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Biden targets diabetes drug Jardiance, blood thinner Eliquis and 8 others for Medicare price talks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

By TOM MURPHY, AMANDA SEITZ and CHRIS MEGERIAN (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The blood thinner Eliquis and popular diabetes treatments including Jardiance are among the first drugs that will be targeted for price negotiations in an effort to cut Medicare costs.President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday released a list of 10 drugs for which the federal government will take a first-ever step: negotiating drug prices directly with the manufacturer. The move is expected to cut costs for some patients but faces litigation from the drugmakers and heavy criticism from Republican lawmakers. It’s also a centerpiece of the Democratic president’s reelection pitch as he seeks a second term in office by touting his work to lower costs for Americans at a time when the country has struggled with inflation. The diabetes treatments Jardiance from Eli Lilly and Co. and Merck’s Januvia made the list, along with Amgen’s autoimmune disease treatment Enbrel....

MBTA outlines another slew of service disruptions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

Parts of the Red Line will shutter for nearly a dozen weeknights and a pair of weekends in September, and a few Orange and Green Line stops will also face more than three weeks of disruptions in downtown Boston, MBTA officials announced Monday.The T rolled out its schedule of planned closures and diversions for maintenance work in September, setting sights on the Red Line’s Braintree branch, where several miles of track are so deteriorated that they cannot safely support full-speed travel.Shuttle buses will replace trains between North Quincy and Braintree Station starting around 8:45 p.m. each night from Sept. 5-7, Sept. 12-14 and Sept. 19-22. That stretch of track will also be completely shuttered the weekend of Sept. 23 and 24.A similar segment, from Quincy Center to Braintree, will also go offline and be replaced by shuttle buses starting around 8:45 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8 through the end of the day on Sunday, Sept. 10.Those closures will precede a 16-day October shutdown...

Chicago Cubs drop series opener 6-2 as NL Central-best Milwaukee Brewers pounce on Jameson Taillon in 1st inning

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

Jameson Taillon’s first season in Chicago has largely not played out how he and the Cubs envisioned.Lately he has pitched more like the version both sides hoped for when he inked a four-year, $68 million contract in the offseason, posting a 3.98 ERA and pitching into the sixth inning in eight of his last nine starts. Taillon knows the rotation is a big factor in what happens in the final month of the season as the Cubs try to get back to the postseason for the first time since 2020.“I feel like it’s a cliché, but starting pitching sets the tone for everything,” Taillon told the Tribune over the weekend. “So if we want to make a push and want to go where we’re trying to go, I feel like it starts and ends with pitching in general, but starting pitching always sets the tone.“For myself, I feel the ship has sailed as far as getting my numbers where I want them to be this year, and I’m not worried about it. All I’m worried about ...

Police to update case of Kenneth Law, man accused of selling deadly substance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

Police in the GTA are expected to provide an update Tuesday morning into the case of a Mississauga man accused of selling deadly substances to people at risk of self-harm around the globe.The update from both Peel and York Regional Police comes after British investigators revealed last week they are investigating the deaths of 88 people who were allegedly shipped packages of sodium nitrite from Canadian-based websites.Investigators in the U.K. say they have identified 232 people who bought products over a two year period until April.The British probe is part of inquiries triggered by the arrest earlier this year of Kenneth Law. The 57-year-old from Mississauga has been charged by Peel police with two counts of counselling and aiding suicide.Peel police have said their investigation has revealed at least 1,200 packages were allegedly sent to 40 countries. There are also ongoing investigations in the United States, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.Police are set to hold Tuesday’...

Stock market today: Wall Street quiet ahead of consumer, labor reports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street was quiet early Tuesday ahead of some potentially market-moving jobs data and a survey reflecting consumers’ feelings about the economy.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials and the S&P 500 both inched down about 0.1% before the bell. Investors and economists this week will be paying close attention to economic reports that could shed more light on whether the job market remains hot and inflation is still cooling. The latest data could provide more clues about whether the Federal Reserve is likely to hold interest rates steady or raise them again before the year closes.Wall Street will get an update Tuesday on consumer confidence, which jumped sharply in July and is expected to remain strong in August.Also Tuesday, the government will issue its July report on job openings, with its broader jobs report for August coming on Friday. The job market is being closely watched because it has remained strong amid high inflation. Part of the Fed’s goal in its int...

Top EU court rules that minorities in Bosnia are ‘akin to second-class citizens’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A top European court ruled in an opinion published Tuesday that Bosnia’s political system, set up under a U.S.-brokered peace deal in the 90s amplifies ethnic divisions and undermines the Balkan country’s democratic elections. The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, sided with Slaven Kovacevic, a Sarajevo-born political scientist, who sued Bosnia last year arguing that it prevents people who refuse to affiliate with one of Bosnia’s tree dominant ethnic groups from voting for candidates of their choosing.Tuesday’s verdict is the latest in a stream of the ECHR rulings ordering Bosnia to make its constitution less discriminatory. The country’s failure to comply with those verdicts by amending its constitution is a stumbling block on Bosnia’s path towards its stated goal of joining the European Union.In the summary of its verdict, the court ruled that Bosnia’s power-sharing arrangements have turned the country into an “ethnoc...

High Liner Foods chief executive Rod Hepponstall stepping down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

LUNENBURG, N.S. — High Liner Foods Inc. says chief executive Rod Hepponstall is stepping down.The company says its board has accepted Hepponstall’s resignation, effective on or before Jan. 2, 2024.High Liner says it will begin a comprehensive internal and external search for a new CEO.Hepponstall has been chief executive at the seafood company since May 2018.He is expected to help the company on a transition plan.High Liner is a processor and marketer of frozen seafood.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:HLF)The Canadian Press

The U.N. says at least 183 people have been killed in Ethiopia over Amhara region unrest since July

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United Nations human rights office says at least 183 people have been killed in clashes in Ethiopia’s Amhara region since July as Amhara fighters resist efforts by the federal government to disband them.The U.N. office on Tuesday also said the human rights situation in Ethiopia is deteriorating, with more than 1,000 people reportedly arrested under a state of emergency declared early this month over the unrest.“Many of those detained were reported to be young people of Amhara ethnic origin suspected of being Fano supporters,” the U.N. office said, referring to the name of the Amhara militia. “Since early August, mass house-to-house searches have reportedly been taking place, and at least three Ethiopian journalists covering the situation in the Amhara region have been detained.”The U.N. statement said detainees have reportedly been held in improvised detention centres without basic amenities. It called for those arbitrarily detained to be released and for a...

127-year-old water main gives way under NYC’s Times Square, flooding streets, subways

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A 127-year-old water main under New York’s Times Square gave way early Tuesday, flooding midtown streets and the busy Times Square subway station.The 20-inch (half-meter) water main gave way under 40th Street and Seventh Avenue at 3 a.m., said Rohit Aggarwala, commissioner of New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection.It took DEP crews about an hour to find the source of the leak and shut the water off, Aggarwala said.The excavation left “a big hole at the intersection of 40th Street and Seventh Avenue,” he said.While that intersection remained closed to car traffic, surrounding streets were open by rush hour.Subway service, however, was suspended through much of Manhattan on the 1, 2 and 3 lines, which run directly under the broken pipe.Aggarwala said it appeared that only two local businesses were without left without water at the start of the work day.The Associated Press

Israelis on a flight that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia return to Tel Aviv

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A plane carrying Israelis home from the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles made an emergency stop in Saudi Arabia before flying back to Tel Aviv on Tuesday, in what Israel praised as a sign of goodwill as Washington works to establish formal relations between the two countries.Israeli media reported the Air Seychelles flight carrying 128 passengers was forced to land Monday because of an electrical malfunction. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the passengers spent the night at an airport hotel in Jeddah and were flown back by the airline on an alternate plane.Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have official ties, although they have developed strong but informal connections over recent years over their shared concerns about Iran’s growing influence in the region. After Israel and four Arab states signed normalization deals in 2020 under the former Trump administration, President Joe Biden has been working to strike a similar agreement with Saudi Arabia.I...