Police Service NI has confirmed a security breach around President Biden's visit to Belfast.
This morning the BBC Radio Ulster Nolan Show revealed a PSNI document showing officer deployments had been found in the street by a member of the public.
The document showed a detailed itinerary of Joe Biden's trip, including the names of all PSNI officers involved in the security operation, plus phone numbers and addresses of top PSNI officers.
A PSNI spokesman said "We are aware of a security breach".
"An investigation has commenced and we have notified the Senior Information Risk Officer.
"We take the safety of visiting dignitaries, members of the public and our officers and staff extremely seriously and will put the appropriate actions in place."
Germany's Merck will invest about 300 million euros ($327.90 million) in the world's largest integrated specialty gas plant in Hometown, U.S., the company said on Wednesday.
The agreement with the U.S. state of Pennsylvania supports "expansion of manufacturing capacity for the semiconductor industry", it added.
The science and technology group plans to invest "significantly more than 3 billion euros" in innovations and capacity expansions to ensure the success of its semiconductor solutions branch, it said in a press release.
The German government on Wednesday watered down plans to legalise cannabis, presenting legislation that would allow private cultivation and distribution through non-profit groups but not widespread sales of the drug in shops.
The legislation also foresees a pilot project for a small number of licensed shops in some regions to test the effects of a commercial supply chain of recreational cannabis on public health, the protection of minors and the black market.
Acquiring and possessing up to 25 grams of recreational cannabis for personal consumption would also be made legal.
"The previous cannabis policy has failed. Now we have to go new ways," Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said.
Wednesday's announcement comes after Berlin held talks with the European Commission on a cornerstone paper the German government issued in October.
The ministries involved in drafting the legislation - health, justice and agriculture - did not give a timeline for the plan.
Many European countries, including Germany, have already legalised cannabis for limited medicinal purposes. Others have decriminalised its general use, while stopping short of making it legal.
Merck KGaA said on Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had paused the initiation of new patients on its multiple sclerosis evobrutinib drug, knocking the German drugmaker's share price.
Merck has been ahead in the race to develop a drug from the class known as Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors to slow the progression of nerve disease multiple sclerosis. But tolerability of the class has been a big concern for analysts.
Merck shares were 6.3% lower at 1037 GMT and slid to the bottom of Germany's blue-chip DAX index on news of the setback.
The FDA's decision, Merck said, was in response to laboratory results which suggested drug-induced liver injury during phase III studies. The two cases identified had been asymptomatic and the patients' liver enzymes had fully normalized after discontinuation of the study medication.
"Merck is working closely with the FDA to establish the best path forward for the benefit of patients in current and future trials with evobrutinib," it said in a statement.
The company must now place on hold the initiation of new evobrutinib patients and halt studies involving patients who have been taking the drug for less than 70 days.
The FDA's decision impacts just two patients. Recruitment for a phase III trial was already complete with 2,000 participants and an ongoing study is to continue as planned.
Merck expects to present the first data from that study in the fourth quarter of 2023.
A trial testing Sanofi's rival candidate tolebrutinib - from the $3.7 billion takeover of Principia Biopharma in 2020 - was put on partial hold by the FDA in June 2022 on concerns over harmful effects on the liver. That meant recruitment of new participants was stopped.
Others in the development race are remibrutinib from Novartis and Roche’s fenebrutinib.
Partnership will leverage Aspect’s proprietary bioprinting technology and Novo Nordisk’s expertise and technology in stem cell differentiation and cell therapy development and manufacturing.
Aspect to receive75 millionUS dollars in initial payments and up to650 million dollars in future milestone payments per product arising from the collaboration, plus tiered royalties.
Jon Lovett, an ex-speechwriter for former President Barack Obama, called on Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to resign on Tuesday amid her lengthy health-related absence from the Senate.
Feinstein, the oldest serving member of the Senate, revealed on March 2 that she was hospitalized for shingles treatment after being diagnosed with an infection in February.
Lovett, who is also the co-founder of progressive media company Crooked Media, argued that Feinstein’s current absence from the upper chamber is keeping the Senate from confirming justices – and that more people should be demanding her immediate resignation.
“There’s been a lot of reporting about Dianne Feinstein no longer being fit to serve in the Senate representing the biggest state in this country. She is currently out for shingles. That is sad. That is obviously not her fault,” Lovett said on his podcast, “Pod Save America,” according to the Hill.
“But because she is not in the Judiciary Committee, [Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin] has said that it has made it basically impossible to move a lot of these lower court nominees to the Senate for a vote, which means that Dianne Feinstein, who should not be in the Senate, is now preventing us from being able to confirm judges,” Lovett said.
Jon Lovett, former President Barack Obama’s speechwriter, called for Sen. Dianne Feinstein to resign immediately.Joshua Blanchard
“I think what the people around Dianne Feinstein are doing, allowing, being part of this farce of having a lack of a senator in such an important job is really wrong,” he continued. “And Dianne Feinstein should no longer be in the Senate. She has to resign and more people should be calling on her to resign.”
Feinstein said after her release from the hospital that she is “recovering at home,” where she continues to receive treatment for shingles and that she looks forward to “returning to the Senate as soon as possible.”
For the last several weeks, Democrats in the Senate have been limited to only 49 members, equaling Republicans, due to the absence of Feinstein and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who was hospitalized for treatment for clinical depression.
Durbin told The Hill earlier this month that Democrats in the Senate hope to be “back to full strength” after Easter.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein was hospitalized for shingles treatment after being diagnosed with an infection in February.AP
When asked by reporters that day about the announcement, the California Democrat appeared confused that it was made.
“You put out the statement?” asked an incredulous-sounding Feinstein, before telling the press: “I didn’t know they put it out.”
“It is what it is,” the senator added. “I think the time has come. I have a whole other year. I have things that are underway. I expect to achieve them, I hope, and so we’ll see.”
President Barack Obama discusses an upcoming speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with, from left, Director of Speechwriting Jon Favreau, Senior Advisor David Plouffe and Speechwriting Associate Director Jonathan Lovett in the Oval Office on Feb. 6, 2011.The White HouseErin Ryan and Jon Lovett speak onstage during the live taping of “Pod Save America,” hosted by WisDems.Getty Images for WisDems Unnamed Senate colleagues and former staffers hadclaimed in April of last yearthat Feinstein’s memory was rapidly deteriorating and that her staff did much of her work.
Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) have both announced that they will run for her vacant seat in 2024.
New York’s public university systems announced Tuesday that COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students will be dropped by the end of May.
Both SUNY and CUNY issued joint declarations saying students will no longer be required to get the jab once the spring semester ends roughly around May 23, depending on the specific campus.
“The safety of SUNY’s students is our first and foremost priority, and while COVID is no longer an emergency, we will not lose sight of the impact it continues to have on us,” said SUNY Chancellor John King. “Across SUNY we will continue to monitor cases and make adjustments as needed, but even more importantly, we will look to increase the overall health and wellness support we provide our students.”
But other jurisdictions previously dropped their own requirements – the Big Appleended the mandate for city workers in February and even before that nixed the rule for private employees.
New York State will drop the COVID-19 vaccine requirements for its public colleges and universities.CUNYThe move comes a day after Biden signed legislation ditching the coronavirus emergency declaration.CUNY The City Council’s bipartisan “Common Sense Caucus” even sent a letterto CUNY last month seeking the end of the rule arguing “it’s past time” kids attending in-person or hybrid classes are given the option not to get the shot.
SUNY operates 64 campuses across the Empire State and CUNY runs 25 campuses throughout the five boroughs.
