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Saturday, June 1, 2024

'Biden details Gaza truce proposal, Hamas responds positively'

 U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday laid out what he described as a three-phase Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza in return for the release of Israeli hostages, saying "it's time for this war to end" and winning a positive initial reaction from Hamas.

The first phase involves a six-week ceasefire when Israeli forces would withdraw from "all populated areas" of Gaza, some hostages - including the elderly and women - would be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian civilians could return to their homes in Gaza and 600 trucks a day would bring humanitarian aid into the devastated enclave.

In this phase, Hamas and Israel would negotiate a permanent ceasefire that Biden said would last "as long has Hamas lives up to its commitments." If negotiations took more than six weeks, the temporary ceasefire would extend while they continued.

In the second phase, Biden said there would be an exchange for all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza and the permanent ceasefire would begin.

The third phase would include a major reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the "final remains" of hostages to their families.

"It's time for this war to end and for the day after to begin," said Biden, who is under election-year pressure to stop the Gaza conflict, now in its eighth month.

Hamas, which Biden said received the proposal from Qatar, released a statement reacting positively.

Hamas said it was ready to engage "positively and in a constructive manner" with any proposal based on a permanent ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces, the reconstruction of Gaza, a return of those displaced, and a "genuine" prisoner swap deal if Israel "clearly announces commitment to such deal".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had authorized his negotiating team to present the deal, "while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the destruction of Hamas' military and governmental capabilities."

Separately, the Israeli military said its forces have ended operations in north Gaza's Jabalia area after days of intense fighting, while probing further into Rafah in south Gaza to target what they say is the last major Hamas redoubt.

The conflict began on Oct. 7 when gunmen led by the Islamist Palestinian group stormed into southern Israel on motorcycles, paragliders and four-wheel drive vehicles, killing 1200 people and abducting more than 250, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel then invaded the Gaza Strip in what Netanyahu has called an effort to destroy Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that seized control of the area from the Fatah Palestinian faction in a violent struggle in 2007.

Talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and others to arrange a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly stalled, with each side blaming the other for the lack of progress.

AN INDEFINITE WAR

In his speech, Biden called on the Israeli leadership to resist pressure from those in Israel who were pushing for the war to go on "indefinitely," a group he said included some in the Israeli governing coalition.

"They want to occupy Gaza. They want to keep fighting for years and hostages are not a priority for them. Well, I've urged leadership in Israel to stand behind this deal, despite whatever pressure comes," he added.

He implored Israelis not to miss the chance for a ceasefire.

"As the only American president who has ever gone to Israel at a time of war, as someone who just sent the U.S. forces to directly defend Israel when it was attacked by Iran, I ask you to take a step back, think what will happen if this moment is lost," he said. "We can't lose this moment."

The Gaza war has put Biden in a political bind.

On the one hand, he has long been a staunch supporter of Israel and would like to ensure funding and support from the pro-Israel community in the United States in his Nov. 5 election rematch against Republican former President Donald Trump.

On the other, progressive elements of Biden's Democratic Party have grown increasingly angry at the president for the suffering the conflict has caused civilians in Gaza.

Palestinian health authorities estimate more than 36,280 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel attacked, and the United Nations says over a million people face "catastrophic" levels of hunger as famine takes hold in parts of the enclave.

Signaling a U.S. effort to build support for the proposal, the State Department said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Jordanian, Saudi and Turkish counterparts.

Speaking to the Turkish foreign minister, "he emphasized that Hamas should accept the deal and that every country with a relationship with Hamas should press it to do so without delay,' the State Department said.

In a sign of support for Israel despite the partisan divide in the United States, leaders of the Democratic-led U.S. Senate and of the Republican-led House of Representatives on Friday invited Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress.

The week has been dominated by the fallout from an Israeli air strike in Rafah on Sunday that killed 45 Palestinians.

"The Palestinian people have endured sheer hell in this war," Biden said on Friday. "We all saw the terrible images from the deadly fire in Rafah earlier this week."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-unveils-gaza-truce-proposal-215216953.html

More Reuters headbanging: 'Trump supporters turn US flags upside down to protest guilty verdict'

 Upside-down American flags emerged outside homes and on social media on Friday in support of Donald Trump after a New York jury returned a historic guilty verdict against the former Republican president.

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and country music singer Jason Aldean were among the prominent Americans to display the inverted flag, a symbol of distress or protest in America for over 200 years.

The symbol, popular among some avid Trump supporters since his 2020 election defeat, exploded across pro-Trump social media accounts after he was convicted on Thursday of falsifying documents to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star to illegally influence the 2016 election.

Minutes after the verdict Greene, a Trump loyalist, posted an inverted U.S. flag on her X account. By Friday afternoon more than 8 million people had viewed it.

Aldean posted an inverted flag on his Instagram account, saying: "Scary times in our country right now, man." He added: "If there was ever a time to speak up, ITS NOW! Make no mistake. We are in trouble."

Don Tapia, a former Trump ambassador to Jamaica and a Republican donor, flew an inverted flag outside his Arizona home. He said he had received phone calls of support and that motorists had honked as they drove by. "Will switch back Sunday to regular flag," he told Reuters by text message.

Dan Bongino, a conservative radio talk show host who interviewed Trump on his show on Wednesday, posted an inverted U.S. flag on his X account after the verdict. It had received 250,000 views by mid-afternoon on Friday.

A Miami chapter of the Proud Boys, a far-right militant group, posted an inverted flag on the message channel Telegram, as did a similar group called Patriot Voice, with the words: "In dire distress."

On pro-Trump corners of the internet, some supporters called for riots, revolution and violent retribution.

The symbolic inverting of the flag drew nationwide attention when the New York Times reported in mid-May that an upside-down Stars and Stripes was flown outside the home of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in the weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters rioting in protest at his 2020 election defeat.

Alito, a conservative appointed to the court by Republican former President George W. Bush, told the Times he had "no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag." He said his wife raised the inverted flag over a neighborhood dispute.

Trump, the first former president to be convicted of a crime, said on Friday he will appeal the verdict. He is locked in a tight race with Democratic President Joe Biden ahead of their Nov. 5 election rematch.

Staring down a bank of cameras inside Manhattan's Trump Tower, he rattled off a list of adversaries and grievances in rambling remarks while vowing to keep on fighting.

An upside-down U.S. flag was first used by sailors in the 1700s to signal distress, said presidential historian Timothy Naftali. It has since taken on a long history of political symbolism on the American left as well as the right.

It was used in the anti-slavery movement in the mid-1800s and was carried by anti-Vietnam War protesters in the 1960s, said Naftali, a professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

He said it was ironic that when Vietnam War protesters inverted the flag or burned it, Republicans generally decried that.

"We live in an era now where the deepest and most virulent conspiracies about the nature of our Constitution are on the right. Inverting the flag is part of that," he said.

An inverted U.S. flag was flown by some people protesting the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minnesota police officer in 2020.

It was carried by people protesting the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2022 to end the federal right to an abortion.

Trump and his Republican supporters have in recent years decried Black football players taking a knee during the playing of the U.S. national anthem, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, itself a reference to the flag.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-supporters-turn-us-flags-200057880.html

Blinken To NATO Leaders: Ukraine Has 'Strong & Well-Lit Bridge To Membership'

 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday addressed a meeting of NATO foreign and defense ministers in Prague. The meeting is being held in preparation for a bigger Washington summit set to take place in July. Blinken previewed that the later summit will bring Ukraine closer to NATO.

"At the summit we'll be taking concrete steps to bring Ukraine closer to NATO, and ensure that there's a bridge to membership - a bridge that's strong and well lit," he said in an address.

France Foils Planned Attack On Paris Olympics; Israel's Mossad Warns Of Terrorism Ahead Of Games

 Radical progressive leaders across the Western world, along with leftist non-governmental organizations, are continuing to facilitate an unprecedented migrant invasion into Europe and the US. This poses a significant national security risk as terror threats surge into summer.

Jumping across the Alantic to Europe, the French interior minister told AP News that security officers foiled an attack ahead of soccer events during the Paris Olympics.

Gerald Darmanin said in a statement that the members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on May 22 on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack soccer events that will be held in the city of Saint-Etienne, southwest of Lyon. -AP

The report continued:

The man was preparing an attack targeting the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in the city of Saint-Etienne that will host several soccer matches during the Summer Games. The planned attack was to target spectators and police forces, the statement said. The suspect wanted to attack the Olympic events "to die and become a martyr," the statement also said. -AP 

Besides the person from Chechnya, Israel's Mossad was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as also saying there are rising threats of terrorism ahead of the soccer events in France. 

Iran is increasing its support of terror in Europe through proxy criminal groups in the 60-day lead-up to the Paris Olympics, the Mossad revealed on Thursday.

It highlighted in particular the activities of two criminal groups — FOXTROT and RUMBA — alleging that they were "directly responsible for a violent activity and the promotion of terrorism in Sweden and throughout Europe" and that they receive funds and direction directly from Iran.

Israel's spy agency charged that Iran was behind the grenade attack against Israel's Embassy in Belgium this past weekend and the gunshots near the embassy in Sweden on May 17. -JPost

In recent days... 

Let's not forget in the US, the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has been linked to fueling chaos across colleges and universities. Through public records analysis, we have found links with PFLP to one sanctioned Iranian bank. 

Remember the warning from the UAE Foreign Minister in 2017...

The West is beyond compromised. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/france-foils-planned-attack-paris-olympics-israels-mossad-warns-terrorism-ahead-games

Baxter Hemodialysis Therapy Linked to 25% Lower Mortality Rate for up to Four Years

 

  • Four-year study involved more than 1,000 dialysis patients from a large dialysis provider in Colombia
  • Study compared Baxter’s HDx therapy enabled by Theranova dialyzer with high-flux hemodialysis

KalVista Publishes Phase 3 Data Demonstrating its Potential Treatment in Hereditary Angioedema

  Late-breaking data from phase 3 KONFIDENT trial of sebetralstat published in NEJM and presented concurrently at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Congress 2024 

– Interim data from KONFIDENT-S open-label trial show median time to treatment of 9 minutes and median time to beginning of symptom relief for laryngeal attacks 1.3 hours 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240531104408/en

Certain Restricted Stock Units of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. are subject to a Lock-Up Agreement Ending

 Certain Restricted Stock Units of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. are subject to a Lock-Up Agreement Ending on 31-MAY-2024. These Restricted Stock Units will be under lockup for 91 days starting from 1-MAR-2024 to 31-MAY-2024.



Details:
The company, it's executive officers and directors and certain of stockholders have agreed that, subject to certain exceptions, during the period ending 90 days after the date of this prospectus supplement, will not offer, sell, dispose of or hedge any shares of common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of common stock, subject to specified limited exceptions.