“The world’s known coronavirus death toll passed four million Thursday, a loss roughly equivalent to the population of Los Angeles, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
It took nine months for the virus to claim one million lives, and the pace has quickened since then. The second million were lost in 3 1/2 months, the third in three months, and the fourth in about 2 1/2 months. The number of daily reported deaths has declined recently.
Those are officially reported figures, which are widely believed to undercount pandemic-related deaths.
‘The numbers may not tell the complete story, and yet they’re still really staggering numbers globally,’ said Jennifer B. Nuzzo, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.” Read more at Boston Globe
“WASHINGTON — President Biden said Thursday the US military operation in Afghanistan will end Aug. 31, delivering an impassioned argument for exiting the nearly 20-year war without sacrificing more American lives even as he bluntly acknowledged there will be no “mission accomplished” moment to celebrate.
Biden pushed back against the notion the US mission has failed but also noted that it remains unlikely the government would control all of Afghanistan after the US leaves. He urged the Afghan government and Taliban, which he said remains as formidable as it did before the start of the war, to come to a peace agreement.
‘We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,’ Biden said in a speech from the White House’s East Room. ‘Afghan leaders have to come together and drive toward a future.’
The administration in recent days has sought to frame ending the conflict as a decision that Biden made after concluding it’s an ‘unwinnable war’ and one that ‘does not have a military solution.’ On Thursday he amplified the justification of his decision even as the Taliban make rapid advances in significant swaths of the country.
‘How many more, how many more thousands of American daughters and sons are you willing to risk?’ Biden said to those calling for the US to extend the military operation. He added, ‘I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan, with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome.’
The new withdrawal date comes after former president Donald Trump’s administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban to end the US military mission by May 1. Biden after taking office announced US troops would be out by by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack, which Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden plotted from Afghanistan, where he had been given refuge by the Taliban.” Read more at Boston Globe
“The US Food and Drug Administration, which approved Biogen’s controversial new drug for Alzheimer’sdisease despite scant evidence that it works, narrowed its recommended use of the medicine on Thursday to patients with early symptoms, citing ‘confusion regarding the intended population for treatment.’
Biogen had already said Aduhelm was meant for Alzheimer’s patients with mild cognitive impairment, the group studied by the Cambridge drug maker in three clinical trials. But the FDA didn’t limit the medication to those people, who number 1 to 2 million in the United States, when it approved Aduhelm on June 7, raising the specter that anyone diagnosed with the disease — an estimated 6 million Americans — might seek it.
A recent analysis by the news site STAT found that if all 5.8 million Medicare-eligible adults with Alzheimer’s took the drug — with a price tag of $56,000 a year for the average patient —it would cost the government $334.5 billion, or nearly half the budget of the entire Department of Defense.
The FDA, which has been trying to justify Aduhelm’s approval even though its own expert advisory panel recommended against it, conceded Thursday that its original usage language was confusing to some doctors and patients.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Thursday that they are developing a version of the coronavirus vaccine that targets Delta, a highly contagious variant that has spread to 98 countries. The companies expect to launch clinical trials of the vaccine in August.
The Delta variant, first identified in India, is believed to be about 60 percent more contagious than Alpha, the version of the virus that tore through Britain and much of Europe earlier this year, and perhaps twice as contagious as the original coronavirus. The Delta variant is now driving outbreaks among unvaccinated populations in countries like Malaysia, Portugal, Indonesia and Australia.
Delta is also now the dominant variant in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week. Until recently, infections in the United States had plateaued at their lowest levels since early in the pandemic. Hospitalizations and deaths related to the virus have continued to decline, but new cases may be rising, although it’s not yet clear to what extent the variant is responsible. A slowing vaccination drive and swift reopenings also are playing roles.
In their news release, Pfizer and BioNTech also reported promising results from studies of people who received a third dose of the original vaccine, but the companies did not provide the data. A booster given six months after the second dose of the vaccine increases the potency of antibodies against the original virus and the Beta variant by five to tenfold, the companies claimed.
The vaccine makers expect to submit that data to the Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks, a step toward gaining authorization for booster shots. Antibody levels in the blood may decline six months after immunization, the companies said, and booster doses may be needed to fend off variants.
But antibodies are only part of the body’s immune response, and independent studies have suggested that immunity induced by full vaccination is likely to remain robust for years, even against variants. A study published in Nature on Thursday found that two doses of the vaccine are highly effective against the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants.
Delta is in the spotlight now, but it is a harbinger of variants to come, underscoring the need to vaccinate the world as quickly as possible. Already the Gamma variant, first identified in Brazil, has found a foothold in Washington State, and a more recent variant, Lambda, is on the march in South America.” Read more at New York Times
“New applications for unemployment benefits held near pandemic lows last week while the number of Americans collecting continuing payments fell sharply in late June as many states acted to curtail jobless aid.
Initial unemployment claims, a proxy for layoffs, rose by 2,000 the week ended July 3, from a pandemic low the prior week, to a seasonally adjusted 373,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week moving average, which smooths out volatility in the weekly figures, was 394,500, the lowest reading since March 2020.
Meanwhile, the number of continuing unemployment payments made through regular state programs fell by 145,000 to the lowest level since March 2020, for the week ended June 26.
Unemployment assistance payments made through pandemic programs fell by nearly a half million for the week ended June 19 as some states ended their participation last month. Continuing claims data is reported on a delay.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Michael Avenatti arrived at Manhattan federal court on Thursday.PHOTO: JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Michael Avenatti was sentenced Thursday to 2½ years in prison for trying to extort NikeInc. for more than $20 million, capping the public downfall of a celebrity lawyer whose star turn as Stormy Daniels’s pugnacious lawyer ended in criminal charges.
Mr. Avenatti, 50 years old, was convicted after a jury trial in February 2020 on all three counts he faced: extortion, transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort, and wire fraud. The case grew out of Mr. Avenatti’s threats to expose purported corruption in Nike’s elite basketball program unless the apparel giant paid him to conduct an internal investigation.
Before handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe called Mr. Avenatti’s conduct outrageous and said he operated as if laws that apply to everyone else didn’t apply to him.
‘Mr. Avenatti had become drunk on the power of his platform,’ Judge Gardephe said in a Manhattan federal courtroom.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office had asked Judge Gardephe to impose a “very substantial sentence” in line with probation officials’ recommendation of eight years imprisonment. Prosecutors said Mr. Avenatti ‘betrayed his client’s trust and sought to enrich himself by weaponizing his public profile in an attempt to extort a publicly traded company out of tens of millions of dollars.’
Lawyers for Mr. Avenatti proposed a six-month prison term, noting his convicted offenses weren’t violent and didn’t cause financial loss. Mr. Avenatti sought, unsuccessfully, to have the verdict overturned and says he wasn’t allowed to present important evidence at trial. His lawyers have previously said they would pursue an appeal.
Mr. Avenatti, fighting back tears, told the judge that he was grateful for the love of his family, even when he least deserved it. He said he had always wanted to fight for the little guy against the Goliaths. ‘For years, I did just that,’ he said. ‘But I lost my way.’
Judge Gardephe cited several reasons in handing down a sentence below that recommended by federal guidelines, including Mr. Avenatti’s remorse in court and what he called horrific conditions at the New York federal jail where Mr. Avenatti had been held.
Thursday’s sentencing caps just one of Mr. Avenatti’s legal battles. He also faces a litany of tax and bank charges in California with a trial set to begin next week in federal court in Santa Ana, Calif. A trial in New York is scheduled to start next year on federal charges that he embezzled money from Ms. Daniels.
Mr. Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has denied wrongdoing.
Judge Gardephe ordered Mr. Avenatti to report to prison on Sept. 15, after what is expected to be the conclusion of his trial in California. When Mr. Avenatti leaves prison, he will face three years of supervised release, Judge Gardephe ordered.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Claude Joseph speaking in Port-au-Prince on Thursday. The interim prime minister has taken command of the government and security services following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.Credit...Richard Pierrin/Getty Images
“The political storm in Haiti intensified on Thursday as two competing prime ministers claimed the right to run the country, setting up an extraordinary power struggle over who had the legal authority to govern after the brazen assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in his home the day before.
Haiti’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, says he has taken command of the police and the army, declaring a ‘state of siege’ that essentially put the country under martial law. But constitutional experts questioned his right to impose it, and his claim to power was quickly challenged by a rival.
Two days before his death, Mr. Moïse had appointed a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who was supposed to take up the role this week and told a local newspaper that he was the rightful prime minister instead.
The dueling claims created a volatile political crisis that left constitutional experts confused and diplomats worried about a broad societal collapse that could ignite violence or prompt Haitians to flee the country en masse, as they have after natural disasters, coups or other periods of deep instability.” Read more at New York Times
“ROME (AP) — Pope Francis temporarily had a fever three days after intestinal surgery, but routine tests proved negative, the Vatican said Thursday.
The Vatican’s daily update said Francis was continuing to eat and move around unassisted, and had even sent his greetings to young cancer patients at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
But spokesman Matteo Bruni said Francis did have a ‘fever episode’ temporarily Wednesday evening.
‘This morning he underwent routine and microbiological examinations, and a chest and abdomen scan, which proved negative,’ the statement said.
Francis had half of his colon removed Sunday because of what the Vatican says was a ‘severe’ narrowing of the large intestine.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Republicans in the Texas Legislature on Thursday fully unveiled their plans to overhaul the state’s election apparatus, outlining a raft of proposed new restrictions on voting access that would be among the most far-reaching election laws passed this year.
The G.O.P. bills in the State Senate and State House, which will be debated in the coming days during the Legislature’s special session, largely resemble those from the Republicans’ initial attempt to pass a sweeping voting bill, which failed in the last legislative session after Democrats staged a late-night walkout.
Among many new changes and restrictions to the state’s electoral process, both bills would ban 24-hour voting and drive-through voting; prohibit election officials from proactively sending out absentee ballots to voters who have not requested them; add new voter identification requirements for voting by mail; limit third-party ballot collection; increase the criminal penalties for election workers who run afoul of regulations; limit what assistance can be provided to voters; and greatly expand the authority and autonomy of partisan poll watchers.
But the new bills do not include two of the most contentious provisions from the previous iteration. There is no longer a limitation on Sunday voting (it can now begin at 9 a.m.) and there is no provision making it easier to overturn an election.” Read more at New York Times
“More than a dozen states, including Massachusetts, have reached a settlement with the Sackler family and its disgraced drug company, Purdue Pharma, that requires the Sacklers to pay more than $4 billion for their role in perpetuating the devastating opioid crisis.
The agreement bans the Sacklers from the opioid business, requires Purdue to makepublic more than 30 million documents, and orders the company to stop operating or be sold by 2024, Attorney General Maura Healey said Thursday.
The Sacklers must pay $4.325 billion to combat the opioid epidemic over the next nine years, including an estimated $90 million directed to Massachusetts.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Former president Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., charged the Secret Service nearly $10,200 for guest rooms used by his protective detail during Trump’s first month at the club this summer, newly released spending records show.
The records — released by the Secret Service in response to a public-records request — show that the ex-president has continued a habit he began in first days of his presidency: charging rent to the agency that protects his life.
Since Trump left office in January, US taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $50,000 for rooms used by Secret Service agents, records show.” Read more at Boston Globe
Leonardo’s delicate silverpoint study ‘Head of a Bear,’ measuring just under 3 inches by 3 inches, sold at auction at Christie’s.Credit...Andy Rain/EPA, via Shutterstock
“LONDON — A tiny Leonardo da Vinci sketch sold on Thursday at Christie’s for £8.9 million with fees, or about $12.2 million, a record price for a Leonardo drawing at auction.
Leonardo’s delicate silverpoint study ‘Head of a Bear,’ measuring just under 3 inches by 3 inches, and thought to date from the early 1480s, was included in Christie’s summer ‘Exceptional Sale’ of high-value historical works of art assembled from a range of collecting categories.
Estimated to sell for £8 million to £12 million, or $11 million to $16.5 million, the drawing was bought by a single bid from an as-yet-unidentified buyer in the auction room. There was no competition from any telephone or internet bidders. The final price of $12.2 million was marginally better than the $11.5 million given in 2001 for Leonardo’s slightly larger silverpoint study ‘Horse and rider,’ the previous auction high for a drawing by the artist.” Read more at New York Times