Rubber bullets and water cannons were deployed against hundreds of European farmers protesting outside the EU Parliament building in Brussels on Thursday. The farmers threw eggs, set off fireworks, and started fires near the building while demanding that European leaders stop punishing them with more taxes and rising costs imposed to finance a so-called 'green agenda.'
The Biden administration is planning to launch a days-long or even potentially weeks-long bombing campaign on Iranian assets across the Middle East, although there doesn't appear to be plans to hit Iran directly, according to US officials speaking to NBC and CBS.
The attacks which will reportedly focus on 'Iranian targets' inside Syrian and Iraq are meant as retaliation and a supposed deterrent in response to the weekend drone attack which killed three American soldiers at a Jordanian base near the Syrian border. The attacks might extend to the Iranian navy as well, in addition to targeting Iranian personnel or 'Iran-backed militias' in Syria and Iraq.
While the Pentagon has said that said the Jordan base attack had the "footprints" of Kataib Hezbollah (or the Shia 'resistance' group of Iraq), no culprit has been definitively named, and US officials have also admitted they have not evidence Iran was behind it. But they are now reportedly saying the drone used in the attack was manufactured in Iran.
The New York Times additionally has conceded that despite it being well-known that Tehran arms and funds the main Shia militias in Iraq, there remains no evidence that Tehran is "calling the shots" when it comes to events like attacks on US personnel out of Syria or Iraq.
The chorus of US officials now telegraphing the extent of the strikes to the media strongly suggests at least a days-long campaign of several waves of attacks. "The first thing you see won’t be the last thing," national security council spokesman John Kirby has said. He added that the operation won't be a "one-off" as such bombings have tended to go in the past.
However, the longer the bombing lasts, the greater the possibility for things spiraling out of control, possibly growing into a hot war with Iran and its assets. "The Islamic Republic would decisively respond to any attack on the county, its interests and nationals under any pretexts," Iran’s ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani has responded.
According to more details via fresh CBS reporting Thursday:
U.S. officials have confirmed to CBS News that plans have been approved for a series of strikes over a number of days against targets — including Iranian personnel and facilities — inside Iraq and Syria. The strikes will come in response to drone and rocket attacks targeting U.S. forces in the region, including the drone attack on Sunday that killed three U.S. service members at the Tower 22 base inside Jordan, near the Syrian border.
Weather will be a major factor in the timing of the strikes, the officials told CBS News, as the U.S. has the capability to carry out strikes in bad weather but prefers to have better visibility of selected targets as a safeguard against inadvertently hitting civilians who might stray into the area at the last moment.
As it became clear this week that the Pentagon is poised to respond in a big way, Kataib Hezbollah announced a suspension of its operations against US forces. The Pentagon has ignored this as essentially too late and irrelevant.
But the Shia militia group's 'pause' in operations appears to have held. "There have been no new attacks on U.S. troop locations in the region since the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah announced Wednesday that it was suspending military operations against American forces," reports CBS. And yet, "There was no indication from U.S. officials that the group's declared suspension was delaying the American military's retaliatory strikes."
Western reports commonly estimate there's been at least 140 rocket, mortar, and drone attacks targeting US personnel in Syrian and Iraq since mid-October, connected to events in Gaza...
For several weeks now, Israel has repeatedly bombed areas of Damascus in what have been reported as targeted strikes against Iranian personnel. It's unclear whether the coming US strikes will also include targets in or near Syrian government centers. While US attacks have over the course of years sporadically hit militant groups in the northeast, especially in Deir Ezzor region, Washington has refrained from attacking Damascus directly over the past few years.
Another interesting question which remains is whether the Pentagon will tip off the Russian side in advance. Russia has a major military presence in Syria and actively monitors some airspace. In prior significant US attacks, the Pentagon has issued advanced warning to the Russians within moments before the launches, so as to avoid inadvertent military confrontation between the two superpowers.
Just out of the hospital and home recovery, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the president "will not tolerate attacks on American troops" at this "dangerous moment in the Middle East." He also asserted, "Our soldiers were killed by Iranian agents." Austin at one point "apologized to the American people" for the way he handled his hospital stay, which included days of the White House being left in the dark.
This whole US 'retaliatory' exercise is likely to see most airstrikes focused on eastern Syria. Given the Pentagon has already repeatedly conducted operations in this area in the context of the years-long occupation of Syria's oil and gas region, it seems Biden wants to show he's "doing something" ahead of the election, but an operation which poses less risk for rapid direct escalation with Tehran. He's going for the "easy" lay up of attacking Syria again.
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Disney’s free speech lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, dealing a setback to the company’s hopes of regaining control of the district that governs Walt Disney World after it was taken over by the governor’s appointees.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in Tallahassee said in his decision that Disney lacked standing in its First Amendment lawsuit against the Republican governor and the secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The judge also said Disney’s claim against DeSantis’ appointees to the Disney World governing district lacked merit.
Disney said it plans to appeal the federal judge’s decision. A separate lawsuit over who controls the district is still pending in state court in Orlando.
Disney had argued that legislation signed by DeSantis and passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that transferred control of the Disney World governing district from Disney supporters to DeSantis appointees was in retaliation for the company publicly opposing the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. The 2022 law banned classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades and was championed by DeSantis, who had used Disney as a punching bag in speeches on the campaign trail until he recently suspended his campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Disney supporters had run the district, which provides municipal services such as firefighting, planning and mosquito control, for more than five decades after the Legislature created it in 1967.
FILE - Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a campaign event at Wally’s bar, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, in Hampton, N.H. A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Disney’s First Amendment lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis, leaving the company’s hope of regaining control of a district that governs Walt Disney World in its fight in another state court challenge. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
Winsor, who was appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump in 2019, said in his decision that Disney didn’t have standing to sue the governor because DeSantis already had picked the appointees to the board of the governing district.
“Because Disney seeks injunctive relief, it must allege an imminent future injury ... and it has not alleged facts showing that any imminent future appointments will contribute to its harm,” the judge wrote.
In dismissing the claim against the DeSantis appointees to the district’s board, Winsor wrote that when a law on its face is constitutional, plaintiffs can’t make free-speech claims challenging it because they believe lawmakers acted with unconstitutional motives. The law that revamped Disney World’s district didn’t single out Disney by name but rather special districts created before the ratification of the Florida Constitution, a group that included the Disney district and a handful of other districts, he said.
“Here, similarly, no one reading the text of the challenged laws would suppose them directed against Disney,” the judge wrote. “The laws do not mention Disney.”
The DeSantis-appointed chairman of the revamped district, Martin Garcia, called the lawsuit a distraction. He said now that it is behind them, board members can focus on making appropriate changes to the district’s operations “to promote transparency and accountability while bringing more prosperity to more people in Florida.”
Disney said the case was too important for it to end, with serious implications for the rule of law.
“If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with,” Disney said in a statement.
The governor’s press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, said the judge’s decision supported DeSantis’ belief that Disney doesn’t have a right to its “own special government.”
“The days of Disney controlling its own government and being placed above the law are long gone,” Redfern said.
Before control of the district changed hands from Disney allies to DeSantis appointees early last year, the Disney supporters on its board signed agreements with Disney shifting control over design and construction at Disney World to the company. The new DeSantis appointees claimed the “eleventh-hour deals” neutered their powers, and the district sued the company in state court in Orlando to have the contracts voided.
Disney has filed counterclaims that include asking the state court to declare the agreements valid and enforceable.
Since the takeover of the district by the DeSantis appointees, about 50 of its 370 employees have departed, with many complaining that the district has become politicized and the backgrounds of the five DeSantis appointees have been distracting.
Disney, which employs more than 75,000 workers in central Florida, has said it plans to make $17 billion in investments at Disney World over the next decade that will create an additional 13,000 jobs.
But Disney CEO Bob Iger last year described the actions taken by DeSantis and the Florida Legislature as “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.” Last year, Disney scrapped plans to build a new campus in central Florida and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to work in digital technology, finance and product development following a year of attacks by DeSantis and Republican lawmakers.
https://apnews.com/article/disney-desantis-florida-lgbtq-e92db2d9fe7e6d2a85f90bdc90faf5ff
Bio-Techne missed second-quarter earnings estimates on Thursday, hurt by persistently weak demand for its products used in the development of drugs and therapies, especially in key market China.
The life sciences company had missed revenue and profit estimates in the previous two quarters as well, as higher interest rates led to reduced research and drug development funding for smaller biotech clients, impacting demand in China.
Its second-quarter revenue came in at $272.6 million, missing analysts’ average estimate of $277.5 million, according to LSEG data.
It also narrowly missed the profit estimate of 41 cents per share, posting an adjusted profit of 40 cents per share for the second quarter.
The company had said in its earnings call last quarter that Chinese government funding for research at hospitals and academic institutions was significantly lower and it was hard to tell when it would stabilize.
Bio-Techne said the impact of these factors during the quarter was more than the company initially expected. Greater China accounted for 10% of the company's total revenues in fiscal year 2023, ended June 30, according to latest regulatory filings.
Sales at the company's largest protein sciences unit, which makes biological compounds used in research, fell 3%, to $197.7 million.
Revenue from its diagnostics and genomics unit, which manufactures tools and compounds used to make therapeutics and vaccines, rose about 11%, to $75.4 million.
Larger peer Thermo Fisher forecast annual profit and revenue below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday and said it does not expect demand from China to improve this year
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bio-techne-misses-quarterly-estimates-125103097.html
Cardinal Health (CAH) raised its fiscal 2024 guidance range for non-GAAP earnings per share attributable to company to $7.20 to $7.35, from its previous guidance range of $6.75 to $7.00. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report profit per share of $6.96. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
"With our first half performance including positive operating leverage, incremental return of capital to shareholders beyond our baseline plans, and confidence in our efforts as we look ahead, we are pleased to again raise our fiscal 2024 non-GAAP EPS guidance, which reflects 26% growth at the mid-point compared to our fiscal 2023 results," said Aaron Alt, CFO of Cardinal Health.
Second quarter net earnings attributable to Cardinal Health was $353 million compared to a loss of $130 million, last year. Profit per share was $1.43 compared to a loss of $0.50. Second quarter non-GAAP operating earnings increased 20% to $562 million, driven by strong growth in both Pharmaceutical segment profit and Medical segment profit. Non-GAAP earnings per share increased 38% to $1.82. On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $1.60, for the quarter.
Second quarter revenue was $57.4 billion, an increase of 12% from the second quarter of last year. Revenue for the Pharmaceutical segment increased 12% to $53.5 billion, driven by brand and specialty pharmaceutical sales growth from existing customers. Revenue for the Medical segment increased 3% to $3.9 billion, driven by growth in at-Home Solutions and Global Medical Products and Distribution, which primarily reflects higher Cardinal Health Brand volumes. Analysts on average had estimated $57.01 billion in revenue.
https://www.rttnews.com/3421169/cardinal-health-raises-fy24-earnings-outlook.aspx
Tenet completes sale of three South Carolina hospitals and announces the sale of four Orange County and Los Angeles County hospitals and related operations.
Roche said on Thursday that 2024 would see a return to sales growth as it is overcoming a slump in demand for its COVID-19 products and the sales decline of a trio of established cancer drugs is abating.
The Swiss drugs and diagnostic maker said group sales, which include diagnostics, would grow in the mid-single digit range, when adjusted for currency swings.
Full-year 2023 sales grew 1% and came in at 58.7 billion Swiss francs ($67.99 billion), the firm said in a statement, slightly below an average analyst estimate of close to 60 billion francs according to LSEG data. It was down from 63.3 billion francs in 2022.
Full-year adjusted operating profit slipped 1% to 19.2 billion francs, less than an analyst consensus of 19.6 billion francs compiled by LSEG.
"We achieved good sales growth that more than offset the sharp drop in COVID-19 sales", CEO Thomas Schinecker said in a statement.
