NJ suburb turned into transit hub where migrants switch from buses to trains to thwart NYC crackdown

 Busloads of asylum seekers headed for the Big Apple are thwarting Mayor Eric Adams’ crackdown on arrivals by being dropped off in New Jersey and jumping on a train to reach their “final destination” — turning a family-friendly Garden State suburb into a migrant hub.

The Secaucus Police Department and town officials were informed Saturday by the Hudson County Executives’ Office that four buses transporting migrants bound for New York had arrived at the Secaucus Junction train station, according to officials. 

“From what we understand, after being dropped at the train station the migrants then took trains to New York City,” Mayor Michael Gonnelli said in a statement.

“It seems quite clear the bus operators are finding a way to thwart the requirements of the Executive Order by dropping migrants at the train station in Secaucus and having them continue to their final destination.”

He claimed that bus operators have “figured out a loophole in the system” to circumnavigate a new order and ensure the migrants reach New York City.

“Perhaps the requirements Mayor Adams put in place are too stringent and are resulting in unexpected consequences,” Gonnelli added.

Mayor Eric Adams issued an executive order Wednesday requiring charter bus companies transporting migrants with fares paid for “by a third party” to alert the city’s Emergency Management Office 32 hours before arriving in the Big Apple.

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NYC is “the final destination” for the “vast majority” of migrants stopping in New Jersey, according to officials.James Keivom

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Four buses carrying migrants arrived at Secaucus Junction train station on Saturday, according to officials.James Keivom

The order also limits drop-off hours to between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. daily and to a single location, on West 41st Street between Eight and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan.

“We cannot allow buses with people needing our help to arrive without warning any hour of day and night,” Adams said in a virtual press conference last week.

“This not only prevents us from providing assistance and orderly way, it puts those who have already suffered so much in danger.”

Failure to heed the new rules could result in criminal charges, fines, lawsuits “and even buses being impounded,” Adams said.

Secaucus Town Administrator Gary Jeffas told The Post two more buses arrived at the train station Monday morning and “appear to have gone onto trains to New York City”.

The new rules officially went into effect Friday afternoon with cops monitoring the drop-off area for any buses that arrive outside of that time frame, according to City Hall.

Companies that fail to comply with the executive order will face a class B misdemeanor, which comes with a fine of up to $2,000 and up to three months of jail time.

“To be clear, this is not stopping people from coming but about ensuring the safety of migrants and making sure they can arrive in a coordinated manner,” Adams insisted.

The administration is working with federal and local partners, including New York City, Jones added.

The town’s mayor noted that he has also received reports from the New Jersey State Police that similar scenes were unfolding at other train stations in the state.

“I have been advised the State of New Jersey has a plan in place and we will be working closely with the Governor’s office, all law enforcement agencies, and the County to monitor this situation,” Gonnelli said.

A message posted on Jersey City’s official X account Sunday said its emergency management agency reports that “approximately 10 buses from various locations in Texas and one from Louisiana have arrived at various transit stations throughout the state, including Secaucus, Fanwood, Edison, Trenton”.

About 397 migrants had arrived at those locations since Saturday, the post read.

City Hall statistics, as of last week, show 161,500 asylum seekers have arrived in the Big Apple since Spring 2022.

Some of the migrants have been sent on buses to New York City on orders from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, prompting Adams to last month enact new guidelines that limited arrival times to “ensure the safety of migrants”.

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Migrants leaving the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan on Dec. 27, 2023.Leonardo Munoz

The city’s shelter system has been inundated by asylum seekers with more than 68,000 migrants currently in the city’s care, which is projected to cost more than $12 billion through 2025.

A City Hall spokesperson pointed the finger at Texas, accusing the state’s governor of treating asylum seekers like “political pawns,” and creating coordination problems across the country.

“New York City has led the nation in responding to this national humanitarian crisis, providing compassion, care, shelter, and vital services,” the spokesperson told The Post.

“Executive Order 538 is part of that effort, ensuring the safety and well-being of both migrants and city staff receiving them.

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Buses of migrants are said to be switching to trains in New Jersey so they can make it to their “final destination” in New York City, thwarting Eric Adam’s crackdown on arrivals in the Big Apple.REUTERS

Adams has followed suit to Chicago’s administration, which enacted similar guidelines last month and is also experiencing issues with noncompliance.

Illinois authorities last month reported that a busload of about 30-40 migrants had been suddenly dropped off at a gas station’s parking lot in Kankakee, Illinois and told by bus operators that they were in Chicago.

Kankakee is outside Chicago, about 60 miles from the city’s centre.

The Kankakee Police Department, Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office, and Illinois State Police (Troop 5) responded to a call about “a situation” at the gas station on December 21, according to a statement from Kanakee County Sheriff’s Office.

https://nypost.com/2024/01/01/metro/nj-suburb-turned-into-migrant-hub-where-they-switch-from-buses-to-trains-to-thwart-nyc-crackdown-and-reach-their-final-destination/

Netherlands blocks ASML exports to China in partial license revocation

 Chip machine manufacturer ASML on Monday said the Dutch government had partially revoked an export license for the shipment of some chip-making equipment to China, following U.S. export restrictions.

The Veldhoven, Netherlands-based company said shipments included certain lithography systems.

"A license for the shipment of NXT:2050i and NXT:2100i lithography systems in 2023 has recently been partially revoked by the Dutch government, impacting a small number of customers in China," the company said.

ASML dominates the market for lithography systems, which use lasers to help create chip circuitry.

The company said it does not expect the revocation or the latest U.S. export control restrictions to have a material impact on its financial outlook for 2023.

In recent years, China has been ASML's third-largest market after Taiwan and South Korea, but it was the biggest in the third quarter of 2023, with 46% of the company's sales.

In 2023, the United States announced new rules giving Washington the right to restrict the export of ASML's "Twinscan NXT1930Di" machine if it contains any U.S. parts.

Soon after, several Dutch lawmakers challenged the Netherlands' Trade Minister over whether the United States had acted correctly in unilaterally imposing rules regulating the export to China of another ASML chipmaking machine.

"In recent discussions with the US government, ASML has obtained further clarification of the scope and impact of the US export control regulations," the semiconductor equipment maker said in a statement. "ASML is fully committed to comply with all applicable laws and regulations including export control legislation in the countries in which we operate."

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-netherlands-blocks-asml-exports-003526633.html

Student Loan Borrowers Stage A "Massive Student Debt Strike"

 by Sam Bourgi via CreditNews.com,

It’s been three months since the federal government resumed student loan payments, but many borrowers have refused to pay a single penny...

Activists say borrowers have staged a “massive student debt strike” as they await progress—any progress—on the White House’s student loan forgiveness program.

“Faced with the impossible choice of feeding their kids, keeping a roof over their head, or throwing an average of $400 a month into the Department of Education incinerator, borrowers are rightly choosing to keep themselves and their families financially afloat,” said Astra Taylor, co-founder of Debt Collective, a union advocating on behalf of debtors.

According to the Department of Education, 22 million borrowers had payments due in October but only 13 million settled their bills.

That means 40% of borrowers failed to make payments.

Creditnews reported in September that the resumption of student loan payments would hit American families hard, but very few expected four out of ten borrowers to miss payments. Before the pandemic, about one-quarter of student loan borrowers were dodging payments.

Some experts think the transition back to loan repayment after more than three years of forbearance will be bumpy. As it turns out, students aren’t the only ones to blame.

What has changed since the pandemic?

Student loans went into forbearance in March 2020 just as Covid-era lockdowns forced millions out of work. Over that period, Americans grew accustomed to not paying back their loans and used the money to tackle other expenses like rent or grocery bills.

Reallocating up to $500 a month to student loan payments was always going to be difficult—especially with high inflation and elevated borrowing costs.

But according to Persis Yu, deputy executive director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, it wasn’t just borrowers who were unprepared for the October shock.

“Neither borrowers nor the student loan system were prepared to resume repayment,” Yu told CNBC.

“Servicers are overwhelmed and are failing to help struggling borrowers navigate the options that are available to them,” she said.

Carolina Rodriguez of the nonprofit Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program agrees. “Servicers are having a very hard time getting people back into repayment,” she said.

Student loan forgiveness: Reality or pipe dream?

Many student loan borrowers are waiting for debt relief promised to them by the Biden administration, but those efforts have hit a major snag.

President Biden initially proposed a $400 billion bailout program that would erase up to $20,000 in federal debt for roughly 40 million borrowers. The Supreme Court struck down the plan in June, claiming that the president overstepped his authority.

Since then, the Department of Education has been working with a panel of experts to negotiate a watered-down version of the program. But even they have failed to reach a consensus so far.

An Education Department spokesperson said the panel is on track to submit a new student debt relief proposal by May, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll get passed.

2024 is an election year, and student loan forgiveness is a hotly debated issue, with several conservative lawmakers promising to block any attempts to erase student loans with taxpayer dollars.

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/student-loan-borrowers-stage-massive-student-debt-strike

Newly-identified flu antibodies could form the basis of better vaccines

 A major bump in the road to building broader, more durable vaccines may not be as much of a hurdle as scientists once thought, new research suggests. 

In a study published Dec. 21 in PLOS Biology, a research team from the University of Pittsburgh announced they had discovered that when some people receive a trivalent flu vaccine, they produce a type of antibody that overcomes a major viral hurdle to stave off both of the two dominant subtypes of the seasonal bug. By reverse engineering their immune responses, the researchers hope to develop broader, more durable flu vaccines. 

“Our immune system actually evolved to combat viruses,” study lead Kevin McCarthy, Ph.D., told Fierce Biotech Research in an interview. “If we understand how it evolved in those individuals who had very strong responses, then maybe we can help guide the evolution of everybody’s immune system to make similar responses.”

Flu vaccines currently target four subtypes of influenza—two different flu A viruses known as H1 and H3, and two flu B viruses, which include a Yamagata lineage virus and a Victoria lineage virus. The specific strains from each type that the vaccine will protect against are selected based on predictions made with surveillance data from influenza centers around the world. While some years’ vaccines may carry over protection from the prior year, they generally need to be reformulated annually.

The vaccines work by prompting immune cells called B cells to generate antibodies against the selected strains. These antibodies bind to a protein on the surface of the virus called hemagglutinin, which normally helps the virus infect cells. Blocking hemagglutinin prevents the virus from getting inside. Hemagglutinin evolves over time, resulting in new flu strains.

Researchers have been trying for years to figure out how to target multiple strains—specifically, strains of both subtypes H1 and H3—with a single antibody. While some antibodies with the H3 mutation can indeed target H1, there’s a major problem: If the H1 antibodies have a mutation in their hemagglutinin called the 133a insertion, the H3 antibodies won’t recognize them. 

But as it turns out, humans can produce antibodies that circumvent the 133a insertion and protect against H3 and H1 strains, as McCarthy’s lab found in their new study. Using blood taken from donors before and after they received a flu vaccine, the researchers collaborated with scientists from Johns Hopkins University to examine individual B cells and the antibodies they produced, then profile the antibodies in a “high-throughput fashion,” McCarthy explained.

The results contained an exciting discovery: Two of the donors produced antibodies to H3 and H1 with or without the 133a insertion. Intriguingly, they were also around the same age, with similar histories of exposure to the flu: Both were children in the early 1990s, and both had antibodies that bound strongly to H3 strains from the decade. Their antibodies also contained an adaptation that allows the flu virus to grow better in chicken eggs, one of the flu vaccine manufacturing processes. 

Their history may have led to a "jackpot event," as McCarthy described it. 

“It’s really tempting to speculate that these people were infected as kids before childhood vaccination with the flu was really a thing, and then the vaccines came in with this adaptation and elicited a very strong response,” McCarthy explained. “I think what it shows is that the proper series of events are capable of eliciting similar antibodies quite strongly, and so that gives us a clue for how one can figure out ways to improve vaccines.” 

Notably, the finding is not a step toward a universal flu vaccine, a goal of many researchers and biotechs. In fact, it may be evidence that targeting hemagglutinin alone is unlikely to be enough to create a vaccine against all strains of the flu, McCarthy said. 

“An important point of this is that probably no single antibody or one single site on the flu hemagglutinin protein is going to be sufficient to have a universal vaccine,” he said. “So what we found here expands the repertoire of possibilities of antibodies that can engage different subtypes of influenza.” 

Next, the researchers plan to take what they’ve learned from the donors and use it trace the events that resulted in the development of these antibodies. 

“We’re trying to also characterize broad antibody responses…which we can then use to rationally design vaccines that will elicit very strong responses simultaneously to multiple sites across the molecule,” McCarthy said.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/newly-identified-flu-antibodies-could-form-basis-better-vaccines

2024 forecast: M&A saw an uptick in 2023. Analysts expect the trend to continue

 Even with the Federal Trade Commission keeping a watchful eye on the biopharma industry and the economic landscape giving some players pause, mergers and acquisitions are back on the rise. And it is with cautious optimism that industry watchers see the trend continuing in 2024.

Wielding plenty of firepower, drugmakers are more likely to make higher-value deals in the new year as they address growth challenges that loom later in the decade because of patent cliffs and the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Executives will continue to deploy cash balances and seek out areas of innovation and clinical differentiation,” PricewaterhouseCoopers wrote in its Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences: U.S. Deals 2024 Outlook. “As regulators’ perspectives on key deal factors become better understood, there may be a return of larger deals, along with continued interest in the $5 billion to $15 billion deals to fill targeted strategic gaps.”

Look no further than Pfizer’s recently completed $43 billion acquisition of cancer specialist Seagen—the largest transaction in biopharma since 2019—for a deal that checks all the boxes: pharma giant, in need of assets, flush with cash, investing in a modality with enormous growth potential.

Not only did Pfizer gain one of the world’s most prized biotechs, it snatched up a pioneer and market leader in antibody-drug conjugate technology. Pfizer values its new toy so much that it has reorganized around it so as not to disrupt its trajectory. 

And just as this piece went live, we got news that Bristol Myers Squibb has snapped up neurological disease-focused biotech Karuna for $14 billion, getting its experimental schizophrenia drug KarTX in the deal, as we finish off the year with an M&A bang. 

M&A Trends

In its study, which compared M&A activity from mid-November of 2022 to mid-November of 2023 to the previous 12-month period, PwC found an 8% drop in the number of deals, while also noting a 37% increase in their value. Go back another year further and the value increase is even more pronounced, noted Cody Powers, a pharma and healthcare consultant with ZS Associates, citing the effects of the pandemic.  

“A lot of people stayed on the sidelines for so long,” Powers said in an interview. “There was roughly a year and a half period when you couldn’t meet management teams on the other side, you couldn’t walk the manufacturing floor. All these things added up, making it hard to do any major transaction.”

Now that companies are freed to conduct business as usual, those that stayed on the sidelines have more urgency to make deals. And many of those transactions figure to be of higher value. With patent expirations on the horizon, drugmakers are more interested in pursuing de-risked assets than those that are boom and bust.

“Even if the total deal count is slightly down, the fact that people are willing to spend more money on the M&A side of the equation is broadly encouraging, even if it’s basically the rich get richer and not everybody else benefits,” Powers said.

Buyers’ Market (with an *)

Another factor favoring a bumper crop of M&A in 2024 is the dry power on hand. Companies in the industry have nearly $1.34 trillion at their disposal to invest, which is close to an all-time high, according to Arda Ural, EY Americas Industry Markets Leader, Health Sciences and Wellness.

Pair that up with the state of biotechs—half of which do not have the cash needed to sustain operations for more than 18 months—and you have a “playing field tilted toward the buyers,” Ural said in an interview.

“It’s still a buyers’ market, but with an asterisk,” Ural added, pointing out that the number of companies “swirling” around later-stage assets are likely to bump up premiums and could transform the market into one that is more advantageous for sellers.    

“There are mixed market conditions,” Ural said. “It’s not as simple as it might have been in prior years.”

Therapy Areas Drawing Attention

Another trend seen driving more deals in 2023 and expected to continue in 2024 is therapy areas where incremental innovation is taking place. Targeted oncology and autoimmune treatments are drawing much attention, along with advancements in cardiology and obesity drugs.

For example, with the enormous success Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have seen with their blood sugar managing diabetes/weight loss drugs, the rush is on to uncover and develop the next generation of treatments.

In December, Roche ponied up $2.7 billion-plus for Carmot Therapeutics, which has three promising injectable and oral candidates with the same mechanisms of action as Novo’s semaglutide and Lilly’s tirzepatide but designed to have better tolerability and allow users to maintain their muscle mass.

In November, AstraZeneca made a similar $2 billion bet on a candidate from China’s Eccogene. Novo and Lilly also made investments in 2023 to try to stay ahead of potential competitors.

“Non-peptide-based treatments of development, virtually all of them are going for a muscle preserving type of data,” Powers said. “That would be a step change, for sure.”

Jennifer O’Brien, partner, mergers & acquisitions at West Monroe, believes companies will be focused on enhancing their core areas while divesting assets that don’t fit.

“I still think there’s going to be some space around acquiring these smaller biotech businesses that have these very niche areas and allow the big pharmas to focus on these specific types of innovation, really expand their pipeline in a cost-effective and efficient way,” O’Brien said.

Best to Divest?

A study from EY of 7,000 transactions over the last 11 years shows that companies that were more active in divesting and acquiring assets had a 67% greater return on capital employed (ROCE). EY competed its initial study in this area in 2018, then updated it this year, showing an even more pronounced advantage.

“The world has materially changed since 2018,” Ural wrote in his analysis from October of this year. “The new analysis confirms that portfolio optimization is even more compelling to the C-suite for higher returns on capital.”

Firms that engaged in both buy- and sell-side transactions saw an 8.8% ROE, compared to 7.9% for those who only performed acquisitions. For companies that only divested, the ROE came to 7.2%.

The advantages of divesting are already apparent with the recent moves made by companies like Johnson & Johnson and GSK.

“When I think about 2024, the J&Js and GSKs, my question is are they done?” O’Brien said. “Do they feel like they’ve shed enough? Have they really gotten to their core focus business and have they freed up enough capital to be able to be able to invest in that?”

FTC Concerns Diminishing?

Under the direction of the Biden administration, the FTC has ratcheted up its scrutiny of biopharma M&A. Since President Biden took office in 2021 and through to the first half of 2023, the FTC has sought additional information—termed a “second request”—on 24% of the deals made in the industry compared to 15% from 2015-2020, according to a study by Mergermarket, which examined SEC filings of biopharma transactions of $200 million or more.

Aside from a lawsuit settlement between Amgen and the FTC after the company acquired Horizon, not much has come from the FTC’s increased probing, though an argument could be made that the added attention has forced companies to address potential antitrust concerns before making deals.

“I think it created this pause where pharma companies more carefully considered the value of the deal versus the risk,” O’Brien said. “We might see more partnerships to kind of avoid that scrutiny of the FTC.”

As we move into 2024, FTC scrutiny doesn’t appear to be as great a hindrance for companies looking to execute M&A. The watchdog’s recent challenge to “improper” patents listed by drugmakers in the FDA Orange Book is an indicator that it is looking for other ways to impact drug pricing.

“If you look at the FTC’s broader mandate, they’re trying to hit every possible lever,” Powers said. “The industry looks at it like, M&A is the sacred cow, don’t go after that.”

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/2024-forecast-ma-saw-uptick-2023-expect-trend-continue

Ex-CIA Officer Says Ukraine A 'Sinking Ship' After NYT Highlights Recruitment Crisis

 Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky issued a customary speech to the nation wherein he advanced a vision of optimism even as the already war-ravaged country is under Russian bombs and drones. Putin has said Monday that these aerial operations will "intensify". 

Zelensky vowed to see Ukraine transformed into an arms production powerhouse, saying in the Sunday televised speech that "next year, the enemy will feel the wrath of domestic production."

"Our weapons, our equipment, artillery, our shells, our drones, our naval ‘greetings’ to the enemy and at least a million Ukrainian FPV drones," he added. "All of which we will generously use... On land, in the sky, and, of course, at sea."

Speaking of the West-sponsored pilot training program, which is happening in northern Europe and in America, Zelensky claimed that Ukrainian trainees are "already mastering" F-16 jets and that they'll "definitely" soon be seen in Ukraine's skies to that "our enemies can certainly see what our real wrath is."

Friday witnessed one of the largest missile and drone strikes carried out by Russian forces since the war began, but in the wake of this Zelensky said that no matter how many "the enemy" launches, Ukrainians "will still rise."

But by 2024's end, will there still be a unified Ukraine to speak of? 

Interestingly, retired CIA intelligence analyst and former State Department official Larry Johnson has recently engaged in an interview with Redacted News wherein he painted a picture of desperation among Kiev officials, likening the country to a ship which is fast sinking, akin to the Titanic. Watch:

"The fact that the New York Times is now reporting this tells you how bad the situation is. They’ve realized that this party is over," Johnson told Redacted host Clayton Morris in the weekend interview, referencing this NYT report.

"It goes to part of another story that came out last week about members of the Rada – the legislature. They’re trying to get out of Ukraine. So to get out of Ukraine at the border you’ve got to show a passport. So no passport, no leaving," Johnson said. 

"The fact that the Ukrainian legislators recognize that the end is near, which is why they’re trying to get out, it’s like that scene from the movie Titanic. The passengers are moving one direction, the rats are moving the opposite way. That’s what’s going on in Ukraine right now. The rats are heading for the lifeboats."

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Below is a key, damning section from the fresh NY Times reporting...

Recruiters have confiscated passports, taken people from their jobs and, in at least one case, tried to send a mentally disabled person to military training, according to lawyers, activists and Ukrainian men who have been subject to coercive tactics. Videos of soldiers shoving people into cars and holding men against their will in recruiting centers are surfacing with increasing frequency on social media and in local news reports.

The harsh tactics are being aimed not just at draft dodgers but at men who would ordinarily be exempt from service — a sign of the steep challenges Ukraine’s military faces maintaining troop levels in a war with high casualties, and against a much larger enemy.

Lawyers and activists say the aggressive methods go well beyond the scope of recruiters’ authority and in some cases are illegal. They point out that recruiters, unlike law enforcement officers, are not empowered to detain civilians, let alone force them into conscription. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ex-cia-officer-says-ukraine-sinking-ship-after-nyt-highlights-recruitment-crisis