Friday, October 23, 2026
JetBlue creditors working with restructuring adviser PJT Partners: WSJ
A senior creditors group for JetBlue Airways is working with restructuring adviser PJT Partners, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. A surge in jet fuel expenses due to the Iran war has pressured margins for US airlines despite higher airfares and steady demand for air travel. • Shares of the carrier, which have fallen 42% this year, remained volatile in extended trading
https://www.thestate.com/news/business/article317756030.html
Five Reasons Why Trump Is More Serious Than Ever About Cutting Deals With Putin
by Andrew Korybko via Substack,
Although Putin might agree to some trade-offs in Ukraine as the quid pro quo for these deals, it's not guaranteed, but they can still be clinched so long as Trump has the will to waive more sanctions without a ceasefire first.
Putin's top aide Yury Ushakov confirmed after Steve Witkoff's latest meeting with Putin that "Other large-scale joint economic projects, which offer significant prospects for bilateral cooperation, were also discussed in detail; some of them are now nearing the implementation stage." This followed Putin courting the return of US investment to Russia's resource sector in early 2025 and Kirill Dmitriev recently confirming talks on nuclear-powered data centers.
Here are the five most promising joint opportunities:
* Oil & Gas
US stakes in Russia's energy infrastructure and companies can incentivize it to get the EU to return Russia's frozen assets through the sequence proposed here. They'd also serve as security guarantees against Ukrainian attacks on pain of the US cutting Ukraine off if it attacks assets in which Trump personally obtained stakes for the US. A separate injection of US capital into Russia's energy industry as the new "deal of the century" can reshape the global industry by reducing dependence on the Gulf.
* Critical Minerals
Russia's globally significant critical mineral deposits remain woefully underexploited, but with US stakes in this industry through the abovementioned sequence and separate capital injections, it can be brought online relatively quickly for accelerating the US' diversification from dependence on China. Russia's sparsely populated Siberia and Far East regions can also host pollution-heavy processing facilities far away from populated and agricultural areas. This makes joint investments extremely attractive.
* Data Centers
Per Dmitriev's recent disclosure, talks on nuclear-powered data centers represent another promising opportunity for both countries. Russia's globally significant critical mineral deposits could be processed in the country as proposed above and then immediately put to use within these facilities. That can greatly lower the cost of constructing them, while maintaining them would be similarly cost-effective through nuclear-powered means. This could lay the basis for global nuclear and tech partnerships too.
* Power Plants
Critical mineral processing facilities and data centers can also be powered by hydroelectric dams, not just nuclear power plants, and the US can obtain stakes in all four - the facilities, centers, dams, and plants - through the return of Russia's frozen EU assets as proposed. Separate capital injections can help fund the costs of construction in exchange for greater stakes, and any excess electricity produced through new dams and nuclear power plants can be exported to Russia's neighbors, both in Asia and Europe.
* International Logistics
The mineral deposits in which the US recently invested in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan can reach jointly owned processing facilities in Russia through the Trans-Siberian Railway and then onward to the global market. The same goes for the US' related investments in similarly landlocked Mongolia. As the gatekeepers of the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage through their control of the Bering Strait, separate Arctic logistical cooperation is possible too, as is cooperation on nuclear-powered icebreakers.
"Trump Is More Serious Than Ever About Cutting Deals With Putin" in order for their long-negotiated resource-centric strategic partnership, the essence of which is described in the preceding hyperlinked analyses, to irreversibly shift the balance of the Sino-US systemic rivalry in the US' favor. Although Putin might agree to some trade-offs in Ukraine as the quid pro quo for these deals, it's not guaranteed, but they can still be clinched so long as Trump has the will to waive more sanctions without a ceasefire first.
Genmab positive Phase 3 data for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer drug, potential rival to Corcept
Genmab announces positive Phase 3 data for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer drug, a potential rival to Corcept’s Lifyorli
- Investing.com highlighted Genmab's Phase 3 success as potential competition for Corcept’s recently approved Lifyorli.
US said to warn of Iranian plots to kill officials abroad
United States intelligence warned that Iran has stepped up its efforts to target American diplomats in the Middle East and abroad, Axios reported, citing an internal memorandum sent to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, dated October 23. The report comes against the backdrop of rising tensions in the region.
According to the report, the alleged threat is one of the main reasons why Washington is evacuating diplomats from the Middle East. On the other hand, the memo did not provide any concrete information, such as the identities of individuals Iran could target, but stressed the importance of alerting more US diplomats about the danger.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump spoke about the possibility of launching a fresh military campaign against Iran.
#WTH The “pro-Pal” scam
by Danielle Pletka
Much of the world’s media tried to conceal the prevalence of Palestinian flags in the riots that swept through France, and are now making their way across the rest of Europe. But candid shots seen on Instagram and Facebook from participants make clear that what Euros like to call the “pro-Pal” were everywhere.
There’s a lot to criticize about the meeting of far Left, Islamist, and petty criminal on display in the streets of Paris, Milan, etc. But one of the most offensive claims — dare I, a pro-Israel Jew say so — was of being pro-”Palestine.” Because these flag waving sheep are not actually supporters of “Palestine.” Indeed, it is unlikely they can place this non-existent state on the map. Instead, they are more accurately supporters of Hamas (whose flag looks different) and haters of Israel and the Jews.
A supporter of the people of the West Bank and Gaza, and even those millions of claimants the United Nations continues to insist are “Palestinian refugees,” (the longest existing refugee class in the world) would know that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have stolen everything from the people they ostensibly serve: power, money, and a future.
A supporter of the “Palestinian people” would know that the President of the Palestinian Authority has just canceled, again, elections in the West Bank. He is now in the 22nd year of his four year term. They would know that even as they don performative keffiyehs à la Arabia, almost everyone in the Arab world reviles the Palestinians, who, because of decades of terrible choices (taking sides in Lebanon’s civil war, supporting Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, supporting Syria’s Hafez al Assad, supporting 9/11 and on and on) have worn out their welcome in almost every Arab state.
(As an aside, did you ever wonder why Egypt wouldn’t take in any Palestinians from Gaza? Why Gulf states welcomed precisely zero refugees from Hamas? Why Jordan kicked out the “legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people” lo these many years ago?)
And most importantly, supporters of the “Palestinian people” would recognize that those Palestinians who are not terrorists or grifters are victims? Not of Israel, though for some, that too is true. They are victims of one of the worst governments the Middle East has to offer; serially impoverished, their people press-ganged into terror service, stolen from, refused decent education, decent lives, and a future for their children. They are denied democratic, religious, and civil freedoms; denied everything but service to the leaders whose commitment is to themselves and their fanaticism.
All these pro-Pal fashionistas — because let’s admit this is more about fashion than justice — want us to focus on Israel: Israel’s “crimes,” Israel’s “genocide,” Israel’s culpability in the sorry fate of their Palestinian fantasy friends. But the heart of the problem of “Palestine” is a Palestinian problem.
Per capita assistance to the West Bank and Gaza is among the highest in the world, and has been for decades. Once upon a time, before the intifadas, Palestinians had work inside Israel. But Israel has now found alternatives. Joint industrial zones that once provided locals viable employment have fallen to a combination of security challenges, investor frustration, and left-driven sanctions on products from the so-called occupied territories. (Read the sad but typical tale of the BDS “victory” in closing down the Soda Stream factory that employed hundreds of Palestinians in high paying jobs.)
These are the boring details about the real lives of Palestinians. Money comes in, it’s stolen. Elections happen rarely, but they don’t matter. Children are radicalized by the very aid givers intended to help them. Water pipes become weapons. Money to sustain life funds terrorism. Hospitals are bases for Hamas. Food is stolen and hoarded. Medicine is stolen and resold. The United Nations and NGOs meant to be helping are too often only helping the terrorists. And it’s not just happening in Gaza.
In the magical world in which Israel stops paying attention to the West Bank and Gaza, or better still from these Hamas-parroting terrorist wannabes, Israel disappeared and Palestine existed “from the river to the sea,” life would still be hell for Palestinians. But no one cares, because the flags are not about them. They are about the Jews, about the Hamas narrative, about political conformism, and about a made up world that will never exist. Because no one really cares about the Palestinian people. Not at all.
https://whatthehellisgoingon.substack.com/p/wth-the-pro-pal-scam
Pancreatic Cancer Finally Has a Breakthrough: Now We Must Build on It
One of my patients, a woman in her 60s with pancreatic cancer, came to me looking for a clinical trial. She received a new drug before its approval, through an expanded access program, and stayed on it when it reached the market. She still asks what comes next, hopeful that American innovation will give her more chances. In more than two decades as an oncologist, I have learned that time is never merely a number: it can mean celebrating your daughter’s wedding, spending another Thanksgiving with your family, or meeting a new grandchild for the first time.
Few diagnoses make that truth more urgent than pancreatic cancer. It is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, in part because it is often discovered only after it has spread. For years, patients with advanced pancreatic cancer have had too few options and little reason to hope for a cure. In the United States alone, it is estimated that 67,530 will face this terrible diagnosis in 2026, and 52,740 will die from it.
But it’s not like cancer researchers to accept anything as written in stone.
In late August, the FDA approved a powerful new treatment for pancreatic cancer, Revolution Medicines’ (RevMed) Rasonque, for patients with metastatic disease who have had prior treatment or cannot receive combination chemotherapy. This is the result of over a decade of tireless research into the possibility of deploying RAS(ON) inhibitors to shut off cancer-producing genes and proteins in certain tumors.
The results so far have been incredible. Previously treated patients on Rasonque have a 12-month survival rate of 53.2% compared to a mere 17.3% with chemotherapy-based approaches. Progress in this field is often slow and incremental, which makes this staggering accomplishment from RevMed and its partners all the more remarkable, offering a rare source of hope for pancreatic cancer patients.
But the approval should not be mistaken for the final word. FDA review materials released this month raised questions about how consistently daraxonrasib performs across different KRAS mutation subtypes, while cautioning that the available analyses were not designed to support formal comparisons among those groups. That is not a reason to retreat from this advance. It is a reason to learn faster: to identify which patients are most likely to benefit, understand how tumors evade treatment, and test rational combinations that can produce more durable responses.
Former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse accessed this promising drug before it was officially approved, and in April 2026 he described it as a “miracle drug,” saying he had much, much less pain…and a 76 percent reduction in tumor volume. In September 2026, Sasse shared on social media that he recently underwent major liver surgery that removed a significant amount of cancer, but that his tumors have developed a resistance to his former treatment.
Remarkable as this progress is, the greater promise lies ahead. A cure for pancreatic cancer may be possible, something we could not have dreamed up ten years ago, but only if we seize every opportunity available to us today.
New targeted therapies produce a remarkable initial benefit. But unfortunately, like in Sasse’s case, tumors can often find alternate survival routes, especially in aggressive forms like pancreatic cancer. To combat this, oncologists often deploy what is called a “combination therapy” of multiple treatment approaches to attack the disease from numerous directions, trapping the cancer with no back-up escape route.
Combination therapies have been transformative in the treatment of other cancers. In advanced melanoma, for instance, the combination of two drugs, Opdivo and Yervoy, has yielded a five-year survival rate of 52 percent, compared to 44 percent for Opdivo and 26 percent for Yervoy alone.
All of this is why I am encouraged that RevMed’s CEO, Mark Goldsmith, has expressed his interest in exploring new Rasonque-driven combination therapies with other cutting-edge therapies. Several other companies, including Bristol Myers Squibb and Tango Therapeutics, are also working on novel treatments for pancreatic cancer using a distinct method called a PRMT5 inhibitor, which targets tumors missing a gene called MTAP, a deletion common in pancreatic cancers. As Goldsmith said on an August earnings call, a combination therapy of these two treatments is a credible idea.
Ben Sasse was told in December 2025 that he had three to four months to live. He is still here today because of medical innovation and a willingness to pursue new therapies when conventional treatment alone was not enough. Though he has well surpassed his initial prognosis, Sasse isn’t cured and has had to turn to an aggressive chemotherapy regimen.
The first RAS-directed approval in pancreatic cancer should be the beginning of a broader effort, not the endpoint. Researchers, companies, cancer centers, and regulators should move urgently to test combinations that may make responses deeper, longer-lasting, and available to more patients.
That means designing biomarker-driven trials, sharing evidence quickly, and ensuring promising combination strategies are evaluated on their scientific merits. Patients with pancreatic cancer have too few options to let practical, commercial, or institutional barriers slow the search for better ones.
We do not yet know which RAS-directed combination will prove most effective. But we know enough to test the best ideas rigorously, and patients deserve nothing less.
Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, MD, MSEd, is systemwide chief of hematology and oncology at St. Luke’s University Health Network and the co-founder and chief medical AI officer at Massive Bio, a company connecting patients to clinical trials using artificial intelligence.