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)'--it was stated he had not been assigned to fly the President again since.[12] Polish sources state he flew the President to New York in September 2008, despite objections voiced by the President.[23] The captain involved in the 2008 incident flew the Polish Prime Minister to Smolensk on 7 April without the President on board, but he was removed from the crew of the 10 April flight which carried the President.[24] Knowledge of the 2008 incident and its repercussions may have weighed on the crew of PLF101, potentially placing additional pressure on them to complete their flight to the original destination.[12]

Complicating the situation was the increased workload on the captain. Normally, one pilot flies the aeroplane while another crew member handles radio communications. On Flight 101, the responsibility for communication usually rests with the navigator. At Smolensk however the situation was different. As the airport is not usually open for international flights and is not ICAO certified, the air traffic controllers were not required to be fluent in English, the ICAO standard language for air traffic control (ATC) communication. Accordingly, all communication between Smolensk's ATC and Flight 101 was carried out in Russian. Russian law requires international flights landing at military airports to have a Russian "leaderman" (navigator; Russian: Ð>>идиÑовщик , romanized: lidir"vÅčik ) on board the flight, who is then responsible for this ATC communication, done in Russian.[12] In the middle of March, as part of their request for permission to conduct the flight, Poland asked for leaderman services and the latest airport data for Smolensk. At the end of March, after apparently having received no reply to their first request, Poland tendered a second request for permission to fly, but did not request leaderman services in this second request. As a spokesperson for the Air Force Command said: "The Russian side has not confirmed readiness to secure the flight leader".[25][26] According to the Final Report, however, Russia did offer leaderman services, but Poland refused, stating their crew had satisfactory knowledge of Russian and could conduct the flight without a leaderman.[12] In reality, the captain was the only member of the crew who could speak Russian adequately.[12] Accordingly, upon being handed off'--transferred'--to Smolensk ATC, the captain took over communication duties from the navigator. In a normal situation, this would dictate that the first officer be the pilot actually flying the aeroplane, but as the weather was bad, the captain, as the most experienced member of the crew, elected to fly the aeroplane as well.[12] Thus, the captain was simultaneously performing two tasks that would normally be split up, dividing his attention and increasing his workload.[12]

Approach 101 landing at Prague Airport less than two days before the accidentUnder these stresses, the crew continued their approach pattern and readied the aircraft for final descent. Radios were tuned to the two Non-Directional Beacons (NDBs) present at the field, and the autopilot was set up to use waypoints from the Flight Management System (FMS) units for navigation. The crew used their second radio to contact the Yak-40 which had landed earlier, inquiring as to the weather conditions. The Yak-40 crew replied, "Well, generally it's absolute shit here," and that, "(we) were lucky to land at the last moment."[12] The Yak-40 crew estimated visibility was 200 metres (660 ft), but told PLF101, "you might try...(to make an approach)."[12] The crew of PLF 101 acknowledged this information and continued their approach. As the aircraft approached the outer marker, the crew issued pitch commands (via the CLIMB-DESCEND wheel) to the autopilot. This is not recommended for the Tu-154, as the autopilot cannot maintain vertical speed accurately enough for the approach phase of flight; manual flight mode is instead recommended. Although the crew had not requested it, the radar controller began issuing reports to Flight 101 concerning their distance from the runway and whether or not they were on the glidepath.[12] The Polish report noted that on multiple occasions the radar controller stated the aeroplane was on the glidepath when it was not.

The Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS) fired its first audible warning "terrain ahead!" at 10:40:06. This was because the Smolensk airport, as a former military airfield not open to international flights, was not in the system's database and therefore the system did not recognize that the aeroplane was approaching an airport.[27] Six seconds later, someone (most likely the captain or navigator) pressed a button on the captain's FMS panel commanding standard barometric pressure be set on the captain's main electronic altimeter. This had the effect of increasing the altimeter's reading by 170 metres (560 ft); as the TAWS takes readings from this particular altimeter, this had the additional effect of silencing the warning.[12] The captain's secondary (mechanical) and the copilot's main electronic pressure altimeters continued to read correctly.[12] As the descent continued, the crew realized they had started descent too late. To compensate for this, they increased their vertical speed to 8 metres per second (26 ft/s), twice the prescribed rate for a normal approach. The aircraft did not have enough drag to maintain speed with this rate of descent, so even though the auto-throttles commanded idle power from the engines, the speed of the aircraft increased to approximately 35 km/h (22 mph) higher than specified.[12]

Approaching 300 metres (980 ft), the navigator began calling out the radar altimeter's reading. This is not standard practice for a non-precision approach, as the radar altimeter does not take into account the contour of the terrain around the airport. Standard practice would entail calling out the readings on the pressure altimeter, which is set according to atmospheric pressure and thereby references the elevation of the actual airport. The terrain on approach to Smolensk airport is uneven and locally much lower than the runway level.[12]

Warning signs At 200 metres (660 ft), the engines were still at idle power. Power settings for jet engines are expressed in instrument readings and flight data recorders as percentages labelled as "N1" and "N2". N1 and N2 refer to the spools, or shafts, of a jet engine on which the compressor and turbine blades are mounted; jet engine power is measured as a percentage of maximum N1 or N2 rpm.[28] Although the shafts are not mechanically connected, the speed of one spool can be calculated based on the speed of the other spool and atmospheric conditions.[28] The Tu-154 manual indicates that a go-around must be initiated at 200 m if the engines are running at or below 75% N2.[12] This is because jet engine throttle response is not linear; jet engines have to "spool up" in order to produce more thrust.[28] At power settings higher than 78%, this response is almost instantaneous; at idle power, it can take a full 8 seconds for a jet engine to "spool up" to full power.[28] On PLF101, the N2 values were not recorded by the flight data recorder (FDR). The N1 values were, and at 200 m they indicated 32''33% N1. 75% N2 equates to 51''52% N1 for the given conditions.[12] Thus, the engines were well below the 75% minimum N2 reading, and the crew should have initiated a go-around at this point, even though they were still above Decision Height (DH). However, they did not go around, and continued the descent. The Final Report would later determine that a go-around was technically possible from as low as 40 m, but that 200 m was the first of many times that the crew were required to go around, but did not.[12]

At 180 metres (590 ft), the "terrain ahead!" warning again sounded on the flight deck. The crew continued the descent. According to MAK's report, at 100 metres (330 ft) (Decision Height) there was no "landing" or "go-around" call by the captain. If this happens, the first officer is supposed to overrule the captain, take control of the aeroplane, and initiate a go-around.[12] Poland suggests that at this point the captain said "Go around", and 8 seconds later the first officer confirmed by saying "go around"[30][31] (only the second of these two statements is recorded in the official transcripts by MAK; the first one may have been obscured by a simultaneous report by TAWS). Despite these calls, neither pilot initiated a go-around, and the descent continued. One second after the 100 m altitude was reached, the TAWS alert "PULL UP" activated and continued to sound for the remainder of the flight. "PULL UP" activates only when the TAWS computer believes a collision with terrain is imminent. Thus, when "PULL UP" sounds, the crew is supposed to begin an immediate, maximum performance emergency climb (full power and angle of attack to the maximum permissible without stalling) and continue climbing until the warning stops.[32] However, the crew continued the descent.[12] There is a method of setting up the TAWS to prevent false warnings when flying into airports not in the database, known as "terrain inhibit" mode; however, the crew did not utilize it.[12] Even if they had, an excessive rate of descent and excessive airspeed can cause the TAWS to issue a "SINK RATE" warning followed by a "PULL UP" warning.[33] This point (10:40:40 local time, approximately 20 seconds before the collision with terrain) is also notable because this was the moment when the aircraft had crossed the minimum allowed approach slope for this airport (2°10'). Prior to this moment, the radar controller had no reason to think that the landing attempt was not proceeding normally. The behaviour of the controller was later the subject of some criticism by the Polish media. The controller remained silent for about 12 seconds after the aircraft passed the 100 m mark, and, even at that point, he did not order a go-around, but, rather issued an instruction to transit from a descent to a horizontal flight. (The decision to go around was apparently reached in the cabin of the aircraft within a few seconds of that instruction.)[12] In addition, according to some interpretations of the radio exchange between the ground and the aircraft, the crew was instructed by the ground control to descend to 120 metres (390 ft) and either to wait for clearance to land or request one explicitly,[34] or to inform the ground control regarding their decision whether to land or to go around.[35] (According to MAK's report, it meant that the crew was supposed to inform the ground control of their decision to land before passing the decision altitude, and that the ground control was supposed to allow the landing as long as the runway and the airspace were clear.) None of this ever happened, with the aircraft continuing the descent through the 120 m mark while the ground control remained silent.

For the next several seconds, the crew continued to call out "100 meters" as read from the radar altimeter. The aircraft was flying into a valley at this time and actually descended by 60''70 metres (200''230 ft).[12] The crew began calling out radar altitude every 10 metres (33 ft). At 60 metres (200 ft) radar altitude (where the crew had set their radar altitude bugs), the First Officer called out "Go around" (this is the "confirmation" go around call referred to in the Polish comment above). Due to the terrain in the area, the aircraft was actually only 15 metres (49 ft) above runway level at the time. Simultaneously to this callout, the FDR recorded a brief pull on the control column, likely done by the first officer, as he instinctively started the go-around sequence of actions. According to the investigation, this attempt at a go-around was completely overridden by the auto-pilot, which was still active, and, in any event, it was not completed (protocol requires that the correct sequence of operations during a go-around attempt involves increasing thrust to takeoff mode and disengaging the autopilot, neither action was done at the time).[12] Flight simulator testing by the investigation concluded that had the first officer completed a go-around at this point, the crash would likely have been avoided despite the violation of minimums and the excessive rate of descent.[12] The investigation found that this was the last moment at which a go-around could have been successful.[12]

Point of no return As the crew called out "50 meters", the controller instructed "level 101", telling the aircraft to terminate descent. At 20 metres (66 ft), another controller instructed "Check altitude, level." Simultaneously with this final call, the control column was pulled full aft, commanding max pitch up from the aircraft, and the throttles were moved within one second from their flight idle positions to maximum power. The aircraft, due to the valley terrain, was actually 15 metres (49 ft) below the runway at this time. The Russian investigation surmised that at this moment the flight crew saw the trees through the fog, and instinctively reacted in an attempt to escape their grave predicament. The crew did not disengage the autopilot, but the action of commanding maximum pitch up on the control column overrode it, causing the pitch channel to disengage. The control column briefly moved to neutral at this point, then moved full aft and remained there for the duration of the flight.[12] According to the Polish report, the command "level" ordering a change to horizontal flight was issued at a time when the aircraft was at an altitude of about 14 metres (46 ft) above airfield level. Two seconds before the "level" command, the aircraft commander made the decision to go around. According to the Polish committee's findings, the command to level should have been issued 10 seconds sooner, when the aircraft was well below the glide path.[15]

Soon after, the aircraft began hitting trees. One, a large birch with a trunk 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 in) wide, ripped off about 6.5 metres (21 ft) of the left wing, including the left aileron. The resulting asymmetrical lift caused an uncommanded roll to the left. Within five seconds, the aircraft was inverted, hitting the ground with the left wing, followed very shortly after by the nose. The nose impact resulted in forces exceeding 100g, which killed everyone on board instantly.[12] Even without the birch tree and subsequent roll, the excessive angle of attack would have led to an aerodynamic stall approximately two seconds after impact with that tree, which would also have led to a fatal accident.[12] According to the Polish report, safety areas around every aerodrome are mandated by international regulations (including Polish and Russian law) to prevent situations where aircraft or aerodrome operation could be compromised by obstacles in the immediate vicinity. A thorough analysis of terrain reveals that obstacles were present in the safety area, with many trees exceeding the permitted height limit (mostly about 10''11 metres (33''36 ft)).[15]

After the nose hit, the aircraft was violently torn apart by impact forces.[12] The wreckage came to rest upside down about 200 metres (660 ft) before the runway threshold and slightly left of its centreline. The largest pieces remaining were the wing roots (the strongest part of an aeroplane), the wingtips and the tail section. The tail section came to rest backwards, relative to the direction of flight. A small post-impact fire ensued, but was quickly brought under control by the emergency services.[12]

The governor of Smolensk Oblast, Sergey Antufyev, confirmed that there were no survivors of the crash. Pictures from the scene showed parts of the aircraft charred and strewn through a wooded area.[36] The Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, said that the bodies of those killed in the crash would be brought to Moscow for identification.[37] KaczyÅski's body was identified in Smolensk and was flown directly to Warsaw on the afternoon of 11 April.[38]

Investigation As the accident occurred on Russian soil, Russia was tasked by ICAO procedure with primary responsibility for investigation, which it carried out with international cooperation. Poland also set up its own committee to investigate the crash, and prosecutors in both countries began criminal investigations.

Interstate Aviation Committee In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) (Russian: Ð'ежÐ"осудаÑственный авиационный комитет (MAK) ) oversees the use and management of civil aviation. The committee's Air Accident Investigation Commission is responsible for investigating civil aviation accidents occurring in commonwealth member nations. The committee is headquartered in Moscow, Russia.[39]

Within hours of the crash, the president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, announced the establishment of a special commission for the investigation of the accident. The commission was to be supervised by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.[40][41][42] An Investigation Committee of the Prosecutor General of Russia started a criminal case in accordance with a "violation of the safety rules" of the Russian Criminal Code.[43]

Flight recorders Two flight recorders, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR), were recovered undamaged from the crash site during the afternoon/early evening of 10 April, as was confirmed by Sergey Shoygu, the Russian minister of emergency situations.[44] That evening, it was reported that the CVR recordings confirmed the crew attempted to land against the advice of air traffic controllers.[citation needed ] A third flight recorder, a Quick Access Recorder (QAR) designed for maintenance diagnostics, was found on 12 April.[45] The two Flight Management System (FMS) units were also recovered.[12] The investigation was able to obtain information from the electronic memories of the Quick Access Recorder and one of the FMS units, despite the fact that they were not designed to withstand a crash. Since the FMS units are linked together, being able to read the memory of one meant the investigation was able to determine the actions performed by both units.[12] It would later be discovered that the FDR was partially defective and had occasional gaps in its data, but as the QAR managed to survive the crash, by synchronizing the data from the two units, a complete picture of flight data emerged.[12]

On the day after the crash, investigators said they had reviewed the flight recorders, and confirmed that there were no technical problems with the Soviet-built aeroplane, ruling out initial theories that the 20-year-old aircraft was at fault. Alexei Gusev, general director of the Aviakor factory, said that the aircraft's three engines had been repaired and technicians had upgraded the plane's avionics at a recent overhaul the previous year. He said that there were no doubts about the plane's airworthiness.[46]

Search for human remains Ewa Kopacz, former Polish Minister of Health, claimed before the Sejm that after the crash, ground was dug to a depth of one metre, and even if a tiny piece of human flesh was found, it was genetically tested. However, in the transcript released online by the Sejm, the meaning of her speech was changed: that when a small piece of flesh was found, the ground was dug to a depth of one metre. Moreover, in September 2010, one of the Polish pilgrims to Smolensk found a jaw with teeth and two other bones.[47]

Russian cooperation Russia offered full cooperation to Polish prosecutors during the investigation.[48] According to the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) Polish investigators in Russia have been given access to all procedures of Russian investigators. However, Edmund Klich, the head of the Polish investigative commission, said that "Poland does not have a lot of things that (we) would like to have" and as an example gives lack of documentation of Smolensk airport and regulations about Air Control.[49] Polish investigators do not have the authority to conduct investigative actions by themselves, but they participated on equal terms with their Russian counterparts in the interviews with people involved and other parts of the investigation. Polish officials were to secure all Polish state documents found in the wreckage, as well as electronic devices (portable computers and mobile telephones) belonging to government officials and military officers. In turn Russian investigators received from Poland materials secured after the crash, including those about the technical state of the aircraft and fitness of the pilot. The Polish investigation results were to be based in part on Russian findings, but they are not bound by the results of the Russian investigation. Preliminary results of the investigations were to be released on the Thursday after the crash (including the cockpit voice recordings), but this was postponed until after the weekend when the funeral of the Presidential couple was to take place,[48][50] then postponed indefinitely until the full analysis was completed. The Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder, both of Soviet design, were analyzed in Russia with the participation of Polish experts.[12] The Quick Access Recorder, designed and produced in Poland, was sent to Poland and analysed there, with the participation of Russian experts.[51] The Flight Management System units, manufactured in the United States, were analyzed there with the participation of the FAA, NTSB, Polish experts, and Russian experts.[12]

Airport and pilot communication The airport's traffic control communicated with the pilots in Russian, and one of the controllers claimed the Polish crew had problems communicating in this language.[52] However, according to Tomasz Pietrzak, the former commander of the Polish 36th Special Aviation Regiment, the captain of PLF101 was fluent in Russian and English.[52] The Captain had landed in Smolensk three days before the crash, when he was part of the crew bringing Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to the 7 April ceremony, and at the time no communication problems with ground control were reported.[53] However, while the captain knew Russian, the rest of the crew did not, in particular the navigator whose task it is to communicate with the ground,[54] thus placing an additional workload on the captain. Previous flights to Smolensk had been accompanied by a Russian navigator, but none was provided for the April 2010 flights, with differing reasons for this given by Polish and Russian sides.[54] The final accident report would later conclude that the captain's knowledge of Russian was "satisfactory."[12]

The airport, which normally should have been closed due to the severe conditions, was not declared closed as its management feared that this could cause a diplomatic incident.[55] According to the news agency Interfax, the pilot was told that Smolensk North Airport was enveloped in thick fog and strongly advised against landing, but still he decided to continue with the original flight plan and attempt a landing.[56] According to an interview with a flight controller Pavel Plusnin[57] it was suggested to the pilot that he land at an alternative airfield in Moscow or Minsk. According to Plusnin, the pilot said, that he would attempt one approach, and if landing was not possible, he would then divert to another airfield.[52]

There was some concern in the press as to whether or not Russian military ATC had the authority to issue military orders to Flight 101, as the aircraft was a military flight. Under Russian law, military flights are under the control of Russian military ATC, and permission or denial for approach and landing must be given by the controller prior to these actions being undertaken by a flight crew.[12] The final accident report determined that, because it was a foreign military aircraft, Russian controllers did not have the authority to issue military orders to Flight 101, and this had been communicated to the ATC personnel who handled the flight.[12] The "trial" approach was conducted with the understanding by ATC that all risk for such an approach was to be undertaken by Flight 101 and not ATC.[12]

Theft from victims On 6 June 2010, it was reported that payments worth '‚¬1,400 had been made from a credit card found on the body of historian Andrzej Przewoźnik, one of the victims of the crash. Credit cards belonging to the politician Aleksandra Natalli-Świat were also missing, but not used in transactions.[58] On 8 June 2010, ITAR-TASS reported that four soldiers of Unit 06755 had been charged in connection with the theft, after being found in possession of three credit cards used to withdraw a total of 60,345 roubles.[59] A Polish spokesperson said that the first withdrawals using the cards had been made around two hours after the crash.[60] The Polish government admitted that the Russian soldiers involved in the theft were probably conscripts, and that earlier reports blaming members of Russia's OMON forces for the theft had been a mistake.[61]

Initial reports An initial report by CIS' Interstate Aviation Committee (Russian: Ð'ежÐ"осудаÑственный авиационный комитет (MAK) ) revealed that all three engines were operating normally, and that there was no fire or explosion before the aircraft crashed.[62] According to the newspaper Dziennik, Polish flight recorder ATM-QAR registered that precisely at 8:41:02.5 (Polish time) the tail of the aircraft separated. All systems of Tu-154 stopped working at 8:41:04. Fuel temperature was below 0 °C (32 °F). Engines when the aircraft was above the road were at 60% of their nominal power (Tu-154 needs about 10 seconds to get 100% of power from engines). They also determined that the aircraft was 40 metres (130 ft) lower than it should have been.[63]

The discrepancy among the time of the crash registered by MARS flight recorders (10:41:05.4), ATM-QAR recorder (10:41:04), and when electricity lines were cut by the crashing aircraft a second or two before the final crash (10:39:35) was never explained.[64]

On 19 May 2010, the preliminary report of the investigation into the crash was published. Alexei Morozov, the head of the technical commission of Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee, stated that the Tupolev Tu-154M had no mechanical faults, and that an air traffic control official at Smolensk North Airport had "warned twice that visibility was 400 metres (1,312ft) and that were no conditions for landing". The investigation ruled out a terrorist attack, explosion or fire on board the aircraft as the cause of the crash. It was also reported that the voices of two non-crew members were heard in the cockpit during the period leading up to the crash. One of the voices was identified by sources as the Polish Air Force Commander, Lieutenant General Andrzej Błasik.[65][66] However, according to the findings of the Polish prosecutor's office in January 2013, General Błasik had not stayed in the cockpit and was a regular passenger.[67] The other voice was later identified as the Director of Protocol.[12]

According to the Interstate Aviation Committee report from 19 May 2010, the aircraft first hit an 11-metre (36 ft) tree approximately 1,100 metres (3,609 ft) from the runway. The aircraft was also off by 40 metres (130 ft) from the extended middle line of the runway. The TAWS alarm "Pull up!" was first sounded at 100 metres (328 ft) altitude and then repeated several times before the crash. It was first sounded 18 seconds before hitting the tree and the crew attempted to abort landing 13 seconds later. Due to geographical relief the aircraft was actually 15 metres (49 ft) below the runway at the time of the first impact.[68]

On 26 May 2010, it was reported that pilot error had been identified as the reason for the crash.[citation needed ] Edmund Klich, the head of the Polish investigative commission, stated in an interview "Pretty much everything is clear right now and nearly all evidence has been gathered". "The pilots ignored the plane's automatic warnings and attempted an incredibly risky landing," Klich said.[citation needed ] According to the report, the crew of the Tupolev Tu-154M failed to respond for 13 seconds when the plane's "terrain approaching" alarm warned that the aircraft was less than 100 metres (330 ft) from the ground. The aircraft attempted to pull up after hitting a five-metre-tall (16 ft) birch tree, but part of the left wing had been sheared off in the impact. The aircraft then went into a roll before landing on its back and disintegrating five seconds later. Edmund Klich declined to speculate on whether the pilot had been placed under pressure to land, commenting, "Psychologists will have to assess the stress levels the pilots were subjected to."[69]

On 1 June 2010, Poland's Interior Ministry published a transcript from the cockpit voice recorder of the crashed Tu-154M.[citation needed ] The transcript confirmed earlier reports that the aircraft had attempted to land in bad weather against the advice of air traffic control and the plane's terrain awareness warning system.[70] At one point in the recording, Mariusz Kazana, the Director of Diplomatic Protocol in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, enters the cockpit and was told by the pilot "Sir, the fog is increasing. At the moment, under these conditions that we have now, we will not manage to land" to which Kazana replies "Well, then we have a problem."[71]

Expert commentators have noted that the flight navigator, who was listing the altitude readings on the transcript, was referring to the radar altimeter (which gives height above ground) rather than the pressure altimeter (which would provide the height relative to the level of the runway).[72] Because the terrain rises up to the runway, this could have had the effect of causing the pilot to fly far too low. The Final Report confirms this is exactly what happened.[12]

The Russian report was published on 12 January 2011, and the Polish report was published on 29 July 2011. Both reports placed the majority of the blame for the accident on the pilots for descending too low without being able to see the ground. The Polish report also placed harsh criticism on the organization of Poland's special aviation regiment and its leaders, as well as finding deficiencies in the performance of the Russian air traffic controllers and in the airport's lighting and approach area. In Polish discourse, there remained wider questions and unease about the potential causes of the crash.[73] This prompted a Warsaw court and a separate military investigation. Some of the unease subsequently fueled conspiracy theories revolving around aspects of the investigation, such as Russia's decision not to return the Polish plane wreckage to Poland.[74]

Russian final accident report The MAK completed their investigation on 20 October 2010. A copy of the report was sent to the Polish authorities, who had 60 days to comment, after which the report was published on 12 January 2011.[62]

After the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) report's publication, Poland stated that it was created in violation of Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation because some requested documents and/or other evidence were not provided by Russia[49][75] and, according to a Polish lawyer, because Polish comments to the final report were not agreed to nor fully applied.[76]

The final report noted that the captain's electronic altimeter was set 170 metres (560 ft) higher than the actual aeroplane position. This change was made after the aircraft began its final approach, and soon after the first TAWS warning sounded. All other altimeters on board were set correctly. The investigation also determined that the controller's radar screen was not calibrated correctly and showed the aeroplane as being 90''150 metres (300''490 ft) closer to the runway than it actually was. Additionally, his radio calls to the crew regarding their distance to the runway were given in advance by an average of 500 metres (1,600 ft).[clarification needed ][77]

As part of their investigation, MAK conducted an experiment in a Tu-154M simulator to determine how late the crew could have gone around. "The experiment confirmed that during approaches in conditions similar to the flight conditions of the T-154M ... with a similar flight profile with vertical speed of descent of 7''8 m/s ... the aircraft characteristics guaranteed safe go around from the height of 40 m (without taking into consideration the possible obstacles and terrain along the flight path)."[12] Taking into consideration the terrain at Smolensk, the investigation determined the last moment a go-around manoeuvre would have been successful was coincident with the first officer calling "Go around" and briefly pulling the control column at 60 metres (200 ft).[12]

On the same day that the final report was published by MAK, Poland published its comments on the draft of the final report sent to MAK before. Poland stated that their comments were not taken into consideration. MAK did not include them in the report, but published this document on its website among other appendixes.[77] Poland also published a final version of MAK report with changes performed by MAK in reaction for Polish comments highlighted (red colour means changes of text, blue means text addition).[12]

The main points of Polish comments are:

A list of documents, evidence, and other information requested by Poland but not received from the Russian side (First table in document "Lista wystąpieÅ strony polskiej o dokumentacjÄ", List of requests from Poland about documentation. Entry "Nie otrzymano" means "Not received"). Sample of them: Standards of certification for usage of military airports on the Russian Federation territory, Instructions for flights in Smolensk area.Poland notes that, according to international agreement between Poland and Russia from 1993, PLF101 was classified in Poland as a military plane and should be treated as performing a military operation also on the territory of the Russian Federation, especially in non-classified airspace and during approaching a military airport without ICAO certification. During military operations the ATC can give orders to the crew about landing decisions as opposed to civilian flights where the ATC only gives recommendations, but where the final decision about landing is the pilots' responsibility.Information that result of analysis of CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder), performed by Polish Commission for the Investigation of National Aviation Accidents, says that first officer gives command "go around" at 100 m altitude[30][31] This analysis has been ignored by MAK's final report.[12]Request for document confirmation that Commander of the Landing Zone was allowed to work in bad weather conditions. Documents confirm only admission for work at day and night in normal weather conditions. Poland notices also that Commander of the Landing Zone had never before worked at Smolensk and in last 12 months performed this function only 7 times. All that information is in his testimony. There is no documentation which certificate Commander of the Landing Zone on Smolensk airport which is required by Russian Law.Polish position that ATC gives wrong information for Flight 101 ("on course, on glide slope") and "Level 101" was given too late. According to Final Report at this moment plane was up to 15''20 metres (49''66 ft) above runway level and 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) before runway begins.[12]Differences in approach card described by Final Report and approach card received by Poland before 10 April 2010 with information that Russia sent documents without information about reference system of coordinates in document. Poland assumed that coordinates are expressed using WGS-84 which is worldwide standard. Current standard for reference system used in Russia (according to its own law regulation) is PZ-90 which differ from WGS-84 by less than 40 cm (16 in) in any given direction.Doubts about Smolensk compliance with Russian regulations because there were trees and other obstacles in an area 300 to 900 m long before the runway. The heights of these obstacles are 15m higher than allowed (according to both Russian and ICAO regulations). After the accident, trees in this area were cut. The structure of flight PLF101 began to be destroyed[clarification needed ] in that area.[12]Polish explanation that there is no requirement in Military aviation for aircraft to have insurance (101 was owned and maintained by the Polish Military) and even civil regulations allows other financial protections besides insurance. In the case of Flight 101, the Polish National Treasury was financially responsible for the aircraft.Polish explanation that, according to Polish law, Certificate of Airworthiness is required for civilian planes and is not obligatory for military machines '-- instead of this certificate, Polish military planes have to accomplish conditions regulated by "Instrukcja służby inżynieryjno-lotniczej Lotnictwa Sił Zbrojnych RP" (Instruction for engineering and aviation service of Aviation Forces in Republic of Poland). Poland also provides list of documents that confirm plane compliance with that document.Information that Polish side had not received documentation of control flight over Smolensk nor documentation of RSP-6m2 radar system used in ATC.Doubts about reliability of protocol after control flight which confirmed that light system (LUCZ-2MU) is working properly on Smolensk when MAK Final Report says it did not. Polish specialists were not allowed to be present during control flight.Doubts about proper work of radar display according to protocol from control flight.Request for source data to marker location on radar display described in Final Report. Information provided to Poland says that camera recorder in ATC was corrupted and there is no information about any other source data.Request for information about 13 recorders mounted in ATC, and data recorded (even corrupted) for analysis. MAK states that camera, voice recorders and photo laboratory did not work properly, and much information was not saved.Information that FCOM of Tu-154M in fact does not prescribe using the autopilot during non-precision approach, however this is also not forbidden.Expressed lack of any document that confirms Flight 101's status under Russian law.Request for source data and method of calculation of Flight 101's weight. Poland says that original documentation about loading and weight measure was destroyed.Allegations that documents certifying the medical examination of air controllers had manual corrections and are inconsistent with their testimonies where they confirmed that medical point was closed on 10 April 2010.Correction of number of specialists'--with list of their certifications'--that performed technical support on flight PLF101Polish publication of ATC tapes At an 18 January 2011 press conference, the Polish investigators made public the information contained in the ATC recordings, and their analysis thereof. They concluded that the "on course, on glide path" calls given to the pilots were made when the aircraft was actually off course, and furthermore the "Level!" call was given 11 seconds too late.

MAK publication of ATC tapes In response to the Polish claims of publicity MAK published transcripts of ATC recordings on its website.[79] The announcement made on MAK website states that the transcripts are based on a copy of recordings identical to the one which was given to the Polish side during the investigation.

The transcripts include: "Open microphone",[80] phone calls[81] and radio transmissions.[82][better source needed ] The transcripts show that communication between the ATC and PLF101 was done mostly in Russian with only a few English phrases.

Causes MAK report The MAK report found the "immediate cause" of the accident was the failure of the crew to make a timely decision to proceed to an alternate airport despite being warned multiple times of the poor weather conditions at Smolensk.[12] Another immediate cause was the descent below minimums without visual contact with the ground as well as ignoring numerous TAWS warnings.[12] This led to controlled flight into terrain.[12] Additionally, the MAK report found an "immediate cause" of the accident was the presence in the cockpit of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Air Force, which placed extreme stress and "psychological pressure" on the Captain to "continue descent in conditions of unjustified risk with a dominating aim of landing at any means."[12]

A "contributing factor" to the accident was a long discussion with the Protocol director and the crew of the Yak-40 regarding the actual weather and the impossibility of landing at Smolensk in such weather conditions.[12] The report found this discussion caused the Captain to experience "clash of motives."[12] On one hand he knew that landing in the reported weather conditions was unsafe.[12] On the other hand, he faced strong motivation to land at Smolensk anyway.[12] He expected a strong negative reaction from the President if he chose to divert the aeroplane and land at an alternate airport.[12]

Other "contributing factors" were a lack of compliance with standard operating procedures, a lack of crew resource management, and a significant gap in bad weather flights by the PIC (he had not flown in weather conditions similar to Smolensk that day in four months).[12] Additional "contributing factors" were the Navigator calling out radar altitudes without considering the uneven terrain in the area, utilization of the autopilot and autothrottles much lower than minimum descent altitude which did not comply with the Flight Crew Operations Manual for the Tu-154, and the late start of the final descent which caused the crew to maintain a higher than normal vertical speed.[12]

A "systemic cause" of the accident were "significant shortcomings in the organization of flight operations, flight crew preparation and arrangement of the VIP flight in the special air regiment."[12]

Official Polish government report The Polish Committee for Investigation of National Aviation Accidents (KBWLLP) published its report on 29 July 2011,[15] also available in English and Russian.[2][83] While the report stated that pilot error was the main cause of the accident, with the crew lacking adequate training in operating in adverse weather conditions, it differed from the Russian report in several aspects.

Chief among these differences was a conclusion that the pilots were not placed under pressure forcing them to land at Smolensk, and that the crew decided to abort landing when they reached 100m altitude (measured by radio altimeter) and had decided to go around using the autopilot.[2] However, it was impossible for the autopilot installed in the aircraft to conduct an automatic go-around from a non-precision approach.[2] The Polish investigation concluded this caused a delay in executing the go-around which contributed to the crash.[citation needed ]

Another major difference was a conclusion that Russian air traffic control played a part in the accident by passing incorrect information to the crew regarding the plane's position. ATC gave distance callouts on average 500 metres (1,600 ft) in advance, and told the aircraft it was on the correct glidepath when it actually was not. Furthermore, the controllers gave the "Level 101" command ten seconds after the aircraft passed the 100 metres (330 ft) altitude where such call was supposed to be given.[2][84][85]

The Polish report also found three deficiencies regarding the Smolensk airport which contributed to the crash. One was a large number of obstacles (mostly tall trees) in the area before the runway which should have been removed to keep the protected approach airspace clear of obstructions. The second deficiency was with the approach lighting system, which was charted incorrectly and not well maintained. Many bulbs were burned out, several others were missing their lenses, and others were obscured by shrubbery.[2] The third concern was with the airport information received by Poland, which contained incorrect information. In addition to the lighting system not being depicted correctly, the airport's location was charted approximately 116 metres (381 ft) to the North of its actual position.[2]

Due to numerous accusations raised by Law and Justice opposition party who rejected the official report's conclusions, a new commission was created in 2013, headed by Maciej Lasek. Its task was to publish and explain all the technical evidence used in the official report. Lasek commission's produced over a hundred very detailed technical reports, maps, transcripts, photos and videos which were originally published on www.faktysmolensk.gov.pl website.[citation needed ] Shortly after the 2015 Polish parliamentary elections the website was shut down and all documents removed by the new government,[86] but were subsequently restored on an independent mirror.[82]

Cause of accident according to Polish report:

The immediate cause of the accident was the descent below the minimum descent altitude at an excessive rate of descent in weather conditions which prevented visual contact with the ground, as well as a delayed execution of the go-around procedure. Those circumstances led to an impact on a terrain obstacle resulting in separation of a part of the left wing with aileron and consequently to the loss of aircraft control and eventual ground impact.[2]Circumstances contributing to the accident:[2]

Failure to monitor altitude by means of a pressure altimeter during a non-precision approach;failure by the crew to respond to the PULL UP warning generated by the TAWS;attempt to execute the go-around manoeuvre under the control of ABSU (automatic go-around);Approach Control confirming to the crew the correct position of the aeroplane in relation to the RWY threshold, glide slope, and course which might have affirmed the crew's belief that the approach was proceeding correctly although the aeroplane was actually outside the permissible deviation margin;failure by LZC to inform the crew about descending below the glide slope and delayed issuance of the level-out command;incorrect training of the Tu-154M flight crews in the 36 Regiment.Conducive circumstances:[2]

incorrect coordination of the crew's work, which placed an excessive burden on the aircraft commander in the final phase of the flight;insufficient flight preparation of the crew;the crew's insufficient knowledge of the aeroplane's systems and their limitations;inadequate cross-monitoring among the crew members and failure to respond to the mistakes committed;crew composition inadequate for the task;ineffective immediate supervision of the 36 Regiment's flight training process by the Air Force Command;failure by the 36 Regiment to develop procedures governing the crew's actions in the event of:failure to meet the established approach criteria;using radio altimeter for establishing alarm altitude values for various types of approach;distribution of duties in a multi-crew flight.sporadic performance of flight support duties by LZC over the last 12 months, in particular under difficult WC, and lack of practical experience as LZC at the SMOLENSK NORTH airfield.Notable passengers In addition to KaczyÅski and his wife Maria, and Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last president of Poland in exile, on board were the military chiefs of staff (army, air force, navy), the national bank governor, a deputy foreign minister, head army chaplains of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, head of the National Security Bureau, three deputy parliament speakers, Olympic Committee head, the civil rights commissioner Janusz Kochanowski, trade union activist Anna Walentynowicz, and at least two presidential aides and widely known national lawmakers (including core members of the Law and Justice party).[87][88]

Political aftermath In accordance with the Polish Constitution, on the president's death his duties were taken on by the marshal of the Sejm (speaker of the lower house of the parliament)'--at the time Bronisław Komorowski, who thus became acting president.[89] Within two weeks he was obliged to announce the date of the presidential election, to be held within a further 60 days on a weekend. KaczyÅski was up for re-election in late September or early October, before the end of his first five-year term.[90]

Despite the deaths of the president and numerous officials, the crash was not expected to impair the functions of the government, since no cabinet ministers were aboard the plane. The Polish Armed Forces were dealt a severe blow, however, since all of their senior commanding officers were killed; their duties were automatically taken over by respective deputy commanders, following standard contingency plans for such a situation.[citation needed ]

The commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre was split up because of the political conflict between the liberal-conservative government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and national-conservative President KaczyÅski.[91] On 7 April, Tusk, along with government officials and members of his Civic Platform party, went to Katyn[92] on invitation from the prime minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin.[93] The official commemoration, organised by Polish Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites, was scheduled on 10 April. Nevertheless, both ruling coalition and opposition were represented on the plane, with six and nine members of the Sejm, as well as one and two from the Senate, respectively, some of them well known in Poland. Many passengers were actively opposed to Tusk's policies, including:

President KaczyÅski himself,President of the National Bank of Poland, Sławomir Skrzypek,[94][95]Chief of the Institute of National Remembrance, Janusz Kurtyka,[96][97] [dead link ] [98]Polish Ombudsman Janusz Kochanowski,[99]Jerzy SzmajdziÅski, the left-wing candidate[100] in the upcoming presidential election.The president of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and former CIA analyst, S. Eugene Poteat, has written that political violence should not be ruled out under the circumstances of the aircraft crash.[101]

The marshal of the Sejm, Bronisław Komorowski, had previously been announced as the Civic Platform's candidate in the presidential election.[102]He suggested that the date of the elections should be decided by the parliamentary opposition,[103] with him acting merely to guarantee that the Constitution is respected.

On 17 April, one week after the crash, a memorial service, including a two-minute silence, was held to honour the victims of the crash. It was reported that over 100,000 mourners attended the event, held in Piłsudski Square; however, up to 1.5 million had been expected.[104][105]

State funeral The funeral service for the presidential couple took place in Saint Mary's Basilica in Krak"w on 18 April. The couple were buried in a crypt below Wawel Cathedral, a place traditionally reserved for people considered to be heroes of Polish history.[106]

Presidential election The first round of the election to elect President KaczyÅski's successor was held on 20 June 2010. Since no candidate obtained an absolute majority, a run-off was held on 4 July 2010, between the two highest-polling candidates: the acting president Bronisław Komorowski, and the late president's brother Jarosław KaczyÅski.[107] While commentators noted that PiS gained some sympathy votes, it was not seen as a decisive factor in the election.[108][109][110] In the second round of the election, Komorowski defeated KaczyÅski with 53% of the vote.[107]

VIP flight reorganisation Following the publication of the Polish Accident report, the 36th Special Aviation Regiment which operated the flight was disbanded, and 13 Polish military officers were dismissed. Most Polish officials were instructed to fly on regular civilian flights. Two Embraer 170s were retained for government VIPs, but were flown by civilian pilots and operated by LOT Polish Airlines. The remaining aircraft from the regiment, including the surviving Tu-154, were sold.[111]

Poland Crowds on the Royal Route, WarsawFlowers and candles in front of Lublin town hallIn Poland, the public reacted with shock and grief to the disaster. Almost immediately after the news broke, tens of thousands of Poles assembled at the Presidential Palace to lay tributes, including flowers, wreaths, and candles.

A week of national mourning was declared in Poland.[112] Poles around the world mourned KaczyÅski and set up shrines in the week that followed.[112][113][114] Many wept openly.[115] Flags flew at half mast in Poland.[116] Sports fixtures, including women's U-17 UEFA Championship elite qualifying phase game Poland versus Republic of Ireland in Ukraine, were postponed.[117][118] Concerts were cancelled.[118]

On 11 April, KaczyÅski's body was flown to Warsaw on a military plane; tens of thousands of Poles gathered at both the airport tarmac and the streets of the city to pay their respects to the late president as his casket was driven by hearse to the Presidential Palace.[119] Afterwards, the casket was laid in state at the Palace.[120] The casket remained there throughout the week, until Kaczynski and his wife were laid to rest at the Wawel Cathedral a full week after the crash, on 18 April.[citation needed ]

On 15 April, Polish scouts put a wooden cross in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, at Krakowskie Przedmieście, to commemorate the victims of the crash. The establishing of the cross provoked controversy in Poland, mainly related to questions concerning the separation of church and state. Polish Catholics wanted the cross to permanently remain in front of the palace, while others, including Komorowski, wanted it moved to St. Anne's Church. After a summer of protests over the cross, it was transferred to the church on 16 September.

A public noon commemoration ceremony in Warsaw's Piłsudski Square was attended by more than 100,000 people on 17 April. Sirens sounded and bells tolled around the country.[121] A three-gun salute was fired.[122] People waved the flag of Poland, complete with black ribbons, as the names of the victims were read out from a white stage decorated with a giant cross and photographs of the dead.[123] The crowds bowed their heads.[124]

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where flowers and candles were brought by Warsaw residents for the victims of the presidential plane crash Monument to the victims of 2010 Smolensk air crash, in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in Warsaw (2018)On 18 April, the couple's caskets were driven at a slow pace through the streets of Warsaw, passing the city hall and a museum dedicated to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising which KaczyÅski favoured.[125] The funeral ceremony began at 2 pm local time (12:00 UTC) with a mass held at Krak"w's St Mary's Basilica, with thousands attending. Archbishop of Krak"w Stanisław Dziwisz presided over the ceremony, and addressed President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev personally: "The sympathy and help we have received from Russian brothers has breathed new life into a hope for closer relations and reconciliation between our two Slavic nations".[126]

Former president Aleksander Kwaśniewski told TVN24 that, "It [KatyÅ] is a cursed place. It sends shivers down my spine. First the flower of the Second Polish Republic is murdered in the forests around Smolensk, now the elite of the Third Polish Republic die in this tragic aircraft crash when approaching Smolensk North Airport."[127] Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that, "The contemporary world has not seen such a tragedy".[128] Former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who had himself suffered injuries in a helicopter crash while in office, said that Poland's aircraft were known to be in need of replacement, despite the lack of evidence that anything was wrong with the particular aeroplane; "I once said that we will one day meet in a funeral procession, and that is when we will take the decision to replace the aircraft fleet," he said.[129] The crash fuelled anti-Russian sentiment among far right extremists, with Polish nationalists invoking the tragedy during a riot outside the Russian embassy in Warsaw in November 2013.[130]

Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin in church Dmitry Medvedev addresses the people of Poland. (subtitles in English from official transcript available)Improvised memorial at the Russian crash siteUnited States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lays a wreath at the Katyn CrossRussian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed their condolences to the acting President and speaker of the parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski.[citation needed ] President Medvedev also announced that 12 April 2010 would be a national day of mourning in Russia.[citation needed ] Chairman of International Committee of the State Duma Konstantin Kosachev said that "Katyn claimed yet more victims". Chairman of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov has expressed condolences.[131]

Russians and foreigners laid flowers and candles at the Polish embassy in Moscow,[132][133] and at the Polish consulates-general in Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad.[132]

After the aircraft crash, the state owned Russia Channel broadcast the film KatyÅ for the second time in Russia.[134] The film, which was not distributed in Russia,[135] was first shown in Russia on another state-owned channel, the less popular Kultura Channel on 2 April 2010.[citation needed ] The first showing of KatyÅ was a political event, which was followed by a serious discussion of Polish-Russian relations by politicians and public figures,[136] and drew high audience numbers for the smaller channel,[137] with an estimated 100 million Russian viewers.[134]

While Polish commentators saw Putin's participation in the ceremony held on 7 April as a symbolic gesture, they were touched when Putin and Tusk paid tribute and laid flowers at the site of the crash. Tusk knelt and briefly hid his face in his hands, then stood up as Putin patted him on the shoulder. The two hugged, then gave a joint press conference on the investigation into the crash. Polish commentators noted this was a human gesture, and a display of emotion that Poles had longed to see from their eastern neighbours.[138]

On 11 April, holding a bouquet of red roses, Putin was reported to have appeared truly distressed as he escorted KaczyÅski's body to a Warsaw-bound plane. Later Putin said in a Polish television interview: "This is of course first and foremost Poland's tragedy and that of the Polish people, but it is also our tragedy. We mourn with you".[135]

The Russian response has been noted favourably by Poles, with talk of a thawing in the relationship between Russia and Poland.[139] Witold Waszczykowski, deputy head of Poland's National Security Bureau, told Reuters, "We did not expect this gentle, kind approach, this personal involvement from Putin. Naturally it will have a positive impact on the relationship between our countries." Jerzy Bahr, the Polish ambassador to Russia also stated, "We can sense Russian solidarity at every step of the way."[133]

As part of this thawing of relations, on 28 April 18 days after the crash, Russia's state Archive publicly published a number of previously secret files on the Katyn massacre on their website. The files were declassified in the early 1990s, but before their publication they were only available to specialized researchers.[140]

The strongest admission was yet to come. On 26 November 2010, the Russian State Duma passed a resolution admitting that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin personally approved the Katyn massacre.[141] The Soviets had long claimed Nazi Germany were the ones responsible.[141] Although this stance changed in 1990 when Mikhail Gorbachev admitted the Soviet NKVD secret police carried out the massacre, the November 2010 resolution was the first time the Russian government admitted direct involvement by Stalin.[141]

In an interview with Rzeczpospolita, Andrei Illarionov, Vladimir Putin's former advisor, noted, "... contrary to the promises, the investigation of this crash is neither transparent nor dynamic." and added, "... the Polish side does not have full and free access to documents and evidence." Illarionov was also one of the signatories of an open letter written by Russian dissidents, which voiced concerns about the conduct of the investigation. According to the letter, "rapprochement with the current Russian authorities is more important for the Polish government than determining the truth about the plane crash." Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded that his government would obtain flight data from the Russian investigators before making its own judgment and revealing it to the public.[142]

International At least 96 countries, 13 international organizations and several other entities expressed their reaction on behalf of the incident. An official mourning was proclaimed in 18 countries other than Poland. Condolence books were opened in many public locations such as the Polish centre in Hammersmith, where Prince Charles signed their condolence book.[143]

Countries with official mourningTwenty-three countries observed a varying number of days of official mourning; Brazil: 3,[144] Bulgaria: 1,[145] Canada: 1,[112] Cape Verde: 1,[146] Croatia: 1,[147] Czech Republic: 2,[148] Estonia: 1,[144] Germany: 1,[149] Georgia: 1,[150] Hungary: 1,[151] Latvia: 1,[144] Lithuania: 4,[144][152] Maldives: 2,[153] Moldova: 1,[144] Montenegro: 1,[154] Poland: 9,[155] Romania: 1,[156] Russia: 1,[citation needed ] Serbia: 1,[157] Slovakia: 1,[158] Spain: 1,[159] Turkey: 1,[144] Ukraine: 1.[144]

Victims of the aeroplane crash were also commemorated by minute of silence before several football matches throughout Europe, including El Clsico Real Madrid C.F. '' FC Barcelona in Spain;[160] or FC Ban­k Ostrava '' 1. FC Slovcko[161] and Prague derby AC Sparta Prague '' SK Slavia Praha in the Czech Republic.

Some concern arose that KaczyÅski's funeral would have to be delayed as a consequence of volcanic ash emanating from Iceland and the resulting air travel disruption in Europe.[162] Only one airport in the country was open, and several international dignitaries were unable to attend.[163][164] The funeral nonetheless went ahead as scheduled.[165]

NATO was reportedly concerned over the possible compromise of many of its secret codes and communications procedures to the Russian government. Many of the Polish government and military officials on the aircraft apparently carried secret NATO communication key codes and devices which were recovered by the Russians after the crash.[166]

As of November 2015[update], Russia is still in possession of the wreckage and black boxes of the Tupolev, having refused various requests made by the Polish government to return the items.[167] In 2018, PACE issued resolution #2246 which calls Russian Federation to hand over the wreckage of the plane.[168]

Allegations of political assassination Conspiracy theories have been in circulation since the day of the accident, claiming in general that the crash was in fact a political assassination, an act of war against Poland or an elaborate coup attempt, possibly orchestrated by Russia.[169][170] The range of such theories has been described by some international media as "dizzying"; from the idea that the fog around the airport had been artificially produced, to victims' bodies being doctored in fake autopsies, to the idea that explosives were planted on board the plane.[170] Reports favourable to such conspiracy theories have in particular very often referred to an alleged detonation that happened immediately before the plane hit a birch tree.

Soon after the crash, Artur G"rski, a Polish MP from the Law and Justice party, claimed that the Smolensk air traffic controllers were ordered to prevent the plane from landing, so that the president could not attend the KatyÅ ceremony, resulting in the crash. G"rski later apologized for his remarks.[171] Law and Justice's leader Jarosław KaczyÅski and the head of the parliamentary committee of investigation Antoni Macierewicz have been described as long time supporters of the assassination theory, and have repeatedly accused the then prime minister Donald Tusk of being involved in a cover-up.[5][6][7] Macierewicz repeated these accusations as newly appointed minister of defence in 2016, causing a significant controversy in Polish, Russian and international media.[172]

Claims of explosives traces On 30 October 2012, Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported that traces of explosives had been detected by investigators in the wreckage of the Tupolev, on the wings and in the cabin.[173] The claims were denied by Polish prosecutors'--who claimed that a number of common substances could as well have produced the observed readings[174]'--and were later withdrawn by the owner of the newspaper. Rzeczpospolita's editor-in-chief and three other staff, including the author of the article, were fired from their jobs.[note 1][175][176][177] The author of the article in question, Cezary Gmyz, maintained that what he wrote was confirmed by four independent sources.[178]

The editor-in-chief of Rzeczpospolita published a video in which he explained that he decided to publish the article only after talking to the Public Prosecutor General, Andrzej Seremet.

Seremet said they had had the information for 10-20 days - about highly energetic molecules that can be used as an ingredient of explosives. He said he had personally informed Prime Minister Tusk about it. He said, thinking out loud, that maybe these were remnants of the war, that they would need to wait until the soil around the wreckage is sampled too, and that it was going to last a couple more months. Not a single time did he suggest that these molecules can point to another source than explosives - like perfume or a tent. Moreover, he added something that mattered to me - namely, that "we knew that the information was going to leak out sooner or later", while looking at me inquisitively, and saying: "We knew that some of the prosecutors decided to brag about these discoveries quickly. Because it leaked out of the prosecutor's office, didn't it?"

Tomasz Wr"blewski, editor-in-chief of Rzeczpospolita[179]

Seremet responded by claiming that he told the editor that the highly energetic particles[note 2] detected can be of "various" origin.

I said back then that I can confirm that during the inspection and examination of the wreckage in Smolensk, the experts' measuring instruments revealed the presence of some highly energetic materials, similar to explosives, but I said not to reach any conclusions, especially those equivalent to [conclusions] that such materials had been used against or towards that plane.

Public Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet[174]

In November 2015, a court in Poland ruled in favour of the sacked journalists, stating that the information published in the article correctly reflected the state of knowledge at the time of publication.[180][181]

After the 2012 publication, there was some discussion about the trustworthiness of the handheld explosives detectors used. The Supreme Military Prosecutor's Office (NPW) announced that they examined the interior of the other Polish government Tu-154M (the one that did not crash), and during the examination the handheld explosives detectors did, in some places, signal the presence of explosives - implying that the readings of the instruments in general cannot be trusted.[182][183] The manufacturer of the detector countered that the only way the detector can be fooled is when its benchmark (an element containing trace amounts of explosives, for reference) is clogged because of very high concentrations of specific substances in the surrounding air - for example, when put inside a bottle of acetone, or very close to a sample of perfume - which according to him is very unlikely to happen in the field; and even then it behaves in a way that would cause the user to notice the device is malfunctioning, because it alternates between different substances being reported instead of reporting just one of them. The results of an experiment conducted by some journalists seem to confirm that.[184]

A relative of one of the victims brought back remains of the victim's clothing and a piece of seatbelt (including the clip) from Smolensk, and sent them to the United States for private examination. The examiners did not find traces of explosives on the piece of clothing. They did, however, find traces of TNT on the seatbelt.[185] The analysis was qualitative, stating that the substance was present but not determining its quantity.

In 2017, it was announced that the British Ministry of Defence was engaged by the Polish Government to examine the wreckage of the aircraft for traces of explosives. The work would be done by scientists based at the Forensic Explosives Laboratory at Fort Halstead, Kent.[186] In early 2019, Polish right-wing weekly Sieci reported that partial results from the Forensic Explosives Laboratory were in, and that the "traces of explosives" were confirmed in the "vast majority" of a few dozens of samples that had been tested by the British so far.[187][188] British air accident investigator Frank Taylor, who was involved in the investigation into the losses of Pan Am Flight 103 and British Airtours Flight 28M but did not investigate the Flight 101 crash apart from inspecting photographs presented by Antoni Macierewicz,[189] claimed that there were explosions on board the aircraft, including in its wing, immediately before it reached the tree.[190]

According to Polish experts, trace amounts of high explosives could be present in the aeroplane due to frequent presence of military personnel onboard, or as result of contamination on the ground (Smolensk area was a battlefield during World War II). The fact that the traces were found on some parts of the aeroplane (e.g. belts) but not on others (e.g. bodies), their trace amounts and chemical character all have been described as inconsistent with the hypothesis of an in-flight bomb explosion.[191][192] The 2013 report of Maciej Lasek commission also did not corroborate the idea. For example, the bomb explosion theory is not supported by the fact that the plane's debris is concentrated in a relatively small 160x50 m area, and no parts of the plane's interior were found before the first ground contact.[193]

Birch tree Smolensk birch tree with visible damage and Tu-154 fragmentsProponents of the assassination theory cast doubt on the probability of the Tu-154's left wing sustaining damage following its collision with a birch tree as described in the 2011 reports.[194][195][196] In some cases, critics of the official narrative have derisively characterised it as involving a collision with an "armoured" birch tree (Polish:Pancerna brzoza).[197][198] Members of the 2011 investigations have repeatedly stressed that the fact of the plane's left wing colliding with the birch tree is an obvious one, while photographs of the birch tree in question show it to have sustained considerable damage and to contain fragments of the Tu-154.[199][200] National Institute for Aviation Research simulations confirmed that the damage to the plane's left wing was consistent with a collision.[11] Even if the plane had avoided a collision with the birch tree and thus the subsequent uncommanded roll, the excessive angle of attack would have led to an aerodynamic stall approximately two seconds later which would also have led to a fatal accident.[12]

Macierewicz-led reports Law and Justice parliamentary committee publications In July 2010, a group of Polish MPs, mostly from the Law and Justice party, formed the "Parliamentary Committee for the investigation of the Tu-154M crash in Smolensk", chaired by the party's deputy leader Antoni Macierewicz. Later in November, Macierewicz called for the United States to lead an independent international commission on the accident. Some US Republican congressmen supported this idea but the U.S. has never acted upon it.[201]

In March 2015 the Polish committee published a report in which it claimed that two separate explosions took place on board the Tupolev in the last few seconds of its flight, bringing the aircraft down; a third explosion allegedly occurred after the impact with the ground.[202] The committee's conclusions were partly based on a paper by Wiesław Binienda of the University of Akron, in which the author presented computer simulations that claimed to prove that the impact with the birch tree could not have severed the plane's wing.[203] The paper, however, was self-published and not peer-reviewed.[195][196] According to the committee's scientists '' Binienda, Kazimierz Nowaczyk from the University of Maryland[204] and Gregory SzuladziÅski[205] '' the direct cause of the crash was not a collision with an obstacle, but two explosions in the last phase of the flight: first on the left, by which the plane lost part of the left wing, then another inside the hull.[205] It was alleged that the official reports from 2011 contained contradictions, errors, and manipulations.[205][206] Binienda also claimed that if an accidental crash had occurred, then the cut wingtip could not have flown over 100 metres from the tree, the Tu-154's hull could not appear to have been torn from within, and there should have been a crater in the ground as a result of the crash.[195][196] Szuladzinski's report stated that any landing or fall in a wooded area, regardless of its adversity or its angle, could not in any way result in such fragmentation of the Tu-154 as was documented.[194] Nowaczyk analyzed data from FMS and TAWS system and came to the conclusions that the plane flew over the tree and was torn at a height over 30 metres above the ground.[196][207][208] Wacław BerczyÅski, a former software engineer at Boeing,[209][210] pointed to the pulled-out rivets of the hull sheeting and claimed that this could only have been caused by an internal explosion.[211]

Starting in October 2012, an independent (financed by its participants) Smolensk Conference[212][213] was organised annually in Warsaw and attended by scientists and researchers from Polish and foreign universities to provide a forum intended to introduce and discuss independent studies related to the catastrophe.[214][215] The last (fourth) of these meetings was convened in November 2015 and its proceedings[216] (with summaries[217] and abstracts[218] in several languages) were published in 2016 (with a letter from the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda). The Scientific Committee of the Conferences was chaired by Professor Kazimierz Flaga. The Advisory Committee included 114 academics.[216]

Subcommittee for the Re-investigation of the Smolensk Air Crash Following Law and Justice's victory at the 2015 Polish parliamentary elections, the newly conservative government appointed the chair of the Polish Parliamentary Committee of Investigation, Antoni Macierewicz, as defence minister, and the question of the Smolensk crash was brought back into the government's agenda.[86] New foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski announced that Poland would sue Russia in a human rights court over Moscow's withholding of the wreckage.[219] The Consul of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly designated a special investigation rapporteur who will carry out an inquiry on whether holding back the wreckage and other evidence material by the Russians is justified.[220]

On 25 November 2015, government spokeswoman Elżbieta Witek called for former Prime Minister Donald Tusk to be put on trial for his handling of the 2010 air disaster.[221] Adam LipiÅski, from the Prime Minister's Chancellery, accused Tusk of negligence and weakness in handling the investigation and the restitution of the wreckage.[222] Deputy Minister of Culture Jarosław Sellin stated his absolute conviction that there were explosions on board the Tu-154 and that the real cause of the Smolensk crash had not yet been established.[223] Polish President Andrzej Duda, from the Law and Justice party, wrote a letter to the participants of the 4th Smolensk Conference that took place on 14 November 2015 in Warsaw, describing the official Russian and Polish accident reports as 'simply hypotheses' inconsistent with evidence, and stating that the investigation on the crash is not complete.[224][225]

In November 2015, the government shut down the faktysmolensk.gov.pl website, which had been set up by state authorities under Tusk's cabinet to explain in simple terms the findings of the official investigations. No reason was given for the website closure.[86] An independent mirror was created shortly afterwards.[82]

In February 2016, Macierewicz announced the official reopening of the investigation in the so-called Subcommittee for the Re-investigation of the Smolensk Air Crash (Polish: Podkomisja do spraw Ponownego Zbadania Wypadku Lotniczego), declaring that the previous inquiries were "riddled with mistakes" and reaffirming his belief that the aircraft disintegrated mid-air immediately before impacting the ground.[226] As part of the renewed investigation, the remains of the deceased Polish president were exhumed on 14 November 2016.[227]

In January 2018, the Subcommittee claimed that a number of explosions had occurred aboard the airliner, with these claims being formalised during the presentation of their preliminary findings in February. The head of the previous commission, Maciej Lasek, dismissed the claims as "illusions" and "propaganda".[228] In April 2018, the Subcommittee published a further report which said that the plane was destroyed in a mid-air explosion, and that Russian air traffic controllers at the Smolensk air base had misled the pilots about the plane's location during its approach to the runway; this report was described as one focusing on technical issues, with Macierewicz stating that the final report was yet to be published.[229]

In June 2021 a ruling was delivered in a long trial where officials were accused of negligence in the flight's preparation. The judge stated that there were four parties directly involved in the flight preparation: the President's Office (KP), the Prime Minister's Office (KPRM), the Government Protection Office (BOR) and the 36th Special Aviation Regiment, with each of these having broken numerous procedural safeguards which would have prevented the crash. The President's Office should not have requested flight to an airport that was legally closed and not ready to accept such flights, the Prime Minister's Office should have not accepted and proceeded with the President's requests as it was not compliant with existing laws and procedures, and similar negligence was shown in the actions of the remaining two parties.[230]

The date of publication of the Subcommittee's final report had been repeatedly delayed since 2016, with these delays generating a significant amount of frustration and criticism even among its members. Glenn Jorgensen, Marek Dąbrowski, Wiesław Chrzanowski and Kazimierz Grono were eventually removed from the Subcommittee and published a statement in which they rejected the conclusions of the report and their authorship.[231] Law and Justice MEP Beata Gosiewska, who had unsuccessfully requested a written version of the final report from Macierewicz, accused him of turning the investigation into an object of ridicule and of exploiting the disaster to advance his political career.[232] In February 2021, Civic Platform senator Krzysztof Brejza made a request to the Polish Ministry of National Defence for information on how much the Subcommittee's efforts had cost; the Ministry did not furnish Brejza with these figures, leading him to bring a legal case which, in September, he ultimately won. In December, following Brejza's receipt of the information that he had requested, it was reported that around 22.63 million zlotys had been spent by the Subcommittee between its 2016 inception and February 2021 despite the continued absence of the final report; in comparison, around 6.11 million zlotys had been spent between the immediate aftermath of the crash in 2010 and the publication of the 2011 reports.[233]

In April 2022, Jarosław KaczyÅski stated that he had seen investigative documents in his capacity as a relative of a victim, with these documents supposedly confirming that the crash was induced deliberately; he went on to claim that the decision to bring down the plane was made "at the highest level of the Kremlin" and that the Polish government of the day covered up the truth of the matter as part of a "macabre reconciliation" with Russia. Conversely, Civic Coalition Sejm member Barbara Nowacka, whose mother Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka died in the crash, claimed that, while the documents did describe the crash as deliberate, they only did so because the investigation was politicised and had "very little to do with the real evidence". Nowacka also accused Law and Justice of conducting a "political war on the coffins of our loved ones" and of attempting to divide Poland over "our common tragedy".[8] On the twelfth anniversary of the Smolensk disaster, 10 April 2022, both Macierewicz and KaczyÅski alluded to the imminent publication of the Subcommittee's final report whilst again painting the crash as a deliberate act.[234][235] The report was subsequently published the following day and essentially repeated earlier allegations that the plane was destroyed by explosives as part of a Russian assassination plot; the report's publication was marked by a press conference where Macierewicz described the events in Smolensk as constituting an act of unlawful interference by Russia.[9][10] The report and its corresponding webpage were temporarily retracted when it was reported that imagery of victims' corpses had been included in the report without distressing aspects of those images being redacted; Macierewicz subsequently issued an apology to the victims' families and to any private individuals who had seen the images.[236][237] The images originally formed part of classified addenda from 2016 that discussed the burns on the victims' bodies; the author of the addendum, Marek Dąbrowski, said that his work had been retracted about a year before over disagreements with the Subcommittee's work and was therefore used without his consent, and that he did not want to be associated with the actions of Macierewicz.[237] It was also reported that other parts of the report, which was eventually republished on the domain belonging to the publisher of niezalezna.pl, a right-wing daily, were poorly redacted and the shaded text could be quickly uncovered using conventional software.[238]

Shortly after the report's publication, the director of the Interdisciplinary Modelling Centre of the University of Warsaw (Polish: Interdyscyplinarne Centrum Modelowania Matematycznego i Komputerowego UW, ICM) to whose "mathematical modelling" results the report referred on a number of subjects declared that the ICM had never participated in the work of the Subcommittee and its computing resources had been used on a commercial basis for computations he described as pseudo-scientific.[239]

In September 2022 TVN24 journalist Piotr Świerczek published an extensive investigation, including interviews with members of the Subcommittee and external experts, documenting numerous cases where Macierewicz manipulated their results or reports of external laboratories, and came up with conclusions which were inconsistent or contradictory to the expert assessment of the evidence. For example, the American National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) was hired to test whether the wing of a Tu-154 could break off upon impact with a birch tree as was reported to have happened during the disaster. The simulated collision saw the wing breaking off the plane upon impact in similar fashion to the findings of the 2011 reports. The NIAR's conclusions were completely ignored by Macierewicz and then misrepresented to prove the opposite case, namely that the wing cut through the tree without significant damage. Similar manipulations were applied to the pyrotechnical simulations of the wing, where a redacted photo was presented to fit the hypothesis that the wing suffered an internal explosion. Voice recorder analysis was interpreted by the Subcommittee in complete contradiction to the conclusion of a voice analysis expert who did not confirm that any explosions could be heard.[11] The Subcommittee responded by insisting on the accuracy of the new report's version of events and by accusing TVN24 of committing its own manipulations and presenting Russia's point of view; in contrast, Donald Tusk, who now served as leader of the Civic Platform, called for Macierewicz to be tried and imprisoned in connection with the reported manipulations.[240] Jarosław KaczyÅski denounced critics of the Subcommittee's report as being "agents of [Vladimir] Putin" during a Sejm debate on TVN24's findings,[241] and would later use a press conference to make similar comments about there being a "powerful front" defending Putin; KaczyÅski also claimed that the NIAR report would be published, but did not offer any specific timeframe for this to happen.[242][243] On 4 December, a further report from TVN24 stated that the National Public Prosecutor's Office had asked several international experts to examine the bodies of eighty-three Smolensk victims, with these examinations failing to find any evidence that the victims' injuries were caused by an explosion. The experts' opinion was submitted to the Prosecutor's Office on 20 September, but the latter had yet to reach a decision on public dissemination at the time of TVN24's report.[244][245][246]

On 1 December 2022, Law and Justice attempted to amend a planned Sejm resolution on recognising Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism in order to include a section describing Russia as being "directly responsible" for the Smolensk crash and for the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. All members of the opposition refused to vote on the amendment, depriving it of the required quorum; the resolution itself failed to pass after Elżbieta Witek, a Law and Justice member of the Sejm who currently serves as its Marshal, refused to allow a vote on the earlier, unamended version. Borys Budka, leader of the Civic Coalition's Sejm caucus, accused Macierewicz of "still trying to impose his lies" about the crash and asked if he and KaczyÅski were attempting to provoke a war with Russia; in turn, Macierewicz accused the opposition of being a "pro-Russian formation" unwilling to tell the truth about "Russian terrorism".[247][248] On 14 December, a second attempt to pass the resolution was also boycotted since it again included an amendment attributing direct responsibility for the Smolensk crash to Russia; on this occasion however, the resolution was successfully passed, with Macierewicz thanking supporting Sejm members for making "a great decision that [broke] the previous Smolensk lies".[249]

In response to the September 2022 TVN24 report, entitled Siła Kłamstwa (The Power of Lies) in its broadcast version, Macierewicz submitted a complaint to the National Broadcasting Council where he accused the station of broadcasting "the Russian point of view" and misleading public opinion. On 30 December 2022, the head of the Council announced the launch of proceedings against TVN to determine if it had broadcast "false information contrary to the Polish raison d'(C)tat and threatening public security", thereby being in breach of its broadcast licence. TVN responded by accusing the Council of trying to clamp down on journalistic criticism of the Commission, and proceeded to make The Power of Lies available for free on its Czarno na białym YouTube channel. In January 2023, after TVN had decided to widen distribution of the original TVN24 report to any media outlet expressing interest, Onet, Gazeta Wyborcza, Wirtualna Polska, RMF FM, Radio ZET, and other outlets republished the report in a show of solidarity with the station.[250][251]

In April 2023, at a speech marking the thirteenth anniversary of the crash, Jarosław KaczyÅski announced that Polish prosecutors would soon be asked to investigate it as a deliberate assassination and also suggested that Vladimir Putin should appear in the International Criminal Court in connection with the crash. KaczyÅski also accused the wider world of wanting either to believe "nonsense stories" about the crash being an accident or to forget about it entirely, and stated that fully explaining "the Smolensk crime, but also [...] the Smolensk coverup" and punishing the supposed perpetrators of both acts was "one of the conditions for [Poland's] final victory" and that "every reasonable person knows [it was an assassination]... We have to convince the rest of our nation". The speech was condemned by opposition figures such as Radosław Sikorski and Mariusz Witczak as a further attempt to exploit the crash for political purposes and as "soulless cynicism". Antoni Macierewicz later used a Polish Press Agency interview to confirm that his committee was preparing a request to prosecutors.[4]

Opinion polls and foreign reaction In general, the assassination theory did not find much support among the general population of Poland. Since 2012, support for the notion that the Smolensk disaster was in fact an assassination generally oscillated between one-fourth to one-third of Poles.[5][7][172][252][8] Belief in the theory is stronger among supporters of the Law and Justice party and its allies - during the 2020 Polish presidential election for example, 56% of those who voted for the Law and Justice-supported Andrzej Duda believed in the theory, while support for it among those who voted for other candidates was in the single or low-double digits.[252][253][8] Support for the assassination theory surged during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with an April 2022 poll conducted on behalf of wPolityce, a right-wing pro-government magazine, finding that 48% thought the assassination theory was plausible and 33% did not, with the remaining 19% being undecided.[254] An Ipsos poll for OKO.press in May 2022 found that 52% believed that the crash was an accident, 36% believed that it was caused by a deliberate attack, with this figure including 78% of those who identified themselves as Law and Justice supporters, and the remaining 12% were undecided.[4]

The assassination theory did not gain significant traction outside of Poland prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with foreign outlets generally describing the claim as a conspiracy theory[6][7] or an allegation,[172][9][10] while Russia has consistently denied any involvement in the crash.[172] Following the first weeks of the invasion, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to give credence to the theory in his March 2022 address to the Polish Sejm, speaking of the "silence of those who knew exactly everything but still looked constantly at our neighbour [Russia]".[255][256] During his April 2023 state visit to Poland, Zelenskyy referred to the Smolensk crash along with the Bykivnia graves, the Bucha massacre, and the Katyn massacre as atrocities that Russia would bear responsibility for.[257][258] Similarly, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, voiced a "personal conviction" that Russia was involved in the crash when interviewed by TVP Info in December 2022.[259] Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko also stated a belief in Russia being responsible for the crash during a January 2023 interview.[260][261] In an April 2023 Facebook post, former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili also claimed that Russia caused the crash, adding that it was intended as an act of revenge against Lech Kaczynski's visit to Tbilisi during the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.[262]

Smolensk disaster in culture Documentary films Solidarni 2010 (Solidarity 2010) '' prod. Film Open Group, Poland, dir. Ewa Stankiewicz, Jan Pospieszalski, 2010[263]Катынский синдÑом (The Katyn Syndrome) '' prod. Channel One, Russia, 2010[264]Brief uit Polen (Letter from Poland) '' prod. VPRO, Netherlands, dir. Mariusz Pilis, 2010[265][266]Katastrofa (The Disaster) '' prod. and dir. Artur Å>>mijewski, Poland, for S£o Paulo Art Biennial, 2010[267][268]Mgła (The Fog) '' prod. Gazeta Polska, Poland, dir. Maria Dłużewska, Joanna Lichocka, 2011[269]W milczeniu / Tragedy in Smolensk '' prod. TVN, coop. BBC World News, Poland and UK, dir. Ewa Ewart, 2011[270]10.04.10 '' investigative documentary, prod. Gazeta Polska, Poland, dir. Anita Gargas, 2011[271][272]Lista pasażer"w (Passenger List) '' prod. Studio Gołąb for TVP1 and Rzeczpospolita, Poland, dir. Ewa Stankiewicz, Jan Pospieszalski, 2011[273]Modlitwa SmoleÅska (Smolensk Prayer) - prod. Telewizja Polska Cracow, Poland, 2011[274]Pogarda (Contempt) '' prod. Gazeta Polska, Poland, dir. Maria Dłużewska, Joanna Lichocka, 2011[275][276]Krzyż (The Cross) '' prod. Film Open Group, Poland, dir. Ewa Stankiewicz, Jan Pospieszalski, 2011[277]Zobaczyłem zjednoczony nar"d (I Saw United Nation) - prod. Film Open Group, dir. Anna Ferens, 2011[278]SmoleÅski lot (Flight to Smolensk) - prod. Telewizja Polska, Poland, dir. Monika Sieradzka, 2011[279]Przebudzenie (Awakening) '' prod. Gazeta Polska Poland, dir. Joanna Lichocka, 2012[280][281]Anatomia upadku (Anatomy of a Downfall) '' investigative documentary, prod. Gazeta Polska, Poland, dir. Anita Gargas, 2012[282]Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation, episode 95 - "Death of the President" '' prod. Cineflix for National Geographic, Canada, dir. Su Rynard, 2013[283]Polacy (Poles) - prod. Film Open Group, Poland, dir. Maria Dłużewska, 2013[284]Anatomia upadku 2 (Anatomy of a Downfall. Part 2) '' investigative documentary, prod. Gazeta Polska, Poland, dir. Anita Gargas, 2014[285]Zamach smoleÅski (Smolensk Assassination) '' mini series, prod. Film Open Group, Poland, dir. Grzegorz Braun, 2015-, not finished[286]Stan zagrożenia (In an Emergency) '' prod. Telewizja Polska, Poland, dir. Ewa Stankiewicz-J¸rgensen, 2020[287][288][289]Narrative films Prosto z nieba (Straight off the Sky) '' prod. Muflon Pictures, Poland, dir. Piotr Matwiejczyk, 2011[290]Smolensk '' prod. Fundacja SmoleÅsk 2010, Poland, dir. Antoni Krauze, 2016[291]Theater Describe the Night, by Rajiv Joseph, 2017, stage play[292][293]See also Similar Polish aircraft accidents1943 Aircraft crash of Polish Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski2003 Polish Air Force Mi-8 crash of Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller2008 Mirosławiec air disasterSimilar non-Polish aircraft accidents1940 Canberra air disaster1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash1981 air crash of Ecuadorian president Jaime Rold"s1986 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crash1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash2001 Avjet Aspen crash2004 Aircraft crash of Macedonian president Trajkovski2008 Mexico City Learjet crash2010 Cameroon A(C)ro Service CASA C-212 Aviocar crash2012 Philippine Piper Seneca crashAfriqiyah Airways Flight 771List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraftList of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (2000''09)List of disasters in Poland by death tollList of fatalities from aviation accidentsNotes ^ The author of the article, maintaining his claims but expecting to be fired, tendered his resignation. However the board opted to ignore his resignation and fire him instead. ^ "Particle" is a more general term than "molecule", and can mean anything from subatomic particles, through molecules and ions, to particles of dust. The particles in question were airborne molecules. The handheld explosives detector ionizes them and then detects what they are based on their behaviour in an electric field. References ^ Ranter, Harro (10 April 2010). "ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev 154M 101 Smolensk Air Base". Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved 6 June 2017 . ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Final Report from the examination of the aviation accident no 192/2010/11 involving the Tu-154M airplane, tail number 101, which occurred on April 10th, 2010 in the area of the SMOLENSK NORTH airfield" (PDF) . Committee for Investigation of National Aviation Accidents. 29 July 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2012 . Retrieved 3 August 2011 . ^ a b Tilles, Daniel (20 May 2022). "Polish court orders arrest of Russian air traffic controller over Smolensk crash". Notes from Poland . Retrieved 20 May 2022 . ^ a b c Tilles, Daniel (17 April 2023). "KaczyÅski announces assassination investigation over Smolensk crash and wants Putin to face ICC". Notes from Poland . Retrieved 17 April 2023 . Thirteen years after the Smolensk catastrophe, KaczyÅski wants to use it again in his election campaign," tweeted opposition MP Mariusz Witczak [...] "The PiS chairman has not finished dancing on the coffins. His soulless cynicism is shocking." "Prosecutors ruled out [that Smolensk was] an attack long ago," wrote Radosław Sikorski [...] "But [KaczyÅski] can still squeeze some propaganda out of this tragedy. Scumbags. ^ a b c Day, Matthew (10 April 2014). "Smolensk air disaster 'was caused by mystery explosion' " . The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Archived from the original on 10 April 2014 . Retrieved 9 December 2015 . But in a 200-page report entitled "Four Year after Smolensk: How the President Died," Antoni Macierewicz, an MP from Law and Justice, a party founded by Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw, claimed the plane was brought down by an explosion. Mr Macierewicz and Mr Kaczynski have long maintained the president was assassinated, possibly by the Russians, and the present Polish government was involved in a cover-up. [...] A recent opinion poll for the TVN news network found that 61 per cent did not believe a bomb was involved while 25 per cent believed the opposite. ^ a b c Easton, Adam (26 October 2015). "Poland returns to conservative roots with Law and Justice win". BBC News. BBC . Retrieved 20 November 2015 . Although [Jaroslaw] Kaczynski has vowed not to seek revenge on his political opponents, there may be an attempt to conduct a final reckoning of the Smolensk tragedy. Mr Kaczynski has actively encouraged wild conspiracy theories that the plane was brought down by a plot, not by pilot error as both the Russian and two Polish investigations have so far found. ^ a b c d Ojewska, Natalia (10 April 2013). "Poland polarised on plane crash anniversary". Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera Media Network . Retrieved 10 December 2015 . But a growing number of Poles '' about 33 percent according to a recent poll '' say they "take into consideration" the possibility that the president was assassinated. Conspiracy theories suggesting an explosion brought the plane down have gained momentum in recent months, mostly among President [Lech] Kacynski's supporters, and continue to polarise the Polish electorate. [...] Kaczynski's brother Jaroslaw, now chairman of the main opposition Law and Justice party, has publicly claimed sabotage brought down [the] aircraft. [Antoni] Macierewicz told Al Jazeera the probe had uncovered evidence that two explosions brought down the aircraft. ^ a b c d Tilles, Daniel (4 April 2022). "KaczyÅski: Smolensk crash "was attack decided at highest level of Kremlin" ". Notes from Poland . Retrieved 22 March 2023 . ^ a b c "Polish commission again accuses Russia over 2010 Smolensk plane crash". euronews.com. Euronews. 11 April 2022 . Retrieved 11 April 2022 . Polish officials have reiterated claims that Russia was behind a 2010 plane crash that killed the country's president. A special government commission has once again alleged that the accident was a result of an assassination plan by Moscow. ^ a b c "Polish panel: Russia behind Polish leader's plane crash". apnews.com. AP News. 11 April 2022 . Retrieved 11 April 2022 . A Polish government special commission has reinforced its earlier allegations that the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in Russia was the result of Moscow's assassination plan. ^ a b c Świerczek, Piotr (12 September 2022). "Podkomisja Macierewicza ukryła dowody niezgodne z tezą o zamachu. Reporter dotarł do dokument"w" (in Polish). TVN24 . Retrieved 12 September 2022 . ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by "Treść Raportu" [Final Report] (in Polish). Interior Ministry of Poland. 12 January 2011. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011 . Retrieved 15 January 2011 . ^ Bremner, Charles. "Charles Bremner '' Times Online '' WBLG: The Polish crash: looking for answers". Timescorrespondents.typepad.com. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010 . Retrieved 11 April 2010 . ^ "Crash simulation". Gazeta Wyborcza. 13 April 2010. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010 . Retrieved 13 April 2010 . ^ a b c d e "Raport koÅcowy w sprawie ustalenia okoliczności i przyczyn katastrofy samolotu TU-154M Nr 101 pod SmoleÅskiem" (in Polish, English, and Russian). Komisja Badania Wypadk"w Lotniczych Lotnictwa PaÅstwowego. 29 July 2011. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011 . Retrieved 30 July 2011 . ^ "Crash focusses attention on Tupolev-154". BBC. 10 April 2010. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010 . Retrieved 10 April 2010 . ^ "Katastrofa Tu-154M pod SmoleÅskiem". Altair (in Polish). 10 April 2010. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010 . Retrieved 10 April 2010 . ^ The aircraft used the callsign PLF 101. PLF is the ICAO three-letter designator for the Polish Air Force used to identify the operator of an aircraft by air traffic control. 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(2013). Materiały konferencyjne. Konferencja SmoleÅska 22.10. 2012 (in Polish). Warszawa: Komitet Organizacyjny Konferencji SmoleÅskiej. p. 188. ISBN 978-83-936018-0-6. ^ Witakowski, Piotr, ed. (2014). Materiały konferencyjne. II Konferencja SmoleÅska 21''22.10.2013 (in Polish). Warszawa: Komitet Organizacyjny Konferencji SmoleÅskiej. p. 392. ISBN 978-83-936018-1-3. ^ Witakowski, Piotr, ed. (2015). Materiały konferencyjne. III Konferencja SmoleÅska 20.10. 2014 (in Polish). Warszawa: Komitet Organizacyjny Konferencji SmoleÅskiej. p. 196. ISBN 978-83-936018-2-0. ^ a b Witakowski, Piotr, ed. (2016). Materiały konferencyjne. IV Konferencja SmoleÅska 14.11. 2015 (in Polish). Warszawa: Komitet Organizacyjny Konferencji SmoleÅskiej. p. 160. ISBN 978-83-936018-3-7. ^ "What we know about the course of the Smolensk catastrophe. The Smolensk Conferences '' a preliminary summary" (PDF) . konferencjasmolenska.pl. March 2016 . 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"Gosiewska ostro o Macierewiczu. "Kariera po SmoleÅsku" ". wiadomosci.wp.pl (in Polish) . Retrieved 15 September 2021 . Pytana o te ustalenia serwisu europosłanka PiS Beata Gosiewska stwierdziła m.in., że "dziÄki katastrofie smoleÅskiej pan Macierewicz jedynie rozwinął swoją karierÄ polityczną". [...] - Dziś jest on dużym problemem rodzin, ale także obozu rządzącego, bo ośmieszył wyjaśnianie katastrofy smoleÅskiej - powiedziała Beata Gosiewska portalowi gazeta.pl ^ Wilczek, Maria (29 December 2021). "Smolensk investigatory committee cost 23 million zloty". Notes from Poland . Retrieved 20 May 2022 . ^ "Katastrofa smoleÅska. Uroczyste obchody w Warszawie, a także w Krakowie". fakt.pl (in Polish). Fakt. 10 April 2022 . Retrieved 11 April 2022 . '' W poniedziałek zostanie przedstawiony raport, kt"ry jednoznacznie stwierdza, że przyczyną dramatu smoleÅskiego był akt bezprawnej ingerencji, polegający na zniszczeniu samolotu eksplozją '' m"wił w niedzielÄ w PR24 przewodniczący podkomisji smoleÅskiej Antoni Macierewicz. ^ "Jarosław KaczyÅski: nastąpiła wielka zmiana w wyjaśnianiu katastrofy smoleÅskiej". polsatnews.pl (in Polish). Polsat News. 10 April 2022 . Retrieved 11 April 2022 . - Dzisiaj wiemy co siÄ stało. Mamy tÄ odpowiedź, zweryfikowaną przez wiele ośrodk"w. BÄdzie to przedstawione opinii publicznej w najbliższym czasie. Chciałem powiedzieć to w kolejną rocznicÄ zbrodni, zamachu - powiedział [Jarosław KaczyÅski] ^ "Drastyczne zdjÄcia w raporcie podkomisji smoleÅskiej. Stanowcze oświadczenie autora opracowania". www.rmf24.pl (in Polish) . Retrieved 14 April 2022 . ^ a b "Nieocenzurowane zdjÄcia ofiar w raporcie podkomisji smoleÅskiej. Macierewicz: bardzo przepraszam". TVN24 (in Polish). 12 April 2022 . Retrieved 14 April 2022 . ^ "Raport podkomisji Macierewicza wr"cił - nie na portalu MON, tylko na stronie wydawcy Niezalezna.pl". www.wirtualnemedia.pl (in Polish). 15 April 2022 . Retrieved 15 April 2022 . ^ "Były szef ICM: nigdy nie było żadnej wsp"łpracy pracownik"w naukowych ICM z podkomisją smoleÅską". TVN24 (in Polish) . Retrieved 12 September 2022 . ^ Ptak, Alicja (13 September 2022). "Government committee investigating Smolensk crash ignored findings of US lab, report finds". Notes from Poland . Retrieved 14 September 2022 . ^ "KaczyÅski w Sejmie: Nie wiedziałem, że agentura Putina jest tak liczna" (in Polish). Polsat News. 14 September 2022 . Retrieved 19 September 2022 . Po wysłuchaniu tych komentarzy głos postanowił zabrać prezes Prawa i Sprawiedliwości Jarosław KaczyÅski. - Ja bardzo kr"tko. Wiedziałem, że tu jest agentura Putina, ale nie wiedziałem, że aż tak liczna - stwierdził i zszedł z m"wnicy. ^ Bruszewski, Grzegorz; Roś, Edyta; Małecki, Mikołaj; Białkowski, Rafał (15 September 2022). "Prezes PiS: działania obecnej opozycji służyły rosyjskim i niemieckim interesom. Celem były awanse jednego człowieka - w skali europejskiej" (in Polish). Polish Press Agency . Retrieved 19 September 2022 . "To jest po prostu zdumiewające, że w Polsce jest potÄżny front, nawet teraz, kiedy wychodzi ludob"jstwo Putina, jest potÄżny front obrony Putina i że on jest także w parlamencie. To jest coś niebywałego. To przypomina najgorsze momenty naszej historii" - ocenił KaczyÅski. ^ "Kiedy raport NIAR zostanie opublikowany? KaczyÅski: z całą pewnością to nastąpi, ale daty nie przedstawiÄ" (in Polish). TVN24. 15 September 2022 . Retrieved 19 September 2022 . - Ja nie jestem szefem tej komisji, konkretnych dat w tej chwili nie przedstawiÄ. Nie wiem, jaki jest stopieÅ zaawansowania tych prac, kt"re tam nadal trwają - odpowiedział KaczyÅski. - Z całą pewnością to nastąpi - zaznaczył. ^ Świerczek, Piotr; ZieliÅski, Robert (4 December 2022). "MiÄdzynarodowi biegli: w ciałach ofiar katastrofy w SmoleÅsku brak obrażeÅ wskazujących na wybuch" (in Polish). TVN24 . Retrieved 4 December 2022 . ^ "Biegli: na ciałach ofiar katastrofy smoleÅskiej nie ma dowod"w na wybuch" (in Polish). Onet.pl. 4 December 2022 . Retrieved 4 December 2022 . ^ Romik, Katarzyna (4 December 2022). "MiÄdzynarodowi biegli: W ciałach ofiar katastrofy w SmoleÅsku nie ma obrażeÅ wskazujących na wybuch" (in Polish). Gazeta.pl . Retrieved 4 December 2022 . ^ Tilles, Daniel (2 December 2022). "Resolution recognising Russia as terrorism sponsor pulled after ruling party tries to include Smolensk". Notes from Poland . Retrieved 6 December 2022 . ^ "PiS chciało dopisać SmoleÅsk do uchwały potÄpiającej RosjÄ. Opozycja zerwała kworum" (in Polish). Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. 2 December 2022 . Retrieved 6 December 2022 . ^ Ptak, Alicja (15 December 2022). "Polish parliament declares Russia terrorist state but opposition boycotts vote over Smolensk". Notes from Poland . Retrieved 15 December 2022 . ^ Tilles, Daniel (5 January 2023). "Polish media republish rival's government-critical story in solidarity over regulator's legal action". Notes from Poland . Retrieved 5 January 2023 . ^ Dąbrowska-Cydzik, Justyna (5 January 2023). "TVN udostÄpnia za darmo reportaż "Siła kłamstwa" o podkomisji Macierewicza" (in Polish). Wirtualnemedia.pl . Retrieved 6 January 2023 . ^ a b "Jak wielu Polak"w wierzyło lub wierzy w zamach w SmoleÅsku?". Demagog (in Polish). 19 March 2021 . Retrieved 14 April 2022 . ^ "10. rocznica katastrofy pod SmoleÅskiem" (PDF) . Centre for Public Opinion Research (in Polish). 8 April 2020. ^ "Katastrofa smoleÅska. Nowy sondaż: Ilu Polak"w dopuszcza możliwość zamachu?" (in Polish). Wprost. 9 April 2022 . Retrieved 14 April 2022 . ^ Badowski, Rafał (15 March 2022). "To mogło zmotywować KaczyÅskiego do podr"ży. Zełenski podgrzał teoriÄ o zamachu w SmoleÅsku" (in Polish). NaTemat.pl . Retrieved 4 December 2022 . ^ LeszczyÅski, Adam (10 April 2022). "KaczyÅski m"wi wprost o rzekomym zamachu w SmoleÅsku i chce zrobić z niego narodowy symbol na miarÄ Katynia" (in Polish). OKO.press . Retrieved 4 December 2022 . ^ "Wołodymyr Zełenski na Zamku Kr"lewskim: Rosja nie wygra z Europą, kiedy Ukrainiec i Polak stoją ramiÄ w ramiÄ" (in Polish). TVN24. 5 April 2023 . Retrieved 15 April 2023 . - Im wiÄcej wolności bÄdziemy mieli, tym wiÄcej bÄdzie gwarancji sprawiedliwości - kontynuował Zełenski. - WiÄcej gwarancji, że nasz wsp"lny wr"g bÄdzie ponosił odpowiedzialność za BykowniÄ, BuczÄ, za KatyÅ i SmoleÅsk, bÄdzie ponosił odpowiedzialność do koÅca życia, tutaj na ziemi i na wieki - dodał. ^ Małecki, Mikołaj (5 April 2023). "Zełenski: Nasz wsp"lny wr"g bÄdzie ponosił odpowiedzialność za BykowniÄ, BuczÄ, za KatyÅ i SmoleÅsk" (in Polish). Dziennik Gazeta Prawna . Retrieved 15 April 2023 . ^ Siwek, Adrian (10 December 2022). "Ukraina nie ma wątpliwości. To Rosja ponosi odpowiedzialność za katastrofÄ smoleÅską. Świat: "To ważny głos" " (in Polish). Niezależna.pl . Retrieved 10 December 2022 . ^ Szczyrbowski, Dawid (30 January 2023). "Były prezydent Ukrainy: Nie doceniliście KaczyÅskiego. Zabili go Rosjanie" (in Polish). Interia . Retrieved 30 January 2023 . ^ Gordon, Dmitriy (29 January 2023). "Ющенко: Я ÐеÑеконаний, що Леха КачинськоÐ"о вбиÐ>>и Ñосіяни". gordonua.com (in Ukrainian). Ð'ОРÐ--ОÐ' . Retrieved 30 January 2023 . ^ Kozłowski, Piotr (12 April 2023). "Saakaszwili: SmoleÅsk był zemstą za Tbilisi, Putin zabił KaczyÅskiego, a teraz zabija mnie" (in Polish). Dziennik.pl . Retrieved 15 April 2023 . ^ Official video of "Solidarni 2010", vimeo.com ^ Ð--окументаÐ>>ьный ÑиÐ>>ьм Катынский синдÑом, 1tv.com ^ Brief uit Polen, IMDB ^ List z Polski, Nasz Dziennik, Nr 253 (3879), October 28, 2010 ^ Katastrofa, Filmpolski ^ Pokaz nowego filmu Artura Å>>mijewskiego, culture.pl ^ Mgła, Filmpolski ^ W milczeniu, Filpolski ^ 10.04.10, Filmpolski ^ Film on Youtube ^ Lista pasażer"w, Filmpolski ^ Modlitwa smoleÅska, TVP3 ^ Pogarda, Filmweb ^ 'žPogarda'' w drugim obiegu, fronda.pl ^ Krzyż, Filmpolski ^ Zobaczyłem zjednoczony nar"d, Filpolski ^ SmoleÅski lot, Filmpolski ^ Przebudzenie, Filmweb ^ Lichocka: Film 'žPrzebudzenie'' ma pokazać jak wsp"lnota domaga siÄ prawdy, fronda.pl ^ Anatomia upadku, Filmpolski ^ Death of the President, IMDB ^ Polacy (2013), Filmweb ^ Anatomia upadku 2, Filmpolski ^ Zamach smoleÅski, episode 1, dailymotion ^ Premiera dokumentu o śmierci prezydenta KaczyÅskiego. "10 lat gromadziłam materiały...", dorzeczy.pl ^ 'žSTAN ZAGROÅ>>ENIA'', NOWY FILM O KATASTROFIE SMOLEŃSKIEJ. ZOBACZ ZAPOWIEDŹ TVP, wprost.pl ^ TVP pokazała dokument o katastrofie smoleÅskiej pt. "Stan zagrożenia", wirtualnemedia.pl, 19.04.2021 ^ Prosto z nieba, IMDB ^ Smolensk, IMDB ^ Green, Jesse (6 December 2017). "Review: Real Russians and Fake News in 'Describe the Night' ". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 31 March 2023 . ^ Pressley, Nelson (3 June 2019). "This Putin learns the power of lies in 'Describe the Night' ". Washington Post . Retrieved 31 March 2023 . External links Reports "Findings of the Interstate Aviation Committee Safety Investigation of the Accident involving Tu-154M aircraft tail number 101 of the Republic of Poland on April 2010 near Smolensk "Severny" aerodrome." (Archive) Interstate Aviation Committee '' Comprehensive link with reports and updatesFinal Report (Archive Alternate archive)"Об окончатеÐ>>ьных ÑезуÐ>>ьтатах Ñаботы Ðехнической комиссии Ð'ежÐ"осудаÑственноÐ"о авиационноÐ"о комитета Ðо ÑассÐ>>едованию катастÑоÑы самоÐ>>ета Ðу-154Ð' боÑтовой Ð½Ð¾Ð¼ÐµÑ 101 РесÐубÐ>>ики ПоÐ>>ьÑа, ÐÑоизоÑедÑей 10 аÐÑеÐ>>я 2010 Ð". в Ñайоне аэÑодÑома ÐмоÐ>>енск "ÐевеÑный"." (Archive) Interstate Aviation Committee (in Russian) '' Comprehensive link with reports and updatesFinal Report (in Russian) (Archive Alternate archive)Final report in English, Polish, and Russian (Archive) '' Committee for Investigation of National Aviation Accidents (Poland)Law and Justice-led reports, coordinated by Antoni Macierewicz:The White Book of SmoleÅsk Tragedy - 2011 report, 2nd corrected ed. 2013 (both in Polish)Vladimir Putin's Russian Government Inquiry into the Crash of The Polish Air Force One in Smolensk, Russia, April 10, 2010, 2015 (Polish version)Report published in April 2022 (mirror Archived 11 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine, archive; table of contents, together with all addenda and supporting materials , and preliminary report) by the Committee for the Re-investigation of the Smolensk Air Crash; quickly retracted over unredacted images of victims' corpses published there (preliminary report in English, the rest in Polish)Audiovisual materials YouTube video from crash siteVideo reconstruction of flight (simulation, 36 min., rus) direct link (mp4) The destruction of the TU-154M wreckage in Smolensk. A TVP1 Documentary on YouTube (Archive) "Brief uit Polen" (List z Polski / Letter from Poland), A Dutch TV Documentary on YouTube (in Polish) Preliminary transcript of the record from the flight recorder from pilots' cockpit (Archive)Photograph of the cockpit of the accident aircraft, showing modern avionics from May 2007Satellite photo of the crash site Crash site at Smolensk '' Amateur Video on YouTubeCockpit Voice Recorder transcript and accident summary Archived 30 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine

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Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:49

TRIM WIN

Published : 16:20, 16 Oct 2023 Updated : 16:51, 16 Oct 2023 A FAT-busting jab hailed as the 'King Kong' of obesity treatments has been shown to help people shed a quarter of their body weight.

Tirzepatide - sold under the brand name is Mounjaro - was originally developed to treat diabetes and was approved for use in diabetic NHS patients earlier this month.

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Tirzepatide - brand name Moujaro - is licenced to treat diabetes but Eli Lily hopes to market it as a weight loss jab Credit: ReutersBut its manufacturer Eli Lily is now looking to get the drug approved for obesity and weight loss management.

Tirzepatide follows in the footsteps of Ozempic - a once-weekly diabetes jab which was later green-lit for weight loss treatment under the brand name Wegovy.

Now, experts say tirzepatide is even more effective as a weight loss tool than its predecessors, causing users to lose 24 per cent of their body weight on average during an 84-week trial.

Like Wegovy and Ozempic - which contain the ingredient semaglutide - tirzepatide does cause some side effects, including nausea, diarrhoea, constipation and vomiting.

Eighty per cent of people participating in the most recent study reported experiencing at least one of those while taking tirzepatide.

But experts reckon it still causes fewer, less frequent and less intense symptoms compared to semaglutide.

On top of that, patients taking the drug shed more weight than people taking Wegovy or Ozempic in comparable studies.

They lost an average of 64lbs - about 29kg - achieving similar results to surgical interventions like gastric sleeve surgery, according to researchers.

Prior to presenting the results at Obesity Week conference taking place in Dallas, Texas, lead author and professor of psychology in psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Wadden, said: "Patients who received lifestyle intervention and tirzepatide achieved a mean weight loss consistent with that produced by sleeve gastrectomy, a widely used procedure in metabolic and bariatric surgery.

"Tirzepatide could offer a safe and highly effective alternative to surgery for some persons with severe obesity."

The study echoes previous research, which has found that tirzepatide helped patients lose 5kg more than semaglutide.

Leading US expert Dr Julio Rosenstock dubbed the drug the "King Kong" of obesity treatments, compared to the 'gorilla' of semaglutide, the Wall Street Journal reported.

How the study worked Published in the journal Nature Medicine, the study followed 576 adults struggling with obesity, who had already lost about 6.9 per cent of their body weight through an intensive 12-week lifestyle switch-up that included diet changes and exercise.

A once-weekly dose of tirzepatide was then given to 287 of those, while the remaining participants received placebo jabs.

Those taking the drug lost an 18.4 per cent of their body weight.

In comparison, those taking the dummy shot gained back 2.5 per cent of their weight.

Dr Wadden said: "These are extraordinary findings.

''The additional weight loss produced further improvements, compared with placebo, in multiple measures of health, including waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, blood sugar and physical functioning," he added.

How tirzepatide works Tirzepatide is a type of medication known as a GLP-1 agonist.

It mimics a naturally-occurring hormone in the body called a peptide to influence a specific hormone receptors linked to feelings of hunger and fullness.

It also helps to regulate insulin by mimicking a hormone called GIP.

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Archived Version

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:49

(AP) '-- The medicine in the diabetes drug Mounjaro helped people with obesity or who are overweight lose at least a quarter of their body weight, or about 60 pounds on average when combined with intensive diet and exercise, a new study shows.

By comparison, a group of people who also dieted and exercised, but then received dummy shots, lost weight initially but then regained some, researchers reported Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine.

''This study says that if you lose weight before you start the drug, you can then add a lot more weight loss after,'' said Dr. Thomas Wadden, a University of Pennsylvania obesity researcher and psychology professor who led the study.

The results, which were also presented Sunday at a medical conference, confirm that the drug made by Eli Lilly & Co. has the potential to be one of the most powerful medical treatments for obesity to date, outside experts said.

''Any way you slice it, it's a quarter of your total body weight,'' said Dr. Caroline Apovian, who treats obesity at Brigham and Women's Hospital and wasn't involved in the study.

The injected drug, tirzepatide, was approved in the U.S. in May 2022 to treat diabetes. Sold as Mounjaro, it has been used ''off-label'' to treat obesity, joining a frenzy of demand for diabetes and weight-loss medications including Ozempic and Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk.

All the drugs, which carry retail price tags of $900 a month or more, have been in shortage for months.

Tirzepatide targets two hormones that kick in after people eat to regulate appetite and the feeling of fullness communicated between the gut and the brain. Semaglutide, the drug used in Ozempic and Wegovy, targets one of those hormones.

The new study, which was funded by Eli Lilly, enrolled about 800 people who had obesity or were overweight with a weight-related health complication '-- but not diabetes. On average, study participants weighed about 241 pounds (109.5 kilograms) to start and had a body-mass index '-- a common measure of obesity '-- of about 38.

After three months of intensive diet and exercise, more than 200 participants left the trial, either because they failed to lose enough weight or for other reasons. The remaining nearly 600 people were randomized to receive tirzepatide or a placebo via weekly injections for about 16 months. Nearly 500 people completed the study.

Participants in both groups lost about 7% of their body weight, or almost 17 pounds (8 kilograms), during the diet-and-exercise phase. Those who received the drug went on to lose an additional 18.4% of initial body weight, or about 44 pounds (20 kilograms) more, on average. Those who received the dummy shots regained about 2.5% of their initial weight, or 6 pounds (2.7 kilograms).

Overall, about 88% of those taking tirzepatide lost 5% or more of their body weight during the trial, compared with almost 17% of those taking placebo. Nearly 29% of those taking the drug lost at least a quarter of their body weight, compared with just over 1% of those taking placebo.

That's higher than the results for semaglutide and similar to the results seen with bariatric surgery, said Apovian.

''We're doing a medical gastric bypass,'' she said.

Side effects including nausea, diarrhea and constipation were reported more frequently in people taking the drug than those taking the placebo. They were mostly mild to moderate and occurred primarily as the dose of the drug was escalated, the study found. More than 10% of those taking the drug discontinued the study because of side effects, compared with about 2% of those on placebo.

Lilly is expected to publish the results soon of another study that the firm says shows similar high rates of weight loss. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted the company a fast-track review of the drug to treat obesity, which Eli Lilly may sell under a different brand name. A decision is expected by the end of the year.

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Archived Version

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:11

Photo Credit: Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90

Shikma Bressler at a protest in Tel Aviv, September 9, 2023.Shikma Schwartzman-Bressler, physicist and researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and a top co-leader of the anarchist coup attempt, told the audience at the First Nahalal Conference on Democracy: ''President Yitzhak Herzog has been sabotaging the protest for months to save Netanyahu, even if the intentions are good. It is forbidden to talk to Nazis, whether they are Jews or non-Jews.''

In other words, according to Bressler, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters are Jewish Nazis, and therefore any negotiations with him are verboten.

Remember Dany Dayan, Benny Gantz's appointment to CEO of Yad Vashem? Dayan has been under a magnifying glass for irregularities at his institution which is dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust. You would have expected Dany Dayan to issue an angry condemnation of this outrageous public statement. He didn't. No one else on the left did, either. It has become commonplace for Israeli leftists to call the right fascists and Nazis with no fear of consequences. As if this is an established truth that requires no supporting evidence. And so, Justice Minister Yariv Levin is a fascist for wishing to restore balance to the three branches of government, and MK Simcha Rothman is a fascist for passing Levin's agenda through his Constitution committee, and Netanyahu is a fascist because, you know, he just is.

Last week, Haaretz interviewed General (Res.) Gil Regev, the former head of the IDF HR, who openly called for a military coup against the prime minister. ''The Chief of Staff, the head of the Shin Bet, and the head of the Mossad should tell Bibi, up to here.'' He continued: ''They should tell him that if this government does not go back from the direction it took '... there will be no IDF.''

The demonization of the right is no longer just tolerated, it is the formative image carried by the mainstream media of the ''Bibistim,'' Netanyahu's camp, which happens to comprise 64 mandates out of the Knesset's 120.

So, what did Dany Dayan have to say about the desecration of the memory of the Holocaust, the guardianship of which is in his job description? He shared his own late-August tweet that said: Recently, there has been an increase in the public discourse in Israel of terrible statements that make malicious use of the Holocaust and its Nazi perpetrators. There was a (right-wing) man who expressed satisfaction over the murder of millions of Jews, a pamphlet (right-wing) that blamed LGBT people for the Holocaust, and now a well-known professor (left-wing) who compares a Jewish leader to Hitler. I follow these phenomena with anxiety and disgust and call for them to stop immediately.''

חוזר ואומר: ח×'×'ו! https://t.co/I2AItcXTZI

'-- ×'× × ×'××ן (@dandayan) September 9, 2023

The brave head of Yad Vashem did not dare to attack the leader of the anarchists by name. Neither did Yair Lapid or Benny Gantz. She must be more frightening than the widow Schicklgruber's son'...

Yaniv Turgeman commented: ''Only one thing is more shocking than the disgrace Shikma Bressler uttered, and that's the fact that no one around the table interrupted her, no one in the audience made a comment. And the worst thing is that in addition, they applauded her. He also noted that Channel 12 News failed to report the Bressler Nazi fiasco.

××(C) ×'בר אח×' ×ותר מז××–× ×ž×--חרפ×-- ×(C)אמר×-- ×(C)קמ×-- בר××'ר,×--×וב×'×-- ×(C)א×ן אח×' ×ב×ב ×--×(C)ו×'חן ×(C)ק×× ××•×ª×--,א×ן אח×' בק×--×' ×(C)×--××ר ×'×--ו×--×›× ×'×¨×•× ×(C)×‘× ×•××£ ×'כ×' ×--×' מחאו ×'×-- כפ×××'.חרפ×-- ×(C)א×ן כ×'ו×'מת×-- pic.twitter.com/txAruVCL10

'-- Yaniv Turgeman (@YanivTurgi) September 9, 2023

On Saturday night, Bressler tweeted a self-righteous apology, while praising herself for being able to heed criticism: ''I was wrong in my statement yesterday. I used a word that has no place in the discourse. I regret and apologize for this statement. Mistakes are also part of life and our struggle for our country and our future. Only those who don't do don't err. I correct and continue.''

××××ª× ××ª×ž×•×' ב×--תב×אות ×(C)×'×. ×--×(C)תמ×(C)×ª× ×‘×ž××'×-- ×(C)א×ן ×'×-- מקו×' ב×(C)×ח. ×× × ×ž×...ר×-- ×•×ž×ª× ×...×'ת ××' ×--אמ×ר×-- ×--זו. ×'×' ××ו×ות ×--ן ח×'ק מ×--ח×××' ומ×--מאבק ×(C)×'× ×• ××' ×--מ×'×× ×-- ×(C)×'× ×• ו×--×ת××' ×(C)×'× ×•. רק ×ž× ×(C)×'א ×ו×(C)×-- ×'א ×ו××--. ×ž×ª×§× ×ª וממ×(C)×כ×--. https://t.co/VK3rjGGM61

'-- ×(C)קמ×-- בר××'ר Shikma Bressler (@ShikmaBressler) September 9, 2023

You noticed she didn't mention the millions, dead and alive, she smeared with her calloused statement. To her using the N-word constituted a public faux pax, just as if she had used the other N-word.

A number of her enlightened fellow travelers subsequently doubled down and made some even worse Nazi comparisons.

Here's a bit of common gossip we have been avoiding recently, but decided to release seeing as Bressler is viewing the majority of Israelis as Nazis. Right-wing attorney Kinneret Broshi revealed that Bressler is married to a member of the clandestine Shin Bet, and noted: ''In recent months, many in Israel have been wondering how people protesting against the government arrive in a matter of minutes at places where the Prime Minister, senior ministers, and Knesset members are staying.''

Nudge, nudge.

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Archived Version

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:11

Israel's internal security service

Israel Security Agency ×(C)×רות ×--ב××חון ×--כ×'×'× 'Ž Sherut haBitaẖon haKlali, General Security Service

جهاز اÙأمن اÙعام Emblem of the Israel Security Agency

Common nameShabakAbbreviationEnglish: ISA, Local: Shabak - Hebrew: ×(C)ב״כ 'Ž, Arabic: شاباك MottoMagen veLo Yera'eFormed8 February 1949 ; 74 years ago ( 1949-02-08 ) [1]Preceding agencyNational agencyIsraelOperations jurisdictionIsraelGoverning bodyPrime Minister of IsraelHeadquartersYarkon Park, Tel AvivAgency executivewww.shabak.gov.ilThe Israel Security Agency (ISA; Hebrew: ×(C)ֵׁ×רוּת ×--ַבִּ××ָּחוֹן ×--ַכְּ×'Ö¸×'Ö´× , romanized: Sherut haBitaẖon haKlali , lit.'‰'the General Security Service'; Arabic: جهاز اÙأمن اÙعام , romanized: jihāz al'amn al`ami ), better known by the acronym Shabak (Hebrew: ×(C)ב״כ ; IPA: [ʃaËbak] '' ; Arabic: شاباك ) or the Shin Bet (a two-letter Hebrew abbreviation of "Security Service"), is Israel's internal security service. Its motto is "Magen veLo Yera'e" (Hebrew: מָ×'ֵן וְ×'ֹא ×ֵרָאֶ×-- , lit.'‰'Shield and not seen' or 'The unseen shield'). The Shin Bet's headquarters are located in northwest Tel Aviv, north of Yarkon Park.

It is one of three principal organizations of the Israeli intelligence community, alongside Aman (military intelligence) and Mossad (foreign intelligence service).

Organization [ edit ] Shabak is believed to have three operational wings:[2]

The Arab Department: responsible primarily for Arab-related counterterrorism activities in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.The Israel and Foreigners Department: formerly named the Non-Arab Affairs Department. It includes the Department for Counter-intelligence and Prevention of Subversion in the Jewish Sector, also known as the "Jewish Department".[3] It is responsible for preventing espionage, and for dealing with extremists who carry out actions (such as terrorism) against the state and the democratic regime. As its original concerns mostly related to the Communist Bloc, it shrank after the fall of the Soviet Union, but rose again in importance in response to Jewish terrorist activity beginning in the early 1980s.[4]The Protective Security Department: responsible for protecting high-value individuals and locations in the country such as government officials, embassies, airports, and research facilities.Although a security agency, it is not a part of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and its chief answers directly to the Prime Minister of Israel.

Duties and roles [ edit ] Shabak's duties are safeguarding state security, exposing terrorist rings, interrogating terror suspects, providing intelligence for counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, counter-espionage, personal protection of senior public officials, securing important infrastructure and government buildings, and safeguarding Israeli airlines and overseas embassies.

History [ edit ] With the Israeli declaration of independence in 1948, the Shabak was founded as a branch of the Israel Defense Forces and was initially headed by Isser Harel (the father of Israeli Intelligence, who later headed the Mossad). Responsibility for Shabak activity was later moved from the IDF to the office of the prime minister. During the 1948 Arab''Israeli war, Shabak's responsibilities included only internal security affairs. In February 1949 (a short while before the end of the war), its responsibilities were extended to counter-espionage.[5]

One of the Shabak's leading successes was obtaining a copy of the secret speech made by Nikita Khrushchev in 1956, in which he denounced Stalin. A Polish edition of the speech was provided to the Israeli embassy in Warsaw by the boyfriend of the secretary of a Polish communist official. The Shabak's Polish liaison officer conveyed the copy to Israel. The Israeli government then decided to share the information with the United States, which published it with Israeli approval.[6] On the other hand, a study published in 2013 by Matitiahu Mayzel casts doubt on the story, arguing that the speech was not secret and that it was conveyed to the West by multiple sources, including Soviet political and intelligence agencies.[7]

A notable achievement in counter-espionage was the 1961 capture of Israel Beer, who was revealed to be a Soviet spy. Beer was a lieutenant colonel in the reserves, a senior security commentator and close friend of Ben-Gurion and reached high Israeli circles. Beer was tried and sentenced to ten years in prison (later extended by the Supreme Court to fifteen years, following his appeal), where he died. A year before, Kurt Sitte, a Christian German from the Sudetenland and a professor in the Technion, was revealed as a Czechoslovakian spy.[8]

Medal given to Shabak workers on the 40th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, 1988In 1967, an Egyptian-Israeli double agent, Rif'at al Gamal/Jacques Bitton, gave Egypt false information about Israel's battle plans, claiming it would begin with ground operations. The Egyptians thus left their aircraft on open runways, which enabled the Israel Air Force to knock out Egypt's air force within three hours of the outbreak of the Six-Day War.[9] Operation Yated, as it was later known, is considered one of the most successful deceptions in Israeli intelligence history, on a par with Britain's Operation Mincemeat during World War II.[9]

After the war, monitoring terrorist activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip became a major part of Shabak's mission. During 1984''1986, Shabak experienced a major crisis following the Kav 300 affair in which four Palestinian militants hijacked a bus. Two of the hijackers were killed in the ensuing standoff and the other two were killed shortly after being taken into custody by Shabak officers, who later covered up the event and conspired to frame a senior IDF officer.[10] Following the affair, Shabak head Avraham Shalom was forced to resign.

The 1987 Landau Commission, set up to investigate Shabak interrogation methods, criticized the organization and established guidelines to regulate what forms of physical pressure could be used on prisoners. Among the practices authorised were "keeping prisoners in excruciatingly uncomfortable postures, covering their heads with filthy and malodorous sacks and depriving them of sleep." Human rights groups in Israel maintained that this amounts to torture.[11] A 1995 official report by Miriam Ben-Porat, made public in 2000, showed that Shin Bet "routinely" went beyond the "moderate physical pressure" authorised by the Landau Commission. In the report, Israel admitted for the first time that Palestinian detainees were tortured during the First Intifada, between 1988 and 1992.[11]

In 1995, the Shin Bet failed to protect the Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical Yigal Amir. Shin Bet had discovered Amir's plans, and a Shin Bet agent was sent to monitor Amir, and reported that Amir was not a threat. Following the assassination, the Shabak director, Carmi Gillon, resigned preemptively. Later, the Shamgar Commission pointed to serious flaws in the personal security unit. Another source of embarrassment and criticism was the violent, provocative and inciting behavior of Avishai Raviv, an informer of the Shabak's Jewish Unit during the time leading up to the assassination.[12] Later, Raviv was acquitted of the charges that he encouraged Yigal Amir to kill Yitzhak Rabin.

A few months after the Rabin assassination, Hamas chief bombmaker Yahya Ayyash was assassinated in a targeted killing in which an explosive device was planted in his cellular phone.[13]

Gillon was replaced by Israeli Navy admiral Ami Ayalon, who helped to restore the organizational morale, after the debacle of the Rabin assassination, and to rehabilitate its public image.[14]

In 2000, Ayalon was replaced by Avi Dichter, an ex-Sayeret Matkal commando and experienced Shabak agent, who tightened the working relationship with the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli police. Dichter was in charge when the al-Aqsa Intifada erupted. He turned Shabak into a prominent player in the war on terrorism after the collapse of the 2000 Camp David Summit.

In November 2003, four former heads of Shabak (Avraham Shalom, Yaakov Peri, Carmi Gillon and Ami Ayalon) called upon the Government of Israel to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians.[15]

In May 2005, Dichter was replaced by Yuval Diskin, who served until 2011.

In 2007, the service launched its first-ever public recruitment drive, unveiling a "slick Website" and buying on-line ads in Israel and abroad in a campaign aimed at "attract[ing] top-tier computer programmers" to its "cutting-edge" IT division. On March 18, 2008, it was announced that Shabak's official website would also offer a blog, where four of its agents would discuss anonymously how they were recruited, and what sort of work they perform; they would also answer questions sent in by members of the public.[16] The decision to launch the blog was made by the Shin Bet's top brass, including head Yuval Diskin, and is part of an attempt to attract high-tech workers to the agency's growing IT department. According to Shabak officers, the Web site and blog are aimed also at promoting a more accessible and positive public image for the secret service, long associated with "dark, undercover and even violent activity".[17]

In 2011, Yoram Cohen was chosen as the new head of Shabak, and served until 2016.

In 2016, Nadav Argaman was chosen as the new head of Shabak, and assumed office on 8 May 2016.

On 11 October 2021, Ronen Bar was announced as the next head of the ISA,[18][19] and took office on 13 October.[20]

On 16 October 2023, following the succesful surprise attacks by Hamas against Israel in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the subsequent outbreak of the 2023 Israel''Hamas war, ISA director Ronen Bar took responsisbility for his role in the failure of Israeli intelligence to predict the oncoming war from Gaza.[21][22]

Accountability [ edit ] Former Shin Bet director special assistant Barak Ben-Zur said that since 1948 (or more particularly 1957) the group has been brought under the control of the Knesset in order to monitor its budget. In May 2002, Shin Bet was brought under the purview of the Knesset Foreign and Security Committee, which could investigate whether it is working within legal boundaries which, in turn, involves the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. The government legal adviser approves Shin Bet activities while the Political-Security Cabinet receives reports directly from the Shin Bet director and ensures that every detainee has the right to submit a complaint.[23]

Information gathering, interrogation methods and torture [ edit ] Shabak also extracts information by interrogating suspects, and there is a history of concern over its methods. In 1987, after complaints about excessive use of violence, the Landau Commission drew up guidelines condoning "moderate physical pressure" when necessary, but in 1994, State Comptroller Miriam Ben-Porat found that these regulations were violated and senior GSS commanders did not prevent it.[24]

Later, in 1999, the Israeli Supreme Court heard several petitions against Shabak methods, including (1) "forceful and repeated shaking of the suspect's upper torso, in a manner which causes the neck and head to swing rapidly," (2) manacling of the suspect in a painful "Shabach position" for a long period of time, (3) the "frog crouch" consisting of "consecutive, periodical crouches on the tips of one's toes," and other methods. The Court ruled that Shabak did not have the authority, even under the defense of "necessity," to employ such methods.[25] This ruling was hailed as landmark against using torture on Palestinian prisoners.[26]

Shabak claims it now uses only psychological means, although B'Tselem and Amnesty International continue to accuse Shabak of employing physical methods that amount to torture under international conventions.[27][28][29][30] In 2015, Physicians for Human Rights''Israel noted that petitions against Shin Bet had quadrupled since 2012, and claimed that over the past several years of 850 complaints against Shin Bet for torture none had yet been investigated. It further claimed that no system of legal redress against security organizations is in place.[31]

Shabak has also worked closely with the Israeli Air Force in "targeted killings" of field commanders and senior leaders of Palestinian militant factions[32] of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and Fatah. These killings are usually done by helicopter gunships. Both the IAF commanders and Shabak agents sit together in the command center to monitor the operations. Shabak's task is to give intelligence about when and where the target will be available for a strike and then react to IAF drone feedback to ensure the men at the location are indeed the correct targets.[33]

Detentions [ edit ] Salah Haj Yihyeh, a Palestinian who runs mobile clinics for Physicians for Human Rights, was detained for questioning by the Shin Bet.[dubious '' discuss ] In the questioning, Yihyeh answered questions about the activities of the organization, its budget, the identity of its donors, and details about others employed by PHR. The board of Physicians for Human Rights, in a letter to Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, rejected the "crossing of a red line in a democracy." The letter argued that since the only cause for calling an employee of the group was to scare him, the tactics were unacceptable and illegal.[34]

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer was detained in July 2008 by Shin Bet. Having arrived on a flight from London, Omer says that he was taken aside by a Shin Bet official. According to Democracy Now!, Omer was later questioned, strip-searched, and then beaten by eight armed Shin Bet officers. Injuries from the ordeal allegedly left Mohammed Omer in the hospital for a week.[35] The Israeli government rejected Omer's claims outright, citing inconsistencies in his allegations and noting that such investigations are strictly regulated.[36][37]

Shin Bet in popular culture [ edit ] In 2012, six former heads of the Shabak (Shalom, Peri, Gillon, Ayalon, Dichter, and Diskin) featured in a documentary film, The Gatekeepers, and discussed the main events of their tenures.

In Messiah, Tomer Sisley plays Aviram Dahan, a Shin Bet operative who is fighting terrorism to protect his country.

Shabak directors [ edit ] Reuven Rivlin the president of Israel with Yoram Cohen the former director of the Shin Bet and Nadav Argaman the new director. May 2016Isser Harel (1948''1952)Izi Dorot (1952''1953)Amos Manor (1953''1963)Yossef Harmelin (1964''1974)Avraham Ahituv (1974''1981)Avraham Shalom (1981''1986)Yossef Harmelin (1986''1988)Yaakov Peri (1988''1994)Carmi Gillon (1995''1996)Ami Ayalon (1996''2000)Avi Dichter (2000''2005)Yuval Diskin (2005''2011)Yoram Cohen (2011''2016)Nadav Argaman (2016''2021)Ronen Bar (2021''present)See also [ edit ] Israel Security ForcesIsrael Border PoliceYamamSecurity agencyAdministration of Border Crossings, Population and ImmigrationAliyah BetReferences [ edit ] ^ "The History of the ISA". Shabak . Retrieved 25 May 2011 . ^ "Profile: Israel's Shin Bet agency". BBC News. 30 January 2002 . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ Assenheim, Omri (6 May 2013). "Mission: Impossible". Uvda (in Hebrew). Mako . Retrieved 18 March 2020 . ^ Hadar, Roni; Melman, Yossi (12 July 2006). "There's Someone To Not Talk With". Haaretz (in Hebrew). ^ Shin Bet history Archived 2016-10-30 at the Wayback Machine (Hebrew) ^ "There's a speech by Khrushchev from the conference (Hebrew)". Haaretz. 7 March 2006. ^ Matitiahu Mayzel (2013). "Israeli Intelligence and the leakage of Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" ". The Journal of Israeli History. 32 (2): 257''283. doi:10.1080/13531042.2013.822730. S2CID 143346034. ^ Shin Bet between 1957 and 1967 Archived 2016-08-05 at the Wayback Machine (Hebrew) ^ a b Melman, Yossi (31 March 2011). "How Israel won the Six-Day War Israel News". Haaretz . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ David K. Shipler, Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land. 1986. ISBN 0-8129-1273-X. pages 89, 90. ^ a b Israel admits torture Archived 2019-03-22 at the Wayback Machine 9 February 2000, BBC ^ See the chapter on Raviv in the Shamgar report Archived 2011-08-08 at the Wayback Machine in Hebrew ^ Katz, Samuel. The Hunt for the Engineer. Lyons Press, 2002. ISBN 1-58574-749-1 ^ Amir Oren (15 January 2007). "א×××'ון מ×ו×'×', ברק ×'א - מאמר××' ו×'×ות - ×--ארץ". Haaretz . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ Urquhart, Conal (30 November 2003). "Israel's hard men fight for peace". The Observer. London . Retrieved 23 May 2010 . ^ Franks, Tim (17 March 2008). "Israel's Shin Bet launches blog". BBC News . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ Yaakov Katz, "Shin Bet security agency launches blog" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Jerusalem Post, 17 March 2008. ^ "Ronen Bar: Israel's next Shin Bet Director". IsraelDefense website. 11 October 2021 . Retrieved 11 October 2021 . ^ Yoni Weiss (11 October 2021). "Ronen Bar Announced as New Shin Bet Head". Hamodia English website . Retrieved 11 October 2021 . ^ "ב××§× ×—×'××'×: רא×(C) ×--×(C)ב"כ ×--× ×‘×—×¨ ×¨×•× ×Ÿ בר × ×›× × ×'תפק××'ו" [In a festive ceremony: appointed ISA head Ronen Bar took office]. בחז×ת (in Hebrew). 13 October 2021 . Retrieved 16 October 2021 . ^ Israel National News. "ISA director takes responsibility for allowing invasion". Arutz Sheva-Israel National News . Retrieved 16 October 2023 . ^ Feldman, Joseph. "Shin Bet Head Takes Responsibility for No Warning Before Hamas Attack". VINnews/The Associated Press . Retrieved 16 October 2023 . ^ "Inside Shabak". Al Jazeera English. 24 October 2013 . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ "A/55/373 of 11 September 2000". Domino.un.org. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013 . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ "Public Committee Against Torture v. Israel" (PDF) . Elyon.court.gov.il . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ World: Middle East Israeli 'torture' methods illegal Archived 2015-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, September 6, 1999, BBC ^ "The Interrogation of Palestinians During the Intifada: Ill-Treatment, "Moderate Physical Pressure" or Torture?, March 1991 | B'Tselem". Btselem.org. 1 January 1990 . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ "The ISA interrogation regime: routine ill-treatment | B'Tselem". Btselem.org. 1 January 2011 . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories | Amnesty International". Amnesty.org . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ "Kept in the Dark, Oct. 2010 | B'Tselem". Btselem.org . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ Tamar Pileggi, '850 Torture Complaints yield no investigations,' Archived 2015-10-30 at the Wayback Machine The Times of Israel 11 February 2015. ^ "BBC News - Israel pounds Gaza after deadly attacks near Eilat". Bbc.co.uk. 18 August 2011 . Retrieved 30 October 2013 . ^ Katz, Yaakov (25 March 2021). "How the IDF invented 'Roof Knocking', the tactic that saves lives in Gaza". Jerusalem Post. ^ Akiva Eldar, Haaretz: "Physicians for Human Rights official detained by Shin Bet" Archived 2016-01-03 at the Wayback Machine, 3 June 2008. ^ Democracy Now: "Award-Winning Palestinian Journalist Mohammed Omer Details Abuse by Israeli Security Officials" Archived 2019-03-22 at the Wayback Machine, 7 July 2008. ^ "IMRA - Wednesday, July 9, 2008 RESPONSE TO ALLEGATIONS REGARDING MOHAMMED OMER AL-MUGHAIER". www.imra.org.il. ^ Ofra Edelman, "Charges dropped against settler filmed shooting Palestinians" '' Haaretz Archived 2010-02-08 at the Wayback Machine, 14 July 2009. External links [ edit ] Shabak website (in English) Profile: Israel's Shin Bet agency, BBC NewsText of the 1999 High Court of Justice ruling (PDF)B'tselem report on Shabak's use of torture"Inside Shin Bet" video documentary by Al JazeeraKnesset said "No" to ShabakYousef, Mosab Hassan (3 March 2010). Son of Hamas. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House. p. 288. ISBN 978-1-4143-3307-6. Photos

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Tue, 17 Oct 2023 13:25

Children account for the majority of victims in Nigeria, where there are 14,000 suspected cases of diphtheria

Nigeria is battling a diphtheria outbreak that has killed more than 600 people, most of them children, officials have said. Many of the infected minors were not vaccinated.

According to multiple reports on Thursday, there are now 14,000 suspected cases of the disease, double what the Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention recorded last month.

The outbreak, which started last December, has affected 19 of the country's 36 states as well as the federal capital, Abuja. The epicenter is Kano state in northern Nigeria, where more than 500 deaths have been recorded.

Diphtheria is highly contagious and affects the nose and throat. Symptoms typically emerge gradually, beginning with a sore throat and fever.

In severe cases, the bacteria produce a toxin that causes a thick gray or white patch at the back of the throat that can block the airways.

Dr Faisal Shuaib, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, who visited a diphtheria isolation center in Kano city on Wednesday, said that it was disturbing that young children were suffering from an ''entirely preventable disease.''

Shuaib added that measures including contact tracing have contributed to a decline in the number of cases.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said inadequate testing and some patients not reporting their symptoms meant it was difficult to accurately track infection rates.

The organization has stressed that immunization is the most effective way of managing the crisis, and has urged parents with unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children to visit their nearest health clinics.

According to the WHO, only 57% of Nigerians have received the pentavalent vaccine, which protects against five life-threatening diseases, including diphtheria. It added that ''vaccine coverage of 80''85% must be maintained to ensure community protection.''

The last significant diphtheria outbreak in Nigeria occurred in 2011, when 21 people lost their lives and 98 were infected in Borno state, the WHO reported.

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Tue, 17 Oct 2023 12:42

Rusland tager f¸rste skridt mod at tr...kke sig fra aftale, der forbyder atompr¸vespr...ngninger

Det russiske parlament har i dag stemt for at tr...kke ratificeringen af en aftale om ikke at foretage atompr¸vespr...ngninger tilbage.

412 parlamentsmedlemmer stemte for, mens nul stemte imod.

Det skriver nyhedsbureauet AFP.

Forslaget skal igennem yderligere to behandlinger og godkendes af overhuset, f¸r det endeligt kan underskrives af pr...sident Vladimir Putin.

Aftalen stammer fra 1996 og har til form¥l at forbyde alle atompr¸vespr...ngninger.

Den blev indg¥et, efter at Sovjetunionen, USA og andre foretog spr...ngninger under Den Kolde Krig. Rusland og USA underskrev aftalen i september 1996, men amerikanerne tilsluttede sig aldrig formelt.

Sveriges konge sender tanker til familierne til de dr...bte svenskere

Det svenske kongehus har udsendt en udtalelse i forbindelse med, at to svenskere blev dr...bt i Bruxelles i et angreb i g¥r aftes.

Det fremg¥r p¥ det svenske kongehus' hjemmeside.

'' Min familie og jeg har med forf...rdelse erfaret informationen om, at to svenskere er blevet dr...bt i forbindelse med fodboldlandskampen mellem Sverige og Belgien i aftes.

'' Vores tanker g¥r til de afd¸de og deres familier, lyder det fra den svenske kong Gustav i udtalelsen.

En tredje svensker blev h¥rdt s¥ret i angrebet og er indlagt p¥ hospitalet.

I morgen bes¸ger Sveriges statsminister, Ulf Kristersson, Bruxelles for at ...re ofrene, skriver SVT.

Det er et stort hul i lovgivningen, at b¸rn under 18 ¥r kan k¸be tobaksvarer online, mener Kr...ftens Bek...mpelse.

L...s hele artiklen L...gemiddelstyrelsen s...tter parti af coronavaccine i karant...ne

L...gemiddelstyrelsen har ud fra et forsigtighedsprincip valgt at s...tte et specifikt parti af coronavccinen fra Pfizer/BioNTech i karant...ne.

…rsagen skyldes, at der p¥ nogle vaccinationssteder er observeret dannelse af bobler i vaccinen, efter at den er trukket op i spr¸jten, skriver L...gemiddelstyrelsen i en pressemeddelelse.

Der er anvendt ca. 57.000 doser fra denne batch, og de forel¸bige oplysninger peger if¸lge styrelsen p¥, at den har v...ret i anvendelse i alle landets regioner.

Lige nu er der ikke tegn p¥, at det specifikke parti har konsekvenser for effekt eller sikkerhed, lyder det, og L...gemiddelstyrelsen unders¸ger nu sagen n...rmere sammen med producenten.

P¥ grund af karant...nen vil nogle borgere opleve, at deres kommende vaccinetid bliver aflyst.

Versailles evakueret for anden gang p¥ fire dage

Det franske slot Versailles, der ligger uden for Paris, er blevet evakueret.

Det oplyser slottet p¥ det sociale medie X.

Evakueringen af g...sterne sker af sikkerhedsm...ssige ¥rsager, og slottet vil v...re lukket resten af dagen, lyder det.

If¸lge den franske tv-kanal BFM har politiet oplyst, at der er et bombehold p¥ vej til slottet.

Det er anden gang inden for f¥ dage, at Versailles bliver evakueret. Det skete ogs¥ l¸rdag p¥ grund af en bombestrussel.

Herrelandsholdet 26 min. siden

Myndighederne i San Marino har valgt at sk...rpe sikkerheden efter angreb i Bruxelles.

L...s hele artiklen Mand fundet d¸d i svensk skov fire ¥r efter forsvinden

Politiet i Sverige har fundet liget af en mand, der blev meldt savnet tilbage i 2019.

Mandens lig blev fundet af folk p¥ svampeplukketur i en skov n...r S¶derhamn, skriver Aftonbladet.

Sagen efterforskes som et drab, men der er ingen mist...nkte.

Orbn og Putin har genbekr...ftet deres b¥nd under m¸de i Beijing

S¥dan s¥ det ud, da den ungarske premierminister, Viktor Orbn, m¸dtes med den russiske pr...sident, Vladimir Putin. (Foto: (C) GRIGORY SYSOYEV, Ritzau Scanpix)

Ungarns premierminister, Viktor Orbn, har i dag holdt m¸de med Ruslands pr...sident, Vladimir Putin, i den kinesiske hovedstad, Beijing.

If¸lge nyhedsbureauet Reuters brugte de to ledere anledningen til at genbekr...fte deres interne b¥nd. Den ungarske premierminister er nemlig den russiske pr...sidents n...rmeste allierede i EU. Og trods krigen i Ukraine, som blandt andet har f¥et EU-landene til at indf¸re en lang r...kke h¥rde sanktioner mod Rusland, har Viktor Orbn fors¸gt at fastholde et godt forhold til sin russiske kollega.

Det gl...der Vladimir Putin.

- Selvom mulighederne for at opretholde kontakter og udvikle relationer kan v...re meget begr...nsede under de nuv...rende geopolitiske forhold, er det ikke desto mindre tilfredsstillende, at vores forbindelser med mange europ...iske lande b¥de er blevet opretholdt og videreudviklet. Et af disse lande er Ungarn, sagde den russiske pr...sident if¸lge Reuters til premierminister Orbn.

Polsk valgresultat efterlader dog ogs¥ et tydeligt billede af et Polen delt i to, skriver korrespondent.

L...s hele artiklen F¸devarestyrelsen tilbagekalder broccolisalat solgt i hele landet

Det er denne salat, som nu bliver kaldt tilbage, fordi der ikke er skrevet noget om allergener p¥ bagsiden. Foto: F¸devarestyrelsen.

F¸devarestyrelsen frar¥der personer med allergi at spise en broccolisalat fra Flensted Snitgr¸nt, fordi der mangler oplysning om indhold af allergenerne ...g og sennep.

Salaten er solgt i Kvickly, SuperBrugsen og Dagli'Brugsen over hele landet, skriver F¸devarestyrelsen.

Der er tale om m¥ltidssalaten "Broccolisalat med et strejf af chili" fra Coop, der har sidste anvendelsesdato den 19. oktober.

Forbrugere skal enten kassere salaten eller levere den tilbage til butikken, hvor den er k¸bt.

Det er familien selv fra dokumentaren 'Forfulgt af politiet?', som ops¸ger konflikter med politiet, siger f...llestillidsrepr...sentant. DR afviser kritik af 'ensidig' dokumentar.

L...s hele artiklen Formodet gerningsmand fra Bruxelles har tidligere v...ret i Sverige

- Det er tid til mere sikkerhed, mere forsigtighed, mere ¥rv¥genhed. Vi m¥ simpelthen ikke v...re naive, siger Ulf Kristersson. (Foto: (C) 10080 FREDRIK SANDBERG /TT, Ritzau Scanpix)

Det var efter myndighedernes overbevisning et bevidst angreb p¥ svenskere, da tre personer blev skudt i g¥r i Bruxelles.

Det siger Sveriges statsminister, Ulf Kristersson, p¥ et pressem¸de.

- Alt taler for, at dette er et terrorangreb mod svenske borgere, blot fordi de er svenskere, siger han.

Den formodede gerningsmand har af og til opholdt sig i Sverige, siger statsminister Ulf Kristersson desuden.

Statsministeren ¸nsker dog ikke at oplyse hvorn¥r og hvor l...nge, men han siger, at han nu er styrket i sin tro p¥, at Sverige skal holde styr p¥, hvem der er i landet, og at de er der lovligt.

Han tilf¸jer, at Sveriges frie v...rdier ikke skal spoleres af terrorister.

- Vi skal v...rne om vort ¥bne demokratiske samfund og st¥ fast ved vores v...rdier. Vi skal ikke tilpasse os terrorister.

F¸lg sagens udvikling i vores liveblog.

Anholdt for tyveri af bildele for 4,2 milliarder kroner

Med en pris h¸jere end guld - m¥lt p¥ v...gten - er ...delmetaller brugt til fremstilling af katalysatorer til biler i meget h¸j kurs.

Det g¸r bildelene attraktive for langfingrede typer, som stj...ler dem for at s...lge delene videre til omsmeltning, skriver ABC News.

Nu er tre personer fra samme familie blevet anholdt i forbindelse med en omfattende sag om tyveri af katalysatorer for ikke mindre end 600 millioner dollar svarende til 4,2 millarder kroner.

De to br¸dre og deres mor mist...nkes for at v...re ansvarlige for tyveriet sammen med 18 andre fra New Jersey og Sacramento. De har erkendt at have tjent 268 millioner kroner p¥ tyveriet.

Du kan blive opdateret med flere nyheder i TVA Live.

Flere opfordrer til at sk...re p¥ antallet af kr...ftkontroller

Hvis personalet skal kunne f¸lge med, skal der laves f...rre scanninger i sundhedsv...senet, lyder det fra flere sider.

Der er nemlig lige nu stor mangel p¥ de speciall...ger - radiologer - som analyserer og giver svar p¥ scanningerne

Kr...ftomr¥det er oplagt at kigge p¥, siger Jes S¸gaard, sundheds¸konom ved Syddansk Universitet.

- Det kan ske ved, at vi ''bl¸dg¸r'' nogle af reglerne for kontrolopf¸lgning efter en kr...ftbehandling.

Per Christiansen, konstitueret hospitalsdirekt¸r p¥ Aalborg Universitetshospital, er enig.

- Kr...ftpatienter i Danmark bliver kontrolleret mere, end der n¸dvendigvis er behov for. Derfor m¥ vi se p¥, om nogle kontroller kan fjernes, siger han.

Siden 2019 er antallet af MR-scanninger p¥ Aalborg Universitetshospital steget med 19 procent.

Indiens h¸jesteret afviser at g¸re homo-...gteskaber lovlige

Indiens ¸verste domstol vil ikke g¸re ...gteskaber mellem to personer af samme k¸n lovligt.

Det skriver nyhedsbureauet Reuters.

Dermed bliver der ikke umiddelbart ...ndret p¥ den indiske lovgivning.

H¸jesteretspr...sident D.Y. Chandrachud forklarer, at det m¥ v...re op til det indiske parlament at tr...ffe den slags beslutninger.

I Asien, hvor konservative v...rdier stadig fylder meget, er det kun Taiwan og Nepal, der tillader homoseksuelle ...gteskaber.

Terrortruslen mod Danmark har v...ret alvorlig siden 2010.

L...s hele artiklen Puk Damsg¥rd: Mens n¸dhj...lp ikke kan komme til Gaza, bliver det kun v...rre for de civile

Situationen forv...rres for de civile i Gaza.

Der er massive bombardementer, og vandforsyningerne kan if¸lge FN l¸be ud indenfor kort tid. Det samme g...lder str¸mforsyningen.

If¸lge verdenssundhedsorganisationen, WHO, er blandt andet 84.000 gravide kvinder i risiko, fordi n¸dhj...lpen ikke kan komme ind i Gaza, skriver CNN.

DR's mellem¸stkorrespondent Puk Damsg¥rd, der befinder sig syd for Tel Aviv i Israel, kalder det en "relativt absurd situation", fordi der i Egypten lige p¥ den anden side af gr...nsen til Gaza venter n¸dhj...lp til pal...stinenserne.

I flere dage har USA, Israel og Egypten talt om at f¥ ¥bnet gr...nsen for at n¸dhj...lp ind, men det er endnu ikke lykkedes.

Her fort...ller Puk Damsg¥rd om situationen for de civile i Gazastriben:

F¸lg krigens udvikling i vores liveblog og i TVA Live p¥ DRTV.

Formodet gerningsmand bag angreb i Bruxelles er bekr...ftet d¸d

Belgiens anklagemyndighed bekr...fter nu, at den formodede gerningsmand, der dr...bte to svenskere og s¥rede en tredje, er d¸d.

Det skriver det belgiske medie VRT.

Tirsdag morgen blev den mist...nkte gerningsmand skudt af politiet p¥ en caf(C) i den belgiske hovedstad, Bruxelles.

Efterf¸lgende blev han bragt til intensivafdelingen p¥ hospitalet.

To svenskere blev skudt af manden, mens en blev s¥ret i g¥r aftes i Bruxelles i forbindelse med Sveriges fodboldkamp mod Belgien.

Politikere: Slut med tredobbelt l¸n til vagtl...ger

Man kan ikke retf...rdigg¸re en l¸n for videokonsultation, der er tre gange h¸jere end en konsultation over telefonen.

En forskel fra 76 til 225 kroner for gennemsnitligt to minutters l...ngere snak.

S¥dan lyder det fra flere politikere i Region Syddanmark. De siger til Radio 4, at de vil have ...ndret den akkordl¸n, vagtl...gerne arbejder p¥, s¥ der ikke er s¥ stor forskel p¥ video- og telefonsamtaler med patienter.

If¸lge radiokanalen er der eksempler p¥ l...ger, der tjener millioner p¥ videokonsultationer.

Politikerne foresl¥r derfor, at man indf¸rer en fast timel¸n, der er teknologi-uafh...ngig, s¥ der ikke er en fordel ved at v...lge video.

Det er formand J¸rgen Skadborg fra Praktiserende L...gers Organisation (PLO) ¥ben overfor, hvis ellers l¸nnen "er rimelig", hvilket han ikke ¸nsker at uddybe.

Massiv efters¸gning af syv¥rig norsk dreng, der forsvandt p¥ jagttur med familien

Norsk politi og redningsmandskab er p¥ snart andet d¸gn massivt til stede i en skov i Lindesnes n...r Kristiansand i det sydlige Norge.

Her leder man fortsat efter en syv¥rig dreng, som forsvandt s¸ndag eftermiddag, da han var p¥ jagt med sin familie.

Politiet h¥ber fortsat p¥ at finde ham i live, siger politiets indsatsleder her til morgen til norske VG.

- Vi leder, og det g¸r vi, fordi vi har en tro p¥, at vi finder ham i god behold, siger han.

I g¥r formiddag blev drengens solbriller fundet f¥ hundrede meter fra stedet, hvor politiet startede sin efters¸gning.

Myndighederne har dag og nat ledt efter drengen med politihelikopter, redningshelikopter og varmes¸gende droner, og specialtr...nede politihunde fra hele Norge deltager i efters¸gningen.

Kombinationen af vandstand og b¸lger forv...rrer situationen.

L...s hele artiklen Herrelandsholdet I dag kl. 09:57

Danmarks fodboldlandshold m¸der tirsdag aften San Marino i EM-kvalifikationen.

L...s hele artiklen Belgisk indenrigsminister siger, at man har skudt en mand i forbindelse med jagten p¥ gerningsmand.

L...s hele artiklen Mister ¥rligt tilskud: Energimuseum m¥ lukke for offentligheden

40.000 g...ster bes¸ger ¥rligt Energimuseet ved Tange S¸ syd for Viborg - men det er slut for nu.

Museet har mistet sit driftstilskud p¥ knap seks millioner kroner

Det betyder ogs¥, at 12 ud af 18 medarbejdere p¥ museet i perioden efter efter¥rsferien og frem mod ¥rsskiftet fratr...der deres stillinger.

Forel¸big sikrer et tilskud fra Slots- og Kultursstyrelsen, at de seks tilbagev...rende ansatte kan forts...tte med at pleje museumsgenstande, forske og formidle viden til skolegrupper og ungdomsuddannelser.

If¸lge formand Karin Gaardsted arbejder museets bestyrelse i ¸jeblikket p¥ h¸jtryk for at finde en l¸sning, der kan sikre museets drift fremadrettet.

Energimuseet er et oplevelses- og formidlingscenter for energi, fremtidens energil¸sninger og den gr¸nne omstilling.

Belgiske myndigheder bekr...fter, at formodet gerningsmand er skudt

De belgiske myndigheder bekr...fter, at den mand, der blev skudt i morges, er den formodede gerningsmand bag g¥rsdagens angreb i Bruxelles.

Manden er i ¸jeblikket p¥ intensivafdelingen p¥ et belgisk hospital, bekr...fter Bruxelles ministerpr...sident.

F¸lg situationen i vores liveblog.

Belgiens indenrigsministerium: En mand er skudt i Bruxelles Schaerbeek-omr¥de

Belgiske kriminalteknikere leder efter beviser ved gerningsstedet. (Foto: (C) Kenzo Tribouillard, Ritzau Scanpix)

Det belgiske indenrigsministerium siger nu, at myndighederne har 'neutraliseret' - alts¥ skudt - en mand i i Bruxelles' Schaerbeek-omr¥de, men at man endnu ikke formelt har identificeret, at der er tale om den formodede gerningsmand bag angrebet i Bruxelles.

Det skriver det belgiske medie RTBF.

Manden er blevet k¸rt til hospitalet, og redderne fors¸ger at genoplive ham.

To svenskere blev dr...bt, mens en tredje svensker blev s¥ret af skud forud for fodboldkampen mellem Belgien og Sverige, der skulle spilles i g¥r aftes. Kampen blev afbl...st efter pausen.

F¸lg situationen i vores liveblog her.

Naturstyrelsen har solgt skovbunden fra det nationale testcenter for vindm¸ller i Thy til virksomhed, der laver pottemuld.

L...s hele artiklen USA-korrespondent: Biden vil undg¥, at krig l¸ber l¸bsk

Af

Nanna N¸rby Hansen (nahn@dr.dk)

Selvom USA utvivlsomt st¸tter Israel og ¸nsker Hamas straffet, vil Det Hvide Hus ogs¥ g¸re sit for at undg¥, at det "l¸ber helt l¸bsk i Gazastriben", hvor der allerede er meget h¸je tabstal.

Det vurderer DR's USA-korrespondent Philip Khokhar i P1 Morgen forud for Joe Bidens bes¸g i morgen.

- Der vil komme et amerikansk pres p¥ Israels pr...sident, Benjamin Netanyahu, for, at man skal have en plan, siger han.

If¸lge USA-korrespondenten har USA to bekymringer.

- Der er en frygt i Washington for, at det kan blive et blodbad, hvis Israel ikke t...nker sig rigtig godt om.

- Samtidig er der ogs¥ en bekymring for, hvordan det her skal ende. Forestiller israelerne sig, at de skal bes...tte Gaza? At der skal komme en anden form for pal...stinensisk styre?, siger korrespondenten.

EM-kvalifikationskampen mellem Sverige og Belgien blev mandag afbl...st i pause efter to svenskere tidligere p¥ aftenen blev dr...bt i den belgiske hovedstad.

L...s hele artiklen Tredje person, som er s¥ret i angreb i Bruxelles, er ogs¥ svensker

Politiet er massivt til stede i Bruxelles. Steder med svensk tilknytning bliver s...rligt bevogtet efter angrebet. (Foto: (C) Olivier Matthys, Ritzau Scanpix)

En tredje person, der blev alvorlig s¥ret i angrebet i Bruxelles, er ogs¥ svensker. Personen meldes uden for livsfare.

Det har den belgiske statsanklager oplyst og samtidig korrigeret tidligere meldinger om, at han skulle v...re lokal taxachauff¸r.

Dermed er tre svenskere alts¥ ramt i Bruxelles ved mandagens angreb, to er d¸de og en er p¥ hospitalet.

Du kan f¸lge situationen i Bruxelles i vores liveblog.

To svenskere blev mandag aften dr...bt i den belgiske hovedstad, Bruxelles, inden landskampen mellem Sverige og Belgien.

L...s hele artiklen Domstol i Hong Kong afg¸r, at homoseksuelle har samme ret til bolig som alle andre

Det skal ikke have nogen betydning, om man har en partner af samme k¸n som (C)n selv, hvis man vil eje eller leje en almen bolig i Hong Kong.

Det har en dommer ved en appeldomstol tirsdag afgjort, skriver Reuters, og dermed lider regeringen nederlag i sagen.

Den ville have gjort det ulovligt for homoseksuelle at leje eller eje s¥dan en bolig, men s¥dan en lov er diskriminerende, fastsl¥r domstolen alts¥.

Afg¸relsen er den seneste i en r...kke afg¸relser, der betragtes som juridiske gennembrud for fork...mpere for homoseksuelles rettigheder i landet.

Tirsdag f¥r perioder med sol og enkelte byger

Solen vil skinne p¥ os igen i dag, men i perioder skal den k...mpe med skyerne om pladsen p¥ himlen som her i Haderslev. (Foto: (C) Viggo Hjort Kohberg, Viggo Hjort Kohberg)

Det er p¥ med handskerne, hvis du skal cykle eller g¥ p¥ arbejde i dag. Det er en kold morgen mange steder med temperaturer p¥ fire til syv grader og en luft, der f¸les frisk mod kinderne.

I l¸bet af dagen vil oktobersolen kigge frem, og termometeret vil stige til op imod 12 grader. Der vil dog v...re perioder med mere gr¥t vejr og skyer dagen igennem, og s¥ vil der v...re risiko for enkelte byger s...rligt over den sydlige del af landet.

Vinden bliver svag til j...vn fra vest, og ved kysterne og i Nordvestjylland stedvis frisk eller h¥rd.

Politiforbundet kalder regeringens udmelding for 'tiltr...ngt'.

L...s hele artiklen Drabsmist...nkt er stadig p¥ fri fod i Belgien

En formodet gerningsmand, der menes at st¥ bag drabet p¥ to svenskere i Bruxelles i aftes, er stadig p¥ fri fod. Det oplyser Belgiens premierminister, Alexander De Croo, p¥ et pressem¸de her til morgen if¸lge nyhedsbureauet Belga.

De Croo oplyser, at den mist...nkte er en tunesisk immigrant, der har f¥et afslag p¥ asyl, og som har opholdt sig ulovligt i Belgien.

Han siger desuden, at den mist...nkte er inspireret af den militante islamistiske bev...gelse Islamisk Stat.

Angrebet p¥ de to svenskere fandt sted f¸r en fodboldlandskamp mellem Sverige og Belgien.

Det v...kker kritik, at skoleelever i K¸benhavn kan kontaktes via Microsoft Teams.

L...s hele artiklen Teenager anholdt og sigtet for drab p¥ amerikansk betjent

Politiet i USA har anholdt en 18-¥rig mand, som man mener er blandt gerningsm...ndene bag skuddrabet p¥ en betjent i torsdags.

Det skriver CBS News.

Den 18-¥rige blev anholdt i New Jersey og er (C)n blandt fire mist...nkte i sagen, der udspillede sig i et parkeringshus i lufthavnen i Philadelphia. Her konfronterede to betjente nogle m...nd, der var i gang med at beg¥ indbrud i nogle biler.

Pludselig blev der affyret skud mod betjentene, og den ene af dem d¸de af sine kv...stelser kort efter. Hans kollega blev ramt i armen og er udskrevet fra hospitalet.

Rumvandring udskudt igen: Andreas Mogensen m¥ vente til 'senere dette ¥r'

19. oktober skulle Andreas Mogensen have v...ret den f¸rste dansker til at tage p¥ rumvandring p¥ den internationale rumstation ISS.

Men nu er rumvandringen udskudt til 'senere dette ¥r', skriver mediet videnskab.dk og det amerikanske rumfartsagentur NASA.

Andreas Mogensens rumvandring var allerede blevet udskudt (C)n gang fra 12. oktober til 19. oktober, efter at der blev fundet en l...kage af k¸lerv...ske fra en radiator p¥ ydersiden af rumstationen.

Ingeni¸rerne, der arbejder med at afklare sagen, er stadig ikke f...rdige med at unders¸ge l...kagen, og derfor udskydes Mogensens rumvandring igen fra 19. oktober.

Putin i Kina for f¸rste gang siden invasion af Ukraine

Ruslands pr...sident Vladimir Putin er tirsdag landet i den kinesiske hovedstad Beijing.

Det skriver det russiske medie Ria.

Her skal han blandt andet m¸des med pr...sident Xi Jinping p¥ sit to-dages bes¸g i landet, der er det f¸rste, siden Rusland invaderede Ukraine i februar 2022.

Ud over flere m¸der skal Putin deltage i en konference for Kinas silkevejsprojekt, der ogs¥ hedder "Belt and Road-initiativet".

Det er Putins f¸rste rejse uden for det tidligere Sovjetunionen, siden Den Internationale Straffedomstol (ICC) i marts tidligere i ¥r udstedte en arrestordre mod ham p¥ baggrund af anklager om ulovlig deportation af b¸rn fra Ukraine.

Han bes¸gte det tidligere sovjetland Kirgisistan i sidste uge.

USA og Israel vil lave plan for n¸dhj...lp til Gazastriben

USA og Israel er blevet enige om, at de sammen skal udforme en plan for, hvordan n¸dhj...lpen kan n¥ de civile i Gaza. (Foto: (C) Str, Ritzau Scanpix)

- Det er afg¸rende, at n¸dhj...lp kan komme ind i Gaza s¥ hurtigt som muligt, l¸d det i nat p¥ et pressem¸de med USA's udenrigsminister, Antony Blinken.

P¥ m¸det fortalte han, at USA og Israel er blevet enige om at udforme en plan for, hvordan n¸dhj...lp fra andre nationer og organisationer kan komme ind til civile i Gaza.

- Og kun dem, understregede Blinken.

- Hvis Hamas p¥ nogen m¥de forhindrer n¸dhj...lpen i at n¥ frem til de mennesker, der har brug for den, vil vi v...re de f¸rste til at ford¸mme det og fors¸ge at forhindre det i at ske igen, sagde Blinken.

Flere lande og organisationer har sendt n¸dhj...lp mod Gaza, men meget er indtil videre strandet i Egypten, mens gr...nsen har v...ret lukket.

Planen indeb...rer ogs¥, at man vil fors¸ge at skabe omr¥der, hvor civile kan v...re i sikkerhed.

Det er if¸lge flere humanit...re organisationer ikke tilf...ldet i Gaza i ¸jeblikket.

Joe Biden bes¸ger Israel onsdag

Joe Biden skal m¸des med flere mellem¸stlige ledere i den her uge. (Foto: (C) Samuel Corum / POOL, Ritzau Scanpix)

Den amerikanske pr...sident, Joe Biden, vil p¥ onsdag bes¸ge Israel.

Det oplyser den amerikanske udenrigsminister, Antony Blinken, p¥ et pressem¸de i Israel, hvor udenrigsministeren selv opholder sig.

Pr...cis hvor og hvorn¥r bes¸get vil finde sted, vides ikke endnu.

- P¥ onsdag vil pr...sident Biden bes¸ge Israel. Han kommer p¥ et kritisk tidspunkt for Israel, for regionen og for verden, l¸d det fra Blinken.

Biden vil if¸lge Blinken m¸des med den israelske premierminister, Benjamin Netanyahu, og "bekr...fte den amerikanske solidaritet og st¸tte til Israel".

Bes¸get kommer p¥ et tidspunkt, hvor mange frygter og forventer en israelsk landoffensiv i Gaza, men ogs¥ at konflikten kan sprede sig i Mellem¸sten.

Efter bes¸get i Israel rejser Biden videre til Jordan for at m¸des med pr...sidenten for det pal...stinensiske selvstyre, Mahmoud Abbas, p¥ et m¸de, hvor ogs¥ Jordans kong Abdullah og Egyptens pr...sident, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, vil deltage.

Polen: Opposition f¥r flertal efter valg

Donald Tusk ser ud til kunne danne et flertal i Polen. (Foto: (C) Kacper Pempel, Ritzau Scanpix)

Den EU-venlige opposition med den tidligere EU-pr...sident Donald Tusk i spidsen ser ud til at kunne tage magten i Polen efter s¸ndagens valg.

Med over 99 procent af stemmerne optalt har Tusk og hans forventede samarbejdspartnere nemlig f¥et opbakning fra 53,5 procent af de polske v...lgere.

Det nationalkonservative regeringsparti Lov og Retf...rdighed (PiS) blev st¸rst med 35,6 procent, men kan ikke danne flertal i det polske parlament. De st¥r til at f¥ 196 pladser i det polske parlament, Sejm.

Her er der i alt 460 pladser, og det kr...ver 231 for at have flertal.

Tusks parti, Borgerplatformen, ser if¸lge de seneste m¥linger ud til at kunne indtage 158 s...der i parlamentet. Hans forventede allierede i koalitionen Den Tredje Vej og partiet Venstrepartiet ser ud til at kunne indtage henholdsvis 61 og 30 s...der, hvilket tilsammen giver dem et flertal med 249 folkevalgte.

Svensk statsminister: V...r p¥ vagt og f¸lg lokale myndigheder

Sveriges statsminister, Ulf Kristersson, opfordrer svenskere i Belgien til at v...re p¥ vagt og f¸lge n¸je belgiske myndigheders instruktioner. Det skriver mediet SVT.

Han siger desuden, at hans tanker g¥r til de afd¸de, de s¥rede og deres p¥r¸rende.

- I aften har vi alle h¸rt den frygtelige nyhed, at flere personer er blevet skudt p¥ ¥ben gade i Bruxelles, og det siges, at ofrene er svenske statsborgere, udtaler han.

Han fort...ller ogs¥, at det svenske Udenrigsministerium vil sende en sms til alle svenske mobilabonnenter i Belgien med en opfordring om at f¸lge de lokale myndigheders anvisninger.

Kort sport I g¥r kl. 23:58

DBU er i dialog med myndigheder efter skuddrab: Forhold er u...ndret for danskere i udlandet

To svenskere blev mandag aften skudt og dr...bt i et formodet terrorangreb i Bruxelles f¸r Sveriges EM-kvalifikationskamp mod Belgien.

Tirsdag skal det danske fodboldlandshold m¸de San Marino p¥ udebane, hvor mange danske fans er rejst med for at st¸tte landsholdet.

Den nuv...rende situation i Belgien giver ikke anledning til, at de danske fans beh¸ver at forholde sig anderledes, oplyser Dansk Boldspil-Unions (DBU) kommunikationschef, Jakob H¸yer.

- Vi f¸lger udviklingen og er i dialog med de danske og lokale myndigheder. If¸lge myndighederne er der pt. ikke ...ndringer for danskere i udlandet, lyder det fra Jakob H¸yer if¸lge Ritzau.

Nyheden om, at to svenskere var blevet dr...bt, kom kort f¸r kampen i Bruxelles blev fl¸jtet i gang.

De to hold spillede f¸rste halvleg, men kom ikke ud til anden halvleg, da kampen blev stoppet.

- Det er forf...rdelige h...ndelser i Bruxelles, og vi f¸ler med vores svenske kolleger og de ber¸rte fans og deres familier, siger Jakob H¸yer.

Belgisk anklagemyndighed: Motiv var ofrenes nationalitet

Den belgiske anklagemyndighed oplyser, at motivet for drabet p¥ to svenskere i Bruxelles var ofrenes nationalitet.

Det skriver nyhedsbureauet Reuters.

Anklagemyndigheden oplyser ogs¥ if¸lge Reuters, at gerningsmanden p¥st¥r at v...re inspireret af Islamisk Stat.

Anklagemyndigheden oplyser ogs¥, at gerningsmanden stadig er p¥ fri fod.

Kampen mellem Sverige og Belgien er blevet afbl...st i pausen.

L...s hele artiklen Polsk EU-venlig premierministerkandidat ser ud til at kunne samle flertal

Mens 80 procent af stemmerne fra g¥rsdagens parlamentsvalg er talt op, ser det ud til, at Polen kan f¥ en ny regering.

Det nuv...rende regeringsparti, det nationalkonservative parti Lov og Retf...rdighed, ser nemlig ud til at f¥ sv...rt ved at samle flertal, skriver Ritzau.

Regeringspartiet st¥r til at have 37 procent af stemmerne, mens centrum-h¸jre partiet Borgerkoalitionen st¥r til 29,1 procent af stemmerne.

I spidsen af sidstn...vnte er den tidligere EU-pr...sident Donald Tusk, der muligvis med andre partier kan danne et flertal og blive landets n...ste premierminister, skriver Ritzau.

Det er uvidst, hvor l...nge det vil tage at danne en ny regering.

Den danske landsholdsangriber har f¥et en imponerende start i Real Madrid.

L...s hele artiklen

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Tue, 17 Oct 2023 10:17

I was in shock. How could this be? I texted all my medicalized trans sisters on my way home and asked a simple question: ''Who makes your hormones?'' Many of them didn't know offhand. It takes a great deal of struggle and an intense amount of questioning for many trans folks to get their hands on this life-saving medication, and once we do, we want to start immediately and experience an end to questions regarding the validity of our identity and our choices. But my sisters heard the urgency in my call and checked in. As the responses came, every single one was either Teva, or a company that a quick Google search listed as linked to Teva.

How did this one Israeli company play such a large role in the cross-gender hormone market? How did my body once again find itself as a battleground, a settlement, an ongoing pawn in this Zionist game?

I later got in touch with a Jewish, anti-Zionist trans student at Mills College, Daryn Copland, who reached out to me online. He told me that he had been dedicating the past year of his research to understanding the connections between cross-gender hormone production in the U.S. and in Israel. He told me that he too found out his testosterone was made by Teva and wanted to understand what we should do about it as trans folks who support the BDS movement.

This was no longer just about me feeling free in my body. A large part of the trans community in the U.S. is being forced to choose between our life-affirming transitions and our Palestinian siblings' demand for freedom.

After the necessary heartbreak of coming to terms with once again being complicit with the regime I so desperately want to dismantle, I found the power in having a platform to do something about it.

This is why Daryn and I are trying to start an open online resource that lists companies that are affiliated with Teva. We are hoping to find alternative manufacturers for our trans siblings while never neglecting the low price, high-demand needs of our community. Most importantly, I hope that all the trans, GNC, and queer folks reading this will help us make the message loud and clear '-- Zionism has tried to tie trans liberation to Palestinian oppression, but we refuse to accept this as our reality.

Ita Segev is a transfeminine anti-Zionist Israeli interdisciplinary performance artist, writer, and advocate based in Brooklyn. She is currently working on her first evening-length live performance titled Knot in My Name (It's hard to transition when you're escaping something) and is a proud artist council member of Jewish Voice for Peace.

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Mon, 16 Oct 2023 15:08

A new bill, introduced in both houses of Congress, would impose the first federal tax on vaping products and nicotine pouches. The bill's authors say it is intended to harmonize the tax rate on all consumer nicotine products based on their nicotine content, but in reality it would make vaping more expensive than smoking cigarettes.

Thirty-three states and federal territories currently have some kind of vape tax, and many have taxes on nicotine pouches. But there is currently no federal tax on tobacco-free nicotine products like vapes.

If passed, the Tobacco Tax Equity Act would add a federal tax of $100.66 per 1,810 milligrams of nicotine to all tobacco-free nicotine products. That's about 5.5 cents per milligram of nicotine. A consumer who vapes 50 mg/mL nicotine salt e-liquid would pay an extra $2.75 per mL of juice, or $82.50 for a 30 mL bottle'--on top of the normal product price and any state or local taxes.

The selling price of a 60 mL bottle of 12 mg/mL e-liquid would increase by about $40, and the law would add about $14 to the price of a 5 mL disposable vape. It would tax a single JUUL pod at a higher rate than a pack of cigarettes ($2.25 vs $2.00), and a package of 20 nicotine pouches would cost an additional $2.00. For DIY vape juice makers, a one-liter bottle of 100 mg/mL nicotine would be taxed at more than $5,000!

The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA) has issued a nationwide call to action, encouraging vapers and other nicotine consumers to contact their members of Congress to express opposition to the outrageous new tax proposal.

For DIY vape juice makers, a one-liter bottle of 100 mg/mL nicotine would be taxed at more than $5,000.

The Senate bill is S 2929, introduced by Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin'--a longtime vaping foe'--and co-sponsored by eight other Senate Democrats. The House version, HR 5715, was introduced by Illinois Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, also a Democrat who has been involved in many anti-vaping legislative efforts. Both bills were introduced Sept. 26.

A few days earlier, Durbin introduced the CARE for Moms Act, which also includes the new vape and tobacco tax proposals. Durbin, however, didn't mention the taxes in his press statements about the CARE for Moms Act.

Durbin has proposed many similar ''tax equity'' bills in previous Congressional sessions. Two years ago, the language from his Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2021 was included in the Democrats' year-end spending bill until it was removed with days to spare by Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

The Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2023 would also double the federal tax on cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco and small cigars, and increase the tax rates on moist snuff and pipe tobacco by as much as 2,000 percent. Moist snuff is demonstrably safer than any form of combusted tobacco.

In a press release touting the new bill, the authors bragged that the legislation is endorsed by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Lung Association, American Heart Association, the American Public Health Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Trust for America's Health, and National Association of County and City Health Officials.

Smokers created vaping without help from the tobacco industry or anti-smoking crusaders, and I believe vapers have the right to continue innovating to help themselves. My goal is to provide clear, honest information about the challenges vaping faces from lawmakers, regulators, and brokers of disinformation. I'm a member of the CASAA board, but my opinions aren't necessarily CASAA's, and vice versa. You can find me on Twitter @whycherrywhy

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Mon, 16 Oct 2023 03:35

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Monday October 16 2023 A decade ago, as chancellor and shadow chancellor, George Osborne and Ed Balls attacked each other's policies at the dispatch box in the House of Commons.

Nowadays, each Thursday afternoon, they meet up at the east London offices of Acast, a podcast distribution firm, to exchange banter that is packaged into a 50 minute-ish show, Political Currency.

''Now we're a few episodes in, we kind of know what we're doing, we're in our stride,'' said Balls, the politician-turned-TV personality, who turned up for last week's recording in a fleece.

''Yes,'' agreed Osborne, sitting across a round table and kitted out in a blue shirt and gilet. ''It's one of those things that ends up taking over the week. And I end up thinking about what

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Thu, 19 Oct 2023 00:58

President Biden told reporters Wednesday that Palestinian terrorists have ''gotta learn how to shoot straight'' '-- one day after an explosion outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip.

''I'm not suggesting that Hamas deliberately did it,'' the president said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany en route back to Washington after visiting Israel earlier in the day.

''It's that old thing: Gotta learn how to shoot straight,'' Biden went on.

''It's not the first time that Hamas has launched something that didn't function very well.''

Hamas, which rules Gaza, claimed Tuesday that an Israeli airstrike killed about 500 people at the hospital '-- sparking riots across the Middle East and forcing Biden to scrap a planned summit with Arab leaders in Amman, Jordan '-- but the White House said Wednesday it had determined the explosion was caused by a misfire on the Palestinian side.

The Israeli government on Tuesday night blamed the Hamas-allied group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, publishing intercepted phone calls and other evidence to support the claim.

''I don't know all the detail, but I do know the people at the Defense Department who I respect and the intelligence community that I respect, say it is highly improbable that Israel did that,'' Biden said on Air Force One.

President Biden told reporters Wednesday that Palestinian terrorists have ''gotta learn how to shoot straight'' '-- one day after an explosion outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip. AFP via Getty Images Hamas, which rules Gaza, claimed Tuesday that an Israeli airstrike killed about 500 people at the hospital '-- but the White House said Wednesday it had determined the explosion was caused by a misfire on the Palestinian side. Telegram The White House said Wednesday it had determined the explosion was caused by a misfire on the Palestinian side. REUTERS How celebrities, schools, and businesses have reacted to Hamas' terror attack against IsraelColleges see clashes between Israel and Pro-Palestine protesters '-- here's where major institutions standHuda Beauty faces boycott calls after founder spurns 'blood money' from Israeli customersTop law firm rescinds job offers to Columbia, Harvard students over Israel lettersWorst attack on Israel in 50 years: How we got here2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip over three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.

2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.

2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.

2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.

2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years.

Over 1,400 Israelis are dead, more than 4,200 are wounded and at least 100 were taken hostage, with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli towns.

Hamas terrorists were seen taking female hostages and parading them down the street in horrifying videos.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced ''We are at war'' and vowed Hamas would pay ''a price it has never known.''

Gaza health officials report at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured.

The president spent several hours visiting Tel Aviv earlier Wednesday in a show of support for Israel against Hamas after the terrorist group slaughtered 1,400 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

But the president set off fresh criticism from Republicans by announcing $100 million in humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territories, including the approximately 2 million residents of Gaza, which Israel is preparing to invade.

Biden also said he wanted Congress to approve an ''unprecedented'' amount of military aid for Israel '-- while calling on Israeli leaders not be driven by ''rage'' when going into Gaza, noting that America had made ''mistakes'' in its own foreign wars following 9/11.

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During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Joe Biden said he was ''deeply saddened and outraged'' by the deadly hospital explosion in Gaza.October 18, 2023

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Published October 15, 2023 10:21PM

Thousands rally in San Jose in support of Palestinians as humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsensThe 2.3 million people living in Gaza are struggling to evacuate, and access to food, water, and safety is decreasing by the day.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - As the ongoing crisis in Gaza continues, thousands of people gathered in support of Palestinians this afternoon in San Jose near Santana Row.

Many people told KTVU they feel the plight of the Palestinian people has been forgotten. They say the current conflict has been brewing for decades, and they want to see an end to the suffering.

"This is the inevitable result of 75 years of oppression and a lack of action from the international community to hold the Zionists accountable for its crimes and its genocide," said Rami Asia, with Silicon Valley for Palestine.

"We demand that the Israeli-apartheid state immediately end all military operations and violence in Gaza and apply humanitarian aid and the return of Palestinians," said a protester who told the crowd she was Jewish.

The Gaza Health Ministry says 2,450 Palestinians and more than 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the fighting began. The 2.3 million people living in Gaza are struggling to evacuate, and access to food, water, and safety is decreasing by the day.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR:

Stand with Israel rally in San Francisco denounces violence along the Israeli-Gaza border 6-year-old boy killed, mother seriously wounded in 'heinous' stabbing attack due to their Muslim faith Metro Detroit couple trapped in Gaza plead for help Thousands gather in San Francisco to rally for Palestine; others return to U.S. after being stuck in Israel "No electricity, no water, no fuel for the hospitals, endless war, this is all provocation," shouted another protester to the crowd.

After the rally, people marched down Winchester Boulevard waving flags and chanting.

"There will be innocent people dying, and that's the thing that sucks about war. Nobody wants that but unfortunately, when people are obsessed with power, they're willing to sacrifice anyone to keep maintaining that power," said Bilal of San Jose.

"At least a couple of hundred thousand people will die mostly children, elderly and women. This is something we cannot accept as the international community," said Mahad Abdi of San Jose.

Gaza's hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and expected to run out of emergency generator fuel within a few days. Israel is also massing troops along the Gaza border, but a ground strike hasn't been announced yet.

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Mon, 16 Oct 2023 21:53

Janet Yellen has told Sky News the United States can "certainly" afford to support wars on two fronts, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas threatens stability in the Middle East and the US continues to back Ukraine's fight against Russia.

Talking exclusively to Wilfred Frost ahead of a meeting of finance ministers in Luxembourg, the US Treasury secretary said the economy and public finances were in good shape to ensure backing for US interests abroad.

She said it remained too early to understand the economic ramifications of the latest conflict, with oil and natural gas prices remaining volatile amid growing concerns of a wider war in the Middle East.

Those elements were key factors behind the energy-driven cost of living crisis that started facing Western economies last year.

Follow live: Hospital power in Gaza running out 'within 24 hours'

She pointed to a big easing in inflation but appealed for Republicans to fill the void left by the removal from office of House of Representatives speaker Kevin McCarthy, in order for greater financial support to flow.

"We do need to come up with funds, both for Israel and for Ukraine. This is a priority", Ms Yellen said.

"It's really up to the House to find, seat a speaker and to put us in a position where legislation can be passed."

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0:35 Palestinian PM: 'We are not animals'She added: "We stand with Israel. America has also made clear to Israel, we're working very closely with the Israelis, that they have a right to defend themselves. But it's important to try to spare innocent civilian lives to the maximum extent possible.

"America can certainly afford to stand with Israel and to support Israel's military needs and we also can and must support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia."

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2:29 'There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza'Ms Yellen's remarks followed her visit to the IMF/World Bank conference in Morocco last week when the much-discussed topic was the potential ramifications of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Iran has warned Israel against a full-scale ground operation in Gaza in response to the Hamas incursion over a week ago.

Read more:'Bodies of tortured dead show Hamas has changed'Couple's desperate messages before massacre revealedHow the war has escalated since shocking surprise attack

Foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said his country could not remain an observer in that event.

"If the Zionist aggressions do not stop, the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger," he said.

When asked if there was more that the US Treasury could do to pressure Iran from not getting involved in the war, Ms Yellen responded: "I know that there are diplomatic conversations that are taking place. But I'm not going to go into details about them."