Pre-surgery treatment with Bristol Myers combination therapy leads to better skin cancer outcomes

 Treatment with Bristol Myers Squibb's immunotherapies Opdivo and Yervoy prior to surgery for patients whose skin cancer had spread to lymph nodes had better outcomes than those who did not get the drugs before node removal procedures, according to data from a late-stage trial released on Sunday.

The study of 423 patients with stage 3 melanoma found that 83.7% of patients who received the immunotherapies before their surgery were alive without the disease worsening after 12-months.

The 12-month event-free survival rate in the patients who did not receive the so-called neoadjuvant treatment, but were treated with Opdivo for a year afterward, was 57.2%, researchers reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago.

Around 58% of patients in the treatment arm had a complete pathologic response, meaning there was no sign of cancer in the removed lymph nodes, and they did not receive additional treatment.

The rest of the patients either received more Opdivo or Novartis' targeted drugs Tafinlar and Mekinist.

"This will likely change our practice," ASCO President Dr. Lynn Schuchter said in an interview.

"Many patients can just be treated with a very limited course, albeit it has a little more toxicity, but not have to complete a whole year... That's a really good outcome," she said.

The study was sponsored by the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the Melanoma Institute Australia and funded by Bristol Myers Squibb and the National Health and Medical Research Council Australia.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pre-surgery-treatment-bristol-myers-120926618.html

'Biden's Gaza plan 'not a good deal' but Israel accepts it, Netanyahu aide says'

 An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that Israel had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza war now being advanced by U.S. President Joe Biden, though he described it as flawed and in need of much more work.

In an interview with Britain's Sunday Times, Ophir Falk, chief foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu, said Biden's proposal was "a deal we agreed to — it's not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them".

"There are a lot of details to be worked out," he said, adding that Israeli conditions, including "the release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas as a genocidal terrorist organisation" have not changed.

Biden, whose initial lockstep support for Israel's offensive has given way to open censure of the operation's high civilian death toll, on Friday aired what he described as a three-phase plan submitted by the Netanyahu government to end the war.

The first phase entails a truce and the return of some hostages held by Hamas, after which the sides would negotiate on an open-ended cessation of hostilities for a second phase in which remaining live captives would go free, Biden said.

That sequencing appears to imply that Hamas would continue to play a role in incremental arrangements mediated by Egypt and Qatar - a potential clash with Israel's determination to resume the campaign to eliminate the Iranian-backed Islamist group.

Biden has hailed several ceasefire proposals over the past several months, each with similar frameworks to the one he outlined on Friday, all of which collapsed. In February he said Israel had agreed to halt fighting by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that began on March 10. No such truce materialised.

The primary sticking point has been Israel's insistence that it would discuss only temporary pauses to fighting until Hamas is destroyed. Hamas, which shows no sign of stepping aside, says it will free hostages only under a path to a permanent end to the war.

In his speech, Biden said his latest proposal "creates a better 'day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power". He did not elaborate on how this would be achieved, and acknowledged that "there are a number of details to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two".

Falk reiterated Netanyahu's position that "there will not be a permanent ceasefire until all our objectives are met".

Netanyahu is under pressure to keep his coalition government intact. Two far-right partners have threatened to bolt in protest at any deal they deem to spare Hamas. A centrist partner, ex-general Benny Gantz, wants the deal considered.

Hamas has provisionally welcomed the Biden initiative.

"Biden's speech included positive ideas, but we want this to materialise within the framework of a comprehensive agreement that meets our demands," senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

Hamas wants a guaranteed end to the Gaza offensive, withdrawal of all invading forces, free movement for Palestinians and reconstruction aid.

Israeli officials have rejected that as an effective return to the situation in place before Oct. 7, when Hamas, committed to Israel's destruction, ruled Gaza. Its fighters precipitated the war by storming across the border fence into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

In the ensuing Israeli assault, more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza medical officials say. Israel says 290 of its troops have died in the fighting.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-aide-bidens-gaza-plan-085858819.html

Sinking Profits Bring Reality Check to AI-Driven Rally in Emerging Market Stocks

 

• Almost half of developing-country companies miss estimates
• Average earnings drop 10% amid sluggish consumer demand

Just as enthusiasm over artificial intelligence and China’s stimulus fades, a familiar weakness has come back to haunt equity investors in emerging markets: sinking corporate profits.

With 96% of companies in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index done with their quarterly results, the earnings season is almost over. And the picture isn’t pretty — Almost half of the companies have missed analyst estimates, average profits have slumped 10% compared with the prior-year period and for every dollar of predicted earnings, companies are bringing home only 86 cents. Two years ago an 18% rise in profits helped EM companies smash projections.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-02/sinking-profits-bring-reality-check-to-ai-driven-rally-in-emerging-market-stocks

Boeing Will Need Years for Turnaround, Emirates’ Clark Predicts

 

Boeing Co. will need years to emerge from its current crisis, the biggest buyer of the US manufacturer’s widebody aircraft predicted.

“For me, this will be a five-year hiatus starting from now,” Emirates President Tim Clark said in an interview in Dubai. “I don’t think they will recapture their production line on all aircraft types.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-02/boeing-will-need-years-for-turnaround-emirates-clark-predicts

Where Are The Largest Oil Reserves?

 Russia has reportedly discovered colossal oil reserves in the British territory of Antarctica. According to documents presented to the UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee in early May, the discovery was made by Russian research vessels in the Weddell Sea, part of the Antarctic territory claimed by the UK. The reserves discovered are estimated to contain some 511 billion barrels of oil, around 10 times the production of the North Sea over the last 50 years.

However, as Statista's Anna Fleck reports, the exploitation of hydrocarbons in Antarctica is strictly prohibited. Since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959 (which came into force in 1961), the continent has been reserved for peaceful activities only, and may become “neither the scene nor the object of international disputes”. Antarctica is therefore mainly used for scientific purposes, in particular for research into climate change.

The Russian discovery has raised concerns in the scientific community. Klaus Dodds, an Antarctic expert and professor at London's Royal Holloway College, reportedly told British MPs that Russian research could be “a conscious decision to weaken the standards of seismic research in Antarctica, and ultimately a first step towards future exploitation operations”.

As this infographic, based on the most recent annual report of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), shows, the size of the oil reserves discovered in Antarctica is significant.

Estimated at 511 billion barrels, the area would rank as the second largest crude oil reserve by region in the world, behind only that of the Middle East, whose proven reserves stood at over 871 billion barrels in 2022. This also represents almost double the known reserves of Saudi Arabia, the country with the second-largest proven oil reserves in the world (behind Venezuela, whose reserves are dense and more difficult to process, and therefore less profitable).

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/where-are-largest-oil-reserves

DOJ pushes back against release of Biden-Hur audio, citing ‘deepfake’ concerns

 The Department of Justice (DOJ) pushed back against the release of audio recordings of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, citing concerns that “deep fakes” could emerge.

DOJ argued, in a Friday night filing, that if the audio were released, it could end up being altered and passed off as an “authentic” recording which would be shared widely. 

“The passage of time and advancements in audio, artificial intelligence, and ‘deep fake’ technologies only amplify concerns about malicious manipulation of audio files,” according to the filing, first obtained by Politico. 

“To be sure, other raw material to create a deepfake of President Biden’s voice is already available, but release of the audio recording presents unique risks: if it were public knowledge that the audio recording has been released, it becomes easier for malicious actors to pass off an altered file as the true recording,” the administration added in the 49-page filing. 

DOJ officials also said the release of the audio “would harm substantial privacy interests.” 

Their argument comes after Biden invoked executive privilege earlier this month to prevent House Republicans from obtaining the recordings of his interview with Hur, who oversaw the investigation into classified documents found in Biden’s private residence and former vice presidential office. A transcript of the interview was released to GOP House members before Hur’s public testimony in March. 

The Biden administration’s concerns about AI-generated deep fakes, comes as officials, experts and observers have cautioned about the dangers they could inflict on the upcoming election. In the filing, DOJ noted that no new information would be uncovered through the recordings, since the transcript is already out, and further pressed that releasing the tapes would hamper future probes. 

House Republicans and other outside groups that support the GOP’s effort to obtain the audio argue that it would aid them in their impeachment inquiry against Biden.

While Hur’s 388-page report on Biden found that the then-vice president willfully retained the documents after leaving the White House, he stopped short of bringing charges against the president. Instead, he described Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

The House Judiciary and Oversight committees passed resolutions to censure Attorney General Merrick Garland last month. Still, Republicans are unsure if they have enough votes to hold him in contempt due to their razor-thin majority in the lower chamber.

Bradley Weinsheimer, associate deputy attorney general at the department, filed an affidavit, stating that “malicious actors” could spread a deep fake version of the recording if the tape is released publicly. Weinsheimer also claimed that those “actors” could insert or remove words from Biden’s responses to Hur, twisting the meaning of the president’s remarks.

The pushback also comes less than 6 months after a digitally altered message created to sound like Biden urged voters in New Hampshire to skip out on voting in the primary. The political consultant who took responsibility for the call was indicted last week.

The Hill has reached out to DOJ for comment.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4698375-justice-department-joe-biden-robert-hur-audio-release-blocked-house-republicans/

Live Nation confirms Ticketmaster data breach that could affect 560M users

 Ticketmaster confirmed in a federal filing Friday that the company was investigating a data breach that may have impacted more than 500 million customers.

Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, wrote in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that it had found “unauthorized activity within a third-party cloud database environment.”

Here’s what you need to know about the breach:

Hacking group ShinyHunters claims responsibility

ShinyHunters, who claimed the breach, is a hacker group believed to have been formed around 2020.

Brett Callow, a threat analyst with the cybersecurity company Emsisoft, said the organization is a “credible threat actor,” but not a lot is known about the group, The New York Times reported.

Other victims of the group’s threats in the past have included Microsoft and AT&T, among other companies in the U.S. and worldwide, federal prosecutors said, according to the Times.

CyberDaily, an Australian-based tech outlet first reported the breach and said the hackers are asking for $500,000 for the stolen information from customers.

Callow told the Times that the group said it had information from 560 million Ticketmaster customers, including credit card numbers and ticket sales.

Live Nation confirms breach

News about the breach began circulating earlier this week. At that point, Ticketmaster had yet to publicly acknowledge the data leak.

In the Friday filing, the company said it noticed the unauthorized activity on May 20. Live Nation officials said they are working to mitigate risk for users and is working with law enforcement.

“As appropriate, we are also notifying regulatory authorities and users with respect to unauthorized access to personal information,” the filing reads.

The company said it doesn’t expect the breach to affect its business operations or finances.

How users can protect themselves

Joseph Steinberg, a cybersecurity expert, told CBS MoneyWatch that there are a lot of records missing and it “sounds really bad.”

Still, he said, looking at the raw data, “there’s probably a lot less than it sounds like.” 

Steinberg noted that “we sometimes get impressed by numbers, but what matters much more is the quality of the data and what it means.”

Callow told the Times that for now, it doesn’t appear that user’s passwords have been compromised. He did say users should change their password for their Ticketmaster account regardless.

Steinberg told CBS that Ticketmaster account holders should be cautious about clicking on links that offer them concert tickets.

“You have to internalize the fact that you are a target,” he said.

Dean Drako, a security expert, also told CBS that users should also monitor their bank accounts for unusual behavior and initiate fraud alerts.

Live Nation, Ticketmaster lawsuits

The Live Nation filing comes just after the Department of Justice and 30 state and district attorneys general accused the company, and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, of monopolizing the live industry and harming artists and fans.

The antitrust lawsuit alleges that the company engaged in many forms of “anticompetitive conduct” like acquiring competitors and working against venues that work with competitors.

The company has also acquired amphitheaters, festivals, other venues, fellow promoters and small ticketers to monopolize the market against its rivals, the lawsuit said.

The efforts to crack down on the company began after Taylor Swift’s fans filed a class-action lawsuit after there were widespread issues trying to access tickets in a pre-sale event for her Era’s tour.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4698176-live-nation-confirms-ticketmaster-data-breach-what-to-know/